Try it out!

Let’s take a nature walk and roll! Children and adults might be walking or rolling in a stroller, buggy, or wheelchair. All ways of moving through nature are wonderful, and we encourage choosing a pathway that works for everyone.

Engaging children of all ages and abilities in nature is a great way to explore the environment around them and experience play through all the senses. Go on a nature outing through the neighborhood, in a local park, in a nearby wooded area, or around the playground. Then, encourage children to look for colors, touch different textures, smell the scents around them, and listen for the sounds of their world. Follow their lead as they explore and play in nature. Observe what they are interested in, how they engage in play, and consider how you can help them find joy and wonder in their world!

Be intentional in your exploration.

• Talk about what children are noticing and feeling on their journey using descriptive language to fit their age and development (e.g., crunchy leaves, soft brown dirt, car horns honking loudly, bees buzzing in the warm air). Parallel talk like this is beneficial for all ages, including infants and toddlers!
• Collect leaves, sticks, rocks, or dirt to bring back inside and explore more, as age and safety allow.
  • For older children, you could organize this strategy into a project by:
    • Building background knowledge before the walk. “What do you think we will see? What materials do you want to collect? What did the children in our book see on their nature walk?”
    • Collecting items during the outing.
    • Discussing, examining, and graphing materials, making collages, or studying items with lights and magnifying glasses after.
• Have children take pictures, or ask them what you should take pictures, of what they notice.
• Bring small notebooks and short pencils so that older children can write or draw what they see.

Gather materials to support your nature outing.

• Small buckets children can use for collecting nature items.
• Disposable or digital cameras.
• Small notebooks and pencils.
• Homemade binoculars for older children. To make them, cut a paper towel roll in half, glue the pieces together side by side, and attach yarn for neck strap (if age appropriate).

Consider adaptations that help everyone engage.

• Shorten the time or distance of your exploration and ensure the path works for all ages and abilities.
• Help children interact with materials by modeling or teaching them to touch safe items with one finger or using instructions like “touch softly.”
• Adjust your level of language while still using descriptive words and phrases; include home or Indigenous language whenever possible. Use communication cards or devices and sign language to support communication with all children.
• For urban areas, consider if local parks are available or find examples of nature in the city, like birds, insects, plants, and trees. The sun, rain, snow, wind, and temperature are part of nature, too! Encourage children to observe the mix of nature and urban sounds, smells, and sights.

Look for connections to the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF) goals shown below, though this activity can be adapted with any domain.

• Infant-Toddler Perceptual, Motor, and Physical Development 5: Child uses sensory information and body awareness to understand how their body relates to the environment.
• Preschool Approaches to Learning 11: Child shows interest in and curiosity about the world around them.

Almost all the ELOF areas can be supported during outdoor play and nature exploration! Spend time with your team identifying what children can do outdoors!

Connect and Extend

Create a culture of inquiry with great questions.

Asking children age-appropriate questions is one strategy for extending conversations. Questions that ask children to consider, provide explanations, and make predictions, such as “What do you think will happen next?” offer chances for children to express ideas. For some children, especially infants/toddlers, this may mean providing opportunities to think and watching for non-verbal responses and giving prompts or labeling their gestures. Ask open ended questions with many possible answers (including gestures) to encourage more than a one-word response.

• Example 1: "I see you are pointing at the beautiful blue bird in the tree! What does a bird say? Should we flap our arms and fly around on our walk and roll today?"
• Example 2: [before] "What do you think we will see on our journey today?" [during] "How do you think the bird constructed his nest?" [after] "Did we see what we predicted? What was the same and what was different?"
• Example 3: “How many rocks, sticks, and leaves did we collect? Which group had the most items? Which has the least? How would you describe the rock that you found? Is it smooth or rough, big or small, light or dark colored, etc.?”

Make sure children have opportunities to ask questions too! Sometimes you can answer “how can we find out?” and help them identify ways to find answers. For example, look in a book, search online, ask a friend or a parent, or do an experiment!

Develop creative connections and be a “good relative.”

Creative arts can be found in many parts of a nature walk and roll. Encourage children to listen to the sounds and rhythms around them, from birds singing to leaves rustling in the wind. Pause and offer time for children to draw in their journals and record what they are seeing and bring their creations back indoors. Children can clap, stomp, sing, or make any noises in a pattern or rhythm as they move around. Preparation or follow-up activities could include reading books like Going on a Bear Hunt, painting a picture of what they noticed, or acting out scenes in dramatic play. Make sure children have enough time to develop their open-ended play ideas outdoors. Some programs provide outdoor dramatic play and art materials.

What does it mean to be a good relative? In many American Indian and Alaska Native cultures, being a good relative is reflected in how you treat other humans and extends to being a good steward of the land and all its inhabitants. Many stories are rooted in values, positive connections to each other, as well as the plants and animals within our environment. We are all related and connected. What are some things you can do to practice being a good relative?

Take a Look

Using the Natural World to Support Children’s Development
Young children love to play and learn in nature. Whether you head outside or bring the outdoors in, the natural world is full of exciting learning opportunities. Check out this resource to find out what research says about using nature as a tool to support children's development across ELOF domains. Discover strategies for creating time and space for nature play in your learning environment.

Digging Deeper into Why Play and Nature Matter

They don’t call it the “great outdoors” for nothing! Exposing children to the natural world during their early years is valuable for many reasons. In nature, children can use their senses, ask questions, describe, compare, and classify everything they encounter. Learning about nature during the early years also lays the foundation for a lifelong appreciation of and respect for the environment, which can help children engage in environmentally friendly behaviors. Here is a great collection of resources for nature-based learning for all ages and settings!

Outdoor play and exploration benefits children in many ways. Researchers have identified outcomes that connect with ELOF domains, including:

• Approaches to Learning
  • Increased creativity and imagination
  • Developing a sense of wonder, which is an important motivator for lifelong learning
  • Positive effects on children's ability to focus and pay attention
• Social and Emotional Development: Increased social interactions between children
• Cognition, Social and Emotional Development, and Language and Literacy: Enhanced opportunities to make decisions, solve problems, and collaborate with peers, which also promote language and communication skills
• Cognition: Improved awareness, reasoning, and observation skills
• Perceptual, Motor, and Physical Development: Improving fine and gross motor skills and becoming physically stronger

Read About It

Supporting Outdoor Play and Exploration for Infants and Toddlers
Learn about the benefits of outdoor time for infants and toddlers in center-based, family child care, and home-based programs. This resource also provides suggestions for creating outdoor play spaces, safety considerations, and strategies and policies that support this important part of quality infant and toddler programming in Early Head Start and Migrant and Seasonal Head Start programs.

When Availability of Outdoor Play Space Is an Issue
Outdoor play and exploration experiences may take place in different types of spaces and places. Some programs are challenged with limited or lack of safe outdoor play space. In these situations, it is especially important for program leaders, staff, and families to find ways of providing infants and toddlers with experiences that connect them with nature and opportunities for active outdoor play and exploration.

Joy for the Journey

Children can...
Encounter the way that sunshine splinters into a hundred fragments of light as it streams through a willow hut...
Feel the soft touch of a summer breeze as it whispers through tallgrass prairie...
Smell the scent of fresh rain while splish-splashing through a puddle...
Wonder at a strand of dew drops...
Hear the thwump, thwump, thwump of a low flying bird.

Used with permission from Beth Walling [Early Head Start National Resource Center, 2011]

Last Updated: October 17, 2024