So, this morning, from 10 - 10:45 AM, I found myself playing with 7 toddlers (ages 1.5-2.5) and their parents. The regular instructor for this class was off for Rosh Hashanah, as was my boss, so it fell to me to take over. Now, those of you who know me well, you are most likely on the floor, laughing at the very THOUGHT of me playing with 7 toddlers. And, it was, indeed, laughable.
For those of you who have ever spent two seconds with a toddler, you know that they don't stay in one place for longer than said two seconds, and certaintly don't "come" when their name is called. But, this class is there to facilitate bonding between parent and child, and also to promote social skills amongst the kids. So, I had an outline- the very thought of which, to me, is ridiculous. Here is what it looked like:
Tornado Toddlers- October 4.
Gym set up: Parachute, carpet squares, crayons, box of musical instruments, small dinosaur toys, various toddler equiptment.
Theme: Dinosaurs
Free Play until 10:15
CIRCLE TIME: Good Morning!
1. Head shoulders, knees and toes
2. Read short dinosaur book
3. Complete dinosaur puzzle
4. Hokey Pokey
5. Where is Thumbkin?
More Free Play
PARACHUTE TIME
1. Make Waves
2. Ring around the rosie
3. Make a bubble
4. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
CLOSING: Bubbles and stamps
So we started, and the kids proceeded to scream and laugh and cry and fall down. I attempted to get them into a circle for "circle time" and read the dinosaur book. No one listened. So, on one last-ditch effort, I stood up and began singing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and "Where is Thumbkin?" while most of the kids ran screaming across the gym floor, or threw kickballs at one another. (Which, by the way, our knees and toes are a whole heck of a lot farther away than they used to be- try it!) All at once, it hit me how ridiculous this whole thing was and I just started laughing.
Christopher, my favorite one, seemed to agree that I looked ridiculous, and made his opinion known by laughing and hitting me in the knee with a "Boo Ball." He then came over to me and sat on my foot, an action that I'm not exactly sure how to interpret. All I know was that it made my day, and I made sure to give him an extra T-Rex stamp at the end of class.
3 comments:
I love kids, in large part because they are so simple--they haven't learned how to dissemble yet. I have learned a lot about older people by working with children. They're so...foundational.
And I'm sure sitting on your foot was a gesture of affection. Or maybe a request for a Shoe Ride. In either case, worth an extra stamp.
Your post is so funny. I would have paid money to see you leading "Where is Thumpkin?" I once found myself teaching a tap class to one 4 year old when all the other teachers quit. It was the longest hour of my life for about 5 weeks. I even choreographed a tap number for the two of us to perform in the recital. This was before I learned how to say NO. The best part was the time her Mom called and said she would not be in class because she got a piece of dry dog food stuck in her nose. Ahhh, the magic of the performing arts.
Beth your post was a wonderful bit of daycare nastalgia! You just loosely described my regular 9-5 (well at my daycare it was more like 8-5:30) for the past two years : ). I was actually really impressed with your outline-it looked exactly like one of our "official" teacher plans.
Believe it or not there are time I'm finding I REALLY miss the circle time, the parachutes, and all the vauge attempts to create order out of chaos.
But I especially miss the moments when one of them does something inexplicable and strangely touching done something like sitting on your foot or offering you a clod of "special dirt" they found. Good times, good times.
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