​We’ve had some great joining up sessions this week with big and middle group, along with one session with all three groups!
Big group have been loving drawing pixel art.  We have lots of squared paper and some printed out examples for them to copy or change to suit their own.  They love pixel art and find it really rewarding. 
They have also been into making friendship bracelets, and one of the girls was able to show all her friends how to do a completely new style that they hadn’t seen before! These two sessions were repeated a few times because the children couldn’t get enough of it.
In the hall, big group have been playing a game, called Wallop the Cone.  Two cones are placed equal distances to one that is in the middle, then the children take it in turns, one against another to slide a beanbag and hit the cone in the middle.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be a wallop. Simple game, really fun.
Middle group joined big group in a game of rounders that came down to the wire. Both teams had played equally well and it all came down to the last batter.  Nothing better than a close game!
Middle group have also been playing charades together, one of our games that we have out for free choice time, and also some A-Z quiz games, and Pictionary!
In the hall, Middle group have been playing dodgeball, a staple in that group, and also Stool Ball, a favourite of Big group that Alan actually introduced.
Middle group have also been really lucky in that some of them on Monday got to make cookies.  They were made perfectly. Really big, soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies.  See Alison for more details!
Little group have been looking at our favourite film and book characters, with lots of the children talking about Forkie, from the new Toy Story film and then drawing them.  They have also been talking about how there will be new children starting in little group in September as new receptions!
They have also been making handprints with things that they find important to them so display on their board in the End Room, some of them are highly detailed!
Little group have also been on the park and played tig again, and have also played some Hangman on the whiteboard.  Some of the children are really good at it, and were getting the word or phrase just from one letter! Genius!

This week saw two big rivalries go head to head.  Middle group Vs Big group in a game of Rounders.  We are lucky enough to have a rounder pitch painted on the field, so we took the game there.  We gave the children a choice of bats to make it a little easier, either a rounders bat, or a plastic tennis racquet. Nothing better than playing rounders in the sunshine.  The children all came back in after session looking thoroughly warn out. 
Big group have played some name that tune this week, with DJ Ryan playing the latest chart hits for the children to guess. They get pints for the song title, artist and any featuring guests on the track.  To keep some of the children with a better taste in music involved, Ryan also plays some classics, like Queen and the Ghostbuster Theme, which every child seems to know.
Little group have kept it magical with making and decorating unicorn heads, which were then laminated and hidden outside for the children to find.  Each unicorn has a number on it to help with their number recognition.
Middle group have made some movable artwork this week using split pins.  They had a disassembled bear body to decorate then put together with split pins to make a puppet.  Some children decided to make their own design if they didn’t want a bear.
Big group and Middle group have made pizzas this week using wraps as a base.  This is a great idea for a healthy snack at home too.  Just use a plain tortilla wrap, tomato puree, then topped with your choice of toppings.  We had cheese, peppers, salami and pepperoni. 
Middle group have been having some great participation in the hall with Bench ball this week.  Some of the children didn’t think that they would be any good at it, but Alison assured them that by taking part and just having fun they would be fine.  Turns out, that those children had a great time.  Alison was really pleased with her group and praised them for having the best session in a long time together.
Big group have played some dodgeball this week, always a firm favourite.  We often have different rules for different games.  We will start off with using hands as a blocking defence is ok.  But then, the next game, hands aren’t safe, which makes for a quicker and more frantic game when children forget that they aren’t allowed to touch the ball until it has bounced.
All groups have enjoyed a trip to the park this week, again, making most of the weather.  Unless any of you are unsure, we do have a private gate into the park, so that there is no need for anyone to go onto any roads or anything.  It means that we can also use the park and the back playground for multiple sessions.
Little group have been flexing their talents by engaging in some painting.  We have recently got some new paint brushes and paint pallets, so the children were excited to use new things!
Middle group have also been excited to use their new pens for some colouring activities.  We are taking extra care to make sure lids stay on the pens after use though.  They have also been making some jewellery using various beads.  Most children made bracelets which were beautiful. 

​Sorry, not been able to update the past two weeks so here it is all in one!
We’ve debuted a new game in bog group, which is something like Mr and Mrs, where questions are asked of two children who consider themselves good friends and know a lot about each other, then the rest of the children ask them questions and see if they agree.  Who’s the funniest, that kind of thing. It went down a treat and we’ve been asked to do it more often.
We also debuted a new game suggested by one of the children, called “what’s in the box?”, quite self-explanatory, the children feel inside a box without looking, and try and guess what the object is.  We put in quite ordinary objects, mainly scoured from Mucky Pups, and the one that puzzled them all, was an orange.
Outside, making the most of the weather, big group played Spanish Tig on the field, while Middle Group played a big game of football and Little group have been out doing a unicorn hunt! (they hid little paper unicorns outside, and then found them again).
Middle group have also been playing lots of games in the hall, including a firm favourite, Parachute games, and dodgeball. Big group played a running game of connect 4 in the hall using bibs and a large connect 4 board on the ground that they have to run and place their 4 bibs one at a time to make 4 in a row.  If all the bibs have been placed with no winner, the next in line has to move one, until eventually there’s a winner.
As a whole group, we all played hide and seek when it was quiet and the children love it!
Big group have been lucky enough to play pool when the numbers go down and also joined up a couple of times with middle group to go to the park.  Little group have also been on the park, and used the space with the obstacles to play tig. 
All groups have played Bingo this week, which is always a surprising hit with all the children, so much so, middle group played it twice.
Little group have also been looking at planning a leaving party for one of the groups, a sad time seeing someone leave, so we’ll make the most of them while they are here.
As a treat, little group made butterfly shaped chocolate chip cookies, and middle group made biscuits.
All this, on top of the free drawing, board games during free choice and the endless games of football outside before sessions, the children haven’t stopped!
 
 
 

​This week, Big group have been busy with lots of physical activities.  We have played a game of capture the flag out on the field, where the children can use areas of the field to their advantage by hiding behind the trees to trick the opposition. 
They have also enjoyed a game of bench ball, a game we haven’t done for a while, and which some of the children were a little sceptical about, but soon realised they loved it.  It was a great success.
Big group have also played a game of Bingo!  This always goes down a treat, and Joe did his best to try and make up rhymes for each number. 
A usual favourite, Big group played Mafia in our room.  Some of the children didn’t want to play, but wanted to read some of new books that are up there.  Joe has made a mini library full of books by David Walliams and Michael Morpurgo as well as others. 
 
Middle Group have also been very busy, making chocolate cupcakes in the kitchen, dodgeball in the hall and capture the flag outside on the pitch.  They have also had some calmer sessions this week, such a Bingo (which still got loud as they get quite excited), Pictionary on the whiteboard and other board games.  There are a few in Middle Group that really like a game of chess, which has been mentioned before in other blog posts, it’s become a spectator sport with a lot of children wanting to learn the game.
Middle Group have also been doing some colouring sheets and free drawing which is a great, calm session when they are all getting a little too giddy.
 
Little Group have been talking a lot about feelings this week, and coupled with that are in the process of making a kindness jar.  This is to encourage children to be more kind to each other at Kids Club, and hopefully, to continue at home and school as well.
They have also done some baking of Chocolate cupcakes in the kitchen, and everyone who made one got to take one home when they were ready.  We always do baking on a first session to try and make sure they are cooked before anyone goes home, so sometimes children do miss out on taking one.  However, we do baking a lot, so everyone, at some point, will get to take a cake or some other treat home. 

​Lots of fun activities this week with a big range of children to take part.  Some days, we had all the children taking part in huge sessions, and other days, small groups branched off to do their own thing.
 
Monday was the busiest day, so we made the most of the large numbers.  We had a huge game of capture the flag on the back pitch, where the game was often won, not by the fastest child as most assume, but by the smallest little group boy who slipped past without being spotted, and was able to get the flag back to his own side. 
We had large junk modelling sessions, made up of loads of cardboard boxes of all kinds of sizes, pringles tubes, egg boxes, you name it.  Some children made a car to fit two people, some children made a shop, or a creature.  Whatever the end result, it is always the paths they took to get there that is the reward.  Most children left their creation on the snooker table, much to the delight of some parents we’re sure.
The children on one of the days initiated a game of hide and seek.  We then made this into a session for all the children, turned off the lights in the building (it didn’t’ make it dark at all, but just made hiding under a chair a little better) and set one seeker off in the hall counting to 50. Some of those children were great at hiding, they didn’t mind squeezing into tiny spaces.
We have done lots of baking over the week, too.  Some of your children may have come home with something delicious, or sometimes we may have had it over snack time.
Joe played a white board game with all the children on Friday, it a game where teams compete against each other to get from one side of the board to the other.  They do this by choosing top, middle or bottom on a grid of 1-20.  Under each space, they may encounter a speed boost to take another turn, an oil slick to miss a turn, or a crash to take them back to the start.  This game is called The Car Race Game.  This game was huge, with 8 teams (we only usually have 3) and a big, climactic ending, with 3 teams all finishing around the same time.
We also had some relaxing sessions, where we had some nice colouring sheets of different complexity for the younger and older children, played some Mafia with the older children, and many of the children have gotten into chess, with friends teaching others how to play.
Little group also enjoyed some parachute games and making robots and unicorns (as you do) while big group played a game similar to dodgeball called War Game – the children build a fort they can hide behind for a portion of the session, then using the kind of balls you’d find in a ball pool, they throw them at the opposing team, three hits and you are out. It’s a hugely enjoyable game that encourages team building and also thought into the fort building process too.
Overall, a really fun week! 

Lots of fun this week for your children.  We made the most of the warm weather and all the groups, at some point have made a trip to the park.  Big group really enjoyed a game of tig around all the obstacles and played the floor is lava. 
Big group have also been playing hide and seek in the field, stool ball in the hall with some really high scores.  
There wasn't many left in big group on one day, so we opened up the pool table and middle group have been joining in as well. 
They really enjoyed playing Treasure Island on the whiteboard with forfeits! Ask your children! They have also been designing a logo for a space tourism company which is something that gets them really thinking about what makes an interesting logo.

Middle group have made shortbread biscuits, great dodge ball games and bingo!

Little group have been doing a bug hunt out in the nursery garden.  They found loads of interesting things, and then spent a session drawing them.

Lots of things going on this week.  Alison has done some baking of some pretty fancy looking jam tarts with her group.  She has also joined up with big group to have a massive game of dodgeball, middle group against big group.  Apparently, they won one game each.  However, that varies from who you ask. 

All groups have been really enjoying capture the flag this week as well, so we've all spent a lot of time outside. 

Little group have been playing lots of Treasure Island on the whiteboard, and designing dinosaurs!

Big and Little group have also made pizza using wraps as bases.  A really simple but filling meal if you fancy it at home.  Just top with tomato puree then your choice of toppings and put them in the oven until all the cheese has melted. 

Big group has also done some junk modelling in their room, I'm sure some parents were pleased with us sending that home. 

Middle group had a game of bingo, which seems to be a firm favourite with all the groups. 

We are still encouraging chess during free choice time, and it’s been brilliant to see lots of interest in playing and learning the game. 

A busy first week back this week. 
We've made the most out of the weather this week and have played lots of outdoor games, like Spanish tig on the field, capture the flag on the back playground, and using the park at the side of the club.  
We've also been doing lots of games in the hall to burn of this energy that they all seem to have, with Ryan doing some of his made up games, and some king and queen dodgeball. 

We've also been creative, with some of the children making comic books and doing some big collaborative painting.  

We've also really enjoyed playing with the board games in the kitchen during free choice time every day, especially chess!

Monday started the week with lots of activities straight away.  First off, to let the children run off some of that energy, we went to the park next door.  This is something that they all ask for, and while the weather is nice, we make the most of it!
Monday was also the start of our baking week.  All the children helped to make lots of cake pops, then used different coloured icing and melted chocolate to decorate them, complete with sprinkles.
We also had a very competitive game of A-Z quiz with some of the older children.  Monday saw some new starters who have never been to our kids club before, and who settled in perfectly with lots of help from our kind regulars.  

Tuesday continued our baking spree and we made Millionaire Shortbread from scratch! The children first made the shortbread base, and let it cool before adding the caramel topping (we cheated and used a tin) then we melted chocolate and swirled in white chocolate to marble it.  It was delicious!  Outside, we had a big game of capture the flag, we had playdough challenge in the kitchen, where teams have to create something with playdough and a judge decides which team is the best, and we also played our own version of Cranium, called Sculpt-Act-Draw, where teams compete against each other to roll a dice, and choose something to either sculpt, act or draw for their teams.  

Wednesday broke the baking but went down a healthier route and we made pizza using wraps as a base.  The children cut up and chose their own toppings, and we had them for snack.  We also went on a trip to Fairfield Park, which is a short walk down the cycle track behind us.  We took snack with us too to have a little picnic.  Later on we played an overly competitive game of Sharky Sharky in the hall,  and treasure island on the whiteboards.

Thursday brought back baking, when we made Rocky Rhodes which everyone got to take home with them, we had a big colouring session where we all contributed to a massive picture, each taking a square to put back together again to create a really unique piece of art.  We also had facepaint tattoos and listened to some Disney music to sing along with.  Outside was another big game of Capture the Flag, where there was an epic run by Cassie to release anyone in jail, followed by Charlie, grabbing the flag, and dodging everyone trying to tig him to win the game. Big group also had a big game of Mafia, a role play game where each person has a character to play, and they have to find out, who is the mafia.  

Friday a big construction game in the hall for the older children, where they build a base, then try to get the other team out by throwing balls at them.  Each player has 3 lives, then they are out.  Think dodgeball but with shelters. 
We are also going to make the most of the sunshine, and play Spanish hide and seek on the field, hangman, and more!

We all hope you have a great weekend, see you next week!!!
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