Enjoy Summer While It's Still Here

The commercials for back-to-school clothing and supplies have already been playing on television for a couple of weeks. It seems too soon, but schedules will only get busier with school and extracurricular activities on the horizon. Create some memorable outdoor experiences with your kids.

• Have the kids eat breakfast outside. Outside can be the front stoop, a porch, a patch of grass beneath a tree. Breakfast can be simple – muffins and juice, Canadian bacon between a couple of waffles. Bring a thermos of coffee for yourself.
• Take a walk around the neighborhood … when it is raining.
• Collect leaves or flowers and press them between the pages of a dictionary.
• Go to a farmer’s market. Give each child one dollar to make a purchase of something for dinner.
• Count the number of birds that visits your feeder over five or ten minutes.
• Have a picnic lunch or supper in the backyard, at the park, at the beach, at the local forest.
• Read a bedtime story outside by flashlight as the day’s light fades.
• Lie on blankets and watch the stars come out.

Outdoor time doesn’t have to involve elaborate experiences but simple moments when everyone is present in the activity.

Walking Games with Kids

Whether you’ll be walking in the wood, through a park, along a city or suburban sidewalk, or, perhaps, through the mall, these walking games will engage young children. If older children think the game is too silly, then have them take turns leading the game or place them in charge of younger siblings.

Animals on the Move
Have the children pretend to be animals while walking from one spot to the next. At the beginning of this game you can select one or two animals and call them out randomly. Children must then act out that animal’s behavior for ten-to-fifteen seconds.

Fox – Red fox “perfect step,” which means that all four feet move in a single line and that the back feet step in the prints left behind by the front feet. Have the children walk placing one foot in front of another in a straight line.
Rabbit – Hop with feet together.
Hawk – Hold arms out to the side and pretend to soar.
Ant – Crawl along the ground in a straight line.
Geese – Try to walk so all participants are moving in a v-shape.

After introducing each animal and calling out the actions for the children to act out, you should be able to call out the animal’s name at any time and the kids should respond.

Animal Antics
This version allows for more random actions. If you are walking with children who are arguing about who gets to walk at the front of the line, this activity will eliminate the pushing and shoving by rotating the children from the front to the back of the line. Start by telling the children that when the leader make an animal sound, they must then act out the behavior of that animal for a count of ten while continuing to walk.

Select a child to be the leader. Point out a spot up ahead and tell the child that when the group reaches that point she should make an animal sound. (Why point out a place for the child to make the call? Depending on the child’s age, she may make an animal sound immediately upon it becoming her turn and then the group doesn’t get to move very far.) When the group hears the animal sound, they then act out the behavior they believe most appropriate. Rotate leaders.

The challenge with this game is encouraging the children to make the sound loud enough for the other children to hear. As the leader, you can help support the child-leader by encouraging them to repeat the sound as they turn to face the other children.

Now, get walking!

Backyard Nature Fun

Whether your child loves collecting rocks or looking at insects, you don't have to travel far to encourage their interest in nature. By looking at the nature in their backyard, kids learn that nature is all around them and that it isn't limited to rainforests and polar bears that they can watch on television.

Below are links to explorations, games, and craft projects that kids can do in their own backyard, some on their own and other activities with at least one other child (or adult).

Play This Magic Square Nature Collection Game
Go Bug Collecting for Outdoor Fun
Make a Stone Cairn
Nature Memory Games
Backyard Games that Get Kids Playing in Nature
Activities for Kids Who Collect Rocks
How to Discover What Worms Need to Survive

Puddle Science for Kids

If there’s a puddle, most kids will gravitate toward it. A few kids will hold back but oftentimes that is because of fear of mom or dad’s wrath with wet or muddy clothes. Pull out some old, stained, or never-quite-right clothing from your child’s wardrobe and designate them outdoor play clothes if, as mom or dad (or the adult who hands kids off to mom and dad) you are concerned with seeing grass stains and mud across the knees of a pair of jeans.

Spring and summer are great times of year to explore puddles because the weather is warmer and there is less chance of getting chilled. Rain boots are perfect for splashing around; although, an old pair of sneakers is fine as well. Raincoats can be hot and some kids are happier without a coat – if they can go inside and change into dry clothing after time outside, then kids don’t have to deal with the restriction of not getting wet.

Some kids will go outside and feel right at home exploring and playing in puddles. If your child is weather-wary, join them outdoors and guide them through a few simple activities.

Water Activities
If it is raining, watch the way the drops interact with the surface. Children will learn to look outside on a rainy day and predict how hard it is rainy by watching droplets hit the puddles.

Try floating leaves on puddles. Children will see how the depth of water affects the way the leaf boats can move.

Gather a collection of dry twigs (or use craft sticks) and measure the depth of a few puddles. Can the children hypothesize why some puddles are deeper than others?

Splash! Toss different objects into puddles of different depths. What reaction can kids get from a leaf, an acorn, a pebble, or even themselves! Watch for splash patterns. Kids may even want to measure the depth of water in a puddle after they’ve jumped into it.

Encourage children to come up with their own experiments and games – perhaps they will trace the edge of a puddle and measure by the day or hour how quickly it takes to evaporate. If kids haven’t spent a lot of time outdoors in the rain, they may range from timid to wild; try the experience a few times so they can get used to exploring the rainy world.