Archive for year: 2018

As we will say goodbye to 2018 and welcome the new year, it is a time to consider New Year’s Resolutions.  While many utilize their New Year’s resolutions to help spur on weight loss and other healthy habits, they can also serve as an important learning lesson for kids.

Why Make a New Year’s Resolution?

When you take away the term “New Year’s resolution,” the basic principles behind it are setting goals and achieving those goals. This is something that all children can benefit from—and even enjoy!

Many may think having your child come up with a New Year’s resolution is a bit excessive or overambitious, but childhood can be the best time to teach new habits. Although adults may make resolutions and not stick to them throughout the year, this does not necessarily mean that children will follow suit.

Helping Your Child Succeed

One of the best ways to help your kids pick and stick to a New Year’s resolution is to encourage them to consider something fun and measurable. You should also guide them toward narrowing down the list to their top three resolutions, including only things that are realistic and achievable.

There are four areas that are ideal for establishing goals:

• Personal goals
• Friendship goals
• Helping goals
• School goals

We are the greatest example for our children, so if we serve as a good role model in the resolution department, they are likely to follow suit. Remember, it takes six weeks to create a habit!

New Year’s Resolution Ideas for Kids

There are plenty of excellent New Year’s resolution ideas for children that are fun, healthy, challenging and positive. The one area you may want to steer your child away from are material goals.

Here are some ideas that may work for your child:

• Invite someone from school or an after-school program over twice a month
• Spend at least one day a month, if not more, unplugged from technology
• Help cook one healthy meal two times a month
• Read two new books per month
• Learn or improve a skill, such as public speaking
• Participate in more physical activity
• Perform a random act of kindness once a month
• Maintain a certain letter grade average throughout the year

Goal setting and achieving those goals are just two of the many life skills children need to learn in order to lead successful lives. Drama Kids International is proud to offer drama programs for children that can help them learn other important life skills, such as leadership, public speaking and self-confidence.

The Thanksgiving holiday is fast approaching, and while menu planning and Black Friday strategizing are probably near the top of the list, chances are that coming up with fun, kid-friendly Thanksgiving craft ideas is also something you’ve considered.

We know it’s a busy time of the year, so we’ve found three kid-approved ideas that are simple, yet fun!

Kid-approved Thanksgiving crafts

Not only are these activities a fun way to keep your child occupied, but they also present an opportunity for him or her to get involved in the holiday festivities and help with the decorating!

Feather Place Mats

This activity requires some feathers, orange (or whatever Thanksgiving color you prefer) card stock, kid-safe scissors and glue.

First, your child will trace the dinner plate you plan to use on your turkey day table. Then cut out the traced circles. Once those have been cut out, all he or she will need to do is put a dab of glue on each feather and then glue them along the edges of the circles. Voila—brand-new feather place mats!

Paper Leaf Table Runner

Break out the fall-colored construction paper or lined paper and child-safe scissors—and let your child’s creative side shine!

This is another crafty activity that lets your child become part of the Thanksgiving decorating, by having him or her cut out leaf designs. Once the designs have been cut out, your children can then write a few things they are thankful for on some of the leaves.

Then glue the leaves together into small groups, to create a design that will run down the center of your table. The finished product creates a heartfelt, homemade runner for the family table.

Corn Husk Flower Painting

Corn and Thanksgiving are just a natural fit, so this craft is something that makes sense and is fun for kids!

You’ll need some dried corn husks, some non-toxic paints, chalk markers and a hot glue gun to make this project come to life. First, an adult should hot glue the corn husks together in a flower pattern. Then allow your child to paint the “flower petals” to his or her heart’s content once the glue has dried.

Thanksgiving is about spending time with family and being thankful. Hopefully some of these craft ideas will inspire some quality family time and help your child embrace his or her creative side just a bit more!

Drama Kids International offers age-appropriate developmental after-school enrichment classes for children ages 4–17 that help them learn to better communicate and express themselves, harness their creativity, and build confidence and self-esteem

Tips for Helping your Child Handle Bullying

 As the school year progresses, chances are your child will experience bullying. He or she may not be the victim, but could still witness it in the classroom, hallway or on the playground.

October is National Bullying Prevention Month, and Drama Kids International is here to share valuable tips on how to help your child handle bullying.

How common is bullying?

Bullying is a very common thing, with more than one out of every five students having reported being bullied. Female students are more likely to experience a form of bullying.

There are three types of bullying—verbal, social and physical. Students who are bullied report that they are called names, insulted, pushed, shoved, tripped, spit on and excluded from activities on purpose. Bullying is reported to take place in the hallways or stairways at school, in the classroom, the cafeteria, outside on school grounds, on the bus, or in the bathroom/locker room.

How to help your child

First, your child must know how to identify bullying. It’s likely that he or she has been teased by a sibling or friend at some point, which is usually not harmful and done in a playful manner. But your child will need to know that when the teasing crosses the line into being hurtful, unkind and constant, it has become bullying.

Be sure children know it is not their fault if they have been the victim of bullying and reassure them that together you will figure out what to do about it. It’s also important for your child to know that it’s OK to speak to a teacher, principal or counselor about what is going on. Keep the lines of communication open and support your child.

ACT UP! to Stop Bullying

We know how detrimental bullying can be for children, which is why we created the ACT UP! to Stop Bullying program. This is a series of workshops designed for third through fifth graders, which utilizes student participatory drama activities and group discussions to teach children about the various forms of bullying and how they can properly respond. In ACT UP! to Stop Bullying, children will learn things like:

• The different forms of bullying, including physical and verbal attacks and more subtle forms like leaving someone out from a group on purpose
• Different roles they can play when bullying occurs, such as silent participant, observer or preventer
• How to model good behavior

Bullying is something that must be taken seriously. If you would like to learn more about our ACT UP! to Stop Bullying initiative, reach out! Our Drama Kids team would love to see it come to a school near you!

Drama Kids Of York County Pennsylvania To Offer 18 Classes For Area Students In Inaugural Year Local Drama Kids Franchise Owner Reaches Agreement With 4 School Districts to Host After-School Developmental Classes

YORK, Pa. – Aug. 31, 2018 – PRLog — Drama Kids of York County, Pennsylvania recently announced that agreements have been reached with the Central York, Dallastown, Red Lion, and Southern York school districts to allow students in 14 elementary schools to participate in Drama Kids’ developmental school year program during the 2018-2019 school year. Each class will meet once per week for one hour and will feature Drama Kids’ exclusive curriculum consisting of over 450 unique lesson plans.

“We are extremely honored and very excited that these school districts have recognized the amazing benefits that Drama Kids classes offer students, to include public speaking and communication skills,creative thinking skills, collaboration skills, as well as acting skills,” said Drama Kids of York County Director, Yolanda Olmstead. “Participating students will also have tons of fun while developing higher levels of confidence and self-esteem and building a foundation for personal and academic success.”

In addition to the 14 public elementary school classes, Olmstead and her team of highly trained teachers will be offering classes at the Eastern Branch YMCA, Paul Smith Library, Red Lion Recreation Center, and the Spring Grove Recreation Center. She expects to have well over 200 students enrolled by December of this year and stressed that classes are filling fast. For more information about Drama Kids classes in York County and to enroll a child, visit www.dramakids.com/pa2.

About Drama Kids of York County

Drama Kids of York County is an independently owned and operated franchise business, and a part of the Drama Kids International network of over 75 franchise locations throughout the US. More information can be found by visiting www.dramakids.com/pa2.

About Drama Kids International

Drama Kids International is the largest after-school drama program in the world. There are more than 15,000 students currently enrolled. Drama Kids’ copyrighted curriculum features original, creative lessons with a built-in advancing scale of development that enables students of different ages and abilities to progress at their own rate. Its curriculum differs significantly from traditional drama and other after-school programs, with an emphasis on fun drama activities that are designed to allow all students to fully participate and develop acting, speaking, and creative thinking skills.

Drama Kids offers age-appropriate classes for students ages 4 through 18 years old. Classes meet once each week for one hour at locations throughout the country. The program allows new enrollment throughout the year, space permitting. Drama Kids also offers Drama Kids Preschool Workshops, Drama Kids Summer Camps, and Drama Kids At School, an in-school program for elementary and middles schools that brings its innovative curriculum directly into the schools as part of the school’s after-school program. For more information, visit www.dramakids.com. For franchise information visit www.dramakidsfranchises.com.

Contact
Yolanda Olmstead
***@gmail.com
717-318-3972