Hooray!!! It's time to get OUTSIDE!!!

"Fun Activities" that you can do almost anywhere, anytime

Playing outside is naturally fun for your child. Below are a few ideas to get you started with some outdoor fun now that the weather is turning nice and warm.

Bugs - Go on a bug hunt in your yard or at the park. Can you find a parade of ants? Do you see a grasshopper? Find a harmless bug and use a bug catcher to examine them up close. Talk about its color, see if it has wings, count the legs, and then let it go. Get an insect book from the library and see if you can find out what kinds of bugs you've found! Why not read Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Very Busy Spider?

Running games - Take advantage of what your child loves to do naturally, run. Take turns running behind, in front of, and side by side one another. Run holding hands, run backwards, run from one tree to another, or run while holding a pinwheel or a kite and watch it spin and fly. The possibilities are endless. Keep the game going by having your child hop on one foot, walk on all fours, or roll around.

Rock collection - Little ones love to pick things up. Let them start a rock collection. Collect rocks of different sizes, shapes, textures, and colors. Give your child a basket or box to keep their collection in. Once they have collected several rocks decide what you would like to do with them. Paint and glitter them, glue them into a rock "sculpture," toss them into a pond and make a splash, create a continuous growing rock pile in the backyard (how big do you think you can get it?)