Outside resources ideas/budget £300

[manor]

Hi everyone,

 

We are a packaway preschool and have manage to rasie £300 for some new outside equipment.

 

What would you buy?

 

We already have climbing frame/slide, bikes/sit an rides, trampolines, tyres/wooden balance beam. We have thought about one of those plastic play houses?

 

Also I would like to paint the tyres we have and have seen some pictures on Pintrest, but they don't say what type of paint they used? Would it have to be lead free etc does anyone know?

 

Any ideas much appreciated.

[Panders]

Not sure about the plastic houses - we have had two - one, better than the other which was a LIttle Tykes, much heavier and sturdier. But we found if they were left empty in the garden and the wind got up they moved about a lot, I could go in on a Monday morning and find it on its roof and some bits broken on it, at first we blamed vandals because people can access our garden, but I think it was definitely the weather. Secondly as the outside area is laid mostly to lawn it ruined the grass, so we were always trying to move it about or the area inside could become quite muddy. So...... a good think about the strategy you will need to adopt about where it will go etc. before getting one I think.

 

YOu haven't mentioned any mark making equipment - have you outside blackboards? Or maybe a dedicated messy play area, or some planting to make a sensory part to your garden. A bug hotel maybe

[lsp]

Do you have to pack away your outdoor resources or can 'stuff' be left out?

[manor]

Hi Panders- No we don't have any blackboards. For mark-making I'm afraid to say its just a table with crayons, paper etc. Forgot to mention we do have a mud kitchen of a sort which needs a bit more organising and a sand tray.

 

Isp- yes we have to put most things away as the play area can be seen from a path/main road. We leave out tyres with planks of wood/balance beam. The climbing frame is only out in summer and covered over at the end of the session, as it is a wooden one over 25 yrs old and was bought for indoor use due to no outside play back then, so not been treated/weather proof (I don't think). We have only had outside play for 2 yrs now since having to move to a different venue and although the climbing f has beed covered up, water has got on it and discoloured it. Was wondering if I could varnish it or something to try make it more weather proof, or is it to late?

 

There is so much I would love to buy and need but £300 is not going to do it. We struggle to go outside when the weather is not too good and so need to think more about resources for that. We have no Shelter/covered area, just a long grass area and a bit of a sloping tarmac area, which is part of the carpark we fence off.

[narnia]

Let the climbing frame dry out thoroughly then give it a quick, light sanding down. Then get some wood stain and paint the whole thing. At 25 years old, it's done really well, but wood stain will prolong its life for a few more years.

 

We painted our tyres in ordinary gloss paint and they've been outside the whole time, still look good

 

We got rid of our plastic playhouse................we're thinking about whether we want to replace it. Got rid because we were tired of arguments and we had a phase of some older children deliberately shutting the windows on the fingers of younger children. So, IF we replace, it will be a wooden one, but at the moment, we have a huge tractor tyre in the space, which has proved a huge hit. We'll see

£300 might not seem much, but you can get second hand stuff, so long as it's in good condition x

[finleysmaid]

How about a set of waterproofs for the adults and children so that you can go out every day?

[Inge]

A good gazebo that can easily be put up - useful for covered area in any weather.. search for pop up Gazebo...a heavy duty one may be worth the extra cost , and waterproof they are easy to put up and store..

 

Many out there.. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Airwave-Waterproof-WindBars-Colours-Available/dp/B002882JRO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1471870357&sr=8-3&keywords=pop+up+gazebo+3+x+3

Edited August 22, 2016 by Inge

[narnia]

Our pop up gazebo does literally take twominutes to put up (needs two people), but one person to take it down in about 20 seconds.

[Guest]

We spray painted our tyres and some plastic equipment that looked "tired"

 

We have a little tykes house.... It was given to us and is very sturdy, never had any issues with it!

 

Our lot like stuff to build with outside, open ended resources.......

 

How about a tent? Or wigwam type thing..... We had one for a quiet spit and a musical area...

[Panders]

We spray painted our tyres and some plastic equipment that looked "tired"

 

We have a little tykes house.... It was given to us and is very sturdy, never had any issues with it!

 

Our lot like stuff to build with outside, open ended resources.......

 

How about a tent? Or wigwam type thing..... We had one for a quiet spit and a musical area...

Exactly so with the LIttle Tykes houses, they are well built and quite heavy, worth the extra money, or looking for on ebay or the like.

[narnia]

\it was the Little TYkes log cabin that we got rid of...............

[larnielass]

We spray painted our tyres and some plastic equipment that looked "tired"

 

We have a little tykes house.... It was given to us and is very sturdy, never had any issues with it!

 

Our lot like stuff to build with outside, open ended resources.......

 

How about a tent? Or wigwam type thing..... We had one for a quiet spit and a musical area...

Was the "quiet spit" area for staff when they saw their wage slips?!!

[blondie]

what about blackboards that you attach to railings/fences? we have these and they are great! think they also do large sheets that you can paint on - they attach to railings/fences too.

[gillpen]

It sounds like you have lots of physical equipment. We have a lovely numeracy frieze that we attach to the railings which is very sturdy and wasn't too expensive. The blackboards to attach to railings are really popular with the children in our setting and we get lots of great independent mark-making going on. It might be an idea to give a shout out to parents to see if anyone has a plastic playhouse they don't want any more. We have had 3 offers just this year of one. We got some nice giant plastic coated foam jigsaws which were quite reasonable and have lasted brilliantly, I think they were about £40 and get the children working cooperatively. When you only have £300 it's really hard to prioritise, good luck :1b

[manor]

Hi everyone,

 

Thanks for all your replies so far, some good ideas to think about. I'm definately of the mind of having more open ended resources like crates, pallets and pieces of wood for the children to build and use their imagination with. Maths and mark-making also needed outside, so the blackboards i will look into. Would love a big sand pit with thoses sit on diggers, but for those of you who have one, is it easy to maintain and do you get much use out of it with our British weather?

I think maybe we may need to look at the 7 learning areas outside and see which one is not being covered and go from there with regards to resorces?

[lsp]

Have you got children on EYPP? If you are looking at the areas of learning, could you also add in the EYPP to increase your total?

[finleysmaid]

. I'm definately of the mind of having more open ended resources like crates, pallets and pieces of wood for the children to build and use their imagination with. Maths and mark-making also needed outside, so the blackboards i will look into. Would love a big sand pit with thoses sit on diggers, but for those of you who have one, is it easy to maintain and do you get much use out of it with our British weather?

I think maybe we may need to look at the 7 learning areas outside and see which one is not being covered and go from there with regards to resorces?

FYI we try to replicate the areas we have inside,outside. This is not to say they look the same but we hope that they provide similar opportunities. We have a large sandpit with a cover (made to order from kover-it) we don't have the big diggers as we would need about 6 which would just take up too much room, Things like pallets/stumps/cookies/cable drums/ guttering and planks don't need any money to buy...we beg borrow and steal ours (well maybe not steal !) we like to create houses from large pieces of material/pegs and broom handles that way we can change them every day if we want. I'd be inclined to spend money on things that can be used for a huge variety of 'subjects' rather than for one idea.