Help with a camp activity

In article ,
(Beth Kevles) wrote:

Hi -

The game you have will be fun for brief periods, but I think you'll be
surprized at HOW brief. Your bag of tricks needs to be MUCH bigger to
get through even one rainy day.

Board games will be very popular, by the way, on rainy days. And craft
activities, even as simple as drawing pictures. (THink about having
each kid draw a picture on a theme and using string to tie the pictures
into a book.)

Good luck,
--Beth Kevles

Thanks Beth. Yeah, we counselors, as a group, have plenty of other rainy
day stuff. I just needed help with this one particular game.

--
Michelle Levin
http://www.mindspring.com/~lunachick

I have only 3 flaws. My first flaw is thinking that I only have 3 flaws.

In article ,
"animzmirot" wrote:

"Luna" wrote in message
...
The ages of the kids I'll
be working with are 6 to 12, and here is a list I came up with, I was
hoping y'all could help add to the list, if you feel like it. Or tell me
if any of the names I have are too difficult or obscure.

*IMO, kids who are 11 and 12 won't be at all interested in this unless there
are characters involved that are relevant to their lives. This list of
characters is more for kids in the very young group. I suggest you add some
music characters (Eminem, Britney Spears, Beyonce are all very imitatable)
and some TV characters (Simpsons, South Park, The OC, Evergreen, One Tree
Hill, American Idol and Survivor are all very popular with kids in that age
group) and you also should add sports starts from whatever professional
teams are located near where you live.

Marjorie




The problem with the tv, sports, and music people is that first, since it's
the YMCA we want to keep everything wholesome, and second, since bigger
kids and younger kids will be playing together, they need to be characters
that almost all of them will know. If a 12 year old has "Eminem" on his
back, and he's asking questions of a 6 year old, the 6 year old might not
know who that is.

As for it being a brief game, well, that's possible, but I know when I
played a version of this at a 3rd grade birthday party it was a lot of fun.
Since 3rd grade is kind of the midpoint in the age range of the kids I'll
be working with, I figured aiming for that age would snare the most kids.

I work at an after school program with the same age range right now, so I
may try this out with them first, and see how it goes.

--
Michelle Levin
http://www.mindspring.com/~lunachick

I have only 3 flaws. My first flaw is thinking that I only have 3 flaws.

"Claire Petersky" wrote in message
news:tdfqc.17724$gr.1470367@attbi_s52...

Doesn't know Moses? The Buddha? You've never discussed these with her?
How
about Jesus? Man, my kids were asking me about Jesus by preschool,
because
they met junior evangelists on the playground. But I can't imagine
having
religious figures as a part of a guessing game. It's just too easy to
cause
offence. You *might* be able to get away with Santa Claus.

I'm practically certain my kid doesn't know who Moses is; she may or may
not know who Buddha is -- I'm really not sure. She knows a little about
Hinduism, however...her best friend is Hindu. She knows who Jesus is,
but mostly because I had to explain Jesus to her to put certain things
into context (Easter, Christmas, her grandfather's funeral).

I'd steer away from religious figures for the exact reason that you
stated, plus the fact that I don't think they are universal knowledge.

beeswing

"animzmirot" wrote in message
...

*IMO, kids who are 11 and 12 won't be at all interested in this unless
there
are characters involved that are relevant to their lives. This list of
characters is more for kids in the very young group. I suggest you add
some
music characters (Eminem, Britney Spears, Beyonce are all very
imitatable)
and some TV characters (Simpsons, South Park, The OC, Evergreen, One
Tree
Hill, American Idol and Survivor are all very popular with kids in
that age
group) and you also should add sports starts from whatever
professional
teams are located near where you live.

You could be right about the age group thing. My daughter is 9, though,
and the only name she would recognize out of the ones you listed is
Britney Spears (whom she knows the name of, but very little about) and
"The Simpsons" (which she's never seen). I have to admit that I don't
recognize three of the TV shows you mention myself, though I'll freely
admit to not being in the target age group.

beeswing

In article , "Beeswing"
wrote:

"animzmirot" wrote in message
...

*IMO, kids who are 11 and 12 won't be at all interested in this unless
there
are characters involved that are relevant to their lives. This list of
characters is more for kids in the very young group. I suggest you add
some
music characters (Eminem, Britney Spears, Beyonce are all very
imitatable)
and some TV characters (Simpsons, South Park, The OC, Evergreen, One
Tree
Hill, American Idol and Survivor are all very popular with kids in
that age
group) and you also should add sports starts from whatever
professional
teams are located near where you live.

You could be right about the age group thing. My daughter is 9, though,
and the only name she would recognize out of the ones you listed is
Britney Spears (whom she knows the name of, but very little about) and
"The Simpsons" (which she's never seen). I have to admit that I don't
recognize three of the TV shows you mention myself, though I'll freely
admit to not being in the target age group.

beeswing




I'd go further -- I'd be appalled if most of the 6 to 12 year old set
has seen South Park regularly, or is extremely familiar with several of
the others! American Idol and Survivor are not common knowledge among
the teens and preteens I know; I doubt if most of the 6 to 12 year olds
I know are familiar with them, either.
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

I think a lot of kids won't know Repunzel!

Snow White
Cinderella
Sleeping Beauty
Dorothy
Toto
Wicked Witch of the East
Harry Potter
Hermione
Ron Weasely
Professor Snape
Dumbledore
Nemo
Bugs Bunny
Daffy Duck
Superman
Batman
Robin
Robin Hood
Frankenstein's monster
Count Dracula
The Big Bad Wolf
Little Red Riding Hood
Jack (from Jack and the Beanstalk)
Rapunzel
Shrek

We did this with animals and plants.

Jessica T

"Claire Petersky" wrote in message
news:tdfqc.17724$gr.1470367@attbi_s52...
I think this whole thing is fraught with peril. I can imagine a kid from
an
immigrant family who would feel like a complete doofus because maybe she
hasn't been in the US for very long, and doesn't know who Winnie the Pooh
is, and then being mocked for it by the others. My daughter just now
reported playing a similar game and being laughed at for not knowing a
character from "The Simpsons". This is not a way to make people feel good
about themselves.

OK. You convinced me to speak out as well.

My 6 year old (who has lived in the US her whole life, and is very bright)
is a cultural ignoramus by her own choice. She has no interest in anything
Disney, or anything scary (by her definition). She knows that Snow White,
Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are princesses, but couldn't tell you
anything to distinguish between them (she could probably associate "glass
slipper" and Cinderella"). She knows nothing about Wizard of Oz or Harry
Potter (she can recognize pictures of Harry and associate them with "Harry
Potter" but has no interest in learning more). She could probably tell you
that Superman and Batman and Spiderman were superheroes, but not distinguish
between them. And so on. Her peer group is somewhat self selected, but
many of them have at least one area where they are equally ignorant, even if
she is an extreme.

She would also be happy to sit out the game and do something else, but
expecting her to play would not be successful for anyone involved.

This seems like a hard game to play with mixed ages-- the sophistication of
kinds of questions and answers (as well as knowledge) will vary so widely.

Liz

As for it being a brief game, well, that's possible, but I know when I
played a version of this at a 3rd grade birthday party it was a lot of fun.
Since 3rd grade is kind of the midpoint in the age range of the kids I'll
be working with, I figured aiming for that age would snare the most kids.

I think you're being a little too optimistic about reading skills.
Most 3rd graders would be ok, but it sounds like you have entering Kindergarten
and up-- which means a number of kids will have VERY limited reading skills,
and then the older kids (5th, 6th grade) will have no interest. My 4th grader
can't stand the "getting to know people" game like this.

"Claire Petersky" wrote in message news:tdfqc.17724$gr.1470367@attbi_s52...
"Cathy Kearns" wrote in message
. ..

Maybe some schools teach this. I know I showed my 4th
grade daughter an 8x10 glossy of Bush that was sent to
us, and she didn't know who he was.

Just a few months ago while we were waiting for a concert to begin, I
quizzed my 11 year old on world leaders to pass the time. From that, I know
she can correctly identify the leaders of the following countries: US and
then Britain, France, Germany, Mexico, North Korea, and Russia. I think she
also could easily identify Ashcroft, Rice, Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Powell from
their pictures. I bet she could also identify most of the Democratic
candidates and Ralph Nader. Then again, this is a kid who reads the front
section of the paper and the editorials every morning, and pages through the
Economist each week. She also says, though, that you can't expect most kids
to have a clue in this area.


Your daughter sounds exceptional.

When I was in 8th grade, I found out that one of my friends (in the
advanced track like I was) did not know who George Bush (Sr) was. At
the time, he was the vice president (Reagan was president). She knew
he was a major politician, but not much more. Certainly wouldn't have
been able to play 20 questions about it.

I (an 8th grader) was dumb-struck amazed she didn't know this. I took
an informal survey of kids on the playground (yes I was a nerd) and
asked people if they knew who George Bush was (not "name the VP" but
"Who is George Bush"). It ran about 80% that could not answer the
question any better than "some kind of politician"




Anyway, I think this game can work, but stick with main characters.
Not all the characters in Harry Potter, but just Harry himself. Not
Dick Cheney or Harry Truman, but George Washington should be safe.

I used to play this game at all my birthday parties as an ice breaker
to play as kids arrived. This was about the same age range as the
campers here. Unfortunately, I can't remember what sorts of names we
used.

You could also ditch the people thing, and go with something like
vegetables, names of familiar places, etc.

-Jan