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• Making organic paints using berries, fruits, vegetables and flowers • Guess who's coming to vacation care? • Games for days when you have to stay inside • Encouraging children to do something for their community • Programming for diversity in OOSH
Making organic paints using berries, fruits, vegetables & flowers This is a good activity to incorporate into a wider environmental project that you could undertake with your group over a week, and the activity itself could be broken into several stages. 1. Collecting blackberries, elderberries and flowers such as buddleia 2. Making wooden frames for the paintings using scrap timbers that you could get from the timber yard, you could also use cardboard frames. 3. Cooking the berries and vegetables, and straining them through muslin, old sheets, obtained from parents or the local op shop Pink/Purple - Blackberries and Elderberries. Boil berries in a little water for about 20 minutes, mash with a potato masher and strain through the muslin Purple - Beetroot. Boil beetroot with skin on for one hour. Peel and liquidise with some of the water you have boiled the beetroot in. Pale Green - Watercress. Liquidise with very little water Yellow - Turmeric. Mix a little of the powder with boiling water. Yellow /Green - Buddieria. Boil buddieia flowers in water for about half an hour, then strain through muslin. Blue - Blue pigment. A natural pigment, expensive, but you only need a tiny amount. All the above colours need to be mixed with an egg yolk; this binds the mixture and gives a painting medium known as egg tempura. Try experimenting with, for example, red cabbage (blue) and broccoli. Be aware that some plant berries and natural pigments are poisonous so please take care.
Guess who's coming to vacation care? A locally based professional may be enticed to visit your centre, provide a talk, a workshop, a demonstration or entertain a group. Payment may have to be negotiated - but remember to at least make the offer of transport (personal pickup or taxi fare) and lunch or refreshments. A thank you note already prepared by the kids and flowers/ chocolates/ etc is always appreciated by a volunteer. Choose from these professions or interest groups located in your local area: • Aerobics or fitness instructor • Dietician • Naturopath • Karate/Judo Instructor • Florist • Folk art or drawing teacher • Journalist • Author • Pastrycook • Sports coach of any code or team game • Film maker or photographer • Auctioneer • Painter and Decorator • Interior decorator • Makeup artist • And many more which you may think of. Where to find them?
What to do 1. Arrange leaves on the sheet of paper to make bodies for leaf people 2. Glue the leaves in place. 3. Add a head, legs, and arms with markers (some smaller leaves may be hats and boots) 4. Use your imagination to make creatures form outer space, ladies in fancy gowns, and a character from your favorite TV show or replicas of people you know.
Games for days when you have to stay inside Musical Bops Some music is played on a taperecorder and the children are asked to dance to it, on an allocated dance area. The music is turned off and the last person to drop to the ground is eliminated and must sit out until the very last person is left on the dancefloor. Copy Cat All children are seated on the ground in a large circle. One person is chosen and sent away while someone from the remaining circle is chosen to initiate some type of action e.g. clapping, standing, clicking etc. They have to keep changing their actions and the other children have to follow as quickly as possible without letting that on chosen person know whom the signaling person is. Snake One child i.e. the snake is lying on the ground and the other children are gathered around them. The other children put one finger on the snake's back and spell out s-n-a-k-e. When they are to E the snake slithers around and tries to tip others. If other children are tipped they too become snakes and join up to catch the others. Make a life-sized scarecrow What you will need:
How to make it:
Make Spiders For that day when you feel that everyone deserves a special treat, why not make Spiders. Place a scoop of ice cream in a glass and top up with fizzy soda. So easy to make and very popular. Play Silent Ball A great way to calm the children down at the end of a long day or after you return from an excursion is to have a game of silent ball. Everyone stands around and passes a ball around the group. If someone talks, passes it to the person right next to them, or drops the ball; they are out. For a challenge, you can set a time in which no one is allowed to touch the ball more than once and everyone has to have a throw. Rocky Personalities • Collect large smooth rocks and stones from the local creek or river • Clean and dry stones thoroughly • Paint rocks with thick poster paint any way you like with faces, as bodies, with flowers, landscapes or abstract art. • When dry, coat with varnish or clear Shellac to make the design last longer and give the rock a lasting shine. • These make great paper weights, desk decorations, door stops or gifts. Groovy Lip Balm Recipe Mix 2 tablespoons of petroleum jelly (home brand is fine) with 1 teaspoon of flavoured essence (ie chocolate/peppermint, etc). You can add 3 scrapes of lipstick for colour or a small drop of food colouring (but be aware this can stain, even lips). Vanilla essence gives off a nice fragrance too. Put in small containers (film container are great and free from any photo developing centre) and freeze overnight.
Ingredients
Instructions
Encouraging children to do something for their local community Let the children brainstorm ideas on ways that they can do something in their area. Then make sure the project is simple and age-appropriate, that way the children can accomplish their goals. Involve all the children in the planning process. Just a few ideas, which you might be able to put forward to the children:
After you have completed your activity, make sure you thank those who volunteered or donated supplies. Celebrate the children's efforts and accomplishments. The feeling that they have done something worthwhile in the community will also reward the children.
(From Network's short course - "Games are Great") Teaching a new Game
Activities
Props You can't beat the $2 shop phenomenon for easy access to cheap props for clowning. Have joke books from the library available for the children to write and act out short skits from. Combine this with home-made clown puppets as added characters. Balloon Pop Using a cork-board, fill the board with small blown-up balloons and attach with tack. Give a child 3 darts, have them stand about 6 feet from the balloons, and attempt to break a balloon. They receive a ticket for each balloon popped. (Adult supervision required). Balloon Sculpture Pre-inflate a couple of long sausage balloons per child. Have them practise twisting off a bubble at one end and making a loop with the balloon the size of their head, then twisting off the remaining end. Now twist-connect the two twists together for a 'feathered head-dress'. Carnival Masks Use an outline to cut masks out of fun foam. Have the children decorate with feathers, glitter, puff paint. When finished attach elastic string. Face & Costume Provide the kids with some face paints and a mirror or two. Clowns can be white face or just have a few funny features on plain flesh (a flower, heart, smile lines, arching eyebrows). The hobo clown usually has a blackened beard area. A nose (usually red) can be a painted on, or see if you can score a bunch of left over red noses for "Red Nose Day'. Wigs can be made out of colourful red, orange or yellow yarn sewn through a pantyhose skull-cap. Big construction paper hats will top off the face design. Clown Snacks Place a pear in the middle of a plate. Sprinkle grated cheese on the pear for hair. Add raisin eyes, a raisin mouth, and a cherry nose. Make a ruffle collar from a lettuce leaf. Ice cream cone dip Provide bowls of coloured sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, fruit loops - could also be used for decorating cupcakes.
Programming for diversity in OOSH Multicultural activities will have the most valuable and long-ranging impact if they are not just "served up" for particular occasions. When they are woven into the various on-going projects and play opportunities at the centre they are much more natural and therefore more relevant to the children's daily lives. In your planning you may wish to highlight cultures with which there is a direct connection at your centre, perhaps through the staff, or a reflection of the mix of children. If your activities are to be genuinely multicultural, it is important to highlight activities from Australia's British heritage and from the culture of the Aborigines as well as those from overseas. (Taken from an Australian Kaleidoscope, Network of Community Activities, 1995) China Easy Chinese Moon Cakes (Makes 24) Moon Cakes are eaten on Chinese New Years because the Chinese New Year is based on the lunar calendar (and the little treats look like the moon). They are also eaten as part of an autumn, harvest type celebration which falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. Ingredients
Process
Israel Stone Mosaic Mosaics are one of the oldest forms of art. The earliest discoveries date from the 4th century BC. Mosaics were made of shells and stones showing designs of warriors, cattle, a banquet and even a checkerboard game. Materials
Process
Nigeria Catch your Tail - a game suitable for all ages You will need handkerchiefs or cloth scraps (tea towels are good for this game) What to do
Brazil Carnival Dancers Young artists sculpt a samba dancer from bendable wire and colorful carpet thread, a unique folk art technique. What you need
Process
England Quilling Paper Design Quilling is the art of curling paper strips into rolled forms, and gluing them onto a background to make beautiful designs and textures. Although it is believed that the Egyptians were the first to begin quilling, the first clear reference to it as an art is found in England in the 15th Century. Materials
Process
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