Top 10 Outdoor Activities

Well it’s August, apparently and a great time of year to play outside. Outdoor play is so beneficial for young children and I personally think being outdoors makes me feel so much happier too. The forecasters seem to think the dry weather will stay with us for a few more days, maybe even get a bit warmer. What a treat in summertime! So here are my 10 favourite outdoor play activities for children under 5.

Mud Kitchens

I think mud kitchens are wonderful. The sensory experience of handling mud, water, cones and petals provides so many learning opportunities for young children.

Whether it’s measuring and weighing, exploring the language involved in mashing and whisking or getting creative decorating a cake, almost all children love getting their hands dirty in a mud kitchen.

They’re incredibly simple to set up. Check out our blog post here.

Small World Play

As the name suggests, small world play involves miniature toys set up in their own little world. Whether it’s cars, trains, dinosaurs or princesses, small world allows young children to let their imaginations run wild, developing their creativity and early literacy skills. When you take small world play outside, you can include materials that aren’t always ‘house-friendly’ such as rice, sand and soil: great sensory items that can really bring small world to life.

I purchased a tuff spot tray, which is essentially a builder’s tray. You can get them from most DIY retailers, I got mine here. They’re great for setting up small world play as everything can be contained within it. Great if you’re using pesky rice grains. They get everywhere!

Or you can use an old mat to keep everything together. The most important thing is to make the scene look as enticing as possible. Children will find it hard to resist playing with the small world and will engage with it for a long time.

Muddy Puddles

I’m sure we’d all rather have beautifully dry, hot summers, but in Britain we barely go a few days without some rain. So after a heavy summer storm, head out with the wellies on and get splashing. A good splash in a muddy puddle makes for a very fun walk at any time of the year.

Dinosaur Eggs

Hot summer days are perfect for cracking open dinsoaur eggs, made from ice.

All you need is a small plastic dinsoaur and a ballon. Put the dinosaur inside the balloon (this bit can be fiddly but persevere, it will fit in) and fill the ballon with water. Put it in the freezer overnight. Once the water is completely frozen, cut open the balloon to reveal the frozen egg.

Now the real fun begins. How will we get the dinsoaur out of the egg?

We like using a real hammer to crack open the ice. I make sure Dexter has some sunglasses on to protect his eyes from any shards of ice that flick up. He loves using the tools and under adult supervision there’s no reason why children can’t experience using real tools to build up their skills safely.

Treasure Hunt Maps

Treasure maps are so fun and easy to make. I like to put out pots of cold tea and coffee with brushes so Dexter can age the maps. Burning the edges is something I do out of sight of my wild one, as I’m not so keen to ignite his natural inner need to ‘maketh fire’: we’ll save that for camping trips. 

Once the paper is dry, your child can decorate them with felt tips, drawing paths to hidden treasures. I like to give a map to Dexter and keep one for myself to make a treasure hunt for Dexter to follow in the garden. I’m definitely no artist, but I can create a simple plan of our garden with a big ‘x marks the spot’ for our wild one to follow and find the treasure.

Our treasure map making sparked an interest in pirates which lasted a few days and made for hours of shanty-singing, swash-buckling fun.

Taking the inside, Outside 

Taking indoor toys outside can really transform a play experience for young children, particularly boys. Dexter loves routing his train tracks amongst the bushes and plants in our garden. His language skills seem to get a major boost from playing outside and he finds the experience so much more exciting than playing indoors. Read about all the benefits on our blog post here.

Water Painiting

Although Dexter is only two and like most toddlers a long way off from writing, we love practicing using our gross motor muscles with fun outdoor play. It’s really important to build up young children’s gross motor skills as well as their fine motor skills. There is a lot of focus on building up fine motor muscles in hands, which will soon be used for pencil control. However, we also need the bigger muscles in children’s shoulders and arms to be well developed to ensure they have the strength needed for writing.

Outdoor water painting is perfect for this development and tons of fun too. All you need are some small tubs of water and different sized paint brushes. Let your wild one loose on the garden fence safe in the knowledge that the marks will disappear when the water dries.

Big movements with the brushes, making patterns and drawing pictures give the muscles a good workout and allow your children’s creativity to flow. Perfect on a hot summer’s day.

Nature Detectives

Make any walk that little bit more interesting by becoming Nature Detectives.

Dexter and I like venturing out with binoculars, a camera and a bag for all our finds. Dexter really enjoys hunting for unusual items on the woodland floor and taking pictures of them. He’s not so interested in knowing what the finds are at the moment, but it’s a great opportunity to talk about shapes and sizes and the textures of the things we find.

For older children, the Woodland Trust has some awesome Nature Detective kits to print out, to help you identify the things you find.

Den Building

Who doesn’t like den building? Building dens with Dexter really takes me back to my own childhood and the hours of fun we used to have. They’re so simple to construct and you can use everyday items from around the house: blankets, tarpaulin, chairs, the garden slide, they all work.

My top tip for summertime den building would be to pick a shady spot to construct it in. It can get pretty hot under blankets in full glare of the sun. In our last den I taped up paper so Dexter could draw and mark make. He decided there was a bear outside, so he drew a picture of the bear and then a sign to warn Mr Bear to stay out of our den.

Dinosaur Hunt

Young children can often be a little reluctant to go for a walk, especially on a warm summer’s day. To encourage Dexter to walk, we go on dinosaur hunts.

Practising his pencil grip by ticking off the checklist.

First we make a checklist of everything we need to take, then pack our bags up ready for the adventure. Then we go on the hunt for evidence of dinosaurs roaming around in our local woodland.

It doesn’t have to be a dinosaur hunt. Follow you own wild one’s interests and hunt for their favourite thing. Read our blog post here.

Fingers crossed you have beautiful weather where you are so you can get outside and try a few of these fun activities with your wild one.