21 Exciting and Fun Outdoor Activities For Kids

Outdoors are open and spacious, offering vast opportunities to explore the land and have fun. It has become important to let kids enjoy the outdoors and have some physical exercise. How to divert children from the addictiveness of smartphones and video games?

The answer lies in creating meaningful and exciting outdoor activities. So, why wait any longer? Dive into the article to find out different ideas to plan entertaining outdoor activities for kids.

Here is a List of Exciting and Adventurous Activities Kids Will Enjoy in the Outdoors

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1. Long Nature Walks

You may wonder what’s so exciting about going for a walk. The idea here is to engage the kids with nature and make them pay attention to the plants, flowers, animals, birds, and insects around them. You can find some cool tips on Fireflies & Mud Pies to convince your children to go for long walks in nature and learn important things in the process. It is relaxing, entertaining, and educational.

2. Kayaking

Water sports will be a hit with the kids almost every time. Why not take them Kayaking to spend quality time with nature? Check out the tips for kayaking with kids shared on Run Wild My Child. From local ponds to lakes and rivers in popular destinations, there are countless places to kayak and have loads of fun.

3. Building with Mud Bricks

This idea may make you groan, but kids will be delighted. Science studies show that playing with mud is good for children. Let them get dirty, but also use it as a chance to teach them something valuable. Read more about the activity on Play Teach Repeat and give it a try this weekend. The mess will be worth it.

4. Making and Flying Kites

Breezy days are perfect for kite flying and spending quality time outdoors. So why not encourage your kids to make their own kites? They can spend more time out in nature and use recycled materials to create eco-friendly kites. You can find all about it on BABBLE DABBLE DO. Kids will be so proud when they fly the kites they make with their own hands!

5. Hula Hoop Contests

Hula hoops are a fun way to include physical exercise in your child’s schedule. Take the hula hoops outside and gather the kids in a park to make it more exciting. Verywell Family shares around a dozen ways to engage kids in hula hoop outdoor activities and make them want to do it every day.

6. Overflowing Watermelons

Natural Beach Living shares a creative idea to use watermelon rinds, colors, and baking soda to keep kids engaged in the backyard. This would make for a great trick when you plan picnics with your family and friends. You can slip in a few science lessons without making it boring. A win-win situation for everyone, isn’t it?

7. Window Painting

Many kids love to paint. They use pretty much anything in the house to display their artistic skills. Why not minimize the risk by showing them where to paint? The DIY window painting idea on Mombrite is easy to try at home. Use the recipe in the post to clean the windows with just a couple of wipes. Kids can soak up the sun and paint window glasses to their hearts’ content.

8. Investigate the Dirt

Do your kids like playing with insects? Do they search the gardens and backyard for new creatures? Check out this post on Go Science Kids that combines their interests with learning. This fun outdoor activity lets kids understand the kind of creatures that live in different types of mud. It may be messy but is definitely educational and exciting.

9. Make Your Own Bubbles

Bubbles make kids super happy and active, as they jump around trying to pop them. However, it’s a huge task for parents to provide an unlimited supply of bubble water and make millions of bubbles. Playground Parkbench has come with DIY ideas to make your own bubble machine. Kids can not only make the bubble gun, but they can also play with it for hours. Soak up the sun as they pop the glittering rainbows in the bubbles.

10. Scavenger Hunts

A scavenger hunt is a wonderful way to encourage kids to spend time outdoors and make it fun. Kids love competition and snooping around. Why not use both to create a list of items for them to collect? It doesn’t take much time to compile the list, either. You can grab a readymade list for the scavenger hunt from Pickebums and print it out for the kids.

11. Shadow Art on Sidewalks

Want to combine outdoor activity with education? Try shadow art activity as explained on the Rhythms of Play website. Kids can stand in different postures to create funny shadows and outline them with chalk. Then, they can fill the inside with colors, drawings, or silly designs. Teach them how the sun travels in the sky and the corresponding length of the shadows.

12. Autumn Leaf Artwork

Autumn leaves are colorful, vibrant, and beautiful. They come in various shapes and sizes. A fun outdoor activity for kids is to send them to collect as many types of autumn leaves as they can find and bring them home. Then, you can help them create attractive artwork with the leaves. Mama in the Now has not one but several ideas to use the autumn leaves for crafting.

13. Man-Made Rain Games

It may not rain when we want it to, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do anything about it. Kids love dancing and jumping in the rain. They enjoy the mess created by water, mud, and grass. Use a sprinkler and garden hose to set up a rain dancing show in your backyard. Build mini water blobs with your children so that they can sit, stand, and lay on portable water beds under the sun. Hello Wonderful has a simple DIY post about the same.

14. Ice Painting

Doesn’t it sound absolutely creative? Picklebums has an informative post about how you can get kids to enjoy their summer holidays in the backyard. Freeze ice into funny shapes and give them to the kids to paint. The melting ice and the blend of colors will tickle the kids and keep them engaged.

15. Horse Riding

Horse riding isn’t just a fun outdoor activity for kids who love animals. It has many benefits and helps children improve good attributes like responsibility, patience, accountability, etc. Run Wild My Child has a detailed blog about how horse riding is one of the best and most exhilarating outdoor activities for kids.

16. Popping Water Balloons

How do you plan water fights in your backyard and try to limit the mess? Here’s an idea. Popping water balloons and playing with them is a super activity for kids. It’s also a good way to stay cool in the summer heat. Find out how to make water balloon piñatas for backyard outdoor activities by reading this detailed post on Hello Wonderful.

17. Rock Painting and Garden Decorations

People in different cities from the US have come up with an initiative. The kids collect rocks and paint them. Then, they leave these painted rocks (with or without messages) in public places for others to find. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Teach your kids the beauty of making others smile while engaging them in an outdoor activity. Go through the various rock painting ideas shared on Mama in the Now website.

18. Squirt Gun and Spray Bottle Painting

Is it any surprise that many of our ideas involve water and getting messy? After all, that’s what kids love the most. Here’s an innovative idea from the Fireless & Mud Pies blog. All you need is some liquid watercolors, water, and an easel. Kids can use a squirt gun or a spray bottle to splash colorful paint on the easel and create cool artwork.

19. DIY Fairy Garden

Gardening can be an engaging outdoor activity for children. Of course, some kids will pout when you ask them to help in the garden. Why not give them an interesting task like building a small fairy garden in the backyard? Rhythms of Play has step-by-step instructions for the same and also mentions the advantages of this outdoor activity.

20. Build a LEGO Sundial

Are you always tripping over your kid’s LEGO collection? It sure hurts to step on one. Here’s a fun idea to use LEGOs and build a sundial. Mombrite has clear instructions to make a sundial outdoors and teaches your children how to tell time based on the sun’s position in the sky and their new creation. It’s so exciting when they get it right!

21. DIY Water Wall

A water wall is a fabulous STEM activity kids can try outdoors. BABBLE DABBLE DO talks about the importance of outdoor activities involving science to make learning more engaging and fun. The water wall works best as a group activity, so gather all the kids in your backyard and get started.