The great appeal of summer is the natural desire of wanting to be outdoors.
With fewer layers to worry about, and more sun shining upon us, it’s the perfect opportunity to get creative with outdoor activities and lessons.
Outdoor activities have ample health benefits and a positive impact on your overall health and well-being, both physically and mentally.
So take advantage of the summer days with these 10 exciting outdoor lessons for kids.
Rock Play
There’s something about rocks and stones, every child loves collecting them! Rocks are so versatile, there are so many ways to learn and be creative. From counting them to making different shapes with them to painting them – you can guarantee hours of fun and learning.
Bird Watching
Getting kids involved in bird watching is a terrific way to expose them to wildlife, teach them about the environment, and emphasise the value of nature conservation. By building a bird feeder, you can even transform your garden into a miniature bird sanctuary.
Garden Yoga
Yoga is fantastic for teaching kids how to manage their emotions and any stress or anxiety, while also building their strength and coordination. Children can pretend to pose like a tree or squat like a frog. Garden-themed exercises and poses are a fun way of doing yoga outdoors.
Outdoor Obstacle Course
Kids love challenges, and an outdoor obstacle course is a fun and exciting way to help develop their gross motor skills while also building their confidence. From hopping, jumping, skipping and running, you’ll be sure to encourage physical activity and fitness, which is important for a healthy lifestyle.
Sponge Toss
You can get so creative with the rules in a sponge toss water game! All you need are some sponges and some buckets filled with water! You can number the buckets from 1 to 5 and toss the correct number of sponges in each bucket or change the rules as you like!
Treasure Hunt
Kids are naturally curious, and there’s nothing more exciting than setting them off on an adventure. You could provide them with a map and have different sections for them to circle or tick off, such as: What can you see? (Bird, butterfly, ant) What can you find? (Rock, leaf, flower) etc. This will encourage them to look high and low to see what is around them outdoors. You could even encourage them to find different colours and shapes.
Planting
Planting and growing flowers, fruit, or vegetables is a terrific way to teach kids about life cycles and nutrition over a longer period.
Chalk Art
Sidewalk chalk is perfect for promoting fine motor skills and creativity. You can take your art lessons outside as kids can enjoy drawing lovely pictures. You can also create fun games such as hopscotch!
Balancing Ball
A great challenge for kids. It teaches them to work together carrying a ball with sticks to the end of the course. If the ball drops, they have to go back to the start. This enables teamwork, communication, balance, coordination, and gross motor skills. It’s a fun way for them to practice accomplishing a goal together.
Suncream Painting
Constantly telling kids that suncream protects your skin is one thing, but showing them is far more effective! Squeeze some sunscreen in a palette (the same amount you would for regular paint), grab a paintbrush, and dark-coloured paper – preferably black.
Paint a picture and leave the paper out in the sun for a while. Do the same thing with regular paint on another piece of paper. After a couple of hours, you will notice the paper with the regular paint is completely faded, but the paper with the suncream has kept its colour intact! Sunshine will fade the paper because of UV rays, whereas sunscreen creates a barrier. What an easy and fun way to show kids why suncream is so important!
So why not get outdoors and enjoy these fun and creative lessons to promote a healthy and vibrant learning environment? And with a beautiful school canopy, you can be sure to keep children safe and protected too.