Last time I posted I gave a lot of ideas for things to do indoors to give kids some sensory exploration, opportunities for language enrichment, and hours of entertainment when the weather outside is nasty or sweltering.
Today is all about my other favorite place to be during the summer. The great outdoors offers lots of natural opportunities for sensory exploration and language enrichment, and with a little creativity and prep, there are TONS of sensory things you can do outside!
Here are some of my favorites:
1)Digging for Treasure
Materials Needed: sand or loose dirt; plastic tub or kiddie pool (something for the dirt to go in); plastic dinosaurs, coins, cars, etc for "discovering; toy shovels, brushes, pails, etc for digging tools
Keep an eye on kids who are still mouthing everything for this activity.
Fill your chosen vessel with dirt or sand and toss in several toys to be the "loot". You can bury them at varying depths to keep it interesting for older kids. Set your kids up with shovels (or better yet, bare hands) to dig around and find everything. This activity is great for sensory input. Kids can get their large muscles going while they dig (especially kids that need that deep or heavy pressure, let them DIG), some fine motor practice cleaning off their treasures, and global input sifting through dirt, squishing it between their toes, and generally getting dirty.
2)Ice Painting
Materials Needed: Tempura paint or food coloring, water, ice cube trays (in fun shapes?), posterboard or smooth concrete surface, popsicle sticks (optional)
Mix together several colors of tempura paint with water (a 50/50 mix is a good start, or use more paint for brighter colors) in small bowls and pour them into ice cube trays. If desired, put halved popsicle sticks into each cube to give your paint a "handle." Pop them in the freezer for a few hours until they're completely frozen. When they're done, head outdoors with your posterboard and ice cube trays (I like to bring one at a time so I don't end up with paint soup quite so quickly). Kids can get creative painting with their ice cubes either on posterboard or on concrete. If you bring along a few little tubs of water you can have fun mixing colors as the cubes melt too!
One of the things I love about this activity is the temperature and texture of the ice cubes. You get cold/hot contrast to talk about and experience, and you can have great fun with the slippery paint cubes. If you use shaped cubes, you can also talk about the ways the shapes change as the ice melts.
3) Bubble Pool
Materials Needed: Kiddie pool or large shallow tub (if the kids are small), popsicle stick or something to stir with, bubble bath, food coloring, water, bath/pool toys (optional)
Fill your tub with water and bubbles, then put a few drops of food coloring on each bubble "mound." Use your stirrer to mix the color into the mounds. Then let the exploration begin! Once in the water, you can talk about the different colors you see, kids can get some sensory play blowing the bubbles, painting themselves with bubbles, and splashing around. You can add bath or pool toys for even more fun (slippery toys make for great sensory play and fine motor skills) if you'd like, but I promise this activity is plenty of fun all on its own.
4)Mud Kitchen
Materials Needed: Pots, pans, plastic tubs, mud, water, grass, leaves, sticks, twigs, rocks, etc.
Dig some dirt, mix it with water, and let your imagination do the rest. I use rinsed out yogurt and butter containers for most of my "pots" for this activity, and I get mixing spoons at dollar tree. Let your kiddos mix things you find around the yard into their mud "soup." Make sure the "tasting" is pretend, but let your kids mix with spoons, sticks, hands, whatever.
5) Sound and Sensory Walk
Materials Needed: Outdoor space!
This is the easiest activity to "set up" I have ever done. If you don't have a good place to go for a walk near your house, parks are prime spots for sensory walks. As you walk, listen for and talk about all the different things there are to hear. Splash in the puddles, dig in the dirt, feel the grass on your feet, or the leaves as they blow in the wind. This is a great low-key activity for a leisurely afternoon. It's also a fantastic trick to keep your kid interested and keep the conversation going if you're walking TO somewhere (like the playground or pool).
6) Shaving cream sensory play
Materials needed: shaving cream (at least one can), ice paint (optional), plastic tub or bin of choice.
Shaving cream makes for great sensory play and exploration for a lot of reasons. It's foamy and light, it squishes REALLY well, and it changes texture as you play with it. Scoop it, spread it, throw it, squish it, and have a blast! Shaving cream makes for pretty good building material for plop monsters too! If you want to put some of your ice paint cubes in it, it also makes a great color and painting exploration activity.
So there we have it. Some of my favorite outdoor sensory and language activities. As with any activity you do with kids, the most important thing is to have FUN! An invitation to play is what you create with these activities. If you have a sensory shy kid, they may only be comfortable with one touch the first time you introduce an activity. Don't be discouraged! Every kid can have fun in their own way with sensory play.
What are your favorite outdoor sensory activities for the summer?
