25+ Nature Activities (STEM edition!)

Homeschooling is not meant to look like public school! You are allowed to be in your comfy clothes doing a lesson on a bean bag chair, exploring and adventuring, the outdoors, and continuously sparking your frontal cortex. You know, the hub of creativity!

I discovered over 25 super fun nature activities that could be incorporated into a homeschool lesson, recess break, or a simple activity to do with any child.

Fun Facts About Outdoor Play In Children

A Canadian study assessed the effects on increasing opportunities for nature and risky play in the outdoor play environment of two childcare centres in 2017.

There was a significant positive effect on the children’s play, social behaviours and mental health, particularly in independent play and prosocial behaviours when the centres had more natural elements, according to the researchers.

The study clearly states:

“Early Childhood Educators observed improved socialisation, problem-solving, focus, self-regulation, creativity and self-confidence, and reduced stress, boredom and injury.” Later, the study goes on to state that outdoor place spaces are important for encouraging spirituality, self awareness, children’s wellbeing development, and how to conduct peaceful living and behaviours.

Playing outside, according to Why Should My Child Play Outside?, will improve motor skills, muscle strength, self awareness, create a depth in relationships, appreciation for environment and close individuals, improved overall health, and significant improvements in their academics and communication skills.

In a more recent study, Danish authors in 2019 found an alarming percentage in psychiatric disorders in direct association to children when grew up with low levels of green space. I found this study astonishing to the long lasting affects of living around nature!

25+ Year Round Nature Activities (STEM edition!)

1. 30 Day Science Activity Planner

   There are tons that could be incorporated outdoors, and this site has a ton of super unique ideas. Darcy and Brain always knock it out of the park with their wonderful ideas. I highly recommend browsing their site.

2. DIY Science Kit For Kids

   Little Bins For Little Hands is another excellent site for moms with little kids. I have personally used plenty of their resources.

3. Ocean Zone Density Jar

   I thought this activity would pair really well with learning about the animals in the sea, and how we could be super intentional with our recycling.

4. How to Make a Volcano with Kids

   This would pair amazing with learning about the crust of the earth, learning about Hawaii and all the islands, and discussing places in the world that have volcanos! You could even adventure on a nature trail and look for ant hills, or stumps that look like volcanos as a scavenger hunt.

5. Butterfly Life Cycle Worksheet

   In elementary, I clearly remember hatching butterfly eggs, watching them as caterpillars, and transform into butterflies. We released them and it was such a vivid memory! I highly suggest learning about the butterfly life cycle, and if you can, buy eggs!

6. Winter Activities That Are Snow Much Fun!

   My toddlers love being outside, but their little bodies can only handle it for so long. I loved these activities.

7. How to Make Crystals

   This isn’t an immediate activity, but you can absolutely tie in other activities to teach about how crystals are made naturally and use this as a demonstration.

8. Coffee Ground Fossils

   This is actually amazing because essentially, it is non- waste! Used coffee grounds, cold coffee, a bit of flour… it is absolutely designed for motherhood!

9. How to Make Out of This World Galaxy Oobleck

   My absolute biggest tip is to possibly wear clothing that you don’t mind if get wrecked, and to put down a shower curtain for easy clean up. It looks extremely fun!

10. The Best Weather Science Experiment

    All you need is: shaving cream, dye, and water!

11. Make a Hurricane

    This activity is really amazing at teaching children how serious these natural disasters are! Of course, make it age appropriate, but I would show examples of what hurricanes have done to cities before.

12. Pudding Cup Anemometer

    My toddlers are insanely entertained by these for some reason, so we thought it would be a fun activity with items that were likely going to go into the garbage anyways.

13. How to Make a Spark - Weather Science for Kids

    Lightning is something that terrified my middle child so much, that doing this experiment helped her understand what it actually is! It is super cleaver.

14. Simple Science: Wind Experiment

    This game is perfect if you need the kiddos entertained for a short amount of time while you do the dishes, but also need it to be safe and relatively mess free.

15. Weather Around The World- Global Weather Activity For Kids

    This is always so fun to do a little activity on “How do you think you would feel if you lived HERE.” We would act out how we would feel, and it was so fun.

16. Recording and Graphing Weather

    I think this is geared towards older children, but I think you could use pictures to get a 3-4 year old to understand!

17. 15 Fun Weather STEM Activities for Kids

    This was my favourite article because it taught so much in a couple really fun activities!

18. How Do Leaves Breathe? A Simple Science Experiment for Kids

    I have so many plans around my house, and it took forever to get the kids to understand to not touch them. However, I found that explaining they need extra love and they are alive actually helped!

19. Snowstorm in a Jar Science Experiment

    This was a super interesting one to watch. I have never seen anything like it before!

20. Spring Science Activities for Preschoolers

    Little Bins For Little Hands finds the best examples of chidlren’s activities that just make sense. There are a handful here that I recommend.

21. How To Make Fake Snow For Pretend Play

    This reminds me of a different variation of moon sand, just not as soft.

22. How to Make a Tornado in a Jar

    My 3 year old son was absolutely fascinated by this! There even is a video to help understand tornados.

23. Breathing Fungus Spell

    The funniest part about this is you can use the yeast, warm water, and sugar to make bread and do a 2 in 1 activity!

24. Snowman Sticky Wall

    I am a sucker for activities you can stick on the wall because it takes up less room, and generally speaking, they are easy to clean.

25. Bug Hunt: Outdoor Activities for Kids {with free printable}

    I love that this printable is toddler friendly so they can look at what is expected of them and still understand. I am a sucker for outdoor hunts.

“Whenever you feel discouraged, just remember, you are the centre of the universe to those tiny humans you made from scratch. You’re kind of a big deal!”

Did you know…

I wanted to fill your feeling of “lost” on the topic of homeschooling, and provide resources from curriculum for all ages, kindergarten worksheets, elementary resources, middle school resources, high school resources, homeschooling planners, faith building worksheets, parenting resources, and even moms on YouTube who share their stories.

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