Playgroups are wonderful places for kids to explore and caregivers to chat. Here’s a guide for how to run a playgroup for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers!
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I run an evening playgroup once a week. It’s one hour long: 6-7 pm. I open it up to caregivers and kids 0-5 years old. Yes, that’s a wide age group, but I love it because it allows caregivers to bring multiple children to the class, making it more of a family event.
It’s an extremely relaxed class. I don’t do any sort of “leading” or anything like that. Instead, the class is station-based. I set-up different toys and activities and spread them throughout a giant meeting room. When the families come, they can choose what to explore and when. They do not have to keep things in their designated station, however. They can mix the blocks with the dinosaurs or bring the play food into the tents. It’s free play! I walk around and play with the kids, as well as chat with the caregivers.
Here are some of the toys and activities I provide for the families:
HABA Toys in the Playgroup
I am in love with HABA toys. HABA is a European brand that provides high quality and educational toys for children. It’s amazing! We order the toys from Amazon or Wal-Mart, but you can order directly from the HABA website too!
One of our favorite toys is the Bobble Caterpillar, which is a wooden caterpillar that allows children to build him (kind of like a 3D puzzle). He can be zig-zag, long, short, etc. So many options!
We also really like the Symphony Croc Music Band Set; It’s an adorable, wooden crocodile that has a bell on his tail, a xylophone on his back, and a drum by his head. It’s super sweet, and music is a great way for children to learn and explore.
We’re also huge fans of the Rapunzel Fairy Tale Sturdy Cardboard Nesting & Stacking Cubes. Fairy tales are fun to explore, and these cubes are great for babies through preschoolers. The babies bang on the cubes like drums, take the cubes out of their nesting positions, etc. The toddlers like to stack the cubes and knock them over, and the preschoolers like to match the pictures on the sides of the cubes and practice the numbers on each cube. It’s a perfect toy for a class that includes such a wide age group!
Our favorite, favorite, favorite HABA toys are the plush Biofino play food. They’re the best! The babies love the textures (some of the pieces even have sensory aspects to them – like the lettuce crinkles, etc.). The toddlers and preschoolers like to “make” the food and serve it to their caregivers. We love the food because the texture is unique, it’s washable, and it is safe for the kids. Some of the items we have include the sandwich, ice cream cones, vegetable basket, and hamburger and french fries. We LOVE them!
Toys Encouraging Gross Motor Skills in the Playgroup
I don’t know what it is, but when we stick a group of kids in a giant room, they all of a sudden have so much energy and need big movements to exhaust themselves. So, we provide a few fun ways for the kids to practice gross motor skills and explore on a bigger scale.
We have a pop-up kids play tent that the kids adore. They crawl in and out of it a thousand times. They make it the house for the dolls or the restaurant kitchen or the garage for the toy cars.
We also have pop-up tunnels kind of like this one. The kids crawl through these, hide in them, roll in them, stand up with the tunnels over their heads, etc. Another perfect fit for the playgroup.
I love our parachute that looks like this. I put large pom poms and scarves in the middle of it, and we have a lot of fun parachuting them around the room.
Activities in the Playgroup
I set-up roads on the floor using painter’s tape, so the kids can use these cars to explore. It gets them crawling (so good for their development!) and entices those little ones who are drawn to cars like magnets. The kids also race with these cars, which is also amazing!
I’ll bring out our bins of musical instruments sometimes, as well. They’ll make parades and walk around in circles banging drums, shaking maracas, and hitting rhythm sticks. I love that every age can participate with instruments!
Play-Doh! Play-Doh is an incredible tool to have. It keeps the kids busy for so long! I usually put out Play-Doh cutter tools and other cookie cutters. I also have laminated different activity sheets like these from Learn Create Love and put them out for the kids to play with as well. (We actually use this brand of craft dough and really like it!)
Creating Your Own Playgroup
So as you can see, you can just kind of throw together a few of your favorite toys and activities to create a really fun, relaxed, and educational playgroup. Be creative! Go off of what your caregivers want. One caregiver suggested I don’t put out so many toys at one time because the kids seemed too simulated. That’s a great suggestion! I have more 1-2 year olds than I do 4-5 year olds, so I will put out more toys that will directly entertain younger kids. You kind of just need to go off of what you feel is best for your playgroup. I hope you got some starting ideas here though!
Comment below with some of your go to playgroup ideas!