Taking reading and storytelling outdoors can be a great, simple way to make these activities feel new and exciting for little ones. It'll help improve their speech and language too, by introducing new words and talking about your surroundings.
Outdoor reading activities for 0-3-year-olds
Read everywhere:
Keep one or two books in your bag or buggy for exploring together when you're out and about; on the bus, in a queue at the shops, or at the park.
Go on a ‘Booknic’:
Like a picnic, but with books and stories as well as food! Bring some stories to read, or theme your picnic food and games around a favourite story.
Read a book or story about the outdoors:
Visit the library to borrow books about the outdoors. Read them at home as inspiration for a trip out, or take them with you and find a cosy spot outdoors.
Outdoor reading activities for 3-8-year-olds
Act out a story:
Re-tell a favourite story together as you walk to the shops, or visit the park. Or you could make up your own story.
Create a reading den:
Create your own cosy reading spot outdoors, it might be on your doorstep, balcony, in the garden, or under a tree at the park. Bring a blanket or cushion to make it cosy.
Go on a story treasure hunt:
After reading a story, go on a hunt for things in the story, or bring a toy and collect things while you're out to help you make up your own story.
Draw a map:
Inviting them to draw a map or take photo's of your outdoor adventures is a great way to support your child's memory development and storytelling skills. It will help them remember and tell the story of your adventure to another family member.
Outdoor reading activities for 9 to 12-year-olds
Engage with outdoor life by keeping a nature journal.
Maybe they could imagine they’re taking these notes from the point of view of a favourite book character – what would they think about the nature around them.
Use the outdoors as inspiration for a random story generator game.
Take it in turns to come up with sentences to build your own story based on your surroundings. For each sentence, take inspiration from either an object or something you can see outdoors.
Explore the outdoors and develop creativity with a scavenger hunt.
This activity can work as part of a trip to the park or on a walk, and can be done either in one stint or over a few days. The clues can be as simple as ‘find something beginning with the letter t’, or you can go for something more outside the box, such as ‘find the strangest thing you could use as a pen’.
