Earlier this year, anticipating a visit from licensing, the administration made the decision to remove our 20 year old roof-top playground. Since early spring, our play area has been largely a cement area on the roof of the YWCA. As the weather got warmer, I found myself spending more and more time on the playground with the kids, and I’ve been searching for ways to take my literacy tutoring outside. More and more, too, my Minnesota Reading Corps coworkers and I have wanted to model these activities for the teaching staff. As a solution to these challenges, we put together outdoor literacy bags, which contain (so far) the following:
Bottles of colored water for practicing writing and small muscle skills.
Oobleck (this was going to be spray chalk, but we added too much cornstarch and we ended up with oobleck).
Plastic letters
Books (ones that we could send outside without worries)
Sentence strip charades/action word cards
I also came up withe following list of ideas:
Write it
Alphabetic knowledge.
(Adapted from Literacy Round the Clock)
Divide your class into pairs and invite each pair to find a nearby patch of ground to use as a workspace. Call out a letter; then encourage each pair to quickly gather a handful of natural materials such as twigs or fallen leaves to form the letter. To vary this idea, specify uppercase or lowercase letters.
Hopscotch
Initial sounds/ alphabetic knowledge
(Adapted from Literacy Round the Clock)
Use sidewalk chalk to draw a hopscotch grid. Write a different letter on each square. To play, a student tosses a beanbag or rock into a square, and then hops to it. When he or she lands on a square, the student says the name of the letter (or the initial sound.)
Inside-Outside Circle
Rhyming
(Adapted from Literacy Round the Clock)
Divide students into two groups, and have them form two circles (one inside the other) so they are facing each other. Make sure each child is standing face to face with a partner. Standing in the center of the inner circle, call out a word. Students in each pair say a word that rhymes with yours. Each child then steps to the left to form new pairs. Continue until children are back with their original partners.
Have a Ball
Alphabetic Knowledge
(Adapted from Literacy Round the Clock)
Gather children in a circle. Gently toss a labeled beach ball (included) to a child. Encourage the child who catches the ball to look under his or her thumb and name the closest letter.
The Ship is Loaded with…
Rhyming
Gather children in a circle. To begin the game, say, “the ship is loaded with (cheese, logs, mats, dice, etc.) Toss the ball to somebody in the circle. This person must produce a rhyme and throw the ball back to you. Repeat original rhyme and toss to another child. Continue, or let children throw to each other. You can vary the game according to the monthly theme (i.e. “the mailman is carrying ___” or “What are you bringing to the picnic? I am bringing ___.”
Running Game
Alphabetic knowledge/ rhyming/beginning sounds
Gather the children on a line. Tell them they can run when they hear something that rhymes with /starts with the same sound or letter as their name.
Do You Remember?
Listening
Instruct child who is “it” is to complete a series of actions. The rest of the children and are to watch and listen carefully. Giving thumbs up or thumbs down depending on whether the child followed the instructions correctly.
Photo Treasure Hunt
Visual Discrimination
Place photos in different locations and have the children follow the visual clues For example, they might first find the bike photo, and on the bike photo they would find a photo of another location on or around the play ground. Behind the last clue, hide a sheet of stickers.
Bingo
Environmental Print/visual discrimination
Hang the bingo card from the fence. Review the letters with children. Tell them to look for letters around the playground as they play (on equipment, clothing, etc.) When they find one, they can find a teacher. Cover up each letter with a marker when a kid finds it.
Ball Hop
Letters/beginning sounds
Set the balls in a line with about four feet between each ball. Have your preschooler hop over each ball without touching it. If your preschooler accidentally bumps it, s/he’ll have to start over. Before your preschooler can hop over the next ball, s/he has to name a letter as well as a word that starts with that letter. For example, after the first hop, your preschooler would say something like, “A is for Apple.” After the next successful hop, your preschooler would say, “B is for Bumble Bee.”
Shape Race
Visual discrimination
Spread the felt shapes out on the ground with plenty of room between them. You should have fewer shapes than preschoolers. For example, if you have 3 preschool racers, then only lay out 2 of each shape.
Give the paper shapes to the designated shape holder. The preschoolers have to run to whichever shape the shape holder is holding up. Whichever preschooler is left without the specified shape is out. After each round, remove one of each felt shape. Repeat steps 5 and 6 until only 1 preschooler remains. The remaining preschooler is the winner of the race.
Sentence Strip Charades
Reading
Choose sentences that fit childrens’ comprehension. Hold each sentence strip in front of them and read it aloud. Place sentence strips in a row facing down. Take turns, and allow a child to choose a sentence strip. Quietly read the sentence to the child, and instruct them to act it out. Whoever guesses right gets to act out the next sentence.
Activity Cards
Sight words
Hold up one of the activity cards and ask the children to act out the word. If they do not recognize the action words, remind them what the first letter is and help them to sound out the word.
Liquid Chalk
8 Tablespoons of Corn Starch
1 Cup of water
6-10 Drops of food coloring
Mix all of the above ingredients together. Mix until all the lumps are gone.
I would love to hear other suggestions. I think this could be applicable to lots of situations- libraries with outdoor spaces, homeschooling, etc.
