With our 40 year anniversary at Wee Watch, we thought it would be fun to look back at our original newsletter and pull out an article that was originally published back in our early days (this one was from 1992…and the advice still holds up today!
From our Baby Talk Newsletter – March 1992
Providers and parents often ask for activity ideas for school-age children. With March Break coming up, many Providers and/or parents will find they have a house “full” of school-age children all day for a week (instead of the usual couple hours a day.) In order to be prepared with some special activities planned, as well as having some “backup” ideas, we are sharing the following excerpt from Caring For Young Children (the viewers guide for the TVOntario series.)
Activities for School-Aged Children
School-aged children have spent most of their day in a fairly structured environment. After school, there should be time to relax and choose an activity they enjoy, even if that activity is listening to music or watching television for awhile. Some children, after sitting at a desk for the better of the day need vigorous physical activity. Some just want to relax. It’s important to let children set their own pace of activity after school. Some activities you might offer include:
Encourage hobbies and interests by providing the necessary materials. Collections of all kinds can make a great hobby for a child. For example: rocks, stamps, baseball or sports card collections are all popular. Other types of hobbies include baking, sewing, knitting, crocheting, drawing, painting, needlepoint, woodworking, etc. Share your own hobbies and special skills with school-age children. Your own enthusiasm may be infectious.
Card games like Solitaire, Old Maid, Crazy Eights and War are all old favourites. Library books of card games are available if you’ve forgotten the rules to the Golden Oldies or want to try something new and different.
Board games like Scrabble, Monopoly, Snakes and Ladders, Parcheesi, etc.
Encourage active play and sports to help build muscles and improve co-ordination and confidence. Sports equipment might include: basketballs, bat and glove, golf clubs and balls, horseshoe sets, pogo sticks and stilts.
Have a Help-Yourself Craft Box on hand when the creative urge strikes!
Some old favourites still work well. Paper dolls, magic sets and books, science activity sets, chemistry sets, jacks and marbles can provide hours of fun.
Have a private space where school-agers can play, relax and store materials and ongoing projects out of the reach of younger children.
Toys for school-aged children:
Word and number game
Board games
Kites, bicycles, pogo stick
Sports equipment
Activity books, puzzles
Building/construction sets
Embroidery, sewing sets Computer games
|