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School's out...What now?

With the first day of school next Tuesday in jeopardy due to the ongoing strike by teachers across B.C., parents are scrambling to find care and activities for their school-aged children.
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With the first day of school next Tuesday in jeopardy due to the ongoing strike by teachers across B.C., parents are scrambling to find care and activities for their school-aged children.

While negotiations continue between the government and its teachers various Prince George groups have stepped forward with plans for next week.

Judy Russell's Enchainement Dance Center is presenting Let's Hang!, an extended day camp for elementary school-aged children. There are two high energy camps designed to keep children motivated and active while waiting for the school dispute to end. Program A is for children from kindergarten to grade 3, and Program B for grade 4 to 7. The programs are supervised by qualified Enchainement staff and offer quality movement training, crafts, and active games. For more information and to register call 250-563-2902 or e-mail judydance@shawcable.com.

The Family Y has just opened up another 24 spaces to accommodate children from ages five to 12 years old, with 96 in total. Day camps drop off starts at 7:45 a.m. and goes 6 p.m. in Prince George. There are also another 12 spaces available at the Vanderhoof YMCA. Lynette Mikalishen, director of childcare, invites older children to make use of the rec room where there's several activities geared for children and youth like a climbing wall, video games, games tables and a play area.

The Two Rivers Gallery is offering creativity day camps for those in Grades 1 to 7 during the strike and there are 20 spots available. The program starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m., with drop off at 8:45 a.m. and pick up at 4:30 p.m.

"Children will be drawing, painting, print making and going outside to play, as well as playing games in the gallery," said Carolyn Holmes, director of public programs at the gallery.

Exploration Place was able to offer 20 spots for day camps during the strike but they have already been filled.

Both branches of the Prince George Public Library will offer family gaming activities. At the main branch there will be a ping pong table, table games, puzzles, and a Wii, found throughout the children's section, while similar activities will be offered in the multipurpose room at the Nechako branch.

"We just want people to have fun family game time out of the house," said Andrea Palmer, the library's communications coordinator. "Of course, everything is free. We get asked all the time to put on more programming (during teachers' strikes) and the problem is we are not licensed to care for children so we can't put on a day camp for kids. As long as parents are on site, there's always something going on at the library when kids are out of school."