Make your own game of bowling using recycled 1 or 2 liter bottles. make them fun by decorating them with colorful masking tape. Helpful tip, seal the top on with a glue gun so the bottles do not crush easily. Use any ball to knock down the pins.

Goal:  Children will develop large motor skills and hand-eye coordination with this activity.

Bringing or building musical instruments outside can be a great way for children to practice coordination, creativity, rhythms, and tones in a setting that allows them to create a great range of auditory experiences.

To deepen children’s thinking, encourage them to hit different parts of their drum with the stick to see if the sound changes; note when they make louder/softer sounds, and how the achieved it; and help them to create and test hypotheses about how changing their instrument will change the effect (i.e. what would happen if you put a leaf on your drum, and hit that with the drum stick?). By exploring these different traits of the music they create, children are learning about differences in tone and volume, two important concepts within musicianship. As they drum and dance, they are also practicing bilateral coordination (moving both sides of their bodies at the same time), a big skill for pre-writing.

Your instruments don’t need to be complicated. Some boxes and sticks can go a long way! Consider also including recycled cans (with sharp edges covered!), making shakers from water bottles and beads, or wooden spoons —see LOTS more ideas for a variety of ages here.

This space is used for a gathering area for the kids (or a fort/playhouse).

I went to Menards to look for ways to create a natural play house (since I gave away my two plastic little tykes houses). I originally planned to do an arch hut that I saw on Pinterest using a garden arch but when I saw the prices, I just kept walking. I then came up with the idea of using garden trellis, stakes and bamboo fencing. The garden trellis was an accordion type (pictured below), so it can expand to whatever size you want. I already had the rubber pavers, so decided to make it around those and that’s how I determined my size.

Step 2: Zip tie the accordion fence to the stakes

Step 3: Zip tie bamboo fence on three sides of the structure.

Step 4: Trim off excess bamboo to the height you want the structure to be.

Step 5: Place garden stakes on top to support the bamboo roof. Make sure to measure the width of your structure to know what size stakes to get. I rested them on top of the accordion fence and zip tied them in place.

Step 6: Lay the bamboo fence on top and zip tie it down.