By Sravya Kalli
Outdoors can be anything outside your house, such as your yard, deck, balcony, and parks. In this article, we will talk about the benefits of outdoor exploration, in addition to examples and ways to support outdoor activities with homemade materials.
Benefits of outdoor play:
- Helps with big emotions and burn energy
- Builds imagination
- Provides several ways to be creative
- Promotes strong physical and mental health
1. Play Fairy Potions
For this you will need: Safe food colors, transparent syringes, sauce bottles and some old measuring cups.
Give them a variety of colored water and the above materials and see their imagination go wild.
You can support them by asking "Do you think a fairy might come?" Or "What do you get when you mix red and green or any two colors you have?"
2. Alphabet Hunt
For this you will need: Print out of the alphabet
Make sure the environment is safe for the kids. Hide the print of the alphabet in your outdoor and tell the kids to look for the hidden letters.
It's a fun game to teach alphabet recognition as well as patience.
You can assist them by giving them hints if needed. This is also good to teach them the value of patience and how it pays off to be patient.
Questions you can ask are:
- Can you say one word with letter A?
- Did you find all letters?
- Which is your favorite letter?
3. MUD KITCHEN
For this you will need: Old utensils/spoons, water and sand/mud.Just give them all the above-mentioned materials and watch them get creative. They are learning textures, measuring and mixing. You can join them for their food adventure if you like.
More ways to extend this activity is by introducing solids and liquids. You can ask them if they would like to build a racetrack or something else.
One more thing to remember while planning outdoor play is weather and clothing.
Make sure you have weather appropriate clothing and sunscreen during summers.
Here are a few more ideas for outdoor play.
Water play
- Washing animals or cars with water and sponge.
- Bubble play with lots of water and soap or shampoo.
- Painting walls or deck with water and brush
Dry messy play
- Color rice with different shades and add dinosaurs or unicorns and let them get creative.
- Use colored pompoms and get bowls or paper plates in the same color to sort them according to colors.
- Use flour and mix eco-friendly glitter to it and let them splash it.
Aroma play
- Plan a simple spa day for the kids by using all the creams and lotions you have at home.
- Use ground coffee beans and mix it with water and use it to paint on paper.
I have always preferred outdoor play over screen time for my tiny tots. These days outdoor play has decreased a lot due to the easily available screen time and shows.
I remember my parents telling me how much fun they had playing outdoors and how adventurous it was sometimes during the play.
When you allow kids to play outside, especially in a natural setting, they learn to explore without the need for adults to push them to do something. They also learn to respect flora and fauna and experience a sense of responsibility.
You should give them a lot of different materials for them to experiment and learn. The brain develops faster in a positive and healthy way when they are allowed to play and learn outdoors.
Hot tip! Playing outside and in nature has the ability to decrease your sick days.
By Sravya Kalli
