The natural world offers many opportunities for learning. Here are a few specific outdoor learning activity ideas created to encourage and develop children’s fine motor skills. These ideas also work well in settings with limited access to outdoor space.
Miniature Sand Play Box
Miniature funnels, buckets, scoops, spoons, dishes, sieves, tongs and jugs provide opportunities for pouring, filling, emptying and transferring sand and additional loose parts.
Phonic Fun
Bring Phonics outdoors and children can decorate letters and three letter words with shells, small, pebbles or petals. They can practice letter formation by chalking on different surfaces.
The Magic of Metal
Providing nuts, washers and metal bangles enables children to design pictures that can be transient or displayed when a magnetic board is used.
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Colander Flower Arranging
By cutting and poking flowers and leaves into the holes in different sized colanders and utensil holders children can produce a stunning set of transient flower arrangements.
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Clay Cup Cakes
Using a selection of trays and cakes stands, invite the children to work with air drying clay to create cakes. The additional of small shells, gravel, pebbles, coloured sand and petals will allow for creative decoration of the cakes.

