Expert: MaryAnn F. Kohl - 6/21/2004

Question
hi,I'm 18 years old girl and I love kids.recently I got my diploma and wanted to work in a kindergarten,they said I have to do something for kids or give them something to attract them to me.do u have any idea what to do to make kids like u?I really want that job soooooo bad.

Answer




Eli,

I used to be a kindergarten teacher, so I find your question intesting. I'm actually not quite sure what the teacher has in mind when saying "give them something to attract them to you" or "do something for kids".

Do they mean, plan an activity and bring the materials? Or bring a special book to read to them?

I would suggest bringing a book to read, and then following it up with an art activity that goes with the book. Here's an easy one:

Bring in the old classic "Millions of Cats" by Wanda Gag (Vahn-dah Gahg). In the book the words keep cming up "Hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats"...so the kids will enjoy chanting that with you during the story. (In the story, the old couple wants a cat, but adopts too many, they have a big firght, and in the end, there is only one little kitten left.)

For the art activity, give each child a ball of playdough. (This is with a small group, by the way, not the whole class...though you could do the whole class...I recommend a small group.) At first, they will want to explore shaping and squeezing and enjoying experiementing and discvering a bit with the playdough. Let everyone have a good turn with it before moving on. They may need to wash their hands, or wipe them...kids are always like that...so be prepared with some wet paper towels for them.

Next, go into a more directed activity with the playdough. With the playdough, they form an oval or a round shape...press it on the table to flatten one side...then press the dough into a shallow tray of any color of tempera paint, and press that onto a big piece of paper to make a print. Make as many prints as the paper will hold. Each print represents a cat...so they can take a paintbrush and dip it in a second color of paint and go back and add ears, whiskers, eyes, etc. to make each printed shape into a cat....."Hundreds of cats, thousdands of cats, millions and billions and trilions of cats..."  

Instead of them printing on their own paper, the group could make prints on a large roll of butcher paper together. Let the prints dry some, and then go back and add features.

That's it! Make sure they chant the words with you often. As for giving them something, I think giving them the playdough to work with is enough. but you could give each child a square of tagboard with a cat on it, and the words "Hundreds of cats, thousands...etc." so they could read the words and take it home to read to their parents.

Tying an activity to reading (we call it literacy) is one of the best things you can do for k. kids.

Hope this helps. Please write to me and let me know if this is what you meant...and if my answer works for you. If not, I am happy to help you think of something else.

PS You can find recipes for playdough on the internet if you put "playdough recipe" in the search box at google.com.
Here's a recipe I found but there are many others:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 T. cooking oil
1 cup water
Leave uncolored, or add some food coloring to the water.

Add all the ingredients in a microwavable bowl.  Microwave 1 minute. Stir. Do this every minute until it forms a ball.  Takes about 5 or 6 minutes to cook.  Let cool and store in a ziplock bag.  Ok to make a double batch.   

MaryAnn Kohl
art educator and author
www.brightring.com
maryann@brightring.com