Introduction
Kids Clubs are after school programs, which offer their services for free. These kids clubs are set up to help the kids to learn various positive values and skills of life. The kids clubs employ the use of different types of art forms, music, and crafts for teaching their students the various values of life. Kids clubs can be full time organizations, or it can also be a part-time community organization. The community groups are led by the members of the local community. The community kids clubs do not have any particular location for conducting its activities. The activities of the association are carried out on the premises of the local elementary school. The parents of the wards are invited to participate in the activities of the club. Volunteers are screened rigorously before being allowed to conduct the various events for the kids involved with the club.
The full-time kid’s activity clubs are also known as pre-schools. They are responsible for inculcating educational values in the young minds through various playful activities. Enchanted Garden is a well-known kid’s activity clubs. The two will be discussed herein below in details. The services offered by the organizations and their emoluments based on their services, their efficiency in providing such services, etc.
Organizational Background
Enchanted Garden is an organization that specializes in various extra-curricular activities for the enrichment of the child. It is also known as a Child Enrichment Center. The group is known to provide opportunities to its children for facing and overcoming various types of physical and intellectual challenges. The organization provides the children with a creative spark that helps them to grow intellectually into a better student. The organization shows its best to keep a progressive and happy atmosphere within the organization premises. In this way, the same is helping in the growth of the children within the organization.
Mission
It is the belief of the organization that all children have an unlimited amount of potential inside of them. Enchanted Garden hopes to awaken the latent potential by the use of the various classes, playgroups, and events. The facility has been designed to help the growth of the student and to nurture their intelligence and confidence. The organization aims to develop the students into leaders of the next generation.
Facilities
Enchanted Garden is a center of excellence. It is a fun place for the entire family. The organization offers the development of the mother as well as her ward through various interactive and fun methods. The organization boasts of a garden; wherein the children can run around, climb and play (Berry, 2005). The playroom of the organization is for the babies and the young children. It is safe and clean for the kids. The playroom is supervised continually by members of the organization. The place is a free space for the young minds to play and explore. The organization calls its library “Once Upon a Time Library.' The setup of the library offers an imaginative atmosphere for the readers. It helps in making reading fun and an exciting adventure. The organization also has a café that caters to the food cravings of both the old and the young minds in the garden.
Services Offered
The Child Enrichment Center is responsible for providing various types of services for its enrollees. The following are the list of the services offered by the organization and a brief description about the same.
A Beginning Journey into Art
In this service the organization mixes art, creativity and history in one single class. The children are taught about the various periodic art forms and their origins. They are provided with the knowledge regarding the various art forms that practice in the present era, as well as the art forms that were in practice ages ago (Sharfstein, 2010). The history of art helps the students to analyze the various art forms that are presented to them. With the capability to analyze any art, it kindles a fire of creativity among them, egging them on to create art on their own, thus increasing their skills of creativity in the process.
Eager Readers
One of the unique services that are offered by the organization is its Book Club. The book club through its various reading programs helps to bring a book to live. The book club helps in increasing the vocabulary and the literary capability of the children. The organization selects stories for the book club so that these stories can be performed by the students instead of just reading them on their own (Smith, 2015). It helps to bring out the fun quotient of reading. The children of the organization are known to improvise on the stories, include unique vocabulary and also use different kinds of accent for their performance of the characters in the stories. They also learn to build up anticipation for a performance and emote properly as per the stories that they are performing. It has to be noted that the books that are kept in the Book Club of the organization are in English.
A Reading Ummah
It is an integral part of the services that are offered by the organization. This service is helpful in developing the thinking skills and abilities of the children. The service helps in stimulating the latent potential of the student and evokes the ability of leadership to their character.
Adventures in Language
The children are introduced to the fun and diversity of language by the use of various types of songs, drama, games and other activities in the real life. The same helps the children to pick up on various new words and improve their vocabulary and their grammar. The children can learn the language and grammar along with their friends in a fun and friendly manner.
Secrets of the Global Citizen
The organization also helps the students to build up skills and ethics that will help them in succeeding in the world. The thinking horizon and their viewpoints are widened by the organization. The organization contributes to exercise the mind and the body of the children so that they can inculcate within them various humanitarian values (Filippov & Antonova, 2013). The children are also encouraged to develop their personal skills. The organization uses various types of art, actions, drama in helping the children to develop.
Classical Ballet
As per the standards and norms of the Royal Academy, the students are made aware of the posture, the agility, suppleness and the discipline involved in ballet. They will be held aware of the love for the dance. The children will be instructed to perform on various stages and develop into a professional ballet dancer.
Tae Kwan Do
Tae Kwan Do is a traditional form of martial arts. Mainly it helps in building up the stamina of an individual, their coordination, and their discipline. It also helps the students of the organization to feel empowered to protect themselves from any physical harm.
Power Within
The organization also aims to develop the inner latent abilities of the students. The children are taught to develop their inner strength by the usage of various types of mental and physical exercises. The children are also taught how to control their breath, thus gaining self-awareness. This service from the organization enables the students to face various challenges with confidence.
Talk Your Heart Out
The organization helps to build up confidence in the young minds. It also helps in building self-esteem and awareness. The Children develop their ways of expressing their feelings, their emotions, ideas and thought processes. They also develop on building up their story telling capabilities. The children use various methods such as pictures, words, and colors for expressing themselves.
Bumble Bees
The program is developed for preschoolers. The organization aims to develop the imaginative power of the young minds. The qualified teachers of the organization carry out various activities that are designed to stimulate the minds of the young children. The children belonging to the age group of 2-4 years of old are welcome to take part in this program of Enchanted Garden.
Mama & Me
The program is a unique service that is offered by the organization. Enchanted Garden believes that the presence of the mother during the early years of growth of a child is a necessity. Thus, they encourage the presence of the mother of the ward in various events that are organized by the organization. The presence of the mother helps in building the confidence, self-esteem and the intelligence of the child. Moreover, the interactive atmosphere of the organization contributes to motivating the children to develop on their own with the assistance of their mother and the teachers of the organization. This service is also known as Little Blossoms.
Little Explorers
It is a playgroup within the organization. The primary focus of the playgroup is on the creative activities of the children. They promote free-play to promote dynamism within the children. The playgroup is also a location for mothers to interact with each other while their children engage themselves in creative learning processes.
Service Trend
Source: (Child Trends, 2013)
As it is evident from the above graphical representation, it can be seen that between the year of 1994 and 2002, the children who had not yet enrolled in any kindergarten, there was an increase in the percentage of children enrolling in fulltime prekindergarten organizations. The percentage has risen from 21% to 28%. The same percentage had also decreased to 26% by the year 2013. It can also be seen that the number of students not enrolled in any preschool program had declined to 44%, before it again increased to 49% in the year of 2008. However, it should be noted that the percentage of students enrolled in part-time prekindergarten programs were stable throughout the entire period of observation.
Source: (Child Trends, 2013)
Recommendations
As it is evident from the data that has been portrayed in the Service Trend section of the report, the number of students joining the prekindergarten and preschool programs has declined. Thus, it is necessary for the organization to attract more students. The same can be done by using new mediums of advertisement to reach out to a larger mass of people. It is necessary for the organization to develop its services continually. The name of the organization will also grow by the sound will of the parents who have enrolled their children in the organization. The organization along with the current services should also come up with new programs for the children. The new programs should be unique and should attract the attention of both the children and the parents equally.
As it has been observed from the second graphical representation, there is a difference between the ethnicity of people joining the pre-school programs. There is a need for the organization to reach out through its program to the various other ethnicity groups also. The nature of the programs of the organization should be diversified in nature, such that individuals of all ethnic groups can participate in the programs for their development.
It is finally recommended for the organization to improve its infrastructure and programs to attract more students from various ethnic backgrounds to the pre-school programs. The organization is already well known for its activities, but there is a need for positive promotion and a good advertisement for its development into a better kid’s activity center.
Conclusion
The report is prepared to give us an idea of the functioning of a Kid’s Activity Centre and as to how it operates. The facilities are provided by these organizations for the development of the children. The report also states the trend of children joining into such pre-school programs. From the data that was collected recommendations were made for the development and betterment of Enchanted Garden.
References
Berry, S. (2005). Kids Cruise Safely. JEMS: Journal Of Emergency Medical Services, 30(9), 122-122. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0197-2510(05)70211-4
Child Trends,. (2013). DataBank. Retrieved February 2016, from http://www.childtrends.org/databank/
Filippov, S., & Antonova, N. (2013). Research of the fitness clubs visitors` awareness about provided services. Uchenye Zapiski Universiteta Lesgafta, (105), 170-174. http://dx.doi.org/10.5930/issn.1994-4683.2013.11.105.p170-174
Sharfstein, J. (2010). Kids First?. International Journal Of Health Services, 30(4), 763-769. http://dx.doi.org/10.2190/hv88-b5w1-7k6h-twtk
Smith, D. (2015). After-school clubs for kids: Thematic programming to encourage reading. The Australian Library Journal, 64(3), 238-239. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00049670.2015.1048560
