Inspiring Literacy through the Outdoors

By Lisa Moberg, Sixth Grade Teacher at Sunset Hills Elementary School and National Board Certified Teacher

As the monsoon ebbs away and the summer heat dies down, it’s time for Phoenicians to shake off their summer slumber, get out of the house, and enjoy the great outdoors!! It’s also a wonderful setting to help your child discover or sustain their love of literacy. As literacy is one of the biggest focus areas in education, teachers hope their students develop a love of reading and writing. Instilling this lifelong appreciation of literacy can be challenging when not all students enjoy being indoors and sitting still. This is where parents can help out- taking their children outside to read and write in an Outdoor Literacy Project.

What materials are needed for your Outdoor Literacy Project? A backyard or neighborhood park, paper/ composition book, pencil, crayons, and an imagination! Buy-in from the children is preferable, and usually more attainable when a snack and Lisa Moberg outdoor adventures are communicated first. There are literacy projects for all ages; let’s start with the youngest examples of activities for children.

ABC Rocks

For the Preschoolers/ Kindergartners, creating ABC Rocks helps them identify the alphabet and sounds of the letters. Pick up some nice smooth rocks (always wear gloves and check the submerged areas for little critters) and wash them off. Then using tempera paint and fine-tip paintbrush (which can be found at the dollar store), help your younger child create a letter of the alphabet on each rock. (If this fine-motor skill is too challenging, using a Sharpie would work as well.) It is recommended to focus on the letters of the child’s name or the letters of short words (C-A-T, D-O-G, B-A-T, etc.). After the paint dries, you can rearrange the ABC rocks to make the words. Practice saying the letters and their corresponding sounds together to blend into words!

Outdoor Alphabet Book

As the children learn their alphabet, they need to observe the pattern of the beginning sounds of words, especially in the early primary grades. Creating an alphabet book with outdoor images is always fun!! Go for a walk around the neighborhood, through a park, or in the desert, and look for objects in nature that begin with a specific letter. Your child can draw or take a photo of the object to create a collage for the matching letter. This helps them internalize how words start with specific letters and sounds, which increases their phonemic awareness.

Let’s move on to the older elementary students, and there are so many opportunities for Outdoor Literacy Projects! Creating Haiku poems is always fun- it’s only three lines about nature! Each line has a specific amount of syllables (5 syllables, 3 syllables, 5 syllables), which helps children understand the significance of identifying syllables in multisyllabic words. (What’s a “syllable?” It’s every time your mouth moves to say a specific sound.) After creating the Haiku poem, it’s always fun to share with the community! Cut out the poem in a shape, attach a string as a loop, and tie it around a branch of a tree in a park. This encourages children to understand the significance of “audience” and how to share their writing with others.

Leaf Adjective Pictures

Another fun Outdoor Literacy Project is Leaf Rubbings. Find some interesting leaves throughout the backyard and neighborhood and press them against a hard surface. Lay a lightweight piece of paper over the leaf and rub a crayon over the paper. You will see the leaf pattern emerge!! Then take time to find adjectives to describe the leaf, using an online/paper thesaurus. Encourage your child to use specific words that include the five senses to describe the leaf. This is also a great opportunity for your child to practice good handwriting skills as they write the words around the shape of the leaf.

Nature Journals

Nature Journals are always a great way to record observations of the great outdoors. Using a composition notebook or folded pieces of paper, children can just sit down in one spot of their backyard or neighborhood park to find something to focus on. It could be the sky, grass, a flower, tree, insect, bird, etc… Encourage your child to use as many senses as possible to observe this part of nature and write down a paragraph about their observations. Remind them that a paragraph should include a topic sentence, supporting details, and concluding sentence. Sitting down with your child and modeling this as a parent is always a powerful way to encourage children to do their best.

Scavenger Hunt

Going on a camping trip or hike with your older children? A Scavenger Hunt with riddles is a great way to invest your child into nature. Creating teams promotes collaboration and communication, and having rewards for the winners inspires a sense of urgency. Using riddles to find the desired objects encourages your child to draw conclusions by using their prior knowledge to make connections. Creating the riddles is almost as much fun as watching your children participate in the Scavenger Hunt!

The outdoors is a great avenue to enjoying reading and writing together as a family! Taking the time to observe nature and having conversations encourages quality time spent together. Having meaningful conversations creates an appreciation for listening and speaking skills. Promoting a healthy respect for nature in your child will positively impact our future world!