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!