November 25th, 2009 The alternative Play Activities Holiday Gift Guide #7 Outdoor play Posted by Melitsa in Articles, Education, Holiday guide, Outdoor play, play activities, pretend play, Roundups, Seasonal play, Sites to visit

Outdoor play

Make a promise to increase your outdoor play quota for the week. Whatever the weather- play outdoors. ( Whether the weather be hot, whether the weather be cold, whether the weather whatever the weather, whether you like it or not!)

Small Fry’s Outdoor play book is jam packed full of brilliant starters and activities ( more on this soon)  See a sample page.

Find amazing play outdoor things to do at

The Grass Stain Guru

Salisbury Downs

Activekidsclub

TheGreenhour.

Start a nature club with this toolkit like   Naturestrollers

Photo credit: Children and nature.

Discovertheforest.org

Fun Orange County parks- lots of ideas and articles for everyone and locally.

KaBoom- a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America.

Loving Natures Garden- family, nature, garden and food

Outdoor toys from Play Outdoors

Buy an annual pass to your local state park most on sale Jan 1.

Little humbugs – the magic of nature

Nature Rocks- National program bursting with information to inspire and empower families to play an explore in nature.

Nature walks, treasure hunts, natural play, listening walks, playgrounds, playgroups………………there are so many things that can find you outside.

Follow the #playoutdoors movement on Twitter.

If you are looking for some reading to learn more about playing outdoors try Richard Louv’s

Buy it AMAZON

What do you do to get outside? How were you inspired to get outside when you were a little one? Feel free to add more play outdoors enthusiasts in the comments.

Alternative Play Activities holiday gift guide 2009

1. Activity & time
2. Engage vs Entertain
3. Giving away
4. Scaling back
5. Unstructured play, open ended and downtime.
6. Gift giving
7. Outdoor play