Learning in Nature with Kids

August 18, 2016 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

There are many times in the year when you just don’t want to take your kids outside, whether as a parent or a teacher. It’s too hot or cold or rainy or whatever and you’d rather not bother, right?

It’s important to resist that urge to stay inside at least sometimes because there are important things to learn and ways to explore no matter what the weather. As long as you gear up properly and don’t stay out too long, there are always adventures that can be had outdoors, and kids usually love getting to go outside even on days when the weather isn’t ideal.

So what to do out there? Of course just going on nature walks and exploring the world is a great place to start.

You can make sun prints like these on Weller Mama Blog (which has lots of great ideas for learning with nature, too). Check out 50 Ways to Explore Nature in Your Backyard and other backyard nature ideas from Go Explore Nature.

For a few from my own site: build a fairy garden, or a butterfly garden, go on a nature scavenger hunt, paint with leaves, paint on or with shells.

Here are some more ideas from the California Department of Parks and Recreation, or if you really want to get into it you can buy an ebook all about exploring nature with children, which includes a yearlong curriculum (I’m not an affiliate or anything, I just came across it and it looks interesting).

What are your favorite outdoor activities for when the weather isn’t great? I’d love to hear your ideas.

[Photo via Go Explore Nature.]

Do you know a little gardener? Check out these DIY Garden Kits, perfect for gift giving.

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Easy Pen and Paper Games for Road Trips and Beyond

When my daughter was younger I would spend a lot of time trying to come up with activities she could do in the car on long road trips and things to entertain her when we were waiting at restaurants and things that didn’t involve screens.

But it turns out there are a lot of great activities you can do with just a piece of paper and a pen.

What Do We Do All Day has a great collection of pen and paper games, including some that can be done with just one person, though they’re all more fun if you have at least two.

There are some classics on here like hangman and dots and boxes, but there are also quite a few I hadn’t heard of before.

I don’t want to spoil the whole list for you because you should definitely click over there and look around, but I will share about the one that you see pictured above.

This game is called Bridges, and you start by making the big random shape and the dividing it into a bunch of sections (the post says 30-50 sections is ideal but I think this one is smaller than that).

Each player gets their own color marker and you take turns drawing bridges from one space to another, crossing a third. Once there’s a bridge, no other bridges can start, end or cross in those spaces. Keep going until no more bridges can be built, and the person who makes the last bridge wins.

Check out the post over at What We Do All Day for more great ideas for no or almost-no prep games you can play with your kids or that kids can play together. I’d love to know if you have a favorite paper and pen game, whether it’s on this list or a different one.

[Photo: What We Do All Day]

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