It’s time to get back in nature. Spending time in nature isn’t just refreshing—it’s essential. For both children and adults, the outdoors offers a world of benefits: fresh air, sunshine, movement, and endless opportunities for learning and discovery. Whether it’s exploring a forest trail, watching bugs in the backyard, or simply feeling the grass underfoot, nature has a powerful way of calming our minds and sparking curiosity.
That’s why I love weaving outdoor experiences into early learning with outdoor activities for preschoolers. Many of my resources are designed to get kids outside, connecting with the world around them in meaningful, playful ways.
One of my favorite nature-based resources is Nature School: Connect, Learn, and Play Outside. While it’s part of my Everything Preschool Bundle, it also works wonderfully as a standalone tool for families who want to embrace learning in the great outdoors.
If you’ve been looking for ways to incorporate more outdoor magic into your daily rhythm, you’re in the right place! Let’s explore this nature-filled resource in more detail.
Outdoor Activities for Preschoolers with Nature School
Did you know that countless studies have shown how important it is to spend time in nature? Nature is essential for children’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being. It ignites their creativity while fostering a sense of mindfulness. And through this outdoor play, so much learning takes place naturally. Amazing, isn’t it?!
Nature School is your outdoor learning companion. It provides activities designed to deepen your child’s experience and gives you simple ways to incorporate building core skills into your time outdoors.
In Nature School, we explore seven monthly nature themes:
- Rocks
- Sticks
- Leaves
- Flowers
- Dirt/Sand
- Water
- Shells
The monthly themes help your child to really engage in their nature learning. Each theme is full of nature activities, beautiful printables, and exciting ways to get outside and enjoy our beautiful world.
As you go through each theme, we help learning unfold naturally by exposing your child to activities that focus on specific areas of development. Those areas are:
- Literacy Skills
- Numeracy Skills
- Fine Motor Development
- Sensory Exploration
- Creativity through Crafting
Let’s take a closer look at each of those specific areas and sneak peeks at some of the outdoor activities for preschoolers:
Literacy Skills
The first activity for each nature item focuses on literacy development. Of course, being outside in and of itself is fabulous for a child’s literacy development; children are constantly exposed to new vocabulary! In Nature School, the activities primarily focus on learning letters. This letter garland looks so sweet strung up in an outdoor playspace!
Numeracy Skills
The second activity for each nature item focuses on developing numeracy skills. Here, we practice counting, patterning, sorting, and even using tally marks! A great example is this rock number line. Every child loved to collect rocks and other treasures, so put those collecting skills to good use!
Fine Motor Development
The third activity for each nature item focuses on developing children’s fine motor skills, hand strength, pincer grip, and hand dexterity. These skills are critical for later writing. Your child will love this stick-weaving activity, which has so many hidden benefits!
Sensory Exploration
Sensory experiences happen naturally while playing outside! The fourth activity for each nature item focuses on giving our children deep sensory play and experiences with a wide variety of natural elements. Sensory play is calming for children and a fabulous way to build language and motor skills. This flower pedal playdough is so pretty, you’ll want to play with it too!
Creativity through Crafting
The fifth activity for each nature item is a craft. These are crafting experiences you can do right alongside your child! It is so much fun to create together and an excellent way to build lasting memories. Many of these crafts turn out beautifully, and you will be able to display them in your home or garden. This fairy door is such an inspiring craft and a fun way to build in some imaginary play.
What else is included?
35 Hands-On Activities: Your coursebook includes five activities for each theme, with a materials list, simple instructions, and beautiful photography.
Beautiful Printables: Extend and beautify your play and learning with 12 pages of printables, including letter cards, number cards, and tally cards.
Suggested Books: A suggested list of 10 nature-themed books is also included. These stories are wonderful to enjoy together outside or as a calming bedtime story.
If you enjoy connecting, playing, and learning with your little one in nature, you’ll love Nature School! It’s full of outdoor activities for preschoolers and makes beautiful memories! Take a peek at a sample and get your copy of Nature School right here:
https://shop.tstest18.techsurgeons.com/products/natureschool
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Thank you for reading, my friend!
xo Sarah
