Did You Know?

Children are much more active when they’re outside. Whether they’re walking, running, digging in the sand, or balancing on logs, they move more and sit less than they do inside. This kind of movement is great for building strong muscles and healthy habits.

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Kristin Hammer

I’ve seen kids become more confident in their own bodies as they navigate the uneven territory of the woods. 

Kristin Hammer

Director, Nature Together

Skill Building in Outdoor Play

sleepy baby

Nature Ninos Prescott

Better Sleep

Being outside offers rich sensory exploration through a variety of sights, sounds, smells, and textures. Feeling the breeze on their face, noticing the dance between light and shadows on the grass, hearing spring bird calls, or smelling flowers in the courtyard provides a stimulus of sensory input that can have a calming effect on babies. Spending time in the natural world can help regulate a natural sleep-wake cycle that leads to better sleep quality. 

mother watches son push large log

Stronger Core Muscles

Pushing a heavy object like a log, or crawling up a hill is moving large muscles and increasing core strength. Core strength helps provide stability, improve posture for proper alignment, protect internal organs, assist in proper breathing, and reduce potential for injury.

tiny hands tiny pebbles

Fine Motor Development

Picking up small items like acorns, seeds, rocks, or shells is working on strengthening the fine motor muscles in the thumb and finger that assist with everyday activities like getting dressed, eating, drawing, writing, using utensils, and tying shoelaces.

climbing a tree

S.J. Bencriscutto Amado | Minneapolis Nature Preschool

Building Body Awareness

Coordinating large muscle movements in the legs, arms, and torso to do complex tasks like climbing trees requires balance, stability, and control. Navigating the body to climb up or down on varying branch positions develops the body’s ability to sense its position and movement in space. This develops skills needed for tasks like walking, reaching for objects, and picking up a glass of water without spilling it.

Try This at Home
Baby & parent laying in hammock
Hammock Hang Time
In a moment of calm and connection, sway beneath the trees and watch the leaves dance above you—supporting your baby’s sense of balance as you swing gently back and forth.
two children in the snow with their tongues sticking out
Float and Focus
Catching fluttering leaves, snowflakes, and dandelion seeds floating on the wind is a joyful way for toddlers to sharpen hand-eye-coordination, vision, and reflexes.
Child pulling weeds, raking, or digging in dirt
Garden Tending
Pull, rake, and dig with purpose in the garden. This activity combines big body movements and care for plants and animals.
Elementary kids exploring leaves
Leafy Patterns
Explore leaves from local trees, noticing the different shapes, patterns, colors, and how they change from season to season, recording observations like a scientist in your nature journal!
Try This at School
sensory path baby feet
Sensory Steps
Explore natural textures and develop balance and coordination skills as baby feet squish, swish, scrunch, and step through a sensory adventure.
children playing with mud
Mud Recipes
Combine dirt, water, and other gifts from nature into pretend recipes, promoting storytelling and early literacy skills through joyful, messy play.
two children balancing on tree branch on the ground
Balancing Act
A line in the dirt becomes a balance beam as children walk, wobble, and grow stronger, braver, and more aware of how their bodies move through the world.
childrens shadows in grass
Shadow Tag
Chase and tag shadows on a sunny day—moving like animals and watching your silhouette change is a joyful, hands-on way to explore light, shadows, and sunshine.