Spring is the perfect time to plan some memorable outdoor activities with your foster children! There’s nothing like getting outside in God’s creation to cultivate childhood wonder—and create meaningful connections with kids. Here are eight ideas to whet your appetite for harnessing fun in the sun and building some lasting memories together this spring.
Go on a Spring Scavenger Hunt: Create a list of various flowers, rocks, leaves, and insects for your child to find, and encourage their observation skills while you go on a nature walk together. Congratulate your child with prizes and awards for success.
Plant a Spring Garden: Choose with your child whether you want flowers, vegetables, or herbs, or a combination for more of a green thumb challenge–and get to planting! Gardening provides unique opportunities for lessons in diligence, patience, and responsibility. Consider weaving in some biblical teaching as well—like exploring Genesis 2:15 when man was placed in the Garden of Eden to work the land and be a good steward. Or turn your attention to the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13. These can be excellent ways to make the Bible come alive while celebrating new growth in fresh soil.
Style Nature Bracelets: Duct tape is required for this one. Wrap the duct tape around the child’s wrist with the sticky side out. Then they choose their own items to stick on along their nature walk. A small stick there, a little stone over there, and perhaps a few colorful leaves will create a personalized souvenir of their explorations.
Create a Fairy Garden: Gather natural materials like sticks, rocks, and moss and let your child design their own miniature garden, complete with elements they’ll need to create an enchanting and magical garden. Perhaps add fairy figurines, miniature accessories, and tiny houses and let their imagination run free.
Build a Bird Feeder: Collect materials like pinecones, birdseed, and peanut butter, and teach your little one about wildlife conservation as they create a tasty bird feeder for their feathered friends to enjoy.
Paint Outdoor Art: In your backyard or a local park, set up easels, paints, and canvases and allow the nature around you to be your guide. Encourage your child to paint their favorite thing they see. Perhaps paint next to them and compare notes on what you’re painting and why.
Make Chalk Drawings: The more colors of sidewalk chalk, the better. Have your child draw their favorite animal, a rainbow with every color, or write out a favorite quote or Scripture verse. Easy entertainment, but timeless fun! You can even teach them how to draw hopscotch and play the game!
Conduct Science Experiments: Conduct simple science experiments outdoors, like making a DIY volcano using baking soda and vinegar to create a chemical reaction (maybe adding red food coloring to the vinegar for a dramatic effect, to look like lava). Observe clouds, identify the different types and discuss how the weather patterns can be predicted based on cloud formations. Build a solar oven by simply using a cardboard box and aluminum foil to harness the sun’s energy to cook marshmallows or melt chocolate.
The fun in springtime sun can bring educational opportunities galore, foster spiritual growth, and generate memories that can last a lifetime. Sometimes, it’s the simplest, most inexpensive things like an old cardboard box, where a child finds the most wonder, and makes their most valuable discoveries! Use these ideas as springboards to relationship-building with your foster child this season.
