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Outdoor Learning and Play Charity | Learning through Landscapes

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Learning through Landscapes is the leading UK charity dedicated to outdoor learning and play for children across the world.

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The UK’s largest woodland conservation charity. We want to see a UK rich in native woods and trees. For people. For wildlife. We can’t achieve our vision without you.

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Sign up today and receive 10% off your first box

using the code FIRSTBOX10 at checkout

*This offer only applies to the month to month boxes, not the 3, 6 and 12 month gift subscriptions

Educational

The activities will help your children engage and connect with nature - helping them learn about and interact with plants, insects and the seasons.

Fun

They will have fun growing their own vegetables, fruit, flowers and herbs and creating their own crafts inspired by nature and the seasons.

Easy

The boxes will be delivered to your door with all the materials needed - there's no need for you to have a garden or tools.

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This offer only applies to the month to month boxes, not the 3, 6 and 12 month gift subscriptions The activities will help your children engage and connect with nature - helping them learn about and interact with plants, insects and the seasons.

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Nature Crafts and activities are the easiest way to inspire kids. Head on outdoors and you'll be surrounded by amazing arts and crafts materials at your fingertips - for free! These nature crafts are perfect for kids to do once they've been inspired on a family walk or an adventure! Take your kids on a nature walk and then use these nature crafts and activities to capture the beauty of nature on your return. These nature activites are also perfect for kids to do in the garden or any outdoor space. This is our ultimate collection of all our favourite nature crafts for kids of all ages from 2 years old to 13 years old and beyond! They're easy to make and help the kids get creative and best of all, because they use natural elements they're free or very cheap to make!! These would be perfect boredom busters for camping trips too! There's no end to the fun you can have when you engage with the natural world around you. We're always looking for fun new things to make to keep us active, outdoors and having fun so we hope you enjoy this HUGE list of nature crafts for kids - go out, explore, collect, and make!

Follow us on instagram where we share more fun nature crafts and outdoor activity ideas for kids @thimbleandtwig.

Before we even get started on our 100 ideas - so many of our nature crafts rely on kids collecting some nature materials - so get them started with a nature scavenger hunt - click here for all of our ideas for nature scavenger hunts!

100 Nature Crafts and Activities for Kids

Nature Activities for Kids

Here's an amazing list of nature activities for kids to do. Sometimes, you want an activity to keep kids busy for a whole afternoon or a nature activity to do on a long walk - this list is full of fun nature inspired ideas that will keep kids playing outside for longer plus it gives you a ton of ideas for nature activities for kids to do in the garden.

Nature Journalling is a great way to get kids to be more observant and look around their world a little differently. This is a great activity for arty, creative kids but there's also a ton of nature journal prompt ideas ideas in our post for those kids who don't love drawing. Find out here how everyone can start a Nature Journal.

Essentially Hapa Zome is bashing flowers! This is a brilliant nature activity with flowers that kids will love. Find out here how to do Hapa Zome.

Try making a fairy or dinosaur garden to keep little ones wanting to go back out and play in the garden. Small world play in the garden is a whole sensory experience for kids and they benefit a great deal from getting into character and acting out scenarios whilst using their wildest imaginations - and where best for encouraging creativity than the garden! Find some inspiration for your fairy or dinosaur garden here.

An oldie but a goldie! Leaf Rubbing is a classic children's activity but one I often forget about. Try using metallic crayons and black paper for a different pattern.

One of our all time favourite nature crafts for kids has to be our exploding mud experiment. It's a great nature science experiment so it makes a perfect home learning activity. Kids use film canisters to explode mud! So much fun!

If you want to mix a fun sensory activity for kids with a gardening activity - seed bombs are perfect! Mix some Wildflower Seeds together with some gooey sticky mud. Then leave them to dry in the sun. April-June is the best time to make seed bombs, through them into any patch of land that needs brightening up - perferably after it's rained to ensure the seeds take the to the soil.

If you're out and about on a family walk, why not try making a nature boat and floating it down the river? Kids can use their creativity and imagination to engineer a leaf boat out of nature. Check out this post for more stick craft ideas for kids!

Try making a windchime from flower pots!
There are so many different ways to make a bird feeder. A really easy way is to smear peanut butter over pine cones, roll in bird seed and hang in the trees for a feast for the birds!

Grab some little pots (these viewing pots are brilliant) and head outside to see what you can find! Find the perfect Bug Spotter Identification Sheet here.

We certainly have enough rain here in the UK. Try making a rain guage using a plastic bottle and then with a ruler, mark out measurments using a permanent marker.

Kids will be fascinated that you can make a candle without using any wax!

1. Scoop out the orange and eat but leave the middle stem behind, this is the wick.

2. Fill your orange a third of the way with olive oil.

3. Spoon the oil over the wick

4. Light the wick/ stem. This bit does take a while.

5. Enjoy your orangey smell!

A cute craft for Autumn - use a cocktail stick with a little leaf to make a conker boat and sail it down the river!

Mix up some squelchy mud - splatter it onto a tree and create a face using nature materials! Such a fun nature activity for kids and a great thing to do on a woodland walk - lots more ideas in this post!

The word mandala is a Sanskrit term that means "circle", Nature mandalas are the simplest but the most beautiful form of nature art. Try making them with leaves, flowers, acorns, pine needles, stones, sticks or anything else you can find!

It's important to make art out of nature - it reminds us all that nature is beautiful - art could be dirt, stone, sand, and sky. It could vanish in the wind or permanently alter a landscape. It didn't need to be bought or sold - an important lesson for kids to learn that we don't just have to value material things. Find some land art examples here.

Make a mermaid, a whale or any sea creature you like using beach materials. A great activity for kids at the beach.

Another fun activity for kids to do at the beach. Try balancing rocks and pebbles to make beautiful beach sculptures.

One of our kids favourite things to do is to make mud potions, flower soup and flower potions in the garden. We have a whole post on mud kitchens and play activities for kids to make with mud kitchens to give you lots of ideas!

If you're planning a trip to the beach - collect lots of shells, particulary ones with holes to make shell necklaces!

A perfect activity to build fine motor skills and to take on a walk to keep kids busy, you can make your own loom out of sticks or buy one here and then thread it full of nature items.

Everyone loves things in minature - so try making a jam jar garden for the fairies!

These are a cute nature craft that young kids will love - watch them grow and then cut their hair! Put some grass seed into the toe of an old pair of tights and the top the tights with cotton wool, securing this with an elastic band. You can draw or glue on some googly eyes. Soak the grass head, then sit it in a yoghurt pot of water.
24. Mud Painting
Mud makes a great artistic material for outdoor painting. Try add powder paints to mud to create earthy, coloured mud paint!

A great game to play in the woods is to make a stick maze!
26. Make a Nature Bracelet
Stick sellotape sticky side upwards on your child to make a bracelet - as you go for a walk, they can collect fun nature items and stick them to the sticky tape to make a pretty nature bracelet to admire!

One for kids to make with a grown up but a great thing to do after you've had a campfire. File a point on a stick and wrap in tin foil and place in the fire embers (not flames.) This is one of the crafts in our HOME LEARNING NATURE PACK - find it in our Etsy Store.

A lovely spring time nature craft for kids - collect all the colours of the rainbow in petals and make your very own nature rainbow.

Nature Crafts for Kids

Do your kids come home with their pockets brimming with nature items? These are great nature crafts for kids to make to put those nature bits and bobs to good use! There are's also plenty of ideas for bringing the outside in and using nature at home as well as brilliant nature crafts for rainy days too!

Go on a walk and collect nature items - when you return home, make some stories using the items you collected! This nature craft is flexible and is a good craft for kids of different ages so it makes a good one for forest school or outdoor education for EYFS outdoor literacy topics.

Collect some rocks on your travels and paint them on your return. Try to use acrylic paint and spray varnish them afterwards if you want them to be weatherproof. Or you could choose chalk pens to decorate. You can turn your rocks in ladybirds, bugs or even lions. See our pinterest board for inspiration!

Nature crowns can be made out of anything - there are so many different variations - try fern, leaves, berries - anything goes!

This nature craft has it all! It combines showcasing your beautiful nature crafts with learning to tie a knot! Download the instructions for FREE here.

Bark Owls are easy to make with some bark and acorn cups to create cute nature owls! Collect bark, twigs, acorns and seeds to make this stunning animal nature craft.

Cute Fairy Pine Cone craft that kids will love to make!

Flower Crafts for Kids

What's more beautiful in the world then flowers! You can find loads more of our favourite flower nature crafts for kids.

Try using a flower press to create these most beautiful pebbles. Press your flowers then attached them carefully with glue to your pebbles. Cover with varnish to secure the petals.

This is simple nature craft activity for preschoolers that can be done outside as part of your nature walk. Take some clay with you and create imprints by pressing nature items into your clay! Try acorns, leaves and pine cones! Here are our other good tips and tricks for things to take on a nature walk with kids.

Leaf Crafts for Kids

Leaves have got to be the most versatile material to craft with - they are cheap and easy to find in all seasons and with different colours and shapes - there are so many things kids can make with leaves. Try these ideas below or our ideas for crafts and activities for kids to make with leaves.

Paint leaves to look like beautiful butterfly wings!

This has to be one of our really fun nature crafts that also works well for older kids. Find out how to create salad spinner Leaf Craft to make stunning Art with leaves!

Autumn leaf lanterns are perfect to make for a torchlit walk. Kids love a walk around their neighbourhood in the evening - and a lantern makes the walk even more magical!

Did you know you can use leaves to create magic messages for friends? Find out how along with other kid's leaf crafts in our 7 Easy Leaf Craft for Kids!

Want to learn more about the chromatography of leaves? Try this fun nature science experiment for school aged kids.

Learn the anatomy of bugs by making the insect parts out of leaves! This is a great outdoor school leaf learning activity for kids. If your kids love the book, you could also make a stick man as shown in this post.

Aren't leaf skeletons beautiful? I love to find them in the woods during Autumn and Winter. Have fun with kids by seeing who can collect the most leaf skeletons on a nature walk and then bring them home to print with. They are delicate so you'll have to be careful dabbing the paint on (try using a sponge) but they make the most beautiful prints that are great for kids cards.

Stick Crafts for Kids

Check out this post for all our stick crafts for kids!

There are loads of nature crafts you can make with sticks! What kid doesn't like a wand? Try adding beads, feathers or gorgeous coloured leaves for some real fairy power!

All you need is some sycamore seeds (or helicopter seeds as we call them) and sticks to make these gorgeous stick dragonflies! Try painting the seeds with some metallic paint to bring out the colours of real dragonflies.

Sticks and pine cones can be really beautiful - who would have thought? Try making this gorgeous stick and pine cone mobile by wrapping colourful wool round some sticks and painting your pine cones. It can be hung in a window to catch the light - so pretty!

Who says twigs can't be beautiful? Try these beautiful and easy twig stars to make.

Making a stick spiderweb is a great nature craft for introducing weaving. You can use conkers if you're in Autumn or Fall or a lump of play dough in the middle if they're are no conkers around.

Nature Crafts for Spring

Try collecting sticks, moss, feathers and make a bird's nest - more Spring Sensory play activities for preschoolers.

Egg shells are a great natural material to paint on! Have fun smashing them once you've eaten your boiled egg (or dippy eggs as my kids call them!) paint them and then create a mosaic! A pasta mosaic is another fun and cheap craft to try!

When petals are just starting to fall on the ground in late Spring, collect some beauties and glue them to some white tissue paper - hang them in the sunlight to show the display the colour of the beautiful petals.

Nature Crafts for Summer

Butterflies have to be my kid's favourite thing to spot in the garden. To make an easy one to attract more butterflies to your garden - soak some cotton pads in watered down sugar and add them to a mini jam jar. Hang in a flowery plant to attract butterflies.

What kid would not love a nature craft they can eat? Go on a walk, pick some berries, give them a squish and then create some pretty berry paintings! Berry juice makes a pretty, translucent paint, similar to watercolours - it's fun for little hands. Be sure to only use berries that are safe to eat and don't keep painting for too long as the berry juice can stain your fingers.

Try this amazing sun print paper! Create beautiful effects with leaves and other nature items on a sunny day! This is one of the crafts in our HOME LEARNING NATURE PACK - find it in our Etsy Store.

Bees are great for your garden to pollinate the plants you grow. If you want to encourage bees to your garden than a simple flowerpot beehive is a great way to make them feel welcome! All you need is a flowerpot with some corrugated cardboard rolled into tubes placed inside, then add some hay between the tubes. Make sure you pack the tubes tightly and ensure no cardboard is hanging out the edge so the hive is protected from rain.

Nature Crafts for Autumn
60. No Carve Pumpkin Ideas
Making leaf hedgehogs is a gorgeous Autumn craft for preschoolers and toddlers - collect leaves with pointy edges to make your leaf hedgehog.

Clay, acorns and a little imagination is all you need to make these cute acorn nature crafts!

Autumn brings some wonderful colours with it, take some inspiration from the outdoors by using autumn leaves to make a sun catcher. Collect some beautiful autumn leaves and flatten them under some heavy books or a flower press. Once flat, glue them to some baking paper and hang in the sunshine to watch the colours dazzle.

There are so many brilliant nature crafts you can make with conkers, our conker hedgehogs make very cute, low maintenance pets and noughts and crosses makes a great outdoors game for kids during the Autumn.

Preserve the stunning colours of your Autumn walk by making a wax leaf garland - find out how at Sprouting Wild Ones.

Nature Crafts for Winter

Wondering what to do with kids in the rain? Try RAIN PAINTING for a fun rainy day kid's activity.

Ice Suncatchers are one of the most beautiful nature crafts you can make for Winter. Try freezing ice overnight in tins and different shape containers and add berries, nature items and evergreens to make a beautiful ice display. Read for more Winter Outdoor Nature Activities.

Try freezing coloured ice and kids can use them as outdoor building blocks - you can even play hide and seek with them as an Ice Scavenger Hunt.

Make these beautiful ice lanterns from balloons ......

Bring the outside in at Christmas by using nature items to create beautiful decorations. Try these Pine Cone Nature decorations or Orange Star Slices or Nature Filled Baubles.

Bored of making a snowman? All you need is snow and nature items to make these stunning snow animals.

Nature Crafts for preschoolers

Combine nature items and play dough for hours of fun! Toddlers will love making nature imprints in the play dough and you can combine with small world parts for longer play.

Perfect for a hot day outdoor activity or for getting outdoors in winter too! Freeze flowers in ice and try to freeze them using salt or warm water!

A simple, easy outdoor activity that you can take with you on a family walk with kids. Simply punch some holes in a pattern (or shape if your preschooler is learning their shapes) into an old cereal box or some cardboard. As you go on your walk - your kids can fill the holes with nature finds! We have lots more ideas of how to make a family walk fun with kids!

The most simple nature craft for toddlers and preschoolers that encourages fine motor development! Kids love to cut the grass!

Our kids love this simple outdoor garden activity. Give them some old flowers or dried flowers, encourage them to collect leaves and grass and oozy mud. With small pots or these cute mini flowerpots - they can create their own flower shop!

Paint a pine cone - they're surprisingly fun to paint - you can have a multi-coloured one or even add glitter!

Get outside, go on a nature walk, collect lots of interesting pieces of nature and then have fun painting with them! A great nature craft for toddlers - they will love experimenting with nature and paint to see what different textures and marks they can make!

If you have a preschooler learning their name - make it fun by taking them outside to create their name in nature! We have more outdoor learning activities for preschoolers and kids here.

Nature art frames are really simple to make, fun to play with and create some wonderful images. They're a great idea to take and about with you on a walk.

Cut out your shape or picture and take the frame outdoors and hold it against any interesting natural things you can see, like trees the sky, flowers or grass for example.

Flowers you can actually eat! Kids love baking and they'll love cooking with flowers - they also look really pretty on a plate, perfect for an outdoor picnic with friends. Here's the Flower Cookie Recipe.

You'll never look at a Christmas Tree in the same way again! If you're wondering what to do with your Christmas Tree - you could always try eating it! Use pine needles to make a fun nature baking activity for toddlers - the trick is to ensure the pine needles don't sit on top of the dough, otherwise they get too chewy! Here's the pine needle cookies recipe!

Use old petals that have fallen on the floor - set up some old bowls in different sizes filled with water - and watch the kids excitement as they mix flower soup or make rose petal potions. Check out our other Outdoor Garden potion ideas.

Oobleck is great sensory fun for children of all ages. All you need to make it is cornflour and water but you can also add other textures and scents such as flower petals, pine needles, ferns and other natural materials. Oobleck behaves like a liquid when its being poured, but when you push or squeeze it becomes temporarily solid which makes it great fun to play with!

Nature Crafts for Older Kids

A better nature craft for older kids because it can be a bit fiddly. Eat an orange (or satsumas work well) and cut little shapes with a sharp knife or shape cutter out of the peel. Thread onto string to make a garland!

Who knew you could make dandelion honey? This is a great nature craft for older kids who love to make something productive outdoors. Find the recipe here.

Raid your recycling bin to make a fun home for your snails - be sure to give them lots of greenery and leaves.

A great outdoor activity for kids of all ages - grab your snails, give them names and RACE THEM! **Download your FREE Snail racing Kit here**

A more technical nature craft that's perfect for older kids - use natural elements to dye cloth with. Try boiling beetroot or onion or turmeric, blueberries or spinach to make your own natural dyes for cloth.

A great way to get older kids outdoors is to send them on a photo scavenger hunt - you can find an example of photo scavenger hunts in our post on 33 Ideas to keep kids entertained on a long walk.

You can make these in heart shapes or any shape really! This is a combination of the eco-friendly craft of making paper and then making plantable seed paper

I don't know any kids who didn't like making flower perfume when they were small. So this is just an advanced form of garden potion making. Try making flower perfume.

Feather are beautiful in their own right but try painting them to make some stunning artwork.

We've saved a special nature craft right till the end. This is a perfect activity for the beach but would also make a lovely addition to a fairy garden or as a garden mosaic. Collect shells of all different sizes and shapes and make beautiful fairy nature sculptures.

If you made it to the end of our epic nature craft list - well done! We hope this is a useful list for all eventualities - whether you're a teacher and need a nature craft for your classroom or just want some quick ideas to keep kids busy in the garden, there's nature crafts here for older kids as well as toddler too! Happy adventuring and exploring and spending time in nature!

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100 Best Nature Crafts and activities for Kids

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An epic collection of the best nature crafts and nature activities for kids of all ages! Fun nature crafts that get kids outdoors and engaging with nature!

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Nature is the ultimate artist and you are going to LOVE this set of nature crafts for kids! With so many stunning colours, shapes, and textures, it's no wonder we feel so inspired when we're in the outdoors. If you enjoy nature as much as we do, it's time to bring the elements of your outdoor adventures into your crafts.

We've compiled 27+ fun nature crafts that your kids are going to love. Make suncatchers, leaf paintings, puppets, life cycles, leaf crowns, and so much more. In fact, these crafts are just the beginning. Once you get the hang of creating art using natural materials, you'll find inspiration everywhere.

You might also like to check out these lists of fun ideas!

Ready to get started? Choose one of the fun ideas below!

Nature Crafts from Messy Little Monster

Let's start with some of our favourite nature crafts that we've done right here at MLM over the years! You'll find so many creative ways to incorporate leaves, seeds, and flowers into your crafts and art projects.

Nature Suncatcher

This Nature Suncatcher is one of several suncatchers we've made using natural materials. Press and Seal or contact paper work wonderfully for preserving leaves, flower petals, and flat seeds to enjoy their visual appeal a little longer.

Painted Rocks with a Camping Theme

Gathering rocks to paint is part of the fun of rock painting! It's a wonderful family activity, too. Once you've gathered some rocks that are smooth and flat, wash them and let them dry completely before painting. You can paint any theme you'd like, but we think these Camping Painted Rocks are very fitting for a nature craft! You can then use the painted rocks to play games, tell stories, or share with others.

Stone Faces

We've also shared our Painted Rock Faces craft, painting different facial features on rocks to create lots of funny faces. Add leaves, twigs, or flowers to create hair and eyebrows.

Nature Paintbrushes

DIY your own paintbrushes using items from nature. Our tutorial on Nature Paint Brushes shows you how. You'll need a stick for each paintbrush, and then you add things to the top that will create different textures using the paint. Flowers, feathers, grass, moss, and more are excellent choices.

Nature Paint

As well as being used to make paintbrushes nature can be used to make the actual paint! Search out some colour rich items from your backyard and see what Nature Paint colours you can mix up. You can even use our paints made by nature printable to test out the colours.

Leaf Suncatcher

Save some of your autumn leaves to make a fun Paper Plate Leaf Suncatcher. Just like the flower petal version above, you can use small leaves to create interesting patterns inside your suncatcher.

Leaf Hedgehog

And while you're looking for pretty leaves for your crafts projects, you don't want to miss our adorable Leaf Hedgehog. In fact, he's the perfect subject to use those brown, crunchy leaves on. Just grab our Hedgehog Template to get started!

Nature Tic Tac Toe

Make your own DIY game board and game pieces using items from nature! Our Nature Tic Tac Toe Craft is so much fun to make and play with. We used conkers (horse chestnuts) for game pieces, but rocks would work just as well.

Nature Owls

Go for a nature walk to collect pine cones, seeds, and other bits to make adorable crafts like this Pine Cone Owl Craft and conker owl craft. Both are super cute and easy to put together.

Clay Nature Faces

Get the clay out and use it to make some Nature Faces! After going on a nature walk to collect pieces of nature use your collection of nature to add facial features to a ball of clay stuck to a tree. This is such a fun nature craft for kids of all ages!

Sunflower Suncatcher

Brighten up your home with a stunning Sunflower Suncatcher. You won't believe how easy it is to make using an embroidery hoop and contact paper. It will look so gorgeous hanging in your window.

Playdough and Nature Tree Craft

Make your own tree from nature and playdough. This Nature Playdough Activity is easy to set up and lots of fun for preschoolers. Make a tree shape from playdough or clay (or use our Tree Template) and add real leaves to give it a summery look.

Ok, so it isn't really a craft at all, but making Dandelion Honey is so much fun that I couldn't leave it off this list of nature activities. Follow our easy recipe and make yourself a tasty afternoon treat!

Fun Nature Crafts for Kids

Want even more nature craft ideas? Check out the projects below!

Leaf Faces

Who says art has to be permanent? Kids will get a kick out of making and rearranging faces using items from nature such as leaves, acorns, pinecones, seeds, and sticks. These Leaf Faces by Picklebums are sure to be the source of lots of giggles!

Tree Nature Craft

Use a tree outline and items from nature to make this Stunning Tree Nature Craft by Crafts on Sea. It's a wonderful craft for most seasons, as you can use the colors, flowers, and seeds appropriate to the season.

Nature Frame

Kids find such interesting treasures while out in nature. Let them compile and arrange their treasures into a Nature Frame Impressions Craft like this one by The Crazy Outdoor Mama. They can then proudly display their art for a while in their rooms.

Twig Art

All you need for this colourful Twig Art by Twitchetts is paint, twigs, and twine. It's a simple and beautiful craft that you'll want to keep up in your home for a long time. It looks rustic and modern at the same time.

Leaf Crown

Make your little fairy prince or princess a beautiful Leaf Crown using the tutorial from Red Ted Art. You'll need leaves with long stems, as the stems will be used to sew the crown together. Of course, you could always try to glue or tape the pieces together if you can't get the hang of the stem sewing technique.

Pin this list of nature crafts to inspire you to create something beautiful after your next nature walk or outing. check out even more nature art ideas.

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Nature is the ultimate artist and you are going to LOVE this set of nature crafts for kids! With so many stunning colours, shapes, and textures, it's no wonder we feel so inspired when we're in the outdoors. If you enjoy nature as much as we do, it's time to bring the elements of your outdoor adventures into your crafts.

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Red Ted Art - Make crafting with kids easy & fun

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We LOVE crafting with Nature... actually we LOVE crafting recycled materials, TP Roll Crafts AND easy nature crafts for kids! And what do they all have in common? They are FREE! AND you need to use your imagination and really CHALLENGE your imagination to come up with cute and easy nature crafts for kids. I also love that nature crafts, get kids close to nature by definition... after all... you have to spend time in the great outdoors FINDING stuff to craft with. It is a wonderful way to explore your local environment as well as experience the seasons... with conkers and acorns in Autumn, wonderful pebbles and shells from the beach in Summer and "growing crafts" in Spring. Sticks and pine cones are frequent craft materials for us in Winter! We also have a great set of Nature PLAY ideas - where unlike for the easy nature crafts - you literally ONLY need nature!

There are lots of ways to group this round up, but I decided it would probably best to stick by craft material - rather than seasons (as we all have different seasons) or type (e.g. DIY Ornaments, as some nature crafts fall into different categories). Having said that, I do have a great selection of Easy Autumn Crafts for Kids and Easy Autumn Crafts for Preschoolers, you may enjoy!

Pine Cone Crafts for Kids

We adore pine cones. For me they are all about Autumn crafts, however, you can usually find them all year around. I am not sure why I associate them with Autumn. I love how wonderfully tactile they are.. and they are surprisingly awkward to craft with!! So hopefully you will find some great nature crafts made here today using pine cones (and occasionally other materials too).

For slightly younger kids -

One of our simplest ideas for pine cones is to make an Autumn Mobile. Easy and fun and a great way for combining different nature finds all in one craft.

Pine cones are also great for turning into easy Pine cone Bird Feeders. I think that they look wonderful too and it is a suitable nature craft for preschool.

We have also made easy Pinecone Pom Pom trees (cute as Christmas Ornaments too or as part of a Winter Village)

We also had great fun with this cutest little Pine Cone Hedgehogs!

Finally, how about these absolutely LOVELY and oh so simple Pine Cone Snowy Owls and have made them at home, in school and with our local scout group! Brilliant.

For slightly older kids -

And if you are looking for more pine cone craft inspiration, from both Red Ted Art and lovely external sites, we have more Easy Pine Cone Crafts for you browse!

Easy Shell Crafts for Kids

From pine cones to shells - this brings us right into the heart of Summer! Of course, you can find shells all year round, but we tend to mainly go to the beach in the Summer holidays. So fur us, Shell Crafts for Kids are very much a Nature Craft for Summer!!

What to make with shells.

First up we have these super simple Drift Wood and Shell Rattles - bring a long a piece of string or elastic and you can make these ON the beach. Wonderful. Decorate at home with some wool.

As with the nature mobile above, we love combining beads, stones and shells into a pretty Sea Shell Mobile. We actually have TWO of these in the garden now and they have lasted really well.

This is a fantasic and easy DIY that even young kids can make - Easy Shell Necklaces - no drills or holey shells required and super colourful too.

Finally, we have long been in love with our Crab Shell Fridge Magnets!

Find (many) more Shell Crafts from Red Ted Art and 3rd parties!! Love love love this collection of Shell DIYs!

Easy Leaf Crafts for Kids

Leaf crafts for us are mainly about Autumn Crafts for Kids - however some of the crafts below can be made all year round. I find trees lose leaves not just in Autumn. You may also enjoy or find this 6 Ways to Preserve Leaves post handy before you proceed with this section!

Beautiful Leaf Craft Ideas

This is our favourite leaf craft **ever** - as these Leaf Lanterns are so very very easy to make and look absolutely fabulous!

As an alternative, we have super simple (one)Leaf Luminaries that would look great as a quick table decoration!

Oh I fibbed, we have TWO favourite leaf crafts. The leaf lanterns above, and also tehse fantastic Leaf bowls!

We also enjoy making these Leaf crowns. A seriously undervalued and super fun for when out and about - perfect for any Forest School activities.

You can't have a leaf craft collection, with out some classic Leaf rubbings - a bit of arty fun, but can we used for other crafts too!

You can also explore the Great Artists with this great Autumn Andy Goldsworthy project. A simply stunning way to explore colours and shapes.

Leaf Faces - a great way to get arty with leaves, or alternatively you can turn your leaves into Woodland People!

I am not sure if "leaves" is the right section for these.. they kind of use a bit of everything, but leaves are super important when making.. FAIRY HOUSES - we love the natural magic of these and how each fairy house is different depending on your local environment and seasons.. we have a Fairy Teepee, a Fairy Summer House and a Fairy Winter House!

Finally - shown in image above, but has no extra blog post - create "nature confetti" using leaves and shapped hole punches. Use it for collages or table decorations or to throw at weddings!

And yes.. we have more wonderful Leaf Crafts for Kids (PLUS a google hangout!)

Easy Stick Crafts for Kids

Well, my kids adore STICKS. They can't help collecting more and more and more of them and we always seem to have a huge collection of them at home! So it is time we made something from them.....

What to do with sticks

One of the simplest and most favourite stick craft for kids of all time, are our SUPER QUICK Stickman How To. Really it doesn't get much faster than that. It is also one the crafts featured in Red Ted Art the book!

One year, sticks also featured heavily in our Four Seasons Art project - we created Stick Tree collages for each season. So sweet and pretty!

Sticks are also great for quirk "God's Eyes" or spider web craft. I love the combination of nature materials and tactile wool

We also love using sticks in our general crafting - a stick from our walk, became the Hobby Horse's stick.

They are great as part of a Shell Mobile (that we mentioned above, as well as our Autumn Nature Finds mobile)! Easy and fun.

We love making own Tic Tac Toe Game.

Turn your sticks into nature rattles (mentioned above under shells too). These are also a great "beach keepsake" and can be made ON the beach if you wish.

And we love this "twiggy" heart art work - so so so pretty and definitely worth checking out!

Make gorgeous Dog Wood Heart Ornaments!

Check out our "Nature Play Ideas" for the Stick Arrow featured in the image above!

Love sticks? Need yet MORE Stick Craft DIYs? Look no further!

Stone Crafts for Kids

Another nature find that is quite plentiful is the humble stone. Especially if you live near stony beaches (oh how we would love a golden sandy beach near us).. nevermind.. our local (ish) beaches all yield different sorts of stones. Some flat, some with holes, others big and heavy.. and depending on what you can find, here are some great stone crafts for kids as part of your nature activities for kids.

Creative Stones

We love making these little Stone Pets. I love this stone craft, as it keeps the "nature" of the stone in tact - i.e. you are not painting it or changing it (much).

These little stone ducks were made a few years ago and surprisingly we still have all 6 - we love singing "5 Little Ducks Went Swimming One Day"...

Easy Stone Pendants - yes these ARE easy, I promise, you don't need special tools to bore holds or find stones with holes in them already. Find out how we attached them to our pendants. So pretty!

Glitter Heart Rocks - these make cute little gifts to decorate your desk or keep in your pocket. Quick and easy.

Rock Paper Weights - another favourite of ours, as they are soooo fun to make and a great way to use up all those odds and ends of crayons lying around the art cupboard.

Bee & Ladybird Tic Tac Toe - love this DIY Stone Game.. the little bees and ladybirds are so quick and easy to make. Gorgeous.

Simple Garden Planters - again a stone craft that we made many moons ago, and still have a number of these knocking about the garden. So sweet!

Lady Bird Stones - similar to the tic tac to game.... you could make these with different numbered spots and use them for counting.

Frozen Story Stones - includes a free printable so you can make your own "Frozen" Story Stones

Stone Owls - love how simple these are. Your stone becomes your canvas.

And mentioned before, you can make wonderful Shell & Stone Windchime!

Adorable Stone Pets!

Last but by certainly not least, we have some fantastic DIY Rock Rings. They are just too cool for school.

Need MORE ideas? Check out the special "Stone Crafts For Kids" collection containing both the above and additional external craft activities too!

Acorn Crafts for Kids

We are slowly coming to the end of our Nature Crafts for Kids collections.. and have a handful of adorable acorn crafts for you to browse.

Conker Crafts for Kids

Our last category for this post - CONKERS - what are conkers I hear you say.. they are horse chestnuts or chestnuts or also known as buckeyes in other parts of the world. Lovely brown shiny things! Definitely part of Autumn Crafting!

Fun with Conkers

For more Chestnut Crafts - including the ones above and more - take a look at this collection of Chestnut Crafts for Kids!

If you are after some more Nature Craft Inspiration, take a look at the wonderful Mother Nature Blog - Nature Crafts and Forrest School in one!

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Easy Nature Crafts for Kids - Red Ted Art - Make crafting with kids easy & fun

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We LOVE crafting with Nature... actually we LOVE crafting recycled materials, TP Roll Crafts AND easy nature crafts for kids ! And what do they all have in common? They are FREE! AND you need to use your imagination and really CHALLENGE your imagination to come up with cute and easy nature crafts for kids.

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Get creative with fun and exciting craft activities

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Get creative with our fun and exciting craft activities that have been designed to explore your love of nature.

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Helping wetland nature and getting creative at home is easy with our range of make-it activities. They can be done with things you already have, so are cheap and eco-friendly. With step-by-step instructions and video tutorials, theyâre easy and fun to do.

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Ever built a den? Fancy learning how to make your very own pond in a bucket? From colouring sheets to how-to guides we’ve got plenty of activity ideas for you to help wildlife and have fun.

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How to introduce risky play for children

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How to introduce risky play for children

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‍What is risky play in the early years?

Before we start, let's take a second to think about what we mean by risky play.

Risky play is thrilling and exciting. It's got a risk of physical injury. It's challenging, it tests limits and it helps children to explore and establish their own boundaries. It could be climbing, sliding, balancing jumping and hanging, rolling or using potentially dangerous tools.

Ellen Beate Hansen Sandseter, an expert in the area of risky play, breaks it down into six main areas:

Rapid speeds - This could be swinging or sliding, or riding on something with wheels. Anything to get that thrill of speed.

Dangerous tools - This might be knives and saws, drills and hammers or bigger tools. It's all about the control of something dangerous and the excitement they feel in being trusted.

Dangerous elements - This covers things like fire or deep bodies of water. The danger is fun!‍

Rough and tumble - Children tend to prefer being chased or in a vulnerable position when they play rough and tumble - all the better because it's harder to overcome and involves the most risk.‍

Great heights - Going up high trees or buildings gives a huge feeling of achievement and some pretty good views.‍

Disappearing or getting lost - Hide and seek gives children the temporary feeling of separation without any real danger of being forgotten.

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Why is risky play important in the Early Years?

There's some suggestion that it's evolutionary, helping young children to explore and learn, and there's been proof that it's found in many other young mammals too. Managing risks is a key life skill, and from an early age, it helps us understand our own abilities, and use critical thinking for how to use them in play.

Without taking risks, it seems that developing mammals can overreact to new environments and go into fight or flight immediately when faced with unfamiliar peers. This all feeds into the emotion regulation theory of play, that one of play's major functions is to teach developing brains how to regulate fear and anger. In that sense, learning risk management skills is a key part of child development.

And your role as an early educator? To find the right balance. To ensure that children are able to enjoy all the benefits of risky play in the early years without any serious injuries really taking place.

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So risky play is natural and invaluable for children in how they understand the world around them. But it also allows them to experience crucial emotions, such as:

And if that all wasn't enough, the kind of physical, outdoors activity normally associated with risky play in the early years is great for a whole bunch of skills such as motor control, balance, coordination, body awareness and risk assessment.

Most simply, it's because they enjoy it. Any activity that a child is engaged in and focused on is likely to be a great learning opportunity, and that's the case with risky play in the early years.

What's more, it's where children learn about risk. If they're not exposed to risk in their lives, they have no chance to learn how to assess it and manage different situations. Even the Health and Safety Executive agree...

"The goal is not to eliminate risk, but to weigh up the risks and benefits. No child will learn about risk if they are wrapped in cotton wool"

‍Confronting gender bias in risky play

Whenever you're working on risky play, be watchful of your unconscious biases. Whether we mean to or not, many people tend to encourage messy, risky little boy adventurers and don't do quite as well with the girls. Just watch that you're encouraging all children equally and that you're not complimenting the boys on pushing their boundaries more than you are with the girls.

For more ideas on how to create a more gender equal environment at your nursery, you might want to read this article on gender exploratory play, and how children learn (or don't learn) bias in early childhood.

Now let's get to those tips.

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1. Trust children to know their own limits

One of the most important things to remember when it comes to risky play in the early years is to trust the children. They may be motivated to explore their boundaries but they also know their capacities, often a lot better than you will. They know what they're ready for.

This is why you can't push risk-taking, but instead, ensure that you have an environment that is ripe for little explorers to take their own. By pushing a child too far, you'll leave them with trauma and shame, making them turn away from fun adventures in the future.

But by hitting that sweet spot, and allowing children to find their own 'discomfort zone', you'll provide a thrilling learning environment for your little ones.

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2. Assess the risks and cut out the hazards

Of course, there will be some risks that are too great, and occasionally you'll have a few learners who need a helping hand to find their boundaries.

You don't want children's lives to be in danger, or any serious injury to be likely. That's why with any new piece of equipment we do risk-benefit assessments, working out whether the risk of a resource or activity far outweighs the benefit.

Is something guaranteed to be seriously dangerous? Well, then it's probably not OK. But is there a low chance of bumps, grazes, or cuts? Maybe that's alright. These marks help children to manage their own bodies and it's simply a part of growing up. More importantly, by not giving access to risky resources, the children are missing out on an important piece of the development puzzle.

You need to think about the hazards of course, but don't focus on the worst-case scenario. If the potential injuries are minor or unlikely then the benefits probably outweigh the risks.

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3. Support children to struggle and overcome

It's difficult to resist the urge to help a child when they're struggling, but by interfering, you're stopping a potentially valuable learning experience.

Falling, failing, hurting yourself a little - that's all part of the process of managing your body and understanding risk. Getting your intervention right as a practitioner or leader is the key to getting risky play in the early years right.

If you want to see how this works in the real world, this article from Teacher Tom is great on getting the intervention right and why it's invaluable in building a child's resilience. But if direct intervention isn't the answer, what can you do to support a child's risky play? Well, one thing you can do is...

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4. Ask questions to encourage children to think critically

We all know the power of open-ended questions in the early years, but nowhere are they more important than in risky play.

Your language is very important when it comes to risky play in the early years. You don't want to say no (unless it really is life-threatening) and you need to be careful not to pass over your own fears in the way you speak. 'It's too high' and 'Come down from there' are sentences that need to be shelved.

Instead, you can use language that encourages children to more carefully consider what they're doing. Try questions like:

Where should your foot go next?

Do you feel safe?

Does that feel wobbly?

Show me how you can be careful!

You can also consider asking them to talk you through their decisions to make sure they really are thinking about their own next steps. If you want to encourage more risky play, instructions are not the way. Try prompts instead, like leaving a plank over some tires or placing certain things out of reach with nearby resources that they can use to stand on.

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5. Set sufficient time aside for risky play

Often, problems with risky play in the early years come when an activity is rushed, not because the activity is unsafe. This can be particularly problematic when you need to transition to another part of the nursery day.

This is why you need to be a bit flexible with your schedule when you're doing risky play. Moving a child on when they're close to a result, or when they're engrossed in something risky can be damaging to their confidence and cause behavioural problems.

You need to make proper time for outdoor and physical play too, and ensure you have enough staff to properly supervise. This can be difficult in a busy setting but once you understand the crucial role that risky play performs in a child's development, it's clear that the payoff is worth it.

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6. Get the parents and carers on board

If you really want risky play to work at your setting, you can't afford to skip this step.

Without parent approval, you're going to face an uphill battle for every little cut or scrape. What's more, the education won't be consistent if the same principles and attitudes aren't being followed at home too.

You need to educate parents on the benefits of risky play in the early years. Start with articles like this one that can help parents with ideas on how to encourage more outdoor risks.

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How to Introduce more risky play in the early years | Famly

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Risky play in the early years is one of the most important experiences children can have. Here's why it matters and what you can do encourage it.

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Learning Through Landscapes-Campfire Bread on a Stick

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Learning Through Landscapes-Campfire Bread on a Stick

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Learning Through Landscapes-Make your own Seed Tape

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Learning Through Landscapes-Make your own Seed Tape

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Learning Through Landscapes-Wooden Disc Weaving

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Learning Through Landscapes-Wooden Disc Weaving

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Learning Through Landscapes-Teddy Assault Course

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Learning Through Landscapes-Teddy Assault Course

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Learning Through Landscapes-Slip and Slide

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Learning Through Landscapes-Slip and Slide

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Learning Through Landscapes-Tipi for Teddy

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Learning Through Landscapes-Tipi for Teddy

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Learning Through Landscapes-Who's Been Framed

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Learning Through Landscapes-Who's Been Framed

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Learning Through Landscapes-Get it Sorted

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Learning Through Landscapes-Get it Sorted

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Learning Through Landscapes-Ready Teddy Go

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Learning Through Landscapes-Ready Teddy Go

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Learning Through Landscapes-Eggy Cress Heads

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Learning Through Landscapes-Eggy Cress Heads

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Learning Through Landscapes-Green High Five

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Learning Through Landscapes-Green High Five

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Learning Through Landscapes-Paper Plant Pots

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Learning Through Landscapes-Loose Parts Toolkit 

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Learning Through Landscapes-Loose Parts Toolkit 

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Learning through Landscapes -A Leaf Snap Activity

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Learning through Landscapes -A Leaf Snap Activity

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A great way to start is to plant quick-sprouting seeds so that impatient little ones can see the results of their hard work without much waiting around; sunflower, cress and salad seeds provide really easy results. Why not try making Mr Bloom's cress head as a quick and easy way to explain planting seeds to little ones?
Herbs and veg
Once you've mastered these, herbs such as basil and mint or vegetables such as tomatoes or lettuce are a fantastic next step. Having your child cook with their own herbs and vegetables is not only highly rewarding and helps them to learn where food comes from but can also be a great way to encourage fussy eaters to try new foods!
Stimulate the senses
Planting in the garden is a great way to stimulate your child's senses of touch, sight, sound, taste and smell - soft flowers, bushes and plants that rustle, strong smells and bright colours all help to enrich your child's experience of gardening. These kinds of sensory plants can be particularly beneficial for children with special needs and sensory impairments, as it encourages them to explore and enjoy the garden.
Mini tools
If your little one really loves getting out and about in the garden it can be helpful to buy a set of child-friendly mini-tools that they can hold and use by themselves. Having a little watering can, rake, trowel and spade can really help build your child's sense of independence as well as their physical movement and fine motor skills.
Keep your little one interested
Your toddler may become completely engrossed in gardening with you, however be prepared for the fact that they may have a limited attention span and won't be absorbed for more than a few minutes at a time. It's a good idea to keep things simple and have other activities up your sleeve to extend your child's interest.

Get your children to make plant labels to mark where and what seeds have been planted

Go on a hunt for minibeasts (e.g. snails, worms and insects)

Explain how bugs and creepy-crawlies are good for the soil and plants

Encourage them to hold these creatures gently and carefully so that they can see what minibeasts look like

Make a compost heap and explain to your child what you can and can't put in there

Ask questions
Keep them involved throughout the process and ask lots of questions so that they feel like they're actively involved. Ask them where they think would be a good spot for their plants and why, how long they think their plants will take to grown and what they might look like.
What next?
Whilst their seeds are growing, keep them interested in the garden by watching a bean begin to sprout. Take a few sheets of a kitchen roll, wet them and roll them inside a pint glass or tall jar. Drop a bean seed down the side and watch as the bean sprouts roots. It's a great way of showing little ones what's happening underground.

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Children love to get mucky in the garden and explore the nature around them

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Beginners Guide to Starting an Allotment

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Beginners Guide to Starting an Allotment

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You may have been thinking about getting an allotment for a while, or it might be a relatively new idea.

Either way, there are several things to plan and organise when it comes to starting an allotment.

To make sure you know exactly what to do, step by step, we've put together this ultimate beginners guide to starting an allotment.

This guide will walk you through every stage: from finding an allotment in the first place, to harvesting your first crops.

Home-grown meals could be just around the corner.

10 Steps for Starting and Preparing an Allotment

1. Get an Allotment

The first challenge is actually getting an allotment. In some areas, there's plenty of space, but in others, the waiting list is 20 years. As soon as you start thinking about an allotment, you should put your name down ASAP.

You need to contact your local council to apply for an allotment. They will then either assign you a plot or (more likely) put your name on the waiting list.

It's possible that you will be assigned an allotment that is not the closest allotment to you. This can be a bit surprising sometimes. Think about how far you are willing to travel for an allotment.

If you are lucky, you will be assigned an allotment within a one mile radius of your home - this will take approximately 15 minutes to walk to. Some people travel over five miles to their allotment - consider if this is something you'd be happy to do, or if this would be a deal breaker.

2. Clear the Rubbish

When you first get your allotment, the dream scenario is that it will be a beautifully-kept plot that's been manured, dug and cared for.

In reality, this is pretty unlikely - you're likely to find an unkempt plot that's overgrown and requiring a lot of TLC. People often abandon their allotment plot before officially giving it up, so it may be a while since it's had much attention.

If you have a really messy allotment you may have to spend the first year clearing the site to get it in tip-top condition.

Before you put blades and spades anywhere near the plot, you may have to get rid of broken glass, metal, stones and the previous allotment holder's junk. Be sure to wear sturdy shoes and thick gardening gloves for this job

3. Cut Back the Plants

If the allotment plot is overgrown, you're going to need some reliable equipment to help clear the space.

Go armed with loppers, a strimmer, a good pair of secateurs and a garden shredder.

Keep your safety gear on and work your way through the tangle steadily but surely. If you're offered a plot in winter, or you're in no rush, try laying cardboard or polythene over weedy areas. This smothers them, cuts out light and deprives them of water so your job will be less back-breaking.

Bear in mind that wildlife that will take up residence in the long grass and overgrown greenery. This includes hedgehogs, frogs, grass snakes, toads and so many others, so don't just hit it with a strimmer because they cause horrific injuries. Poke about in the grass before you begin, make noise and go slowly - give the wildlife a chance to escape.

Also, a useful, thrifty tip: keep an eye out for previous plot holder's perennial plants as you cut back. This could be fruit bushes or strawberry runners. Dig them out and pop them in a pot of compost until you're ready to plant them out again. There's nothing like the satisfaction of free plants!

4. Take Up the Turf

On newly created allotment sites you may have to remove turf. Hire or buy a turf cutter to make the job easy, but if you're energetic you can slice off squares of turf with a sharp spade.

5. Pick Out Weeds and Stones

Stone-picking and digging up weeds are without a doubt the most boring garden tasks, but it makes a huge difference to the quality of what you're able to grow. No scrimping on this job!

The more you remove now, the easier life is later. If you have helpful children offer them a penny per stone and provide snack s! Keep any picked stones as they make good sturdy pathways or drainage for herb gardens or containers.

6. Choose 'Dig' or 'No Dig' Gardening

Traditionally, you'd need to dig up and turn over your allotment plot thoroughly before planting. However, no dig gardening is becoming a fashionable way to grow plants as well.

If you fancy the no dig option, this is what it entails:

No Dig Gardening

1. Lay black polythene or plastic over the plot to kill weeds, this could a take a few weeks or months depending on how overgrown things are.

2. Cover the weed-free area with a thick layer of organic matter at least 4cm in depth.

3. You can plant directly into this without digging over. No wonder this method is becoming increasingly popular - it's certainly easier on the back!

If you don't like the no-dig method, old-fashioned soil-turning is excellent exercise.

If the plot is unkempt then do a double dig - that's two lengths of your spade into the ground. If it's too much for you, think about buying a rotavator. You can hire them but after two hiring sessions, it's probably cheaper to get your own.

7. Add Some Fertiliser

The majority of soils benefit from added organic matter. This can be horse or chicken manure, commercial pellets or a soil conditioning compost, the choice is yours. Fertiliser helps boost and break up the soil, so it's worth investing time and effort into this bit.

8. Consider Installing a Water Butt

Many allotments don't supply water, but allotment holders get around this by installing a water butt.

If you're planning shallow-rooted crops like tomatoes, they might not survive unless you can get there regularly to water them. A water butt means you won't need to carry gallons of liquid in your car or on the bus.

Mulch is another excellent way to keep your plants hydrated. A thick layer of bark chippings or commercial mulch keeps down weeds and locks in moisture.

If you don't know much about mulch, check out our Ultimate Guide to Mulching - it's definitely worth knowing about as your embark on your new allotment adventure.

9. Plan Pathways on Your Plot

Allotment plots can be pretty big and you need to move around it easily. Before you start digging think about the plot layout, where your beds will go and how you will access them.

Raised beds look great and they are simple to make with old scaffold boards or pallets, but if you don't fancy that you'll still need paths around your traditional beds because walking on the ground causes soil compaction and makes life hard for roots.

Grass paths are the easiest option. You can dig the whole plot and lay grass seed or turf, or dig beds into existing turf. Trim the edges to keep them neat and you have hard-wearing natural pathways.

A weed-resistant membrane with wood chipping works well too, and don't forget the stones you dug out from the planting beds - they can be used to build up a pathway as can patio slabs, roofing tiles, and old bricks.

Bear in mind a whole growing season may have elapsed while you're getting the plot ready but it's time well spent because good soil means better crops. So you've dug, picked out stones, weeded and laid a path - you're ready to rock.

What you can do now depends on the time of year.

Check out the next section for what to do on your allotment based on the season.

Planting Guide: A Year on the Allotment

Spring is the busiest time for an allotment holder, but the best time in my opinion.

Seeds germinate in the wet and warm weather. This means weeds too! Wait until frosts have passed before planting because seeds rarely germinate in cold wet soils.

If you want to start growing earlier, put seeds in pots to take advantage of fully leaved plants in springtime.

A cloche or small poly-tunnel is a good investment if you want to get growing quickly as they warm the soil and protect seedlings against the elements. If you don't have these use a sunny windowsill to bring on seeds.

March Onions, shallots, potatoes, lettuce, radish, leeks, beetroot

April It is usually warm enough for anything by now. Add peas, carrots, parsnip, cauliflower, and broccoli to the list above

May the above plus runner beans, french beans and spring onions.

Late spring and all of the summertime are prime growing months for seasonal veggies and flowers. Keep picking your produce as this stimulates more growth.

Watering is essential in summer as many plants such as onions and rocket will go to seed without it. Others simply won't fatten up without liquid.

June - It's the last month for sowing so put in anything you haven't yet sown, and successions of others you've already planted but want more of such as lettuce, radish, and quick growing crops. Plant sweetcorn, squash, courgette and marrows now too. Get a head-start by germinating these on your windowsill first. If it's consistently warm the tomatoes you started in January can go outside. If you didn't sow any buy plants for the garden centre.

July - Succession planting for quick-growing salads

August - Savoy cabbages, late spinach, and hardy lettuce can go in now for winter picking

The mad rush to get your seed in is over and now it's time to hope the sun stays to finish ripening everything! Put in some winter crops when you get the room.

September - Hardy lettuce and hardy spring onions, autumn onion sets, and spring cabbages

October - Broad beans can go in for an early spring crop

November - Lettuce under cover and broad beans can go in now - I always plant broad beans on armistice day.

As you harvest and empty the beds it time to dig them over and let the winter rain and frosts kill off any infections - unless you like the no dig method of course!

It's time to relax and start planning the next growing season.

You may have winter cabbages, kale, parsnips and broad beans growing in the plot, so keep an eye on these and pick them when they are ready. Parsnip is best after a frost as the cold makes them sweeter - you may have some sprouts and parsnip for Christmas lunch if you plan it carefully.

You can also plant dormant fruit trees and bushes throughout winter. They won't show signs of life until the warm weather, so be patient.

December - buy your seeds

January - Dormant fruit trees and bushes are best planted now. Tomatoes seeds can be started off in a propagator or a sunny windowsill

February - If you're growing potatoes this year, start chitting them in February. Nope, that's not a typo - 'chitting' means buying seed potatoes and placing them on a windowsill so that small green shoots can grow through. You may also be able to force some rhubarb - put a pot over the clump and watch it shoot upwards looking for light.

And back to March! Let's try again.

Regular Jobs on the Allotment

Of course, as well as planting different veg, there are a range of maintenance jobs to keep up with. These are some of the most important:

Keeping the weeds at bay is one of the biggest jobs in an allotment particularly if your neighbour has a wildlife plot or isn't particularly neat.

Once weeds go to seed they get everywhere. You can fight back by investing in a proper hoe and get to work when it's dry. If you hoe on wet days those chopped weeds just re-root.

Use can use membrane around fruit bushes and permanent plants, but annuals will need some elbow grease. Again, mulch is your friend as it cuts out light and smothers weeds. It's also useful if you can't get there regularly to water. I can't recommend mulching enough!

Get a water butt if you can and leave out containers to fill with rain too, it's surprising how much water your thirsty plants will drink.

You aren't the only one that wants to eat those tasty crops!

No doubt you'll get your fair share of aphids, caterpillars, birds and all manner of uninvited guests. You can use commercial sprays on insects, eggs, and larvae, but its possible to use organic methods.

Citrus peel soaked in water makes a good aphid deterrent, and caterpillars can be picked off by hand. Marigolds planted around the plot can help keep flying insects away too.

There's plenty of information out there on organic gardening, so take a look before buying the sprays that kill our bees, butterflies, and essential pollinating insects.

Net your fruit bushes against birds but make sure you check the netting regular for trapped wildlife such as hedgehogs, slow worms, frogs and the birds themselves.

We talked about fertilising way back at the beginning. It's a great way to keep your soil healthy and productive.

Popping a compost bin on your plot is a good way to get a free supply of compost at hand. Keep it topped up with the right amounts of brown and green waste and you won't look back.

You can buy fish bone and blood, growmore and other good quality fertilisers at garden centres and supermarkets if you don't want to make your own compost. I really recommend home composting though - you'll have plenty of clippings to get rid of and bonfires are not usually allowed at allotments.

If you'd like to learn more about composting in general, we've written this Ultimate Guide to Composting at home. It's definitely worth a read if you want a self-sufficient allotment.

This simply means changing where you grow your seasonal veggies each year.

Take note of where you plant and what you grow. For example, if you grow beans, next year grow something else in that space. This is because different crops have different nutrient requirements. For example, tomatoes love eating so they suck up all the nitrogen and phosphorus.

Planting them in the same spot year-on-year means the area runs out of those nutrients and leads to a lacklustre crop.

Root veggies like carrot and potatoes don't use up much of anything. Beans and peas need a lot of phosphoru s but they replenish nitrogen, so follow peas and beans with leafy or fruiting crops to take advantage of the nitrogen, and keep rotating.

I've listed the groups below because although beans and peas are different plants, they are in the same grouping and use the same nutrients.

Potatoes

Brassicas (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, sprouts)

Legumes (peas and beans)

Root vegetables (carrots, parsnips, radish)

Here are the plant groups you should rotate for best results:
Allotment Rules and Regulations

There will be a set of rules and regulations for the allotments and meetings to attend. These are important and it's worth taking note of what is said even if you don't go to the meeting itself.

Rules may relate to the types of animals you can keep on your allotment, or the size of structures you can build. You'll also need to keep your plot in check - if it seems like you aren't tending your allotment, this may cause problems.

An allotment is a social place where you have to share space with neighbours. This can cause difficulties, but can also make it a great place to spend time.

With some luck, you'll be next to someone who keeps their plot tidy and helps with advice when you need a hand. If you are unfortunate enough to end up next to a know-it-all gardener with too much to say, just remember that no-one gets it right every time. Half the fun of gardening is waiting to see if the seeds come up, just have a go and take no notice of unsought advice.

Is an Allotment Worth It?

If you decide to get an allotment you will have to invest a lot of time and energy, but it is 100% worth the effort. Not only will you have the satisfaction of producing your own home-grown veggies, you get plenty of light, fresh air, and exercise. Plus, if it's a community-minded allotment, you'll make friends as well.

Don't stress if your seeds don't grow, get devoured by aphids, or a drought kills everything off. Keep at it. Growing veg is not an exact art and even the most experienced of gardeners get caught out by the weather and an influx of pests. Most importantly, having an allotment is a very enjoyable hobby.

Allotments are a living piece of British history and they show no sign of losing popularity. If you have the time and good fortune to be allocated a new allotment it's worth its weight in gold potatoes.

Good luck!

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Starting an Allotment: The Ultimate Beginners Guide (2023)

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An allotment is a fantastic way to grow your own healthy, organic produce and meet others with a similar interest. Check out our ultimate guide to getting started!

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Learning through Landscapes-Make an Outdoor Musical Stage

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Learning through Landscapes-Make an Outdoor Musical Stage

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Learning through Landscapes- Story Stick

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Learning through Landscapes- Story Stick

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Learning through Landscapes-Make a water wall

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Learning through Landscapes-Make a water wall

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BBC Tiny Happy people-Outdoor play for kids

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BBC Tiny Happy people-Outdoor play for kids

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Outdoor activities for kids are important to your child's learning and wellbeing. Tips, advice and inspiration for getting kids outdoors and enjoying nature together with you, wherever you live.

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Outdoor play for kids - BBC Tiny Happy People

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Outdoor activities for kids are important to your child's learning and wellbeing. Tips, advice and inspiration for getting kids outdoors and enjoying nature together with you, wherever you live.

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Learning through Landscapes-A Sound Walk

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Learning through Landscapes-A Sound Walk

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Outdoor Learning power point slides-Training Session June 2023

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Outdoor Learning power point slides-Training Session June 2023

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The EYFS Outdoors: 38 Outdoor Learning Activities | Famly

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The EYFS Outdoors: 38 Outdoor Learning Activities | Famly

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The activity habits that we develop in early childhood matter. What children learn about healthy eating, physical exercise, our relationship with the outdoors - they all form the basis for a child's whole lifestyle, in the short- and long-term.

But is that all that outdoor play and learning is about in the Early Years? Not exactly. As well as providing the perfect backdrop for physical activity, spending time outdoors has been shown to positively affect your mood, lower stress, blood pressure and heart rates.

We've known about many of these crucial benefits to outdoor learning in the EYFS for some time now. But there's one slightly new reason why it might be time to brush up how you're approaching the EYFS outdoors...

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Why are we focusing on outdoor learning now?

Covid-19 has led to more than one drastic change to the way we do things in the Early Years. A pivot to more outdoor learning may just be one of the most positive.

But that's not all. Department for Education (DfE) guidance suggests that we risk-assess activities and resources and 'keep windows open as far as possible to ensure ventilation and...use outdoor areas as much as possible"

All in, it's time we start planning to be enabling a significant deal more of the EYFS outdoors.

Planning more fresh air fun

Of course, there are many things to take into consideration when planning for outdoor learning, including the fickle UK weather. Most importantly though, we need to consider how we provide opportunities and teaching possibilities to cover all seven areas of learning and development outdoors, as well as opportunities for children to build those all-important Characteristics of Effective Learning skills for life too.

These are present as children actively learn through applying their own ideas and first-hand experiences of the world, show curiosity, play and explore, as well as take chances to create and think critically about the outdoor area (and the world) they're exploring.

With that in mind, here are 38 ideas, broken up into the different EYFS areas, to help you plan for bring the EYFS outdoors.

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1. The Early Years outdoors: Personal, social, and emotional development ideas

Try low-level experiences for babies and young children, like using old tyres as a sturdy base for investigations - they could be a holder for a washing-up bowl for water play or a planter for herbs to investigate with their key person.

Wind chimes and windsocks, old CDs, and other objects suspended from a tree branch make interesting things for babies and young children to watch and adults to key into cues.

Parachute games can help form good relationships as children play with others.

Provide small reading nooks for children to explore books independently or for storytimes in small groups.

Children love songs and rhymes and they work just as well inside as outside - try them out in your new environment.

Make print available outdoors - laminated words reflecting children's home languages or perhaps a 'recipe sheet' or 'menu' for your mud kitchen!

Consider how babies can safely explore outdoors. For example, you could use a large sheet to facilitate tummy time, and chances to learn to crawl, creep and walk. Don't forget your risk-assessments!

Make instruments or have 'Wake up shake up' sessions to further explore movement, giving children free rein to move and dance. Dance with ribbons and scarves to encourage gross motor skills, crossing the midline and bi-lateral movements.

Provide natural resources for the children to help build an assault course outside.

Sweeping brushes and other tools can help develop more physical skills. Large-scale mark-making can be done with chalks or water and large brushes on the floor or a large piece of paper.

Share your favourite books and stories in a new setting.

Watch the clouds, talking about the various shapes you can see (like a dragon or The Gruffalo). Add to the children's word bank by talking through the different types of clouds and their shapes.

Make your own stories - try a 'magic carpet' where each child adds something to the story and you recap as you go. For example, they can choose characters, where they are going, what adventures they will have and so on. This can be done with a large piece of paper too so that the children can draw, practise their emergent writing and you can scribe to capture their thoughts.

Try out the same songs and rhymes that cover important mathematical ideas from indoors.

Provide items in a range of sizes, weights and textures. Talk about the size of things such as a "big book" or "small book". You can try providing treasure basket and heuristic play outdoors on a dry day too. Great for fine-motor skills too!

Collect natural treasures to count (pine cones, leaves, shells, and rocks), sort into sizes, even or uneven groups, divide to share them with a friend, categorise, sequence - the list is endless!

Large dice can be rolled to explore numbers, add spots from two dice, decide which is the largest or smallest number (or perhaps they are "the same"?)

Laminate photos of children and their families, perhaps babies and toddlers can select photos of their own family from a small collection to have in the outdoor space.

It might be possible for small groups to go for walks in the local community, perhaps to fruit pick or learn more about the local shops, places of worship, road signs and other environmental print. You can take photos of the different types of print you see to make a display or book too!

Explore the seasons by planting seeds, growing food in planters or grow bags, and talk children through life cycles and other important natural processes.

Create story boxes and story sacks to spark creativity.

Create a stage (this could be a chalked or taped off area or made from decking or crates) for children to recreate stories, make up plays or puppet and dance shows.

Provide an arts area for children to explore various media - the outdoors brings a hue of natural colours for extra inspiration.

Provide clipboards and pencils to inspire children to write and draw plans (Maybe they want to use them in the construction area or you might be planning to create a Bugingham Place or Nectar Café)?

Provide windmills and bubbles and see how they interact with the changing world outside.

Bug hunts or treasure hunts are a great idea - How many natural objects can they find to fit into a small box? Can they find something starting with 'sssss'?

Discuss your shadow - Why does your shadow look small sometimes and longer at others? Is your shadow in front or behind you? Draw around your shadow at different times of the day and see if the children can track the time.

Explore volume and capacity - try making a weighing scale using a coat hanger and small buckets - and then provide objects and resources to weigh so children can hypothesise how many lighter objects it will take to weigh the same as a heavier object? Explore how many small cups of water might it take to fill a bucket or other experiments with volumes.

Use large 2D shapes on the floor, and let children interact with them - can children jump from a triangle to the square, for example?

Try sound or sensory walks as you explore your outside space.

First-hand experiences of the weather, seasons and world are in abundance outdoors. Factual books might extend this too!

Children could write for a purpose, taking orders from customers in their café, or you could display open and closed signs to promote print in the outdoors environment.

Consider nooks and shaded areas for play and rest too.

Listen to the sounds - birds, bees, aeroplanes, cars, and emergency service sirens- and talk about what is making them. Conversations about the weather are a fantastic opportunity to extend language, talking about the wind 'blowing', 'swishing' and so on.

Make puppets and use them, thinking about how you will provide role-play outside like a garden centre or car wash, for example.

Sometimes providing a narrative can help support learning in nature, talking about what children are doing "jumping up and down" or "splish splash" (as they jump in puddles).

Construction with crates, loose parts, planks, large blocks, and other natural materials are great for physical development and problem-solving.

The outdoors is also a great opportunity to build relationships in key person groups too.

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2. Outdoor Early Learning: Communication and language ideas

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3. Outdoor play in the Early Years: Physical development ideas

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4. The EYFS Outdoors: Literacy ideas

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5. Outdoor learning and play: Amazing mathematics ideas

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6. EYFS outdoor activities: great ideas for understanding the world

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7. EYFS Outdoor learning and play: Creative ideas for Expressive Arts and design

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The EYFS Outdoors: 38 Outdoor Learning Activities | Famly

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Sue Asquith explains why COVID-19 makes it more important than ever to take the EYFS Outdoors - plus 38 early outdoor learning activities to try.

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20 Fun And Simple Outdoor Activities For Babies

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20 Fun And Simple Outdoor Activities For Babies

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20 Fun And Simple Outdoor Activities For Babies

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Babies need to spend time outdoors to experience nature. Check this post for some outdoor activities for babies and let them explore the world.

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Outdoor Experiences for Babies & Toddlers | Enabling Environments | Teach Early Years

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Outdoor Experiences for Babies & Toddlers | Enabling Environments | Teach Early Years

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Young children have an innate urge to learn about the world around them, and the outdoors offers a never-ending range of exciting opportunities. They can satisfy their love of movement when outside, improving muscle strength, lung capacity and bone density along the way, as well as developing important physical skills such as coordination. A rich outdoor environment offers the chance to explore and investigate, and also encourages language and communication skills.

From the minute you open the doors or start the ritual of finding the correct clothing and footwear, babies and toddlers sense that change - and the potential for adventure - is in the air, so make the most of their enthusiasm by developing your outside space...

Stimulating senses

Babies are highly responsive to outdoor stimuli. Sound moves in a different way outside - changing naturally with the wind or variations in air pressure. Until they're about six months old, babies can differentiate sounds much more effectively than adults; they're much more receptive to bird sounds, for instance, and as a result they'll love being outdoors. Light also behaves differently. It's changed by the weather, filtered by trees and alters throughout the day. Visit spaces near trees or create a place where voile or chiffon can hang - this will filter the sun and move with touch or the wind.

Smell and taste can also be stimulated outdoors. Babies on the move make the most of any opportunity to pull themselves up to standing. An effective way to encourage this behaviour while offering exciting sensory experiences is to install sturdy low-level planters filled with strongly scented herbs such as lavender or rosemary, colourful summer plants or edibles like strawberries or redcurrants.

And don't forget touch - another key sense for helping babies to learn about the world. Outdoors, they can lie on the grass and feel it tickling their skin, or experience the textural differences between hard and soft surfaces.

Tailored for toddlers

Once babies are toddling, they'll benefit from varied landscapes. Small hillocks, tunnels and trails encourage activities such as crawling, rolling, stretching and running. Tyres, ladders and planks provide opportunities for climbing, and low walls and rails at various heights allow babies to pull themselves up to standing. Textured pathways (bark, wood chip, gravel, pebbles) not only add visual interest but also sharpen the mobility skills required for managing uneven ground.

Natural materials such as sand and soil provide fantastic opportunities for exploration, investigation and manipulation. Smaller sandpits offer great opportunities for digging, while larger areas of sand allow toddlers to use their entire bodies to feel the texture. Children can extend their play to a digging area filled with soil. Here they can pretend to plant and dig up vegetables (try providing onions or potatoes for this activity).

Water is fascinating for young children due to sounds that can be created with it and because it causes reflection. It also presents an opportunity for them to explore the qualities of the above materials, by mixing - and getting grubby! Also think about resources that support exploration of the weather, such as streamers, windsocks, umbrellas and wind chimes.

Tip: Nooks and crannies will entice crawling and toddling youngsters, so try creating natural dens under low-hanging branches. Alternatively, supply large cardboard boxes or lengths of fabric attached to fences. Cushions and blankets help create cosy nooks for snuggling into with adults and other children for stories, songs and games. Adding interesting items such as mirrors, fir cones, sponges, large buttons, toy animals, etc. will stimulate exploration and conversation.
Learning through Landscapes offers a range of services to support outdoor learning and play in the early years. Its membership resources and publications provide a regular supply of fresh activity ideas, and it offers on-site support through advisory visits and half-day, full-day or twilight training sessions for nurseries.
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Outdoor Experiences for Babies & Toddlers | Enabling Environments | Teach Early Years

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Teach Early Years magazine is the leading B2B title for early years teachers, practitioners and providers, offering expert advice on educating the 0-5s and operating a sustainable childcare business.

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Nature Play for Babies and Toddlers - Early Childhood Outdoors

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Nature Play for Babies and Toddlers - Early Childhood Outdoors

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I have just finished reading the very interesting paper published (open access online on 28th May 2021) by Nicola Kemp and Jo Josephidou in the journal Early Years, titled Babies and toddlers outdoors: a narrative review of the literature on provision for under twos in ECEC settings. This is from the first phase of their Froebel Trust funded research project, which we've been following on this blog ( here and here).

It was the significant lack (in fact, almost complete absence) of published academic research on babies outdoors in particular that caused Nicola and Jo to call their first project report 'Where Are The Babies?' So I was encouraged to find that Kimberly Smith had recently written a post for her Hygge in the Early Years blog, confirming the interest practitioners now have in getting babies outdoors as well as toddlers and older children - just as we found in our collaborative seminar back in March (the recording of which can be found on the Froebel Trust website).

Kimberley is a passionate believer and advocate for young children experiencing a life outdoors, as her previous ECO blog post Friluftsliv: living well with nature shows, and she is very active in supporting educators to develop their own approach to working with the outdoors. Her hour-long online short course ' Nature Play for Babies and Toddlers ' explores: "the benefits of outdoor play for babies and toddlers, creating your nature based play environment, how to create a shared ethos of working outdoors with parents and simple activities for babies and toddlers in nature."

Kimberly has also developed an extensive 52 week ' Wanderlust Child Nature Study Programme' which is currently 50% off and she is currently preparing her forthcoming Hygge in the Early Years Online Conference where the theme is 'Sparking Curiosity Outside'. Information will be available soon at www.hyggeintheearlyyears.co.uk - or sign up for her newsletter.

I'm pleased to be able to share Kimberly's thoughts for our blog post this week - thanks so much Kimberly.

Nature Play for Babies and Toddlers by Kimberly Smith

"How about if they have to sit on the ground and get dirty?"

"What if my child falls?"

"What if they try to put sand in their mouth?"

"But my baby will get sick being outside?"

"I'm too busy in my day to get outside with my baby"

Taking babies outside offers many benefits on all areas of their development and the earlier they get used to being outside, the sooner their love for nature will develop. It is though their first hand sensory and movement experiences that they learn to make sense of the world and develop key connections in their brain. In order for us to place a greater emphasis on the outdoors in our practice with babies and toddlers, we must understand that the outdoors offers a richness that isn't available inside. We don't want to just take out indoor resources and put them outside - we must use the nature around us!

Yet many parents and early educators lack the confidence to make nature based play with babies work, with worries around risk, dirt and over-scheduled days being some of the key barriers.

Children experience the world with their whole being - body, spirit, energy, minds, hearts, compassion, tears, laughter, anger, pride, learning, understanding, love, and soul. Children play, grow, and feel the world around them intensely. ( Rusty Keeler, 2008)

Less opportunities for movement
Many young infants are experiencing delays in key movement skills that can be caused by a number of reasons, such as global development delay, genetic disorders, autism, cerebral palsy, born pre-term, joint hypermobility, low muscle tone and Down syndrome. However, they can also be delayed by having a lack of opportunity to freely move, crawl and explore their environment and being part of what can be referred to as the 'indoor generation'. Many babies find themselves moving from cot to highchair, to pram or car seat with few opportunities to practice and refine their early movement skills. With many adults living such fast paced lives and finding themselves rushing from one activity to the next, it can often be easier to pick the baby up and transport them to the next thing rather than encouraging them to move themselves. Even taking a toddler on a regular walk to the shops can provide so many valuable learning opportunities as well as developing muscle strength in their legs; learning about the regular places that are walked passed, the seasonal changes that happen and taking the time to stop and dawdle while noticing a natural curiosity. On a busy day when a toddler may be in a pram they are speedily moving passed all these moments to notice and learn.

Think of some ordinary, boring, everyday walk, the couple of blocks to the local 7-eleven store. Taking that same walk with a two year-old is like going to get a quart of milk with William Blake... The trip becomes a hundred times more interesting, even though, of course, it does take ten times as long. ( Gopnik, Meltzoff & Kuhl, 1999: 211)

Occupational therapist Angela Hanscom writes 'kids of all ages should get at least three hours of free play outdoors a day' but on average most children spend 4-7 minutes a day outdoors. Lack of movement opportunities in babies can lead to low muscle tone and it can impede on the development of a strong vestibular system (balance). When babies are learning how to crawl they not only develop healthy two-sided brain development, but have a strong shoulder complex and build the foundations of basic co-ordination patterns. The impact of missing these opportunities can be seen in Primary-aged children as they move through school. Hanscom describes that, 'children are frequently falling out of their seats in school, running into walls, tripping over their own feet, and unable to pay attention'.
Getting into nature with babies

The child is wonderfully prepared for active learning from birth. Children approach the world with all senses open, all motors running - the world is an invitation to experience. Their job is to develop and test all their equipment, make sense of the confusing world of people and things and unseen mysterious forces and relationships, like gravity, number and love. Toddlers are furiously becoming ... these restless, mobile characters have a drive to take apart the existing order and rearrange it, by force if necessary, to suit their own whimsically logical view of the universe." ( Jim Greenman, 2007)

With new babies comes the excitement from many parents to join many different types of indoor sensory classes. Many of these can be highly engaging and provide wonderful sensory opportunities to learn. However, we must not forget the richness of 'just being outside' and the free sensory benefits this has on a baby's early development. Every season brings a unique opportunity for babies and infants to get outside and experience the natural elements first hand. From learning to crawl outside they have the opportunity of feeling the change of temperature on their skin, the breeze on their face, the sounds of the birds in the trees to the fluttering of the butterflies. When learning to crawl there is the naturally curiosity that spotting something in nature has to get them moving and wanting to discover more. Then there are the sensory opportunities that come with the different colours of the season; the vibrant reds and oranges of Autumn to the sea of blues and greens in the summer. As adults we can use this time to talk about what we can hear, see and feel with babies and toddlers, which is a key way of supporting language development.
Consider the weather
From a very early age in Scandinavia young children are taken outside to sleep, play and explore, learning how to live and experience the extreme climate here. If they always waited to go outside until the sun was shining then there would be very little opportunity to learn outdoors. Making sure we have the correct clothing and equipment for babies and toddlers is important. That way we don't spoil the child's natural curiosity to explore the outdoors.
Simple activities for babies and toddlers
We don't need to spend hundreds of pounds on fixed climbing equipment for babies and infants. Having balance beams and uneven ground (grass) creates enough challenge for them. The most importance resource when it comes to taking a baby or toddler outside is your quality interactions with them through tuning into what fascinates them, their facial expressions and babbling and offering a commentary about what's happening when appropriate. Author Ainsley Arment reminds us that, 'extraordinary lives are formed in the ordinary moments of a relationship-rich childhood.'

Set up a blanket for young babies to lay on outside and look up at the sky. Talk about what they can see, hear and see and the contrast of the colours.

On a walk with a baby, hold them in your arms and give them the opportunity to feel and smell the lavender you walk passed or the crunch of the Autumn leaves in the tree.

Attach mirrors to your fence at baby and toddler height to encourage them to stand up and look at themselves.

For the crawlers, set up a sensory pathway of grass and carpet tiles and a tunnel to crawl through.

Invite babies and toddlers to work with balls of different sizes.

Set up an obstacle course for toddlers to move along with balance beams, hoops to jump into, tunnels to crawl through and something to climb over.

Have a collection of ride on toys and doll's pushchairs to practice pushing, pulling and filling up.

Set up a stage and bring the musical instruments outside, allowing children the opportunity to dance, jump and twirl to the music.

Set up a tuff tray with water, pots, pans, spoons and sponges and watch how they interact with the natural medium.

Visit a stream with a baby and listen to the sound of the water flowing over the rocks. Throw a pebble in and watch what happens to it.

Very young children have a very special way of relating to the outdoor world. It is of enormous interest to them... They have an inborn affinity, curiosity and fascination with the natural world: sky, wind, rain and shadows; plants, trees and leaves; sticks, pebbles and rocks; water, puddles and mud; dogs, birds and beetles and people. Children use their whole body and whole self to engage with, explore, dismantle and think about the world - and this is very apparent when young children are in the real, outdoor world. (Jan White, 2009)

Things to consider

How much time are the babies and infants spending outdoors each day?

Are there ways you can reduce the amount of time indoors? For example, taking baby sensory outside into nature instead of always attending a class inside?

Are any routines stopping you from getting outdoors?

Can you get out and about into nature (or even your local town) and talk to the baby about what they can see, hear and feel?

Is there a wild nature space that can be created or accessed outdoors where babies can crawl and walk barefoot on the grass?

References
Arment, A (2019) The Call of the Wild and Free: Reclaiming the Wonder in Your Child's Education: A New Way to Homeschool, Harper One

Gopnik, A., Meltzoff, A. & Kuhl, P. (1999) How babies think: the science of childhood, Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Greenman, J. (2007) Caring Spaces, Learning Places (2nd Edition), Exchange Press

Hanscom, A (2016) Balanced and Barefoot: How unrestricted outdoor play makes for strong, confident and capable children. New Harbinger

Harrison Y. The relationship between daytime exposure to light and night-time sleep in 6-12-week-old infants. J Sleep Res. 2004 Dec;13(4):345-52. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2869.2004.00435.x. PMID: 15560769

Keeler, R. (2008) Natural Playscapes: creating outdoor play environments for the soul, Exchange Press

White, J. (2009) Outdoor provision for very young children, Early Years Update 66 March 2009
All photographs supplied by Kimberly Smith and sourced from Unsplash - the internet's source of freely -usable images.

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Nature Play for Babies and Toddlers - Early Childhood Outdoors

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Kimberly Smith of Hygge in the Early Years shares suggestions for enabling our youngest children to experience life outside in nature.