Hey there!! Just wondering if anybody has any cool and just plain fun ideas or group activities that can be done with 2-3 year olds? or older and younger ones as well that i could think about adpating? anything the kids just LOVED to do? doesnt matter how messy or difficult, just want to bring a bit of fun to group activites rather than the same old circle games, parachute/aerobics type activties. starting to think that the box i usually think outside of...is shrinking every day

P.S. have been searching through heaps of other posts and found one about shaving foam (or johnsons shapmoo) in a paddling pool :) and giving the kids paint...and no paper. just to get them to paint themselves - love that idea and am wondering why i havent thought of something so simple already!!

Any suggestions are welcome!! :)

Nikki x

Huge blocks of ice with things hidden in them...add anything really.. discovery / trying to get it out
or balloons filled with water and frozen.. - large ice balls...


textured walk... items of different textures and feelings and walk though in bare feet... we had all sorts, mud, sand, water, leaves, flour, coir mat, anything really as many textures as possible.. (we always ended in the water one)

cardboard boxes.. loads of them, different shapes, sizes, give paint/ crayons/ chalk etc... I mean big ones you can get into.. not small ones.. and we used to have at least 30 of them - we asked a local removal firm and they gave us a load free..

Inge

Good thinking!! love the idea of that one and maybe incorperating 'we're going on a bear hunt' along with it!! ooooh getting excited now :)

keep them coming!!

Cake decorating, they love being let loose to decorating their own fairy cake.
Squirty cream fun.
goop (cornflour and water mix)
set Jelly placed in a buildres tray to play with, cooked spaghetti, angel delight
In your playdough enhance it by placing some scales in there tpo weigh
Wash dolls in the water trough outside on a sunny day, with bubbles, sponges, face cloths etc

Theres some ideas will keep thinking along those lines. I'm sure you have thought of them already

xx

ice is great - I fill a plastic glove with ice - colour it and children love it - brought in a fish last week for children to examine and then paint their ideas - this was created from children's play ideas of map making and have a pirate ship - Dot

Will be trying the cooked spaghetti one this week!! Have heard of it before but have never actually got around to doing it :)

The gloop is quite common and although children love it, think we've exhausted every possible way of extending play with it and just want to try somethin different! Saw the recipe for flubber a wee minute ago so shall also be making a trip to the chemist to get the stuff for that too! Gonna have very messy toddlers for the next few weeks!!

Teabag splatting and pendulum painting!!!!

With cooked spaghetti, we found that it got very sticky and starchy and not so good for playing with. We were also told that after an hour or so, it wasn't safe to play with. We overcame this by adding a bit of antibac washing up liquid or handwash. it makes the spaghetti slippery and better to play with and hopefully keeps some of those bugs at bay. Depends on your view of using washing up liquid though...there's always something to think about!!
Beehive

Cooked pasta unsafe after an hour???? Flippin 'eck - its spaghetti!!! What is the world coming too lol. But thanks for the tip!!!

we add cooking oil to ours and its lovely and slippery.................