Here is a list of all the ways we love to play in nature!

Create a mud kitchen – Grab a few bowls, spoons, jugs, saucepans – anything in the kitchen that you don’t really need and add dirt and water. Instant mud kitchen! Grab some nature items so that your mud pies look amazing! We love to hit up the op shops to find some really cool jugs, tea pots, mixers and pots.

Get creative with clay or playdough – Set up your dough with flowers, herbs, shells, seed pods and pinecones for some amazing playdough or clay play!

Paint with nature – Add your favourite nature odds and ends to the painting table. We love painting on rocks and putting them around our garden. Another alternative to nature painting is giving them a paintbrush and water- they can ‘paint’ with water on the bricks, side of the house or pavers!

Draw with Nature – Same idea as above, but use pastels, crayons, or chalks (less mess too!)

Pinecone Weaving – Collect pinecones and add string or wool, for a fun weaving experience.

Start a Nature Collection – Starting a collection is fun! It gives you something to look out for when you visit parks\beaches and forests, and you can end up finding amazing things! My daughter loves to collect pretty pieces of driftwood.

Make flower potions – Either buy or grow some flowers and add them to your mud kitchen. Give your child some water and containers and they’ll have a blast creating pretty flower mixtures!

Make a muddy puddle – Find a spot in your backyard that you don’t mind getting messed up and add water. If your backyard is not muddy puddle friendly, go to the local park while it’s raining and dress for splashing!

Water Play – Anything to do with water is always a winner. From puddles to play trays and jugs full of water, kids will love dancing in the rain and playing in the water.

Nature Hunt – Make a list of things for your children to find in the back garden, from colours to leaves, clouds or even snails. Who doesn’t love ticking off a list?!

We used the story ‘wombat stew’ to inspire our nature play in the mud kitchen, adding gumnuts, leaves and feathers to make the ‘stew’. You can never get too creative with nature play!

Our backyard is a treasure trove of odds and ends that we have found in op shops, tip shops, industrial areas and garage sales! Items like pallets (untreated) tyres, wooden planks, cable reels, old bike wheels, gutters and pipes all give children a wide range of resources to play and create with. Some items will need rough edges sanded off, or a quick coat of paint before they can be used by children.

Have “Messy” Areas

I know, I know, the last thing we all need is any more mess to clean up. But bear with me for a minute! Having an area especially set up for messy play can really benefit children. Being given opportunities to get a bit mucky and dirty and to experiment and play with lots of different materials is fantastic for sensory development, sense of self and immune systems! Even if just a little painting or playdough table for your child to experiment with can be hugely beneficial. Have some warm water, a washcloth and a change of clothes ready!

Keep It Simple

• Collect a few kitchen odds and ends and add them to a table with water and dirt. It’s a mud kitchen!
• Pick flowers from the garden and give your (older) child scissors to “snip” the flowers. Great for fine motor skills and coordination.
• Add herbs, sticks and flowers to playdough. Expect some beautiful creations!
• Fill a tub with warm bubbly water and add cups for tipping and pouring
• Put a basket of dress ups and a mirror in the cubbyhouse (make sure the mirror is placed so it can’t get broken, or get a child-safe mirror)
• Paint some planks of wood like roads – instant car track!
• Add baskets of seed pods, sticks, pinecones, flowers, shells, and place around your yard and see what you children create!

Create space for active play

One of my favourite strategies to help deal with an active child was to go outside! Balls, blocks, climbing areas, things to swing on and balance on. Areas to RUN! Children need to move their bodies frequently and creating a space to do that will be a sanity saver for them and you! Children need plenty of hours of unstructured active play to thrive and to wear themselves out!

Here are some great ideas for creating an inexpensive and fun playroom.

Choose fabrics and rugs that are durable and easy to wash. A playroom looks much cosier and more comfortable with a range of different textures, fabrics, and rugs. Just be aware that they will get dirty easily, so make them easy to quickly throw in the wash.

Use rugs to “define spaces”, this encourages children to keep toys in one area. An example of this would be to have a special “Lego area” and the Lego gets played with only on that rug, making it easier for clean-up and avoiding the old stepping on Lego issue that we have all experienced at some point!

Storage! Having clever storage ideas are a must! We like to use low storage shelves with baskets, so that each item is easily accessible and easy to pack up. Children can see what they have to play with at a glance which can prevent them tipping EVERYTHING out on the floor.

Create little “pockets of play,” Children love cosy little spaces to curl up and play in. Create a little book corner, or a soft space for cuddling up with soft toys. We used to drape a sheet over chairs so my daughter could play tea parties in peace away from her noisy car-mad brother.

Think outside the box! Have you ever noticed how children love playing with things that are not traditional toys? Well, visit your local op shop, get down to Kmart, visit your local park for nature items or check garage sales for real items for children to play with! A stainless-steel tea set (or a real one, if your child is gentle with breakables) add a whisk and saucepan to a play kitchen. Full up baskets with pinecones and seed pods and watch their imagination take flight!

Declutter. Regularly go through your child’s toys and pass on anything that they do not play with. Or alternatively, store it away and rotate the toys every few months to keep children interested. Having an uncluttered playroom can make the difference between chaos and calm.