Activities for Older Children

[KAP14]

Hi,

I run Family Day Care service and regularly have after school care children in my care, ranging from ages 5 -9 yrs. Lately my older boys have been saying they are bored because all they want to do is play on the computer or video game device like at home. I also live in an area that gets quite hot during the summer months so we are limited in our outdoor play as well (I have been advised by my service supervisor not to let my children out during the BOM's warning times which lately has been until 4.30ish as the UV has been in the extreme range).

Even though I have a range of toy and resources for the children to play with, they are not interested because it is not an electrical device. Can anyone share any ideas or activities that I could try? Feeling a bit frustrated and the children will not give me any ideas of what they want to do.

Thank you,
KAP14

[linsaa fdc]

Hi KAP14,

I'm in FDC too and that's the first I have heard of this. The children aren't kept indoors at school all day are they and what about the little ones you have in care during the day? A big part of the children's day and play is outdoors, but then I don't know where you are or how hot it gets, sorry for my ignorance but what is BOM's. We go to the soccer field and kick the ball around, ours does have ample shade though. The library, ours have an after school group and free art activities, park, water play. I have a huge science folder and I can't remember where I got it from but each Friday I let the older children choose one each for each day of the following week. Only criteria is, it can't cost a lot of money to do and the harder experiments would have to be done on days we don't have as many little ones in care. That organising alone keeps them very busy on a Friday as they have to write up the plan and what we will need. I might seem harsh but I don't do the word "bored" as I have so much for them to do if they can't think of something then I will find them something and it might not be as pleasant as something they choose to do themselves.....lol....tidy up. They only do the bored thing because they think if they say it enough they will wear you down and let them play the electronic games they want to play. With my school boys and girls we also do scrap booking. I print the photo and they write up what it is all about and decorate it and put it into their folders, they really enjoy it. I went to local printing services and asked for any off cuts of any size colour and texture. I know it costs a bit at first but once you buy some stamps and hole punches, the paper and photos we have to do for our documentation anyway. Sometimes its just a silly photo with their friends but it keeps them busy for a couple of afternoons getting that photo just right on their pages. Get them involved and have fun
linsaa fdc

[KAP14]

Hi Linsaa,

Thanks for your reply. BOM is the Bureau of Meteorology and they have a daily weather chart that shows what the temp and UV factor is for the day. I live in country WA and this summer we have Extreme UV days I would love to let my children out all day and we generally spend most of the morning outside when it is cooler, but I have been scolded a few times and "advises" not to let my children out in the afternoon when we have hot days/high UV by my service supervisor, especially when she does surprise visits.

Thank you for your ideas about dealing with 'bored' issue. I tried it this afternoon and it worked well (I told one of my boys if he was so bored he could always get his homework out of the way). I might have to try the scrap booking idea as a few of my girls really like arts and craft.

Thanks again,
KAP14

[linsaa fdc]

Hi KAP14,

You really have your work cut out for you keeping children indoors.
In that light a couple of years ago when I had 7 after school kids , and little ones during the school hours, I subscribed to a reading website and the kids couldn't get enough of it. It wasn't more than $80 for a year at the time and it allowed up to 12 children. I can't think of the name but I will look into it. Each child gets their own login and they get a level of books to read and questions at the end. It sounds like homework but they get points or stars and they get to buy things for their own spaceship and for the ones that do really well or ones that you want to encourage you can login and reward them surprise points. You can use this for 3-12 year olds. I had to buy an egg timer for them to time themselves because they used to fight over it.
Also you will be surprised with the boys because they really enjoy scrap booking too. A fun way to get them started is with a silly photo, maybe get one of them all pulling a funny face, I haven't had a boy yet that hasn't enjoyed it. Kmart also has some very reasonable craft stuff and you can purchase online.Get each family to supply a folder and it can be the child's keepsake at the end of the year. I will get back to you with the name of the reading website, some school teachers up here also use it in the classroom.
Hope its not too hot for you today, I'm in QLD and its hot enough here. linsaa fdc

[linsaa fdc]

The name is raz-kids.com. There is a free trial and free samples, I forgot to add in the previous reply that the children can record themselves reading their books and play it back so they can hear themselves read, they can also do it at home. You could also ask parents to chip in a few dollars.
Bye
linsaa fdc

[KAP14]

Sorry for the delayed reply linsaa. Everything has been going wrong lately and I haven't been on the site . I will check the site as it sounds interesting and my older kids would love this for the holidays. Thanks.

KAP14

[linsaa fdc]

Hope everything is ok and its not your work causing you grief