I’ll be sharing 10 engaging nature activities for kids ages 4-6 years old. These activities will get your kids out of the house, away from their devices (yay!) and out surrounded by nature enjoying these engaging, adventurous nature activities.
We’ve been homeschooling for almost 9 months now! One thing I’ve noticed since my kids have all become familiar with our routine, is how much they love being outside. It helps that we have a spacious backyard that they can play endless amounts of make-believe games and ride their scooters around in. But nevertheless, because we are home a lot more than we were last year, the kids want to be outside more than ever (absolutely no complaints from me!).
It is currently winter here, so some weeks are spent indoors, messy house, toy-covered floors and all! But when the sun’s out, so are the kiddos.
With my eldest daughter being in year one, we are learning a lot about nature. She loves to draw and get creative, so going outside to pick leaves and flowers or create a miniature rockpool are some of her favourite things to do!
If you find that your kids don’t like going outside often or are glued to their devices more than you’d like, these activities are simple and require not much planning whatsoever! So I hope you can pick and choose which ones you think your kiddos will like and go be amongst nature!
1. Create a miniature rockpool
In term one of this year, my daughter learned about coastal environments. I thought it would be a great idea to visit a rockpool, source some rocks, sea urchins, shells and other items and have my kids create their own rockpool.
Make sure you are well-prepared and bring some large buckets and towels to keep the car safe from sea water spillage (I learned the hard way!). But this was such a fun adventure. We spent the day at our closest beach (about an hour away from us), got us some Vitamin D and explored a rockpool. Definitely an excursion your kids are sure to remember.
2. Observe and draw a tree or flower
For the drawing-lovers, this one is such a simple activity! Like I said before, my daughter loves to draw, so it doesn’t take much effort to grab a piece of paper, pencil and rubber and go to the backyard and draw away.
For the younger kids, I would go outside with them and offer some guidance. But I love seeing their perspectives on paper.
For the kids who are prone to ‘perfectionism’, they may get frustrated if their drawing does not look exactly like the object they are drawing, so some encouragement may be needed. I also like to preface to my daughter (who likes her drawings to be perfect) to do her best drawing and not intend for it to look ‘perfect’ (whatever that means anyway!) and add her own spin on it, to make it more her own.
3. Collect some flowers on your walks
If you like to go on walks around the neighbourhood, then this is a wonderful your kids can do to make it extra special!
Have your kids grab a basket or small gift bag and whenever they see a flower, have them pop it in their basket. This is especially timely during the Spring or for collecting coloured leaves in Autumn.
My daughter did this with coloured leaves during Autumn and drew their different shapes into her nature studies book when we got home.
4. Draw a tree or flower in all four seasons
The picture above is of my daughter’s drawing of an apple tree in Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer.
It’s such a great activity associated with the seasons and how seasons impact nature. Capturing a beautiful visual of something like an apple tree changing throughout the year also teaches children about how time changes things, changing even us.
This type of activity can lead to conversations and activities about other things like climate change, animals and hibernation, and change in appearance as we grow older.
5. Grow a herb garden
Pictured is one of our smaller herb/vegetable garden. Fortunately we live with my parents at present and my mum plants the garden beds in our backyards, which of course, comes with eager help from our three kids.
Herb gardens are easy to plant and to maintain. I’m no expert, but you can check out a link on how to plant a thriving herb garden here.
Planting a garden is a great activity for little kids, because they are often eager to get involved and it doesn’t take long for the herbs to begin growing; they see the results quickly!
6. Visiting a local botanic garden
If you have a local botanic garden, like we do, they normally host different nature-based events each season. My favourite is Spring, because you can see all the brightly coloured flowers in one place.
Many botanic gardens have different areas or reserves you can explore. Ours has a lake, various reserves, a playground and a manmade rainforest.
Botanic gardens are great for exploring various plants and trees that you may not see in your neighbourhood.
7. Make nettle tea
Nettle is a type of weed that can be ingested (after it gets steamed, to destroy its hairs). Because it is such a common weed, you can have your child pick it from the garden and make tea from it.
It’s a great way to show kids how nature has medicinal benefits; nettle being a type of diuretic and liver cleanser.
8. Spotting bird species
Go into your backyard and ask your child to spot any birds they can see and teach them what the type of bird is; better yet, have them tell you!
This is a great way of observing the kind of birds that live in your area and how to identify birds that are native to your country.
9. The bird game
This is a game that my daughter made up.
Whenever you are in the car, play a game of who can spot as many birds as possible. And whoever spots the most, wins! Sometimes a little healthy competition is good for resilience-building (especially if the older sibling wins most of the time!).
10. Visit a nature reserve
Similar to a botanic garden, a nature reserve can offer lots of unfamiliar landscape and nature sightseeing.
The great thing about nature reserves are that they are free to visit and often quiet.
Playing games like picking 5 different types of leaves or spotting 10 different kinds of bugs are fun games to play at a nature reserve.
Check out some more of my homeschooling content:
How to decide to homeschool your children
Homeschool schedule ideas with free template
What are some fun nature activities you like to do with your kids? Comment below!
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