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Today I have a family coming to sign contracts for their 3 SA kids. I will have their youngest (4) full time all day until her starts preK next fall and then he will be here half day. I will also have his brother (7) and sister (10!!) before and after school and then also all summer.. My program now caters to little guys, I have my DCD (2) and a 5 mo old and also a 10 mo old. This is going to be a big jump for us. I know it's really going to benefit my daughter by finally having someone to play with but what do I do with the 10 year old all day? I'm going to allow her to bring her tablet and try to give her more of a helper role, but I'm curious as to what you guys do to entertain and engage the older kids in your group?
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My daughter is 10 so she's here after school and summer, and yes, she loves to help. I'd ask mom what her favorite activities are. -
Don't worry. She will find her roll, most likely want to help out a lot. 10 year old girls love playing with the real little ones, but will also play fine with the other SA, despite the age difference.
Definitely try to find out what she likes to do. Save the tablet for times when she really needs something to do- when she's bored or all the SA are getting loud and roudy (cuz they're bored) .Comment
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I only do school age on occasion now because it is so hard to have both babies and older ones at the same time.
That said I have done it and take some once in a while during school breaks.
Mostly I find it best to actually ask the children what they like to do and also their parents. When I used to only do childcare in the summer (during the school year I worked in a school) I had 3 boys plus my own 3 and I had all kind of what I thought were cool activities. They did a whole day of planned activities by noon and then said "Now what can we do?" :
: So then I figured out that the 3 boys were mostly into athletic stuff and at the time I transported as I only had school aged but I don't transport now. We park hopped, did the nature center trails, etc. Anything active.
Since you have such young ones (are you sure you want to do this?
) I would look for things that they can do themselves. Also tell them they can bring things. That worked really well for me. They can bring their legos, books, cars, dolls or whatever they are into.
-board games/card games
-open ended arts and crafts (I used to keep a box of odds and ends for them to use to create things with). Include tape. They looove tape. Staplers are popular too. A ball of yarn was a big hit too.
-reading time (parents will love you for this). Find out what they like and go to the library (I didn't take the kids). My rule was library books always stay at my house though. One provider I know has the children earn video game time by how much they read. For example, when you've read for an hour (total time) then you get 30 min. of video game time. My granddaughter (7) really enjoyed the non fiction library books the most. Animals are always a hit as well as dinosaurs. We also got some arts and crafts books. She did several collages from a 'how to' in a library book.
-Outdoor time is important but that is hard. Walks worked pretty well because I could put the babies in the stroller for a ride. If regular walks get boring try doing an I Spy game while you're walking. Give them a list of things to find with their eyes. Find something with stripes, find a man cutting the grass, find a white dog, a person wearing a hat, etc. I also gave them sidewalk chalk and they would write the letters of the alphabet as we'd walk along and then we'd circle back around to see them. They thought that was neat. They could collect leaves as they walk and then come back and make a collage. Turn contact paper on the sticky side and have everyone stick their leaves on it and then cover it with another piece. We did a group collage this way.
-Legos and other such manipulatives.
-They can make simple snacks for the others. Mine sliced bananas with a dull canape knife (or could use plastic), spread peanut butter on graham crackers, butter toast, assemble kiddie trail mix (like dry Cheerios & raisins).
-Tents and forts. I just put some big blankets over my kitchen table and they love to play under it.
-Barbie dolls
-Water play is always popular as long as they don't get too wild.
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Oh I forgot. They liked make believe like I'd give them some things to play restaurant (paper plates and plastic ware), they made menus, etc. There is office, beauty shop (I loved to be the customer), train/bus (lining up chairs, tickets, etc.). We live in hurricane country and once they even played hurricane. It was too funny. One would yell hurricane and everybody scrambled into a small plastic climber that I used to keep inside.
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