On Wednesday October 21st, the theme of the lab at St Mary's was superheroes. The majority of us students had some type of super hero resemblance that got the kids really excited.My group was assigned to work with the Pre-K kids once angain, except this time we were outside with them as the weather was fantastic. We ran around with them for quite a while. Most of the kids played "hide and go seek" for a good portion of the time. However, the second I walked in the playground area with the kids, Christopher immediately grabbed me and wanted to be me to jail. This was a game we played during the St Mary's orientation. It did not take long for other kids to join in and they seemed to be having a lot of fun. I made several escapes from the kids guarding me in jail, which led to them chasing after me. Kids doing other activities eventually wanted to chase me as well. There love for chasing people makes sense as they enjoy playing tag as well.
When it came to going in the gym, we set up a game called the "Zany Zoo", in which the kids need to get a card of an animal motion and perform it across the floor. I introduced the activty by saying that the superheroes are going to be on vacation next week and we need to train everyone to take their place. Their training was to learn the different animal motions so that they could sneak up on the villains. When we were showing an example of what they were to do, the kids got anxious and wanted to look at the animal cards. Once we began the game, the kids were enjoying it but they were a little confused in where they were supposed to go. Everyone also started to lose interest in the activity after some time. If I were to do this game again, I would certainly make a couple of changes to keep the kids more focused.
After finishing of our game with the Pre-K, the next group did a motion/music related game in which everyone does a certain movement during the music. When it stops, you connect with a partner. My group and I participated in the activity with the kids. It was once again interesting to see how undeveloped the motor skills of these children were. I was surprised to see some of the kids to be sweaty, especially Dunkin due to his constant moving. I know that young children have tons of energy, but not sure if I have ever seen them sweat to the point that they can not move anymore. During the last few minutes of the lab, we all gathered around and did a "train" to a Wiggles song that had everyone immitate animals.
Today was a great day for you and the group Phil!
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! You can be surprised that the amount of energy they have or the amount they lack varies upon the day. You've just got to be prepared for both scenarios.
Keep up the great work!