Caroline and Marcus arrive and you greet them cheerfully. While you try to interest them in various activities, they flop down on chairs as far away from the rest of the group as possible. They mutter disconsolately to each other while playing with their Gameboys or mobile phones. Others of a similar age arrive and join the moody huddle. If this sounds familiar, it is probably because these children feel that they have outgrown your out-of-school club.
Unlike school, where there is an annual change of teacher and classroom, children can attend the same out-of-school club with the same staff and many of the same children for years. This stability can be a positive thing, but as children mature, the activities they used to enjoy will seem boring and they will drive you nuts by saying so... repeatedly.
This may lead to behavioural problems and a tendency to throw their weight about with the younger ones.
J Alec started to overturn the board whenever he played board games with younger children. When playworker Jean spoke to him, he said, 'But they don't play it with the proper rules!'
J Clare started to make disparaging remarks about activities that younger girls were enjoying, so that they stopped participating too.
J When sunny-natured Jake, who had enthusiastically participated in all activities since he was five, suddenly changed his attitude, it was easy to assume that he had become 'difficult'.
How many times have you and other playworkers discussed children who 'used to be so good and helpful'? If this rings a bell, then look at their age and what your club is offering. A few changes could transform their attitude and inject new life and creativity into your club.
TURNINGOFF Many older children want to go home and hang out with their mates. They may feel that the club activities are geared towards younger children. Boredom soon leads to bad behaviour, which leads on to regular telling-off or sanctions. Little wonder, then, if they start to dislike the club completely.
'I don't know why Mum doesn't let me go home and wait until she gets in,'
said 11-year- old Jade. 'My mates think I'm well sad to come here!'
'I don't mind coming when there's people my age, but we need more cool stuff to do, not parachute games,' said ten-year-old Akbar.
I could see his point when I sat with a group and listened to their muttered conversation. They discussed peer pressure, image, bullying, the security of their mobile phones, vandalism at the local park, homework and the tsunami disaster. An over-enthusiastic playworker trying to get them to join in parachute games with younger children must sometimes seem like a real pain.
However, if they had activities that they enjoyed, they would be full of ideas and enthusiasm, great fun to have around and good role models for younger children, making a much happier atmosphere.
Breaking free Older children need more freedom within safe boundaries, so get some feedback from their parents:
* Can their children walk to the club themselves, or go to the local shop in twos or threes?
* Are they happy for them to have a separate area where they are unsupervised if staff look in regularly?
* Can they use woodwork tools or craft knives, or make hot drinks with limited supervision?
Older children need a chill-out zone where they can hang out, chat to their friends, read magazines, play music and enjoy lazy, unstructured social time without younger children around. This can be difficult if you only have access to a small hall without any separate rooms, but screens, book cases, chairs or a makeshift curtain can be put up to create a space. The children could each donate a cushion or beanbag, or help to make them from old curtains or quilt covers. Funds for a CD player, CDs and other equipment could be raised in various ways, and the children should have plenty of ideas for this.
Another approach is to give older children some responsibility. They can run workshops for younger children, be put in charge of games and equipment, be in charge of the tuck shop and hold children's meetings.
A young playworker's badge could make them feel that they are being taken seriously. Sam explains, 'I'm a young playworker. I'm kind of in charge and run circle games without a grown-up. When playworkers make tea for each other, they offer me one too. It's really cool.'
Playworker Jodie says, 'Sam is brilliant at running games and the children love them, even though he won't put up with cheating or nonsense!'.
BRAINSTORMING
Older children will give you loads of ideas for activities they enjoy if you ask them, especially if you give them various ways to communicate these. For example, they can write them in coloured pens on a wall covered in plain paper, record each other's suggestions, post them into a suggestion box, create a collage of ideas from magazine pictures or draw flowcharts and comic strips.
Surprisingly, they often ask for a homework area. If you already have a quiet area, the addition of a desk or table and bookshelf with a dictionary and encyclopaedia is all that's needed. Obviously, if your club has a computer with internet access, so much the better. Most libraries now provide this, so how about arranging a trip to the library once a week if it is nearby?
Other popular activity ideas can include: Skateboards or roller blades are hugely popular. Children will love skating to their favourite CDs if you have an asphalt or concrete play area outside. Make sure they have the proper safety gear and get parents'
permission. A crafty alternative is to get them to make a skate park for fingerboards.
Physical challenges, table football or pool tournaments or other physical activities such as cheerleading make a good change from the usual sports they enjoy.
Music plays a big part in the lives of young people. Those who are learning to play instruments could form bands or write songs. A cheap keyboard kept at club could encourage others as well. Some children will enjoy break-dancing or disco, with competitions for the best. They could hold 'Fame Academy'-style auditions, and aspiring DJs could host discos or karaoke parties. Others may like to create a radio programme and tape it.
Budding actors could start a theatre company and perform regular plays, or write and create a drama with an episode a week for the younger children to watch. If you can beg or borrow a video recorder, you might discover some budding film-makers too.
Avid writers can be encouraged to send stories, letters, poetry and jokes to magazines, comics or the local newspapers. Seeing their name in print - with or without the club's name added - will inspire further efforts from them all. Or they could create a club newspaper, with editors, reporters, photographers and artists making up the team.
Cooking is one activity still enjoyed by older children, and with healthy eating such a big subject at the moment, they might enjoy helping to plan the club tea menu as well as preparing food and healthy snacks. How about getting some children to run a healthy tuck shop on a regular basis?
Other ideas which children have suggested are hobby clubs in art, chess, clay, jewellery making, gardening, knitting, soft-toy making, woodwork, hair and make-up, first aid and cartoon drawing. Children will sometimes enjoy these activities anyway, but the title 'hobby club' or 'workshop'
adds authenticity, especially when they are reserved for older children only.
Finally, older children enjoy going on trips without the younger ones. Here they have suggested swimming, horse riding, bowling, visiting the cinema, archery and canoeing. But they will also enjoy something as simple as a trip to the park to play 'manhunt' if they feel that they are with their peers. That's the secret - peers of a similar age enjoying 'cooler'
activities and greater freedom together.
Deborah Sharpe runs out-of-school clubs for Sussex Downs College in Eastbourne
Further information
The Make Space Campaign, supported by the Nestle Trust in partnership with 4Children, is creating a new network of clubs for young people aged 11 to 16, designed as they would like them, providing a place to go and things to do and opening doors to new opportunities.
J www.makespace.org.uk
