Oh beautiful sunshine and warm days—this mama has missed you! Time to open those doors and windows and listen to the sweet sounds of birds singing and children playing. What’s that you say? Your kids tell you there’s nothing to do? There’s plenty to do outside with BAM! Tape masking tape. Read on, because I’ve got oodles of ideas to get kids outside playing, learning and moving!

Our friends at everydaybabyplay love taking BAM! Tape outdoors!

Get Kids Moving

Kids love to move. Actually, they need to move! Create fun games, for running, jumping and bouncing with BAM! Tape masking tape. Use colored masking tape to outline a hopscotch court on the sidewalk or driveway. Yes, BAM! Tape sticks to concrete! You can even use the masking tape to make individualized markers for each player. simply wrap the tape around small rocks or pinecones. Kids will love making their own markers, and designing their own hopscotch court!

Create an inviting Hopscotch court with colorful BAM! Tape masking tape

Another fun game to get kids moving is a combination of Twister and Simon Says. Use BAM! Tape to outline shapes on the ground. Use different colors and make the shapes big enough to stand in. Essentially, you are making an outdoor twister board with triangles, squares and circles of various colors. Now have one person be Simon. Simon can tell the players to do things like “Jump in a blue square” or “Skip to a red triangle.” Of course, Simon will need to be tricky to get the players out! 

If you have kids a little older, then use BAM! Tape to outline a Four Square court. You literally just make a giant square and divide it into 4 smaller squares. This is a fun game for kids and adults. Not only will you get kids outside, but you might get some teenagers out there too. My crew had me outside for hours playing this game. Yes, I can be a little competitive!

Play an active game of Four Square

Outside STEM

Some times, when we want to get kids outside, we need to offer activities with less body movement and more brain movement. For example, they may be more interested in building versus climbing. BAM! Tape works great for outdoor STEM activities. The beauty of outdoor STEM is that you can go big, literally the sky is the limit! Well, we won’t go quite that big, but you get the idea.

Engineering STEM

One of my favorite STEM activities is a Bridge Building Challenge. We create a river by outlining the banks of the river with blue tape. The challenge is to build a bridge that spans the river. We use craft sticks and BAM! Tape masking tape. That’s it. I usually add some criteria to the challenge: bridges must come off the ground at least 1 inch, your bridge must be able to support at least 10 small toy cars, you are limited to 75 craft sticks and one roll of masking tape. This STEM activity really engages kids as well as adults.

Science STEM

If you have a kiddo who leans more toward the Science side of STEM, then try a Nature Bracelet, or even better, a Biome Bracelet! These bracelets are what I like to call “simply engaging.” Here’s the simple part: Make the bracelet by wrapping a piece of tape around your wrist with the sticky side out. Here’s the engaging part: Go out on a nature walk and collect small samples from nature. For example, this can be rocks, seeds, flowers, grasses, bark and even dead bugs. Stick each sample to your bracelet. When the walk is over, examine the contents of the bracelet. What does your bracelet tell you about the location of your walk? Were you on the desert, in a forest or on the beach? What time of year is it? Would you find something different if the location or time of year were different?

We have an alternative version of the Nature Bracelet the we like to call a Nature Crown. For the crown, we gather items in a bucket and then stick them to a piece of tape. Then we lay another piece of tape over the top, wrap the band around our head and secure with one more piece of tape. Beautiful! Both the Nature Crown and the Nature Bracelet are perfect activities for a birthday party or family outing and a great way to get kids outside.  

Let Them Play

One of the best things for kids to do outdoors is to simply play. Because obviously, kids just want to have fun! With a little bit of BAM! Tape, you can add to their fun and keep them engaged and learning from their play.

Our friend preschoolmama made this fun obstacle course!

Don’t be afraid to get in on the fun! After all, we can learn a lot by watching kids play, but we learn even more when we join them.

How do you encourage outdoor play with your kids? Tell us in the comments; we would love to hear your ideas.