Outdoor Activities for Summer Fun

I wrote a few weeks ago about water play activities for kids, which is one great way to get them outside and playing even when it’s hot. But I thought it would be fun to share some other outdoor activities for summer that kids can do when its not too hot outside (which is, like, first thing in the morning where I live!).

When my daughter was younger she loved playing with sidewalk chalk paint. To the point I had the (very simple) recipe memorized and stockpiled corn starch for this purpose.

We’re big fans of outdoor art activities, and this bubble painting project from My Home Based Life is another great idea. Or use a clear shower curtain liner as a canvas for outdoor painting, as in this idea from Happy Toddler Playtime.

If you have a backyard with a play set you can make this obstacle course inspired by American Ninja Warrior. The DIY “floating steps” are so fun, easy to make, and great for gross motor skills, too! Check out all the details at Teaching Mama. Imagination Soup has a great post all about the different kinds of actions you might want to include in your obstacle course and things you can buy (or that you might already have) to make the best course ever. Here is a Montessori-style balance beam for toddlers designed with a child’s learning, exercise, and safety in mind.

Pool noodles are an easy way to build obstacles, or to make simple outdoor games that don’t cost a lot of money. Mission to Save has a great roundup of ways to use pool noodles when you don’t have a pool (I love the ring toss idea!).

But if you do want a little water involved in your summer outdoor activities, try a squirt gun water race like this one from Mom Brite. Or if water balloons are going to be used, make some water balloon launchers out of old milk jugs, like these from Kid Friendly Things to Do.

Don’t skip learning while you’re playing outside! Growing Book by Book has a fun giant memory game you can make and play outside (or inside, when it’s too hot or cold to be outside). The pairs rhyme, adding a layer of fun.

Did you know that October is Squirrel Awareness Month? I didn’t know we needed more awareness of these little creatures, but let’s take it as a sign to learn more about squirrels!

Let’s start with some fun facts via Kids Konnect: did you know there are five subfamilies and more that 280 species of squirrels? The smallest are pygmy squirrels and the largest, the Bhutan giant flying squirrel, can be longer that 4 feet (1.2 meters).

Tree squirrels can climb down trees so fast because their ankles can rotate 180 degrees, allowing them to grab the tree bark as they go down. While most squirrels don’t survive their first year of life, they can live five to 10 years in the wild and squirrels have been known to live up to 20 years in captivity!

Rhythms of Play has more fun facts and tips for observing squirrels if you want to add some real life nature to your nature study.

We always like to start these collections with life cycle and parts of the animal printables, so let’s grab the squirrel life cycle an parts of a squirrel worksheets from Montessori Nature. (It doesn’t look like these are free any more but they have a whole unit study on squirrels you can buy that includes life cycle and parts activities, characteristics of different kinds of squirrels, a printable poster, information about predators and more.)

Grab the squirrel lapbook printable (free with email address) from Homeschool Share to learn the parts of a squirrel, where they live, what they eat, whether they hibernate and more. There’s also a nut taste test printable, a place for making observations about squirrels, life cycle of an oak tree, games and more.

Simple Everyday Mom has some cute squirrel themed worksheets including tracing the letter s, labeling the parts of a squirrel and a letter s maze. She also has more activity pages with a squirrel theme, including matching, a more traditional maze and a counting and graphing activity.

Work on letter recognition with this squirrel and acorn game printable from Teaching Mama. I love the idea of hiding the letters in a fall themed sensory bin for kids to find, identify and match to the letter on the worksheet.

For older kids you can do this “if I were a squirrel” writing prompt from Lesson Planet.

And throw in a little counting with these squirrel and acorn tens frame printables from JDaniel4’s Mom, which you can use to count real acorns or any other little fall themed thing you have handy.

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