8 Fun Outdoor Learning Activities for Toddlers That Are Simple for Teachers to Set Up

Outdoor classrooms help toddlers develop through wonder and exploration. Use these 8 learning activities that are simple to set up, easy to execute and engaging for your toddlers. Each activity includes materials needed, a description of what to do, and development and learning outcomes for each.

Squeezing Activity

Materials Needed

Mud, powdered tempera paint (powdered chalk), paintbrushes, cooking sheet (or muffin pan or bowl), water, construction paper

What to Do

• Mix mud with powdered tempera paint (powdered chalk).

• Add water until the mixture is thin and runny.

• Let the children squeeze the mud and explore the texture.

• Then let the children paint on the paper.

• Extension: add open-ended nature items such as flowers, leaves, etc. The possibilities are endless!

General Guidelines

• Keep the activity short.

• Guide your child.

• Keep the activities open-ended.

Squeezing Activity Development and Learning

• Social-Emotion

  • Regulates own emotions and behaviors

  • Indicates wants and needs; participates as adult attends to needs

• Physical

  • Reaches, grasps and releases objects

  • Demonstrates fine-motor strength and coordination

  • Uses fingers and hands

• Cognitive

  • Attends and engages

  • Imitates others in using objects in new and/or unanticipated ways

Bubble Foam Activity

Materials Needed

Tear-free bubble bath or body wash, water, tube, food coloring (optional), squeeze bottles, funnels, whisk

What to Do

• Add bubble foam with a 2:1 ratio of water to bubble bath (example: 1 cup water to ½ cup bubble bath).

• Let the children mix the ingredients with a hand mixer, blender or stand mixer until thick, like you’re making soapy whipping cream.

• Optional: add food coloring.

Bubble Foam Activity Development and Learning

• Social-Emotion

  • Establishes and sustains positive relationships

  • Balances needs and rights of self and others (sharing)

• Physical

  • Reaches for, touches and holds objects

  • Uses fingers and whole arm movements to manipulate and explore objects

• Science

  • Uses tools and other technology to perform tasks

Stack the Blocks Activity

Materials Needed

Various sizes of wooden blocks

What to Do

• Provide blocks outdoors.

• Sit on the ground with your toddlers.

• Put down one block and say, “I am putting one block on the ground.” Add a block and say, “I am adding two blocks on the ground.” Repeat with a third block. Knock down the tower. Urge the toddler to rebuild it.

• Encourage children to stack the blocks as high as they can or show children how to stack the small blocks on top of the big blocks to build a toddler-size tower.

General Guideline

Set where space limitations and noise from falling blocks are not a concern.

Squeezing Activity Development and Learning

• Social-Emotion

  • Interacts with peers

  • Solves social problems

• Physical

  • Balances small blocks carefully on a tall tower without knocking it down

  • Demonstrates fine-motor strength and coordination

• Cognitive

  • Attends and engages

  • Shows curiosity and motivation

Story Retelling Activity

Materials Needed

A wide variety of children’s books (stories, nursery rhymes, informational, predictable, alphabet and counting books), puppets, storytelling apron, flannel board, etc.

What to Do

• Select books that have simple story lines, such as We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen or The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

• Use props such a puppets or flannel boards to prompt storytelling and engage children in active learning.

General Guideline

Host this activity in a secluded literacy area away from distractions and add chairs, softness such as pillows, stuffed animals and dolls.

Story Retelling Activity Development and Learning

• Language

  • Responds to simple verbal requests (or not) accompanied by gestures or tone of voice

  • Vocalizes and gestures to communicate

• Cognitive

  • Recognizes people, objects and animals in pictures and photographs

  • Imitates others in using objects in new and/or unanticipated ways

• Literacy

  • Joins in rhyming songs and games

  • Shows interest in books

Band on the Run Activity

Materials Needed

Pots, pans, bowls, wooden spoons, metal lids, etc.

What to Do

• Provide a variety of instruments – the greater the variety, the more sounds you and your toddlers will be able to make.

• Sit on the ground with your toddlers and start banging spoons onto pots. Hit the pots together, the spoons together, etc.

• Give a spoon and a pot to your children and encourage them to copy you.

• Encourage your children to experiment with sound by banging in different ways: gently, slowly, quickly. Be sure to demonstrate to show them the difference.

• Play one of the children’s favorite songs with a strong beat and encourage them to add their own percussion sounds.

Band on the Run Activity Development and Learning

• Social-Emotion

  • Manages feelings

  • Follows limits and expectations

• Physical

  • Demonstrates fine-motor strength and coordination; uses fingers and hands

  • Demonstrates traveling skills

• Cognitive

  • Attends and engages

  • Shows curiosity and motivation

  • Shows flexibility and inverness in thinking

Nature Collage Activity

Materials Needed

Nature items, clear contact paper, cookie sheet

What to Do

• Take children on a nature walk and collect leaves, flowers, grass, sticks, feathers and whatever else the children find that appeal to them.

• Introduce children to some new words and concepts by talking about what you find (“See this feather? That’s from a blue jay.” “Look, the flowers are turned toward the sun.”)

• Place a piece of clear contact paper, sticky side up, on top of a cookie sheet with a rim. Tape each corner of the contact paper to the cookie sheet to keep the paper from sticking to your hands.

• Help children arrange treasures on the contact paper.

Nature Collage Activity Development and Learning

• Language

  • Uses language to express thoughts and needs

  • Engages in simple conversations

• Cognitive

  • Pays attention to sights and sounds

  • Reacts to a problem; seeks to achieve a specific goal

• Art

  • Uses various media to express ideas

Funny Feet Activity

Materials Needed

An open area. Optional: a basin of warm, soapy water.

What to Do

• Take advantage of the children’s curiosity by removing their shoes and leading them outside.

• Lead them across a variety of surface textures, such as warm sand, smooth pebbles, cool concrete, wet grass and gooey mud.

• Suggest words as you lead the children across the different textures: “cool,” “prickly,” “soft,” “warm,” “hard,” “smooth,” or “sticky”     

Funny Feet Activity Development and Learning

• Language

  • Listens to and understands increasingly complex language

• Cognitive

  • Remembers and connects experiences

  • Tactile discrimination

• Physical

  • Body awareness

Sand Activity

Materials Needed

Pancake turner, slotted spoon, measuring cups, pizza cutter, zester, cookie cutters, etc.

What to Do

• Show your toddlers how to put each utensil into the sand to make a design.

• Show your toddlers how to fill a cup with sand and turn it over to make a hill.

• Make a hole in the sand and stick a utensil into it.

• Continue demonstrating these tools to your toddlers to inspire them to create their own designs.                             

Sand Activity Development and Learning

• Art

  • Explores the visual arts

• Cognitive

  • Shows flexibility and inventiveness in thinking

  • Thinks symbolically

• Science

  • Uses tools to perform tasks

Give Them a Try

Sometimes the simplest activities make the greatest memories and have the greatest impact. Give at least one of these activities a try with your toddlers. You’ll all have fun.

If you don’t have a dedicated outdoor classroom area for these types of activities and want to explore the options, get in touch with us today.