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Challenges.
Given the limited hours of what is commonly known as a school-age program, it
is challenging to sustain a project. The children in the program, only attend in the early
morning hours, often from 7:30 am to 9:00 am and then after school, from about 3:00 pm
to 6:00 pm. At this time, their parents pick them up. Given the age of the children, they
would generally have greater social skills and are more verbal than those in full-day child
care programs and considered preschoolers. These school age children can suggest
direction for the project which helps, over time, to maintain their interest. According to
Rose, “Projects do happen to last longer because you don’t spend so much time on them
during the day.”
Figure 10. Webbing snakes.
A positive outcome of project work is that when children are engaged they are
less likely to be disruptive. Behaviour is not a daily challenge for Rose. “The children are
so involved in the program there is not enough time for them to cause problems.” Rose
recalls a time “before projects” when the children were just not interested in what “we
were telling them they had to learn. There were behavioural issues because they were
bored.”