Stealthy Crafts with Kevin and Sarah

Hello Sr OSC Families,

The highlight of the previous week was the crafting of paper roll ninjas. We, Sarah and Kevin, decided to go eco-friendly this week by creating art with paper card stock and toilet rolls. This was an amazingly simple and easy to make craft.

Tying together imagination with simple arts and craft designed for children of all ages, the children at Senior Out of School Care embarked on a journey of exploring the art of Japanese warriors by creating a one of a kind paper roll ninja.

Paper roll ninja provided the children an opportunity to explore and use their inner creative juices on a calm and quiet Friday afternoon. Masterpieces are not created overnight but, with these OSC minds, this was not the impossible.

Materials needed to make this  ninja can be found in a home setting such as toilet roll cores, card stock, straws, glue stick, black marker/felt pen.

Some excited children decided to use their talents to make their own unique creatures. A couple made octopus stretching their creativity to a whole new level.

Warmest Regards,

Kevin & Sarah

Blog Worthy Moments with Megan

Hi Senior OSC families!

I’m Megan, one of the assistant leaders here at West Richmond OSC and have had the opportunity to help plan and execute art/activities on Tuesdays at Senior OSC. This week we decided to try Popsicle Art as a fun project.  The kids first worked on creating their own canvas and moved onto finalizing their own master pieces.

This Popsicle Art was a simple project that provided each kid with a handful of popsicles, a hot glue gun and vibrant coloured paints that ranged from pastel blues to luscious greens. First they had to hot glue roughly 10 popsicle sticks together and then they could paint an image of their choice over the new canvas they’ve just created. With a photo example as a guideline the kids let their creativity and imagination flow as they painted and glued with excitement and laughter creating works of art that Van Gough would be proud to see.

This activity is interesting because of how it allows each of the kids here at OSC to interpret the craft as they choose and let their creativity be explored. Some chose to follow the specific structure shown in the photo example of the popsicles aligned side by side. Others created a frame like structure to paint over. Seeing each kid that created a popsicle art, every one of the artworks different from another, really showcased every child’s inner creativity and artistic ability in a fun way.

Here below are images of some of the finished products.

 

This was an extremely fun art project to be a part of and looking forward to the many that will continue to follow!

Until next time,

Megan

x

CIRCLE LOOMING... iiittt'sss bbbaaacckkk!!!

Hi everyone,

I've chosen to highlight one of the  afternoon activity that took place at Sr. OSC this week. Our crafty  leaders Brianna & Emily decided to try doing 'circle looming' with the children. Circle looming is a type of knitting that uses a round template that you wrap yarn around in a particular pattern to create hats, scarfs, bracelets and other accessories.



Several years ago, circle looming and traditional knitting was a big craze at OSC, and we are excited to see if this afternoon activity will take off in the same way it did some time ago.







This is such a neat activity because it focuses on fine motor development skills given the intricate nature of the hand movement. Additionally, the kids have the space to get creative and make something of their own choosing!





Shared below, is an example of one of the children's progression, as they work through the process of a making a hat.

To be continued... :) 

Warmest Regards,

Matt

A Day at Senior Out of School Care

Hi to all of our families from our OSC program. My name is Josh and I am one of the assistant leaders at Sr OSC.  I started at OSC as a volunteer and now I work at both Jr and Sr OSC. For this week I wanted to talk about what goes on in a day at Sr OSC and how all of the kids get along and have fun.

When the kids first come into the room the leaders have to make sure that all the kids are accounted for and the kids do their part by signing in as soon as they arrive. At this point I make sure to say hi to as many kids as I can. After everyone is signed in, children explore the room while we open snack.

Following snack we open up afternoon activities including the park.  Usually at this point I help with the tracking board which uses magnets to track the location of each kid. This is one of my favorite jobs because I get to watch and observe how the kids play together and I get to interact with the parents when they come in to pick up their son or daughter.

All in all working at OSC is my favorite job because I love not only working with kids, but also seeing them grow up into the great teens they will become.

Sincerely,

Josh

These are a few of our favourite things .....

Hello, Sr OSC families

This week I decided to ask the kids in our program what they like most about out of school care.  Here are some of the questions or responses that I got,

Favourite snack

• Sugar cookies with icing and extra sprinkles.
• Gingersnap cookies
• Grilled cheese and cheesy bread
• Zucchini cake
• Chocolate chip cookies
• S’mores
• Dad’s cookies

Favourite activity

• Art: painting canvas’s
• Skittles game
• Two ball
• Iron art
• Camouflage
• Racing a leader around the track
• Choosing Brianna’s hair colour challenge

           

Favourite in-day

• Pirate day
• Baking day
• OSCity day
• Amazing race

Favourite out-trip

• Playland
• The Great Escape
• Canada games pool
• Six Pack beach

It was nice to see how excited the kids got when they were asked about their favourite things at OSC.  They look forward to coming to OSC everyday, looks like we are doing something right! Keep it up leaders!

Sincerely,

Brianne

Kid's Corner with Sarah: Winter Break Edition

Hey Sr OSC families,

Now that is officially December, the holiday season is approaching us quickly and school will be out for winter break soon! Since the first term of school is wrapping up, I thought it would be cool to interview some kids and ask them what they are looking forward to the most during winter break. In addition, I always wanted to ask the kids a more reflective question, which was, what is one thing you can do to give back to others who are less fortunate than us? Some kids chose to conceal their names and give an alternative name! Here are some of their responses…

Angel: 

I am looking forward to going to 6 Pack Indoor Beach and sleeping in. One thing that I can do to give back to those who are less fortunate is collect items such as blankets, scarves, and a thick coat as everyone should receive a gift during this time of year! 

“Vanessa”: 

I am excited to decorate my Christmas tree, spend time with my family, go to 6 Pack Indoor Beach, and Science World. I can donate toys that I don’t play with as much and also clothes! 

“Vicky”: 

I can’t wait to go to Science World, the pool, and decorate my Christmas tree. I can donate canned goods to a food bank!

Gabriella:

I am looking forward to singing in my Christmas choir. I can help out seniors! 

Elisa:

I can’t wait to have hot chocolate and watch shows all day! One thing that I can do to give back to others is make blankets and donate them! 

Science World and 6 Pack Indoor Beach were a popular response amongst the kids and I am excited that the kids are looking forward to going to these places. The holiday season is often referred to the season of giving back and it brought a smile to my face knowing that they all came up with amazing responses to help others! 

Until next time,

Sarah A 

Slimetastic Day

November 27 was a Slimetastic Day!

My name is Jordan, I have been working at OSC for my fifth consecutive week.  I run the art programs on Mondays and this was the most fun and exciting session yet!  Before it even started I had kids waiting to sign up for art. This was my first go at a hands on art.  While I was excited I was actually feeling a little overwhelmed in the beginning because I wasn't sure if everything would come together.  However, this art exceeded all my expectations and I left feeling overjoyed. 

Growing up as a child I was always a big fan of slime, what child is not? However there is play dough, silly putty and other weird textures in our program, so how much more fun could slime be?

I think I forgot that creating your own "slime" or creating anything is more satisfying and makes the experience that much better. The fact that everyone has a unique style, through the different colours, sizes, viscosity and texture, has made our slime creations all the more special.  

The ingredients used were:
1. ~1 cup of Elmers Glue
2. ~1 cup of water
3. Food colouring
4. Liquid starch

The Recommended Ratio: 1-1-1

The recommended ratio was the most fun part about this day, as it distinguished the children's style in how they created their slime.  This made everyone want to experiment with the ingredients. At the end of the day and the kids were experts at this creation and were able to know exactly what ingredient was needed to be added, how much of it and how it would help. With kids experimenting more, of course a mess was inevitable. Fortunately I was reminded to put down a table cloth or I would have been scrubbing the tables until night.  

Overall, I believe the slime creations went really well. The kids were playing with the slime the whole day until pick up time. They were blowing bubbles with the slime, kneading it, covering cups, making ice cream, the list goes on and on. Hopefully no messes were made outside of OSC time!

It was definitely a successful day and kids enjoyed the art with the simplicity of slime!

Until next time, 

Jordan