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Fun Outdoor Playtime Ideas
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Fun Playtime Ideas
Coming up with new and exciting playtime activities that spark the imagination is becoming a challenge. We have become a tech addicted and digitally driven society. Many parents have to drag their children away from television and computer screens and pry smartphones away, to have family time. And, let’s not talk about selfies, they’re the norm now. Have you noticed how many selfies the presidential candidates try to morph into votes? I wonder what happened to handshakes. I don’t remember the last time I added without a calculator, got the news from a newspaper, do you? Technology is so intertwined into our lives it’s eating away most engaging social activities. With spring, a little renewal is on the menu. For you as well as for the kids. Time out! Let’s all logout the net and go outdoors! Let’s shake the dust off our sunglasses, grab our suntan screens and reconnect with nature and each other. Let’s all rewind, unwind and destress. Let’s smell the flowers, the blooming trees and roll around in the fresh sprouting grass. It’s playtime, in the sun, and here are a few suggestions that will not break the bank.
Backyard: We’ll start with the backyard. Invite some friends. Cover the grass with a blue tarp. I’m sure you have one in the garage. A painter’s plastic drop sheet will do fine. Use a sprinkler head on a hose and let the kids slip and slide.
Musical chairs and obstacle courses: Can be in the backyard or at a park. Depending on age, kids can help with creating the obstacles. A timer can be used or someone can count as everyone tries to go through the course to the finish line. The old musical chairs game is fun too with or without added obstacles. Everyone will have fun going through the maze of challenges whether a contest is involved or not. Obstacles can be park benches, chairs, picnic baskets and trash bins. A rope can be used to fence in the course line.
Playing Clue: Hide a few items whether in the backyard or at the park and scribble direction clues onto colorful index cards or post it notes. Each child will have a set of clues. They can share them for better results. Children love to play games when their parents are playing too. Hidden items can be little tokens from coins to little stuffed animals to small toys.
Older children can incorporate their cell phones and text clues to each other. They can be the ones to hide items, from each other, and invite their parents to join in the game.
Pond picnics & boat contests- My sister had outdoor paper boat contests ‘pond parties to celebrate spring. They are a great idea to celebrate summer too or any beautiful weather. My nephew and his friends spent hours designing and decorating their paper boats before floating them in the pond. They were famished by the time the barbecue was on. And, I’m sure many of them still treasure the selfies with their winner boats!
Paper plane contest picnics at a park can prove to be fun too.
Story Telling Time: An outdoors story telling day can be planned. Children and adults can take turns reading aloud or telling a story. Who know what talents can be discovered! Props can be added for extra fun. Colorful socks can be handed out with magic markers. Characters can be created using the socks as puppets. Older children can make a contest out of it and vote on a best story teller winner. Votes can be scribbled on small pieces of paper and dropped anonymously into a picnic basket or plastic bag. Through Twitter, a fun story telling twist idea was shared by Tammy Stewart, a CT 2nd grade teacher. She has her students use different voices to better understand the characters. What a clever and fun idea. A budding actor or writer can be uncovered!
Play ball or Frisbee: Play catch, organize an impromptu team to play, a favorite ball game, or catch. The dog can also join in the game. Plan weekly or monthly games as fun will be had by everyone. A friend’s dog used to grab the Frisbee as soon as he went for the leach. It’s hard to find a dog hating fetch.
Nature hike and bug hunt. I was never into bug hunts but my brothers were. So, I guess they’re fun. My nephew used to love to capture dragonflies and let them fly around under his shirt. Nature hikes are always cool and fun. Making a learning event of it is sure to be a hit. I remember fondly a few nature hikes that I took with my dad. He would name the different leaves along the way. You can make a fun foliage quiz and reference a book, ipad or smartphone. Collecting unique leaves for scrapbooking can be planned too. Children will enjoy using a magnifying glass to look at details and investigate upclose. Nature hikes and bug hunts are bound to make memorable memories.
Older kids can use cell phones to capture selfies with their favorite foliage or bug and best foliage/bug selfie contest can be incorporated.
Carwash events: I’m certain many of the neighbors will bring their cars. You can charge a token fee and use it to celebrate the day. Depending on the bounty, the day can end with an early show, or special dinner.
Let’s get painting: Make it an art day. Invite your friends and their children and plan a painting party. Nothing like the outdoors to unleash all those creative but messy ideas. There are so many new crayons colors, cool paint textures, finger paintings paints, washable paints, and glow in the dark paints. Most kids love such messy activities. And, in the outdoors, all is worry free. Plans can include saving paint splattered t-shirts, silk-screening them and dating them as souvenirs. Some kids might like to personalize theirs with multicolored paint soaked handprints as keepsakes. Mud pie contests, squirt water gun races, feet painting marathons, can be incorporated for added fun and yes, a messier fun.
Kite flying: Been around for years and enjoyed by children of all ages. Kite making and flying is a fun activity for the entire family that combines exercise, creativity and outside play. I remember my brother spending hours, designing and concentrating on his kites. He used to make his own. It was so fascinating. I used to love watching him fly his creation and plan certain design changes to make it fly higher. No wonder he became an engineer. There are lots of templates online. There is something so freeing about flying a kite. I’m sure children will enjoy watching it fly high in the sky as I did. An event can be planned around kite making and flying them. Children will enjoy personalizing them by painting them with their favorite colors and decorating them with unique tails.
Free Kite Printables and Montessori-Inspired Kite Activities
livingmontessorinow.com/2014/04/15/free-kite-printables-
Is making your own kite a little too adventurous? Then, buy one and help reintroduce kite flying to a new generation. You can buy a light colored one and have the kids personalize it by painting on it, and or writing their names on it.
Cardboard Playhouse Parties: As an event, a few can be made for each family attending. You can buy one or just create one. It’s more fun to create one and to personalize it. A friend spent hundreds on a playhouse for her granddaughter and they used to have pretend tea parties in it. It was fun to watch.
You can buy a wardrobe cardboard box and cutout the door and windows. A box cutter and strong outdoor tape is all you need. Children will enjoy spending the day painting and decorating multi playhouses or join in decorating one playhouse. There are many companies that offer cardboard playhouse sets that can be painted and then folded back to store away. Some include templates. Children can transform their cardboard playhouses into a fire station, a pet shop, a doll house, a castle or a space ship. Their imagination to be limited only by paint color schemes.
Large Cardboard Playhouse for Kids to Color
Here is a link to precut cardboard houses that come complete with doors, windows, mailbox, shaped cutouts, even the moon and stars. They offer a green alternative to plastic playhouses and they fold down flat to store away.
http://www.colorfulchildhoodstore.com/Kids-Paintable-Cardboard-Forts-House-Color-Rocket-s/57.htm
Backyard spring planting party. Planting spring bulbs is a lot of fun for the entire family. You can invite friends with similar aged children and make a spring planting event out of it. Gardening bucket sets can be found at the dollar store or at any discount store. This will be a fun learning experience too as pictures of the stages can be shared to explain the growth from seed to plant. Kids enjoy digging in the dirt. Bulbs are sturdy and are perfect for them to help plant them. Follow up picnics can be planned ahead of time to check on plant growth and scrapbooking can be part of it.
Create a water pond: I came across this idea at Lowes’ website.
http://www.lowes.com/creative-ideas/woodworking-and-crafts/childrens-play-pond/project
Creating a small water pond is a fun outdoor idea for toddlers. Can be planned for backyards or park outings and or picnics. Lowes suggests using an old heater’s drip pan. I guess you can find one at a junk yard or better yet at a Habitat restore. I’m sure a plastic planter tray can be substituted. You can go the extra mile and personalize the new play pond by painting the outside a child’s favorite color. They suggest the following steps:
Use an old heater drip pan, large plastic planter drip pan- kids can play with 26" water heater drip pan, #317904. 1–1/4" white rubber cork, #202315
Step-1 Using pliers, remove the drip pan’s PVC drain fitting. Insert a rubber stopper in its place.
Step-2 Set the pan on a level surface. Backfill soil or sand against the sides of the pan to create a stable base.
Step-3 Fill the pan with water and let them play pirates or just float their boats. It’s always a good idea to have water playtime supervised even though drip pans and planter trays are shallow.
Create a sandbox: It’s easier than you think to create one and it’s bound to keep younger children entertained for hours. If you’re handy you can go to town and make a fully lined sandbox with a hinged lid to keep away dirt, debris and the neighborhood cats. Here’s how I’ve made one. First, decide on size of sandbox. I’d say small for toddlers and a little bigger for older children. Buy at any home improvement store four precut treated 2x4 lumber and pond liner. Dig a line in the dirt and anchor the precut 2x4s. Connect the corners to each other with screws. If you’re not handy, you can ask the store to predrill four connecting corner holes. Anchoring plant stakes can be used behind each 2x4 to keep them in place. After you connect the corners, line the floor of sandbox with heavy duty trash bags, or cut an old tarp or pond liner. The rest of tarp can be cut and used to cover sandbox from the elements. Here’s a link with a step by step guide to building a sandbox. The comment section includes sandbox cover suggestions.
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/how-to/intro/0,,20176015,00.html
I hope I’ve given you a few ideas to rediscover your outdoors. Kindly share your fun outdoor playtime activities in the comment section. Finally, I’m hoping you’ll remember to set aside adult playtime too. Remember even picnics can be planned in a way to include adult playtime. The children can run around the park while you relax with a book. Yes, I said a book, not an ipad or a smartphone. You might want to put your foot down and ask the kids to create their own games. I’m sure they’ll find something fun to do that doesn’t involve you. Group gatherings can include fun outdoor group workouts or cookouts. Shared or swapped childcare with good friends can be another way for you to destress. We all need to rejuvenate somehow! Here’s wishing all the parents out there plenty of renewal and playtime in the sun!
