Educators have long understood the benefits of outdoor play, but today’s parents are becoming increasingly reluctant to let their children out of their sight.

This is a great pity. Play is an active form of learning that involves the whole self, which is how children learn best. They relax and express their emotions, learn to cooperate and solve problems, and develop their perceptual skills. The heightened senses of smell, touch, taste and movement they experience outdoors are powerful modes of learning. Children also learn to navigate their surroundings and gain confidence. If your children have access to outside space, whatever their age, please help them make the most of it.

Younger children

Leaf printing

Use leaves on the ground to make prints on paper with paint or mud.

• What plants do the different shaped leaves come from? Look at the size, shape and texture of the leaves.

• Do different sides of the leaves make different patterns on the paper – why?

Shake a tree 

Hold a light coloured bedsheet or piece of paper under a branch and shake the branch to see which creatures fall out. While some invertebrates will fly away, others will land on the sheet so you can look closely at them with a magnifying glass.

• What are the main colours? Is this different to creatures you find under logs?

• Do some types of tree have more creatures living on them than others?

Teenagers

Experiment with apps

Nature apps such as Seek are brilliant for identifying and recording species you find in the garden or the wild. You take a photo and Seek identifies the plant, encouraging you to really focus on the detail. It also sets challenges for you to complete.

Become a wildlife photographer

Many smartphones have high-quality cameras, so you can try macro techniques, timelapse, videos and more. Why not post the results on social media?

Join a campaign

Go beyond conservation and get involved in campaigning on climate change and sustainability.

More wild play ideas from Wildlife Watch