Spring is here! The weather is gorgeous so there’s no better time than now to put the electronics away and take your kids outside. BONUS: outdoor activities encourage your child to take risks, solve problems, and explore independently, and promote sensory, social, cognitive, and motor challenges.
Here are sixteen fun and beneficial activities to try with your child this spring:
- Swing and play on the playground
- Have your child play in mud puddles (works similar to sensory bins, but engages their whole bodies instead of just their hands)
- Climb over fallen logs and trees
- Carve name, initials, or face in trees (to challenge fine motor skills)
- Collect sticks and leaves to make a bonfire
- Plant flowers in the garden to promote fine motor skills (digging, manipulating seeds and plants, grasping gardening tools) and sensory processing skills (getting hands dirty, smelling the flowers/herbs)
- Create a scavenger hunt of outside items (sticks, leaves, flower, mulch, etc.)
- Play tag (great for endurance, strength, and coordination)
- Play in water (play in sprinkler, inflatable pool, a stream, or a river)
- Go for a hike in the woods
- Take a ride on a scooter, bike, or rollerblades
- Take indoor toys outside (have a car wash/give toys a bath)
- Climb a tree (grasping, endurance, strength, coordination)
- Blow bubbles outside and try to pop them
- Hula hoop
- Draw with sidewalk chalk
Make playing outdoors a high priority for your child this spring!
Karlie Moore, MS, OTR/L
Images Courtesy Pixabay
