Need to host a group of girls for a couple hours on a Sunday? Some tips on how to plan your day.
Depending on where you live, your girls might have a range of different options to keep them busy on Sundays. And while if you’re in-town, there’s lots of options (from full scale programs to those arranged by teen girls in their homes), if you’re either out-of-town or have a group of like-minded mothers who want to get their girls together without the Sunday club expense, there’s a concept of the Round Robin.
In a Round Robin, one family is responsible for hosting and providing the activities each week. You do it once, and then you’re free and set for the rest of the time (whether it’s a group of 6 or 12). Some Round Robin groups go for “round 2,” and sometimes by the time midwinter comes, everyone is ready for some lazy Sundays and it’s a wrap.
Now the question: what do you do when your turn comes around?
Since you might have anywhere from 2 to 3 hours to spend with a bunch of little girls, it’s good to have a schedule–but don’t be so rigid. Some things will take longer, and other things shorter than expected.
Some things to keep in mind overall:
1- Not everyone will arrive at the same time. Even if there’s one girl that’s late, it’s hard to explain the activity over and over again. Also–girls are going to want to get busy right away, and not wait for everyone. Lots of groups have a simple coloring page on the table (depending on the age) so there’s something to do while waiting for everyone to arrive. You can also download and print these Jewish Cartoons and they can have even more fun making a caricature to get the day started.
2- A good format is one starter activity (see #1), one craft, and one food activity (but don’t give too much junk, other mothers won’t like it).
3- You will probably have to serve lunch. You can make the lunch an activity, i.e. make pizza, whether you start with making dough or have pre-made dough ready (how about 2 mini pizza pies each? One to eat for lunch and one to bring home in these mini pizza boxes). Depending on the age, they can alternatively roll sushi and choose their own filling ingredients that you pre-prep (you’d need some sushi containers and a bunch of sushi mats). Have lots of cooked rice (that you made in the oven) available. Alternatively, keep lunch simple (i.e. like this Baked Ziti) and let the food activity be something sweet, from cookie decorating to making this Fruit Loop menorah (great for younger kids) once Chanukah is closer.
4- Themes are a good idea! It keeps the day cohesive and everything falls into place. If you’re creative, you’ll have fun thinking of activities that coordinate with a “summer” themed day in the middle of winter, a “flower market,” “bake shop,” or “snowstorm” themed day.
Please share more Round Robin ideas below!
Here are some more ideas!
My friend told me they did active activities along with a baking or craft–think scavenger hunt, Morah music for younger kids, a freeze dance or musical chairs, or a dance activity for slightly older kids (you can get glow sticks from the dollar store and close the lights & turn the music up for a really fun activity!)
Edible Perler Bead Art with Twizzlers- use rainbow twizzlers, cut into pieces and shape on paper into whatever you choose (you can hand out a coloring paper before so they can follow along with your theme like a menorah or rainbow etc) when finished, cover with baking paper and iron to harden.
flowers in a vase- buy glass jars from the dollar store, fill bowls with salt and have the kids color with chalk to make colored sand (you can buy colored sand if you want less mess.) buy small funnels on Amazon to pour different colors in to the vase. Make flowers – either a fruit rollup rose on a dowel or tissue paper with pipe cleaners.
Rice cake smiley faces for lunch when you have gluten free children over:) (cream cheese then veggie assortment for toppings)
Also we like string hunts in the grass when they need to air out
What does string hunts mean?
They cut a few different color strings then they get scattered in the grass. Each child or pair gets assigned a color that they need to find and see who collects 20 of theirs the fastest…you can change the rules:)