4 Outdoor Spring Activities for Daycare Children

Children enjoy being outside more and more during the spring. This is good for them and should be encouraged whenever possible. There are activities that you can share with your daycare children at this time of year, that you will all enjoy. Group activities that you do along with the children are best.

Nature Walk

Even children feel the need to stretch their legs. Each morning, take the children for a walk in nature. Ask them to notice the things that are happening around them. Point out animals and birds when you see them, and ask the children to be quiet at times to enjoy the sounds of nature. Give them journals, pencils and crayons to record their findings, stopping at least once during the walk to give them an opportunity to add entries. Be sure they are recording each days' date.

Have a Picnic

Allow each child to prepare his or her own lunch. Children are able to make simple sandwiches, and to place pre-cut vegetables into baggies. Fill water bottles with healthy beverages while they do this, and give one bottle to each child to add to their lunch sack. Take them to a local park to play for a while, and have lunch with them before heading back to the center.

Begin a Compost Pile

It is important to begin teaching children not to be wasteful from an early age. Composting is a good way for daycare centers to accomplish this. Decide where you want the pile, and have the children spread some straw or dried leaves over the area. Let them shovel a few bags of soil over this dry matter, while explaining the types of waste that will be composted. Have a bucket or two of food scraps ready to be added as well. Use a long stick or broom handle to show them how to mix the food into the soil, and explain that this action will help the compost to break down more quickly. After each meal, one child can take a bucket of scraps out to the pile and mix it in with the existing soil. By autumn or the next spring, you will be able to use the compost in the daycare garden.

Plant a Garden

Gardening is a good way to get exercise into your routine, for both children and adults. Place a raised bed where you want a garden located, and allow the children to help you to fill it with organic soil. Even the soil out when you are done, while explaining to the children that they will be planting vegetables for use in the daycare later in the year. Use seedlings that were started from organic seeds, demonstrating to the children how to plant them properly and showing them how to space the seedlings correctly so the plants will have room to grow.