The Otago side trained at Watson Park in Port Chalmers and played some games with Port Chalmers School pupils.
Otago assistant coach Bruce Carvell said it was good for the players to get out and mix with children, who enjoyed meeting the players and playing the games.
With the 36-16 loss to Canterbury, Otago dropped to 10th place on the table and it has now won just two games from the seven played.
But Carvell said the side did not see itself as out of the hunt for the semifinals, midway through the round-robin part of the Air New Zealand Cup.
"There are still 30 points up for grabs so we are far from gone.
"There is still a lot of belief in this team and spirits are still high," he said.
"I think we are playing significantly better than last year but then other teams have come up a couple of notches, too."
In a 14-team competition, with just straight semifinals this year, it is a tough task to make the final four.
Otago will have to win at least four of its last six games and rely on other results to go its way.
It plays Hawkes Bay in Napier on Saturday.
The side has no major injury worries, with prop Sam Hibbard leaving the field only as a precaution late in the Shield challenge against Canterbury, with a sore calf.
Inside backs Chris Noakes and Luke Herden are still out with leg injuries and are unavailable this week, while loose forward Adam Thomson and lock Tom Donnelly are on All Black duty.
Carvell said the side had talked about the loss to Canterbury but the scoreline had ballooned out at the end.
In some statistical areas, Otago had finished ahead of Canterbury.
The game against Hawkes Bay will be a meeting of some familiar faces, with Hawkes Bay providing half a dozen Highlanders this year.
