5 Ways to Bring a Little Extra Learning Into Your Backyard

Kids can’t spend all day on the internet, right parents? Getting outdoors has many benefits, both cognitive and health related. And with the weather finally turning beautiful outside, there’s no excuse not to find some screen-free activities to enjoy like playing and gardening!

But what about learning? With school out early – and until fall now – many parents are worried about getting in a little extra education into their kids’ days. Fortunately, there’s dozens of ways to make the outdoors your classroom. Here’s five to get you started!

Do a Little Creative Spelling: There’s nothing like an impromptu spelling bee for challenging memory, cognition, and writing skills. Use chalk, pebbles, twigs, the letter tiles from a Scrabble game, or even the spray from a water gun!

Build and Test a Sundial: It’s amazing how ancient peoples used shadows to figure out that the Earth was a round, rotating object in space. Tap into a little of that ingenuity by having kids try building and testing a sundial of their own.

Have a Digital Scavenger Hunt: Using old phones or tablets, send the kids into the neighbourhood with instructions to take pictures of a list of 5-10 items. Include things like a bug, a bird, a flower, or a car that has a license plate with the letter B in it. For bonus points, you can ask your kids to use the internet to identify what kind of bird, bug, or flower they found.

Whoever wins the scavenger hunt gets an extra hour of WiFi!

Start Up a Nature Journal: for your more contemplative or artistic-minded kids, a nature journal might just be something that they love. Have your child find something new every day – plant, animal, or insect – and spend some time observing it. Have the child draw it in their journal and record every observation they make as notes to go along with it. Does the rosebush cluster leaves in a certain pattern? How many spots were on the ladybug they found?

Get Some Practical Math in With Shadow Measuring: Kids might just think Geometry is a lot cooler after you show them this trick. Have your children measure themselves and the length of the shadows that they cast. Using the similar triangle method, they can approximately measure just about anything!

Older students can jump straight into Trigonometry to solve the problem with a scientific calculator and SOHCAHTOA, if they’re able to find two parts of the triangle. 

Still concerned about keeping your child learning? We offer online tutoring for kids, and it’s simple to get started! Feel free to reach out to us to learn more.