Starting a Play Group

Last year our local MOPS group unexpectedly closed, taking with it our plans for regular social interaction for this school year. My little princess was starting kindergarten, but my construction foreman is three and was really beginning to enjoy playing with other little boys. Over the course of the summer he developed enough imaginary friends to form a baseball team, and I really began to brainstorm ways to get him around other children on a regular basis.

Out of that need grew an informal playgroup. My little foreman is all male - totally into trucks, wheels, and anything mechanical. I decided to set up visits to local community helpers so that we could learn about their jobs and see their vehicles up close and personal. I sent out an invitation via Facebook and found out who might be interested and then set a day and time that seemed to work for most people. My goal was to keep each visit as close to free as possible and include some kind of educational opportunity.

After that I developed a small list of places that we could visit. It looked something like this:

Construction site

Post Office

Park

Fire Station

Police Station

Doctor's Office

Cook

Dentist

Musician

Now, a few months later, other moms are sending in ideas for visits - and they've got great ones! It looked at first as if we could only meet when the weather permitted since we lack a meeting place or host sponsor, but so far, by being creative, we've been able to continue meeting even as the temperatures have dropped by visiting places that are indoors and by using a local church who has agreed to share their facilities sometimes.

Read on for more information about some of our field trips!