Ideas for Summer Program for Kids... Help! About This Page:

[pflamingo]

Here's the deal...

The principal at my former school asked if I would be interested in developing a summer program at the school. Being unemployed and in need of $$, I said, "sure," even though I've never done anything like this before. I then proceeded to completely not think about it for a week. But I need to get on this and come up with a plan to present to her. She wants to apply for some funding (where, I don't know - that's her bit) and we have to get school board approval. We also need to find out if there is enough interest in this among the parents at the school, but I need to have something to show them, first.

Here's the basic outline:

Day camp from 8 til 3, for children from 4 to about 10-11 yrs old (PreK 4yrs to rising 5th graders).

Participants will be split into two groups - preK to 2nd graders & 3rd to 5th graders.

Morning will be spent on academic-type activities - reading, math games, science projects, geography games, etc., approximately 30-45 mins for each subject. (shorter time for younger kids, longer for the older kids)

As this is a Catholic school, there will be a morning Bible study/religious ed period. (30 mins)

Afternoon activities will be arts & crafts, music, drama, computer, and physical activities/sports.

Participants will bring their own lunches (or we may offer lunch for an extra fee).

Fridays will be field trip days, with trips to area museums, historic sites, possibly to the aquarium in Atlanta.

Please feel free to offer feedback on this plan. I would love to hear some ideas of what your kids have done in summer programs, or what you would like to see them do. Or if you've worked at a summer program/day camp, maybe you could share some of the things you did that worked well - or didn't. Also, we're thinking of doing a theme for each week, like conservation, space, and of course, Disney. Any ideas for themes, or how to incorporate the themes into the activities would be helpful, too.

TIA for any help you can give me!

[benjiboo25]

I am going to stay tuned for new ideas for myself!!!

[Colexis Mom]

Sounds like a good plan to me so far!

[JoanneS]

My son went to a similar program for a few years. They had themes like beach week, camp out week, circus week, art week, animal week, and outer space week.

They worked on projects that related to the theme and then the field trip at the end of the week tied in to the theme as well. For instance on beach week, they learned about measurement by finding out how many cups of sand fit into a quart size milk bottle, and so on. They made sand art. They learned about salt water and how it made things float. They read stories about the beach. And on Friday, they went to a local pond and went swimming and made sand castles on the beach.

Good luck with your plans, it sounds good to me!

[korki-rad]

This sounds like a lot of fun! DD's preschool used to do something similar during the summer. I'm trying to remember some of the theme weeks they did -- I definitely remember an Olympic themed week (which coincided with the Summer Games). You could do a western/cowboy week, space week, camping week (bring in tents and make s'mores!)..I'm sure there are tons more ideas out there. What if you asked the oldest kids for suggestions -- they might have some good ideas that would be a lot of fun, too.

Have fun with this -- the kids are going to have a blast!

[HollyH]

I like the project/theme idea. I guess I would want to know if you are going for a day camp atmosphere or a summer school atmosphere. I think it might be hard to pull off the "30-45 minutes per subject" with your younger group given the age range (a bit of background, I am a prek teacher). Having said that, I do think that multiage groupings can provide many learning opportunities. Joanne's example of activities for a beach theme is perfect. Very hands on, and I think that's what you want to aim for.

[oldmom]

i worked at assist director and so forth at GS summer camps for our district for 12 years. ideas are all over the place on the internet at scout sites. sounds like you will have the kids rotate through activities. the theme idea is great. basically, you just have the theme and come up with activities that fit even if it is a stretch.

for example we did a renaissance theme for camp:
science--we had a simple catapult and the girls experimented with seeing what objects fly how far and they made the tongue depressor version.
games--there are numerous games both board and marker and active games for them to play
crafts--using the black puff paint i did outlines of art on squares of plexiglass and the girls filled in with colors to make stained glass
music--we bought ocarinas and several sites have music books you can print out. the younger girls played simple songs, the older girls experimented and made choral groups
astronomy--we were there at night and had a group up with telescopes
armour--we had a gentleman who makes chain mail come and show how he makes it. the kids got to try on armour and make shields.

beach theme--the ideas above are awesome
we have done camps on:
western theme
pirates
things that fly
time travel--one day was caveman days, one medival, one frontier, one future with star trek and rockets.
bugs
state history
olympics

[B.M.]

Well, I will offer two thoughts/perspectives......

I work for the school, so am off in the summer/don't *need* child care. I have signed my kids up for day camps (or something similar) in the past and what drew me in was either (1) more field trip type stuff- they went once where they had a field trip every day for the week- Stone Mtn, Tubing the Hooch, ect.... I realize that is probably not realistic for your school and (2) they offered something outside the norm- I once sent my kids (and also participated myself) in a day camp type thing that offered Spanish lessons.

The other perspective would be from my sister who does work during the summers/needs child care- the hours you mentioned would not work for her. Would you be offering some sort of afterschool for an additional cost? I'm just thinking the average parent does not get off by 3pm.......

I think your daily list of activities/schedule sounds great! I just thought I'd offer the perspective of what a parent may be looking for...... Hope it works out!

[Teresa]

The only thing I was wondering about was - why have the activities in the afternoon when everything is hotter, and the kids are tired?
Why not either mix it up a bit (activity to get the blood flowing, then some academics, some activities, etc.)?
DD Kathryn's old elementary school used to pair the older kids with the younger ones, and they'd meet for about 30 minutes each week. They'd read a book. They were called the "Book Buddy Club" and they all looked forward to it. didn't matter who read, or what their skill levels were - in grade 1, Kathryn's grade 5 buddy was a poor reader (Kathryn was better), but she loved to spend time with him, and they'd read a story that was a bit beneath his age, but okay for her - it gave him a lot of confidence, I think). Both of them had their reading abilities improve that year.
It sounds like it would be fun. I like the idea of a theme. Very cool!!

[pflamingo]

I love PassPorters! I knew folks here would have some great ideas! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I love the ideas for themes and activities. The "beach" theme sounds like a lot of fun, and totally doable in our area. The renaissance activities are great, too. I know the art teacher would love the stained glass idea, and the music teacher would love the ocarinas.

I do like the idea of mixing up the age groups. Most of the staff at school have a mindset of "primary," "elementary," and "middle" grades, so that was why we initially thought of separate groups. I've always been an advocate of "peer tutoring" - like what Teresa described with the book buddies. I think the kids would enjoy that.

The timing (30-45 mins) is based on the class periods during the school year. The younger kids have 30 min periods - seems to fit their attention span pretty well, and the older ones have 45 min classes. The principal initially talked about "tutoring" sessions, but that sounded a bit dry to me. I like the idea of doing games for the academics, where they will still get something out of it, but in a fun way. Of course, the teachers who end up working in the program will have some latitude with the timing. I had originally thought of different teachers for the different subjects (middle-school teacher mindset), with the groups rotating throughout the morning, but if the teachers want to take on all of the subjects, that would be fine.

Teresa, we thought of the "academics" in the morning, activities in the afternoon b/c the kids at our school tend to focus pretty well in the morning, but zone out by the afternoon. We have an a/c'd gym if it's really too hot to go outside. And if I know these kids, they'll be jumping up and down no matter what the "class" is. It may also be a staffing issue. The people we have in mind to do the "activities" are more likely to want/need afternoon times. The "academics" people are more morning people. But it's definitely something to think about.

We are going to offer an "after-care" option til 5 or 6, but that's not something I have to coordinate.

Please keep the ideas coming - you guys are awesome! Our previous principal ran a summer program that was, well, kind of... meh. They didn't offer anything last summer, and apparently quite a few parents have asked if there will be a program this summer. If we're going to do it, we want it to be successful, and quite honestly, if I'm going to have my name attached to it, I want it to be a quality product.

[HollyH]

Originally Posted by B.M.

Well, I will offer two thoughts/perspectives......

I work for the school, so am off in the summer/don't *need* child care. I have signed my kids up for day camps (or something similar) in the past and what drew me in was either (1) more field trip type stuff- they went once where they had a field trip every day for the week- Stone Mtn, Tubing the Hooch, ect.... I realize that is probably not realistic for your school and (2) they offered something outside the norm- I once sent my kids (and also participated myself) in a day camp type thing that offered Spanish lessons.

I am in a similar situation. I am a teacher and I don't need child care during the summer. I sent DS to a camp last summer that was all field trips. What I really liked about the camp was that it was fun and active with lots of social opportunities. Were there learning opportunities? Absolutely! Did the kids feel like it was school? No way!

Personally, I don't necessarily look for teaching or tutoring type activities when I look for summer camp programs. Learning opportunities, yes. But he's a kid and, I believe, does need the break from "school".

[pflamingo]

Originally Posted by HollyH

I am in a similar situation. I am a teacher and I don't need child care during the summer. I sent DS to a camp last summer that was all field trips. What I really liked about the camp was that it was fun and active with lots of social opportunities. Were there learning opportunities? Absolutely! Did the kids feel like it was school? No way!

Personally, I don't necessarily look for teaching or tutoring type activities when I look for summer camp programs. Learning opportunities, yes. But he's a kid and, I believe, does need the break from "school".

A lot of our parents do need childcare over the summer, and the kids need extra help with their basic skills, so that's why we were thinking of academics. But I still think it should be fun. An all field trip camp would be great, but not really something we could do. The fees we're charging will pretty much cover staffing and operating costs, with one field trip per week (transportation and admission). Many of the families in the school are on pretty limited incomes, so we have to consider that, too.

[oldmom]

can you get the 'field trip' to come to you? invite all those special folks to come to your camp, like the SCA (ren fest folks) or the civil war reenactors, the geologist with nifty rocks, or our local college will send entomologists with cool bugs, or the mule team for wagon rides, have a hot air balloonist have a tethered balloon and talk about it. (most insurance wouldn't let you give rides, but they can see it and learn about it.

[Huntermom]

My kids are grown, but many years ago when budgets were not so lean our school district offered summer "enrichment" programs-not strictly academic, which I thought were great and quite inexpensive.

As years went on they were dropped but my kids often attended day camps, usually with an enrichment focus. I would be careful to make sure the academics are fun and not school like. I think kids really need a break from traditional school in the summer so I would be much more likely to enroll my child in a setting that looked as far from school as I could find.

Over the years, the kids did all kinds of programs. There are tons of things you can do that are fun and still educational. What kind of facility do you have? Can you do things out doors. My kids often did programs at a local conservation area which were nature focused. They really enjoyed walks in the woods and you really can do them in a park as well as a nature preserve.

I have found most kids love water activities and they offer lots of learning opportunities, as do bubbles.

[pflamingo]

Originally Posted by oldmom

can you get the 'field trip' to come to you? invite all those special folks to come to your camp, like the SCA (ren fest folks) or the civil war reenactors, the geologist with nifty rocks, or our local college will send entomologists with cool bugs, or the mule team for wagon rides, have a hot air balloonist have a tethered balloon and talk about it. (most insurance wouldn't let you give rides, but they can see it and learn about it.

Excellent idea! I hadn't thought of bringing in "guest speakers". We have a connection at one of the local colleges who is always happy to help us out.

Originally Posted by Huntermom

I would be careful to make sure the academics are fun and not school like. I think kids really need a break from traditional school in the summer so I would be much more likely to enroll my child in a setting that looked as far from school as I could find.

I agree, that's why I'm trying to steer away from the idea of "tutoring." At some point, I'm going to meet with the teachers who want to do this and discuss ideas with them. I don't think any of them are going to be inclined to "teach" all summer, either.

Over the years, the kids did all kinds of programs. There are tons of things you can do that are fun and still educational. What kind of facility do you have? Can you do things out doors. My kids often did programs at a local conservation area which were nature focused. They really enjoyed walks in the woods and you really can do them in a park as well as a nature preserve.

I have found most kids love water activities and they offer lots of learning opportunities, as do bubbles.

We have a large gym, with a stage are and a couple of small rooms. We also have access to the library, computer lab, and any classrooms in the school. We have two playgrounds - one typically used for "big kids" and one for the preschool, K, and 1st graders. The neighborhood is really bad, but there are parks and museums nearby that we can take the kids to. We have a bus and the p.e. teacher is supposed to be getting a CDL so she can drive for us.