My boys need to play outdoors in sunny weather, in windy weather, after the rain, and in-between rainstorms. We need to head outdoors for anytime between 15 minutes, to all day to work off some of their exuberance. They can run, jump, thump, throw balls, race on their trikes, scribble, dump water over plants, dump water over each other and dump water over themselves.

 
With safe outdoor boundaries set, they can have adventures to their hearts delight.

Outdoor Adventures: Animal Hunt

 
One day, perhaps my children may race to the moon and back during one of their outdoor adventures.

 
However, sometimes my children need some imaginative prompts to set them off in their outdoor adventures.
This simple animal hunt outdoor adventure is sure to have your little ones happily running, jumping and searching through your garden.

 
You’ll need an assortment of toy animals for your Animal Hunt.

 
Have your kids stand in a hideaway spot in the garden while you hide the toy animals. If your kids are young, don’t make the hiding spots too hard. I put them in the most obvious spots and it was still tricky for them to spot the animals. (I even had to give clues!)

 
When you’ve finished hiding the toy animals in different spots around your garden, tell your kids that the animal hunt is on. All the animals are hiding and they have to find them.

 
Let them find all the animals. Line them up and count them to make sure none are missing. Hopefully you’ve remembered where you’ve hid them to help find any stray animals.

 
You can vary the outdoor adventure by:
– Letting the kids have turns hiding the animals too.
– Hiding the animals in high spots and low spots to make it just that little bit more physically demanding.
– Making the hunt a race, either an individual race or team race to see who can find the most animals.

N&M: 4 years, 2 months
E: 2 years, 1 month
August 2012

The post Outdoor Adventures: Animal Hunt by Pauline appeared first on Lessons Learnt Journal.