Free For All!

I missed last week due to midterm insanity, but all is well. I am still on track to finish before the end of the semester. It is kind of strange to think that I will be signing up for my last semester's worth of classes next week.

This week, we had a lot more kids. It was great. Coming up with activities to entertain just two or three boys is difficult. However, because we did not anticipate the spike in attendance, one of the head volunteers just packed several possible activities that anyone could do. We had board games, card decks, pumpkins to decorate with Halloween stickers, and construction paper for other crafts. Everyone did a little of everything.

Reflecting on this, I really enjoy having more kids rather than less at Kids' Group. Although the intimate environment is nice for getting to know the students, it sometimes is hard to fill the time and come up with activities. It is especially difficult when you have one kid and four volunteers. With more kids, there is more to do, the volunteer to kid ratio is more balanced, and it is easier to plan activities.

Today, I am going to give two activity plans.

1. A great activity for large groups in the fall is to make leaf art. Prior to Kids' Group, if we were to do this, volunteers would gather fallen leaves from around the area, preferably a variety of types. Then, when the kids came to group, they would have a selection of leaves to glue onto paper into designs. They could make "leaf people" or other works of art that are seasonal and fun.

Unfortunately, since this is Utah, I think it is too late in the year to do this activity. The leaves have all already fallen and will soon be bagged up or snowed on. Perhaps next year.

2. Another fun activity is splatter painting. I got the idea from The Princess Diaries. We would set up cloth and canvas against a wall, taping down everything so paint doesn't stain the room. Unlike the movie, we would not give the kids darts to throw. Instead we would put paint in the balloons and let them throw balloons at the canvas. We could also provide some paint for them to finger paint on the canvas as well. At the end, even though the kids would not have their own individual craft to take home, the artwork could be used by the Crisis Center or Shelter. It would be a great way for the kids to feel like they were contributing.

#craft #activityplan #reflection