Outdoor Activities for Children: Fun Ideas to Explore Nature

by Federica Pepe, @mammainsvezia

Outdoor games are among children’s favourites, as they allow them to feel free, to use imagination and creativity, and to play with natural elements: they get messy, run, jump, roll around, climb, play with soil. All of this has a huge impact on their growth.

Benefits of Outdoor Activities

Playing in nature offers many benefits, including:

Developing self-esteem, creativity, imagination and resilience
Supporting physical, emotional, cognitive and social development
Strengthening the immune system and improving overall well-being

Ideas for Outdoor Activities

Here are some outdoor activity ideas for children to connect with nature.

Games to Play in the Woods

Cooking: the mud kitchen is one of the most beloved activities. Children can play with water, mud, sand and natural elements. With bowls, plates, spoons and natural ingredients like leaves, stones or soil, they can “cook” fantastic meals, while learning about textures, quantities and mixing.
Building: nature provides everything needed to fuel imagination. With stones, branches, leaves and flowers, children can build towers, boats, magic wands or sand and mud mountains.
Balance training: forests are full of natural balance beams—logs, stumps, rocks. Children can practise coordination and balance, always in safe conditions.

Outdoor Activities

Observing leaves and colours: collecting and comparing leaves, stones or sticks teaches children to identify and respect nature. You can also challenge them to find all natural elements of one colour.
Smelling the scents of nature: explore the different scents of flowers, leaves and trees. Each smell is unique and helps children connect with the environment.
Listening to the sounds of nature: rustling leaves, flowing streams, bird songs or animal calls—children can learn to recognise sounds before discovering their source.

Group Games Outdoors

Building a den: collecting natural materials to build a shelter is a perfect group activity that requires organisation, manual skills and creativity.
Freeze tag (“Ice Man”): a fun active game:
- One or two children are chosen as “ice men”.
- Whoever they touch must freeze with arms and legs wide apart.
- To free them, another child has to crawl under their legs.
- The game has no set ending: roles rotate as the game goes on.
Pine cone throwing: set a target and see who can throw a pine cone the farthest.

Our Books on Outdoor Activities

Here are some of our nature-themed children’s books and activity sets:

Stickers and Activities. Nature: an innovative activity book for children aged 3+, designed to teach basic concepts and develop fine motor skills.
Moon. The Activity Book: with mazes, mosaics and drawing prompts to explore the magic of nature at night.
Bee. The Activity Book: based on the illustrated book, with 200 stickers, crosswords and puzzles, teaching children about the importance of bees.
My First Cards. Nature: 30 beautifully illustrated cards and a 32-page booklet in an elegant box, to help little ones discover nature.