Outdoor Classroom Activities

Activities in the Outdoor Classroom

IMG_4665What Kids Can Do To Help

  • Water anything (especially pots) with watering cans, not hoses!
  • Sweep and rake leaves from sidewalks
  • Pick up apples and dispose of them in the green compost bin
  • Rotate the compost bin
  • Coil hoses neatly, straighten the tool shed
  • Wash the three work tables
  • Fill the bird feeders from the aluminum bucket in the shed
  • Weed, plant and prune - with PTO maintenance supervisors only!

IMG_4665What Kids Can Do Just For Fun

  • Explore freely on garden paths!
  • Find bugs, butterflies, birds, and worms
  • Sketch, watercolor, and other art
  • Identify prairie and woodland flowers with books
  • Read, chat, and just relax
  • Special craft activities described on laminated sheets
  • Dig with hand shovels in the designated dig tree stump area
  • “Paint” on paper with Pokeweed berries in the Fall (in one designated area)

IMG_4884What Kids Can’t Do

  • Run, shout, “hide and seek” or other forms of energetic physical activity!
  • Tread on plants (yikes!) by walking off the paths
  • Walk close to classroom windows
  • Use magnifiers to try to start a fire!
  • Spray each other with the hose
  • Harm any plant or animal - including bugs and insects
  • Weed, plant or prune without a PTO maintenance supervisor present
  • Catch bees
  • Move wood branches and stumps to other locations
  • Roll or jump on stumps
  • Eat any berries, leaves, or roots (few plants are poisonous in large quantities)
  • Make and fly paper airplanes
  • Build a structure, e.g. a fort or habitat
  • Climb up on tables or chairs