Twice a year we have a ballet recital with all of our little ballerinas. It’s a big deal. We pack the auditorium with families and the little dancers take the stage in their very cute costumes.

Once a year my acting class students put on a variety show for their families. Again, it is very cute and the parents love it.

At the end of each session the kids that take our art and garden classes invite their parents to the last class of the session to show off what they have done.

At the end of the session the kids that take the magic class put on a show during lunch for all the other students that want to be entertained.

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Here’s the big issue I have with this – and the big opportunity.

The ballet parents don’t see the art.
The parents of our junior actors don’t get to see the magic show.
The families of the art and garden kids don’t get to see the ballerinas. And on and on.

I believe that if we brought all the parents together to see what else we offer for their children, besides the program their kids are already in, our numbers would go up across the board.

So I am putting together a showcase where

• each of our dance classes (from ballet to hip hop) will participate in a short performance,
• our actors will do a skit,
• our magicians will show some illusions,
• our young cooking students will make appetizers,
• and our art students will display their art around the auditorium.

I want to showcase to the parents all the other amazing programs we offer, and the kids want an audience to show what they have learned, practiced and created.

Does your organization do a showcase? Do you charge admission? What other youth classes take part in your showcase?

Our organization runs after school enrichment programs. We do not offer a day care program as there is already one at the elementary school. Fortunately a number of parents want more than a day care program for their kids. However, if you run the same programs over and over the kids will get tired of it no matter how good the program is.

Recently we brained stormed some new ideas. Our sports programs are very popular. What we needed were some ideas for indoor programs. One of those ideas was Spa and Relaxation.

Here are the scheduled activities:

• Candle Making
• Soap Making
• Lotion Making
• Creating relaxation sounds using different instruments
• Learning some basic massage techniques
• Spa Treatments
• Yoga
• Breathing Exercises
• Manicures
• Pedicures

The kids would take turns giving each other manicures, pedicures and massages.

There are some great books on soap making, lotion making and candle making as well as kits that you can get from a craft store or Amazon. There are a number of things you can make from beeswax, including lip gloss.

We won’t actually offer the program until the fall. I’ll let you know how it goes. If you have any other ideas for the Spa class please let me know in the comments below. Thanks.

So yesterday I was looking for a St. Patrick’s Day craft for an after school program. After spending an hour online I was shocked that I couldn’t find anything the caught my interest. That doesn’t usually happen. So that meant I had to come up with something using my CREATIVITY!

Okay, let me just say that if you want me to put together a St. Patrick’s Day event or invent a game involving leprechauns and shamrocks, no problem! A craft on the other hand, uh, not really my strength. I like crafts as much as the next person, but I’m not “crafty”.

When I can’t really come up with a new idea for a recreation program I tend to take old ideas and put a fresh spin on them, or twist, shake and turn them until it fits my liking.

So what did I come up with for an awesome St. Patrick’s Day craft. Tie Dye shirts using green dye. What? Not creative enough for you? Okay, you’re right, but it’s still a fun project. Kids love tie dye. I don’t know why, just like I don’t know why I loved it when I was a kid, but I did.

Of course, you don’t need to limit yourself to shirts. Kids can tie dye white handkerchiefs, scarves, socks, bandannas, etc. And if you do it before March 17th, the kids can wear them on St. Paddy’s Day.

Sure, you can make a pipe cleaner leprechaun or a leprechaun trap, but how long will it take before mom tosses that thing in a box, or the trash? At least with some cool tie dye socks Susie and Johnny can wear them again and again.

Make sure you leave out the pastel dyes. Easter is around the corner.

PlaySportsTV.com is a website where you can watch free training videos and read free articles for a variety of sports including:

• baseball
• basketball
• lacrosse
• field hockey
• football
• hockey
• soccer



• softball
• tennis
• volleyball
• cheerleading
• golf
• gymnastics
• skateboard
• ultimate Frisbee
• wrestling

PlaySportsTV.com has multimedia training programs you can purchase for football, soccer, baseball, softball, basketball, hockey, lacrosse and tennis.

I played volleyball growing up, but I’ve never taught it. When the kids at the local elementary school mentioned that they would like to learn how to play competitive volleyball so they could be ready for middle school tryouts, I thought it would make a great after school program. I really didn’t even know where to start. So I bought a few books on coaching youth volleyball. The books were really good, but I couldn’t see the drills in action.

Once I found PlaySportsTV.com I immediately began watching the videos and was hooked. Though they don’t have a training module for volleyball they do have free instructional videos.. Teaching sports is made much easier thanks to them. I have since purchased two training programs and they are fantastic. Check them out.

If you know of websites that other recreation professionals might be interested in drop me an email at curt@recreationguy.com and tell me about it. I in turn review the site and post here at RecreationGuy.com

Equipment: About 100 4×6 or larger cards with large letters drawn on them…one Z, one X, two Ys, two Ws, five As, five Bs, etc.
The leader turns over one card at a time, while telling a little story, “On our last canoe trip we noticed many interesting animals, the first one was…At this point he turns over the first card. All of the campers try to be the first to yell out the name of an animal beginning with the letter, for example if a “B” was uncovered…Bear, beaver, bobcat, etc. The first one to be heard with the correct answer gets the card. The leader then continues, “later on that afternoon, we paddled by an island where we noticed a…,” turning over another card. The object is to see which camper or cabin can collect the most cards. An animal cannot be used more than once, if the same letter turns up again, After a while, the leader changes the category to perhaps birds, fish, trees or flowers. The activity works best with 15-40 campers.

Credit: Camp Kooch-I-Ching
International Falls, Minn.

Even thought the above game was written as a camp game, using it for an after school rainy day activity would work great.