Plan a day outdoors with your toddler! This list of outdoor activities for toddlers can give you ideas for things to do with your little one.
Are you looking for creative and educational sand, water, and nature activities for toddlers to enjoy in their very own backyard? Keep reading! This post is for you!
When the weather is fine, it is great for parents to encourage their toddlers to play outdoors.
Playing outdoors will provide the opportunity for toddlers to exercise and explore nature while enjoying some fresh air and sunshine.
With a selection of fun outdoor activities for toddlers to enjoy, television will become a gadget of the past.
Outdoor Activities for Toddlers
Water Play for Toddlers
Toddlers enjoy engaging in water play, whether they are splashing in a small pool, playing in a sprinkler, or squirting water pistols.
Check out these Reusable Water Balloons or BunchOBalloons for water play, too!
Water play is ideal for familiarising toddlers with water and teaching them about water safety.
For a clean alternative to painting, dip a paintbrush in some water and encourage the toddler to paint concrete and brick areas with “water paint” or use a spray bottle for a different effect.
Other water play activities for toddlers include:
Sand Play for Young Children
Children develop and improve their hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills through sand play.
Gather a number of small items, like coins, shells, small cars, and play gems and bury the items in the toddler’s sandbox to create a treasure hunt.
Toddlers will love the feel of sand through their hands, making sand pies. Wet a section of sand, scoop, and mold pies into shapes using hands.
Decorate with pebbles, twigs, and leaves and set up a pretend bakery to sell the toddler’s treats.
Other sand play activities include:
- building sandcastles
- sandpit race track
- sand toys
- sifting sand through a sieve
- sand slime
- make your own colorful sand (using salt!)
Exploring Nature With Toddlers
Pick flowers, gather leaves, stones, and feathers, and let the toddler feel the different textures of each object.
Allow toddlers to explore nature through a magnifying glass. Get up close to ants and other insects, leaves, grass, and flowers.
Enlarge the appearance of creatures, surfaces, and objects; toddlers normally would not look twice at them.
Get some large pieces of chalk and allow the toddler to draw on concrete areas around the house.
Find a sunny spot on the driveway, and if the child will stand still long enough, draw an outline of the child with chalk.
The toddler can then decorate by drawing facial features or enjoy trying to fit their shadow back within the outline.
How to Make Sidewalk Chalk Paint
From water play to treasure hunts, there are numerous exploratory and educational activities for toddlers to enjoy in their own backyard.
Show young children how much fun can be had in the great outdoors, and as they grow, outdoor play will become a part of their everyday life.