After school activity ideas?

[mogs0]

Usually, after school in my house is relatively calm and the mindees watch some tv or do some colouring. It is very unstructured as there are normally only one or two mindees plus my own 9yr old ds.

Yesterday, I had two extras and it was chaos! After making many suggestions, which were met with very unenthusiastic faces, we made giant paper planes and they were focused enough not to spend the whole time wrestling.

I have the same number this afternoon and need some more ideas for activities if anyone would like to share. Mindees are 3,4,5,9,9,11. All boys except the 11yr old.

Due to varying drop off/pick up times it has to be an indoor activity.

You could try collage, cut out pictures for the younger ones and give the older ones a magazine each with glue and scissors and it should keep them busy for a while. With my mindees (2 x five year olds) I gave them each a shoe box and they have been turning them into treasure boxes as an ongoing project, colouring them and sticking pictures and jewels on them. Mine are little girls, I don't look after any older boys so I'm not sure how well they would take to treasure boxes.

I'd stick the tv on tbh , the 3 and 4 year olds might need entertaining
The rest can watch cbbc

Positive - I was thinking of some sort of cutting/sticking activity. I like the idea of an ongoing treasure box activity...I'll keep that for another time.

Gumby - we usually have tv on in the afternoon but with this number/combination of mindees they need something more structured.

I have printed off Chinese dragon heads from the internet for them to colour in and turn into puppets. It should keep them all entertained until tea time...fingers crossed!

Cooking - making their own pizza for example?
Icing cakes/biscuits?
Can the older ones play board games away from the others?

Video making/animation - using small figures and taking lots of sequential photos then putting them together on windows movie maker ( older children) or acting out a play and the older ones videoing it?

Alison - thanks for the suggestions! The little ones are desperate to be with the older ones as they've been apart all day so I'd quite like to keep them altogether.

Tbh, the little ones will do whatever the big ones are doing because they are so desperate to be hanging out with them...ahhh.

Board games are our 'wind-down' activity, saved for after tea until they are collected!

Icing biscuits is a good idea which I will save for next week as I have run out of time today to organise that! We made salt dough decorations before Christmas and they all loved that so might have another go with that too next week.

We had an indoor hopscotch board which was OK in our hall for when they were feeling a bit energetic but couldn't go out and French elastic is OK in the house too. Also we have a wii and the wii dance (even without a remote) is fun - but they do tend to bump each other a lot.
Is there anywhere around you that sells big appliances - cos if you can get a box they can spend forever decorating it into a house/boat/ whatever and then another few weeks playing in it.

could you have a talent show, singing/dancing/ telling jokes get one of them to be simon cowell (with trousers high up!) Always makes them laugh!

Talent show might work, thanks!

The Chinese dragon puppets were a semi-success. The 4 and 5 yr olds really enjoyed it. 3yr old lost interest fairly quickly. One of the 9 yr olds (who I thought would be the one to enjoy it most as he loves art/colouring) decided it was boring half way through and didn't want to complete it. He then nudged the other 9 yr old (my ds) causing a large pen mark across his colouring...cue major drama!

I'll try out some of the ideas suggested for next week! Maybe baking...not sure how I'll be able to cook biscuits made by six children though .

Alison - they sometimes have the wii on but it had to go off the other day before they'd even started the game because of all the bickering. We don't have just dance.

There are often giant boxes here (I buy too many pre-loved buggies ) which they all love...I'll go in search of a couple more for next week I think.

An easy yet absorbing one that I picked up from the Internet:

You need cocktail sticks and either marshmallows (stale works best) or you can use those packing styrofoam shapes or similar.

The idea is to use them for free construction, making towers, shapes, buildings - whatever they like so long as it stands up.

Skittles? Magnetic darts? Fishing game (the iype with fish with metal bits and magets on the end of the fishing line/rod)? Threading (e,g pasta)? Dressing up/putting on plays?

Make treasure maps using tea to stain them?
0r hide loads of wee toys i use halloween spiders over the room and get mindees to find them, this keeps my lot amused for hours.
Musical statues? gets rid of some energy too.

oh mine also like doing that thing where you draw a picture with a candle then paint over it with watery paint and it magically appears.

I was about to start a similar thread. I look after a n 8 year old and a 5 year old. The 5 year old is being tested/having checks for ADHD. His attention is variable, soemtimes he'll do an acitivity, sometimes he won't and will want to play cars/dinosaurs/soldiers instead... but then puts whatever he is playing with on the table where the older mindee is doing an acitivity and then chaos decsends.

I'm trying to find an acitivity that they both like doing - am getting a bit of being told "NO" whenever I suggest something

It's hard, isn't it.

I don't know whether I'm being unrealistic but I'd really like for them to all do the same activity.

I really like the marshmallow/cocktail stick construction idea ( I have seen it in a book but had totally forgotten about it). Can you get gelatine-free marshmallows? Two mindees are vegetarian and I would feel very mean if they weren't able to eat them at the end of the activity .

Chinese lanterns for Chinese New Year?
Dragon pictures to colour/paint/decorate as it's the year of the Dragon?
Making little red money envelopes to give to one another/parents etc?

I've never seen vegetarian marshmallows but I expect they do exist, or wine gums would do as well, I should think (seen vegetarian ones in the health food shop).

I have done a basic search and there are vegan marshmallows but they are very expensive and I haven't found an actual shop that stocks them yet but will keep searching. Vegan wine gums could be a good alternative...I'll go and look in real shops, they may also have the marshmallows.

PLAYDOUGH!!.......NO MATTER WHAT THEIR AGE,THEY LOVE IT!!