Outdoor Play Ideas
Hot Potato
- Children stand or sit in a circle. A beanbag or ball is the hot potato.
- Children listen to or sing a song as they pass the hot potato to their right, around the circle. They should pass the “potato” as quickly as possible, since it's very hot!
- When the music or song stops, the person holding the hot potato is out.
- Continue until one player remains.
- Add fun and challenge by playing or singing songs with faster and faster tempos.
Fly Like the Wind
Children can use these objects as they run and play.
- Cut three-foot lengths of crepe-paper for children to use as streamers.
- Provide lightweight cloths that groups can lift up and down like parachutes while other children run underneath.
- Make kites. Cut one twelve-foot and two one-foot lengths of string. Tie each one-foot length to one handle of a plastic grocery bag. Tie the twelve-foot string to the one-foot strings. As children run, the bag will rise into the air.
Follow the Leader
- Choose a start spot, an end spot, and a leader.
- The leader can reach the end spot in any manner. Followers match the leader's movements as closely and as accurately as possible. Suggest walking, running, marching, waving, walking backwards, or jumping if children need ideas.
- When the leader reaches the end spot, he or she chooses another child to be leader, and the children follow the new leader back to the start spot.