You hire a new person and tell them that they need to run an after school program with crafts and/or games. They have no idea what to do or where to start. Your after school staff come in and they are scrambling at the last minute to put together a fun activity for the theme…
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.
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.
Every recreation department teaches sports to kids, whether by their own staff or through contract instructors. And why wouldn’t they, the benefits for children are many. But what if you want to offer a sport and don’t have an instructor? Maybe you can’t find a qualified contract instructor to teach the skills and nobody on…
Its been raining off and on here in Northern California so I decided to dig up some of my reference books and find some rainy day activities that I knew were good and have used in the past. Below is an excerpt from a book called Camp Program Ideas, edited and compiled by Janet Gibson,…
The other day I was talking on the phone with a friend of mine, Susan, who is the director of an after school YMCA site. We were discussing programming, as we always do, and she mentioned that she started running a sign language program. I took a semester of sign language in college. I really…
When the youth programs supervisor told me she wanted to do an after school program called Spinners I was intrigued. “Spinners? Is that where you spin the paper and drop paint on the paper making cool designs.” “No Curt, it’s a jump rope program.” “Huh? You want kids to jump rope for an hour of…
Education should be an important part of your career. Sure, you have the college degree but recreation and youth interests are in constant flux. I know a number of directors that put very little stock in ongoing education. I know that even more board and committee members feel the same way. In my opinion we…
A few weeks ago we started an after school program based around fitness. If you have ever tried to plan a fitness program for kids you know that it’s not as easy as having the kids run and do sit-ups. You want the kids to enjoy themselves so that they will continue to be active…
A Drum Circle (a.k.a. rhythm circle) is an empowering group activity which uses a combination of various percussion instruments. The main purpose is to experience the joy of group music making. The facilitator creates an atmosphere charged with excitement – and focuses on developing group cohesion. We have an innate ability to feel and respond…
