4 Creative Ideas for Outdoorsy Activities With Your Kiddos

I love playing outside with my kiddos. As mama to two energetic boys (4 and 5!), I've been spending a lot of time coming up with creative ways to make the most of all that kid energy, from teaching them about gardening to encouraging them to explore nature in new and different ways.

All without leaving the confines of our yard! Of course, playing in sprinklers and tricking your kids into thinking pulling weeds is a game only lasts for so long ;)

We teamed up with Scotts and Miracle-Gro to share a few new ideas for getting creative outside with the whole fam.

FIND THE RAINBOW IN YOUR YARD

Start by drawing a rainbow together. You can draw it on a piece of paper, poster board or even use sidewalk chalk and draw it on your driveway. Draw little "swatches" of each color and challenge your kids to find every color. Give them hints as they explore your yard and sneak in a little homeschooling by teaching them the names of each flower and plant they find.

Match the found objects to the colors of the rainbow and… repeat!

PERSONALIZED PLANT MARKERS

This project is the perfect combo of arts and crafts *and* responsibility! Assign everyone in the family their own plant to take care of this spring and summer, then make plant markers together. First, we took basic wooden rulers and painted them in our favorite colors.



Then we used alphabet stickers (and permanent markers!) to write out each family member's name.



What kid isn't obsessed with seeing their own name on something? Now every day Ansel asks if it's time to water his plant, it's so sweet!

PATTERN PLAY, MANDALA EDITION

I don't know about y'all, but treasure hunts are definitely a weekly thing around here. For this project, we collected all sorts of leaves, sticks, flowers and other objects in the yard and assembled them to create a mandala.

Cheer your kids on as they make design decisions and figure out where each piece fits best. Just like putting a puzzle together, there's a mindful and meditative quality about this activity, even more so when you're outside.

DIY OMBRE PLANTER BOX

To add more color to our outdoor space, Ansel and I decided to make a color-coordinated ombre planter box. I gathered a bunch of flowers and we organized them going from dark red to light white. Let your kid do the digging and help show them how to replant potted flowers, then marvel at a job well done.