4 Playful Outdoor Activities for Toddlers

As precious and entertaining as toddlers can be, your home can start to feel pretty cramped after a while — especially considering so many of us are spending even more time inside due to COVID-19. When you combine a toddler’s insatiable curiosity about the world with their naturally high energy levels, you’ll get a whirlwind hungry for an outlet.

Getting outside can relieve a lot of this tension, allowing little ones to connect with the natural world around them while also giving them new ways in which they can expend some of that enthusiasm — besides pulling the books off the shelves, finger-painting your walls or riding the family dog like a miniature pony.

Regardless of the season or time of day, there’s always something worth doing outside. 

Here are four activities to help get you started.

Paint with Natural Materials

Want to let your little ones unleash their inner artists without creating a big mess indoors? Try this imaginative twist on painting from UNC Health Talk: Create paintings with natural things you find outdoors — like grass, leaves, sticks, bark, stones and more. Dipping a fallen leaf in paint and stamping it on clothing is a memorable, low-impact craft — while a bundle of grass makes an excellent substitute for a paintbrush.

Half the fun is finding the objects; the other half is making beautiful crafts and keepsakes. All you need is some paint and a dash of imagination.

Make Feeders for the Birds

This next example of outdoor play for toddlers from Tinkergarten requires only a few supplies you’ll probably already have lying around the house. This one is sure to be a hit with your neighborhood birds and kiddos alike.

The idea is to create bird feeders, asking the little learners to help with key steps like scooping seeds into hollowed-out orange peels and picking a great tree in which to hang the feeders. Another great element is the sensory experience of smelling and feeling the oranges, seeds, pinecones and peanut butter — get creative with the exact materials you use.

Afterwards, you can periodically observe the feeders with your toddler. They’re sure to squeal with delight when a bird shows up for a snack.

Create a Sensory Play Pool

Chances are you have at least one old, underused kiddie pool in your yard, garage or basement. A terrific way to put those kiddie pools to good use is creating an outdoor space for sensory play.

The obvious approach is to fill the pool with water and pool toys. However a more creative tack is to fill the pool with dirt or sand to make an excavation site. Another way to go is to create a foamy wonderland with a kid-safe colorful foam recipe. 

The key here is adding elements to engage most of your toddlers’ senses.

Take a Flower/Tree Walk

Add a little pep to your step by spicing up your daily walk. How? By making it a “scavenger hunt” to find certain characteristics of flowers or trees. Ask toddlers to keep an eye out for a certain color or type of flower — or any flowers they see, really — then run over and smell them to celebrate! You can do this with changing leaves in the fall too.

This game can be especially fun and effective in a nature preserve or botanical garden, although a stroll through the neighborhood works beautifully as well. The most important things are to have fun, engage the senses, learn to recognize/categorize objects and celebrate the many little joys of nature.

A sense of playfulness and a little improvising goes a long way toward making these outdoor activities for toddlers a smashing success.