What To Do Outside!
Children need time outdoors to explore, release energy, and learn. Many parents take their children to the park or allow them to play in the backyard.
While children are playing on play-sets & slides they are learning to take simple risks, & play with others. However, there are many other activities that you can do with your child outdoors!
Lets focus on SCIENCE!
- Take a jar with you outside. Make sure there are holes in the top. Explore the grass, trees, bushes, ponds for insects or reptiles (nothing poisonous or dangerous). When you find something of interest or something in particular that you have been searching for place it in the jar.
- Examine the insect. Talk about its size, body, what it eats, look up information on the internet, take a picture of it. When you & your child are finished studying the insect set it back where you found it.
Lets have some fun with MATH!
- The next time your child wanders into the sandbox, be sure to bring along a couple of buckets & a shovel.
- Fill up the buckets with different amounts of sand. Talk about which bucket is heavier. What happens when you pour some sand out of one bucket?
- Take a walk outside of the sandbox for a few minutes.
Collect other objects: - pebbles/rocks
- leaves
- grass
Compare a bucket of sand to a bucket full of leaves. Which bucket has more in it? Which bucket is heavier?
Bringing NATURE & ART together!
- Take your paints & brushes outside. Using an easel, paper clipped to the deck or fence, paper at a table - allow your child to paint what they see.
- Talk about the colors around them (colors of the leaves, sky, clouds, birds etc…)
- Encourage your child to paint with different objects: rocks, leaves, & pine straw. Talk about textures.
- Place grass & leaves into the paint. What happens?
Check out the links below for more outdoor activities and articles!
Spending Time Outdoors With Your Child
NAEYC: National Association for the Education of Young Children
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