Laugh and Learn

Get young minds going and giggles flowing with these fun activities for afterschool programs that make education much more exciting.

1. Bubble Trouble

No matter your age, bubbles always bring the giggles. Learn all about the science behind bubbles, make your own bubble mix and bubble makers, then play! Make giant bubble tunnels, build bubble towers and create glow-in-the-dark bubble art.

Extra for experts—these tensile bubbles will fascinate older kids as they construct their own geometric bubble wands and make triangle, square and inverted bubbles while learning more about the laws of chemistry and physics.

Tips: Take photos of your kids as human bubbles and turn them into special event cards such as Mother's Day or Father’s Day cards, or share on your social media to spread the word about how much fun your OSCAR activities are!

2. What Are You Doing?

Loads of zany fun, this game improves self-confidence, imagination and attention. Have everyone stand in a circle with one child in the middle. The person in the middle begins miming an activity of their choice. The next person approaches them and asks, "What are you doing?". The first person continues miming the activity, and when ready answers with anything but what they are actually doing. For example, if they are miming mowing a lawn, they may respond, "brushing my teeth". The second person then starts miming the spoken activity while the first person re-joins the circle. The next child then approaches to ask the second person—now in the middle of the circle—"what are you doing?", and so on.

Tips: Each child should continue miming until they think of a response to the question, and the next child must start miming as soon as the answer is heard. For clarity, the answer should not be something that looks like what is being mimed. Encourage creativity and silliness!

3. Make Failure Fun

Teach kids it's ok to make mistakes by having fun with failing! Have each child come to the front of the class and "present" a made up failure of theirs. Encourage them to take pride in the failure and describe what they did and the consequences in detail. E.g. "I tried to learn how to ride a bike this week and fell flat on my face, twice". Once they have shared their invented failure, the rest of the group gives them a rousing round of applause and celebration. The person who has "failed" should absorb the applause and respond with a celebration of their own, like a "ta da!" flourish of hands, a deep bow, or a victory dance.

Tips: Be sure to explain the reason for the game—that failure is unavoidable and frequent when learning new things so it's important to have a good relationship with making mistakes. Emphasise that the failures be made up to keep things fun and educational. Be aware that it will be challenging for many to accept the applause for having failed, so don't let kids shrink away before they have celebrated their failure properly!

Want to keep kids laughing and learning with great OSCAR activities?