Science Outdoor learning activities for Kids!

If you’re homeschooling or looking for fun science activities for weekends or school holidays – I’m sharing some of the best Science outdoor learning ideas and experiments you can do with kids in the garden or at a park. During lockdown homeschooling we had lots of fun with a socially distanced science field trip with friends inour local park – these were our ideas for inspiration!

Resources to help teach Science at home

As Orla (aged 6) had been learning about Minibeasts (see her leaf anatomy of insects) we decided to do a minibeast bug hunt around the garden and used our Discovery Acorns to collect bugs, leaves and moss and anything else we wanted to study further. These Discovery Acorns are really useful for homeschooling – particularly in the garden! We’ve used them for number treasure hunts – they come with a Multilingual Activity guide full of learning ideas and each acorn has a woodland animal’s silhouette on its base to incorporate matching activities. If you want an easy way to catch bugs and minibeasts to study with the acorns, try making a Pitfall Trap. And if you’re lucky enough to catch any slugs on snails – here’s a whole unit to study all about snails. You could even try making your own bug house to attract more bugs!

National Geographic Science Kits

A perfect way for budding scientists to learn about the earth – is through these kid friendly science kits from National Geographic. These are great for Earth Day activities! In their Earth Science Kit you’ll find everything you need to conduct 15 experiments that will teach kids about rocks and minerals, volcanoes, vortexes and tornadoes, and more. With fun hands-on experiments like digging up mineral specimens, growing a real crystal, building and erupting your own volcano, and creating vortexes with different fluids, it prompts curiosity about how our Earth works!  Our kids loved digging for gold and learning about how fossils were formed. It’s perfect for home learning or a fun weekend activity because each set includes 10 real mineral specimens and a full-colour experiment guide. Our daughter loved the stone collecting case it comes with to keep her ‘Earth jewels safe’!

National Geographic have a whole range of Science Kits – see the range at Symths and Disney Store to find the best one for your kids!

Outdoor Learning using a microscope

Once we’d collected a wide range of insects in our bug club (including one very large spider, I had to be super brave in front of the kids for this one!) We used our Geosafari Junior Microscope to examine them closer. It has extra-large eyepieces so you don’t need to close one eye and it’s really easy for little ones to magnify their objects – my three year old instinctively knew how to use it. It comes with a light with easy push-button action for up-close discovery. Once we had examined everything, the kids chose one thing to draw in close up! We decided that our very large spider wasn’t going to like the microscope so we used a Bug Viewer to inspect his hairy legs instead! If you’re off out on a bug hunt in a local park – the Geosafari mighty magnifier which is brilliant for investigating bushes and hunting for minibeasts. They’re adjustable so they fit any child ages 3-12 and children are hands free meaning they can explore and adventure at the same time!

Using a microscope to study rocks and minerals is a great way to teach kids about the natural world, you can use vinegar and limestone test to test the rocks hardness and examine the structure under a microscope or with the Mighty Magnifier!

Science activities using a telescope

We reviewed the Learning Resources Geosafari vega 360 telescope and absolutely loved it! If you’re looking for a first-time telescope for hands-on learners, this geosafari telescope will put your child in full control as they explore the night sky and all of its wonders. It’s a lightweight telescope – perfect for taking camping and out for adventures! The all-glass optics and magnification ranges from 20x to 80x which gives clear, bright views of the Moon and the planets in our Solar System.

• There are some brilliant Science Outdoor Activities that you can do with a telescope. The most obvious is to stay up late and search the sky for the constellations and planets.
• Find the constellations – Let your kids stay up late for a special adventure – choose some constellations to find. We used our Starfinder  book and our Constellation Wheel for inspiration, but you can use any space resources you have on hand. The Big Dipper and the Little Dipper are the easiest stars to find. Check out Crash Course for Kids to learn more about the constellations and how to find them.
• Observe the Moon – Does the Moon always look the same? Does it’s surface look different at different times? Look at the moon through a telescope at different times of the day and explore these questions by making drawings of the moon at different times.
• Examine the effects of light pollution by searching the skies at home (with the light on) and then again in a large field or park to see the effects of a darker sky.
• Use your telescope to observe animals when out and about walking. Go to a lake and see what you can spot on the other side. Can you look up into a tree to spot the birds or a nest?

*NB: Parental supervision is suggested for small children observing with telescopes. To avoid serious eye injuries and to prevent fires, NEVER allow children to point any telescope or binoculars at the sun.*

For some more amazing Science learning that you can do with a telescope – check out these NASA endorsed resources just in case your son also wanted to attempt to spend time spotting number plates from their front room like my son did with his telescope!

More Outdoor Learning Science Ideas you can do in your Garden

• Try using your STEM skills to make a Bottle Rocket or Balloon Rockets
• Kids will be amazed by this leak proof bag outdoor science experiment
• For a brilliant way to get your kids to like using suncream and to understand it’s importance – try this outdoor learning experiment.
• For an amazing way to teach your kids about evaporation, try this simple but very effective puddle study – a perfect rainy day Science activity.
• Learn about gravity with this create a parachute for a toy activity.
• Make a wormery and find out what worms do underground! Here’s an easy idea for a simple wormery made from a plastic bottle.
• If we ever get a very hot day in the UK (I mean it does happen sometimes) I can’t wait to try out this DIY Solar Oven with the Kids!
• You can learn about force by exploding a pumpkin! This would be a great experiment to try after having some messy potion mixing with pumpkins!
• And if you’re kids like mixing mud – try our Mud Explosion Nature Experiment for kids!

More Outdoor Learning Science activities for kids to do at home

Crystal Making for Kids!

Try making these amazing crystals you can make at home! Hope you’ve found some interesting outdoor learning science activities you can try in your garden or in a park, what have you been learning to teach Science?

*This Post contains Affiliate Links which means I may make a small commission if you click on the links. It doesn’t cost you any more though and I only recommend products I genuinely love! All thoughts, words and photos are completely my own unless stated*

NB: Some of these products were gifted for review but all opinions are my own (or my kids!).

‘This post has been included in Twinkl’s End of Terms Activities blog.’