My favorite thing to do when the weather turns warm is toss my kids in the yard and let them play. If they demand further entertainment, I have a few tricks up my sleeve. These activities involve very little effort on my part, but the kids love them. (These would also be great games for a summertime birthday!)
Kid-friendly gardening. No yard? No free space in the garden? No problem. Get a big container at the garden store and fill it with dirt. This can be your child’s very own mini-garden! They can plant flowers, vegetables or even herbs - my kids love smelling things like chocolate mint or fennel.
If your kids are too young for planting, they can still have fun digging. You can give them some natural objects to decorate their planter with - try rocks, pinecones or branches.
You can also stick a little tiny house in there for fairies, or for Lego people! Why not throw in some plastic toys too?
Water play. This is the best because it is so easy. I give them a big pot or tub of water. I give them some cups, spoons or funnels. They pour, mix, stir and generally have a blast.
If you are feeling really ambitious, you can add some food coloring to the mix. You can also throw in some ice (or even ice colored with food coloring) to kick it up a notch.
Water painting. Give the kids some water and a paintbrush. They ‘paint’ the sidewalk. Bonus: No clean-up. Enough said.
Fake-sand play. I have a baby at home, so real sand is not an option for us. He will definitely eat it, even though he finds his actual dinner inedible. So instead of sand, I let him dig in cornmeal or oatmeal. I put it in a big plastic bin or a large pot, and stick it in the yard. Again, no clean-up!
Scavenger hunt. If you are organized, you can print out a sheet with items for the kids to find. These are readily available online, and have pictures of familiar outdoor sights, such as a bird, a leaf or a worm. If you are not organized (like me), you can simply shout these things out from the porch.
I also like to do Color Hunts: “Find me something yellow! Find me something purple!”
Back yard camping. This is a classic activity for older kids. Set up your tent in the back yard and toss some sleeping bags inside. Guaranteed adventure! Younger kids can participate too - they can get into a tent for some bedtime stories with a flashlight before heading inside for bed. Even if you don’t have a tent, you can still throw down some blankets and star-gaze. Also, break out some glow bracelets for a game of glow-in-the-dark ring toss!
Digging for treasure. Grab a big plastic bin and fill it with dirt. Bury stuff. Bury some plastic jewels; your kids can be pirates digging for treasure. Bury some plastic dinosaurs; your kids become paleontologists unearthing the past.
Digging for treasure… in ice! This time, fill your big plastic bin with water. Toss a bunch of toys in, and freeze it. Then throw the resulting block of ice in the yard, and have the kids chip away to free the toys!
Mud pie kitchen. Go crazy and make a mud pie kitchen! Give the kids a small table and some old kitchen bowls and utensils. Add dirt and water and you have a recipe for some really messy fun.
Have fun playing outside!
Katie is a librarian, writer, researcher and mom. Visit her at www.bestbirthdays.ca.
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