kcnjason 08:16 PM 06-30-2011
What kind of outdoor games do you play with your daycare children? What type of activities do they do while outdoors other than playing in the pool? I'm looking for some other fun and easy ideas. I thought about filling a bucket of water balloons at the first of the day and let the kids have fun with them but any other ideas would be great!
jessrlee 08:26 PM 06-30-2011
Chalk, bubbles, sand box, ride on toys, walks, pretty much my group likes to run around the yard or play in the sand. We are fairly low key. I find they get really riled up when I try to run too many of their activities, but if I back off and let them play they will dig, or watch butterflies, or collect rocks and sticks, or a million other awesome things for hours on end. I am in my 6th year of childcare and I find the more I hand them the materials and back off, the better they play and learn. If a child wants to visit, or ask questions of course they can, but most of the time the littles ask the big kids, and the big kids get a lot of joy out of answering their questions.
GretasLittleFriends 07:16 AM 07-01-2011
I got a "new" step 2 climber slide the other day from a friend of mine. The kids had a great time "washing" it. They had a bucket of water and a few scrub brushes and rags. When they "finished" the climber they asked if they could wash the swing set and the other two little tykes playhouses. They had a blast!
(We did pressure wash our "new" slide before they played on it)
MG&Lsmom 07:26 AM 07-01-2011
car washes are super fun. I use bubble bath in the water so it's gentle on their skin. We have about 10 cozy coupes, so they could play for an hour or more at it.
We also have a parachute which they like for about 5 mins. Then I hide the little balls that came with it all over the yard and they do a hunt.
Mom_of_two 07:35 AM 07-01-2011
The ususal, like PP's. Chalk, sand, climbers, swings, bubbles. I will do planned water play (not pool, but sprinkler or big beach ball as well as water table.) Have splatter painted outside, that was lots of fun. Yesterday I brought 5 colored trays outside and spread them around the yard and yelled out random colors and they would run from tray to tray- they loved that! Running and colors as well.
daycare 07:54 AM 07-01-2011
Originally Posted by MG&Lsmom:
car washes are super fun. I use bubble bath in the water so it's gentle on their skin. We have about 10 cozy coupes, so they could play for an hour or more at it.
We also have a parachute which they like for about 5 mins. Then I hide the little balls that came with it all over the yard and they do a hunt.
I find that this is a huge hit. the kids love to wash stuff. Yesterday they coverd my patio in chalk and I got the hose out to wash it down. Next thing you know they took all the sponges out of the bubble box that was being used for something else and they all started washing the ground, then the bikes, then the big toys and etc.
I think they spent about an hour washing eveything before i had to cut them off to come inside to each lunch.
I bought a sprinkler beach ball at walmart for $12, the kids love it.
we also do water games, splash balls that you buy from the dollar store, tons of bubble toys, we have the water table mixed with loads of mud, they love that too.
then We have the water table only that they can take the plastic ketchup bottles and squeeze different colors of colored water out of to change the color of the water. It is always brown by the end of water play...lol
I bought some of those restaurant style plastic red and yellow mustand and ketchup bottles at the dollar bins at target, I fill them will water, then add a few drops of food coloring to each one. the kids love this alot.
I also do this with spray bottles and they love to use these when doing art. i have a huge piece of plywood outside that I cover each day with butcher paper. the kids go wild on it with crayons, markers, chalk, paint, watercolors, and then use the sponges and spray bottles to mix it all together.... It always looks like a horrible mess when they are done, but for them its about the process not the product...
hope these ideas help some