101 Projects and Activities for School-Agers

CalSAC Member Pegy Ussery of Child Care Services in Pacifica developed this widely acclaimed resource for afterschool and school-age care professionals. Each activity is built on the principle of involving children in hands-on projects so they understand and learn. From rainy day activities to holiday crafts to snack-making and more, download this free resource.

Download: Working in Afterschool and School-Age Programs

Let your students know about the benefits of working in afterschool and school-age programs, as well as the resources available to them.

Get Free On-site Training for Your Staff!

Through our successful CalSAC Training project, we support a statewide network of expert trainers who provide free on-site training for afterschool programs and professionals.

Free Youth Fitness Curriculum for Educators

Operation FitKids™ Youth Fitness curriculum is provided at no cost to teachers as a public service of the American Council on Exercise.

New Math Website for Afterschool Activities

This is a great resource for before- and afterschool programs. It includes a free curriculum aligned with content standards.

5 Low-Cost Field Trip Ideas

Activity Idea: Make an Anger Thermometer

Help your kids (aged 5-12) cope with their frustrations before conflicts arise. Post an Anger Thermometer in your program space!

Be a Magnet for Kids

The National School-Age Care Alliance (NSACA) offers standards for relating to children in positive ways.

Browse Afterschool Job Openings Now!

From executive director openings to positions for those just getting started in the field, our comprehensive job listings allow you to search by geography, job title, and more. For those seeking to hire someone new, our simple process allows you to post openings for free.

Give Kids your Best on the Job

Most afterschool programs have snack time and play time, but what about quality time? The pros who work with kids know every moment is supposed to be “quality.”  But what does it mean, and how is quality achieved?

 Guidelines for Effective Staff-Child Relationships

Use these guidelines to orient program administrators and staff members and help them to assess whether their behavior meets nationally recognized quality standards. 

Including Children with Special Needs in 5 Simple Steps

Preventing Behavior Challenges Before They Start

If you’ve got behavior programs, you may be experiencing the symptoms of something larger.

Are You Part of the Bully Solution?

The negative effects of bullying are well known: lowered self-esteem, reduced learning ability, anger, depression and, in extreme cases, suicide. Although these effects are widely recognized, many teachers and program leaders lack adequate skills for prevention.

Activity Idea: Create a Copper Nail

Get kids excited about science with this fun, easy experiment — turn an iron nail to copper!

Countering the Female Bully

In her book, Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls, Rachel Simmons documents what many who experienced childhood bullying know too well — girls can be bullies too.

Activity Idea: Round Robin Games Tournament

This activity provides the perfect outlet for kids’ energy, using all those board games on your shelves.

Ground Rules to Get Kids Active

In a state where one in four children is overweight and even more are physically unfit, the pressure to increase activity is on. Exercise plays a role in keeping kids healthy now and in upping the odds of lifelong fitness. It’s also highly correlated with academic success.

Gender and Sports After School

Too frequently, girls gravitate to one fitness activity and boys to another. Researchers found that when children are given choices between activities that seen as “for boys” or “for girls,” most will choose what’s “expected” of their gender. 

Gearing Your Program to All Kids

Activity Idea: Individual Collage

This activity for middle school and older elementary school children is adapted from the Museum of Tolerance’s Finding Our Families, Finding Ourselves curriculum for afterschool programs.

Free Online Resource Offers CEUs

A new online tutorial for professionals in afterschool programs and other youth services provides free staff instruction on bullying issues and preventing aggression.

Activity Idea: Make a Mummy

Helping Kids Behave Well

Sometimes, the biggest challenge in working with young people is keeping them on their best behavior. Behavior guidance involves much more than discipline, though, so it’s important to approach the topic from a variety of angles.

Activity Idea: Writing Your Own Book

Tap into your kids’ creativity by letting them write and illustrate their own stories.

How to be an Afterschool Advocate

The recent experience of afterschool professional Len Heid illustrates why it’s a good idea for afterschool and child care professionals to make their case to government.

Tools to Promote Reading Fun

Get free materials to promote reading for fun and positive choices in movie viewing.

How Child Care Centers Hold on to Teachers, How Teachers Build Lasting Careers

Marcy Whitebook and Laura Sakai examine how child care programs and their staff subsist in a field characterized by low pay, low status, and high turnover and what the impacts of these factors are on the quality of child care provided.

Keep Kids Coming Back for More

Try these outside-the-box program suggestions to add spice and fun to your planning. Guaranteed to keep kids singing the praises of your program!

Behavior Guidance: Creating an Integrated Policy

Kids aren't perfect 100 percent of the time. Making mistakes and testing boundaries is part of growing up.

5 Secrets to Successful Summer Planning

Worried about how to fill those long summer days? Our summer planning tips get you started out right!

Chess: The Right Moves

One of the biggest after-school success stories – though at first blush an unlikely candidate to get kids’ juices flowing – is chess. Stimulating critical thinking and other valuable skills, while also proving highly engaging to students, chess offers great potential as an educational reform vehicle.

Activity Idea: Nutritious Food Fun

Take time to complete a weekly nutrition activity with your youth and don't forget to keep them moving.

Why It’s So Important to Teach Kids About Diversity

When the school bell rings this fall, millions of kids will head back to school, bringing together a rich variety of cultures, races and religions. If we believe recent research, the majority of the kids will get along.

Activity Idea: Reading Relay

Get kids up and running with the Reading Relay!

Bullies and their Victims: What to Do

There's nothing new about bullies. Most people can remember some experience with a bully while growing up. Unfortunately, bullies still cause psychological and physical damage to other kids.

Middle School Youth: Another World

Older kids have lots of options when school lets out, but not all alternatives are positive. Convincing them to spend time at your program requires a special approach.