Top 10 Outdoor Activities for Toddlers

We’re Muddy Puddles, experts in creating reliable waterproof clothing for children. Together with our friends at brush baby, we’ve put together a guide to spending time outdoors with toddlers, with our top 10 reasons outdoor activities to enjoy together, come rain or shine.

There are so many health benefits to spending time outdoors from a young age, and playing outside is the best way to introduce your toddlers to nature and the wonderful world around them. They’ll love exploring and going on adventures with you – and the fresh air might even help you both to get a good night’s sleep!

With the temperatures beginning to drop, make sure you protect young explorers with warm base layers and cosy waterproof jackets or puddlesuits before you embark on your adventures.

1) Mud Kitchen Fun

Mud kitchen play provides a really fun sensory experience for toddlers. We recommend using wooden pallets or you can also use a table, bricks, cardboard or even plywood and a couple of empty buckets to support them. Encourage them to get messy with different textures and using fun ingredients such as flowers, grass, little stones, feathers and twigs to decorate the muddy creations.

2) Make a Nature Crown

Create a leaf crown with your little ones, by collecting as many different coloured and shaped leaves, then take a strip of paper long enough to fit around your child’s head, add double sided tape and stick all the leaves onto the paper, then use some more tape to secure and fasten around their head.

3) Acorn Sensory Bin

An acorn sensory bin is a lovely way to teach little ones about nature and the life cycle of trees. Collect acorns on your autumn walk, which can be sorted in size and colour, with or without their ‘hats’ and pop them into a plastic container or wooden box – and shake away!

4) Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger Hunts are fab! Get your little explorers to search for items that start with each letter of their name or try a colour scavenger hunt and ask them to find something of a particular colour – a fantastic introduction to letters and colour recognition.

5) Sink or Float

Fill a bucket/large container with water and gather up a few different items from your garden to test. Drop them in the water one by one and take it in turns to guess whether the item will sink or float!

6) Pavement Chalk Art

All you need is a section of pavement or garden patio and some jumbo chalks, and your little one can make a masterpiece! A simple activity for developing your toddler’s motor skills and it’s not permanent, a watering can or the rain can do the clearing up for you.

7) Make Your Own Music

Walks provide opportunities for finding nature’s musical instruments! When walking look for items such as sticks, stones and fir cones then put them in a box with a lid and then shake away to hear the different sounds. See if you can fill a few different boxes and before you know it, you will have your own nature inspired orchestra!

8) Rock Painting

Grab some waterproof paints and search for some smooth rocks ideal for transforming with paint. Display at home or take them back to the park and leave them for someone else to find.

9) Puddle Jumping

Our favourite outdoor activity for children of all ages has to be jumping in muddy puddles! Make sure they’re wearing a reliable waterproof puddle suit and a good pair of wellies, and let them jump up and down to their heart’s content.

10) Have a Picnic

Use a waterproof picnic blanket, and bring along your toddler’s favourite snacks and a few teddies. Whether it’s your local park or you set up a picnic in your back garden, little ones will love spending time with you and their favourite soft toy friends.