Outdoor play

Summer Play: Beat the Heat

Outdoor play, Physical Activity
Children enjoy free play with a water hose.
Temporary shade canopy has been installed to priovide temporary shade at Chapel Hill Day Care Center, NC.
Homemade fruit juice popsicles cool children on a hot day at Heron Pond Montessori, Kitty Hawk, NC.
Children enjoy homemade fruit juice popsicles in the shade at Heron Pond Montessori, Kitty Hawk, NC.
Children enjoy a range of water play, from water guns to full body imersion at Heron Pond Montessori, Kitty Hawk, NC.

Summers are hot. Here are some ideas for beating the heat and making the most of our hot summers.

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Natural Building

Affordable settings and elements, Outdoor play
An example of a natural building artifact left by a child in this playspace at the NC Zoo's kidZone.
Inside a natural building fort construction.
Using straw bales and bamboo, these boys have built a two-level fort for themselves.
A boy carrying a stick while building at the NC Zoo's kidZone natural construction area.
Three children enjoy their natural construction at the Elizabeth Ann Clune Montessori School of Ithaca.

Natural building play areas are one of the classic affordable free play settings. What might the children create today; will it be a fort, a miniature village, a dragon's nest? Give them the materials in a designated natural building area and see for yourself.

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Natural Playhouse

Affordable settings and elements, Outdoor play
This natural playhouse at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum can serve as inspiration at other early childood environments.
This blueberry house at the North Carolina Botanical Garden is one example of a living natural playhouse.
Other ideas for natural playhouse frameworks at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

Built from locally sourced logs, branches, and sticks, Natural Playhouses are an affordable and creative alternative to the playhouses one normally purchases from catalogs.

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Natural Materials for Play and Learning

Affordable settings and elements, Outdoor play
This pile of natural loose parts is evidence of exploratory play throughout the outdoor learning environment.
A boy pushes a truck full of collected pinecones along the looped path at Kiddie Kollege ELC, Statesville, NC.
A girl collects dried seed heads from marigolds at Munchkin Academy, Buxton, NC.
The results: A pile of thoroughly-explored marigold seed heads are evidence of play and learning.
Children stir a pot of mud soup, which includes grass, leaves, mulch, water, and, of course, mud at Precious Memories Preschool.

Natural materials afford an array of open-ended play opportunities. Some playscapes are rich with natural materials, while others may need to have natural materials to be gathered and brought in.

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Autumn Children's Books and Outdoor Play

Children's Books, Outdoor play, Programming
Children have gathered autumn loose parts in child-sized carts.
Autumn loose parts gathered by the teachers and placed in the outdoor learning environment for the children to discover.

Autumn is a magical time of year. Leaves change to brilliant yellows, oranges and reds. An abundance of natural loose parts fall to the ground and are now within reach. If inspiration is needed for creative outdoor play ideas, try connecting the stories and themes of children's books to autumn outdoor play.

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Winter Play

Outdoor play, Physical Activity, Programming
A boy plays with a truck in the snow at the Wellesley College Child Study Center.
A child shovels snow for fun at the Wellesley College Child Study Center.
Children catch snowflakes on their tongues at the Wellesley College Child Study Center.
As the sun and physical activity warm the children they shed their hats and mittens. A bare fig tree makes a great hat rack.
Water frozen with food coloring make colorful ice blocks that are fun for play.

As temperatures start to drop, so does our motivation to go outside and play. A greater effort is required to prepare children for outdoor play, but with a little planning and the proper clothing it can be well worth the extra effort. As our friends in Sweden say, “There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes.”

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