Spending time in the garden/backyard can help calm kids, give them some good old Vitamin D & offer them space for some active physical play. This fun selection of activities, crafts & play ideas will encourage lots of creativity, imagination & heaps of hands-on learning too! Hope your family find them useful.
50 Simple Outdoor Activities for Kids Stuck at Home
Make your own giant bubbles with this super simple Bubble Wand
Paint the walls or fences with water
Don't let rain stop play, try one of these fun ideas
Make some Play Dough Bugs with leaves, grass, flowers, & twigs
Design your own Water Wall with a few recycled materials
Make your own Zip Wire for your toys with an umbrella
Explore pouring & transferring with this multisensory activity.
Take some time to chill outdoors with some cloud watching. What shapes you'll discover in the clouds? You could take a little cloud on an adventure too.
Make your own Outdoor Clock with sticks & stones
Play mini Basketball (or Basket-Bear) with a laundry basket & your favourite soft toys.
Go on an Easter egg Hunt around your Garden with painted Eggs.
Make your own Nature Wands
Set up an Outdoor Kitchen with items from around the house.
Explore patterns & shapes with some leaf rubbing. Can you find any symmetry or familiar shapes?
Build a bug hotel or a hedgehog house with sticks
Build a house! Have a go at creating one for The 3 Little Pigs. What happens when the wind hits it? How can you make it more secure?
Play tic-tac-toe (naughts & crosses) with twigs & pebbles.
Go on a colour hunt around your garden. Can you find something reflecting each colour of the rainbow?
Help with the chores outdoors
Create a Scented Nature Hanging with herbs
Make your own 'Car Cash' for ride-on cars or scooters, or have an outdoor washing station for wellie boots or toys.
Feed the birds or create your own Bird Cafe
Make some upcycled paper plant pots & grow your own veg
Paint your feet outdoors & dance on a flat cardboard box, or sheets of newspaper. A great way to explore movement, motor skills, coordination & colour! Before you go indoors wash your feet in a bowl of soapy water outside (even more outdoor fun).
Build a bug hotel or a Hedgehog House with sticks
Make your own Weather Station from recycled materials
Paint outdoors with Raindrops
Play in a favourite Fairytale
Discover any insects hiding in your garden with these neat magic trick
Make a Nature Bracelet with flowers & grass from the garden
Draw with chalks outdoors on paving slabs, walls, or on a chalkboard. The rain will eventually wash any creations away.
Create a Dinosaur World or Fairy Land with a recycled Egg Box
Make your own paper kite.
Make you own Spray Paint & get creative on a big sheet of paper or fabric.
Paint with small cars or plastic toys. What patterns will they create?
Explore Coloured Ice. How does it melt? What colours will it make? Great simple science activity.
Make a Storytelling Tree
Build an Outdoor Book Cave or Den in your garden.
Hold your own mini Olympics with your cuddly toys in the garden.
Wash the outside of the windows.
Have an egg & spoon race around your garden, or make some play dough pancakes & have a pancake race.
Dance around the garden & pretend to be a giant, a pirate, a monster, a mouse, an elephant, or a bird!
Go on a Gruffalo Hunt around your garden
Make your own Watering Can from recycled materials
Turn a feather into a pen!
Make some Wind Chimes for your garden with recycled bottles
Have a sunset picnic together.
Make your own Wormery & explore these amazing creatures.
Looking for more activities?
Search our blog archive using the search bar at the top of this page for oodles more creative ideas.