Spring Break FunMarch 25-28th, 2013 marked Spring Break at the Lake County Discovery Museum. Each day consisted of spring-related crafts from 12-2pm. Over the course of four days, over 150 children came to do activities.
My responsibilities were the following:
A variety of activities were offered:
|
Creating age-appropriate activities was a point of concern for me. I needed to prep the activity and make it easy enough so that children as young as 2 could do it, but at the same time, make it engaging and interesting enough for older kids to want to do it. Although it required a lot of prep on my part, it was worth it in the end. Most young children don't have the skills to cut properly, so many of the templates had to be pre-cut. Each table seated only 8 people; it was imperative that the activities be fairly simple to do. Families could sit, finish the activity in less than 5 minutes, and move on to the next activity. There were instruction sheets on the tables, but they often got lost in the clutter of glue, scissors, and paper scraps. The activities needed to be easy enough to figure out with an instruction sheet. I was fortunate to have at least one volunteer each day; yay for volunteers!
Another thing to keep in mind is what kind of supplies you are using. Having a variety of crafts is great, but if they all require many different kinds of materials, then it starts to affect your budget. I kept my materials simple: construction paper, crayons, glue/glue sticks, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, yarn, scissors, googly eyes, brown bags, and clothespins. Most of the activities involved some kind of combination of these materials. There were a lot of other "cool" crafts, but they involved paints, wood blocks, brass pins--things that we didn't have enough of in our supply closet or things that would only be used in one activity. When it comes to supplies, be creative with what you already have!
One thing that I would do differently is designate a "drying area". A lot of the activities involved glue and many kids use way too much of it. Neither parents nor kids want to carry a wet craft around the museum! If possible, a bench or another table in a corner would be sufficient for a drying area.
Overall, what a fun week seeing kids and their creativity come to life!
Another thing to keep in mind is what kind of supplies you are using. Having a variety of crafts is great, but if they all require many different kinds of materials, then it starts to affect your budget. I kept my materials simple: construction paper, crayons, glue/glue sticks, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, yarn, scissors, googly eyes, brown bags, and clothespins. Most of the activities involved some kind of combination of these materials. There were a lot of other "cool" crafts, but they involved paints, wood blocks, brass pins--things that we didn't have enough of in our supply closet or things that would only be used in one activity. When it comes to supplies, be creative with what you already have!
One thing that I would do differently is designate a "drying area". A lot of the activities involved glue and many kids use way too much of it. Neither parents nor kids want to carry a wet craft around the museum! If possible, a bench or another table in a corner would be sufficient for a drying area.
Overall, what a fun week seeing kids and their creativity come to life!