Outdoor Play

Let’s Go On a Listening Walk

March 22, 2018 By Terri Thompson

If you want to add a peaceful element to your next walk with your kids, go on a listening walk.

Take the time to enjoy the peace and quiet or even the hustle and bustle of your neighborhood with this fun walk idea for families.

Listen carefully… what do you hear?

You can take an informal walk where the goal is to see just how many things you can hear.

Do you hear a cricket chirping? A car horn? Tweeting birds?

Emphasize quiet where the only time someone talks is when they want to share what they hear.

This is such a nice way to wind down together as a family at the end of a busy day. Or, it’s a fun morning activity to get the day started.

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.

Use your ears to go on a fun listening scavenger hunt while you walk around your neighborhood with this fun walk idea for families, a listening walk.

You can also bring along a list of items to create a listening scavenger hunt.We keep a stack of lists on a small clipboard that’s easy to grab and take along outside. You can print out our list here or you can make your own lists.

Here are some ideas you can add to you listening walk list:

A dog barking
Cars driving by
An airplane flying overhead
Geese honking
People talking
Children giggling
The wind whispering
Buzzing bees
Crows cawing
A car door slamming

Use your ears to go on a fun listening scavenger hunt while you walk around your neighborhood with this fun walk idea for families.

When making your list, think about the sounds you often hear in your neighborhood. If you live in the country, add a lot of nature sounds. A city walk could include vehicle noises, people, or construction noises.

Print your list here. Prints in landscape format.

Listen and learn about your neighborhood! What sorts of noises would you hear on a walk around your town?

You may also enjoy one of these outdoor family fun ideas:

Go Outside! Cards

Go Outside: Counting Walk

10 Ways to Make a Walk More Fun

My Five Senses Walk at Great Family Reads

Originally published 8/5/2013, updated March, 2018.

Go Outside: Shape Hopscotch

September 11, 2017 By Terri Thompson

Shape hopscotch, a fun outdoor shape game, is not a new idea to us, nor is it new to this blog. (I shared it here in the very first months of this blog.)

But, I wanted to share it again for a few reasons.

First, it’s fun and we play it often.

Second, it’s easy to do and it’s a great way to get outside.

And third, both toddlers and preschoolers will love learning their shapes with a simple game of hopscotch.

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

Get moving and learning with this fun outdoor shape activity, Shape Hopscotch. It's easy to set and so much for for preschoolers and toddlers.

Set up is easy.

Grab a few fun colors of sidewalk chalk and a bare spot of cement.

Draw several shapes in a line; the same as you would do for a regular hopscotch game.

I used simple shapes as a review for my 3-year old, but you could make things even harder by using octagons, polygons, and any number of shapes

Find a couple of rocks, grab the kids, and start playing.

How to Play Shape Hopscotch

For our version, the girls took turns throwing their rock. They had to hop to the shape closest to their rock.

They practiced jumping on one foot and they also had to name each shape as they landed in it.

For these two, the hopping on one foot was a much bigger challenge than naming the shape.

You can mix this game up as much as you want.

If you’re playing with toddlers, just have them jump (or run) to each shape and then name the shapes as they stand in them.

Or, call out a shape and have your kids run to that shape.

Practice your gross motor skills by hopping, standing on one foot, skipping, etc.The possibilities are endless.

The best part is that it gets you outside and gets your kids moving!

Have you ever played shape hopscotch?

Originally published April 3, 2013. Updated September 11, 2017.

Find more shape activities here:

Get Crafty: Shape Collages

Shape Hunt

Driveway Shape Maze

Outdoor Shape Activities for Kids

10 Shape Activities for Toddlers at Hands On As We Grow

12 Shapes Themed Sensory Bins for Preschoolers at Fun With Mama

Sidewalk Chalk Outdoor Clock Game

June 7, 2017 By Terri Thompson

I never did discover just how much fun math can be until I had kids of my own. It’s not just a pile of worksheets after all!

I try to support my girls’ math learning at home all the time. And, when it comes to math practice at home, I’ve got one criteria – it has to be fun!

So we grabbed out sidewalk chalk and went outside to practice math with a fun outdoor clock game.

This outdoor clock game is a fun way to get outside, get moving, and practice telling time with a giant sidewalk chalk clock.

This Sidewalk Chalk Clock Game is a fun way to get outside, get moving, and practice math. Can math practice be anymore fun?

Set up your outdoor clock game

Before we began the game, we drew a big clock on our driveway with sidewalk chalk.

Your kids will need to move around the clock and use their bodies as the clock hands, so you need to make a large clock.

I drew the circle and the marks for each hour. I had the girls fill in the numbers for the hours and the extra lines in between each. It truly was a collaborative effort.

How to play this clock game

The game works best with two people. One person is the hour hand and the other person is the minute hand.

Since my girls are at two different levels in math, I had my youngest daughter (1st grade) be the hour hand and my older daughter (3rd grade) be the minute hand.

Once we were ready, I called out a time. The girls had to stand on the correct location.

For instance, If I said “1:30,” one child would stand on the 1 and the other child would stand on the 6. In order to challenge my oldest, I would call out harder times like 3:56, 5:18, and 12:23. Keep with whatever level your child is at.

Easy game variation for one child

If you are playing with only one child, get in and play the game with them!

Or, use rocks for one or both of the hands. One rock for the hour hand and one rock for the minute hand. Instead of standing in the correct locations, place the rocks in the correct location.

This outdoor clock game is tons of fun and can be easily adapted for any level.

My girls always love to take their learning outside – and who can blame them?

Draw a clock on the driveway and you’ll have tons of learning fun, at least until the next time it rains!

Stop Summer Slide with Outdoor Math Games

May 4, 2017 By Terri Thompson

It’s official.

Summer break is coming soon and my girls’ school has started sending home info sheets about preventing summer slide. Luckily, their school suggested some fun things like outdoor math games along with workbook recommendations.

What is summer slide? I’m not going to get into stats for you, I’ll leave those to the educational sites. But basically, it’s the tendency for kids to lose some of the things they learned in school over break. As a result, teachers have to spend time time at the beginning of the school year reviewing the year before instead of moving on to new things.

Stop summer slide and practice your math with some fun outdoor math games. They'll get you out in nature and get you moving while you practice math.

Luckily, it’s not that hard (or painful) to prevent summer slide and give your kids a head start on the next year.

You don’t need workbooks (although they’re certainly available if that’s what you prefer) and you don’t need to sit and do “schoool” over the summer.

I want summer learning to be fun and I want it to be different from what my kids typically experience in school. It can be more hands-on and individualized. I don’t want this to be a chore.

Summer learning can also take place outside, like these outdoor math games. Try one of these ideas to keep your kids’ math skills fresh. They can move and learn or even explore nature while practicing math.

Learn On the Driveway

(Pictured left to right)

Add a twist to a classic game. Math Geek Mama added a fun twist to hopscotch to practice skip counting.

You can also use hopscotch to practice your multiplication facts. Check out Coffee Cups and Crayons for this fun version of Multiplication Hop Scotch.

Draw a hundred chart on your driveway. There are so many fun games to play with it.

Or, draw a giant clock on your driveway. Practice telling time with this fun Sidewalk Chalk Clock Game.

Play with a number line. No Time for Flashcards has some great ideas of ways you can use your giant Outdoor Number Line.

Brush up on your measuring skills. Measure your chalk drawings with this fun idea from JDaniel4’s Mom.

Learn With Nature

(Pictured left to right)

Explore some trees. Math Geek Mama has some great suggestions to incorporate trees into your math practice.

Practicing the math concept of counting on can happen just about anywhere. Here are some suggestions of how to practice on a nature walk.

Turn a wood stump into a geoboard. Mummy Musings and Mayhem shows you how to make this fun tool that you can use again and again.

Use rocks as a manipulative to practice math. Here are some suggestions of ways to use the rocks to practice many different math concepts.

Play Some Fun Outdoor Math Games

(Pictured left to right)

Water play and summer go hand-in-hand, so add math into the mix and you get this fun Water Squirter Math game from Kitchen Counter Chronicles.

Do math at the park! Practice your number stories while you have fun on the playground equipment. What could be better?

You can find even more fun outdoor math ideas here at Mama Smiles.

There’s no need to purchase a workbook when you can have fun playing these outdoor math games!

Have some summer fun and do some learning at the same time with these outdoor math games. It's a great way to stop summer slide!

Find more ways to prevent summer slide here:

Stop Summer Slide While Learning in the Garden

Stop Summer Slide with Fun Reading Challenges

Outdoor Shape Activity: Driveway Shape Maze

May 3, 2017 By Terri Thompson

We recently started reviewing shapes with my youngest (age 3).

One thing I love about learning shapes is that there are so many fun ways to teach them… endless ways to learn about them!

So, while the weather was nice, it was time for an outdoor shape activity. This Driveway Shape Maze is perfect for kids who like to move and learn outside.

Move and learn at the same time with the fun outdoor shape activity, a driveway shape maze. It's fun for both preschoolers and toddlers.

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

Grab some sidewalk chalk and set up your shape maze

This outdoor shape activity takes a little effort to set up, but you’ll be able to play with it for days (at least until it rains). Grab your sidewalk chalk and let’s get going.

One beautiful morning, I ran outside, grabbed the sidewalk chalk, and started drawing shapes. I filled in a substantial section of our driveway.

We have been working on one shape at a time and the current focus is squares.

So, I made sure to include more squares than any other shape. You can focus on any shape or draw a variety of all the shapes.

It’s time to play!

When the girls came outside, I explained the game to them.

They each stood in a square on the first row, then they had to get to the other side, stepping only in squares.

Ready, set, go!

Both girls had a lot of fun with this game.

Even my oldest (age 5), who knows her shapes really well, loved the physical aspect of the game.

She soon challenged herself with all the shapes and also tried to see if she could jump over shapes and make giant steps.

Extend the fun of this outdoor shape activity with a few variations:

*Go through the maze many times choosing a different shape each time. First step on squares, next step on triangles, and then step on circles.

*Instead of just walking a maze, challenge your child to jump on all of the squares or all of the circles.

*Adapt this for older kids, by adding more challenging shapes like octagons and hexagons or 3-D shapes like cones or cubes. You could also make a maze identifying the different types of triangles, like equilateral triangles and right triangles.

It’s easy to add a little physical movement to learning. You can play the same game using numbers or even the letters of your child’s name. Have fun learning!

Make it a Family Adventure

Cost: Free (Under $5.00 if you don’t already have sidewalk chalk)
Planning Time: 5-10 minutes to draw the maze on the driveway
Ages: 2-5
Time Needed: At least 15 minutes to play.
Notes: This is a great project for some spur-of-the-moment fun. And, if you don’t want to draw the whole maze yourself, enlist the family and get out there together!