Outdoor Summer Preschool Playgroup Ideas
Backyard Activities for Young Children to Foster Social Interaction
Apr 30, 2009
Busy parents want simple playgroup ideas to keep young children active and engaged in healthy social interaction. Many preschool playgroup activities are set up outdoors for summer warm weather. When parents are planning playgroup ideas for the outdoor summer months, they should especially consider age appropriateness as a factor when setting up backyard activities.
Just as the age appropriate set up of a preschool classroom can encourage healthy social interactions for young children, backyard activities can be set up to enhance social interactions for preschool playgroups as well.
Age Appropriate Activities Improve Social Interaction Levels
When backyard activities are age appropriate, children are less likely to be frustrated or bored during preschool playgroup time and more likely to have positive social interactions with their peers. High frustration levels and boredom often lead to strained social interactions with peers.
The most age appropriate activites for young children are open ended activities where preschoolers get to try out new ideas and see what works and what doesn't work.
Preschool Playgroup Idea: Water Play
Water play is always a hit as an outdoor summer activity for young children. Adults can set up a variety of backyard activities for water play so that preschoolers get to explore water in different ways. A kiddie pool isn’t even required to provide interesting and age appropriate water activities for young children.
Small buckets of water and paintbrushes allow children to paint with water. Sweater boxes or dishpans filled with water, measuring cups and strainers give preschoolers the opportunity to pour and dump. Lightly flowing sprinklers set to stay in one position let preschoolers explore water at their own pace. A preschool playgroup will stay busy for hours with a preschool water party set up in the backyard.
Playgroup with a Sand, Gravel and Dirt Theme
This backyard activity costs between $5 and $10 to purchase a bag of playground sand, a bag of garden soil and a bag of pea gravel. Three plastic sweater boxes or other shallow containers serve as mini-sandboxes to hold each of the three types of “earth”.
Sand buckets, shovels, scoops, toy cars, toy trucks and other dirt handling toys encourage preschoolers to investigate different textures of earth. Many sand box toys help develop fine motor skills for preschoolers. Toy balance scales, measuring cups and paint sample chips in earth colors can entice young children to apply simple science experiments.
Preschool Fort Building
Sheets, blankets, chairs, clothespins and more create a fun fort building activity for young children. Preschoolers will enjoy arranging fort supplies into creations that they can climb through and play under.
Playgroup Idea: Things That Roll
Balls, empty 2-liter bottles and toys vehicles are all things that roll. Preschoolers will stay busy with age appropriate backyard activities that encourage them to explore ramps, tubes and slides with things that roll.
A backyard slide can be transformed into a tall ramp. Cookie sheets, large cutting boards and smooth wood 2” x 4”s can serve as smaller ramps. Cardboard tubes attached to trees, swing sets and fences let preschoolers drop balls and toy cars into chutes. Tubes should be secured at a slanted “ramp like” angle.
For great outdoor summer fun during preschool playgroups, set up backyard activities for young children that are age appropriate and encourage exploration and imagination. Adults should make sure there are enough supplies to go around during preschool playgroup time to minimize sharing issues and maximize social interaction.
 |
