Make Going Back to School Fun

Are you looking forward to school starting or do you fear the whining and moaning that may accompany that from your children? Here are a few tips on how you can help your children look forward to going back to school and how to make it fun! (*These ideas came from the September 2008 issue of Family Fun magazine.)

• Schedule a visit from the Backpack Fairy. The night before the first day of school have your children set out his/her empty backpack for the Backpack Fairy. When they wake up they’ll find it filled with school supplies and maybe a fun shirt or socks to wear on the first day of school. Another great item to include would be a book for you all to read together that day after school so they have something to look forward to when they get home. If you start this as a ritual each year it will excite your kids to go to school on that first day.*

• After school games with friends. After an exciting and often exhausting day at school, kids come home with the need to stretch their legs and have fun with their friends. The magazine lists a few different games and activities you can easily plan for after school. You can see these listed on pages 116-123. I’m only going to list a few because they’re a little too detailed to quote them all from the magazine so I’ll just give you the “jist” for you to creatively build upon.

• Simon Says meets the 7 seas. A Captain (Simon) is selected and says “Attention!” rather than “Simon Says” and the kids follow the sailing-themed commands only after they hear “Attention” and they salute the Captain. Commands can be like walk the plank, pull up the lifeboats, take down the sails, swab the decks, scan the horizon, cast a fishing rod, and dance a jig.*

• Library tag. Kids each carry a reading book with them and “It” has to try to tag them when they’re not reading it. If someone doesn’t want to get tagged they must stand still and read. If someone gets tagged they get sent to the “library” to read until someone comes and swaps books with them and then they’re free to go.*

• A “Swinging Take” on Keep Away. Cut off the legs of some control top panty hose at the top of the thighs. Roll them up small enough that they’ll fit on the kids’ heads. Put a roll up sock in the toe and put the hose on their heads with the toe hanging down to their shoulders. They have to try to get each others hose off before anyone gets theirs. Once someone’s hose is pulled off they must sit down. The last one standing wins! Tip: tell the kids not to hold their “hose hats” on or else they could get an uncomfortable jerk!*

• After School Treat Party. This is a great way to wind down the first day of school, or any day! Invite the neighborhood kids and teachers over for a cupcake decorating frenzy. Have one flavor of cupcake (or more depending on the number of kids coming), 2 or 3 kinds of frosting, and several kinds of candy toppings. As an alternative you can bake zucchini or banana bread muffins and have plain or flavored cream cheeses and fruit bits cut up to top them. Kids love to decorate their own yummies!*

If you have any additional ideas on how to get your kids “geeked” about going to school please let us know!

Tagged as: activities for kids, After School, back to school activities, School