Outdoor Centers

Motor Skills – Developing psychical health through exercise tasks. Building, kicking, rolling, throwing, collecting, sculpting, balancing…

Math – Comparing found objects in amount, height, thickness, width, and more. Counting actions or objects. Creating maps and measuring distance/size.

Art – Drawing, explore photography, play games with song and dance

Sensory – Observe senses’ such as sounds, textures, weights, sights, and smells.

Science – Outdoor experiments, Comparing, classifying, and learning about different animals, plant, rocks.

Personal Development – Learning survival and safety skills. Developing social skill and practicing cooperation for group tasks.

MATERIALS

• Balance beam/boards
• Timer
• Soccer/beach/tennis/foot balls
• Exercise mats
• Jump ropes
• Scales
• Trampolines
• Buckets, bins
• Water balloons
• Chalk
• Supplies for themed activities (treasure chests and compass for playing pirates, camping supplies, etc)

IDEAS

1. Sketch what you observe. Discuss what qualities form different things in nature. Compare your drawings your friends, is any two drawing the exact same (learning about different perspectives), what aspects are different?
2. Have students help you make a fitness obstacle course or different timed fitness center’s to rotate.
3. Find 5 round objects, 5 heavy objects, 5 green objects…
4. Compare the weight, size, texture, smell, of different objects and record them in a discovery journal.
5. Create a first aid kit, building a shelter, learning about important items to pack for adventure in the wilderness, learning about fire or water safety, create maps…
6. Measure distances from or of different objects, the distance on how far the students can jump. Have the students explore different methods to measure. How they can track how far they jumped using chalk or other markers. And how they can measure, students can use feet, hands, or other objects (ex. from the play ground to the door is three skipping ropes length).
7. Play games about science, social, and other subjects. For example, playing a tag game assigning different animals with different abilities to learn about animals and the food chain.
8. Compare descriptions or illustrations from books to observations in the outdoors.