Spring Sensory Outdoor Play {All Things Kids}

Spring is in the air!  Or, depending on what part of the country (or world!) you are in, perhaps spring is only in your mind.  Either way, I think most of us are ready for some spring fun after a very long winter!

In that spirit, this week the bloggers of All Things Kids are hosting a series on Spring Sensory Play Date Activities.  (In case you missed them, our previous series focused on Winter Books and Activities and Showing Kids Love). Don’t forget to link up your own posts at the end!

As part of the character building classes I am teaching for Monkey and his friends, I recently did a unit on Love.  This included love of nature, so as part of that lesson I took them outside for some sensory play.

First I had them all draw in their notebooks pictures representing the five senses: ear, nose, eye, hand, and mouth.

Then we went through the senses one by one, and they had to sketch (with their mom’s help if needed) what they experienced with that sense.  So, for example, we heard birds chirping (and a truck going by, as it turned out), and we smelled different leaves we found.  In case you were worried that they would try to eat some sticks or something, for “taste” we cut up an orange from one of our trees 😉

It was fun to see what they came up with (one child observed that the air smelled like mud – it did!).  But most of all I hope that they experienced the outdoors differently than they had before, by beginning to pay attention to all five of their senses.

Has spring arrived where you are?

Be sure to visit the other bloggers in this series for more Spring Sensory fun: Crayon Chronicles, Sugar Aunts, House of Burke, Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails, and Fun-A-Day! (You can read the full schedule on the series main page).

And don’t forget that you can find all this and more in our All Things Kids Google Plus community and our Pinterest Board!

Now it’s time to see your amazing posts!