What to Play On My Big 'Ole Concrete Slab?

[permanentvacation]

I am finally starting to use my back yard for daycare. It is all concrete and is 13' X 23'. I don't have much money to spend right now, but I will be able to spend a little money for small purchases here and there or save for a bigger purchase over a couple of months.

I'd like to incorporate natural play but nothing that I have to grow and keep alive! Plants, veges, etc. seem to die in my care and I already have enough pets to tend to.

What I have outside right now are little plastic toys such a basketball hoop and balls, hula hoops, water table which we often use with no water in it just as a play toy for the little people, boats, etc., and riding toys (Which are a bit of a problem because the kids always back into each other and I'm constantly telling them to look where they're going.)

Everything I have is all plastic. I'd like some more natural items. Everything that I think of for natural items would require the kids sitting or crawling on the ground. But I can't have the kids crawling around on their knees on concrete. They'd ruin their pants and scrape their knees up.

So I guess I'm asking for natural things that the kids can stand up and play with or things that we could do while sitting at a picnic table. And any other ideas for play items whether plastic or otherwise that are not too costly or too messy (chalk messes up kids' clothes too much) that I could use on my concrete slab.

[Thriftylady]

A sand box! It is a favorite here. Just be sure it has a lid of some sort to keep the cats out. I got mine cheap at the thrift store, so check those out.

[permanentvacation]

Thank you for the suggestion of a sand box. But I have to keep it clean. Sand would get all in the kids' hair and their parents would be upset.

[Thriftylady]

Thank you for the suggestion of a sand box. But I have to keep it clean. Sand would get all in the kids' hair and their parents would be upset.

See I never promise to keep kids clean. I tell parents at interview that sometimes fun is dirty, so we get dirty sometimes! It is hard to take kids outside and them not get dirty and I would tell parents it will happen.

[permanentvacation]

It's more of an issue of it being hard to get sand and dirt out of the kids' hair. And some of my parents aren't able to afford many clothes, so they need to keep their clothes from getting stained, worn at the knees too soon, or torn.

[jenboo]

Get some outdoor rugs!! They work great! When the weather is nice you can leave them outside. When is wet, you can bring them inside at night so they don't have to dry before the Daycare kids can play on them

[finsup]

When I think natural, outdoors etc, nothing that comes to mind is really
"Clean" . Maybe buy some spare clothes (lawn sales, consignment etc) so the kids can really play and experience that type of playing/learning?
As for other ideas...my preschool (from when I was little!) Had logs with nails kids could hammer. Well supervised of course! Are they old enough where you could put stones/sticks/pinecones etc out with some play animals to encourage building/pretend play? I believe Melissa and doug makes a lemondae stand, something like that with play food/pretend money etc? Bikes? Bean bag toss?

[permanentvacation]

I know, when I think of natural play, NOTHING about it is really clean! That's why I am having such a hard time figuring out how to incorporate natural play BUT keep it clean.

I like the idea of logs for kids to sit on as chairs and smaller ones to use as stepping stones. I have no idea where to get them, though.

Oh, no, my kids are not able to work with real nails. They're too young for that.

I like the idea of stones, pine cones, sticks, and play animals. The kids could create their own 'farm'.

[snbauser]

What about a sand table instead of a sandbox? I don't to the sandbox because kids end up with sand up their underwear, stepping on each other, etc. With a sand table the only issue is sand ending up on the ground but with a concrete patio I just sweep it up and dump it back into the table.

I also have easels, musical instruments, chalk, science things (magnifying glasses, binoculars, etc), stepping logs and stepping stones (they are plastic and connected by a rope), a playhouse, balls, ribbon sticks, bikes, cars, etc. Pretty much anything that is inside, you can have outside.

[snbauser]

Oh and we have a play kitchen next to the sand table and the kids love to "cook" with the sand.

[Thriftylady]

It's more of an issue of it being hard to get sand and dirt out of the kids' hair. And some of my parents aren't able to afford many clothes, so they need to keep their clothes from getting stained, worn at the knees too soon, or torn.

I tell all my parents to go to the thrift store and buy some cheap play clothes. Usually you can get several outfits for a few bucks. If they refuse, I let them get their "good clothes" dirty. I hate to say it, but it sounds to me like your parents are micromanaging you.

[Josiegirl]

Pails of water and cheapo paint brushes. Chalk is so easy just to brush off. I love the idea of collecting a bunch of nature items, maybe find some old pans/pots/dishes and let them go at it. I wonder if you could incorporate the help of your dcps? If they have any different types of seed pods in their own neighborhoods? My yard is always filled with maple seeds and pine cones(just the little ones but kids do all kinds of stuff with them). Bring out your plastic animals or if you have dinosaurs(my group loves ours right now!), the rocks and sticks, fake flowers from the dollar store, and they'll become little caveman architects or farmers. You could also throw in some paper towel tubes, any other empty containers you might have stashed. Do you save the netted bags from oranges? Or even 1' square pieces of fabric, anything they could create with. I'll bet if you search your home you'll come up with tons of stuff.
Things I bought at the $ store lately have been bags of moss, different colors of small stones, shells, bigger stones, fake flowers. I haven't let the dcks play with them yet because I'm looking for some cheapie containers for each to make their own fairy garden. My sister gave me this succulent plant and it grows babies on it's leaves. My tiny pot is inundated with the babies so I figured they could use them too. Would be a good spring vacation thing for them to all do.
Are your dcps fussy about the kids getting messy at all? I would do as suggested and get some thrift store clothes, or yard sales will be starting soon. IMO Kids have to get dirty.
Bubbles, the best bubbles I get are also at the $ store.
Do you have duct tape, or something you could make roads out of to bring play cars outside? Any tubes for taping together and rolling balls/cars, etc. down?

I'd make a list of different ideas and materials needed(pinterest) and post it on a bulletin board or send a note home to dcps, see if they can be of any help.

[Josiegirl]

I know lots of my ideas didn't center around nature play but kids will still have fun and it'll keep them busy and happy outside.

I have no idea where to get the stumps and logs either. Those are things I've been wanting. A very kind dcd brought us a bunch of tree cookies a couple years ago. We had great fun with them but I've only got about 6 left. All the others cracked and broke.

[Josiegirl]

Another thing we've done in the past which was fun, we took old nylons, cut them down, tied off one end, put in a mixture of potting soil and grass seed, tied off the other end, kept watering them and within a couple weeks we had some very hairy caterpillars. You could use the cheaper easy to grow annual grass seed. In fact, if you have things to use for planting, old pots or whatever, the kids could plant the grass seed in those and add greenery to your concrete yard. They could also use the grass to play dinosaurs in. Or make fairy houses.

[Unregistered]

I have a sand table and the sand I buy is not dirty in the least. The kids really never end up with in their hair. I also have a "sand" kitchen instead of a mud kitchen. The sand we use is very clean.

What about pots of really easy to grow flowers like Marigolds. Really hard to kill those. My experience with potted flowers and have lots is that they need to be watered almost every day. Then they grow fine.

I myself would try to grow vine flowers like Morning Glories. They could cover part of your fence and make it more natural.

Also, what about smooth, landscaping stones. Kids love to fool around with rocks! The ones I'm thinking about are about 3-4" inches across. Buckets of them would be fun!

What about starting a fairly garden? They can be done quite cheaply and are great fun.

Wooden blocks would be nice outside on a cement area as well a wooden houses to line up. I've seen wooden "county decor" items at rummage sales/thrift stores like wooden houses that people used for decor. They would be cute with the blocks in in the fairy garden.

What about growing a few long bins of grass? That would green up the area. Grass must be easy to grow! Little animals and people could be used in that area!

wooden stumps (keep them low if you don't want kids to stand on them and fall on the cement), pines cones, landscaping bricks, branches cut into circular stackers, etc. can make interesting play areas for plastic animals.