If you are home with your little ones right now and wondering what to do, I have one suggestion: Nature crafts and activities for preschoolers!!! Get those little ones outside, or bring the outdoors in, with these fabulous activities.
If you are wondering how to instil a love of the environment and this beautiful Mother Earth of ours, it is as easy as can be. Here we share with you our very favourite nature crafts and activities that are perfect for 3 year olds from around this blog and a few other places as well.
Nature Crafts and Activities for Preschoolers
Let’s get our little ones outdoors and enjoying all of this wonderful world. Let’s explore nature activities and make nature crafts. Let’s climb trees, rocks, and hills. Let’s get muddy, dirty, wet, and experience all of nature! If we want out little ones to truly care about saving this planet, first we need to let them know what there will be to miss.
Nature Crafts and Nature Art
- Breathtaking Nature Crafts for Kids – If you’re looking for a craft to make with the flowers, leaves, pebbles and sticks your preschooler just collected, we have some fabulous ideas for you right here! All of our nature art and crafts can be found in one place!
Outdoor Activities for Exploring Nature All Year Round
- Earth Day Nature Walk Ideas for Kids – This marvelous post is especially popular around Earth Day, but contains great nature activities for preschoolers for all year round. Discover our “Exploring the Five Senses” in nature series, an enriching sensory experience for all ages! Learn how you can develop language skills on a simple nature walk. See how we became little scientists and learn to dive deep into any science topic. This post is a gold mine!
- Outdoor Activities for Earth Day – a few additional gems for Earth day outdoor fun!
- 9 Unique Outdoor Activities for Babies – It can be hard to bring babies outside sometimes: will they be too cold or too hot in this outfit? If I put them down, will they swallow something unsafe? This can be all the more challenging if you have older kids that NEED to be outdoors. Let us share some unique ideas that will keep everybody happy. Especially baby.
- An Invitation to Play in the Rain – Such a simple activity, but so full of learning. They say time passes quickly when you’re having fun.
- Create a Nature Maze, By Pink Stripey Socks – This activity can be fabulous for all seasons! Use rocks, sticks, or walls of leaves or snow to make amazing mazes for cars, trains, boats or animals!
- 4 Tips to Get Started with Storytelling in Nature, By Rain or Shine Mama – Whether you consider yourself a storyteller or not, this post will set you up for success. Invite your child to add to the story and watch their imagination soar! Nature walks might turn into their new favorite thing!
Nature Activities for Summer, Spring, Winter and Fall
- Winter Nature Walking Ideas – If you’ve come this far, you’ve already gathered that there are numerous benefits to walking in nature. However, here are some ideas to keep kiddos focussed and having fun on a cold, wintry trail.
- 5 Summer Activities that are More Fun in the Winter – Your kids will be delighted when you suggest one of these activities usually associated with summer in the bleak of winter!
- 15 Ways to Keep Them Outside All Summer! – Sometimes toys, air conditioning and screens can shout louder than the sun. Or if you live around me, a mosquito-free zone is VERY enticing. But let’s face it: we know being outside is good for us. Here’s how we keep everyone outside ALL summer!
- Nature Chains and a Summertime Christmas Tree – If you thought paper chains were fun, wait until you try nature chains! Same technique, same simple fun!
Outdoor Projects for Kids
- Building our Outdoor Art Easel – There is nothing quite like painting outside. Here we share an outdoor art easel that we created out of large sticks and twine.
- Amazing Outdoor Fort Ideas – Watch imaginations soar as you work together to build simple forts with sticks and twine. They’ll turn into great hideouts for storing nature finds and telling wild nature stories!
- 14 DIY Birdfeeders for Kids – Bond over a creative project, beautify your property, and set up a learning experience that just keeps on giving! These DIY birdfeeders are easy to make and use common materials you probably already have on-hand.
- Nature Fairy Houses, By Rediscovered Families – Nature activities for preschoolers that inspire their imaginations are always a bonus! This outdoor nature project will keep them occupied for hours as they hunt for supplies, build their homes and play, play, play!
- Make a Roly Poly Habitat, By Fantastic Fun and Learning – Preschoolers will love making the perfect, cozy home for their bugs and roly-polies. Depending on what they catch, they may have to ensure that the bug gets the right food, light and materials for shelter. Kids might even observe physical transformations as they care for their new friends. What a great way to appreciate nature for Earth Day or Earth Week!
- DIY Sundial for Kids, By Edventures with Kids – Kids can make these as simple or as elaborate as they’d like. Both the process of making their homemade sundials and using them will be full of learning opportunities and time spent in nature.
Gardening with Kids: Tips and Ideas
- Teaching Kids to Grow their Own Food -These easy garden activities for preschoolers will help kids get their hands dirty and learn more about nature, plants and gardening.
- Seed Germination for Kids – Start learning about seeds with your kiddos right away! All you need for indoor seed germination is a mason jar, paper towels, water and seeds!
- Seed Germination for Kids – The Results! – Here we share the results of our seed germination post above, comparing which ones were the easiest or fastest to grow. Take your pick based on your spring garden project goals!
- Tons of Seed Activities for Kids – Activities with seeds are just chalk full of learning opportunities! Touch, smell and feel them! Toss them into a sensory bin, then count and sort them! Create some seed art or pull them apart and look inside!
- Make a Sandwich Bag Compost – Show your children how composting works and why it’s important for gardening with this super easy activity. Composting on a small scale makes the process faster and easier to understand for little ones.
More Learning With Nature Activities for Preschoolers
- Indoor Nature Activities for Kids – Berries, pine needles, flowers, grasses, leaves and bark. These are just a few of the rich sensory items preschoolers can bring indoors for some fabulous nature learning.
- Raising a Wild Child – This post was written out of necessity. My boys play best when learning outside and not contained by four walls. These nature activities are simple, chalk full of learning, and they work! Wild child-approved!
- Comparing and Sorting Seeds – End a hard day of gardening or seed germination with this fun seed numeracy activity for preschoolers.
- How to Incubate Chicken Eggs with Kids! – I had absolutely no experience incubating and hatching chicken eggs before I started and I’ve done so successfully multiple times. This is the beginning of a multi-post series where I explain everything you need to know to enjoy this cross-curricular learning experience with your littles.
- A Winter Waldorf Nature Table – Bring items found outside to an indoor nature table and create a little world for preschoolers to play in.
- A Simple Nature Sensory Bin – This easy nature sensory bin kept my kids engaged for days when we brought it out at special times.
- Preschool Math Games: Graphing with Nature – All you need is a collection of objects from your own backyard, some chalk and you’ll be already for some nature numeracy!
- Constellation Cards and Myths for Kids – Bring the wonder of constellations and our solar system indoors with paper and a simple flashlight. Kids will learn about the myths that accompany each constellation when you print these free cards.
- Sorting Math Games – Sometimes after a wild nature walk haul, you just HAVE to sort your finds! Here’s a way to make some math learning, super fun!
There you have them friends! Enough nature crafts and activities for kids to keep you busy all year long. Well, for the next few years actually!
There is something so beautifully simple about watching children playing outside in nature. Nature sort of takes over and the learning unfolds so naturally. So please use these nature crafts and activities to help give you some inspiration and get you out the door, but don’t feel stifled by them. Think of them as springboards and watch all the magic that unfolds.
Thank you so much for reading friends!
xo
Sarah
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