7 Fun And Simple Ways For Exploring Nature With Children

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INSIDE: You will find 7 fun activities for exploring nature with children that also make Earth Day activities.

How to play and learn with exploring nature with children

Nature is a wonderful teacher if you wanna nourish a child’s curiosity and build confidence. Playing outdoors provides less structural play than indoor play so the child is somehow forced to use imagination and own ideas for play. As a parent who wants a happy, healthy and creative child you should thrive to spend more time outside and help your child to discover the beauty of it.

Here are 7 ideas that will encourage your child to play outside and these may give you more ideas on how to explore nature with children. These outdoor activities for kids are also great ways to connect with nature and each other.

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7 Eart day activities and excelent ways of exploring nature with children

1. Go for a nature walk or scavenger hunt

Go outside in the nearest park for a walk and observe nature around you. Try to spot details in colors and textures. Close your eyes and talk with a child about what you hear. Become aware of smells around you.

Depending on your child’s age you can organize a scavenger hunt with a list of materials you want them to find. There are so many ideas if you search the internet, including printables with pictures or lists for collecting items. For young kids, you may take a basket and collect items you find on your way; twigs, stones, leaves, rocks, pinecones… You can take it home for a play and create games or even make crafts.

This is a very exciting nature activity for toddlers to explore, feel and touch new objects from nature.

2. Plant a flower

Planting a tree or a plant is a great way to give a gift to our planet, so why don’t we start with that tradition with your child.

Young children will need more help, but they can participate by helping while preparing plants and soil or they may play next to you by exploring soil.

While planting, talk to him about what you are doing, how plants grow, what do they need for growth and how do we take care of them.

This is also a nice way to start teaching about gardening, develop a love for planting, and teaching responsibility.

3. Make a bird feeder

Making a bird feeder out of a plastic bottle is a wonderful way to introduce the meaning of recycling to your kids. Not only that, when you are done you can sit, relax in the fresh air and observe the diversity of birds coming to feed.

For our feeder, I have got inspiration here, where you can also find the tutorial on how to make an upcycled bird feeder using plastic bottles.

4.Explore wind with pinwheels

Pinwheels are so much fun for kids to run around.

Make a simple pinwheel, or make more of them in different sizes and colors. Go outside and have fun.

With exploring wind try introducing new vocabulary like air, fly, breeze, strong, gentle, and so on.

5.Play and learn with stones

Stones and rocks are free and possibilities to play and learn are endless, like:

stacking stones
counting and sorting
storytelling (paint rocks or draw elements or animals)
sensory bins
arts and crafts for kids

Here are some more ideas for Nature play with stones and rocks.

Choose an activity that is age-appropriate and safe for your child and enjoy.

6. Make DIY nature mobile

Bring nature into your home and make a mobile from objects you collected in a nature walk.

There is a one really simple way of making nature mobile by just hanging pinecones and leaves on a branch. A simple version of nature mobile is great even for young kids as they can participate in the whole process, from collecting pinecones, leaves, picking a branch to build it, and finding a spot for hanging.

7.Sing a song

A traditional Waldorf song “Good morning, dear earth” is one of the most beautiful ways to start a day with your child. This is how we start mornings in our family, standing by the window, looking sun arising and checking the weather and changes outside.

Most of these activities for exploring nature are free and available in your yard or nearest park.

There are also numerous ways how you can encourage kids to explore the world around them and learn with Green Kid Crafts projects. This is a simple solution for parents who are too busy to prepare activities or struggle with finding ideas. Green Kid Crafts gives a unique no stress experience for families who want to raise creative children. Packed with STEAM projects, ideas, and resources for learning through play may be just what you need to incorporate regular creative activities into your family life.

If you find these ideas useful please share them and encourage more parents to explore nature with children.