10 Outdoor Activities for Kids and Families

1.    Stick Names. Go on a scavenger hunt and find sticks in the shape of letters in your name. Glue the sticks together to form a name sign. Alternately, arrange them on the ground and take a picture.

2.    Pick-Up Sticks. Play Pick-Up Sticks with small, straight sticks you can find. One child holds the handful of twigs and lets them drop into a tangled pile. If the initial player can pick up a twig without disturbing the rest of the pile, that player gets the twig and the chance to go again. It’s okay to use a twig you’ve won to help pick up the next twig. Disturb another twig in the pile and the play passes to the next group member.

3.    Take a family hike with a theme: Find shapes, colors and textures, or look for objects starting with each letter of the alphabet. 

4.    Stick house building. Use twigs, and rocks and leaves, to construct miniature log cabins.

5.    Chalkboard Checkers. Draw a checkerboard on the pavement with sidewalk chalk. Use rocks for one player and small sticks for the other.

6.    Magnify your world. Use a hand lens or magnifying glass to really examine leaves, bugs, dirt, rocks, tree bark…

7.    Nature Scavenger Hunt. Come up with a list of items that can be found in nature.... send the kids out to hunt for them!

8.    Go catch bugs!

9.    Introduction Game. Sit in a circle. First player says, “My name is Angela, and I’m from Alaska. I like to eat apples.” (or anything else starting with A). Second player says, My name is Bob, and I’m from Brazil. I like to eat baloney. This is Angela, from Alaska, and she likes to eat apples. The third player continues with the letter c, introducing everyone before him. And so on… Click here for hundreds more circle games. 

10. Don’t forget the classics… Tag, Hide and Seek… what else do you remember playing as a kid? Click here for a list of tag games.