School Agers For The Summer- What Do They Like To Do?

[KEG123]

So my own son is 5, and he is basically the oldest I've ever had in care. This summer I'll be having a 6 and an 8 year old. I plan to ask them what sort of things they like to do, to get some ideas, but I'd also like to hear what YOU all think. From what mom says is they very rarely watch TV and are pretty much little/no electronics. That's great, IMO! We plan to be outside a lot. But lots of my outdoor stuff (most, really) is geared towards toddler age children.

But anyways, what sorts of activities do you do with older kids? Since right now, they'll be the only two in my care, we can do outings to the zoo, library, parks, etc., which will be nice. But I am trying to fill my other spots so at some point field trips may not be possible.

Thanks for the input!

[Christina72684]

I would love some ideas! I'll have 8-11 kids every day, majority boys, and ranging from ages 3-10. This is my first summer with after schoolers and I know they're gonna drive me nuts unless we have some sort of structure. We are doing weekly themes so hopefully that'll help. Plus we started new jobs for them to do and a reward system for good behavior (since that's our major issue with the older boys).

I know we can always go outside and play, but there's days like today when it's pouring rain outside, or days when it's 85 degrees and they're burning up. Plus all they wanna do is play baseball and continually hit the balls out of our fenced in yard.

[Jewels]

my school agers love arts and crafts, I have a different craft for every week over the summer, one week we will be making bird houses, painting wooden trains, sun catchers, sand art bottles....we will also have a giant water balloon fight one day, I have a bigger wading pool for the big kids most days, bubbles, I'm going to make a rock painting station outside, the love the sandbox, I have a very large sandbox. They may not love it but they get to read everyday, and I also buy each of my school agers a couple workbooks each a fun one and one at their school level, to work on when bored or rainy days for a little bit. They love games. I think they are pretty easy, and I have never once heard the phrase "I'm bored" well not yet anyway. We will also have 3 different parties through the summer, a movie popcorn party, and ice cream sunday party, and a piza party, and they will earn these through reading books, and the books I read for story time, they also love experiments, so I plan a few of those, at the beginning of summer we will do the diet coke mentos explosion, we will make gak, do cornstarch vingar explosions, I'd like to do balloons filled with paint and water for them to splat. I have some educational computer programs I've purchased that they get to play on during rainy days and down time, and I have a couple boys who do love video games and they can read for video game time every once in a while, Read for 30 minutes and I'll let you play for 30minutes on your DS's during quiet time......my school agers also all play outside for an hour during quiet time, but in my state they can play unattended if I trust them.....I love school agers, and they are great helps, my bigger kids help me get drinks for everyone during lunch and snack time, they pass out napkins, clear the little kids dished from the tables, they can be the WORST cleaners though during clean up time.

[VTMom]

my school agers love arts and crafts, I have a different craft for every week over the summer, one week we will be making bird houses, painting wooden trains, sun catchers, sand art bottles....we will also have a giant water balloon fight one day, I have a bigger wading pool for the big kids most days, bubbles, I'm going to make a rock painting station outside, the love the sandbox, I have a very large sandbox. They may not love it but they get to read everyday, and I also buy each of my school agers a couple workbooks each a fun one and one at their school level, to work on when bored or rainy days for a little bit. They love games. I think they are pretty easy, and I have never once heard the phrase "I'm bored" well not yet anyway. We will also have 3 different parties through the summer, a movie popcorn party, and ice cream sunday party, and a piza party, and they will earn these through reading books, and the books I read for story time, they also love experiments, so I plan a few of those, at the beginning of summer we will do the diet coke mentos explosion, we will make gak, do cornstarch vingar explosions, I'd like to do balloons filled with paint and water for them to splat. I have some educational computer programs I've purchased that they get to play on during rainy days and down time, and I have a couple boys who do love video games and they can read for video game time every once in a while, Read for 30 minutes and I'll let you play for 30minutes on your DS's during quiet time......my school agers also all play outside for an hour during quiet time, but in my state they can play unattended if I trust them.....I love school agers, and they are great helps, my bigger kids help me get drinks for everyone during lunch and snack time, they pass out napkins, clear the little kids dished from the tables, they can be the WORST cleaners though during clean up time.

Sounds similar to what we do as well. Each kid gets a doodle pad to draw/color/write in with their names on it. They love it. Arts and crafts are huge. Stock up on tape! One year I had a larger wading pool and the smaller hard plastic one with slide for the younger kids...or that was my thought anyway. All the kids, including the older school kids, liked the hard plastic one!

This year I ordered compasses, magnifying glasses and bug catchers for each kid. I'm hoping to find some kind of scavenger hunt type thing to use the compasses for. If that's successful, I'll challenge them to create hunts for each other. That should keep them busy for a while!

[MNMommy2]

They can be great helpers, but, oh my, they can also be pretty disruptive.

I only have a couple this year, and I am trying to figure out what to do with them at nap time! They will be allowed to watch a little tv each day, but not the whole two hours, that is for sure. I will be watching for ideas, as well.

I know I will be working on math with my own SA!

[Unregistered]

Board games
Crafts
Books
Magazines
Water/Mud play
Bug Houses
Daycare garden
Bubbles,skipping ropes, chalk, balls, skip-its, hula hoops
Science experiments
sprinkler
items to support imaginary play

[tenderhearts]

In my experience with older ones, they only LOVE to make the younger ones all riled up.

[DaisyMamma]

Run around outside. Go swimming. Go to parks. They have tons of energy and do not nap.
They love crafts, coloring, video games. Get bored easily. Tend to not play with toys. They would much rather be outside on the swings.

[VTMom]

I forgot to mention that Lakeshore Learning (online) has daily calendars for pre-k through K, as well as gr 1-3. It has daily tasks such as write a poem, find 6 things in nature with symmetry, etc. I'm planning on using that for a daily activity just to keep the brain working!

[MarinaVanessa]

School Agers For The Summer- What Do They Like To Do?

• Whine
• Complain
• Talk about how they are bored
• Destroy my toys
• Run wild
• Break my rules
• Back talk ...

Oh I'm sorry ... you wanted ideas about what type of activities to do with them ::. Okay I really am sorry. I just had to be sarcastic since I typically don't take SA ... too much work for me.

My DD is 8yo though and she likes to

• do word searches
• read chapter books (Harry Potter, Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Penderwick Sisters etc)
• Draw with markers
• Play with Legos
• Play board games
• play learning games on the computer
• etc