Outdoor Learning Games for Kids

Though most students spend the majority of their time learning indoors, children can learn many valuable lessons outdoors. Learning how animals live, for example, is just one of the many lessons you can teach children. To make these outdoor lessons more enjoyable for the students, have them play some educational games.

Colors Outside
Demonstrate to children the great variations in nature by playing this game. Gather the children outside and sit them down in a circle. Start the game by picking a color, such as green. The player sitting next to you has to point to something of that particular color in the outdoor area, such as a tree, a bush or the stem of a flower. Once all of the players in the circle have found something green, pick another color. To make the game more hands-on, pick a color and have all of the players find something of that color and bring it back to the group for show-and-tell. The game ends when you run out of natural colors to use.

Befriend A Tree
With this game, teach the children that all things, even very similar trees in nature, have distinct differences. Gather the children some distance away from a section of trees you decide on before the game. Blindfold each of the players and lead them each to a tree. The players all have about 10 minutes to touch, smell and otherwise get to know the tree to develop a distinct memory of it. After the time elapses, lead the kids back to the earlier starting place. Take off everyone’s blindfolds and have the children go back to find their trees. Remember to keep track of which tree belonged to whom during the game. The players who find their trees win the game.

Animal Walks
Show the kids the ways animals get around by playing this game. Line the kids up horizontally on one side of the play area. Stand at the other side and give the players instructions. For example, tell the kids to walk over to you as a snake moves or as a penguin walks. The children move over to you in the way the animal would; for a snake, the kids would slither, and for penguin, they would waddle. If any of the kids do not know how to move like a particular animal, feel free to help them out. Ask the children after every round why the animals move in that way, and why humans move the way they do. Continue the game until you have gone through most of the animals the children know.

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