Staying at home with your kids is a rewarding experience. Sometimes you and your kids need interaction with the outside world. One way to do this that is both a benefit to your children and yourself is to create or join a playgroup. This gives your child(ren) valuable interaction that is needed to develop his/her social skills. In addition it gives you an excellent opportunity to converse with adults. We all know what it's like to be at home all day with no adult interaction.

Playgroups can be found or formed at local community centers, church organizations, and mutual friends and online. If you have friends or family with children the same age then you have the makings of a possible playgroup. If not, then you can go to your community center, church or online playgroup search to look for other moms with the same interests.

In addition to setting up playdates, this is a good avenue to set up girls' night outs with other moms.

Setting up playmates:

Rotate the play date host from each playgroup mom. This will allow the children to interact in different settings.

Keep the day/time consistent so that it will not interfere in the children's' schedules (nap, sleep, mommy time)

Schedule public play dates at your local park, story time at the local bookstore, swimming pools, etc... This will take the monotony out of it.

Bring the necessary change of clothes, diapers, and snacks.

Going Online to find playgroups:

Playgroup matching sites are springing up on the Internet. These allow you to look for other moms looking for playgroups to join based on city and/or zip code. One such playgroup search is at MommiesCloset.Com's Playgroups database. This site as with others allow you to both join existing playgroups and to create playgroups for other moms to join. Some site such as the one mentioned above, allow you to search by zip code giving a defined radius to limit your search (i.e. 30 miles from 90210). Many moms are finding these sites extremely useful.

Once you have your playgroup, just remember to enjoy yourself and make it an enjoyable experience for your children.