Archive for category: News

The holiday season is upon us. Finding the perfect gift and spending quality time with your family are probably two of the more pressing issues on your mind. What if we told you there was a way to easily achieve both at one time?

Volunteering during the holiday season is a way to do just that! You’ll not only enjoy quality time together, but you’ll also be giving the perfect gift to those in need!

How Volunteering Benefits Kids

There are plenty of benefits for children who volunteer, including:

• Making them more likely to make positive, healthy choices
• Helping enhance self-esteem
• Improving psychological well-being
• Encouraging compassion and altruism
• Providing experiential learning opportunities
• Helping children experience and appreciate diversity
• Teaching valuable life skills

And the benefits of participating in a community service project aren’t just limited to the ones we’ve listed!

Ideas for Holiday Volunteering

No matter the age of your children, there are always simple ways they can volunteer and help out the community.

If you have a younger child, he or she can help pick out non-perishable food items that can be donated to a food bank, decorate cards for soldiers overseas or children who are in hospitals, or even stuff new socks with items that homeless men and women could be given when passed on the streets.

Older children can donate gently used books and DVDs to local children’s hospitals, schedule a visit to a nursing home and interact with the residents, or host a hot chocolate or cider stand from which the proceeds are donated to a local charity.

Keeping the Volunteer Spirit Year-round

It’s great to volunteer with your kids throughout the holiday season, but keeping that effort going year-round is a fantastic goal to have!

By keeping some form of volunteering on your family’s schedule, you’re helping your child learn that it’s not about what you have, but about empathy and the value of giving to others.

You can help encourage your child’s altruistic side by letting him or her pick a cause to support and discussing the difference between donating time and money. Both are valuable donations for the cause/charity of your family’s choosing, but it’s still important for your child to learn the difference between the two types of donating.

Looking for other ways to inspire your child to become his or her best self? Check out the programs Drama Kids International offers that are specially designed to help kids gain valuable life skills.

Halloween is right around the corner and while you’ve probably been busy helping come up with the perfect costume for your child, chances are Halloween treats for the classroom haven’t yet crossed your mind.

Don’t worry, our Drama Kids International team has got you covered on the tasty Halloween treat front!

Easy Halloween Treats

The goal is to come up with a Halloween treat your child can share with friends that is both delicious and easy to make. Of course—you always want to check with your child’s school to make sure that treats are allowed and learn of any special requirements or limitations.  Below you will find some of our favorite options.

Halloween Muddy Buddies

Delicious and festive, these muddy buddies are an obvious choice! You’ll need Rice Chex cereal, chocolate chips, peanut butter, butter, vanilla extract, powdered sugar, Kit Kats, candy corn, candy skulls, sprinkles and candy eyeballs to make these happen.

The best part? Halloween Muddy Buddies take less than 10 minutes to make! You can find the full recipe here.

Before you send these treats with your child, be sure that items containing peanut butter are allowed in your child’s classroom and/or school. It’s important to be mindful of food allergies. (See below for allergy-friendly treats!)

Rice Krispie Treat Mummies

This Halloween snack option only need three ingredients: snack-size rice krispie treats, white chocolate chips, and black edible piping gel or icing. In under 10 minutes, you can have adorable little mummies who are just waiting to be eaten. The full recipe for these treats can be found here.

Looking for more festive ideas? Woman’s Day offers a number of different options, all with varying degree of difficulty and time required.

Allergy-Friendly Halloween Treats

Food allergies are increasingly common in this day and age, especially among children. While a child can be allergic to any food, there are eight common allergens that account for 90 percent of reactions:

1. Milk
2. Eggs
3. Peanuts
4. Soy
5. Wheat
6. Tree nuts (walnuts, cashews, macadamia nuts, etc.)
7. Fish
8. Shellfish (including shrimp)

Because of the prevalence of peanut allergies, many schools are peanut-free zones in order to protect their students. If you’re worried about coming up with allergy-friendly Halloween treats for your child’s classroom don’t be—we’ve included some excellent options for you below!

Cheese It Up

We know how much children enjoy cheese and there’s no reason why this snack favorite can’t be made festive. You can make fun pumpkin or other Halloween-related shaped cheese treats by getting a cookie cutter or two for a tasty and nutritious treat. Note, this is not the right treat choice if there is a dairy allergy in the classroom.

Popcorn for All

You can decorate a paper bag with Halloween stickers and colors and fill it with homemade popcorn quite easily. Add a bit of fun to it by adding food coloring to the butter and shaking the popcorn in it for a festive treat.

If your child’s classroom requires labeled or packaged items, remember that there are allergy-friendly options out there, such as BoomChikaPop, which can come in individualized bags and simply be put inside the Halloween-decorated paper bag.

Sweet Tooth Options

Sometimes a sweet treat just hits the spot. Consider these candies, which are all guaranteed safe for nut allergies: Tootsie Roll Company brand items like Tootsie Rolls, Junior Mints and Caramel Apple Pops, York Peppermint Patties, Skittles, Starbursts, or Jolly Ranchers.

We hope you find our quick and easy Halloween treat suggestions helpful or inspiring! One more thing: Don’t forget to share once you figure out the perfect treat for your child’s class!

Drama Kids International provides children with a place to learn much more than drama! Our focus is on life skills and confidence building. Interested in finding a program for your child? Visit our website to find a Drama Kids location near you.

Drama Kids Of South Orange County Announces Approval From Saddleback Valley Unified School District To Offer New After-school Classes

 

Local Franchise Owner Anticipating 200%+ Growth in 2018-2019 School Year

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. – Sept. 17, 2018 – PRLog — Drama Kids of South Orange County, California franchise owner Jaime Medley announced on Wednesday that the Saddleback Valley Unified School District has granted approval for the children’s developmental drama program to offer new

after-school classes in schools throughout the district. Each class will meet once per week for one hour and will feature Drama Kids’ exclusive curriculum consisting of over 450 unique lesson plans.

Medley also noted that the Capistrano Unified School District/Saddleback College Community Education has approved after-school classes at nine additional schools on top of the seven schools where classes were offered during the 2017-2018 school year, and that ten charter schools have approved funding for Drama Kids classes to be offered to students in their home school program.

“We are extremely honored and very excited that these school districts and charter schools have recognized the amazing benefits that Drama Kids classes offer students, to include public speaking and communication skills, creative thinking skills, collaboration skills, as well as acting skills,” said Drama Kids of South Orange County Director, Jaime Medley. “Participating students will also have tons of fun while developing higher levels of confidence and self-esteem and building a foundation for personal and academic success.”

In addition to the public elementary school classes, Medley and her team of highly trained teachers will be offering classes at several parks and recreation centers. She expects to have well over 300 students enrolled by December of this year and stressed that classes are filling fast. For more information about Drama Kids classes in South Orange County and to enroll a child, visit www.dramakids.com/ca2.

About Drama Kids of South Orange County

Drama Kids of South Orange County is an independently owned and operated franchise business, and a part of the Drama Kids International network of over 75 franchise locations throughout the US. More information can be found by visiting www.dramakids.com/ca2.

About Drama Kids International

Drama Kids International is the largest after-school drama program in the world. There are more than 15,000 students currently enrolled. Drama Kids’ copyrighted curriculum features original, creative lessons with a built-in advancing scale of development that enables students of different ages and abilities to progress at their own rate. Its curriculum differs significantly from traditional drama and other after-school programs, with an emphasis on fun drama activities that are designed to allow all students to fully participate and develop acting, speaking, and creative thinking skills.

Drama Kids offers age-appropriate classes for students ages 4 through 18 years old. Classes meet once each week for one hour at locations throughout the country. The program allows new enrollment throughout the PRLog – Global Press Release Distribution year, space permitting. Drama Kids also offers Drama Kids Preschool Workshops, Drama Kids Summer Camps, and Drama Kids At School, an in-school program for elementary and middles schools that brings its innovative curriculum directly into the schools as part of the school’s after-school program. For more information, visit www.dramakids.com. For franchise information visit www.dramakidsfranchises.com.

 

Media Contact

Jaime Medley
dramakidsca2@gmail.com
(949) 288-6889

Changes You’ll Notice in Your Child Thanks to Drama Classes

 

You know we like to say the difference you’ll see in your child after becoming a member of the Drama Kids International Family is “dramatic,” but it’s not just a fun play on words, it’s 100 percent accurate!

Children enrolled in our drama classes are not only learning and honing their drama skills but will also see positive changes and growth in areas that will benefit them for life.

So what exactly are the benefits that can be gained through drama classes? It starts with increased academic performance and a healthy imagination, but that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Below are three of the top changes for the better you’ll notice in your child after he or she becomes involved with Drama Kids:

1. An understanding of different viewpoints.It’s a great big world we live in, made up of many different personalities and people. This can be reflected in the differing personalities that are found in our programs. By portraying a character, children are introduced to the process of understanding feelings, viewpoints and personality traits that are often not like their own. Being able to understand and appreciate different viewpointsis a skill that will help your child later on in life, whether it’s in regard to relationships, conflict resolution or even business negotiation.
2. Increased confidence.Our drama programs are designed with a child’s confidence and self-esteem in mind, and you’ll notice a change in confidence level rather quickly! By providing a safe and supportive space for children to explore their imagination, we are also helping them become more confident and comfortable with who they are growing into.
3. Better communication skills.Our drama programs offer children the chance to improve their public speaking and communication skills in every class, because after all, practice makes perfect! Whether working on improv or reciting lines, communication is a key aspect of Drama Kids International and something that is always being worked on by our students. Excellent communication skillscan help children do better in school and, later on in life, help them in the workforce.

There are many more opportunities for personal growth for children involved with Drama Kids International besides those listed here. Interested in learning about what our programming can offer your child? Feel free to contact us to learn more!