Learning Tools
Looking for new and creative ways to engage children and youth? You've come to the right place! In addition to activity aids and examples of quality program practices, we also provide links to K-12 curriculum materials, allowing program directors to structure activities within the context of what students are learning during school.
General Tools
Afterschool.gov Planning Activities
This comprehensive site offers links to learning activities ranging from arts projects and programs to understanding the mathematics of knots.
Beyond the Bell
Offers a useful homework sharing tool.
Bringing Education to After School Programs
A government manual with sections on how to introduce reading, math, technology and art to an after-school program. Includes ideas for parent involvement and teacher recruitment and training.
The Learning Network
Offers a wealth of cross-curricular activities and resources for instructors and providers.
Youth Development Guide: Engaging Young People in After-school Programming (Guidebook)
This presentation by the Harvard Family Research Project discusses predictors and developmental differences in adolescent participation in out-of-school time activities.
Reading and Language Arts
AfterSchool KidzLit
Developmental Studies Center offers this reading enrichment program designed specifically for use in out-of-school settings. Aimed at increasing young people’s motivation to read, build literacy skills and develop core values of helpfulness, fairness, personal responsibility, and respect for others.
Food for Thought Curriculum
Developed by Project Bread, this curriculum provides age-appropriate sections (grades K-2, 3-5, middle school, and high school) with several lessons for each section. The goal is to increase awareness of hunger and its causes and consequences, and to instill a sense of responsibility and community service in young people.
Reading in After School Programs
Short practical suggestions from the US Department of Education on how to integrate reading activities into after-school programming.
Science, Math and Technology
The Math Explorer
Rain Forest and Science Study
The Intercultural Center for Research in Education's bilingual (English/Spanish) site offers overviews of curricula on rain forests and hands-on science and environmental subjects.
The Science Explorer
TryScience
Contains a wealth of activities to interest middle school-aged children in science and engineering. See the TryScience Brochure for more details. Products are available for purchase.
Physical Activity
Physical Activity Tools
This document offers five tools and additional resources for child and adolescent programs with a physical activity component. First, it presents definitions and specific examples of physical activity, exercise, and fitness. Guidelines for increasing involvement of children and adolescents in physical activity are presented. Finally the tools offer descriptions of effective and appropriate physical activity programs and guidelines for coaching in these programs.
Sport for All
A turnkey recreational program suited for after–school programs for ages 3–10 (with 40 activities in each module) available for purchase.
Action for Healthy Kids Nutrition Education Resource Database
Includes 54 downloadable examples of research-based promising practices for school-based and OST activities.
A General Overview of Physical Activity and Nutrition Intervention Programs
This review by the International Life Sciences Institute Center for Health Promotion provides general information about physical activity and nutrition intervention programs identified through research. This resource supplies the name of programs, grades or ages of participants served, goals and accomplishments of the program, and contact information.
Improving Nutrition and Physical Activity in Schools: Internet Resources
Yale University published this article addressing the concern of child obesity as a public health concern. The brief seeks to aid schools in their efforts to improve eating and physical activity habits for their students and families. They focus on providing internet resources on physical fitness and nutrition as they identify the sources of child obesity, offer remedies at school and at home and explain the consequences.