Are you looking for more ways to bring grade school to life in The Sims 4? Then it’s time to create your own after-school activities with the combination of Getaways from The Sims 4: Adventure Awaits and The Sims 4: High School Years gameplay!

School-related Getaways

The Sims 4: High School Years brought more interactive gameplay for our Teen Sims, but it stops there, in my opinion. The Sims world has been lacking ways for Sims of other ages to interact with their local schools. With the custom getaways feature from The Sims 4: Adventure Awaits, Sims of all ages now have a place at school.

PTA Meetings

Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) events are common for parents of elementary school-aged children, giving them the opportunity to voice opinions and vote for school changes, so why not give our Sims the chance to take part? Using the Custom Getaways scheduler from The Sims 4: Adventure Awaits and the Auditorium from The Sims 4: High School Years, you can schedule recurring PTA meetings for your concerned parents to attend.

Membership Roles

For my gameplay, I used Custom Getaways to create two roles: PTA President and PTA Parents. To create the stereotypical PTA President (and channel the ladies from Desperate Housewives), I added the following requirements: Ages are restricted to Young Adults and Adults. Personality Traits are restricted to Family-Oriented, Competitive, Good, Idealist, Insider, Materialistic, Overachiever, Outgoing, Perfectionist, and Self-Assured. I also added a custom outfit.

When it came to the PTA Parents, I required the following: Ages are restricted to Young Adult, Adult, and Elder. The Skill Level 2+ category is restricted to the Parenting Skill. While there is a Watch Live Entertainment activity, it doesn’t include the Podium, so I didn’t add any Role Activities.

I added the Everyday Outfit requirement to prevent any Townies from showing up in a ball gown or swimsuit out of nowhere. Ideally, I would have been able to add a requirement restricting access to Sims who are parents, but that option does not currently exist.

PTA Getaways Schedule

Now, it’s time to plan the schedule. I restricted the event to only two time slots: 5:00 PM and 8:00 PM.

For the first time slot, I added Give Speech as the main activity, gave the Give Speech activity to the PTA President Role, and then ensured the PTA Parents were each given the Free Time activity. The Free Time activity states, “During Free Time, Sims will behave as they normally would, guided by their everyday autonomy.” so, hopefully, Sims will sit and listen to the speech as they would in other Sims situations. 

For the second time slot, I made Debate the main activity to resemble the Q&A section that tends to happen during PTA meetings. I ensured both roles have Debate as their activity and added Drink Tea to give Sims an option to get up and move if the conversation gets too heated for their liking.

Using the House of Grudges Rule with the PTA President selected, I chose the Auditorium as the venue and set this as a recurring event for Wednesday evenings.

School Dances

The Sims 4: High School Years brings Prom to The Sims world, but our Teens deserve more! That’s where custom getaways from The Sims 4: Adventure Awaits come into play.

Roles

To staff my School Dances and make sure the right Sims join, I used the premade DJ and Teachers roles. Additionally, I created custom roles for High Schoolers, Chaperones, and School Janitors.

When it came to the premade roles, I didn’t adjust the DJ role, but I did remove the Care for Infants and Toddlers activity and require a Formal outfit for the premade Teacher role.

For High Schoolers, I required them to be Teens and to wear a Formal outfit. I added Dance along with Mix and Mingle as the activities to make sure Teen Sims focus on partying. Chaperones are restricted to Sims ages Young Adult and older with Formal outfits. I chose to add Parenting for Skill Level 2+ and the Personality Traits of Nosy and Party Animal as recommended, but not required.

School Janitors are necessary for any school activity, and thank goodness for them! I restricted my School Janitor role to ages Young Adult+ and the Neat Personality Trait. I gave them a custom outfit and added the following activities: Clean, Do Home Chores, and Fix Objects.

Dance Schedule

There aren’t many activities related to an organized dance, like Vote for a Sim or Ask a Sim to dance, so I added two Time Slots with Dance as the main activity. To weave in more of the high school vibe, I added the Eat Popcorn and Drink Ranch Nectar activities to the High Schoolers role during the second time slot. In my mind, this simulates the beginning of the “after party” for the Teens.

After-School Daycare

Do you remember the days of playing tag in your school uniform and sitting on the floor with your friends to work on your homework while your parents finished up the workday? With the custom getaways feature, you can bring these classic childhood experiences into The Sims 4!

Daycare Roles

Thinking about my days in after-school daycare, the first thing that comes to mind is chaos. There weren’t many rules to follow or scheduled activities, aside from have fun and try not to get hurt. Keeping that in mind, I used the two premade roles of Teacher and Child.

To customize the Teacher role further, I removed the Care for Infants and Toddlers activity and added the Mentor activity. I also added the Arts and Music, Battle with Voidcritters, Play with Toys, Play on Playground Equipment, and Play Marbles activities to the Child role.

Scheduling

I added two time slots for after-school daycare, 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM. For the first time slot, I added Arts and Music as the main activity, encouraging Children to build creative skills through different artistic and musical activities. The second time slot has Build Child Skills as the main activity. I did not adjust any of the role activities for these time slots.

Science Fairs

Fairgoers Roles

To make sure the right Sims attend the Science Fair, I created three roles: Science Kid, Science Parent, and Science Teachers. For the Science Kid role, I required the following: Personality Traits are restricted to Ambitious, Bookworm, Competitive, Geek, Genius, Overachiever, Perfectionist, Practice Makes Perfect. Age is restricted to Child. The Skill Levels 2+ category is restricted to Mental. I added a custom outfit and set the Activities to Use Science Table, Build Mental Skill, and Stay Near Household Sims.

Science Parents are restricted by the Ages Young Adult, Adult, and Elder. The Skill Level 2+ category is restricted to Parenting, and the Activity is Stay Near Household Sim. 

Science Teachers are not required to, but encouraged to have a Career in Education. The required Skills Level 2+ are Archaeology, Gemology, Logic, Parenting, Programming, Robotics, and Rocket Science. For Activities, Science Teachers are required to Be Friendly, Care and Mentor Children. I customized their outfits.

Science Fair Custom Getaways Schedule

For Science Fair getaways, I created two time slots: 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM, taking place on Saturdays.

The first main activity is Use the Science Table at 10:00 AM, then everyone has to Attend Lectures at 1:00 PM. I planned the time slots to simulate kids showing off their inventions by using the Science Table and then talking about what everyone learned by attending lectures.

More Getaways & Ideas

The Sims 4: Adventure Awaits, combined with The Sims 4: High School Years, offers endless new possible getaways. You could use these two Expansion Packs to create other school-related events like:

• Detention
• Study Hall
• Cheerleading Competitions
• Fundraisers
• Kindergarten, Elementary, and Middle School Graduations
• Meet the Teacher Night
• Talent Shows
• & so much more!

Are there any other after-school activities you’re looking forward to creating with The Sims 4: Adventure Awaits Custom Getaways and The Sims 4: High School Years? Let us know in the comments below!