Up, up and away we went with Wednesday's lab! The kids loved the Superhero theme for the lab and it's a great feeling to be able to trigger their imaginations. I was Supergirl!! My lab, the Powerful Pop-tarts, organized the game "Zaney Zoo" for the Pre-K students. The game was great because instead of using the "zoo" theme for the game, we said that we were training the kids to become super hero helpers and that we needed to train them to make sure they could be come super heroes. The children LOVED this idea!
The game is played with two hoola-hoops and around fifteen activity cards. We broke up the kids into four groups (2 groups to each hoola-hoop) and put seven or eight cards in each hoop. A child had to run to the hoop, pick up a card, do the activity specified to the opposite line, and pass the card to their partner who did that movement back. That partner would also pick another card, etc. These activities had to do with basic skills such as galloping, crawling, sliding, etc. This activity can be related to the NASPE Standard 1:Demonstrates competency in motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities. All of the children I interacted with could do all of the skills. The only confusion during the game were the pictures that the cards were describing, but once I showed them the movement, they were on-the-move!
When the first game started, I noticed there were two girls that were off to the side who refused to participate in any way. Many different college helpers tried to get them to participate, but no matter how fun we made the activity, they wanted nothing to do with it. I noticed another girl walk up two the two girls not participating and ask why they weren't playing. The two girls responded with, "because we don't want to!" The other girl got the idea that she didn't have to participate either and tried to sit down, but before she could I got her involved back into the activity. During the closing song, the same two girls were still not participating so I figured I'd try one more time to get them to play. The first time I asked them I got a straightforward "no" reply, then the second time I got a hesitated answer from one of the girls. While she was hesitating, her friend chimed in and said "no" for her. Both of the girls actually ended up participating and having a really fun time during the ending song.
Also during the closing song I noticed something that really brought me back to being a young child. I remember being in elementary school and feeling so mature for my age. I remember being in first grade and having a "boyfriend", which now looking at these children at this age, seems preposterous. During the closing song, one of the activities was to dance yet no specific way to dance was specified or that it had to be with a partner. I witnessed a young boy dancing hand in hand with a girl and twirling her around, even though no one else was dancing in couples. He seemed infatuated with her. As soon as the song ended the little boy leaned in and tried to kiss the girl on the cheek, which in turn she turned and walked away with out paying any notice. This situation really made me happy and reminded me why I love working with young children! :)
Today was a great day for you and the group Lauren!
ReplyDeleteZany Zoo is a great activity to play with the Pre-K. Like I said, having both the words and picture on the task cards made it a lot easier for the kids to understand and not need to ask questions. But as always, you're going to get kids who don't want to participate for whatever reason. You can try any approach to achieve this. Tell them to have fun, play with their friends, or even be a little stern and try to force their hand. But I'm glad you were successful in getting them to play!
Going outside to play is always fun no matter how old you are! Running around and jumping on the equipment is great. The children love open space and love the playground even more than the gymnasium. You all seemed to be genuinuely enjoying it and that's the best thing about it. If you genuinely enjoy it, then you're going to do great.
Little kids can be a challenge, but if you have the patience and drive, you'll do great! Like you said, there seem to be clear lines between gender. But that's not always the case. At this age they're on the borderline and can go either way but it's a;ways adorable to see boys and girls interact!
Keep up the great work! =)