After School club activities??

[KatieMac]

I'm starting an after school club up (along with a breakfast club and a holiday playscheme) and I got a grant. Once the essentials have been bought I'm going to be left with nearly £300 to spend on toys/games/activities (books & videos will be bought separately)

I'm aiming at the 5-12 age group both boys & girls and I have plenty of toys/games/activities for under 5's (as I'm a childminder)

Can anyone suggest any stuff

I asked the school children who said gameboy/Xbox/etc.....but I know NOTHING about this sort of thing. I thought they could just have a computer with some games on & a joystick.....Help I obviously need an education!!

[stitch]

sattelite or cable tv. and a playstation with two lots of playing things, which i cant remember what they are called. but that will eat into most of your budget.
internet access? the older kids would be happy with that
a football. i think probably the best thing you could get.
kids dont seem to be particularly into boardgames, but you could always try old favourites like monoply, or ludo
hth

[KatieMac]

Should I be encouraging them to watch TV play Vid games???

Should they be 'doing' things....hama beads, mechanno, lego, ello, baking etc

[stitch]

well it depends on what the aim of the after school club is.
from my experience with ds1 who is 8, he has far to many organised activitis, and never gets a chance to just relax. telly, playstation etc is a way to do so.

the problem with things like lego is that the sort the kids might be interested in, you cant really have around if there are babies around. choking hazard.

have a good think about what you want these kids to acheive in this time. and what the parents want. and what you can realistically provide.

[KatieMac]

I've got 2 separate rooms - one for each age group - so I'm not too worried about the size/choking problem.

I agreed about relaxing - but I had a 10 yo until the beg of March and he was quite bored with just sta TV/vids. I have no games and want some - but think they should be limited/timed in some way.

I would like them to have plenty of choice.

Thanks for your help Stich - you've given me a lot to think about

Does anyone else have anythoughts

[KatieMac]

Bump for more ideas?

[Frizbe]

Does it have to be an indoor thing?
If so could you do themed days, maybe something that could add onto schooling but is a bit more unusual like archeology, geology, BTCV type thing? Persuade people into talk about it/demo it, Music etc??

[KatieMac]

Whats BTCV?

Like the ideas btw