No Backyard? No Problem! 11 Ways To Get Your Kid's Outside Even If You Don't Have A Backyard

Are you wondering how to get outdoors with your kid's if you don't have a big backyard? Do you have limited outdoor space? That's OK! Any time spent outdoors is time well spent! It ALL counts, no matter what type of outdoor space you have. Here's my list of 11 ways to get the kids outside even if you don't have a backyard.

1. Go for a walk. This is probably the easiest way to get outdoors with kids! No matter where you live or what type of outdoor space you have at home, you can almost always go for a walk. Take a collection bag or bucket along for your walk and collect nature items (or even liter) along the way! When you get home have fun discovering the items you've collected. Kids can sort, count, or classify the items for added fun & learning. You can also use tape to create sticky bracelets for kid's to wear on their walk and stick their found treasures to.

2. Visit a local park. Public parks and spaces are a great resource for families with limited space! They are free and readily available. Walk, ride, play, climb, explore, or fly a kite! These are just a few of the endless possibilities of fun to be had at the park.

3. Read a book outside. This one is pretty self explanatory, but honestly, of course reading a book outside is more fun then reading a book inside, right?

4. Color or paint outside. Any coloring or painting will do! But you can also encourage kids to paint what they see. The landscape, buildings, trees, sky, or anything they find interesting.

5. Use sidewalk chalk outside. It's washable so it can be used on almost any hard surface even with limited space. Sidewalk chalk is so fun for kids. Explore colors, shapes, writing skills, and more! One of my kid's favorite chalk activities is using tape to create shapes on the driveway, filling them in with chalk, & removing the tape to see what they've created.

6. Go for a picnic or have a picnic at home on your balcony or any outdoor space available to you.

7. Plant a container garden of flowers, vegetables, or herbs for your balcony or outdoor space. This one is great because after the initial planting, you'll now have an excuse to keep going outside in order to maintain it. Kids will really enjoy taking care of their plants and watching them grow!

8. Create your own water, sand, or dirt table using a plastic bin or bowl and play outside using water toys, shovels, cups, sponges, or collected natural materials.

9. Create a sensory tray with natural materials to explore outdoors using any container you have on hand. Use items you've recently collected like leaves, acorns, pine cones, sea shells, or more! Kids can use scissors to cut, a magnifying glass to inspect, rulers to measure, and smaller containers to sort & count!

10. Build roads! Use tape or sticks to build "roads" on the driveway, sidewalk, balcony or patio. Let kids take their cars or trucks outside to drive & play on their newly created roads. Take it one step further by adding stop signs, houses, and more!

11. Paint with water! Painting with water is fun for kids and great for parents (there's literally no mess to clean up or wash off)! Give kid's a container of water and a handful of paintbrushes or sponges and watch the magic unfold!

Remember, almost anything you can do indoors can be done outside! You don't need to have your own personal playground, fancy mud kitchen, or 10 acre farm, although if you do we all might be slightly envious! Any outdoor space will do; big or small, private or public, grassy or concrete. The ultimate goal is to spend time outdoors, in whatever your "wild" may be!