8 Types of Outdoor Learning Activities for an 18-Month-Old

Outdoor learning activities help develop all domains of learning. Playing outside allows toddlers to explore the natural world through hands-on play.

Outdoor play also allows for risk-taking play, an essential piece of toddler development. Outdoor learning stimulates all the senses, including the proprioceptive and vestibular senses.

Already feel like you know about toddler sensory development? Go straight to the list of Outdoor Learning Activities for 18-Month-Olds.

What are Outdoor Learning Activities?

Outdoor learning activities usually fall into gross motor play or nature play but can include sensory and creative play.

Outdoor learning is a piece of a holistic approach to toddler learning and development. Outdoor learning activities can easily promote each developmental domain, including social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development.

What are the Benefits of Outdoor Learning Activities for 18-Month-Olds?

There are multiple benefits to outdoor learning activities for 18-month-olds (and children of any age).

Some benefits include:

• Developing gross motor skills, including balance and coordination
• Stimulating the senses, including the vestibular and proprioceptive senses
• Promoting creativity and imagination
• Encouraging exploration of the environment around them
• Developing language and social skills while playing with others

Outdoor learning activities also boost a child’s physical and mental health.

Outdoor learning activities are open-ended and stimulating, which helps toddlers connect with nature and fosters early interest in environmentalism.

What Should I be Teaching an 18-Month-Old?

18-month-olds should be learning about the world around them. They should be moving, exploring, and developing through hands-on, child-led play. Learn more about stages of play theories.

As a caregiver, your role in your child’s learning is connecting them to the world around them in developmentally appropriate ways.

If you have concerns about your toddler’s development, you can:

• Talk to your child’s pediatrician
• Use the CDC Milestone Tracker App or PDFs
• Reach out to your local early intervention agency for an evaluation

How do I Teach my Toddler about Nature?

In early childhood education, nature refers to anything in the physical world, including plants, animals, the landscape, or naturally-occurring materials.

Nature play (indoors and especially outdoors) is a great learning opportunity for toddlers. Toddlers connect with nature through outdoor learning activities. These are opportunities to experience the outdoors in a hands-on, sensory-stimulating way.

Young children also learn to love nature when caregivers instill an appreciation of the outdoors early. Caregivers should prioritize time outside and model how to connect with nature. Your toddler will observe and assume your attitude towards nature and time outdoors.

List of Outdoor Learning Activities for 18-Month-Olds

#1 Scavenger Hunts

Scavenger hunts are a classic way to move and explore. For 18-month-olds, a scavenger hunt needs to be less about the search and more about making a discovery. Here are some hands-on scavenger hunt ideas.

1. Texture – Seek out different textures and take time to touch them. Think about rough tree bark, fluffy dandelions, sharp rocks, pointy pine needles, goopy mud, or wet sand.
2. Colors – Search for an item of every color or see how many things you can find that are the same color. Take time to touch, smell, or listen to what you find.
3. Sounds – Search for different sounds, even better if you can make the sounds yourself. Ideas for sounds could be rocks splashing, bird songs, buzzing bugs, crunching gravel, scratching sticks, or blowing wind.

Skills Developed: Language skills, gross and fine motor skills, sensory stimulation

Get more Creative Scavenger Hunt Ideas and Free Quick-Download PDFs.

#2 Painting Trees

Toddlers use a whole different set of muscles when they can paint on surfaces besides flat paper on tables.

Out of respect for the trees and nature, please use natural, non-toxic paints for this activity. Or skip the paint altogether and dip paintbrushes into water.

1. Paint on logs, branches, pinecones, or pieces of tree bark.
2. Paint directly on trees. Encourage your toddler to reach up high and down low to paint.
3. Use painter’s tape to hang large sheets of paper on trees. The bark creates exciting textures in their artwork.

Skills Developed: Sensory stimulation, gross and fine motor skills, creative skills

#3 Water and Sidewalk Chalk Art

Outdoor learning activity #3 involves many different ways to use sidewalk chalk. I love adding water to any sidewalk chalk activity because the chalk colors are more vibrant, and the water adds a richer sensory experience. Like painting on trees, sidewalk chalk encourages toddlers to use their muscles and creative skills in new ways.

1. Use sidewalk chalk on wet surfaces. You can go out after a rain (or during a rainshower) or wet down the sidewalks before drawing.
2. Offer your toddler a spray bottle to use while they draw with chalk.
3. Dip chalk into a small pan of water before drawing.
4. Create a paint out of sidewalk chalk. Save the last tiny bits of chalk sticks, crush them into a powder, and whisk with water.

Skills Developed: Cognitive skills, creative skills, gross and fine motor skills, sensory stimulation

#4 Exploring with Balls

1. The classic kicking, throwing, bouncing, or catching balls. At 18 months, toddlers learn to catch large balls against their bodies with both arms.
2. Rolling balls down (and up) slides.
3. Chase and Steal. Toddlers love a giggly, goofy game of chase. The game is even more fun when you can take turns stealing the ball back and forth. Just keep an eye on their expressions because toddlers’ feelings can get hurt if they are not consenting participants. 

Skills Developed: Gross motor skills, social skills, cognitive skills

#4 Push, Pull, & Drag

Toddlers enjoy feeling strong when they move large or heavy objects. They get the benefits of physical activity and feel proud of accomplishing something. This activity also targets the proprioceptive sensory system. 

You can simply set these items out as invitations to play. Another option is to create obstacles for your child to move around or draw chalk lines for them to follow. Or you can actively encourage children to transfer stuffed animals, toys, pinecones, or sticks using one of the following methods.

1. Wagons
2. Wheelbarrows
3. Push Toys
4. Branches
5. Buckets

Skills Developed: Gross motor skills, cognitive skills, emotional development, sensory stimulation 

#5 Painting with Water

Water play is so nice, I’ve added it twice. Or actually three times? Depending on which activities you do, you can target various developmental skills.

1. Painting on Ice – fill a tray or bin with ice cubes and invite your toddler to paint.
2. Painting on Snow – self-explanatory, I think. If you check stores during wintertime, you can buy paint sticks for Snow. You can also put water with food coloring into squeeze bottles or spray bottles to paint the Snow.
3. Painting with Paint Rollers and Paintbrushes – put water into pails and paint trays (instead of paint). Use brushes and rollers to paint the sidewalks and walls with water.

Skills Developed: Cognitive learning, creative play, physical skills

#6 Take Books Outdoors

I stand by the idea. Reading outside is a pretty straightforward outdoor learning activity. You ake a beloved indoor activity for 18-month-olds and bring it outside. Toddlers get the benefits of both reading and nature all at once.

Skills Developed: Language skills, literacy skills, cognitive skills

#7 Spraying Water

Toddlers love water play: the more splashing and spilling they can do, the better. You can do a lovely pouring station, pull out a kiddie pool, or hook up a sprinkler. However, I wanted to share some other options for exploring water (aka making a giant soaking mess).

1. Spray Bottles
2. Sponges
3. Pump Bottles (empty soap or lotion bottles)
4. Squeeze Bottles (empty shampoo or body wash)
5. Bulb Basters

Skills Developed: Gross and fine motor, sensory stimulation

#8 Sensory Table Activities

Usually, sensory tables or water tables are filled with, you got it, water and sand. Sensory play gives toddlers an immersive opportunity to develop physical and cognitive skills while stimulating the senses.

You can purchase a water table or easily create a sensory bin with a plastic tote box with a lid. I prefer a bin because it can sit on the floor or quickly go with me outdoors.

Nature-based sensory table activity ideas:

• Pinecones
• Leaves
• Flowers – dissect the parts of the flower
• Snow
• Pesticide-Free Soil
• Bird Seed
• Wet Sand
• Dry beans
• Corn Kernels
• Pasta – dry or cooked
• Rice
• Oats

You should closely supervise children during these experiences. 

Skills Developed: Honestly, sensory play has it all. 10/10 recommend.

Safety During Outdoor Learning Activities

• Always consider what is safe and appropriate for your child.
• Ensure all materials are safe for children to handle, such as paints without harmful chemicals and sharp tools are safe.
• Learn how to create reasonable boundaries for risk-taking play.