Hi,
I recently started working with schoolagers ages 6-12. This is my first job and I'm finding it quite challenging at times.

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Welcome to the forum. Here are done threads regarding school age: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.php?tag=schoolage

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Are you doing it in your home or a center?

I did it for a while in a center (after school care) and some in my home.

Here are a few tips:

-Ask the kids what THEY would like to do. The first time I did school aged care in my home one summer I had all kinds of fun activities planned out and they did them in maybe 2 hours! Turns out they weren't into crafts but rather sports and outdoor things like hiking.

-They need a LOT of physical activity.

-If you are at home, cooking is really popular.

-When I had school aged with toddler/infants it was really hard. We walked to the park every single day and played and walked back home. Wear them out!

-One summer we did a 'travel around the U.S.A.' or it could be 'world'. I got a map and we marked where we 'were' and did activities from those states. Example, Florida we made freshly squeezed orange juice and Kentucky we explored caves. We watched a spelunking movie from the library and then made a cave in the living room (from blankets over chairs, crawling behind and under furniture, etc.).

One provider on another site had a good idea. When hers wanted to do video games, they had to earn them by reading books. You read for X amount of time and that 'earns' you video game time. Say read for an hour and earn 1/2 hour of time or whatever.

Laurel

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