Top After-School Game Activities for Kids

So, school is just over for the day, and the brains of your little ones are teeming with the various formulas in Math, definitions in Science and the innumerable dates in History. They return home from school and drop down exhausted into the sofas, relaxing now that yet another challenging school-day is over. You help them grab lunch, catch up on a quick nap and the next thing you do is: engage them in completing their assignments!

Why do Kids Need After-school Game Activities?

Do you think it is a great idea to overburden students with the pressure of academics after a strenuous day at school?

Throughout the day, your child has listened to lectures in the classroom, attended different kinds of academic sessions, worked on classroom assignments and interacted with teachers and his fellow classmates. He has also revised certain lessons at schools or might have appeared for exams.

Now, it is high time he deserves a welcome break from academic activities and indulge in something light, fun and entertaining.

If kids can be involved in certain games immediately after their school sessions, it would rejuvenate their tired nerves and empower them to get back to their studies and different kinds of academic responsibilities with renewed strength in the evening.

Regardless of age, children must be exposed to informal play activities after school.

Sitting in front of the television might seem to be a feasible idea for some parents, however doing so would increase the risk of obesity among children. In the last 30 years childhood obesity has doubled and has been triggering health hazards for youngsters to a great extent. Furthermore, investing time with electronic media would not let your children enjoy any sort of mental or physical exercise. Some doctors suggest that kids must be allowed at least an hour of play time after their schools, in order to energize them after prolonged hours of studying.

After-school Game Activities for Kids

Now, let us discover some of the top after-school game activities that would interest kids after a hectic school-day. These games also encourage children to participate in collaborative activities that instill in them an adequate dosage of team spirit.

#1. Creating a Comic Strip

Teachers can usher in a generous amount of creativity in classrooms, and harness the creative potential of students.

They can ask students to put on their thinking caps.

And visualize a plot of a story. They must invent characters for that story and come up with a wonderful storyline. I am certain young students would love this idea because they are quite fond of comics and the various characters associated with them. Help them draw the characters that they think about, color them and present them in an entertaining way.

Once they complete this activity, they would realize the techniques of creating a unique comic strip.

Not only would this game hone their creative thinking skills, it would also enhance their drawing skills. In addition, it should also aid kids in developing an amazing vocabulary and add to their language literacy skills.

#2. Weaving a Basket

For kids who are slightly older, teachers can ask them to weave baskets utilizing different types of materials. This would be an intensely creative process since students would also be collecting the materials required for making the baskets.

Grass reeds, construction paper and also plastic products that are recycled can be utilized to manufacture the baskets.

It is a great way to keep students busy while at the same time teaching them something that would be beneficial for them later. Once they have made the baskets, teachers might prefer to send them outdoors. Next, they can instruct them to collect autumn leaves or colorful rocks in the baskets that have been woven by them.

Students can even decorate their baskets with beautiful paintings, colored papers cut into pieces or leaf rubbings.

#3. Water Boy

I bet students would enjoy this game thoroughly, as this game can be played with 20 or more students in a group.

Teachers must divide students into two teams comprising ten members each.

Students must face each other, in a straight line. Upon receiving a signal, the very first player must dip a towel in a bucket that is filled with water. Now this wet towel should be passed over the head of each student standing in the line. The person standing right at the end of the line must wring out the towel into another bucket, when the towel is passed over his head.

Isn’t it really interesting?

After this is done, the person standing at the very end must run up to the front of the line. Then, he has to dip the towel into the bucket of water and pass it over the head of his group. The entire process must continue until the first person who has been standing in the line goes to the front of the line and dips the towel in the bucket of water.

The team that has wrung the towel the maximum times in the bucket is the winner!

#4. Become a Scientist

Young students love the game of pretending. You must have observed how your child picks up a ruler and stands with a book in her hand, pretending to be a teacher. She then likes to believe that her siblings are her students and proceeds to teach them, wearing spectacles!

Teachers can leverage this idea and turn it into something really unique and a special fun activity for kids.

They can ask kids to collect a notepad and a pencil and venture outside the classroom. Ensure that they go out into a nearby park, or a garden located inside the school premises and observe their surroundings carefully. While they do so, they must keep pretending that they are scientists.

They should make a note of the types of shrubs, herbs, plants and trees that are present in the park.

They must also notice the butterflies, insects, squirrels, birds and chipmunks in the park and note everything down in their notebooks.

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#5. Tower Challenge

Kids have a lot of fun trying to create new things on their own. The game of ‘Tower Challenge’ is one such game where kids would get a golden opportunity of creating things with recycled objects.

I will tell you how to go about it.

This game might be played outdoors or indoors, though it is better to play this game indoors if it is quite windy outside. Teachers must ask students to build towers with the help of cans, boxes and other recyclable items. If the game is played outdoors, a circle measuring about five feet in diameter must be drawn around every tower with sidewalk chalk.

Teachers might even prefer using a jump rope if this game is being played indoors.

Every player must carry five foam balls and stand inside the circle close to his tower. When teachers blow the whistle, players must throw their balls aimed at other towers, to knock them down.

The player who has the tallest standing tower at the end of the game is declared the winner of the game.

#6. Team Maps

This game can be played outdoors, preferably inside parks.

However, it can also be played in a gym, if required. Teachers can divide the students into two teams. Now, every group must be instructed to draw a map of the park or the gym. The team must create a map in such a way that it is easy for the other team to follow the directions.

For instance, kids can give directions to the slide in the following pattern: take steps to the north-west followed by three baby steps towards the east. Next, take ten steps towards the south.

These are some of the best afterschool game activities for kids that teachers can make efforts to organize in schools, to make students more outgoing and energetic. And, of course develop a team spirit. If you are aware of more such afterschool games that can help kids, do share them in the comments section provided below.