Discovery Point Blog

June 22, 2018

Six Outdoor Craft Projects Your Children Will Love

As warmer weather approaches, finding time to spend with children outdoors can help them develop a deeper understanding of the living world around them. Participating in outdoor craft projects can help younger children improve their motor skills and engage with nature in a positive way. At Discovery Point, we are committed to providing the best possible educational experiences during the critical formative years. Here are six of the best outdoor craft projects to share with your children.

Building a Water Wall

Old Tupperware containers, soda bottles and other plastic items can be combined to create tunnels and pathways for water or rain when attached to a fence, trellis or wire frame. Your youngster will have hours of fun building and rebuilding these waterways with your help. Water play can provide valuable sensory experiences for even the youngest children. Watching the way water moves through various tubes, containers and obstacles can also offer insights into basic scientific concepts like gravity.

Creating a Plant Collage

Gluing down leaves, bark, flowers and grass to a large piece of butcher paper can allow even the youngest members of your family to express their creativity with a colorful natural collage. By reinforcing the names of colors and teaching toddlers about the various plants in your yard or garden, you can help them develop a larger vocabulary while exercising their artistic talents in a healthy way.

Designing Dinosaur Reconstructions

Sticks, bark and other items found outside can be used to create unique dinosaur fossils. This activity can help your child identify parts of the body by labeling the head, legs and tail of his or her dinosaur. For even more fun, bury the various parts of the dinosaur in a sandbox and allow your child to play paleontologist and discover them all over again.

Decorating Watering Cans and Flower Pots

If you have an extensive garden, your little ones can help out by creating their own unique designs on inexpensive plastic flower pots and watering cans. Buttons, shiny rhinestones and other small, colorful items can be glued to the outside of the pot to spell out names or to create designs. Your child will be proud to put his or her masterpiece to use in helping out in the garden or in growing their very own plant.

Cooking Up a Mud Pie Fest

With just a little water, some old pots and pans and some clean soil from your garden, your little ones can make their own culinary creations and serve them up for friends, family or an eager audience of toys and stuffed animals. Mud pies are a traditional favorite among younger children and can help them acquire added sensory experiences and improved motor skills that will serve them well when they enter the formal education environment.

Designing Some New Friends

Your child can transform smooth stones or rough rocks into whimsical friends to decorate your garden or deck area. Nontoxic finger paints or watercolors can be combined with self-stick plastic eyes available at most craft stores to turn almost any rock into a memorable character. By using their imaginations to create rock pets for your garden or yard, your child can develop his or her artistic talents even at a very young age.

At Discovery Point, we offer your child targeted learning experiences designed to stimulate their imaginations and expand their abilities to ensure a higher degree of future academic success. Schedule a visit at one of our facilities today to discover what we have to offer for your child.