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.

I took a semester of sign language in college. I really enjoyed it. I decided to take the class after I attended an American Camp Association conference or training (I can’t remember which). There was a camp there that was giving a talk on what it’s like to work at a deaf camp. It was very interesting. They had some great stories.

The camp was out in the woods, as most resident camps are, and one day all the campers and staff had just come out of the dining hall. Right outside of the dining hall was this large field that ended at the tree line leading into the woods. One of the campers spotted “IT” first and started running right towards “IT” with a big smile. A few other campers followed after they had seen it too. It was a bear. Unlike the bears that the campers imagined, like Yogi Bear, this one was wild and not to be petted. Now remember that this was a camp full of hearing impaired kids, so staff couldn’t just yell “Stop!” or “Don’t go near the bear. It’s dangerous!” One of the male campers was the first to act. Unfortunately, the campers got a good start on him. This brave counselor started running as fast as he could right towards the bear, who was stopped and looking at the campers. As the counselor got closer he noticed that there were cubs nearby. He realized that this situation had gone from bad to worse. A mother bear is extremely protective and aggressive. The counselor overtook the campers, turned around and stopped them before they got too close. Crisis averted.

I had always thought about possibly offering an after school sign language program but I only know the basics from my one semester of ASL. Knowing that Susan only knew the alphabet (well, at least most of it) in sign language I asked her if she hired someone to run the class. She informed me that it was supposed to be a contract class but the contractor backed out at the last minute. The parents were really excited about having their children learn sign language and didn’t want it to be cancelled. Susan didn’t want to cancel it either as the class was full, but didn’t really have a choice as nobody on her staff knew sign language.

As Susan started making the calls that the class was going to be cancelled the first parent she called suggested that she get DVDs that taught the kids. The parent told her about Signing Time. This is a company that sells DVDs teaching kids sign language.

Susan decided to try it out. She went to the website and found what she needed to run the class. She told me that she got a few Baby Signing Time DVDs for their Mommy and Me program and Series One for the K-2nd grade program. She just puts in the DVD and follows the instructions along with the kids. She has also created a couple of games to play after the DVD lesson. Apparently the kids and parents love it.

Susan and her staff have become interested in learning sign language as well and have started using the same DVDs to learn. I’ve added them to the advertisers on the right and will be adding a sing language program to our line up as well.

Thanks Susan for the suggestion.