Play Date Anyone?

With April showers underway, both you and your kids may need a break from the everyday activities of your household. Thankfully, play dates offer a retreat from your daily routine and an opportunity for you and your child to form new friendships.

Where can I find play dates?

Sometimes the biggest challenge with a play date is finding the right group, but with these helpful tips, you can begin a successful play date that will make you and your child happy.

• Visit your local neighborhood park, community center, or library. Find other parents and children with your common interests to make your play group more compatible.
• Look online. Websites such as www.playdate.com offer a matching service based on age and location.
• Proactively use your neighborhood resources. Post notices on various bulletin boards in your neighborhood or at your child's school indicating your interest in finding other kids and parents to start a play group.

Important tips on setting play dates*

Once you have found your play date group, you will need to set guidelines beforehand to ensure that your children will get the most out of their new friendships.

• Set a time limit and schedule with the other parents in the group.
• Discuss discipline in order to draw a line on what behavior is unacceptable.
• Designate a parent for snack duty and make sure to check about possible food allergies.
• Choose a safe and appropriate location for the play date.

Play dates are the perfect opportunity to begin new activities and learn new games; whether you are in the house or the open air, there is plenty to do with your play group.

Indoor play

• Set up a scavenger hunt around the house.
• Build a "fort" out of old bed sheets and pillows.
• Start a cooking class and expose the children to new food that they have never tasted before.
• Set up a concert in your living room using pots, pans, and boxes as instruments.

Outdoor play

Make an outside chore fun.

• Encourage the kids to wash cars as a team or hold a neighborhood car wash for a community fundraiser.
• Organize the garage while having a sing-a-long contest.
• Have the kids help with a gardening project and let them get messy.
• Make new discoveries.
• Search for unusual flowers and pick them to make a bouquet or headpiece.
• Look for unique bugs and take pictures to make a collage.
• Do something nice in your neighborhood.
• Put a spin on the lemonade stand by holding a bake sale with other neighborhood kids.
• Offer water to runners and walkers.
• Start a friendly game of kickball or another game that requires teamwork.
• Bring coloring supplies to the park, sit at a picnic table, and draw.
• Host a bike parade and have the kids decorate their bikes and ride through the neighborhood.

*Source: Guide to great playdates, Kim Wallace, Parentcenter.com