Need Help With Summer Activities

[mrsyecker]

I will have an assistant during the summer along with 5 school age children. I want to have lots of things for them to do. I am thinking along the lines of minute to win it style games and such. I am looking for any ideas you have to share!

[AfterSchoolMom]

Water balloon toss (make extras and let them have a free for all afterward)
Running in Sprinkler or playing w/ water hose

Soccer, football, baseball, basketball, kickball

Science "experiments" - make your own goop, diet coke/mentos, make your own play dough, etc.

Movie Day with popcorn

frisbee "golf" (use hoola hoops for the holes - lay them flat or have the other kids hold them up)

hoola hooping contest with music

relay races - crab walk, bear crawl, egg on spoon (outside!), sponge relay (wet bucket at one end, dry bucket w/ fill line at the other end)

scavenger hunt or clue hunt - hide plastic easter eggs with clues to the next location - have a treat hidden at the end

Anything arts and crafts - my older ones love painting, bracelet making, and beading

Cooking - have them help mix cakes, cupcakes, cookies, make salad, squeeze ketchup into funny shapes or faces, make parfaits with yogurt and fruit, etc.

String bubbles with dish soap - makes HUGE bubbles

sidewalk chalk murals

....that's all I've got for now! Hope this helps.

[jessrlee]

My school agers love taking walks to different playgrounds, bubbles, having yo-yo competitions, the tire swing, scooters, chalk, right now at Target they have soccer goals, tee ball, bowling, ect for 50% off. I bought a bunch and plan to pull them out on really hard days for something new, different, and active.

Inside: I bought a Cricut Create at Michaels for $50. At the beginning of the summer I make them journals and during nap time or on rainy days they scap pictures that I print and journal about what they do. We also participate in every reading program I can find! Last summer we did 4! They got books from B&N, Borders, and Books a million. Our local library did a prize for every 200 pages. They got food coupons and coupons to the pool so we did those for free field trips. Last summer we also did free movie wednesdays, and the bowling alley had three free weekdays. We packed our lunches and went on hikes and everything! The best thing about school agers is they love pushing strollers and pulling wagons!

I hope this helps!

[AnythingsPossible]

Originally Posted by jessrlee

My school agers love taking walks to different playgrounds, bubbles, having yo-yo competitions, the tire swing, scooters, chalk, right now at Target they have soccer goals, tee ball, bowling, ect for 50% off. I bought a bunch and plan to pull them out on really hard days for something new, different, and active.

Inside: I bought a Cricut Create at Michaels for $50. At the beginning of the summer I make them journals and during nap time or on rainy days they scap pictures that I print and journal about what they do. We also participate in every reading program I can find! Last summer we did 4! They got books from B&N, Borders, and Books a million. Our local library did a prize for every 200 pages. They got food coupons and coupons to the pool so we did those for free field trips. Last summer we also did free movie wednesdays, and the bowling alley had three free weekdays. We packed our lunches and went on hikes and everything! The best thing about school agers is they love pushing strollers and pulling wagons!

I hope this helps!

Two questions, how many kids do you watch and how many of those are SA's?? Unfortunately for us, we don't live near enough things to walk. The only thing close to us is a soccer field, so we do walk down there in the summer and take bubbles and balls. I don't have a lot of idea's for this age group either so both of the previous responses were great!

[Cat Herder]

The big favorites here, when I had SA kids in the summer, was the zip line, tree house, trampoline, calligraphy sets, laser tag, water balloons, air dry clay and water sprinklers.

Now, I did the unpopular thing of allowing them to get on the playstation, computers and game boys during nap times for the youngers. It was a hail Mary pass until the end of summer to keep my word to the parents. That was my last group.

IMHO Mixed ages like 11yrs and 3mnths are just too hard to keep everyone stimulated and active for 50+ hours a week. Especially without breaks WHILE also doing all the cooking, cleaning, refereeing, being the No-PDA Nazi and keeping up with diaper changes. UNCLE!!

(little chuckle that I can say Nazi but not c a s i n o )