Disclosure: Thank you Tampico Beverages for sponsoring this conversation. #SchoolisCoolwithTampico
Why take learning outdoors?
School isn’t the only place for kids to learn. Â After school or on the weekend, refuel with some Tampico juice and bring the kids outside for fun (and shhhh, don’t tell them, learning)!
Learning while playing games and outside in fresh air and sunshine has unique benefits:
- Kids remember things they learn while having fun better and longer than by simply reading facts.
- Fresh air and sunshine are good for kids, improving physical and mental health.
- Indoor screen-time is increasing for kids as outdoor time decreases. Â Fight the trend by taking learning outdoors!
- The outdoors is perfect for learning math and science, often neglected areas in today’s schools.
How do you take learning outdoors?
Here are five games or activities that can be tailored to the abilities of your children, depending on their age and grade. Â Go outside and have fun!
Nature Scavenger Hunt
We play three different variations of this game: Â color, shape, and a-b-c. Â All of them are fun, see which your kids will like best. Â For color, I used sidewalk chalk to make color blocks then the kids had to search for natural items that were shades of the different colors. Â I also drew shapes which is more challenging to find. Â The third variation is even more difficult, participants are challenged to find natural items that start with the letters of the alphabet. Â For example, a = acorn; b = bark; c = clouds. Â Kids can either gather the items, or write them down (works best for clouds, hehehe!).
Collection Stick
Have you taken your kids on a hike and felt like it was difficult to inspire them to notice things around them? Â My daughter, my mom and I went on a hike today and created “collection sticks”. Â It was so fun! Â We all paid much more attention to the plants, flowers, rocks… well, everything around us.
To make a Collection Stick, you need a paint stir stick, 1-inch double-sided tape and a marker. Â Place the tape along the stick, leaving the top free to write the date and place of your hike. Â Stick on fun things you find along your hike. Â Easy and fun! Â Reminder: Â in a public location, only take items from the ground. Â Follow any local rules.
When we got home, I put our sticks into a planter on our deck. Â I love having the memory and can’t wait to go different places in different seasons and see how those collection sticks turn out! Â I’ll be sipping a Tampico punch and remembering our fun hikes.
Sight Word Hopscotch
Instead of numbers, put your child’s spelling or sight words in the hopscotch square. Â Throw a spotter onto each square, as you progress through the rounds. Â When you reach “home” at top, you must spell the word where your spotter lies, before you can turn around and go back to the start. Â First one to get through all the words and squares, wins! Â Celebrate with a cold glass of Tampico punch!
Find Letters in Nature
This game helps with alphabet for younger kids, shapes for older kids, and general perceptive skills. Â Search for different letters that occur naturally in the world around us. Â We found “F”, “U”, “N” pretty easily to describe our day!
Word Game
Again, this is a game that can be adjusted to different abilities, ages, and grades. Â Write vowels on a set of natural items, I used pieces of wood mulch. Â On a different natural item, I used rocks, write common consonants and consonant blends. Â Using a set amount of time, see how many words you can make. Â Who can make the longest words? Â Who can add-on to a word to make a longer or different word? Â Possibilities are endless. Â Don’t forget the Tampico juice to keep you refreshed as you play!
I hope I’ve inspired you to go outside to play and learn! Â Don’t forget the Tampico!
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These are great ideas. I especially like the Sight Word Hopscotch, I never thought of that .It would be a great way to incorporate learning with play time.
I think that taking L\learning to the outdoors with Tampico #SchoolisCoolwithTampico is a great idea. It shows children that we care by letting them have fun while they get educated.
How fun! It’s always nice to spend time outdoors – especially with younger ones!
What great ideas! My grandsons are currently learning Sight Words and they would love to do Sight Word Hopscotch!
The nature scavenger hunt would be a good activity for teachers to do with their students!
When I was in school we had a weekend field trip to stay at our local YMCA park and conservatory. We all had fun but learned quite a bit as well.
Fun activities to learn by! I always loved doing instead of just listening to a teacher.
These sound like great outdoor activities for the kids.
Great ideas! Being outside often is very important :)
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What great ideas. Will keep these in mind when I have the grandchildren.
I always loved nature scavenger hunts when I was young! This is such a cute idea :)
Parents and kids should do these fun outdoor activities, where they can improve their bonding with each other and learn some knowledge, Tampico sounds good while doing these fun activities. Thanks for these great ideas!
Fun learning ideas in the great outdoors.
I like Hopscotch. I used to play it a lot.
What a fun post, thanks!
These ideas would be great! Took me back to the hopscotch I played at recess in Catholic school!
I’ve been a preschool teacher for years and we always do outdoor scavenger hunts. I’m definitely going to try the collection stick next, what a cute idea and even the very young children can do it.
the nature scavenger color hunt sounds fun. we have so mny neat parks and nature preserves near us
What fun games! It is important to make learning fun, and I like getting kids outside too. The hopscotch words is a great idea…You could even make it into a bean bag toss game.
Great ideas for combining word games (our favorite) with outdoor activities! We can’t wait to get started! Thanks for sharing!
These are some great ideas! Look forward to sharing them with the grandbabies!
I know that my niece would love the hopscotch activity for the outdoors. I would like the word games myself. All in all this is a great time.