Easy 10-Minute Outdoor Learning Activities for Spring

Cover Image Easy 10 Minute Outdoor Activities for Spring- a group of 4 children running outside in the spring

It’s Spring…Let’s Get Outside!

Spring is the perfect time to get outside. The weather is warming up and students are antsy to get outdoors and be free. However, adapting to outdoor learning might take a bit of time for both you and your students. One of the best ways to delve in to outdoor learning is to start out small and then build from there. Even if you aren’t an outdoorsy teacher, there are quick and easy ways to get outside with your students and experience the benefits of outdoor learning.

You will find that these quick outdoor learning activities will not only get your students outside and moving, but your students will come back to the classroom refreshed, focused and ready to learn. You can also use these activities to reinforce or practice curriculum concepts. All of these activities require little to no prep, and you can fit them into your school day at any point!

4 children running outside in the spring

Easy 10-Minute Outdoor Learning Activities

1. Nature Color Hunt

This is a great activity to help kids look closely, make observations, and see the complexities in nature. They will begin to see that nature isn’t made up of solid colours, but is instead a gradient of shades and values.

What to do:

Give students a color swatch (find these at a paint store or home improvement)
Have them find matching natural objects
Once they have found the colour they can switch it for a different swatch
- I like to have a few extra challenging colours for the kids that are really speedy

Tie-ins:

Science- looking at plant diversity, flowers, leaves, and even lichen
Art- finding colour shades and variations
Language Arts- work on descriptive writing skills and adjectives

2. Sky Watch & Weather Report

Have your students tune in to the daily weather. This can be a great way to start your day, integrate outdoor learning into your morning meeting, or add a few minutes of outdoor time on after recess. Through their daily weather report students are tuning in to the daily and seasonal changes that are occurring around them. They are also practicing their observation and data recording skills.

What to Do:

Have students observe the sky. Ask them what the clouds, sun, wind is doing.
Have the students check in with how they are feeling. What is the temperature like outside?
Optional: Record observations in a weather journal

Tie-ins:

Science – looking at weather patterns, cloud types
Math- temperature tracking

Weather Journals:

3. Listening Walk (Or Sit)

Careful listening is a great way to help calm your students and help them settle. It allows them to focus on a single stimulus and sift through the sensory overload that they often experience while at school. This activity can be done either by walking or by finding a sit spot.

What to do:

Have your students walk or sit silently for 1 minute (or longer if they can handle it)
After the time is up, have students share or sketch the sound that they heard
If you like, you can have students classify whether the sounds were from nature or were human made

Tie-in:

Science- discussing sound in nature
Mindfulness
Writing- describing sensory details

4. Shadow Tracing

This is a fun and quick fine motor, gross motor, and art activity. All you need is some chalk and a sidewalk!

What to do:

Partner students to trace each other’s shadows with chalk
Compare at different times of day

Tie-ins:

Science- exploring sun movement, light and shadows
Math- measuring shadows

5. 10-Minute Birdwatching

Spend 10 minutes observing the birds in your learning space. You don’t need to be a bird expert; just be curious and see who is visiting your schoolyard!

What to do:

Find a space that attracts the birds (look for trees, bird feeders, etc)
Observe the birds in noting colors, behaviors, and sounds
Have students tally up the birds that they see (they don’t need to be able to name it…you can simply have them tally birds by colour, size, etc.)

Tie-in:

Science- discussing bird adaptations (what was similar and different about the birds we saw)
Data Collection- tally charts, graphing

6. Spring Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunts are a great low-prep activity to get kids actively exploring their space.

What to do:

Make a quick list of things that you will find outside in the spring (buds, insects, puddles, moss, etc.)
Set up boundaries so that the students aren’t everywhere. Also have a method to call students back.
Have students see how many of each item they can find in 10 minutes

Tie-ins:

Observation skills,
Science- observing seasonal changes
Math- counting, tallying

7. Outdoor Math Practice

Get some physical activity and outdoor math practice in. These activities can be adapted to whatever level or skill your students are working at.

What to do:

Put students in teams. Give each team a “home base.”
Have a basket of math problems located in a centralized.
Students must take 1 math problem from the basket and return to their “home base,” solve the math problem, then return it to the basket.
Turn it into a race to see which team can finish all of the problems first.

Tie-in:

Math- counting, operations, place value, fractions, arrays
Physical Activity

8. Storytelling with Nature Objects

Get creative and practice storytelling skills outside. This is a great way to help students break through some of their creative blocks and get writing!

What to do:

Have students find 3 objects outside
The students must use all 3 objects to tell or write a short story.
Students can work in partners to share their stories or collaborate on a story

Tie-in:

Language Arts- creative writing, oral storytelling

9. Mindful Breathing with Nature

Take a mindfulness moment either at the start of your day or at any time in the day when your students need a bit of a break.

What to do:

Find a calm, quiet space
Lead a short mindfulness exercise (whatever you feel comfortable leading…it can simply be sitting or laying in the grass and deep breathing)
Have your students tune in to the different sights, smells, sounds, and sensations they are feeling

Tie-ins:

SEL- mindfulness, stress relief
Science- air, using the senses

10. Quick Pollinator Watch

Take a moment to watch some of the tiniest visitors to your learning space. Take out some magnifying glasses to get a closer look.

What to do:

Find a space where pollinators are busy at work
Observe and record bees, butterflies, or other pollinators visiting flowers.

Tie-in:

Science- life cycles, plant pollination
Data Collection

Two children looking at an insect with magnifying glasses

All it Takes is 10-Minutes!

Getting a bit of extra outdoor learning time in your day is a great way to get started on your outdoor learning journey. Simple 10-minute activities can help scaffold both teachers and students into a longer practice of outdoor learning and exploration. These 10-minute outdoor learning activities can help boost your students’ focus, engagement and well-being. Why not give one of these 10-minute activities a try today?

10 Easy Outdoor Learning Activities for Spring (That Take Just 10 Minutes!)

It’s Spring…Let’s Get Outside!