Summer play dates are easy for elementary school children. Take advantage of the nice weather and let them run around outside. If your community has a pool, they can spend the day swimming in the pool. If not, you can set up a sprinkler and they can run through it to cool down. When fall arrives though, the weather turns cooler and stormier, and many community pools close. This requires parents to be a bit more creative as their children have play dates with old friends and new classmates.
Yard Games
Early during the fall, the weather still offers an opportunity for children to have fun outdoors, instead of being bottled up inside. The children can play various games such as kickball, soccer and wiffle ball in the backyard. Other games for groups of children include capture the flag and kick the can. These games allow the kids to run off some of that extra energy. For something a little more structured, design a scavenger hunt in the back yard. Create a list of items ranging from those that you hide such as colored rocks, to items in nature such as a four leaf clover or a specific flower. Assign points to each item and challenge the children to collect as many as possible within a specified time limit. The child with the most points wins.
Zoo Trip
Take your child and a few of his friends on a play date to the local zoo. Some zoos are free, others will require that each guest pays an admission fee. Ask the parents to give you that money, and if you have a large group of children ask for one or two other parents to volunteer as chaperones. The children will learn about the different animals at the zoo ranging from ferocious ones such as lions to the tame ones such as birds. Some zoos have additional activities such as petting zoos and playgrounds for the children.
County or State Park
Have a picnic in the park with the children. Spend the afternoon going on a short hike and learning about nature. If the kids have bikes, ask them to bring bikes and go for a bike ride in the park. You can even introduce them to fishing if the park has a small pond with fish in the water. After a few hours of playing, enjoy a picnic lunch along with snacks for the children after lunch. The rest of the day they can play on any playground equipment at the park or in an open field with toys such as a football or soccer ball.
Pumpkin Decorating
Pumpkin carving may be a little too challenging for Elementary School children. That doesn’t mean they can’t creative pumpkin decorations for Halloween. Take the children to a pumpkin farm to choose their individual pumpkins, or have them at your house ready to decorate. Provide an assortment of paints and magic markers for the children to use to decorate their own pumpkins. Once the paint and marker has dried, the children can take the pumpkins home and decorate outside the homes with them.
Local Mall
If you don’t have enough room for the children to play at your house, take them to a local mall. It offers several different opportunities for fun. Look for a play area inside the mall for children to play on. After spending time there, take them for lunch at a fast food restaurant. Entertainment options for a play date at the mall include the movie theater, arcades and possibly an indoor miniature golf course.
Cookie Making
As the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas approach, the children to your house to create decorative cookies. Not only are they decorations, but they are tasty to eat as well. Use sugar cookie mix and provide icing of various colors and sprinkles to decorate their cookies. Each child can then keep some of the cookies he decorated and share others with the other children to take home.
Bowling Alley
Bowling alleys offer enough entertainment for a full play date. The children can spend a couple hours competing in a few games of bowling. Many bowling alleys also serve food. You might be able to get a group rate where you pay for the lane, a few pizzas, soda, and rental shoes all for a reduced rate at the bowling alley compared to paying for them individually. If the children are done bowling and want further entertainment, some bowling alleys feature arcades to entertain the kids.