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Young kids enjoy moving and exploring the outdoors. Some enjoy dirt a bit more than others but still, each child has that curiousity. Feed off of that curiousity and keep them moving as much as you can. I grew up on a farm and learned to count when I was a toddler collecting eggs in the chicken coop. As I became older and had to handle pigs, goats and cows, my math was enhanced when I had to calculate the dosage of shots given to animal based on their weight. How about the most boring job, fixing or installing fences. Measuring the distance between fence posts is boring but necessay. If your school is not surrounded by land with animals then perhaps the play ground rocks, branches, leaves and clovers you find in the grass might do the trick. 

I have found that the more hands on the younger ones are the more they absorb the information and remember it.

Lindsay this is a great idea and I really love where you are coming from. In my school, we have two outdoor classrooms. These are sections outside of the school but around the building that the science teachers take their classes out to give students the opportunity to classify plant and animal life as well look at population distribution. We also have a courtyard where the environmental class works each term to plant and upkeep the area. They secured a grant with the art class to upcycle materials that could be used in the courtyard. 

I do know that for more urban classrooms these ideas that you and I both have shared may not be practical to implement on a daily basis. I do love your connection to the real world. A lot of jobs are outdoors and they involve skills that students may not know immediately the connections and how they are cross-curricular. Making those connections plain to students and providing opportunities to see these things in action can be so powerful for students.