“Picture” the Playground

Need a fun idea for the outdoor time? Get your camera and head outside.

First, take some photos of areas in the playground. Make sure they are close-ups. Some ideas could be a swing, a shady corner, a little hill in the grass, the garden, the water area, etc.

On the day you do this, give or let each child draw one of the photos you took. The child will look for that spot in the photo on the playground.

Some children will find their photo spot right away and some will need you to provide a hint.

Purposeful options may be:

1. Have a large paper with the same photos on it. When a child finds their outdoor playground spot from their photo, they get to match and check it off the large paper. The object is for everyone to work individually for the whole group to complete the list.

2. Give each child a paper with several photos on it. Each child will go around and find each photo they have until they have found all of them. The child gets to hang it up when finished.

3. Children can work in pairs or small groups to find the photo spots on the playground. There can be a celebration as each group/pair finishes and then a big celebration when all the groups/pairs are finished.

In addition to this being a fun outdoor activity, I’ve enjoyed it along with the children! I hope you do, too.

Do you have an activity your children love to do outside?