Easy Outdoor Activities for Toddlers
If you like this blog post about Easy Outdoor Activities for Toddlers, Pin it to Pinterest!
Please note, this blog post contains affiliate links. This means I will receive commissions for any qualifying purchases made through links found on this page.
Summer weather is coming and all I can think about is that my kids are going to want to play outside everyday! I love that my kids enjoy going outside, but I can’t be the only mom who gets overwhelmed with the idea of taking my toddlers outside by myself. I’ve done it before, and man, do they run circles around me. For that reason, I normally can handle simple backyard fun on my own, but I save true outings for when my husband is available to help me. Sometimes when children are cooped up indoors for too long, they just need a breath of fresh air. The nice thing is, at this age, they don’t always want to do an extravagant activity outside, they just want a change of scenery. And, I think all moms would agree that having outdoor activities that require minimal setup and clean up would be preferred when watching the kids on their own. With that said, here are some of my go-to, EASY, backyard summer activities to do with my littles.
Bubbles
Bubbles make my kids go bonkers! I love it! They are really into popping as many bubbles as they can and they are always asking for more! For that reason, I now turn on a bubble machine, so they can have an infinite amount of continuous bubbles to chase around. This bubble machine from Amazon is easy to use and fills my backyard with bubbles! And if my kids want to try blowing bubbles on their own, I love letting them use Fubbles. I’m not sure how the bottle design works, but it is spill proof, making it perfect for my little beginner bubble blowers!
Sidewalk Chalk
Sidewalk chalk is such a fun way to get artsy outside! You can make games like hopscotch, as your kids get older. Or, you can do what my kids do best, scribble in bright neon colors. The best part about sidewalk chalk is that there is no set up, minimal mess, and we like to let rainy days do our clean up. But, if you must, it is so easy to wash away the chalk by spraying down your pavement with the water hose.
Water Table
We love water table time in our family! We have the Little Tikes Easy Store Foldable Water Table. I like this table because it is easy for me to hose down, fold up and put it away so that it doesn’t get moldy. Not to mention, the accessories attach to the table so they don’t get lost. My kids love this water table because they love sensory play! And, it’s perfect because there are two separate sides for each of my kids to have their own water table space. For something that I initially thought my kids would only be interested in for a little while, it keeps them busy splashing and pouring water for a pretty long time. This toy is a win win for everyone!
Play with Balls
This almost seems to simple, but kids love to play with balls! They like to throw, bounce and try to catch all kinds of balls. The beauty of playing with balls outdoors is I don’t have to be the ball throwing police like I normally am when we’re inside the house. Having a kickball has been fun to have outdoors because it’s decently big, not too hard if it hits you, it bounces high and comes in fun bright colors. Having a designated outdoor ball has virtually no set up and is great for open ended fun! I couldn’t find the kickball that we own online, but here is a basic kickball from Amazon that is basically the same as ours.
Spray Bottles
Since my kids are so little, they are not able to have a full blown super soaker battle. I found that they are just coordinated enough and happy to play with plain old spray bottles. We have these spray bottles from Amazon. I usually just fill each bottle with water and let the kids loose in the backyard. Though this seems like a boring household item, the kids love pointing and spraying everything and anything outside where they have free reign, as well as getting sprayed themselves with a cool mist on a hot summer day! You can even make it into a game and have them “clean” a particularly dirty rock or wash some of their toys outside.
Water Balloons
This activity does take a little more prep than the other activities. Though there are plenty of great water balloon options out there, I chose to get traditional water balloons from Amazon that are just like the plain ones from my childhood. Since it takes some time and patience to fill water balloons, I usually recommend filling a small amount of balloons the night before, so that you are ready to use once you let your kids out in the backyard. Since my kids are still too young to really engage in a water balloon fight, they still get a lot of sensory play, just squishing the balloons until they eventually pop or just laughing as they pop and splash on the ground.
Gardening
An outdoor activity that is a hit is pretending to garden! Our kids got these adorable mini gardening tool sets for Easter and they are a perfect introduction to gardening pretend play. With this kit, they are able to pretend to water the grass, and dig in the dirt. I’ve even gotten my kids to help me pick up some grass clippings to throw in a little bucket for compost.
Sprinklers
If you’ve gotten this far in this blog post, you can probably tell that we love water play at our home! Simply setting up the sprinkler to run through is an easy way to get the kids playing outside while also watering your grass, and without the hassle of setting up and cleaning up a kiddy pool! It’s a win-win for everyone in my book!
Taking little kids outside, whether it’s out to the park or even just right outside your door in your front or backyard, can feel overwhelming. Hopefully this short list of outdoor toddler activities can help you brainstorm ways to keep your child busy this summer. I’ve found that young children are imaginative enough to stay occupied even if the activity provided seems fairly simple. Though the task is daunting at times, I hope this blog post encourages you to get outside with your children!
