Outdoor Play Party - Pipes & Balls.
There are lots of must have resources for good quality outdoor play and one of them in my opinion are the gutter stands that are available in the UK from most if not all educational supplies. However I have to say all gutter stands are not equal - I have some really heavy good quality ones that are very robust & stand up to lots of pushing or shoving from the children without falling over. I have another set that are way to light weight to use on windy days & that are easily tipped over by the children. Sometimes I find a combination of the 2 sets works well on calm days. The pipes (or gutters) can be used with balls. water or boats & water.
When I am setting up the pipes for play I use the tyres in the playground to mark off an area for 2 different runs to be set up, each going a different way. I use upturned milk crates to hold the balls at the start of each run & usually provide a stepping stone for the children to climb up onto to launch the balls down the pipes. At the other end sometimes a tyre collects the balls or a bilibo.
The children do knock the pipes off but I love watching them try to work out how to get it to all work again & sometimes they set up a far better run than I ever thought of!
On very wet days it can fun to set up the pipes & see how far the children can get the rain water from the water butt to travel along the playground.
Even though it was the first couple of weeks of 2014 & it has been bitterly cold & the US has been experiencing the worst weather it has seen in over 20 years, I was very heartened to see so many great outdoor play posts linked up. I loved this one from Creative Star Learning Company all about how a group of nursery children were allowed to negotiate a concrete slope & I especially loved the photo of one little girl returning to it again on her own & using all her new found skills & confidence to walk along it safely.
- Any kind of children's outdoor play-related posts are welcome!
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Please note that by contributing you are giving permission for an image and link to your post to be republished if featured.(If you have been featured, please feel free to grab the 'featured' button from the sidebar.) Share your ideas for outdoor play activities with us every other week!
Such simple resources but with great impact on the children's fun and learning experience. It's great to observe children problem solve and how they work together so well to achieve the result. Thanks for linking up and sharing some great outdoor fun with Country Kids.
ReplyDeleteThanks Fiona & for all your support too.
DeleteGreat post, as soon as I saw those pipes I thought they would be awesome for water play!
ReplyDeleteside note - not sure if it's my computer but it looks like you've got the linky html posted more than once? xx
Thanks!! I had so much trouble with the code, not surprised!! They are brilliant for water play - hopefully I'll get some photos of that soon too.
Deletewow what fun tools to play with! guttering is such a clever way to make a ball run - reminds me of a marble run. it just goes to show that you dont need much or spend much to entertain and educate kids outside x
ReplyDeleteI have seen lots of gutters attached to fences as well to create ball runs, so simple yet effective, thanks for your support xx
DeleteOooh, I think I will have to get some of these for the garden. Little Man would love them for driving his tractors down :-)
ReplyDeleteThey are brilliant for cars etc. too!
DeleteMany belated thanks for featuring my blog post, Kierna. Those dilemmas never cease. Last week we had a child on a walk to a park who wouldn't walk. Do you take him back to the nursery or pick him up and carry him as he is wanting? Never a dull moment!
ReplyDeleteNo worries, your take time to be is another favourite! Haha oh yes, that is my world most days! Our biggest one is kids who take all the rain gear off & then want it back on again 20-30 mins later when their friends put it on!!!
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