5 Ways to Entertain Your Child Outdoors
Entertaining my child outdoors is so much easier than indoors! When we are inside, my daughter always seem to want us to be involved in the activity she does. However, when we are outside there seem to always be something that she can occupy herself with. Below is a list of five simple activities that she enjoys doing by herself.
Disclosure: Bear in mind that some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission.
1. Making bubbles
Bubbles make a great outdoor play. When she was younger she enjoyed chasing after them and popping them. However, we had to make the bubbles. Now that she is 3 years old she can also blow the bubbles herself and has become a regular once a week or more activity. The bubble we got online that has worked great for us are:
Pros of JOYIN Bubble Wands:
Easy to make bubbles, even if you cannot blow (you can just run with the wand or shake it).
You get tons of bubble liquid, which we have used to fill up other bubble makers.
Makes great big bubbles.
Cons of JOYIN Bubble Wands:
Some kids will spill them easily (e.g. if they run with the bubbles in their hands). We have had a few meltdowns due to that in the past.
Pros of Kyrieval Bubble Wands:
Makes an excellent birthday party favor. We did a Trolls theme birthday party this year and these went really well with the decor.
They are very cute and easy to hold by children.
Cons of Kyrieval Bubble Wands:
Some kids will spill them easily.
Pros Bubble Machine Bubble Gun Shooter:
You can make tons of bubbles very quickly.
The bubbles will not spill easily because the bubble liquid containers are attached to the shooter.
No batteries needed and it lights up each time you press the trigger.
You can buy refills or make your own bubble liquid to refill the existing containers. I sometimes use the bubbles from the big wands to refill the bubble guns.
Cons Bubble Machine Bubble Gun Shooter:
It is not too easy to use - you have to press few times and quickly to get the bubbles to start. So, last year my daughter could not do it herself. Now that she is 3, she can and she loves it.
2. Drawing with chalk
When the weather is great, we go out in the driveway and we draw. I usually start something and once my daughter gets engaged she can spend 20-30 min drawing on her own. We also make obstacle courses, and she loves running around them. Her current favorite one is shark obstacle course and she has to avoid them by either running around or jumping over.
What we use is Sidewalk Chalk and Crayola. I have not noticed a significant difference between the two. Both have lasted forever and do not break easily (unless you throw it, of course). Colors show nicely on the pavement and are easy to hold by my daughter's small hands. So, I guess it would all come down to the price, which Crayola wins I believe.
3. Sprinklers and water play
We have enjoyed water play all summer, pretty much daily.
We bought the Intex Kiddie Pool and some Inflatable Mini Beach Balls. She can spend an hour or more entertaining herself with those. We also got this Little Tikes First Slide, which she figured out that can be used to climb up and slide straight into the pool water. We only use the pool on the grass, so this was fine to do without hurting her bottom. Also, the great thing about the Intex Kiddie pool is that is has some padding at the bottom.
Another daily activity in the summer for us was watering the plants in our yard. We have a lot flowers as well as a vegetable patch. We mostly use the hose for that, but she also enjoys filling up her own watering can and watering the flowers (and herself usually). When she was younger and couldn't lift the hose or fill the watering can herself, I would fill up a bucket with water and have her used a cup to water the plants with.
4. Egg hunt
This was a hit during Easter. I had variety of eggs hidden in the garden (some chocolate, some plastic with a toy inside or nothing inside). I gave her a basket and she spent maybe 2.5 hours outside looking for eggs. Once all of them were collected, we would hide them again, lol. Repeat.
5. Gardening
I love gardening, so my daughter normally tags along. I got her a kiddie gardening toy shovel but she prefers my own shovels from the gardening set I have, made by BYUEE, as well as the small shovel we have in our garage. She also enjoys using my Bypass Pruner to prune the bushes and low trees, although that requires some supervision for obvious reasons.