10 easy backyard activities for kids to enjoy nature

Now that the kids are back to school, it might feel even more challenging to get that outdoor time that we all know they need. Routines and full schedules make it impossible to always go away on trips or drive to a park or forest to enjoy nature. But there are some easy backyard activities for kids that do the trick just as well and are great fun at the same time. No matter if your backyard is huge and you have many plants and shrubs or just a small patch behind your house – you will surely find something on this list that would work for you and your kids. And even if you do not have a backyard, a lot of these outdoor activities can also be done in a local park or forest.

These easy backyard activities for kids to enjoy nature can be done without many supplies and are budget-friendly! If your kids have to blow off some steam after school, just want to spend some time in nature to focus, or just want to play at the end of a day full of chores, let them run a bit wild in the backyard and have fun. Hearing the laughter of our kids from the backyard is the best soundtrack to everyday life I would say.

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Nature-Mandalas

Nature mandalas are mandalas made with natural materials you can outdoors. It does not really matter what they look like, the important thing is that they should be kind of symmetric – but even if your kids don’t want to do that, that is completely fine.

You can start with a pretty rock in the middle and then build the mandala with leaves, pinecones, sticks or sand – whatever is available in your backyard. This backyard activity is very calming and will also take some time, as your kids will need to gather the parts of the mandala.

Nature Bingo

You can send your kids out to your backyard to complete a nature bingo card. You can either prepare one yourself or get a printable (check out our shop here) for this purpose. They will happily spend time outside, looking for the things on their card and checking the boxes once they found them. You can either play by “normal” bingo rules and say the one that has a complete line first wins or make it a group exercise. Depending on what your garden looks like, you will have to include different things on your bingo card. What a fun backyard activity for kids to spend an afternoon outdoors.

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Birdwatching

Birdwatching is an amazing backyard activity for kids to enjoy nature. Even if you only have a tiny backyard, as long as it has plants, it will surely also attract birds. You could even plant specific flowers and trees, if you want to become a haven for specific bird species so you can observe them.

To observe birds in your backyard, kids need very little. If they want to see more details, maybe get a pair of binoculars and a book to identify the species. If you want to make an ongoing project of it, you can also get a journal for your kids to write down their observations.

Related: Birdwatching with kids – an amazing way to connect with nature

Nature Journaling

If you want your kids to learn how to observe nature and learn about it at the same time, keeping a nature journal is a great way to do so. If you can make them journal about plants or animals that live in your backyard, even better. They can observe the changes with the seasons, take different perspectives and learn so much about all the organisms that live in your backyard.

When you just see something, often you don’t pay a lot of attention. Trying to draw it or writing down observations in a nature journal forces you to really pay attention to detail and to take time for it. This way, kids not only calm down, but they learn more and become way more attentive. A win for everyone.

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Gardening

Gardening is probably the no-brainer backyard activity for kids to enjoy nature. It has so many benefits for kids and makes time spent in the garden memorable. If you can, give your kids a small flower bed for them to cultivate. This way, they will learn stewardship and will feel much more responsible for “their” plants. If you can plant vegetables, even better – they will love to eat what they have grown. Check out this list of easy-to-grow vegetables with kids.

Related: Gardening with kids – growing a green thumb

Mud kitchen

If you have the space and an appropriate area in your backyard, a mud kitchen will definitely be a hit with your kids. You basically build a kitchen – the level of detail is completely up to you – where your kids can play with mud and water to their heart’s content, so they don’t carry the dirt inside. Once built, this backyard activity for kids will entertain them for hours and hours. Of course, they will get more than one t-shirt dirty – but compared to all the fun they will have that is a small price I would say.

Rock Painting

Rock Painting is a fun activity that you can do anywhere – but of course it’s easiest in your backyard. You only need some flat rocks or pebbles that you can collect in a riverbed and paint. If you want to keep them outside and conserve the color, you also need to think about a coating so the color does not wash off. Your little artists will surely create amazing artwork while spending time outside – what a great backyard activity for kids.

Woodcarving

To let kids work with a knife or not to – that’s a question that has been argued about a lot. I think that at a certain age, it has many benefits. They learn coordination, risk assessments, and the safe use of tools that they will have to use later. There are some kid-friendly knives as well that have a blunt point that is great for beginners.

Woodcarving is a great backyard activity as you just need to find some sticks and can start right away. No matter if your kids want to carve specific markings, make arrows (my daughter loves to build her own bow and arrow…), or just carve for the sake of it, they will surely be entertained for a long time. And because they do it in the backyard, you don’t have to worry about the bark and little pieces of wood that come off.

Obstacle course out of natural materials

If you have to entertain a couple of kids or want to make it a bigger project, you can also build an obstacle course out of natural materials and anything you have lying around. You can either build something together and add obstacles to climb over or simply play: the grass is lava. When I was a kid, one of my favorite things to do was to construct wood bridges over our lawn to cross it without ever touching the grass – tons of fun.

Do you like these ideas? What are your favorite backyard activities for kids to enjoy nature? Please share in the comments so I can add it to the list!