Resources / Activity
Have the children work together to rake leaves and then jump in the piles in the fall. Use teamwork to plant and care for an outdoor spring garden. Fill a small pool and gather toys for water play in the summer.
Cut giant shapes from cardboard and take them outside. Trace the shapes with sidewalk chalk. Give a child a cardboard shape to match to the shape on the sidewalk. Make comments such as, “You matched the triangles,” and “You matched the circles.
Provide a tri-fold cardboard background reflecting seasonal scenes and a CD player or tape player with music reflecting favorite classroom rhymes and songs.
During outdoor time, take instruments and a CD player outside, sit on a blanket and have an outdoor singalong. Sing traditional songs like “I've Been Working on the Railroad” and “She'll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain.
Move storytime to an outside area. Take a large blanket or outdoor pad for the infant to sit and lay on while the story is being read. The book can be about insects or other items commonly found outdoors.
Periodically during the year, provide children with photos taken at different times during the year and encourage them to put the photos in order based on which happened the earliest in the year.
Pack sandwich items into a rolling cooler. Take the cooler, a blanket and all the supplies you need, such as paper plates, and go on a nature walk, during outdoor time. Have the children help prepare sandwiches to eat “in the woods.
Hang art paper on a fence or on easels. The chidren can paint during outdoor play.
During outdoor time, bring an art basket outside, supplied with sidewalk chalk, markers, paper, crayons and watercolor paint.
For an open-ended play activity, consider recycling old boxes including: Capri Sun boxes, shoe boxes and cardboard boxes. Include the boxes in the outdoor area for the children to build and construct during outdoor time.
Take Tinker Toys and other connecting manipulatives outside and build structures, during outdoor time. Once the children build a structure, encourage them to start over and create something different.
Provide the children dramatic play clothing to use during outdoor time and dress like firefighters, police officers and postal workers.
During outdoor time take your multicultural dress-up clothes outside and encourage the children to dress up and talk with each other about what they are wearing.
Take your multicultural dress-up clothes outside and encourage the children to dress up and talk with each other about what they are wearing, during outdoor time.
During outdoor time, have a child choose which writing materials will go outside – clipboards, paint or chalk.
Play Peek-a-Boo with infants on the playground using a familiar object, such as a hat or a blanket.
During outdoor time, set up activities for the children to choose from, including sensory play, relays, kickball or games.
Take different sizes of cardboard boxes outside for the children to use in play, during outdoor time. Talk about how they use the boxes in different ways. Say, “This box used to have cereal in it, but you used it for a doll wagon.
Take different sizes of cardboard boxes outside for the children to use in play during outdoor time. Talk about how they use the boxes in different ways. Say, “This box used to have cereal in it, but you used it for a doll wagon.
