LET'S PLAY! 5 Games to Encourage Nature Play & Multi-Age Socialisation
As parents, we all want to give our children the best possible start in life, and one of the key ingredients in this recipe is socialisation—helping our kids learn how to interact, communicate, and build relationships with others.
But did you know that one of the most effective ways to nurture these skills is by encouraging your kids to play outside with children of all different ages?
In today’s world, where screens and structured activities often take up much of our children’s time, getting kids outdoors with peers is more important than ever.
Playing with other kids—especially in a mixed-age group—helps them learn how to communicate, share, take turns, and resolve conflicts.
These experiences are not only fun but also crucial for their emotional and social growth.
Older kids naturally take on leadership roles, guiding younger ones and showing them the ropes, while younger kids learn by watching and imitating their older peers.
Why Playing with Other Kids is So Important
Kids learn best from each other. When they play with peers, they’re picking up essential skills like empathy, patience, and cooperation—skills that are a bit harder to practice when they’re only playing alone or with adults.
When kids of different ages play together, the older ones often step into mentoring roles, which boosts their confidence and helps them develop leadership skills. At the same time, younger children benefit from this guidance and learn new skills by watching and interacting with their older friends.
Plus, playing with a mix of ages helps kids see things from different perspectives and learn different ways of solving problems.
They quickly discover that there are lots of ways to approach a game or a challenge, and their ideas can grow and change when they listen to others. This kind of learning is dynamic and exciting—it helps kids become more adaptable and creative thinkers.
The Special Benefits of Multi-Age Play
There’s something truly magical about watching kids of different ages play together.
Child Psychologist and Research Professor Peter Gray explains how in multi-age play, older kids get a chance to be leaders and role models, which can really boost their confidence. They learn to be patient and nurturing as they help younger kids learn the rules of a game or work through a tricky challenge.
Meanwhile, the younger ones build resilience and adaptability as they play with older kids, who might introduce more complex games or set tougher challenges.
Playing in a multi-age setting also teaches kids to appreciate diversity in skills and abilities.
They start to understand that everyone has something unique to offer, which fosters a sense of inclusivity and empathy. This understanding is so important—it helps them grow into kind and compassionate adults who value teamwork and community.
Encouraging Outdoor Play with Kids of All Ages
So, how can you encourage your kids to engage in this type of enriching play? One of the best ways is to create opportunities for outdoor play, where there are endless possibilities for creative, collaborative, and imaginative fun.
Nature provides an incredible backdrop for play. It’s filled with interesting things that inspire curiosity, exploration, and teamwork. Kids can use their imagination to turn a stick into a magic wand or a pile of leaves into a treasure trove.
Here are some fun outdoor games that encourage kids to play together and learn from one another:
Games to Encourage Social Skills in Nature
1. Nature Scavenger Hunt
This game is great for teamwork and observation skills. Create a list of natural items to find, like a feather, a smooth stone, or a cool-looking leaf. Split the kids into mixed-age teams to search for these items. Older kids can help guide the younger ones, which encourages mentorship and collaboration.
Or better yet, use our Scavenger Hunt Printable! We keep a stack of these in our kit, laminate them and re-use them often. Download your copy here.
2. Hide and Seek in the Great Outdoors
Take the classic game of hide and seek outside, where trees, bushes, and rocks provide perfect hiding spots. Older kids can teach the younger ones how to think strategically about where to hide, making the game even more exciting.
We love experimenting with variations on this classic game. We combine it with ‘Marco Polo’ and use a call and response to make sure our expert hiders eventually get found! The person who is in counts to 30 or more with eyes closed, then calls out “1, 2, 3, where are you?”, and the hiders call out “Cooee!” in a big loud voice. (This is a great one for parents in particular, because there’s nothing like the cold chill of panic that runs through you when you can’t find your child.)
Get creative with this one - we change the theme depending on the group and what’s happening that day. For our little Wildlings who are dinosaur-obsessed, the person who is in is the Zoo Keeper and calls out “Where are my dinos?” and the hiders answer with a “RAWR!”. Another little friend wanted to change it to snakes and mice, where the seeker yells “I’m a hungry snake!” and the hiders have to “squeak squeak squeak”. For our survivalists, we call the game Zombie Apocalypse and combine it with gang-up tiggy, where the person in is the Zombie and the humans have to run away from them. If they get tagged, they also become a zombie and have to tag the humans.
The possibilities are endless. Just make sure to establish boundaries for the game so everyone gets found, whether the kids agree on this between themselves or if an adult facilitates this conversation.
Another variation of this is more like Stuck in the Mud, but with Turtles and Jellyfish. The person who is in is a turtle, and the others are jellyfish and have to run away from them within a fairly small boundary. If they get tagged, they’ve been nibbled by the turtle and need to be zapped back to life by a fellow jellyfish. We love to use nature themes in our games, animals are a great source of inspiration for imaginative play!
3. Outdoor Obstacle Course
Use natural materials like logs, stones, and branches to create a fun obstacle course. Older kids can help design the course and explain the rules, while younger ones practice their balance and coordination. This game promotes fitness, leadership, and cooperative play.
Kids love a challenge, and watching another child balance on a log and run up a hill is an unspoken challenge for other kids to have a go too. Sometimes it’s helpful to remind older more boisterous children to be mindful that younger ones are not always as hardy or resilient as they are, and to remember be physically considerate of one another.
4. Building Together
Get the kids to work together on a building project using natural materials—whether it’s a bush cubby, a fairy house, or a nature mandala. This activity is fantastic for fostering creativity, teamwork, and patience as kids of different ages collaborate to create something special.
This sort of play happens organically in the forest. Often, a group of kids will converge on the mudslide and work together carrying jugs of water up to the top of the hill to make the slide more slippery. An afternoon well spent, in our opinion!
5. Capture the Flag
Perfect for a larger group, this energetic game encourages strategic thinking, cooperation, and healthy competition as teams work together to capture the opposing team’s flag while protecting their own. Older kids can lead strategy discussions, while younger ones learn about teamwork and fair play.
This is a favourite for our homeschool groups, and a great game for multi-age play. In our Minecraft program we play a variation of this called "Capture the Ender Dragon Egg, where teams hide a painted rock on their side of the forest and their opponents have to find it and take it into the Ender Portal, which is a square drawn on the ground. Once again, this game is full of possibilities. Sometimes we find it useful to supervise the team selection process so that teams are evenly matched and kids don’t get chosen last. We also change the teams each round to keep things fresh.
Why Nature Play is a Game Changer
Playing in nature not only provides endless opportunities for creative and imaginative play but also helps kids build strong social bonds and learn valuable life skills.
When children play outside together, they learn to communicate, share, and solve problems as a group. This kind of social interaction is crucial for their emotional development and helps them build the resilience and adaptability they need to thrive in today’s world.
So, let’s get our kids outside!
Whether it’s a simple game of hide and seek or a more structured activity like a scavenger hunt, outdoor play with kids of all ages is a fantastic way to foster social skills, build friendships, and cultivate a love for nature that will last a lifetime.
Loving the nature play ideas? Here are some more ways we can help you and your Wildlings get more nature time in your lives:
Book a Holiday Program: Ready for an adventure? Sign your child up for one of our holiday programs at Wildlings Forest School and let them explore, learn, and grow in nature! Book Now
Celebrate with Us: Looking for a unique and memorable birthday party? Host your child’s next celebration at Wildlings Forest School for an unforgettable day of outdoor fun and exploration! Learn More
Bring Wildlings to Your School or OOSH: Want to bring the Wildlings experience to your school or OOSH? Talk to your school or OOSH coordinator about booking an excursion with us, and let’s make learning in nature a reality! Contact Us
Written by Ellen Nesbitt. Ellen is a nature play advocate and creative writer with a passion for helping families connect with the outdoors. She is dedicated to exploring ways to nurture children's creativity, independence, wellbeing and love for nature.