Educational Outdoor Activities to Do With Your Kids
You might enjoy the great outdoors, and if you have children, you likely already enjoy time at the local park or swims at the lake or ocean. Not only do you gain quality time with your children when you do these activities, but you also get exercise, which helps build healthy bodies.
If you’re a parent, more than likely, you also see it as worthwhile to lead your children to have natural curiosity and an interest in learning about the world around them. Engaging in educational outdoor activities with your children is one way that you can encourage a lifelong interest in the world around them. Spending time outside is a great opportunity to learn about nature and history, and here are three activities that you can do with your kids.
Gardening
Depending on the learning objectives that you create, gardening can be a great opportunity for children and teenagers to learn more about nature. For preschoolers, have them go outside with you when you’re planting the seeds for your vegetables or flowers. Then, over the course of the next several weeks, you’ll be able to show them how the seed became a vegetable or flower. You can also engage them with picture books about the process that seeds undergo to become a plant. With older children and teenagers, you can help them develop their ability to identify and classify a range of plants in your backyard.
Nature Hikes at State Parks
When you go to your local state park, you’ll have access to a whole range of opportunities for your children to learn more about nature. You can go bird watching and identify the animals that you see. You can also identify a whole range of plants with a copy of a plant identification book. Talk about the difference between moss and lichen on rocks and trees. You can even identify the different types of rocks in the area and explain how they were formed. While some parents might have a strong enough grasp on biology to identify plants on their own, don’t feel bad if you need some help. A trip to your local library will help you come up with enough information to make the hike a success.
Focus on Local History
Teaching your children about everything from how land formations in the area came to be to battles that were fought in various areas of your part of the country can be educational and can inspire children to be more engaged in local history. Watch the presentations that your local library is offering to see if they ever give educational opportunities for learning about local history. If there’s a college or university in your area, they might also have programs designed for the community.
Fishing
Taking your family fishing is a great opportunity to bond in the outdoors learning about fish, their different species, other lake life, ecosystems within the lake, river, beach or body of water. This is a great chance to simply talk with your kids with no electronic devices or phones, and no interruptions. Enjoy a beautiful day learning about nature and the many gifts mother nature has blessed us with.
Kayaking or Boating
Buy or Rent a Kayak, Boat or Paddleboard and get close to nature. Kayaking and Paddleboard help build stamina and muscle while providing opportunities to learn about nature and outdoors.
When you’re teaching your children about the world, don’t put too much pressure on them to learn everything. Memorable, low-pressure experiences will stick with them for a long time, making your children more interested in learning about nature and history for years.