-listen to a breeze or brook
-stand still and feel the sun on your arms
-roll down a grassy hill
-follow a butterfly as far as you can
-make a flower press and press some flowers
-make a field guide of your yard
-visit a park without a swing set
-take a hike with a loved one
-hug a tree
-whisper a secret to a flower
-pick a bunch of wildflowers for a friend- remember the rule “if there’s more than 10 you may collect a few, less then 10 don’t be a greedy fool!”
-visit a butterfly house
-go on a hike and draw a map of what you see
-build a fairy house using things only found in nature
-find a creek with a bridge and play “pooh sticks”
-instead of picking flowers, water them
-search for animal homes
-help a seed plant itself
-get to know a tree in your yard
*find the animals that live in your tree
*observe the ground under the tree
*check the tree trunk for holes or insect eggs
*use a magnifying glass and search for insects
*search for scratches on the trunk
*listen for sounds that come from the tree
*listen with a stethoscope for water rushing inside the tree
*lie on the ground and look up at your tree
*climb the tree
-ask your child to finish these sentences about the summer-
1. I would like to go to…..
2. I would like to play……
3. I want to learn about…..
4. I’d also like to play……
5. I want to read……
6. I want to make…….
7. I would like to see…….
-build a bat house
-catch fireflies
-camp in your backyard
-creek walk for an afternoon
-pretend to be a different animal for an afternoon
-lure moths to your yard by hanging up a white sheet and lighting a lantern behind it
-watch the moon for 3 months and draw their phases
-visit a local park you don’t visit enough or haven’t visited before
-make thank you cards for local park employees who work so hard to make nature easily accessible to you and a safe place to visit
-lay on a blanket and watch what flies overhead for 20-30 minutes
-take a hula hoop, place it on the ground and observe what lives in that small space
Outdoor challenge participant- Crystal and her two little cuties from semi-crunchy mama
If you are participating in Outdoor Challenge Mondays, be sure your blog link is below; if you still want to participate let me know and I’ll add you to the list.
5 orange potatoes, the five of us, little eco footprints, potje thee, silverpebble, the work of childhood, searching simplicity, love living simply, strasilo, semi-handmade, this little kitchen, school time adventures, heirloom seasons, the loving path, a place like this, the magnifying glass, pebbles in the water, chocolate eyes, we are here, rosy-posy, oakbee farm, my year in haiku, time to craft, child in harmony, serendipity, secret water, free flowing ways, se7en, a smile a day, where ada likes to wander, wide open campus, what are we doing today mom?, chasing domestic bliss, dim sum, bagels and crawfish, adventures of a flake, frontier dreams, the snail’s trail, goose and binky, over the crescent moon, it’s a wild life, my world edenwild, the binker files, lil muse lily, foursquare schoolhouse, obaitori, boys in the woods, bumbles and light , wonder in the woods, terrallectualism, semi-crunchy mama, Gwynneth, All Things Beautiful, we are here, shivaya naturals, free to learn and lovin it, moment to moment, being brooke
“That’s all.”
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Great! Thanks so much!
adding quite a few of these to our already overflowing list….
This post is wonderful, so inspiring, thanks to you xxx
I love the outdoor challenge and would like to participate in the Outdoor Challenge Mondays. Thanks for the inspiration as always.
Not sure if I already posted that I was participating in the challenge on mondays or not. I am!
Thanks for the idea and the organization.
He-he, we also are following butterflies & other insects – the best way to enjoy summer
Lisa! I love the idea of making a field guide to your own yard. I think I’ll do that this week. What a great project!
By way of thanks and a greeting…
I’ve stumbled over here before now and again, but only just now realized a) that you’re a fellow Ohio mom! Feels good to make that connection, and b) how much wonderfulness you have socked away here. We’ve been busy building our summer list all week, and there are some real treasures on yours that I plan to incorporate. Thank you for that. I think I’ll link back in my sidebar to your fantastic list, if you don’t mind…
Cheers,
Molly
Well, yes, we have been inside mainly. The east coast of Australia has been experiencing extremely dangerous & tumultuous weather. Some are talking of an El nino. We are staying put. Hopefully getting out the Wellington Boots at the end of the week.
http://obaitori.typepad.com/obaitori/2010/06/rain-is-falling-down.htm
Katie x
Love your summer list!!! Finally posted out outdoor challenge: Kelp Horns and lots of Rock Pooling… http://www.se7en.org.za/2010/06/01/saturday-spot-making-kelp-horns-at-the-shark-center
oh, I’ll be bookmarking this list, and referring to it many times this summer.
Pingback: summer list of activities- outdoor monday | Earthboys
What a great list! I’m finally catching up on my reader, and scrolled down to see that picture of my little man & my friends daughter featured on your post — thank you! That was such a fun morning. =)
The photo of araina is so very much where the wild things are!!!
May I still join the outdoor challenge??
Made a list of some more activities:
http://thesnailstrail.blogspot.com/2010/05/outdoor-not-challenge-resources-for.html
LOVE this list! I hope we’re able to cross quite a few of those off our summer to-do list.
I’ve fallen off the wagon a bit lately with photographing our outdoor pursuits, but hope to rally again next Monday.
Cara
What an incredible list!
Great ideas for summer! Here’s my post–sorry I’m a little late getting it up this week. Thanks for hosting!
http://momn3boys.blogspot.com/2010/05/get-thee-to-woods-volume-two.html
So many wonderful things to do!! We’ve been busy getting our garden ready for planting and today the boys went trout fishing
I love this time of year!
http://rosinahuber.blogspot.com/2010/05/gardening-in-rain.html
I will be bookmarking this list and using it! Thank you!
Oh yes, where is my flowerpress?
I want to press flowers!!!
Great list
Both my sister and my daughter are homeschoolers. The world is their classroom and they have done many of the activities you shared. I will definately give them your site because you have some additional ideas and also some new twists. Personnally, I will try the blanket idea with my grandsons. We use to lay in the grass when I was young and watch the clouds, I loved doing this!
Wow this is such a useful list for when the girls and I are out and about in the village. We’ll take it with us when we visit the wood, and go on our grassland walks. Thankyou!
What a full and inspiring list. I look forward to incorporating more and more of those ideas into our days as Kyan grows.
Here is out post for this week.
http://chasingdomesticbliss.blogspot.com/2010/05/outdoor-challenge-monday.html
and that alone should keep us busy for months
. thanks for being the inspiration that you are, lisa.
Very nice and wise list. I am going to keep it handy this summer to refer to. Here is my entry for Outdoor Challenge this week.
http://bergspot.blogspot.com/2010/05/monday-may-24-with-friends-at.html
-Phyllis
When I started to participate your outdoor challenge,I told you I’m not much outdoor mother.But,now I reed your list and I see that I do most of these things. I’m SAHM,but I’m not AT home so often.Usually I’m in the mountain,at the lake or at last in our park with my daughter.So I think,I’m not so bad!
Tnx for your list,summer is here,so we’ll spend even more time outdoor and do all those funny things!
what a great list! thanks.
Wow! what a great list! I wanna play at your house!
Lily and I love whispering secrets to flowers.
Claudia
http://lilmuselily.com/2010/05/24/monday-outdoors-picture-3/
Lisa this is such an awesome list. Thanks for putting this together.
I would like to participate in the Outdoor Challenge for Mondays. I have been wanting to capture some photos of our time spent out side in new spots, so this will be a perfect way for me to remember to dot hat
Thanks!
I am so inspired! Thanks for the list.
We love to make summer lists, and at other times for that matter! We tend to forget all the COOL things to do unless we have it written down somewhere.. LOL.
our Outdoor challenge Monday .. frogs:
http://www.childinharmony.com/2010/05/frog-watch.html
happy day!
~marcia
I love the idea of making a list like this, and of course borrowing alot of this list for inspiration! Often its not the expensive days out that are the biggest hit with the children. My children spent time running through a willow tunnel this weekend. Simple, cost nothing and fuelled their imaginations.
Oh, what an inspiring list of wonderful ideas! Thanks for sharing!
Great list! I want to roll down a grassy hill!!!!
I love your list! It sounds like you & your girls have a great summer ahead of you!
Wonderful list–I’m so happy to report we’ve done many of the things on it already this spring!
Michael just hung our bat house last weekend…we hope to have some inhabitants soon!
Lisa this list is great. We’ve missed most of May’s challenge, but we are back in business now. Can you put us on the list?
http://freetolearnanlovinit.blogspot.com/2010/05/outdoor-hour-challenge-mondays.html
That list made me smile. Thank you!!!
I hope to have encouraged my daughter to have done everything on this list by the end of the year. Rolling down a grass hill is on the top of my list…..and following a butterfly as far as you can…I love that idea.
We have been continuing to explore our local green spaces and parks. http://littleecofootprints.typepad.com/little_eco_footprints/2010/05/coalshipsandwoodchips.html
My nephew is four and lives far away. I wrote my brother to ask what kind of things he was into lately, for ideas for his birthday, and he sent me back a list of tv characters. SO sad! I really loved this list, especially thank you notes for park workers. Awesome!
What a wonderful list.. I do believe we are stealing it! You reminded me we still have not hung our bathouse that K got from the halloween fairy last year..need to get on that ASAP!!
Our post today was inddor/outdoor. K collected grass outside and bakes a cake with it:
http://frontierdreams.blogspot.com/2010/05/impromptu-celebration.html
Oh Lisa, this list rocks. I love it. My boys are done with school on Friday and we have a whole lot of loving and learning to do — not to mention a lot of fun to have. Thanks!
Darn it all, I forgot again. It’s a holiday here in Canada today and so it didn’t feel like a Monday to me. Oops! Besides, it was to dang hot. Isaac wanted nothing to do with the outside today.
Promise to be back on my game next week. GREAT post Lisa. Looking forward to trying out some of the things on your list. xo
Hi,
What a great post. My kids, every spring, make the “Summer List”. We have discovered so many things through the years and the lists get better and better each time. Here’s our post today for outdoor challenge.
http://valariebudayr.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/05/bows-arrows.html
Take Care.
I love your post. Please check out my summer nature study that will be posted tomorrow…Enjoy your summer. Karen
Sippy Cup Central