Outdoor learning activities and games are trendy among children, especially during the summer holidays. Children benefit a great deal from spending time outside exploring and adventuring in the green outdoors.

Getting kids outside and active is important, and luckily nature offers a wealth of fun activities for them to enjoy. Hiking trails, observational scavenger hunts, and camping trips are all great ways to get kids outside and teach them about the environment.
For younger children, consider exploring local parks to search for different types of leaves, rocks, and insects. Children can also participate in planting their own garden, bird watching, or building a fort. Additionally, activities like bug catching, fishing, and doing nature-related arts and crafts can be both educational and enjoyable.
There are endless possibilities for fun hands-on activities in nature for kids. Some ideas include building a fort using branches and leaves, creating a nature scavenger hunt, making mud pies or sculptures, creating leaf rubbings, planting a garden, collecting and identifying rocks and shells, learning to tie knots with rope, building a birdhouse or bird feeder, going on a nature photography scavenger hunt, and making outdoor art with found materials like sticks, pinecones, and leaves. The options are endless, and getting outside and exploring nature can provide a great opportunity for kids to learn and have fun at the same time.
Maria Montessori, founder of the Montessori Method, believed in the importance of nature for a child’s development. She once said, “The land is where our roots are. The children must be taught to feel and live in harmony with the Earth.” Montessori also believed that nature can foster a child’s curiosity and love for learning, stating, “The study of the science of nature at once awakens this feeling of reverence and provides an outlet for it.” She emphasized the need for children to be connected to the natural world, as it can inspire creativity, imagination, and a sense of wonder.
The Montessori approach believes that nature and outdoor experiences are essential for children’s development. It fosters children’s connection with their environment, providing opportunities for exploration, observation, and appreciation of natural phenomena. The outdoor setting allows children to experience a sense of wonder, awe, and curiosity, which in turn stimulates their cognitive, emotional, and spiritual growth.
Montessori schools incorporate nature-based activities, such as gardening, hiking, and camping, as part of their curriculum, helping children develop a sense of responsibility for the planet and a positive attitude towards sustainability. Overall, nature is seen as a rich source of learning and inspiration for children in Montessori education.
Montessori schools emphasize nature-based activities that foster children’s love and respect for the environment. These activities include exploring the woods, gardening, hiking, bird-watching, and observing insects. Children learn about animal habitats, plant growth, natural cycles, and the importance of conservation. Children also participate in activities that encourage them to use their senses, such as smelling flowers, touching leaves, and listening to bird calls. These activities promote children’s physical, intellectual, and emotional development, and help them connect with the natural world. Through nature-based activities in Montessori schools, children become responsible and knowledgeable citizens.
Nature’s classroom is fascinating and incredibly diverse. These ideas will inspire you to spend some fun and meaningful time with your child outdoors.

Fine motor activities – supply threads, a needle, and nature objects (dry berries, chestnuts, flower buds) and invite the children to thread them to make garlands or natural decorations for the child’s playroom or classroom.

Gather leaves and other natural loose parts to create a craft.





Magic wands with sticks and woolen threads. Gather different color woolen threads. Invite the children to cut strings and wrap sticks in different color woolen threads.

Leaf art. Gather acrylic paints, threads, a needle, and brushes. Invite the children to gather leaves and paint creating various patterns. After drying, invite the child to thread leaves to make garlands.

Building fortress with sticks. Invite the child to gather sticks and build a fortress.

Help the environment. Gather garbage bags and rubber gloves. Head to the popular public outdoor spaces and invite the child to hunt for loose papers and plastic bottles to help clean up.

Gather old pans and pots along with measuring cups and scooping tools. Allow access to mud and water. Invite the children to dig and make their hands dirty to have sensory play outdoors.

On a windy day, gather kites for the children to run kites outdoors.

More Inspiration for Outdoor Learning and Play
Nature Themed Activities - Learning Resources, Free Printables and Children's Books
“Build a Nest” Scavenger Hunt [Printable Spring Nature Activity for Kids!]
I’ve made a fun printable scavenger hunt + instructions that can actually be turned into a sort of “scavenger satchel” (don’t worry, you’ll get it when you see the pictures!) so that the nest process is fun for everyone involved.
Diy Paint Brush - Natural Paint Brushes Even Kids Can Make!
Making your own DIY paintbrush is easy, fun, and free! It will get you and your kids out in nature and kids will have a blast collecting natural materials - And pine needles make fantastic homemade paintbrushes!
Exploring Sunography: Making Sun Prints
Making sun prints is a perfect outdoor art activity for summer. My kids found the process fascinating and there is lots to learn while experimenting, about how photography works and how we can replicate this with sun light.
Exploding Mud Nature Science Experiment
If you’re homeschooling at the moment – you’ll love this Mud Nature Science Experiment that’s easy to do at home in your garden or any outside space. We’ve had a lot of fun with the kids making these mud exploding monster!
Nature Play Ideas
Many of these nature play ideas can be “built” on one home and when you can add a dab of paint or a piece of string or glue. But, all of these ideas work “just as they are”, nothing but nature needed for lots of different play ideas.
How to Make a Terrarium During Your Preschool Gardening Theme
Inviting young children to make small terrariums is a fun addition to the preschool gardening theme. They are fun to assemble, and it’s a great way for kids to learn how to take care of plants.
Outdoor learning color matching game
This color matching game is very easy set up and lets you explore lots of different natural materials for some sensory learning. Begin by using chalk to draw some color blocks on the floor. We made a kind of hopscotch grid, but circles or a rainbow are good too.
Fairy gardens for children outdoors
Childhood is a time of imagination. Every child needs to be given time and space to play out what they envision in their minds. Children’s literature is full of woodland folk – dwarves, elves, fairies, pixies and gnomes. Take these imaginary creatures into your outdoor play and allow children uninterrupted time to build fairy gardens for woodland folk using natural materials. Building a fairy garden will absorb a child’s whole being, maximizing his or her attention span, imagination and creative skills.
Montessori Inspired Explorations At The Beach
Taking Montessori classroom outside creates great opportunities for hands-on learning using minimum materials and effort. Sun, fresh salty air, the sound of crashing waves – what a perfect setup for fun explorations for kids. We headed to the beach to do fun Montessori activities as a part of the preschool homeschool program.
Rain Cloud In a Jar Science Experiment Plus Types of Clouds Printable
This Rain Cloud in a Jar Experiment is a great way to engage your children aged 3-6 in conducting a simple science experiment before heading outdoors. Looking up in the sky on an overcast day can be quite relaxing and entertaining.
Leaf People Fall Craft
If you are collecting items outdoors this fall, this is a fun and easy leaf craft kids of all ages can create. It’s one of those “classic” activities that has become one of our fall traditions.
3 Easy Steps to Get Your Kids Crafting With Natural Materials
There are some great advantages to using leaves, bark, flowers and other natural items in your children’s art and craft activities. Not only will you save money on craft supplies, but you’ll end up with beautiful, unique creations every time. There’s another reason, though, that’s less about craft and more about the fundamentals of your child’s development.
Finding Symmetry in Nature (Outdoor Math Activity for Kids)
We turned a recent walk in the forest into a lesson on symmetry- such a fun, hands-on way for kids to learn math! We searched for symmetry outside and even created our own symmetry art using nature we had found on our walk!
An alphabet
This series of photographs is a tribute to my students of the PCV course: this year they were asked to work on alphabets. Since childhood I have always felt profoundly unfair that the teachers assigned tasks that they have never played in person.
Making Mandala Art with Kids
Over the last few months I have been exploring creating art with a circle formation or mandala art. Creating mandalas is a delightful, beautiful and easy activity which you can do almost anywhere and at anytime. All you need is a small collection of materials – I prefer natural found objects such as shells, pine cones, driftwood and sea glass. You can use any collection you have be it coins, sticky notes, hair clips, or cutlery!
Outdoor Classroom Ideas: 75+ Rock Star Ideas for Your Learning
What to learn dozens of outdoor classroom ideas?
This post includes 75 fun and intriguing activities for the Montessori Outdoor Classroom. Dr. Montessori believed that the outdoors is a natural extension of the classroom, that there should be harmony between the indoor and outdoor learning environments. The outdoors is the ideal sensorial experience.
Gross Motor Activities in Nature + Printable Scavenger Hunt
Our casual, frequent walks in nature provide fun adventures, promote healthy habits, and help me to create a stronger bond with my child. We enjoy using our imagination to create gross motor challenges together using whatever natural materials we find. In the past, when I was working with preschool children, I learnt that regular gross motor exercises are essential for child’s development and contribute to many aspects of their well-being.
Inexpensive Field Guides for Tots
When I took Emily to the book store the other night, we looked for some field guides to add to her backpack for nature hikes, but they were very expensive. I found a great way to make a more child-friendly version. It is simple and easy to make yourself. To make your own bird field guide, you will need cardstock, a binder ring, and some clear contact paper.
Spring 2015 Snapshots
Stomping in the Mud Play Group is a rich, natural outdoor play environment where children have the opportunity to play outside,
rain or shine ... a chance for preschoolers to 'live in the moment' while learning through play.
Montessori Outdoor Classroom: A Great Selling Point to Introduce Your School!
This Outdoor Classroom has a meeting place where the children are introduced to Botany, Zoology, Ecology, Natural History, Language Arts...just to mention a few of the curriculum areas offered for exploration. The Outdoor Classroom Circle time is an important opportunity for the teachers to enrich the experience of the children even more by presenting them with the latest activities being offered.
Nighttime Vacation Activities
During the day it was easy to keep the kiddos entertained on our vacation last week. There was the shore, the beach, busy bags, and so much more. At night I knew it would be a little more difficult. In preparation for the trip I came up with a few activities to have on hand just in case. They proved to be fabulous!
Yard & Garden resources
Taking care of the outdoor environment, whether gardening, raking, or pulling weeds, is a valuable activity in which children love to participate—and the rewards can be bountiful!
Gardening projects can easily become family projects. Simply scale the tasks to children’s abilities and you’ll be amazed at how much gets done. Learning to care for living things will help children develop a sense of appreciation for nature and our connection to it.
Introduction to Forest School - a Practical Approach to Outdoor Learning (Free Printable)
Would you like to learn practical ways to incorporate the forest learning approach? Would you like your students to reap all the incredible benefits of spending time in nature and learning outdoors?
Allow us to show you how to start implementing principles of learning in the natural environment with an expert and accredited Nature Pedagogue, the founding Director of Natureweavers, an award-winning forest school in Australia.
Learning About Land And Water Formations - Montessori Outdoor Explorations
Living right next to the water gives us a great advantage of using natural resources to learn about the outside world. Simple activities turn into child-driven adventures. Learning about land and water forms on the beach seemed like a fun activity to do as a part of our Montessori Outdoor Weekly Explorations.
Colour Hunt In Nature - Montessori Outdoor Explorations
We began an outdoor nature colour hunt by brainstorming possible colours we might find along the way and made the chart. My role was to remind what colours were on our list to help the child to stay on task. Attention to detail is a great skill to teach young children. The magnifying glass does a great job when it comes to that. Looking at different colours of blooming trees and flowers was a perfect opportunity to reflect on the previous week’s topic – parts of the flower.
Sensory Explorations Outdoors - Touch With Nature Hunt Printable
On a gorgeous sunny day, we took a trip to a local park to do sensorial explorations using hands and learn more about touch. It was a great way to extend preschooler’s vocabulary knowledge and experience textures using natural materials.
Outdoor and Nature-Based Learning Activities for Children
In this post, I share learning activities children can do outdoors in nature. I explain what to bring and write about practical ways you can implement learning in nature. Learning outdoors undoubtedly has many benefits. There are plenty of instances of deep hands-on exploration that take place outdoors when children simultaneously can engage in practical experiences gaining broader knowledge and enjoy their playtime.
Seasons & Weather activities and resource
Riveting photos and simple language and will entice emergent and early readers alike! Follow up experience with various types of weather with these books that use riveting photos and simple language to describe various types of weather.
Hands-On Science activities and resources
Busy parents can enrich dinnertime, bath time, or bedtime with Tangy Tongue, Making Waves, or What's on the Wall? Full of intriguing ways to explore the senses and the world of sound, sight, taste, touch, and smell, this accessible book will teach your children skills of inquiry that will last a lifetime.
Learning about plant world
Thoughtfully developed by herbalists, this cooperative game does more than explore healing herbs: it also supports compassion and kindness.
Learning about the animal kingdom.
Set your young readers on the path to success with this sequential series. The captivating photos will engage children and the simple text will boost their reading confidence.
This collection will bring science to life! Each boxed set contains 16 paperback books (8 pages each), a 16-page activity book, and parent tips.
Outdoor Activities for Children with Free Seven-Day Planner
I have to admit, it is not always easy to come up with engaging hands-on ideas children would enjoy doing outdoors that complement and extend their learning about the outside world.
I’ve got a solution I hope will make educators’ and parents’ task of taking learning in nature a lot easier – my seven-day planner with outdoor explorations.
Water Cycle Inquiry
As a start, water cycles are best experienced, rather than read about. There is no worksheet that can fully capture the water cycle phenomenon, like being out in the rain in your community can. Encourage your class to dress like a scientist, and gear up for outdoor learning when you are starting your water cycle inquiry.
15 Hands-On Summer Activities Children Can Do in Nature
Summer is the perfect time for kids to spend all day outdoors and make explorations in nature. Joe of Nature Rated definitely knows how to bring adventure into everyday life. Joe created a great infographic as a handy reminder of all the meaningful and fun things active children can do using their hands and imagination in nature.
The Silence Game In Nature - Empowering Children with Mindfulness
We found a quiet natural outdoor setting that was perfect for sitting quietly without getting distracted. I invited the child to look around and tell me what she could see, hear and feel.
Then I said that we are going to sit without making a sound and listen to sounds around for as long as it takes all sand grains to drop from top to the bottom. I encouraged her to think of something that helps her feel “happy“. After 3 minutes I asked her if she would like to whisper things that make her happy. Here is what I heard: smiles, hugs, kisses, and cuddles.
Art with Nature - Creative Nature Hunt for Kids
Choose a couple of pictures of outlines to make frames to fill them in with exciting things, nature “parts” found along the way. Experiment with different shapes and outlines. We picked a couple of Montessori Metal Inset Frames. These we very practical and easy to carry around.
We took turns spotting peculiar and especially beautiful things we found.
Nature is never boring. It is so much fun to be able to combine Montessori materials with outdoor experience and make it more versatile.
Nature Display in Homeschool Setting
Setting up a nature display in a classroom or homeschool learning space can be very beneficial. Not every child enjoys going out in nature.
Many children protest and dislike being outdoors where they can experience discomfort from the weather, they might not like getting dirty and have fear of crawling creatures.
Hummingbird Learning Activities Printable
Hummingbird-themed learning activities for preschool students can be easily incorporated into the preschool bird unit. Also, these printables will be a helpful addition to your resource library when teaching about North America or South America.
Parts of the Snail and Snail Life Cycle Printables
Children aged 3-5 years old can benefit greatly from learning about snails, their parts, and their life cycle. They love learning about invertebrate creatures. This resource can be a helpful addition to your Minibeasts unit, spring and summer hands-on activities for your preschool classroom.
Nature Journal - Free Printable
A guided nature journal for children to document their explorations outdoors. This journal can be used by children living in any region across the world.
Each page contains prompts to help children connect with the land on a more personal level.
Free Printables Designed by Montessori Nature
- Free Resource Library
- Singular And Plural Nouns: Montessori Free Sorting Printable For Teaching Kids The Difference
- Boost Your Students Literacy Skills With Fun And Creative Cards Featuring Compound Words
- Animals and Their Homes Free Printable
- Geoboard Task Cards Free Math Summer Printable
- Signs Of Summer In Nature Free Printables Posters Student Booklets
- Get Sorting With These Free Fall-Themed Printable Activities For Kids – Made By Humans And Made By Nature Sort
- All About Me Printable Freebie
- Signs of Spring in Nature
- Parts of a Plant Sorting
- Birthday Timeline Printable
- Animals of Continents Sort Editable Labels
- Fall Into Learning Fun With Autumn-Themed Geoboard Cards Free Printable For Kids
- Letter A Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter D Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter E Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter F Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter G Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter B Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter C Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter H Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter i Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter J Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter K Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter L Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter M Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter N Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter O Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter P Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter Q Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter R Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter S Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter U Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter T Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter W Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter V Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter Y Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter X Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Letter Z Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Double Letters CH Digraph Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Double Letters SH Digraph Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Double Letters Th Digraph Student Activity Page Phonics Language Printable
- Double Letters ‘OO’ Vowel Digraph
- ‘ER’ Digraph Student Activity Page Phonics Language Printable
- ‘OR’ Digraph Student Activity Page Phonics Language Printable
- Double Letters ‘EE’ Vowel Digraph Student Activity Page Phonics Language Printable
- Double Letters ‘NG’ Digraph Student Activity Page Phonics Free Language Printable
- Made By Nature Made By Humans Sorting
- My Word Of The Year New Year Free Printable
- Physical And Chemical Changes Pairing Fine Motor With Pegs
- Christmas Playdough Mats
- Christmas 3 Part Cards
- Christmas Matching Fine Motor With Pegs
- 10 Deciduous Trees And 10 Coniferous Trees Sorting Cards
- Fall Playdough Mats
- Christmas in Australia
- Free DIY Art Puzzles Coloring Pages Printables – Silent Night by Viggo Johansen
- Signs of Winter
- Matching Fine Motor With Pegs The Nutcracker Free Christmas printable
- Free DIY Puzzles And Coloring Pages – Raphael The Sistine Madonna
- Fall Leaf Shapes Match Up With Pegs
- Animal Hibernation & Torpor Cards
- 10 Farm Cards And 10 Forest Sorting Cards
- Pairing Fine Motor With Pegs – Thankful Animals
- Types Of Apples
- Fall Prewriting Practice – Free Fine Motor Printable
- Free DIY Puzzles And Coloring Pages – Paul Cezanne Still Life Painting Curtain, Jug And Fruit Bowl
- Fall Pin Punching And Tracing Cards
- Fall Match Up Initial Sounds With Pegs
- Fall Match Up Rhyming Words With Pegs
- Fall Leaves And Fall Flowers
- Fall Match Up Opposites With Pegs
- 10 Types Of Vertebrates And 10 Types Of Invertebrates Fall Printable
- 10 Types of Insects and 10 Types of Flowers Sort
- Fall Match Up With Pegs
- Types Of Exotic Apples 3-Part Cards, Posters, Student Booklet
- 10 Types Of Edible And 10 Types Of Poisonous Mushrooms
- Signs Of Fall – Free Printables, Posters, Cards, Student Booklets
- Woodland Animals Poster Match Up Cards
- 10 Types Of Mammals And 10 Types Of Birds In Autumn
- Color, Cut Out, Build, And Label The Ant
- Color, Cut Out, Build, And Label The Fish
- Gemstones 3 Part Cards
- Wild Animal Families Puzzles And Cards
- Forest Matching Cards – Free Nature Printable
- Beach Poster, Match Up Cards – Free Printables
- Whale Size Comparison Poster, Match Up Cards
- DIY Puzzles And Coloring Pages – Vincent Van Gogh Vase With Twelve Sunflowers
- 10 Types Of Vertebrates And 10 Types Of Invertebrates
- Coral Reef Animals Poster, Match Up Cards
- 10 Types Of Terrestrial Mammals And 10 Types Of Marine Mammals – Free Summer Printable
- 10 Types Of Butterflies And 10 Types Of Ladybugs – Free Sorting Printable
- Skip Counting Student Helper Posters And Worksheets s
- Number Tracing And Formation Activity
- Sums With Bead Bars – Clip Cards And Worksheets With Teen Numbers
- Addition Clip Cards
- Number Bonds – Addition With Bead Bars Sums Of 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, And 10
- Place Value Mats, Task Cards, And Tracing Worksheets
- Gemstones – Posters And Matching Cards
- Nature Journal
- Valentine’s Day Coloring
- Geoboard Task Cards
- Free One Week Planner For Preschool Children With Low Prep Hands-On Activities
- Free Montessori Baby And Toddler Printable Materials
- DIY Winter Puzzles And Art Activities – Painting “The Starry Night” By Vincent Van Gogh
- Winter Animals
- Arctic Animals
- DIY Winter Puzzles And Art Activities – Painting “Maslenitsa” By Boris Kustodiev
- Butterflies And Moths Sort
- Types Of Flowers Match Up
- Silent E Learning To Read Cards
- Addition And Subtraction Cards – Single Digits
- Animals In Spring – Activities, Resources, And Free Printables
- Multiplication Charts
- Lined Writing Paper Handwriting Practice
- Nocturnal And Diurnal Animals Sort
- Viviparous And Oviparous Animals Sort
- Mothers And Their Young Animals Sort
- Constellations And Planets Sort
- Farm Animal Families Puzzles
- The Earth Goes Around The Sun – Free Geography Printable
- Tulip Life Cycle And Parts Of A Tulip
- Doing Montessori At Home With Your Baby ( 7 – 9 Mo ) Free Printable Checklist
These look like wonderful activities! Thanks for sharing 🙂
oh these have me itching to get outside w the kids! thanks x
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Such a great round up of ideas. Thanks!
Great list!