8 Great Resources for Outdoor Learning-Based Play Ideas

 

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As a parent, summer can be a little daunting.  There are a lot of hours in the day, and it’s sometimes difficult to fill them with worthwhile activities.  Sports, swimming, bike riding, outings, and park play are staples of summer fun, but if you find yourself looking for ways to incorporate more school-based learning into your play, it’s hard to know where to turn.  Need fabulous ideas that will get your kids off the couch and out learning – without them even knowing it?  Here are some great resources for outdoor learning-based play.  For kids, play is the best way to learn, and summer is a great opportunity for putting this into practice.

1. Delia Creates hosted a week-long series called “Play it Smart!” where she shared tons of fun ideas for learning with summer-inspired games.  She used chalk, spray bottles, balls and diving toys.  Her blog is full of cool ideas for kids, like fitness jenga, math card games, roll a recipe and the mommy and me journals.

2. Try this fun Dry Ice Experiment.  There’s a printable booklet, too, so kids can keep track of their observations.

3. Sew a Straight Line holds a learning and fun-filled camp for her kids every summer.  She has tons of ideas for science-related activities.  She’s also got some creative writing ideas here.

4.  A fun way to work on your child’s reading skills would be to read a book and then create something from the book – either with your kids or FOR them.  Check out No Big Dill for some great ideas related to this – she had a whole series of book inspired sewing creations and a ton of people contributed ideas.

5.  Check out Happy Hooligans for a whole host of sensory activities, sensory bin ideas, and other fun ideas for kids.  Try making a backyard abacus out of pool noodles.  Or try the fun water activity ideas – it’s perfect for summer!

6. And Next Comes L has a lot of great hands-on ideas for kids play.  Here are some fun alphabet and literacy themed ideas and math.  She’s also got some great ideas for busy bag activities which can travel with you anywhere you go this summer!

7. Check out these 50 fun summer science activities from Science Sparks!  And then look around that site for more great science ideas, like making an easy solar oven or a balloon powered lego car!

8.  Growing Book by Book has some great ideas for transferring literacy-learning to outdoor play!  She also has some great alphabet activities and activities that go along with specific books, like this one from The Very Busy Spider.

 

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Kimberly Mueller is the “me” over at bugaboo, mini, mr & me, a blog that highlights her creative endeavors. She especially likes to share kid crafts, sewing attempts, recipes, upcycled projects, photography and free printable gift tags/cards. When she’s not enjoying being married to her best friend, chasing after the natives (AKA her three kids) and attempting to keep the house in one piece, you can find her with a glue gun in one hand and spray paint in the other. Aside from DIY pursuits, she also enjoys writing, reading, music, singing (mostly in the shower) and the color yellow. Kimberly recently published a craft book entitled Modern Mod Podge. You can also find her on Facebook, Pinterest,Bloglovin’ and Instagram. Email her at: bugabooblog(at)yahoo.com