With cancellations of summer camps and lack of summer activities due to COVID 19, parents are feeling the strain of keeping their kids busy after they’ve already spent the last few months cooped up. We’ve talked about turning your patio into a home office, but how about turning your patio into a place where your kids can get fresh air, enjoy the outdoors, and stimulate their brains at the same time.
Here are a few fun outdoor activities for kids you can enjoy together this summer, to promote healthy development, learning, AND have fun.
1. Play and Learn
Board and card games are two easy ways to encourage kids to have fun while learning. If you have a patio coffee table, this is a great place to set up a game night (or day). Use some of your outdoor pillows or cushions to have the kids sit around the table and play. Board and card games with numbers and counting are a great way to help kids improve their math skills while having fun at the same time.
2. Reading
What better place is there to sit down with a good book than outside? With a nice breeze and good sunlight, there’s no better place to get wrapped up in a story. Encourage your kids to grab a book, find a comfy spot on your patio, whether it be on a cushioned chair or your outdoor couch, and read.
3. Plan a backyard scavenger hunt
You can easily create a scavenger hunt (or find one online here) and make it fun and educational. You can encourage your kids to learn more about nature by making your scavenger hunt include identifying different types of plants and trees that you have in your backyard or even insects for the more fearless 🙂
4. Use your (and their) imagination
There are so many fun things you can do outside in the summertime, push your kids to use their imagination, and be creative. They could write and put on a play on your patio, dress up and do a fashion show using your deck as the runway, or as a family, you could set up a projector and have a movie night under the stars. Once you get the ball rolling with fun ideas, we promise your kids will embrace it and start using their imagination to find fun things to do outside.
These are just a few easy and fun outdoor activities for kids that you can enjoy together, to promote learning and healthy development while enjoying your patio and backyard space and making sure boredom doesn’t set in.