Spring Activities To Get The Kids Outside

Now that spring has arrived, get the kids outside for fun and laughter with these crafts, gardening activities, and games.

Spending time outdoors is important for our kids development as well as their wellbeing. Reintroduce the great outdoors as the ultimate playground with these ideas!

Craft ideas

These crafts are a great way to encourage the kids out into the garden while engaging them in fun arts and crafts.

Make a flower crown

Remember lazy spring days as a kid picking daisies and buttercups? This flower crown craft is a beautiful way to show off garden blooms.

Bird friends

Upcycle a used milk bottle into a cool bird feeder to offer some snacks for the local wildlife.

Make a stepping stone

Create personalised garden stepping stones to lead the kids through the garden and on to adventures! These stepping stones can be decorated with hand or footprints, patterns, inlaid decorations, or anything you can imagine.

Make a sand saucer

Kids from rural schools will remember making sand saucers when they were younger. Choose an old shallow dish, pop in some sand or florist foam and decorate it with flowers and leaves from the garden.

Welcome in the fairies

Create a a magical spot in the garden especially for fairies! Kids will love to create this miniature fairy garden with a sweet little bench seat and mailbox for their postcards and letters.

Gardening activities

OK, no one likes to do the weeding, but there are plenty of other fun ways that kids can get involved in the gardening.

Sensory gardening

Help kids to explore and play outside by creating an environment that is both safe and encourages imaginative play. A garden with sensory aspects in mind can help kids to use all of their senses.

Make a scarecrow

Don’t let all your hard work go to waste! Grab some old clothes and make a scarecow for the veggie patch.

Plant a gumboot garden

Here’s a cute and colourful idea. Re-use old kids’ gumboots as planters for a colourful display of flowers on the deck or patio.

Grow cherry tomatoes

A lot of kids love cherry tomatoes – probably because they look a lot like a sweet little treat. Grow your own in the garden or pots for a summer-long supply of instant snacks.

Make a pizza garden

Kids love pizza – so what better way to encourage them to plant and care for their first herb and veggie patch than with their very own pizza garden that will supply them with some tasty toppings.

Grow a sunflower

Sunflowers are the ultimate plant for kids to grow. They grow pretty fast during the summer and kids will love to see if they can encourage their sunflower to grow the tallest of all!

Outdoor play

Memories are made in the backyard once the sun’s out and the play begins!

Scavenger hunt

Give a kid a challenge and they’ll be engaged for hours. A scavenger hunt is a great way to get the kids outside whilst discovering nature.

Time for a tea party

Throw a table cloth over an outdoor table in a shady spot and decorate your backyard with balloons or paper chains. Set up a tea party for your child and a few little friends with a toy tea-set (be sure to include favourite teddies on the invite list).

Traditional toys

Bring back the classics! Teach the kids to hula hoop, skip, play hopscotch or elastics.

Old school games

Traditional games like tag, capture the flag, and stuck in the mud have entertained kids for years – perfect if you have a few kids visiting or a large family.

Set up an outdoor play table

For sand castles, water play, mud pies, or bubble blowing, an outdoor play table can be an easy way to add a fun element to the backyard.

Backyard bowling

Create your own ten pin bowling alley at home with this simple activity.

Make a teepee

Train snowpeas, sweetpeas or beans up bamboo stakes and once it’s grown you will have your very own natural teepee for secret garden meetings! If you can’t wait that long, make your own teepee with this guide. Giving different areas of your garden their own special character, like a teepee, a sandpit, a fairy garden, etc, can encourage kids to explore and use their imagination.

For more kids gardening activities and games, visit the Yates.co.nz website for inspiration.

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Written by Julie Scanlon

Julie is Editor for Kidspot NZ and our MVP. Her hobbies include laughing uncontrollably at her own jokes, annoying her family by asking questions about movie plots, and never taking anything too seriously. She speaks a little Spanish and a lot of Yorkshire.

Favourite motto to live by: “It ain’t nothing but a thing”