Glitter & Razz Blog

As I write this, Shoshana is on the stage in aftercare singing her own made up song, “Puppets, puppets..oh yea!” as she claps her hands and shakes her groove thing.  This, I am sure, is because it was all about the puppets today.

Cassie, Martin, Cinda and I performed an impromptu puppet show after Kids Choice when tempers were high on the playground.  You see, there are all these cool riding toys on the playground and lots of the kids want to play with them.  So, when Cinda went to open the gate, she was crowded by a dozen kids just dying to be the first one to get the toy of their choice.  We tried to control this madness and did a pretty good job.  For awhile.  Until the sharing problems really bubbled up.

Our puppet show addressed these issues.  3 puppets ran and screamed and fought over a toy while Cinda, the teacher, explained a very important rule here at Glitter & Razz – If you want to play with toys, you have to share.  If you don’t feel like sharing, that’s okay…you just can’t play.  As a result of our play, the kids totally got that:

• “If you don’t share, it makes other kids sad.”
• “It’s really important to take turns.”
• “We have to be careful to give other people room and not crowd them.”

We also talked a lot about finding our own calm and quiet.  We start every Glitter & Razz camp day with a moment of silence.  We talk about how important it is to find our own calm and silence so that “we cannot be too crazy” and we can be calm and relaxed for the day.  Today, we talked about actual strategies to get calm if we are feeling too cranky or overwhelmed and are about to take that mood out on others.  Some of the ideas we came up with “lie down and try to take a nap,”(Maera) “take a deep breath,” (Kealia) and “yoyo” (aka yoga via Benjamin).  The coolest thing is that I did follow up and ask them in our closing circle to share what they noticed…and they had a lot of cool stuff to say!  Here are some that I remember and, I’ll admit, these are paraphrased…

• “I was getting frustrated when I was waiting for it to be my turn so I took a deep breath…”
• “On the playground, a lot of people wanted me to pull them on the wagon and they were annoying me so I breathed…”
• “I almost said some bad words to my sister, so I did some yoyo (guess who said that?).”

From my perspective, this is some of the most important work that we are doing here at Glitter & Razz.  Sure, they are also getting great instruction in creative movement, drama, and visual art, but, the social/emotional skills that they are developing from being part of a creative process are the skills that are going to benefit them in every aspect of their lives.

Oh, and back to the puppets.  Cassie also used puppets today in drama class to introduce kids to some famous characters from famous stories as inspiration to create their own original characters.

Martin did not use puppets today but they did create covers to their storybooks. 

Today is International Dance Day.  This is what Wikipedia says about it.  “Among the goals of the Dance Day are to increase the awareness of the importance of dance among the general public, as well as to persuade governments all over the world to provide a proper place for dance in all systems of education.”

How cool is that?  When we have asked our kids in the past, “Why do we dance?”  They have said things like:

• Because it’s good for my body.
• I can feel the energy move around.
• I can feel my breath go fast.
• It gets the wiggles going.

I wonder how this kid would answer the question:

We also believe that dance is an essential element of social interaction.  Remember when you used to hit the clubs?  Think of the level of shared experience – the euphoria, really – that comes when a pair or a group of people experience dance together.

The best part is that any and all of us can do it.  As we said to the 4 year old during our Spring Break Camp a few weeks ago who stood in the middle of the room, terrified, every time we danced (”I don’t know what to do!”) – THERE IS NO WRONG WAY TO DANCE.

Before or after dinner tonight, bust out your iPod and turn the Jonas Brothers up really loud and throw your bodies around any way you like.  Or better yet, dust off that Duran Duran cassette tape and introduce your kids to how we rocked it back in 1984 before those Jonas boys were even a glimmer in their parents’ eyes.

Or, you can make up a dance with your kids and perform it for anyone you can force…I mean, persuade…to watch it.  The following exercise is not just a great way to play and get some exercise with your kids, it is also a great practice in collaboration.  How your kids interact with you is setting the foundation for how they interact with their peers.  If you and your children are successful in making up a dance together, you are helping them practice the skills that it takes to do the same kind of thing with their friends:

1. Pick 4 body parts that you want to focus on (i.e. head, right foot, pinky fingers, and belly).

2. Tell your kid that each of you gets to make up a weird dance move for 2 of the body parts.  Ask your kid, “Which 2 body parts do you want to be in charge of?”  Say they choose pinky fingers and belly.  Then, it is their job to make up the weirdest, wackiest dance move for those 2 body parts.  You will make up weird moves for the other 2.  NOTE: this sharing of weird and wacky moves is an important part of the process.  Please try not to let your kid make up everything.  This sharing really helps your child practice, well, sharing…as well as both leading and following which we all know are key skills for dance and all areas of life.

3. Teach each other your 2 wacky dance moves.  Make sure that you each do the dance moves exactly how the other teaches it, to the best of your ability.  If your child does a move that you physically can’t do (”Honey, my knees don’t bend that way anymore”), then work together to modify it so that both of you can be doing the same thing.

4. Now, just put all 4 wacky dance moves together into 1 dance.  Decide – together – which order to do the moves in.

5.  Pick a song that you both like.  Again, don’t just let your child lead (”any song you like is okay, dear”).  This sets your child up to expect that their opinion is the best option at all times.

6. Practice it.  3 times.  The first time is to make sure you like the order the moves are in.  The second time is to see if you want to make any changes.  And the third time is to make it sing!

7. Find an audience and perform your dance.  If no one is around, videotape it and share it on your Facebook page.  If that’s too much trouble, show it to your dog.  Any audience will do.

8. Ask you kid, and yourself, 2 questions. 1)What part of our dance did you like best and why? And 2) How did we do working together to create our dance? Make sure you listen when your child answers and make sure your child listens when you answer.

9. Share some lemonade or some other fun and refreshing beverage to celebrate your dance!