Spring Has Sprung! Let’s Have Some Fun!

The snow is melting, the sun is rising earlier and the tulips are poking through. It is finally spring and a great time to get outside to promote language, play, and an enjoyment of nature. Read on to learn more about promoting communication skills in the sun ☀️(or rain 🌧).

Fresh Air Is Amazing

We live in Boston and the winter can be fun with white snow, sledding, and hot cocoa. It can also be dark and gloomy with the sun setting at 4:30. My kids, and maybe yours as well, have played inside, made lots crafty creations (and messes), and have caught more than enough viruses to last a lifetime this winter. Now that it is spring, it's time to get outside after daycare or school and explore on the weekends.

Outdoor play encourages children (and adults) to move around and connect to nature and their community.

I love this quote from Katie K. Lockwood, MD, MEd in a piece she did for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

“Outdoor play helps children grow socially, helping them to develop healthy ways of forming friendships, responding to physical interaction, and using their imaginations to entertain each other,” says Dr. Lockwood. “It helps them solve problems, build relationships within their peer group and gain a respect for nature.”

Spring Activities

Outdoor play doesn’t need to be expensive or complicated. And, best of all, no screens or batteries are required! 🙌🏼

I put together a list of activities that I’ve done with my own kids and that I have implemented as a speech therapist. These spring favorites promote language, developmental play, and foster a child’s love of nature. I am a big fan of low-prep and easy to implement activities so these will not take a ton of preparation (you’re welcome).

Note: All activities need to be done with adult supervision :)

Puddle Hunting and Jumping

The first idea is as simple as it sounds. Go outside in a safe space and find some puddles to jump in. This can be done in rain, after a spring shower, or with the assistance of a garden hose. This will get wet and sometimes muddy but is a great sensory activity.

Puddle hunting and puddle jumping make for a great paired activity. Going on a walk to find the perfect puddle can be just as much fun as jumping in a big puddle. Walking and jumping are great gross motor activities and the searching promotes observational skills. Gross motor activities are ones that require use of bigger muscles to move and stabilize.

Goal-oriented tasks, such as looking for a cool puddle, help to develop attention and planning skills. It also helps children learn to wait and have patience for something they want. Children have a flexible goal that may take a few minutes or it could take an hour depending on your child’s age and interest. Some children will get distracted and explore their surroundings. That’s okay and it’s all part of the fun!

Materials needed: The great outdoors, a puddle, appropriate shoes, patience

Fun vocabulary to target:
Verbs — jump, splash, hop, leap, squat, look, find, search, run, walk
Prepositions — in, over, next to, behind, near, far
Adjectives — wet, dry, deep, shallow, big, small, tiny, shiney, muddy, clean

My daughter and son out on a puddle hunt complete with rain/snow boots and spring jackets. My son opted for some goggles he found in a science kit which I think really completes the look. :)

Flower Peeping and Picking

My kids really enjoyed looking for and at flowers. Many towns and cities will have a park or path with spring flowers for the community to look at and enjoy. Planning a visit to a park or arboredium is a great spring activity.

My kiddos enjoyed picking dandelions and buttercups from a local park. Finding flowers is a great sensory experience. Children can learn how to walk carefully around flowers so as not to break them which promotes proprioception- knowing where our body is in the space we are in. Children can smell the different flowers and pick a favorite scent and a favorite color.

Picking flowers is also a great fine motor activity. Fine motor activities are those that require the smaller muscles in the fingers and hands to make coordinated movements. These movements are important later on in school for drawing, writing, and typing.

Materials needed: a safe location with flowers

Fun vocabulary to target:
Verbs — find, touch, look, see, smell, stand, squat, pull, pick
Prepositions — on, under, next to, over, behind, beside, near, far
Adjectives — red, orange, green (really any color), bright, tall, short, long, smooth, fuzzy, bumpy, sticky, pretty

My children, 5 and 3 in this picture, enjoyed walking around the Public Garden in Boston. We saw so many brightly colored flowers and even a frog or two. In this picture, my son picked a flower for me that he thought I would like.

Picnic with Books and Snacks

I cannot exaggerate how much fun and how novel putting a sheet or blanket down on the grass is for snack time or reading. My own kiddos love a picnic and I will often go outside on a blanket with my clients as part of their speech therapy. Going outside on a blanket breathes new life into activities that have become boring over the winter inside.

Reading and playing outside is an entirely different sensory experience. Older toddlers and children can to help plan the activity by picking out a sheet or blanket to lay down and which books, toys, or snacks they would like to bring along and how it will all be carried. This helps young children to develop executive functioning skills that are important for planning and organizing multi-step tasks. It also helps give children some age-appropriate choices of how they will spend the day.

Child-directed play is one of the best ways to plan any activity. By letting the child lead, you are encouraging them to tell you what they are interested in and what they would like to do. As a parent and a speech therapist I cannot encourage caregivers (and fellow speech therapists) to listen to what the child wants (or doesn’t want) to do. Their attention and overall interest will be greater than if you plan the entire experience for them.

Materials needed: a safe location to put out a blanket or sheet

Fun vocabulary to target:
Verbs — sit, lay down, eat, read, play, touch, bring, carry, hold, look
Prepositions — on, under, next to, over, behind, beside
Adjectives — delicious, yummy, quiet, loud, green, soft, bumpy, smooth, windy

My daughter, 10 month old in this picture, loved to put a blanket out in the backyard and eat her snack outside. Reading books on this blanket were also a favorite activity.

Summary

Spending time outside exploring is a great way to promote speech, language, fine motor, gross motor, cognition, sensory exploration, and overall development in children of all ages. Child-directed activities that incorporate nature are a great way to foster creativity and a life-long appreciation the outdoors and exploration.

I hope that you will try some of the activities I suggested and have fun exploring with your child. Just remember, all activities should be done with adult supervision. Some young children like to explore things by tasting them so make sure to watch that no bugs go into their mouth and that all children stay clear of poisonous plants.

I hope you enjoyed these fun ideas that let kids explore while promoting language and development!

TLC Speech Therapy is a speech pathology private practice, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, that specializes in feeding, swallowing, and communication skills in infants, children, teens, and adults.

For more information check out our website at tlcspeechtherapy.com or contact us at hello@tlcspeechtherapy.com

Disclaimer :)

As a speech therapist, I have extensive experience working with children and adults in all types of settings. The information in this article is meant to encourage children and their caregivers to explore the outdoors while promoting development. It is not meant as clinical advice. If you ever have any concerns, please consult with a physician.

Want to take a deeper dive?

Learn more and check out these resources:

‘Health Benefits and Tips | National Wildlife Federation

The Benefits of Outdoor Play: Why It Matters

What Are Fine Motor Skills? | Understood

Gross Motor Skills | Gross Motor Skills Development | Kid Sense