For Kids

Spending time in nature is interesting and fun! Here are ideas for things you can do outdoors. Most are free! Just be sure to check with your parents before getting started.

Seasonal ideas

Summer

Build a fairy house
Play tag
Catch fireflies (be sure to release them)
Create and go on an outdoor scavenger hunt
Go swimming
Go biking
Plant a flower or vegetable garden
Go berry picking
Play Frisbee or catch
How many different kinds of animals can you find in your yard or park? What are they?
Watch for meteors (the Perseid meteor shower occurs every year in early August).

Autumn

Find some colorful leaves and learn what trees they come from.
Go apple or pumpkin picking
Go for a hike
How many different kinds of trees can you find in your yard or park? What are they?
Go hunting
Go on a picnic
Go star gazing
Ask your parents to…
Take you hiking
Take you berry or apple picking
Take you to a park or playground
Take you on a picnic
Help you to put up a birdfeeder and identify what birds come to visit
Help you to plant a tree
Help you plant a garden, window box or pots on your porch or deck.
Take you to visit a local farm
Play catch, Frisbee or tag
Take you swimming, hiking, biking, skateboarding
Take you to the ocean to go beachcombing, tide pooling, or just to play in the waves
Take you camping, hunting or fishing
Take you to a fish hatchery
Take you canoeing, kayaking or boating
Help you to make and keep a nature journal
About going to nature camp
Take you bird or wildlife watching
Take you geocaching

Winter

Go sledding, ice skating, snowshoeing, snowboarding, or skiing
Build a snowman
Look for animal tracks in the snow and keep a journal of drawings of their footprints
Look at snow crystals with a magnifying glass
Go ice fishing

Spring

Look for wildflowers and see if you can find them in a field guide
Jump rope
Watch for birds returning for the summer: red-winged blackbirds, bluebirds, phoebes, etc.
Find and watch birds building a nest (but don’t disturb them)
Go kite flying
Listen for birdsongs and see if you can identify the bird
Look for frogs, frog eggs and tadpoles
Go fishing
Watch insects