Resources for work with primary schools kids
Introduction
Chattabox is a club for primary school children which we run from 2.00pm to 4.00pm on a monthly basis. The purpose of the club is to offer children in the community an opportunity to come and have fun in a safe environment. This also gives busy parents an opportunity to spend time with other children, to do jobs that are difficult to do whilst the kids are around or just to relax. We also use the club to build relationships with local families, inviting them to attend other church events and services.
The club uses the church buildings and grounds. We average 20 to 30 kids with a few coming every time but most coming every few months.
The club is mostly advertised by word of mouth. However we put posters in some of the local schools, send postcards to remind our regulars and give out personal invitations at clubs run in the local schools.
Programme
The programme we follow is based around what we have found to work given the mix of kids we have and the space we can use. The outline programme is generally:
1. Registration - the kids and parents are welcomed as they arrive (this can happen over a 30 min period) and we take a record of the kids attending, making sure we have contact number (though we have never had to make a call). We also ask the kids to write their names on a label - because the club is only held once per month sometimes we struggle to remember everyone's name.
2. Free-for-all (45 mins - held in our hall) - the kids move in to the hall as soon as they have registered and chose what they do and for how long they do it. This allows the kids who arrive early to do something immediately but does not give us problems if some kids arrive late which we might have if we were playing structured games. We offer cooking, craft, painting, challenges and other activities. We find it important to have a wide range of activities as some kids enjoy craft and will spend all their time during those activities whereas other kids much prefer activities eg bowling, challenges etc (see below).
3. Team games (30 mins) - depending on the weather we will play these games in the church grounds or in the church building itself. Some of the leaders will run these games while the rest clear the hall and prepare for later activities.
4. Drinks (5 mins) - we have found the best way of doing this is to put chairs around the tables and sit the kids down before giving them a drink and biscuit. This reduces spillages. We also arrange to have the energetic games before the drinks break.
5. Workshop activities (30 mins) - the kids chose what they do. We offer a choice of the following - football, parachute, computer games (Playstation / Weii), games and activities, dancing etc. The first 2 are essential for us. We always offer a choice of 4 activities and we carry a range of games and activities so that we have something to offer the kids who do not want to do any of the other games on offer.
6. Message (10 mins) - we usually use a video covering a bible story and may supplement this with an activity eg writing prayer cards, singing etc.
7. Close - we try and spend time with the families as the kids are collected before we pack up.
Alternatives - several times a year we will vary the programme above to have more of a party feel. The free-for-all will have more prize type activities eg guess the name of the bear, sweets in the jar etc. The craft activities will also have a party feel. Instead of the workshop time we will play party games all together.
After each meeting we review what has worked well and what lessons we have learned. We rarely make significant changes to the programme but will make several smaller changes each time to ensure there is variety for the kids.
Books
Two books we have found very valuable are:
Over 300 games for all occasions - compiled by Patrick Goodland. Published by Scripture Union. This book has very useful chapters on indoor and outdoor games. It also has a whole chapter on parachute games.
Pick 'n' Mix (Over 100 ideas to create programmes for children of all ages) - Judith Merrell. Published by Scripture Union.
We also regularly visit the local games and craft shops for ideas which we can use. We also look through the catalogues from shops and charities for games and crafts.
Games that work for us
If the weather is poor we have to use our church building for games. We have several open spaces for playing circle type games but most of the space is taken up by wooden pews. We have developed a number of games that we can play based around the pews.
Our favourite game is the Christmas card games. We have 100 christmas cards of very different styles that have been cut in two. The pieces are divided in to 2 groups so that each card has a half in each group. One group is then spread around the pews before the session starts. We divide the kids in to 2 teams and give each kid one half of a christmas card. The kids have to find the matching half from the cards in the pews. When they do, we exchange the complete card for a new half. The winning team is the team who has made the most complete cards when all have been matched up.
We have several similar games. For example we use the pieces from a game of Animal Sixes. We keep the number 1 pieces of each animal back and spread the others amongst the pews. Working in 2 teams, each team is given one of the number 1 pieces and the kids have to find the other 5 pieces. They are given a new piece when the complete animal is assembled. The team with the most assembled animals when the pieces have been used is the wimming team.
We have 2 favourite outdoor games. The first is the Postbox game. For this we have 2 sets of props - 3 post boxes each labelled with the name of a local area. We then have "letters" - pieces of paper marked with the name of one of the areas and secondly with a colour (we use 3 colours). There are equal numbers of letters for each area and each colour. Each post boxes is given to a leader who walks round the grounds holding the box while the game is underway. The kids are split in to 3 teams and each is given a colour - the colours used on the letters. We give a letter to each kid according to the team they are in. They have to find the leader with the postbox matching the area on the letter. The leaders never hide or run away from the kids but they do ocasionally swap boxes. The winning team is the team that post all its letters first.
Our other favourite outdoor game is called Blast Off and is described in Over 300 games - we play Script 2.
Free-for-all time
The activities we have in our free-for-all time fall in to 2 groups - crafts and games. One golden rule that we try and apply is to ensure that any activity requires more time to complete from the kids than from the leaders. Often craft activities can have complex tasks in them which the kids need a leader to complete. This can then tie up a leader and the kids either get frustrated waiting or suddenly gather around other activities putting other leaders under pressure. Sometimes the simplest tasks can be the best.
Our craft tables often include 3 types of activity - cooking (eg biscuit decorating, sweet making, Easter nests, bread making); painting which can be structured (eg large painting or collage) or the kids doing their own thing with crayons, paints or stickers; and a craft eg card making, friendship bracelets, origami, necklace or bracelet making.
We often do cards on special occasions eg Valentine's day, Easter, Mothering Sunday. We produce sheets in Powerpoint with a message and the kids can decorate the card either with crayons or stickers. We then laminate them. A special card we do for Mothering Sunday involves taking a digital photo of the kids when they arrive. We print them in a border for the kids to decorate and then we laminate them to finish them off.
Some kids do not enjoy craft activities so we always have other games and challenges for the kids to do. The range of activities we use include bowling, knocking over stacks of plastic tumblers, air hockey, Manic Martians, inflatable punch bag, Kerplunk, Frustration, magnetic dart board etc. We often have a challenges corner where the kids can complete a list of tasks. We then give a prize for the best score. An example list:
1. Bowling - most points from 2 bowls (or plastic tumblers knocked over with 2 balls).
2. Number of balls through the clowns mouth - we use a painting of a clown on a hardboard sheet.
3. Cup blowing - fastest time from one end of a string to another.
4. Manic Martians (from ELC) - quickest time for getting all the martians out of the game.
5. Pegs from the line - quickest time to remove all the pegs from a line using 1 hand.
6. Pasts and chopsticks - quickest time to move pasta from 1 container to another using chopsticks.
7. Jenga tower - who can make the highest tower using Jenga blocks.
8. Darts - most points from 3 darts on the magnetic dart board.
With everything we do in the Free for all time, we keep some activities the same from one time to another but we also change a few. We always try and remember that what kids really enjoy one time might prove unexciting on another occasion.