Nature Activities for Kids

Tips for Hiking With Young Children

May 2, 2018 By Terri Thompson

Does the thought of hiking with young children send shivers down your spine? Where can you go? Will I end up having to carry my kids half-way through? How can I keep them safe? All. The. Worries.

I’m here to tell you to stop worrying. You’ve got this.

Hiking can be such a fun family activity. It gets everyone moving. You can explore a new place. And, it’s a fun way to learn and explore in nature.

Yes, you can go hiking with young children. It's a fun and rewarding family activity. Find all the best tips for a successful hike with your toddlers and preschoolers here so you can plan a successful family hike.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

How to have a fun hike with your kids

I took my kids hiking by myself all the time when they were younger. But, here’s the thing, our hikes looked a lot different than they would if it was just me and my husband.

But, no matter how they looked, they were fun and they were valuable. My kids loved a family hike.

The key: keep it simple and keep it on your kid’s level.

You don’t need to hike up a mountain or go deep in the woods to experience all the fun of a hike. For our hikes we often stayed local and would choose a paved path in a wooded area.

We also kept it short, stopping and turning around when the girls requested it. After all, there was no way I could carry both of my kids back to the car if we went too far.

A long hike for a young child may not necessarily seem long to you and that’s okay.

Let your kids lead the way

Another thing that worked well for me when hiking with young children was to let my girls lead the way. I would stop when they stopped. I would look at what they looked at.

We would examine anything and everything that they wanted to look at. I saw so many nature treasures that I would have missed if I didn’t have the kids along.

We’d look at a cool rock or feel the texture of the bark on a tree. My daughter had an eagle eye when it came to spotting wildflowers.

We picked up sticks and laid them all out to examine and figure out which were the best ones. Apparently there is special 4-year-old criteria when it comes to finding the best stick.

If you look high and look low, you’re sure to find something interesting, like this bird’s nest already abandoned for the winter.We also found bright yellow leaves, a big curvy tree, a small batch of berries (which we learned not to touch since we don’t know what they are), a secret path leading to a dock on a small lake and lots of nature treasures.

We found all of these on small, simple hikes.

Tips for Hiking With Young Children

Keep it short.
Bring along water and small healthy snacks for energy. (And be prepared to carry your waste until you find a trashcan.)
Keep it slow. Let your kids explore and examine as much as they want.
Go someplace familiar. You will feel more comfortable if you know the area well.
Turn back if the kids start getting tired. You don’t want to push them and end up having to carry an exhausted child!
Use your eyes, ears, and nose to learn a little about the natural world around you. Experience the hike, don’t just walk it.
And the most important… Keep it simple! You will all enjoy yourself more.

Let’s Go on a Family Hike!

Are you ready? Let’s do this.

Pick a location, get the kids ready, and just go. I guarantee you’ll have fun and want to go hiking over and over again.

Hiking is such a great family activity that you can do with kids of all ages. Keep it simple while hiking with young children and then as your kids grow older, you can go on longer and longer hikes.

Get out, explore, and have fun.

Kids to Parks Day

I wrote this post to help celebrate Kids to Parks Day from the National Park Trust which is coming up on Saturday, May 19, 2018. It’s a fun day to get out and have fun with the family. You can attend an official event or do something on your own, like a fun family hike! You can check here to find a local event.

No matter what you do, take the opportunity to celebrate the outdoors and to celebrate your family. Have fun! Share your adventures with the #KidstoParks hashtag on social media.

Nature Activity Books for Young Explorers

March 27, 2018 By Terri Thompson

It’s so much fun to explore nature. You can just wander, observe, and learn so much.

But, sometimes you want some help guiding you and teaching you. I’ve found a few nature activity books that do just that and I wanted to tell you about them.

They’re fun. They’ll inspire you to get outside. And, you’ll learn a lot in the process.

Disclosure: The Nature Arts and Crafts ebook was provided to me free of charge, the other two books I purchased myself. They’re all books that I highly recommend! There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

We used all three of these nature activity books for summer learning. We explored our backyard and made some fun creations inspired by nature. These books all got two thumbs up from each of my girls (and me too).

I hope we get them out again and again!

A Little Bit of Dirt by Asia Citro

Get inspired to explore and create with A Little Bit of Dirt: 55+ Science and Art Activities to Reconnect Children with Nature by Asia Citro. It’s got fun ideas for nature exploration, and creative ways to use nature finds.

You can make Texture Garden, play Rain Drums, or do some Pounding Art. Doesn’t that sound like fun? I love that the ideas appeal to all ages of kids, from toddlers and preschoolers to my own elementary aged kids.

We had tons of fun making our Acrylic Paint Sun Print t shirts. The instructions were clear and the project was easy for my girls to do. Plus, the results were stunning!

We have plans for several more projects in this book. It should be fun!

100 Backyard Activities by Colleen Kessler

Learn all you can about your own yard with this fun book, 100 Backyard Activities That are the Dirtiest, Coolest, Creepy-Crawliest Ever by Colleen Kessler. It’s packed full of ideas to help you learn all about the creatures and plants in your own backyard.

This book is better suited for your older kids in elementary or even middle school, but it can also work great with mixed age groups.

We decided to try some of the roly poly investigation activities because we have so many of those fun little bugs living around our yard. My girls made the Critter Choice Container and then performed the experiments. The were observing, recording, and having fun. They learned a lot!

There are just so many ideas in this book, that we’ll be getting it out year after year. It will be awhile before my kids grow out of this one!

Nature Arts and Crafts Printables by Penny Whitehouse

This fun ebook (and printable pack) of Nature Arts and Crafts by Penny Whitehouse, will inspire you to get out and get creative with nature. You’ll find over 30 printables to help you get creative from making patterns and finding symmetry to fun nature weaving ideas. You just need to print the page for the activity you’ll want to do.

This book is divided into two sections. The first will show you all the fun activities and the second section has all the printables.

We spent a fun afternoon creating with the Nature Dress Up printables. The printable includes the face, arms, and legs, and you get to use nature finds to make all the clothes, hair, and shoes for your sweet little nature kids. We had a lot of fun and my girls found some creative ways to make their clothes.

This fun book, cannot be found on Amazon like the other two, but you can find it here. It’s a great source for nature fun and you can use the printables over and over again since you’ll be printing them yourself.

Grab one of these nature activity books

All of these fun nature activity books inspired my girls and I to get out and explore nature. We had fun, learned a lot, and spent some time together. What could be better?

Which one of these books are you most excited to try?

If you enjoyed these nature activity books, the above photo is perfect for sharing on Facebook or you can save the photo below on Pinterest.

You may also enjoy one of these outdoor kids activities:

Parts of a Dandelion Nature Exploration

Bird Watching Journal

Forest Treasure Jars

How to Attract Fireflies at Inspiration Laboratories

Parts of a Dandelion Nature Exploration

March 16, 2018 By Terri Thompson

Most adults see the dandelion as a weed, but to kids it’s magical.

My girls constantly pick me beautiful dandelion bouquets. They blow the seeds and watch them fly.

In a child’s eye, this sometimes pesky weed is beautiful. So, we’re going to take this natural fascination and use our backyard as a science lab while we explore dandelions and learn the parts of a dandelion.

The Dandelion Seed

We started our explanation of the dandelion with a book. We read The Dandelion Seed by Joseph Anthony and followed along on a dandelion seed’s journey.

It was a fascinating journey and one we could explore ourselves.

After we were done, I sent the girls off to find some dandelions. We were going to look closely at the flower and the seed.

Exploring the parts of a dandelion

We used our magnifying glasses and my daughter’s new magnifier to look at the parts of the dandelion. (This is similar to the magnifier we used.)

We tore the petals off the flower and picked the seeds off to look at them closer. Then, we tested our observation skills and learned about flowers.

We looked at the seed head, which is the round part of the flower that the seeds were attached to. We also looked at the hollow stem of the dandelion. Finally, we examined the seeds themselves.

If you want to try this lesson yourself, you will need nothing more than a magnifying glass.

I also brought out a piece of black paper to help us observe the small parts. You can see the tiny parts of a dandelion much better on the plain, dark background.

Here are some questions to ask while examining dandelions

How does a dandelion seed fly through the air?

What part of a dandelion flower becomes the seed?

Can you see the white fluffy part when you pull the petals from the flower?

What does a seed need to grow?

Why do you think there are so many dandelions?

We used our notebooks and drew all the different things a seed needs to grow. We drew the sun, water, and roots and we also drew a dandelion seed.

Our little notebooks are turning into a fun nature journal.

Lessons learned from the dandelion

Observation (using our five senses to describe a dandelion flower and seed)
The parts of a dandelion
How a seed grows
How a seed flies through the air

Have you ever spent time examining a dandelion?

Storybook Science

If you’d like more science projects inspired by fun children’s books, you can check out the Storybook Science series. Check it out here to find all the fun projects. I’m sure you’ll want to try them all!

Recommended Resources

For our nature exploration we used the book The Dandelion Seed, which was written by Joseph Anthony and illustrated by Chris Arbo. It’s a delightful book with lovely illustrations so you can follow a dandelion seed’s journey and learn about the life cycle of a seed.

You can buy it here: The Dandelion Seed.

And also, check out the sequel: Dandelion Seed’s Big Dream.

10 Ways to Explore Nature In Winter

January 24, 2018 By Terri Thompson

I don’t know about you, but winter is always the hardest season for me to come up with ideas to get us outside and exploring nature. It’s cold, it’s windy, everything is dormant… you know what I’m talking about, right?

So, what can you do?

I did some searching and came up with 10 fun kids activities to help us get out and explore nature in winter. Get out and explore those things that are unique to winter. You won’t even notice the cold.

10 Ways to Explore Nature in Winter

1. Feed the birds.

Use existing bird feeders or make your own, like our simple bird feeders. Put the bird feeders close to a window and provide small notebooks, binoculars and a bird book. See what kind of birds live in your neighborhood in the winter. (Special note: if you do decide to feed the birds, please continue to feed them until spring comes and they are able to find their own food.)

2. Explore ice.

What are its properties? When does it melt? Try to break it. Mama Smiles recently spent some time exploring ice. Check out all the fun they had!

3. Learn to read an outdoor thermometer and check the temperature outside.

Use the opportunity to learn a little about weather and the characteristics of winter in your area.

4. Learn about snowflakes.

Look at them up close with a magnifying glass. What do you see? Teach Preschool shows you how to catch snowflakes on black paper so you can examine them up close.

5. Explore rocks.

It doesn’t matter the season, rocks are always in abundance. Have fun exploring and learning about rocks. Or, you can do like Kitchen Counter Chronicles and make rock art.

Even when the world is covered with snow, there are many fun ways to explore nature in winter with kids. Bundle up, go outside, and learn about snow, ice, and other things that are unique to winter.

6. Look for signs of life.

Winter is the time of year when many plants are dormant. But, not everything! Go exploring and see if you can find any signs of life. If you need inspiration, Rainy Day Mum recently went searching for fairy homes (aka mushrooms).

7. Give your kids a camera and see what they can find.

Go on a photo walk with your kids. What do you notice? See the beauty in the details. Here are some great tips from Peanut Blossom for going on a photo walk.

8. Read a book about winter animals and look for signs of wildlife.

Try finding foot prints near a wooded area. Learn about which animals hibernate and which ones need to forage for food in the winter. Animals in Winter (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science) by Henrietta Bancroft is a great resource for this activity.

You can also find some great Winter Nature Books here that will encourage you and your kids to get out and explore.

9. Bring it inside.

If it’s too cold to go outside and explore, bring some nature indoors. Set up a nature table with all the nature treasures you’ve collected throughout the year. Or, you can do like Mama Smiles did and bring some snow indoors to play. You don’t always have to be outside to explore nature!

10. Make art.

Get creative. Use the natural items that you find and make beautiful art. The Chocolate Muffin Tree made this beautiful snowy land art for Valentine’s Day.

Bonus activity:

PLAY! Throw snowballs, make a snow angel, collect sticks, and most of all have fun!

No matter the season, there are always great things to discover in nature. Bundle up and have some fun while you explore nature in winter.

Kid-Made Bird Feeders for a Bird-Friendly Yard

August 5, 2016 By Terri Thompson

Birds certainly are fun to watch, aren’t they?

A house never quite feels like home to us unless we’ve got birds fluttering around.

We like to attract them to our yard with bird feeders that we keep filled all year long. Most of ours are store-bought, but it’s always fun to offer a kid-made bird feeder to our feathered friends.

Invite the birds to your yard with one of these kid-made bird feeders. DIY bird feeders are a great family craft and a fun way to learn about nature.

You can buy a bird feeder, make your own, or have a combination of the two if you want a bird-friendly yard.

Keep reading below for some fantastic ideas for kid-made bird feeders. They’ll all attract fun feathered friends to your yard.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

For the Little Kids

(pictured left to right)

A bird feeder doesn’t have to get more complicated than stringing bird-friendly food. This Cheerio Bird Feeder is super-easy to make and the birds love it.

Add some berries and you’ve got these great Cheerio and Berry Bird Feeders from Happy Hooligans. I love how you can make them into lots of different shapes.

One of my favorite simple bird feeders is a Toilet Paper Roll Bird Feeder. The Resourceful Mama shows you how to make this simple project.

Before throwing away fruit that’s past its prime, turn it into these “Clean Out the Cupboard” Bird Feeders from Happy Hooligans.

Turn a pine cone into a bird feeder. You can find the instructions for a Pine Cone Bird Feeder at Juggling With Kids.

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For the Bigger Kids

(pictured left to right)

Turn a simple wooden frame from the craft store into a fun (and colorful) refillable bird feeder. You can find the instructions for Homemade Bird Feeders Using Frames at Buggy and Buddy.

Decorate your trees with pretty shaped bird feeders. Kitchen Counter Chronicles has the instructions for these simple Cookie Cutter Bird Feeders.

Clean out a lotion bottle and turn it into a bird feeder. Find out how to make this recycled bird feeder at Teach Beside Me.

Have you ever seen those beautiful bird feeder wreaths? Did you know that it’s a project you can do with your kids? Suger, Spice, & Glitter has all the instructions you need for creating a Kid-Made Bird Feeder Wreath.

Turn a gourd or small pumpkin into a bird feeder. Check out Kitchen Counter Chronicles for this pretty project.

Don’t forget to keep track of all your feathered friends with a Bird Watching Journal!

Nature Activities for Kids

How to have a fun hike with your kids

Let your kids lead the way

Tips for Hiking With Young Children

Let’s Go on a Family Hike!

Kids to Parks Day

You may also like one of these fun family activities:

A Little Bit of Dirt by Asia Citro

100 Backyard Activities by Colleen Kessler

Nature Arts and Crafts Printables by Penny Whitehouse

Grab one of these nature activity books

You may also enjoy one of these outdoor kids activities:

The Dandelion Seed

Exploring the parts of a dandelion

Here are some questions to ask while examining dandelions

Lessons learned from the dandelion

Storybook Science

You may also like one of these nature activities:

Recommended Resources

10 Ways to Explore Nature in Winter

1. Feed the birds.

2. Explore ice.

3. Learn to read an outdoor thermometer and check the temperature outside.

4. Learn about snowflakes.

5. Explore rocks.

6. Look for signs of life.

7. Give your kids a camera and see what they can find.

8. Read a book about winter animals and look for signs of wildlife.

9. Bring it inside.

10. Make art.

Bonus activity:

You may also like one of these fun ideas:

For the Little Kids

For the Bigger Kids

You may also like one of these fun bird activities:

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