Take a look at some great outside fun ideas to explore with your child or tween. Each offers great benefits.
Family Activities Near Home
Family activities near home are wonderful little breaks that can be worked into your family's schedule. For some children with special needs, most outside fun will take place near home.
- Walk sensory ** gross motor ** verbal
- Bike gross motor ** safety
- Catch hand-eye coordination ** social skills (taking turns)
- Trampoline gross motor ** sensory
- Bubbles oral motor ** hand eye coordination
- Chalk on the sidewalk hand eye coordination ** art
- Read a book under a tree language skills ** literacy
- Enjoy a popsicle, watermelon, or ice cream sensory ** oral motor
- Watch the stars visual preception ** verbal skills
- Watch fireworks visual perception ** verbal skills
- Watch fireflies visual tracking ** verbal skills
- Watch butterflies, ladybugs, etc. visual tracking ** verbal skills
- Fly a kite gross motor ** hand eye coordination
- Play in the leaves gross motor ** sensory
- Play in the rain gross motor ** sensory
- Do flashlight tricks visual tracking**hand eye coordination ** verbal skills
- Jump rope gross motor ** social skills
- Play hopscotch gross motor ** social skills
Activities in the Community
Activities in the community provide a great break in the day or week. Everyone needs to get away sometimes. As you consider which activities in the community are best for your child consider abilities, challenges, and the wonderful opportunity for social skills that cannot be matched at home.
- Playground gross motor ** social skills
- Swim gross motor ** sensory ** relaxation
- Picnic social skills
- Camping sensory ** relaxation
- Join a team gross motor ** hand eye coordination ** social skills
- Go to a ballgame social skills
- Go to a drive in movie relaxation ** verbal skills
- Go to a water park sensory ** social skills ** gross motor
My next article:
Outside Games to Try
Note: All activities in this article are ideas. The appropriate choice of specific activities is the responsibility of the parents. Each child has unique needs and restrictions. The author is not responsible for anything resulting from the activity ideas in this article or on this website.
© 2006 Lynn Moore No portion of this article may be copied or distributed without the written consent of the author.
