Wow, my spirits are still soaring after visiting the sensational children of Friendship Home today! It was a big day – the Halloween Party! There were 3 stations for the kids to rotate between and I brought bags of candy that they had to do “tricks” to receive! It was a hoot… I continue to marvel at these kids and the amazing creativity. Seriously, today’s activities centered around toilet paper, newspaper and paper plates. These simple activities fueled a solid two hours of dramatic play and interaction between the 20 kids. A good reminder of the endless play possibilities that exist in the absence of TV and computers and Nintendo!
You can really sense how appreciative the kids are, no matter what we do with them. There isn’t a child that will complain or cause problems. They’re totally engaged, the entire time. Pretty amazing to witness. So what did we do today?
We made newspaper hats!
We mummified each other with toilet paper!
And we made cool masks (this is Raymark adding some string to his).
I had brought my digital SLR to take pictures of the kids. It ended up being a very popular item. One child named Rodrigo took a particular interest in it and spent the majority of the time taking shots with it. He later told me (as he carried my bag out to the car – he insisted, I swear) that he dreamed some day of buying a camera. Heartbreaking! Sweetest kid ever. I’m playing with the idea of picking him up some Saturday and taking him to Fort Santiago to teach him how to shoot manually. Wouldn’t that be a fun way to share my new-found skills? Here’s a picture of the two of us:
I’ve been racking my brain trying to think of how I can take my skills and teach them things. Here’s a list of some of my skills and my ideas for how to transfer knowledge:
- Singing/Music: I’d really love to find a guitar player and then lead some group songs. Otherwise I came up with the idea today of buying a bunch of recorders and teaching them how to play and read music. Seems do-able.
- Theater: We could do a little play perhaps…
- Games: The possibilities are endless, I just need to determine which ones would work best in a group. Maybe a tournament of some sort?
- Social Media: I think this one may be out since they don’t have access to computers.
- Economics/Business:Â ?
- Photography: Maybe I could teach them the elements of photo composition.
- Dancing: Already downloading the music to teach them the electric slide soon!
- Pilates: Hmmm. I wonder how that would go over?
- Entertaining: Perhaps teach them napkin folding techniques or how to set a perfect table?? :)
As I said before, I’m taking ideas. I Appreciate the help (and so will the kids)!
Doing a play or two could be fun. Maybe a one-act exhibition? And after a few tries at it, maybe they can learn to write their own short plays.
As for games, tournaments are a great way to do it, or big group games like Farmer in the Dell or Red Rover can be fun. Or a board game tournament or afternoon could be fun; those offer so many different options and teach a lot of different skills for different age groups.
If you want to teach business, having them run a little store of their own could be fun. Instead of using money, they could earn tickets or points for doing nice things for other kids, helping out around the center, or things like that. It could be staffed by kids, items could be selected and priced by kids, and it teaches them to save for the things they really want, too.
Just some ideas. They sound like a really fun and open bunch of kids to hang out with!
OMG – you are so amazing! I will definitely be emailing you to flesh out some ideas. Really appreciate the starting points to get me thinking! Do you have any FS updates?? Hugs, SLN
I just scheduled my oral assessment! I’ll keep you posted, but it’s not until March…so lots of time to prepare. It’s so overwhelming!
That is absolutely fantastic!!! Make sure and connect with Nick prior, okay? I’m so excited for you… take it one hurdle at a time!
Will do! As always, grateful for your Novak family guidance!
Our pleasure, we’re eager to bring more friends into the fold! :)
I love that you are connecting with kids! Especially since they are not your forte!! :) Try to remember some of the things we did with our babysitting kids. The Lansings always loved post office (making mailboxes and then sending kind letters to each other). And most definitely don’t forget about the outdoor games- SPUD and Statue Maker. We must have done those a bajillion times! Shannon and I also really enjoyed making up dances to popular commercial tunes and slogans. Ok, I think that may be all I have right now. :)
Great ideas Em – let’s brainstorm more on the phone this weekend. Thanks!!