Wiggles and Giggles

Kendall and I were asked to make "sweet memories" by one of the university professors by going to the on-campus kindergarten these past few weeks. We innocently thought that it would be easy. Who wouldn't want to see tiny Chinese children playing and speaking baby Chinese? Well, things weren't that simple. We mistakenly thought we would just play with them and maybe sing a little bit. When we arrived, we are taken into the first tiny classroom crammed with about 25 very active 5 year olds. And I think everyone knows how 5 year olds are. They can't sit still for more than 30 seconds not to mention trying to keep their attention when they don't speak the same language. So with little preparation we began trying to teach them Itsy Bitsy Spider, Hokey Pokey, and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. Thankfully, some of them knew a few words of english and we had a piano player. They spent most of the next harried 30 minutes giggling, running around the room, and shouting "MY NAME IS" instead of singing but I think the kids enjoyed it. I can't say as much for the teachers. They had a few scowls on their faces when we left. Next we were huslted into the 3 year old class which was far calmer and cuter. They were all bundled against the cold but it was about 90 degrees in the classroom so all their faces were bright red. Sitting in their little semi circle, they watched intently as we taught the motions to Itsy Bitsy Spider. Most of them retracted in fear as Kendall approached wanting to check their spiders (who is this strange looking white man?) but some as you see to the right were quite eager to show off. They really enjoyed Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes especially when we did it super fast. They got most of the motions until we got to Eyes and Ears and Mouth and Nose. We kinda lost them there. I think their favorite was the Hokey Pokey because they got to wiggle and dance around which 3 year olds are incredibly good at. Our favorite song to teach them though was If You're Happy and You Know It. We did lots of different emotions. Mad, sad, sleepy, hungry, excited and asked the kids what you do if you are feeling like this. My favorite by far was one adorable chubbster with one pigtail on top of her head who, when asked what you do if you are mad, immediately placed both hands on her hips and cocked one to the side. Even 3 year old chinese girls know that move.

Its sad to admit that we were more exhausted after teaching 1 hour of Kindergarten than after teaching a whole day of college students. Below you can check out my attempt to teach wiggling.

DB & KM