Play Materials for Enriching Afterschool Opportunities in the Moscow Community: A Proposal to the Latah County Community Foundation

Submitted by the Adventure Club April 19, 2013 A. Organizational Information The Adventure Club is a self-supporting, nonprofit afterschool and summer program for elementary school children living in Moscow, Idaho. Founded over two decades ago, the program was initiated by local families who desired to provide to their children a safe nurturing environment containing stimulating and enriching activities supervised by caring staff. Adventure Club sites are located at Lena Whitmore, McDonald, and Russell Elementary schools. Our mission statement is to provide participants with a supervised environment that promotes their intellectual, physical and social development. Our goals, in addition to the expansion of childrens overall educational experiences are to: provide a safe, supportive and consistent atmosphere for students; keep enrollment rates affordable; and enrich students growth through developmentally appropriate activities. Open to children ages kindergarten through sixth grade, the Adventure Club hosts three different programs: after school days, non-school full days, and the summer program. Different activities occur at each location, but all children complete homework and are encouraged to participate in the activities provided by special guests. Past educational contributors include the University of Idahos Chemistry Club, the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute and volunteers from the Palouse Discovery Science Center. In order to maintain a child-centered program, activities are generated with the childrens desires in mind. After school programs run from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday and children are provided with one snack. Full-day care is offered at one location during teacher-in service days, and weekdays during winter breaks, spring breaks, and summer vacation. A typical summer day within the program begins at 7:00 a.m. and ends at 6:00 p.m. Children have the opportunity to participate in activities both in the morning and afternoon, and have the opportunity for field trips, such as swimming daily, visiting Palouse Empire Gymnastics, or the University of Idahos Climbing Center. Although families are required to send a lunch with their children, two additional snacks are provided each day. Adventure Club management staff, including the three site supervisors and director, have over 60 years of Adventure Club experience. The Adventure Club serves approximately 17 percent of Moscows elementary school students. We provide services for approximately 300 children in a calendar year. This includes low income and homeless children who are recipients of tuition assistance from Adventure Clubs scholarship fund.

Play Materials for Enriching Afterschool Opportunities in the Moscow Community: A Proposal to the Latah County Community Foundation There are multiple programs in Moscow and the surrounding community designed to provide similar services to Adventure Club, but we are proud to be the only organization that provides care year round. We are open five days a week and even provide care on most holidays. In addition, our enrollment is not limited to preschool and kindergarten aged children like other organizations. Although the Moscow Parks and Recreation offers free after school activities at the Eggan Youth Center, their opportunities are geared more toward junior high and high school aged students and provide little adult supervision. Eggan does not require parents to be present at any time during their after school program. B. Purpose of Grant This proposal addresses our communitys need to provide opportunities for the growth of young children in a safe and nurturing environment during traditional after school hours. But in order to maintain this overarching environment within the three elementary schools, educational materials are needed in order to promote intellectual, social and physical development. Thus the Adventure Clubs problem arises: with continued use by enthusiastic children, materials and play toys have become worn and damaged. Dolls are clearly well-loved, and balls have been bounced flat. In addition, students experience phases of game preference, therefore, a variety of new games are needed to further encourage their maturity. Children become discouraged when prompted to play with broken toys, and as later described, need quality materials for adequate growth. Overall, we wish to gain funding in order to support and encourage participation in the Adventure Club through providing quality educational materials and play items. The Adventure Clubs specific project goals for this funding are in line with our mission statement and we therefore hope to encourage and support participation in Adventure Club by: providing educational materials to increase intellectual development; providing fun games for social interaction; and providing safe and quality outdoor play items to increase physical activity. In order to meet our goal of providing a supervised environment that promotes the intellectual, physical, and social development of children, Adventure Club is seeking a $3,000 grant ($1000 per location) to replace current well-loved materials at the three Adventure Club locations with materials that are updated, age appropriate, and appealing to the students. These play materials include board and card games, outdoor equipment, and general toys. Paired with the purchase of these materials by our organizations director, the site supervisors and group leaders will create organized activities to promote the use of new materials. Site supervisors will be charged with the administration of supplies. Within two weeks of approval from the Latah County Community Foundation, our list of items will be purchased and immediately integrated into curriculum. This list

Play Materials for Enriching Afterschool Opportunities in the Moscow Community: A Proposal to the Latah County Community Foundation includes board games, chosen based on their requirement for forethought, planning, comparison, and logical integration. Examples of games are, Think Fun Rush Hour, Qwirkle, Memory, and Cranium Cadoo. These kinds of games have been proven through studies to improve childrens ability to reason as well as their processing speeds. Both are key components of intelligence and impact a students academics. Physical activity items such as basketballs, hula hoops, jump ropes and a ring toss game will be used to develop both large motor skills as well as coordination, strength, and body awareness. Decreased physical activity in school age children is a large factor in childhood obesity and other health problems. General play equipment will reflect the interest of the students, and may include dollhouses, building blocks, and toy race cars. These kind of play materials allow children to practice social skills as they interact with each other while also using their imagination. Play is an essential part of child development. From a young age and throughout elementary years, play facilitates social, emotional, cognitive, and physical growth in children. New play materials would allow Adventure Club to provide students more opportunities to engage in activities that encourage this positive developmental growth. The community will benefit in several ways through the Adventure Clubs activities. By promoting positive child development, participants will become more productive and participatory in their community. Children are continuously practicing skills that will benefit themselves as adults. In addition, parents of students can take advantage of the peace of mind Adventure Club provides, enabling them to worry less about their childrens whereabouts and behaviors. Studies show that adolescent crime rates peak in the traditional after school hours. Adventure Club provides a positive alternative during these hours that will likely decrease our community's juvenile crime rate by teaching students to engage in self-improving behaviors. Currently, Adventure Club serves approximately 17 percent of elementary age children in Moscow. All of these children and their families will benefit from the improvements made to the games, toys, and recreational materials at Adventure Club. If funding is provided, these changes may lead to a boost in enrollment. To sustain long-term efforts of our grant funding, we plan to span financing over the course of three years. Equipment can be replaced in a gradual manner, retiring the most worn materials first. Future enrollees will therefore be able to enjoy new toys as well. The impact of our project will be reflected in students long-term intellectual, physical and social development, in addition to their immediate happiness. Overall, the Adventure Club has a great advantage to make a positive impact in the lives of the children who participate, due to the consistency and time spent with the children. With the aid of these new materials, Adventure Club will improve the experience of the participants and increase the opportunity for developmental growth, which has the potential for lifelong impacts.

Play Materials for Enriching Afterschool Opportunities in the Moscow Community: A Proposal to the Latah County Community Foundation C. Evaluation The effectiveness of our activities will be measured by through student participation at each respective Adventure Club location. Activities will be facilitated by site supervisors, and it will be their responsibility to track the usage of materials in order to determine what the children prefer. The criteria we will use to measure success are the rates of enrollment in Adventure Club and surveys completed by the supervisors about play material usage. These surveys will inquire into participants age, length of time spent with a certain toy or activity, whether participation was alone or shared, and so on. Candid talk with students will also produce valuable knowledge regarding their activity preferences. We expect to maintain enrollment, but experience an increase as we make the transition from the after school hours to the summer program. We foresee our results and supervisor feedback to be consistently positive. Evaluators include the three site supervisors, group leaders, and Adventure Club participants. As previously stated, supervisors will measure student participation in activities with new materials, and these records will indicate interest level. Group leaders have the responsibility to monitor play to ensure it is productive and enjoyable for students, who in turn indirectly provide feedback based on the activities in which they choose to participate and how often they do so. We will use the evaluation of this program to improve the experience of Adventure Club participants by acknowledging the results and purchasing future educational materials that the children have proven they enjoy. We are dedicated to creating and maintaining a quality after school experience that fosters the intellectual, physical and social growth of our communitys children.

Resources Bronson, P. & Merryman, A. (2009, December 10). New research: $13 christmas gifts = 13 point gain in kids iq. Newsweek, Retrieved from http://www.nurtureshock.com/IQLeaps.pdf ElKind, D. (2007). The power of play; learning what comes naturally. Philadelphia, PA: Da Capo Press.