If you can get to a baseball diamond at a park or school somewhere nearby when it is not being used, it can turn into a really fun chance to do some learning.
When the days turn nice out, it is difficult for us to hunker down over textbooks inside, so we find ways to get out of the house. Plus, tactile learning is often helpful and fun.
A good example of this is hitting the baseball diamond. All you need is some clothes that you don't mind getting dirty, some long and short sticks, and a few ideas.
Writing in the sand is something the kids enjoy (actually, I think it is pretty fun too) and if they get restless, you can just send them on a run around the bases. Even toddlers will enjoy and be kept busy by writing in the sand while you practice with the older kids.
Here are some ideas for preschool and elementary age groups:
preschool :
- write out shapes, numbers, or letters in the sand. Say them and see if your child can trace or draw their own.
- practice teaching your kids to count using tally marks in the sand - either let them practice drawing the straight lines as you count or let them do the crosswise swipe with a flourish to complete each 5.
- draw dots and see if your child can connect them
- draw long straight lines for jumping over and trails to follow and "balance on"
- teach them to draw their name
elementary:
- kids can do any kind of written subject practice - math, handwriting, spelling, etc... in the sand.
- simple diagrams work well in the sand too - solar system, graphs, clocks, maps, plant parts, etc...
- give the kids a question to think about and have them each draw their solutions in the sand and then compare (for example, tanagrams: can you use four triangles to make a big square? etc...)
- if you bring rulers or measuring tape you can do geometry, or if not, you can just use the length of your feet as a general measurement.
- play word games such as hangman or using the letters of one or two words to create as many new words as you can
- bring something that will stand up and create a sundial on the field to observe throughout the time you are there.