Anywhere Activities
by Theme

Night Life

Children are fascinated by the nocturnal world and the elusive animals that inhabit it. Do you know what kinds of nocturnal animals live in your neighborhood?

Animals Eat

Observing what animals eat and how they eat it is a way to help your child think about how an animal's behavior is related to its unique physical characteristics.

Bird Watching

How many birds can you count outside as you walk or sit for a few minutes at a park or in the woods?

Building a Rabbit Den

Provide some soft materials, like pillows and blankets, for your child to use to construct a rabbit's den.

Exploring Different Senses

By closing or covering our eyes, we are forced to rely on our other four senses. Here are some simple activities that you can do with your child to test this out.

Going on a Bug Walk

Go on a bug and spider walk with your child around your yard or neighborhood.

Hunting for Animal Homes

Go on a hunt with your child for animal homes. (This hunt will have a different flavor depending on whether you are walking in a rural or urban setting.)

Making Tracks

Get some tempera paint and a Styrofoam meat tray. Cut up some smooth brown paper grocery bags.

Move Like the Animals

Your child can learn that different animals move in different ways and that each animal has unique characteristics that allow it to move that way.

Night Life

Children are fascinated by the nocturnal world and the elusive animals that inhabit it.

Now and Then

Children love to hear about when they were born, how they have grown since they were babies, and how they are growing and learning more every day.

Observing Animal Differences

Start with a trip to a pet shop or animal shelter where you can see lots of dogs, cats, fish, or rabbits up close

Observing Animal Movements

Find an animal to watch with your child.

Observing Animals Indoor and Out

Invite your child to observe a wild animal or pet that you have access to.

Observing Small Creatures

Insects and other small creatures are generally easy to find and fun for children to observe.

Sculpting Animals

Children are typically drawn to animals and love to observe them using all their senses.

Searching for Animals

Sometimes, wild animals hide right in plain sight.

Watching Baby Animals

In the spring, if you have a chance, visit a farm, animal fair, or even a pet shop to observe baby animals.

Web Watch

Spider webs are fascinating and they provide a wonderful opportunity to support your child's skills of observation.

Categorizing Your World

Play a fun game of categories with your child.

Let’s Get Organized!

Collections of natural materials—with their wide range of colors, shapes, and sizes—offer many opportunities for counting, sorting, grouping, and categorizing.

Sorting Collections

Children are natural collectors. Sorting and categorizing a favorite collection is a great learning activity and a lot of fun.

Digging a Hole

In the springtime, find a protected corner in the yard, garden, or park and using a small shovel or spoon help your child dig a hole in the dirt.

House Hunting

Spring and summer are great times for a walk around the yard or at the park.

Inspecting Your Spot

With your child, mark off a small patch of grass or earth.

Making Homes for Creatures

After you've collected creatures in the activity Quack Quack (link), you could also make them some simple homes.

Exploring Colored Shadows

Are reflections ever colored? To find out, you and your child can do the following activity together.

Making Hand Shadows

Play with shadows using your hands and a bright light.

Making Shadow Puppets

Cut some different shapes from cardboard or any stiff paper.

Me and My Shadow

Outdoor play on a sunny day offers many opportunities for your child to explore shadow and light.

Mixing Colors

Provide white paper, red, yellow, and blue tempera paints, a small paintbrush, paper towels or rags, and a small cup of water for cleaning the brushes.

Playing with Mirrors

Small mirrors are ideal for exploring reflections since they can easily be stored in a backpack or purse, allowing you and your child to play anytime, anywhere.

Playing with Reflections

Play with your child in front of a mirror.

Tracing Shadows

Shadows, and how they change according to the movement of the sun, are complicated and fascinating topics. Have some fun with them.

Big Steps, Little Steps

On the sidewalk or driveway, use chalk to measure your foot and your child’s foot.

Keep the Change

Estimating is a really difficult math concept for very young children to grasp. It's a fun idea to play with though, and gets your child thinking about how much and how many.

Measuring Time

Time is a challenging concept for young children to understand.

Measuring with Steps

Exploring different ways of measuring distances, especially by using their own bodies, is fascinating for children.

Measuring Your Journey

There are lots of ways to measure distance and you can have fun with your child exploring them.

Perfect Portions

Snack time is a great time to introduce your child to the concept of parts and wholes, especially if you use citrus fruit that can easily be divided into sections.

Pouring Water

Collect clean recycled cups, bottles, and jugs of various sizes and shapes. Have your child use them in the bathtub for filling and pouring water.

Sharing Snacks

Sharing food is a wonderful way to introduce children to the concept of counting.

Tall, Taller, Tallest. Wide, Wider, Widest.

Talk about how much your child has grown since he or she was a baby.

Weight Watchers

Weight is a concept that can be explored easily as you and your child go about the routine tasks of the day.

Playing with Sounds

To play the game, take turns showing each other a card, and making the same number of sounds as there are dots on the card.

Set Me a Place!

Ordinary household routines offer many opportunities for your child to learn and practice number skills, and also feel important about being a helper.

Tasty Sharing

Turn snack time into a fun math activity!

What Happens Next?

You can support your child's sequencing skills and math vocabulary by playing some simple ordering games.

Branching Out

Comparing different types of trees and tree parts provides opportunities for supporting your child's emerging number skills and math vocabulary.

Exploring Your World

Explore a place in your neighborhood like the sidewalk, a playground, or the driveway.

Growing Seeds

Collect seeds inside, from fruits and vegetables you eat, and outside, from trees and flowers.

Growing Sunflowers

Plant some sunflower seeds with your child either outside in the ground or in large pots that can be moved outside.

Springing to Life

A spring day is a wondrous time for walking outside with your child. The world is alive with the sights, sounds, and smells of new life and plant growth.

Tree Detective

Your child may not believe that trees are living things. Lots of experiences with these plants will help them understand that they are!

Blowing Bubbles

Kids love blowing bubbles. Here are some ideas for how to transform your child's exploration into "science play."

Bubble Up!

If you don't want your child to blow into her chocolate milk, provide a cup of water and a straw as a special activity.

Changing over Time

Although spoiled food is something adults usually try to avoid, it can be an interesting phenomenon for children to observe!

Guessing that Smell

Try exploring objects with your child using the sense of smell alone.

If You Build it They Will Come

Your child can learn a lot about the characteristics of natural materials by manipulating and building with mixtures of sand, dirt, water, and other natural items he finds in the environment.

Looking Closely

Collect a variety of natural objects like leaves, rocks, and sticks (maybe objects you found on an adventure!) Look at them closely with your child.

Making Prints

Children are very curious about printing and the ability it gives them to make many identical images.

Mud Construction

Many young children are fascinated by mud, and playing with it is a great way to explore the characteristics of solids and liquids.

Observing Sticky Things

Sticky things are everywhere. You and your child can experience this for yourselves if you spend a week discussing every sticky thing you encounter.

Playing Dress-Up

Collect a variety of grown-up clothes and invite your child to dress up.

Playing With Dry Mud

After you and your child have had a chance to explore mud in Peep Deep in the Big Muddy, you can do this follow-up activity.

Playing with Wet Mud

Remember how much fun you had as a child playing with mud? Mud is a fascinating material for children to work with.

Reusing Trash

Make a collection of old costume jewelry, buttons, bottle caps, soda cans, pens that have run out of ink, or just about any material that is usually considered trash.

Roller Ball

The next time your child is playing with a ball, notice with him how it can bounce and roll.

Sudsy Study

Bath time is a great time for playing with soap and exploring its physical properties.

Bead Patterns

Make a necklace with your child using different colored beads and string.

Body Patterns

Patterns are everywhere in the natural world.

Discovering Shapes

A patch of sand is a great place for you and your child to pretend you are archeologists exploring in the desert.

Parts and Wholes

You can help your child explore the idea of whole and parts of a whole whenever you cut or break up something into pieces.

Shapeshifters

Snacktimes and mealtimes are great times to explore how shapes fit together.

Balancing on a Seesaw

Seesaws offer a great incentive for children to explore the idea of balance since the end result means a fun ride!

Examining Gadgets

For a really different field trip, try a trip to a hardware store. Explore gadgets like hinges, springs, wheels, knobs, and locks and talk about them.

Drawing a Map

Try making a map with your child of the outside of your house or apartment building. It may be a bird's eye view map or, more likely, a map that shows pictures of different things.

Making Things Bigger

Exploring the world with a magnifying glass is exciting for children because everything looks so much bigger, making things you couldn't see before visible.

Bird Listening

Listen for the sounds birds make as you watch and listen for them outside.

Hunting for Sounds

Go on a sound hunt with your child. When you hear a sound, but cannot see the source, try to guess what's making the sound. Then track the sound down. Were you right?

Listening to Echoes

Many times when you yell, you don't hear an echo, but the sound of your voice can change.

Listening to Night Sounds

Bedtime is a wonderful opportunity for you and your child to listen for nighttime sounds together.

Playing a Tube Tune

Along with your child, try making different sounds and noises with different types of tubes using your mouths.

Playing Marco Polo

"Marco Polo" is a great sound game to play with a group of children, or a mixture of children and adults.

Whisper It!

Play a whispering game with your child and experiment with what a different way this is to communicate!

All Kinds of Doors

Noticing different parts of buildings, like doors, can be an interesting exploration for children.

Building a Bridge

When out and about, look for different kinds of bridges. Keep a sharp eye out: there may be some you travel over every day without knowing it.

Building a Castle

Since young children love to stop at construction sites, the next time you have the chance, stop and observe a construction site and watch the progress of a new building being made.

Little Builders

Young children love to build. They can learn a lot about structure and design by building with many different kinds of materials.

Gazing at the Stars

Take a night walk with your child and look at the sky.

Observing the Day Moon

Observing the moon is habit forming!

Observing the Night Moon

Take time to observe the moon with your child.

Twinkle Twinkle

Gazing at the night sky is such a fun and relaxing thing to do and makes for a nice quiet talking time with your child.

Dropping Objects

Gather a variety of items of different shapes, weights, and materials, like a feather, a piece of paper, a small rock, an eraser, or a ball.

Flipping an Eraser

Collect a ruler, a small block or rock to lean it on, and something lightweight, like an eraser.

Floating Balloons

Children love balloons. Helium balloons are especially fascinating because of their unique "floating" qualities.

Flying Paper Airplanes

Make paper airplanes with your child using a tried and true family recipe, or some novel ones you and your child create.

High Rollers

Playing with rolling marbles offers opportunities for children to learn about motion, and the different things that affect it.

Making Parachutes

Kids love playing with parachutes.

Rolling Down a Ramp

Build a simple ramp with your child using a flat piece of wood, or some other flat item that you may have around the house, like a piece of cardboard or a baking sheet.

Rolling Down a Tube Track

Use multiple lengths of PVC tubing (if available), or wrapping paper or paper towel tubes collected over a period of time, to create a racetrack for a small ball.

Sliding Objects

Sledding season provides children with a wonderful, natural way to learn about sliding and friction.

Building a Pond

After you and your child have successfully built one dam, invite your child to build a second one, using the flow of water from the first dam.

Flowing with the Current

Gently place some objects that float into the water and notice how the objects move across the top of the water.

Frozen Fruit

With small paper cups and craft sticks you can make your own fruity water Popsicles.

Guessing What Floats

Choose a variety of familiar objects from inside and outside the house and, with your preschooler, carefully place them in the bathtub one by one.

Making a Dam

A natural source of running water, like a small stream, offers you and your child endless opportunities to explore and learn.

Making Bathtub Boats

If possible, talk with your child about other activities with sinking and floating and what items are "floaters."

Melting Ice Cubes

Have a melting contest using a tray of ice cubes.

Observing Tides

A great way to explore the movement of water with kids is to take a trip to the seashore.

Painting with Water

When outside, pour water in patches on different types of ground: dirt, sand, grass, concrete.

Sinking What Floats

There are lots of ways for you and your child to explore sinking and floating. One way is by trying to sink things that normally float.

Where Did the Water Go?

Evaporation is a complex concept, but you can help your child notice evidence of evaporation and condensation of water as they occur in your daily routines.

Blowing in the Wind

Talk about the wind with your child and explore what it does.

Floating in the Wind

The next time you are out and about on a windy day, notice how the wind lifts and moves some things but not other things.

Surveying the Storm

What do you notice when you walk outside after a storm?