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Spring Outdoor Activities for Kids

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spring outdoor activities for kids

I hope if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere that it’s getting warm enough where you live to add in some outdoor activities with the kids. It’s easy to do a lot of learning outside when the weather is nice; my daughter has a fond memory of doing long division in sidewalk chalk at her school. But if you need some more specific ideas, here are some fun and educational spring outdoor activities for kids to do at home or at school.

Gather some glass bottles, rocks and other natural materials to make a garden xylophone with these instructions from The Moments at Home. This looks so fun, and you can use this idea to make musical instruments with other objects you find around the home/classroom/playground too. 

This post from Child’s Play ABC has a lot of great outdoor learning ideas for kids, but the one I wanted to highlight is going on a rainbow scavenger hunt. Kids can collect things of different colors and see if they can make a rainbow (or just sort things by color). Check out more ideas for scavenger hunts.

Another good activity to do with things you collect from outdoors is making natural paint brushes. Get the instructions from Messy Little Monster, and of course you can test them out by painting outside, too.

Speaking of art, have you ever made paint from dandelions? (I dyed yarn with dandelions once, and it was a lot of fun.) Learn how from Little Cooks Reading Books, and then you can use your natural paintbrushes along with natural paint!

You can also paint with mud, like in this post from There’s Just One Mommy. Or make an outdoor, garden themed sensory bin with real dirt like this one from Mess for Less.

Or kids can gather materials to help them build their own nests as they learn about how birds and other animals build nests. The Crazy Outdoor Mama has a printable and post that will help.

What activities do you love to do with kids when it’s nice outside?

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Learn about Chile for Kids

I don’t really know why, but Chile was my favorite country when I was younger. Something about the shape, or the name, or the remoteness of it was really interesting to me. Let’s learn all about Chile.

Chile Basics

  • Chile is officially the Republic of Chile, and it is a long, skinny country on the west coast of South America, bordered by Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. It’s the southern-most country in the world and the closest to Antarctica.
  • The country controls several islands, including Easter Island, and including the islands the country is about 291,933 square miles, or 765,102 square kilometers. It also claims 480,000 square miles/1.25 million square kilometers of Antarctica.
  • It is 2,670 miles.more than 4,300 kilometers long north to south, but at is widest point east to west is only 217 miles/350 km across. Because of its size it has many geographic regions and includes desert, volcanoes, a central valley good for agriculture, forests and more. It is considered part of the Pacific ring of fire because of the presence of volcanoes and the tectonic plates that created the mountains of South America.
  • The capital and largest city is Santiago, and the national language is Spanish. Parts of the country were colonized by the Spanish in the 16th century, and they declared independence in 1818.
  • The population is around 17.5 million.
  • Chile had a lot of unrest from the 1960s through the 1980s, with a coup followed by a military dictatorship. The country is now a presidential republic and is considered one of the most economically and socially stable countries in South America.
  • It’s not really known where the name Chile comes from. It could be the sound of a bird from from a word from one of various native people that could mean something like the ends of the earth, cold, snow or the deepest part of the earth.
  • The Mapuche were early settlers in the area now known as Chile, and the Inca briefly ruled part of northern Chile but faced great resistance from the Mapuche.

Chile National Symbols

The flag of Chile features a red band across the lower half, with the top half being about two thirds white and one third blue, with a five-pointed white star in the center of the blue square. The star is said to represent Venus, considered a guide by the indigenous Mapuches. Others say it represents the independent nation. Blue represents the Pacific Ocean, white is for the snow-capped Andes and the red recognizes the blood spilled to gain independence. The flag was adopted in 1817.

The national anthem is sometimes called the National Song, and other times referred to by its first line, “Puro, Chile, es tu cielo azulado,” or “How pure, Chile, is your blue sky.” It was adopted in 1828.

The Andean condor is a national symbol of Chile. It is one of the largest flying birds in the world and has the longest wingspan of any bird. Along with the condor, the south Andean deer is featured on the country’s coat of arms. This critically endangered species of deer lives in Chile and Argentina and tends to stick to difficult habitats like periglacial grasslands and bluffs.

The lapageria or Chilean bellflower is the national flower. It’s a climbing plant that grows in the rainforest.

Huaso, the Chilean cowboy, are considered a national symbol because of their importance in folklore.

Chile Learning Activities for Kids

Learn about Chilean rodeo, an important national sport. Here’s an animated overview of the sport, and a video showing how its done.

While they aren’t national symbols, there are llama and the related guanaco in Chile if you want to learn about them and what the difference is.

Find resources for teaching kids about Chile at Teachers Pay Teachers.

Learn about Pablo Neruda, a famous poet and politician from Chile. The children’s book Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People is a great place to start. Isabel Allende is another famous writer from Chile.

Explore Easter Island and make an Easter Island craft with this tutorial from Surviving a Teacher’s Salary.

Try some Chilean food like ensalada Chilena (this one is from Kid World Citizen) or cazuela de pollo (Chilean Food and Garden).