Outside activities
Sidewalk chalk is fun. You can make sidewalk chalk paint and brush it on. You can even use balls in sidewalk chalk paint to create some real fun (and fun learning). But we like to put another twist on it, too. Squeezie bottle sidewalk chalk!
You will need some squeezie bottles (we got ours at the local dollar store), cornstarch, water, and food coloring. If you are worried about the food coloring staining, you can just make it without it and it will dry a very bright white. It still looks really cool.
Pour your cornstarch in a bowl or container.
Add water and stir until you get a nice thin viscosity. you want it to be able to squeeze through the hole in the bottle.
Pour your sidewalk chalk paint into the bottle and add food coloring. My 3 year old daughter picked pink and my 5 year old son picked blue, but only after I told him that I could not make the paint camo. Then we had a discussion about how camo is NOT a color. Good grief. 
Now squeeze away.
We made hearts.
We made dragons. That is a Ninjago dragon in case you are wondering.
We mixed our colors. This was done to aggravate big brother, but it turned out to be really fun once I stepped in to point out the cool effects they were making together.
We ran and squeezed. My 3 year noticed that when she ran and squeezed she only got dots in a line and not an actual line. Very cool observation. So we talked a little about it and demonstrated.
We left our mark all over the driveway. Daddy came home to a neat surprise.
Kim is a contributing writer for No Time For Flash Cards, a mom to a toddler, a preschooler, and a foster parent, too. She juggles her day by trying out fun activities and crafts with the kids. After all, she is just a big kid herself. See what she has been up to over at Mom Tried It.
Once nice weather makes it our way in the Seattle area we run outside and stay until the rains come. We have been playing outside a lot and I needed something that both kids could be engaged in so I wasn’t trying to watch one outside while the other was inside . This was the ticket , you will see that they weren’t doing the same thing at the same time but everyone was happy and I sat in the sun listening to giggles under a blue sky. Pretty perfect, of course I had to strip them both down at the door so my carpets weren’t ruined but that’s the price you pay for fun. As you will see there was lots of learning happening too.
Gather your materials. We grabbed a bunch of different sized containers, some spoons, shovel and bucket. We have raised beds in our yard with soil in them so we used that too.
We dug some dirt. 
They got water together
And that’s when we lost my wee girl. She decided she’d play with water – and drink a lot of it.
My son was deep in mud soup making. 
He soon noticed that if he put the dirt on the water it sank. We talked about why while my daughter continued to drench herself at the tap.
He counted and added bits of weeds, leaves, flowers, rocks, clovers…
Then pretended to give it a taste before adding a little more of this or that.
Oh look who came back to see what we were up to. She finally joined in adding dandelions and water.
Then I sat watching them play soaking up the giggles.
What’s your favorite outside activity with your kids?
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Spring is almost here and it will be summer before we know it , here are 50 simple outdoor activities to get your kids outside without breaking the bank. Activities with kids don’t have to be elaborate so browse the list of fun things to do and get outside!
- Paint like Monet.
- Go on a bug hunt.
- Run through a sprinkler.
- Melt some crayons in the sun .
- Play in a sandbox.
- Investigate your yard with a magnifying glass .
- Paint some rocks with water colors.
- Wash the paint away with the hose.
- Hunt for “dinosaur” bones.
- Play with a hose.
- Play Angry Birds ( with water balloons).
- Hose down some chalk letters and shapes.
- Ride a bike or scooter around the block.
- Plant something ( anything) in the garden.
- Mix some colors with water balloons.
- Play with a water table or make your own.
- Climb up a tree, a wall or a jungle gym.
- Make some bird feeders and feed some birds.
- Have a backyard toy car wash .
- Wash a real car .
- Go on a nature scavenger hunt.
- Have a family meal outside.
- Dig in the dirt.
- Jump in puddles.
- Have a soccer shoot out all you need is a ball big enough to kick .
- Paint with a fly swatter.
- Pick some apples and have an impromptu snack under the trees.
- Make a nature collage.
- Take a dog for a walk.
- Put down some painter’s plastic, grab a hose and have a homemade slip and slide!
- Make a stepping stone for your garden.
- Catch and release some frogs.
- Go for a hike.
- Color the patio with sidewalk chalk.
- Play catch with a ball ( or water balloons on a hot day).
- Paint like Jackson Pollock.
- Take some books outside and read under a tree.
- Go on a photo scavenger hunt.
- Spray paint.
- Graffiti the driveway.
- Stack and balance rocks.
- Have an ice cream taste test.
- Go on a sound safari.
- Find, sort and make a leaf scrapbook.
- Make a treasure map and find treasure.
- Host the mini Olympics.
- Explore shells, crabs and rocks at the beach.
- Make mud pies.
- Pick Flowers and paint with them.
- Find shapes in the clouds.
Like our 75 TV Free Activities for Toddlers the majority of these pictures were taken from my iPhone because most of these are just simple everyday things we did and you can do without too much planning or cost. Of course I have a few of our favorite more elaborate activities too , but nothing will break the bank.
What outside activity for kids would you add to the list?
Exploring nature doesn’t have to be in a far off place, a neighborhood park , school yard or your own backyard will work just great. Explore , talk about what you see, hear and smell. Touch things even they aren’t going into your bag for the collage, explore and take note of how the garden, forrest or park you are in has changed since the spring or summer. I love when I can do an activity with both kids seemlessly and this one was super easy .
- Gather your materials. You will need 1-2 paper grocery bags, scissors,crayons, glue and a yard , park or forrest to explore.
- Start by handing each child a bag and heading outside. Can I just say that my little paint covered point and shoot camera works great for inside crafts when movements around too big or fast, but getting a good shot of either child was next to impossible. Especially a wobbly 15 month old.
- Explore- let your child lead the way. Hopefully the other child( or 5) agree and go the same way, or at least in the same general vicinity.
- Put everything they find and want to glue to the collage in the bag . Don’t say no to little things yet, let them discover later of it won’t glue.
- Huge sticks are totaly ok to refuse, but let them figure it out by asking how it will fit in the bag. Offer scissors to cut a small piece off.
- Head back inside and prepare for part two.
I did this while they played in the playroom around me, but don’t feel like you have to do this all in one go. Do this after bed time and continue with part two in the morning if that works best for your family. You will want to empty out the contents and place them on a table – or even a shallow box. Using the bag cut it open and draw an acorn. Tape it to the table to stay steady. - Now invite the children to chose from their treasures and glue them to the acorn.
- Hmm the pine branch is too big to glue down… what could we do?
- Cut it!
- I helped my daughter add the glue and she happily banged the leaves she gathered down.
I was so surprised to see she remembered exactly which leaves she found and used them in her collage. - Gluing is my son’s favorite part of most art because he pretends it’s a bomb ( yes this stage is still driving me batty but I am trying to roll with it)- his sound effects surprised his unamused little sister…
- Let everything dry overnight.
- Cut out. Display if possible – kids love seeing their own creations displayed with pride.
More Acorn Crafts!
If a nature walk isn’t possible for you try another one of our acorn crafts .
Click the images for the original posts
Getting both kids outside with paint is no easy task, so I came up with a way to do it that was easy to grab and go when inspiration strikes. Of course after I got it outside my son decided he wanted to play soccer instead. Luckily friends stopped by to pick apples and one was more than excited to paint ! I was more than happy to oblige and my son was happy to help his friend’s mom pick apples instead. Remember never force kids to do art , the goal is to enrich and appreciate and forcing won’t achieve either.
- Gather your materials. For this I used a clip board, liquid paint in many colors, a water color set and paper.
- You might notice that there is no water in the materials. That is because You can pop the dried water colors out, and gently place liquid paint in, so you don’t have to run back inside for more water.
- Pop the water colors out.
- Pour in liquid paint.
- Place back in case.
- Clip the lid of the water color case under the clip board to keep it in place and find a perfect spot to paint, he chose a great spot under an apple tree.
- Paint what you see.
- He painted beautiful apples and leaves.
It did take a little convincing that it was ok to mix the colors, if you have a child who is really reluctant , pack along multiple brushes, which is much easier than packing and refilling water when you are far from a faucet.
Book
Katie Meets The Impressionistsby James Mayhew is a art fairytale! Katie goes to the museum with her grandmother and before she knows it she is in the paintings and the world of the painters and their families. Katie goes from painting to painting gathering flowers for her grandma and exploring a world on the other side of the canvas. What I enjoy about this book is that it brings the paintings to life for readers and it shares the back story in a way that children can connect to and imagine the possibilities when they go to museums! Of all these books this one held my son’s attention the least. I like to think it’s because he’s not a fan of impressionism, but I think it was simply a little long for his not quite 3 year old attention span. Maybe if Renoir had painted garbage trucks… seriously though this is a fabulous book and worth a read!
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