Resource
Pick-Up-Time Mini Activity Cards
Offer activities that can stop cleanly when a family arrives. Includes a two-page A4 printable, specific educator guidance, adaptations and a cut-off quick-reference card.
Ready for a real OSHC session
Preview both printable pages
Download 2-page practical printableCheck the preview, printing notes and licence before use.
When this resource is useful
Late departures need worthwhile choices that do not create disappointment when a child is collected mid-task.
What children do
Choose one card. Use scrap paper or no materials, and leave the activity at any point without losing a long project.
Materials and preparation
Materials: Printed pages and pencils; use only the optional ordinary materials named on the page.
Allow about 2 minutes to print and place the resource. The activity itself usually takes 10 minutes and can pause when the group needs to transition.
Run the activity
Keep cards beside scrap paper and pencils. Tell children every challenge is designed to pause or finish within ten minutes.
The child-facing prompts are:
- Draw an object using one continuous line.
- List five uses for a cardboard tube.
- Make a four-move seated sequence.
- Find two objects with matching shapes.
- Create a six-word story.
- Sketch a flag for an imaginary place.
- Arrange three pencils into a pattern.
- Ask a partner one invention question.
Adapt participation
Simpler way to join: Choose from two cards read aloud.
More challenge: Complete two cards and connect the results.
Children may draw, dictate, point, work beside a peer, observe or join later. Start, Explore and Extend labels describe task routes, not children.
Extend the idea
- Design a card for tomorrow.
- Create a reusable pick-up-time card box.
Safety and privacy
Maintain normal collection supervision and keep exits and sign-out areas clear.
Learning opportunities
Look for choice, communication, creative thinking and independent engagement. Record what children choose, explain, test or revise rather than treating completion as proof of learning.
Checking an open-ended response
There is no single required answer. A useful response follows the printed condition and can be explained, demonstrated or revised by the child.
Printing notes
Print at actual size on A4 paper. Page one is child-facing. Page two contains educator guidance and a dashed cut-off reference card that can be kept with the activity or laminated.
