Welcome to day three of Paper Bag Princess week!
We started the day by stretching an important muscle that the kids have been exercising these past few days - their imagination! The game is called 'Anything' Prop, taking everyday objects around the house - and some weirder ones, too! - and seeing what your imagination can turn them into. Here's how you play!
- ‘Anything’ Prop (quick thinking, encouragement, creativity, group building, improvisation, listening
- The kids stand in a circle. The leader shows them a prop with ‘creative versatility’ and passes it around the circle, asking each of the kids what the item could be used as, or what it could become. For example, a cheer pom could be a feather duster, a wig, a flower, an exotic pet etc. The more interesting the item, the more interesting the answers could become. A variation of this game for younger kids would be with a simple piece of brightly coloured fabric.
- What’s the benefit of this game? The kids’ imaginations are stimulated when given a chance to reinvent an interesting object, as well as encouraging multiple answers for the same question.
I had passed around a small orange pylon, a hula hoop and a blue-and-white cheer pom. We got lots of very creative answers - here are a few favourites!
The kids have told me that they had practiced their scripts 'all day yesterday' - funny, being they just got them yesterday! (Oh, kids say the darndest things ... of course, I'm sure they meant that they practiced it as soon as they got home.)
And with dancing - we got to tappin' away!
Tap dance was developed in the United States during the nineteenth century and has gained popularity around the world! The name 'tap' comes from the sound of the small metal plates on the soles of a tap dancers' shoes when they touch a hard floor. This dance form uses precise and quick foot patterns in rhythms, choreographed to a pace in the music very much like a drummer in a band. American composer Morton Gould has composed concertos for tap dancer and orchestra - using the dancer as the rhythm section!
A history of tap can be seen in traditional clog dances in the Netherlands, Irish and Scottish jigs, as well as the rhythmic foot stamping of African dances. North American tap dancing has two modern techniques: classical tap and hoofers. Classical tap blends elements of ballet or jazz dance into the upper body movements into the tap choreography, and tend to stay on their toes. Hoofers use every part of the shoes to make their feet sound like drums!
Let Gene Kelly and Julie Andrews show you some fun ways on how to practice those tap moves - as well as entertain you with a familiar song!
I also thought that today would be a great opportunity to show you what the kids are doing over on Alessandra's side of the camp. She's introducing the kids to music and art, teaching them about different instruments and making set pieces, costumes and more fun crafts in art. I stuck around to see the kids' introduction to woodwind instruments and snapped a few pictures of their elation. Alessandra also took some pictures of the kids practicing their piano pieces for Friday's recital and making art projects like 'egg carton bugs' for the garden and trees and the princesses' castle for the Paper Bag Princess set!
The kids did a lot of fun stuff today - and tomorrow's got even more! Thank you, Alessandra, for the photos!
And, of course, we're starting to get used to these faces at the end of the day, which is terrible - yet adorable.
These frowns will turn upside-down very soon!
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