Looking for ideas to entertain children in the garden? Why not ask the experts?
Ausra Linkeviciute runs TimberNook on Wimbledon Common, an outdoor nature play camp specifically designed to boost young children’s sensory development and develop their imaginative play.
Based on the teachings of American occupational therapist and author of Balanced and Barefoot, Angela Hanscom the TimberNook philosophy is that children’s play should include lots of rapid and changing movement - spinning on a swing, hanging upside down, rolling down hills - to shift the fluid around the inner ear and develop a strong sense of balance.
A strong vestibular system is said to lead to better concentration, stamina and emotional regulation.
At her Wimbledon camps for four to eight-year-olds (and a summer camp for slightly older children), Ausra combines this with lots of imaginative play, giving children the freedom to design their own games and activities in the woods. With the camps out of action until the summer, here she adapts some of her most popular activities for parents to try out in their own gardens.
Ausra’s garden play ideas for 4-8-year-olds...
1. Messy mud play:
Get ready: buckets filled with water, spades, cooking utensils, pots and pans
Benefits: Playing in the mud is not just great fun, it’s therapeutic for children and can make them healthier and happier too. The bacteria in the dirt stimulates their immune system, reduces stress and helps to integrate the senses. The open-ended nature of mud play also builds creativity as children learn to form ideas, problem solve and innovate. If you don’t have mud in the garden, you can always create some - just have a few buckets of water and a shovel handy.
2. Den and fort building from loose parts:
Get ready: tires, planks or scrap wood, bricks, large fabric sheets or old curtains, rope, boxes
Benefits: Children love to create their special hide-outs. It fosters independence and creativity, also helps to develop their planning and problem-solving skills. A garden hide-out can become their own safe space from all the uncertainty of the outside world. They’ll be working hard too – all the lifting, carrying and rope tying will certainly challenge their strength.
3. Vertical painting experience:
Get ready: paints or chalk, brushes, string, large sheets of paper or fabric
Benefits: Painting on a large scale will be a rich tactile experience for children – the larger the painting surface the better. Add mud to the assortment of paint and encourage painting with their hands to further challenge the senses. They will work on their hand strength as they crush and mix chalk and use their imagination to create their masterpieces. Setting up a vertical canvas provides a great change of perspective and can be more inviting to children. It can also be an ever-changing colourful creation as children keep adding to it each day.
4. Musical experience from loose parts:
Get ready: pots, pans, spoons, wooden sticks, buckets, string or rope
Benefits: Children get a chance to create their own instruments from pans, buckets, spoons and sticks. It’s a great experience to get them trying and testing different instruments to see what works best, exploring what sounds can be made on different surfaces. Working together to create a musical wall will be great fun – as they choose and hang their “instruments” on a vertically tied rope and then have a go at performing and making some noise.
5. Cardboard village:
Get ready: different sized cardboard boxes, tape, paint, brushes and rollers.
Benefits: Cardboard boxes can provide endless play opportunities. Children can create their own village in the garden and have a go at painting the cardboard homes - it’s a great full-body experience, that will have children getting messy as they dip, roll and paint. Plenty of chances for trial and error, developing ideas, planning and eventually rich pretend play as they inhabit the homes they have created.
6. Build an obstacle course:
Get ready: planks, tires, crates, boxes and use any elements already in the garden, such as swing or climbing frames
Benefits: Children will love building and then trying out their garden obstacle courses. It provides lots of beneficial heavy work as they lift and carry all the parts, also planning and strategic thinking as they construct, test and adjust to get things working as they want. It’s a good idea to integrate existing elements of the garden into the obstacle course – especially if there are trees, climbing frames or swings - and it’s a chance for the whole family to get creative. Finally, testing them out is a great whole-body experience as children move in different directions, climbing, balancing and getting better at it with each turn.
7. Giant bubble experience:
Get ready: bubble mix (can be home-made), sticks and string to make wands, buckets or large pots
Benefits: To make a really satisfying bubble experience, the bubbles need to be truly giant. Work on fine motor skills creating bubble wands from sticks and string and mixing a home-made bubble solution in a pot or bucket. Try to make a bubble large enough to fit a whole child in - and enjoy watching as they use balance, coordination and learning to judge which way the wind is blowing.
8. Lemonade shop experience:
Get ready: Drinking water, fruit for lemonade, materials to create tables: boxes, planks, fabric pieces, cardboard and markers for sign making
Benefits: Creating a lemonade shop is a great opportunity for some pretend play. Children can express their artistic creativity setting up and decorating their shops and their fine motor skills when making the menus and signs. Handling and squeezing the actual fruit is a rich tactile experience that challenges their hand strength and there’s lots of learning taking place when they’re thinking of recipes, designing and building shops, writing out menus, learning about pricing and money. If there aren’t any siblings around, stuffed animals and pets can make excellent customers.
9. Ice play experience – getting creative with ice blocks
Get ready: various sized ice cubes – enhance the experience by colouring the ice with food colouring; child-friendly hammers, screwdrivers, if available - tubes, gutters
Benefits: Playing with ice blocks on a hot day is great fun and also offers many developmental benefits. It’s a wonderful tactile experience as children handle, smash and build with the ice. The addition of colour will provide a magical touch to the experience, further stimulating imagination. A nice idea is to freeze small plastic toys inside the ice for an “ice rescue experience”, as children will have to get resourceful in getting the creatures out of the ice. Even the youngest will be excited to use some child-friendly tools to get smashing at the ice.
10. Going camping experience
Get ready: tent or make a tent with tarp, fabric, string; create pretend fire: bricks, logs, kettle, pots, stuffed animals, flashlights, binoculars
Benefits: It can be very exciting for children to camp out in their own garden. You can set up a real tent or make one from tarps and string. Create a hammock from large sheets or old curtains, get binoculars ready for some bird-spotting and set up a pretend fire. Stay until dark when all the other senses awaken - you may even be tempted to spend the night!
You can read our interview with TimberNook founder Angela Hanscom here.
