There's no such thing as bad weather...... only bad clothes!

This time of year can feel like we are stuck indoors more than usual, and February half term can feel like a long week to occupy bored children. At Overton Preschool and Playgroup settings we always get the children outdoors in all weathers as we see how it holds so many benefits for our children: improving their well-being, independence, confidence and creativity especially. The best way to encourage your children to enjoy outdoor play is to go outside and have fun in nature yourself! Open ended play, ie. play without rules or a particular goal, can be particularly useful to spark curiosity and creativity in little ones but sometimes it can help to have a few tricks up our sleeves to get those little bodies outside.

Here are a few ideas about ways to enjoy our beautiful Hampshire surroundings at this time of year:

·

Bug hunting- make sure children are supervised and return all bugs back to their habitats

· Making “Potion” or “fairy soup”

· Painting outdoor paving or fences with water

· Using old drain pipe to create a water slide for twigs and leaves to flow

· Mark making and drawing in the mud with sticks

· Cloud watching- fairly weather dependant!

· Hide and seek- the old games are the best!

· Den building

· Collecting leaves and Comparing their shapes and colours.

· Seed planting – no garden needed, just a plant pot and some compost!

· Sensory exploration- what does the bark feel like? What does mud smell like? What can you hear?

So get outdoors and enjoy all those lovely natural benefits!