Ideas for SA's??

[Josiegirl]

Winter break is next week and I'm expecting up to 6 extra kids on any given day, 4 dcgs and 2 boys, ages 6 mostly with a 10 yo girl. Very busy and active. I plan on spending as much time outside as humanly possible but other than that, do you guys have any activity ideas? Maybe something to keep them moving and busy busy busy? These kids can get into trouble if not kept busy at all times. Yesterday was a nightmare due to nasty weather; never made it outside.
I'm think this may very well be the last year I offer SA care. I'm just too old for it. I'd rather follow toddlers around all day then the older kids, especially this group.

[Starburst]

Do you have any board games that are age appropriate? The Headbandz game (a guessing game) is really fun. Also boggle, scrabble, candy cane lane, shoots and latters, apples to apples (kids version), etc. Do you have any Barbies or action figures (are they capable of playing responsibly with this toys- i.e. not using violence or inappropriate behavior)? Maybe get some craft kits where they can make something like bracelets, wrist bands, tee shirts/tie dye, paint by the numbers, or science kits. Do you have pictures of them in your daycare? maybe they can make a scrap book and decorate the pages howevery they want.

Does your state have any rules that limit screen time; like if you have a Wii with a dance game or a Rock Band/Guitar Hero (at least it's something they are doing rather than just staring blankly at a screen). Or do you have a karaoke machine or a cd full of songs that are age appropriate for the kids and they can make their own dances (the girls may be more likely to participate).

If you want them to be more involved with the group of your younger kids they can try to reading stories to the younger children or make a simple skit/play and they can preform it for the youngers (simple folk tales like the 'The Tortoise and the Hare'). Maybe you can even have an improv game with the kids (like the show 'Whose Line is it Anyway').

I don't think the issue is finding something that they would be interested in, so much as it would be finding something they can do while you have the youngers without them feeling left out (unless you have an assistant who can watch the school agers and take them to the park or something while you take care of the young'uns).

[Josiegirl]

Thanks Starburst, I do have lots of board games and plan on involving them with cooking and baking next week. They also like to read to the younger kids. IF I can get their interest. I tried some of that on Friday and all it took was one to say no, then everybody says no.

I have to check out pinterest and see if I can find something different, as far as crafts. I don't have any extra money to spend on kits or anything right now but our local $ store is closing and last time I was there, everything was 25% off. So maybe I can still find something that might spark some ideas.

[VTMom]

I'm feeling your pain! We'll be off until the day after Town Meeting Day.

My plans for school vacation this week, in addition to being outside as much as possible, are to make snowflakes with borax and pipe cleaners (found it on pinterest), make Mardi Gras masks, paint macaroni and make Mardi Gras necklaces. We have a former DCB coming for a visit with his Mom tomorrow morning, so that's pretty exciting.

Our typical day with the SA on a vacation day, includes crafts, free play, outside play, and then after lunch, they'll read for an hour followed by a movie or show until nap times are over. The reading and screen time gives the kids some down time and provides volume control while the little ones sleep.

The days seem to go by really fast, although there is zero down time for me.

Good luck!

[childcaremom]

My girls are big into Rainbow Loom. There is a way to make bracelets with just the elastics and 2 pencils. The elastics can be pricey (in Canada they are $4 a bag) but you could make a few bracelets out of one bag. This keeps my girls entertained for hours.

They also like colouring, painting, sensory play (they love the sensory table I have and spend more time in it than the dcks), music, lego (or other bricks).

On the cheap, you could set up your table with a bunch of different craft supplies and let them at it. Divide into 2 groups maybe so it doesn't get too out of hand. Put them to 'work' doing chores. Dishes, clearing, etc. Waitresses/waitors to bring the meals over (give them aprons, notebook, pencil, etc). Helpers with the little ones.

Dance, yoga, acting. You could have them write/present a puppet show or theatre production. Give them a bit of time each day to work on it with a grande finale at the end of the week. Tickets, snacks, ushers, etc.

Board games, card games. Charades. We did a charades where I had created cards with simple pictures (tree, horse, bridge, etc). I also had a box of legos. Each child had to pick a card, then build it with lego and the others had to guess what it was in a set time frame. They had tons of fun doing that (the group was mostly 10 but you could gear it to all ages with the objects that they have to build).

You could have theme days: Medieval. Princess/knight training. Different skills must be learned in order to win your knight's shield or princess crown. Decide what skills these are and have the children complete tasks to earn them. Knights: need to aim (throwing bean bags at target), find dragons (treasure hunt)
Princesses: Ok, I'm drawing a blank. Maybe a tea party?

Scavenger hunt: work as teams to see who can find the objects on the list. Can change the difficulty easily by having pictures (for early readers) or clues (for older kids)

If you have snow: who can build the biggest snowman, they could build a fort, build a snow slide, paint the snow

Pick a country: learn about it. Food, language, music

We did a princess party for my daughter's 6 party. Her favourite princess is Sleeping Beauty. We did activities centred around the story. I wrote a poem that paused for them to complete activities: walking through the forest, are we on the right path?, look for the mushrooms to make sure; find a certain # of roses, she is woken by a kiss so find 8 kisses (there were 8 girls and 8 felt lips), etc, etc. You could do this for any theme, really, boy or girl.

I think I could go on and on