5 Fantastic Things To Do Outside [With Kids]
We’ve been running our ENU Adventures for a couple of months now and some clear favorites have emerged. Below are our top 5 field-tested and kid approved activities, including general instructions and ideal age ranges. They inspire play, creativity, curiosity, nature connection, and movement. Try them out and let us know how they go!
Kings and Queens of the Wild Things (Best for ages 4-9)
The Great Bug Hunt (Ages 4-10 with modifications for 11+)
Adventure Putty (All Ages!)
Naturescapes (Best for ages 10-18)
Scavenger Hunts (All Ages!)
1) Kings and Queens of the Wild Things: (Best for ages 4-9)
We love encouraging kids to be “Wild Things” out in nature, so this is one of our favorites! Bring along a copy of “Where the Wild Things Are”. It’s a great primer for this activity and can easily be read during a snack break or down time. Then give the kids a small bag to find all the best nature treasures that are already on the ground (fallen leaves, pinecones, twigs, etc.) and collect them. It’s a great activity to bring their attention to all the different surfaces we walk on and alert them to the treasures beneath their feet! Once they’ve collected enough forest floor treasures, find a spot to sit and spread out. Ahead of time, you’ll need to prepare the paper crowns, which is just cutting out a long strip of paper (poster board works great) that would fit around a child’s head. Put either double sided tape through the middle of the crowns or sticky dots. Once the crowns are laid out and ready you can let the kids take over and place as many of the nature treasures as they want on their crown. Then it’s just a matter of fitting it to their head and watching them transform into kings or queens of the wild things!
2) The Great Bug Hunt: (Ages 4-10 with modifications for 11+)
When we slow down and zoom in, a whole new world becomes visible to us! Bring along a copy of “Some Bugs”, another great children’s nature book that helps get kids excited to explore! Depending on where you are, talk about what bugs you might expect to find and where you might find them. Give the kids a magnifying glass (optional, but fun!), share any ground rules for where they can explore and then let them run free! If you give this activity enough time, you will almost always find a spot or two that is full of bugs and insects! Consider taking some time to draw and color your favorite bugs after the hunt. This activity can easily be modified for tweens and teens by swapping out the children’s book for a bug identification book. In addition to finding bugs, tweens and teens can be charged with identifying the bugs they find, doing a quick sketch of them in a notebook and then listing a few interesting facts about each.
3) Adventure Putty: (All Ages!)
With the right context, I haven’t met a kid, tween or teen who doesn’t like playing with playdough (which we like to call Adventure Putty!). While playdough is relatively affordable, I enjoy making it at home and it’s a great opportunity to have your child join in the process. I will say that there are A LOT of DIY playdough recipes out there, but if you want my recommendation it’s this recipe from funlearningforkids.com. For a more “natural” adventure putty look, skip the coloring process and leave it as an off-white color. Here are some ideas for how to use it outside:
Free play! Don’t give them any instructions, just let them play with it however they want.
Nature Bugs. Prompt them to create a nature bug with the putty and added nature items (think leaves for the ears or wings, an acorn or pine cone for the body or head, etc.)
Tree Faces. Get them to stick the putty on a tree. Have them create a face for the tree by sculpting the putty and adding nature elements for accents. Don’t forget to give the tree a name after it’s face is complete!
Nature Tower. Gather a variety of twigs and have a contest to see who can build the tallest nature tower from the putty and sticks. Other categories could be “most original”, “best design”, or “most likely to survive a storm”.
4) Naturescapes: (Best for ages 10-18)
No previous art skills required! This activity is great for getting tweens and teens to take in their surroundings and tap into their creative side. Everyone will need a journal and pen (including you!). Before starting, make sure everyone understands that the activity is not about creating the BEST drawing possible - many kids are self-conscious about their drawing skills. The activity goes through a few rotations (you can decide how many and in what order). After each round, everyone will pass their journal to the right. By the end of the activity, each drawing will have multiple illustrators. Here is how we usually move through the rounds, with about 3-5 minutes per round:
Draw the landscape you see around you (pass to the right)
Add at least 2 animals into the picture (pass to the right)
Add a water feature - river, lake, waterfall, pond (pass to the right)
Add some weather - rain, snow, wind, sunshine (pass to the right)
Add at least one person (pass to the right)
Add any final touches you think the picture needs (pass to the right)
By the end, each person has a unique picture that everyone helped create! Put them in the center and take a moment to look at all the wonderful (and often funny!) pictures that were made.
5) Scavenger Hunts (All Ages!)
If you know us at all, you know we LOVE scavenger hunts! They can provide hours of fun and engagement, and they get us all looking around and experiencing nature in new ways. You can find plenty of free scavenger hunts online. Shorter hunts work better for younger kids, or you can break-up longer ones into sections. We’ve also created quite a few ourselves, which are available to buy through Etsy and are instant downloads:
Nature Scavenger Hunt: # items, great for parks and longer nature walks.
Beach Scavenger Hunt: # items, for the beach (obviously!).
Backyard Scavenger Hunt: # items, ideal for backyards, around the house or neighborhood walks.
Mini Scavenger Hunts: 4 mini-hunts with # items each, great for engage all the senses!
Scavenger Hunt Bundle: Save and get all these great scavenger hunts in a bundle!
What's your go-to activity? We'd love to know! Email me your favorites at sonya@natureunplugged.com.
