Outdoor Role Play

Outdoor Role Play

by: Jellytots - 12-01-12 20:05

Im looking into developing the outdoor role play area in our nursery. I have a play house to work with, but very limited with other resources..... any ideas how to continue this? x

by: HEJC72

Don't see the play house as just a house - it could be a vets, a cafe, a police station, an estate agents, 3 little pigs house, gingerbread house from Hansel and Gretal, a fire station, a school, a toy shop, a greengrocers, a hospital......

Other resources to turn the playhouse into something else doens't need to invlove much:
* save sweet wrappers to cover the house for the Hansel and Gretal house
* go to an estate agents and ask for old house details, add a toy phone and a note pad and you have an estate agents.
* add some soft toy cats/dogs/rabbits and you have a vets
* doctors play set and a couple of nurses dressing up outfits and you have a hospital
* get some plastic fruit and veg, a toy trolley and a shopping basket and you have a greengrocers

The possibilities are endless!

by: Tiggy D

For a role-play/construction suggestion, anything buildery. Aquire some cones, planks or bit of wood (sand them!), any old guttering or crates or hose pipe you can get hold of.

by: Karine

Think about the age group you are working with - what are their experiences of the wider world - have they visited vets, hospitals, dentists estate agents to fully appreciate all our good ideas, because unless they have experienced these roles, re-enacted/role play can be a little limited.  Usually under 3's relate well to domestic type set-ups, home role play, doctors etc.,  

by: Clare King

I believe that children have amazing imaginations.  There is little need to give them such concrete stuff as estate agent leaflets, and Karine is right, they might never have been to such a place... I have practiced Forest School since 1999, and although I came quickly to the conclusion that not many settings realistically had the resources to offer the full programme, "Forest School Corners are easily achievable.  All this means is to let a little area become less man-made. Let weeds grow, even nettles, we need children to know what they are and respect them... this doesn't mean let them take over!

Below is a list of my standard things to import to facilitate not only role paly, but a lot of great looser imaginative play, gross motor learning, spacial awareness, and environmental awareness too.

Logs, ones which are too big to move, laying lengthwise on the ground,

smaller branches in handy sections best no longer than a child's arm, which can be moved about safely.

Sections of a big log, which can be rolled, stood on, jumped off and used as stepping stones.

Try and plant a little group of hazel, or willow, it's ever so hardy, can be cut hard back and kept manageable, and if planted in a not quite complete circle, soon grows into a "den".

A big chuncky rope, at least 3m long, it can be a boundary, a snake, a rope bridge (laid along the ground) it can be a wiggly path to follow, the longer the better for this.

smoothed off moveable planks of wood, can get very cheap and wonderfully wonky shaped ones if you ask a saw-mill for the bits with the bark still on.

Slabs of bark, from a saw-mill, won't last for ever, but easily replaced, and as it disintegrates it has different uses. A simple thing is to use it to make roofs on little houses made of mud, stones or little logs.

Stones, nice flat ones for building with, smaller ones for making marks and patterns, gravel to scrunch and scoop. Just be a good carerand watch out how your children play with it. there is a size of stone to avoid if you are not confident about creating boundaries about throwing.

Clay, dig a hole, and fill it with clay. again it won't last, but it has so many wonderful properties. If it's not ok to use because the weather has made it to yukky, TELL THEM. Or investigate it with a bit of supervision.

Twigs,these are everything, wands, writing instruments, construction toys, and something to learn to be sensible with...

Natural twine, and some stronger rope, which is not the chuncky stuff which rope swings are made of.

Straw bales made into tunnels, go for it!

Bags and bags of dead leaves, scoop them up from under oak, beech, horse chestnut and any other native or semi native species, EXCEPT YEW.

Brash, the cuttings from the fuzzy ends of branches, great for den-making.

All this stuff can turn into ANYTHING!!!! AND YOU don't have to get any special stuff. Comments welcome and anyone who wants some 1:1 help can call me 07891 609765

by: John Wallace

I agree you don't need to spend fortunes on creating an outdoor play area, I remember when I was growing up and the simplest things could be transformed into exciting, thought inspiring play things. The one thing I do suggest is that the area in question has safe surfaces if there is anything that is climbable.