Need Ideas for 3Rd & 4Th Graders?????

[nicki25]

I am going to be working for our local Latchkey this summer. Well today I had my meeting and got my assignments. I will be working the afternoon hours with 3rd and 4th graders.
Two days a week we go to the Library and 1 day a week we go to the pool, but I am looking for activities to do with them on the other days. Activities could include games, crafts (does this age boys do crafts??), book ideas??? Anything would be helpful. My kids are only 2nd and Kindergarten ages. Does anyone have any ideas??? Thanks for your help.

 

[janetupnorth]

You could do modge-podge. Let them cut out pictures from magazines and glue them to a notebook and make journals for writing or drawing in.

 

[katie0128]

No advice yet, but I sent an email to my sister who is a 4th grade teacher and asked her for ideas for you...

 

[nicki25]

No advice yet, but I sent an email to my sister who is a 4th grade teacher and asked her for ideas for you...

Ooh!!! Thanks so much. That would be very helpful! I have only subbed for Latchkey this past year a couple of times, so any and all help would be very much appreciated.

 

[Rebeccascabinet]

My oldest son is going into 4th grade this fall and I can tell you that
1. He loves crafts (beading especially, painting, and anything MESSY) 2. He loves games like simon says, tag, red rover, kickball, baseball, boardgames
3.) Movies

Hope that helps!

 

[luvs2sellit]

My son is going into the 4th as well. He loves to do crafts and loves the games listed above. Any kind of competition he loves. Relay races are great for that age. He also still likes being read to. You could find a great chapter book and read a chapter a day or something. Just going out and exploring outside is a fun way to pass the time too.

 

[katie0128]

Ooh!!! Thanks so much. That would be very helpful! I have only subbed for Latchkey this past year a couple of times, so any and all help would be very much appreciated.

My sister (who BTW is also a PC consultant) has some stuff she is willing to send to you - things she doesn't want any more. If you are interested, PM me your address.

 

[DebbieSAChef]

Kids craftsI love to do activities with my own kids and kids at my church.

Paint is very popular and if you can do this without fear of a mess or if you have the parent's permission, have each child bring an old oversized T-shirt the day of this activity, and paint pictures!

You could read them a good book about anything and have them listen to you while they paint pictures of what you are reading. Let's say you are reading a book about animals, they could try to draw the animals, the place where they live, food they eat and just use their imaginations and be creative. You could have them paint on paper bags from the grocery store or posterboards. Paper plates are good to paint on and you could make several projects with them. Go to this website:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/

It has tons of ideas. Click on the summer crafts and you'll see what I mean about the paper plates. I get alot of ideas from there.

Food crafts are fun and you could do cookies, cakes or cupcakes and have the kids decorate them with frosting, sprinkles, candies, etc...
Mini dessert pizzas are very cool too. There is a great PC kid's recipe for Mouse in the House cupcakes. Bake the cupcakes and then bring vanilla wafers for the ears, licorice for the whiskers, M&M's for the eyes, and a hershey's kiss for the nose.

As far as games you probably want to stay indoors if it will be hot.
But if it doesn't matter you could do relay races with large wooden spoons and cotton. It's fun to see them try to run from one end to the other with that spoon full of cotton and drop it in their bowl. If they drop it they have to stop and pick up the cotton before they can continue.

Also we did a memory game race. Two teams each have their own stack of memory cards, not the same. And they have to match the cards.
Example: One card reads mickey mouse, the answer would be minnie mouse
One card reads Peanut butter, the answer would be jelly. The answer cards would be placed face down away from the kids and they would race to the answers to pick the right one. Have seperate answer cards for each team so they don't wrestle for the same card. They will have different answers.

I'll think of some more things I have done.

Debbie

 

[chefann]

You could read them a good book about anything and have them listen to you while they paint pictures of what you are reading. Let's say you are reading a book about animals, they could try to draw the animals, the place where they live, food they eat and just use their imaginations and be creative.

When I student taught, I used this idea with music. We listened to a piece of music that told a story, literally. Get a copy of "Peter and the Wolf" by Prokovieff (I'm going to admit that spelling looks wrong, but I'm too lazy to get up and check my reference materials). It's a good one for "listen and draw".

 

[kmschroll2001]

I used to work at a camp for the Arts & Crafts Program. I found that the boys loved making sports banners. You can do this with the foam letters and shapes.

Or we used Lanyard on a plastic grid, we had them write their team name if they weren't into sports their name or a design. Then they would weave the lanyard through the grid to make the design. Tie some Lanyard on the top and they can hang it from their bedroom door.

Both projects will work for boys and girls of any age. (I must admit that I made one myself that is on display in our playroom.)

 

[kisrae]

Do some messy science projects. The boys like it but so do girls. My 4th grader will be making a movie this summer about his Pink erasers. Have the group write a script, make a set and have someone directed it. It's a great project and it's something you can make copies of and give to parents.

 

[nicki25]

THANKS SO MUCH!! I love all the ideas!! I really like the paint to a story or music idea.
I have about 8 weeks with Latchkey and I am feeling a lot better about it at this point. Thanks so much girls!!
(You can keep the ideas coming if anyone has anymore too).