Last Day at Saint Mary's

This past Monday was the last day of Saint Mary's. Since it was the last day, we decided to do something special. As a class, we all did some sort of Winter Wonderland theme. They were all good games because as soon as we said "Winter Wonderland" the kids went absolutely crazy. This was really good because their attention was captured the whole time, and they didn't just wonder off like they sometimes do to play basketball or soccer. All of them were interactive, and involved.

Another reason why these games were really good was because they were creative. One group had a game that involved making a snowman. I think this game was a great idea because all the kids were active, and it did involve a good amount of activity. The way the game worked was their were a bunch of different objects out on the floor. As a team, it resembled a relay race. One member of the team at a time would run out and grab a piece of the snowman and bring it back. The first team with all the pieces to the snowman, were the winners.

My group's game was also in holiday spirit. We had an obstacle course for the kids which they were all really into. They started off hopping on the snowflakes, then skipping through hula hoops. This lead them to sliding under the garland behind a few mats. Then, they had to throw a white soft ball (snowball) at Santa. Then for fun, we had a stocking of stickers that the kids would put on the tree that we had taped to the wall. Finally, for the best part of the whole course, we made a sleigh out of a cardboard box where the kids all got in and walked down to the start of the whole obstacle course. We originally had scooters in the sleigh so it could actually be a sleigh ride, but we figured dragging two kids at a time would be entirely to slow. We just had 6 kids max at a time go in and lift the sleigh up and walk across the gym.

Overall the time at Saint Mary's was a great experience. It taught me a lot about how to handle and deal with children. It also taught me what to do when the kids would get a little out of control, or not pay attention to your game. One of the biggest lessons I learned was that if your not all that interested or excited about your game, the children definitely won't be either.