Keeping School Age Kids Entertained Indoors

[DaisyMamma]

I have a large number (for me) of after school kids (7 or 8). They are loud and routy and we have a blast outside during mild days.... but of course the cold days are coming. I didn't have all these last winter and I'm a little nervous to say the least.
I plan on having a fairly strict schedule for them to help with cutting down chaos.
I'm thinking...
Get off the bus, put your bags away and play outside for at least 15 minutes, or if it is really too cold we can do an exercise indoors to kill the initial craziness of just getting here - like Simon says or ??
Then snack, all sitting together at the table. Once everyone is done
then homework for those who have it. Those who don't ??? ideas please? Craft? Bored game?
Then we're at about 45 minutes - hour at which time 2 kids leave. I've got another half hour at least for the rest. ..

[meganlavonnesmommy]

Legos! They are expensive, but worth every penny. My schoolagers will play for hours with legos.

Other ideas...
Perler beads
board games (trouble, monopoly, connect 4, pictureka, life)
Rainbow scratch boards
coloring books and crayons
stencils and colored pencils
playdough
puzzles ( I have wooden ones with rhyming words, counting and math)

sensory bucket. More for the younger age crowd, but my schoolagers love to play with it too. I use a large flat rubbermaid storage container, clear, and fill it with black and white beans. Then fill it with different items for the season. For Halloween I used halloween items found at the dollar store, I havent found anything for thanksgiving, but will fill it again at christmas time with christmas items. I give each child a small scoop or spoon and a plastic glass and they scoop and fill for hours. Uncovering and finding items as they play.

[sharlan]

I have 2 SA's that can't do anything for more than 5 mins, EXCEPT for get the two littles riled up. They can't even watch cartoons for more than 4 mins. I am not looking forward to bad weather.

Inside I have:
2 seperate craft boxes - #1 with crayons, etc and #2 with paint, etc
playdough, cloud dough, moon sand, and rice w/tons of accessories
Legos, duplos - 3 large buckets
K'nex - 3 large buckets
puzzles - from 20 piece to 100 piece
dry erase boards w/crayons and markers
race tracks for cars
car and train sets
air hockey table
card games
dominoes
board games

Outside I have:
bikes and razor scooters
sand tables w/lots of accessories
swingset play structure

That doesn't include the preschool toys that I have.

[Meyou]

One of the best things I have ever had for school aged kids was BIG paper. I buy boxes of packing paper from Uhaul. The paper is 2.5'x4' long and there are 100's of sheets for about $15. They can play with it for hours. Maps, drawing each other, making giant paper stuff.....they love it.

[morgan24]

I'm really happy to see all the ideas everyone has. I have school age boy who spends all his time getting the younger ones going. I'm going to use some of these ideas to hopefully keep him busy. He also makes weapons out of any type of block their is, how do you stop that besides putting them away. I hate to put them up cause the younger ones love to build.

[AfterSchoolMom]

I'd either allow him to make weapons (but not use them to "shoot" anyone) or I'd tell him that if he makes weapons, they'll get put up and he'll have to sit and study for the remainder of the afternoon.

Our schedule went like this:

3:00 Walk home from bus
3:10 to 3:20 Snack time, time to "unwind"
3:20-3:45 or so Homework/Reading Time
3:45-4:45 Outside or Indoor Crafts/Board Games/Blocks/Indoor Exercise
4:45-5:00 Clean up, pack up, TV Time


When inside, we did blocks/legos, arts and crafts, board games, or "dance party" (I used my itunes or Pandora and they danced around - great indoor activity that everyone loved!). I second the large roll of paper for arts and crafts. I always supplied LOTS of paper, stickers, paint, stampers, glue, scissors, etc...and let them go to town. We only did crafts that required a particular end result at holidays (painted pumpkins, christmas ornaments, etc.), and the rest of the time everything was open ended. They also really loved my indoor bowling set, and I have a small air hockey table and an indoor basketball goal that they can throw "koosh balls" or Nerf balls into.

If it was a particularly nasty day on a Friday (our school system doesn't give homework on Fridays) we'd often have popcorn for snack and do a movie afternoon.

I don't know how the weather is in the winter where you live, but here they played outside every day unless it was raining heavily.

I miss my schoolers. The parents drove me nuts, but I'd rather be doing that than what I'm doing.