Foiled Again
I was asked
to work with a group of fifth-graders who are involved in the Destination
Imagination creativity competition. They wanted me to help them with teamwork
and short-term problem solving activities.
I gave each
youngster a piece of aluminum foil, told them it was a two-part problem, and
then told them that in the first part, they were to make something out of their
foil.
Their
solutions were creative:
A wig
A
two-headed baseball bat
An airplane
A hot-dog
wrapper
Mount
Everest and two sets of "finger skis"
A swimming
pool
A "shrink
ray gun"
Those were
about as random as you can get! I was worried about how they would respond to
Part II: now they had to take those seven objects, and in two minutes, work
them into a skit that they would act out.
They were
ready in about 20 seconds. They said it so fast, I'm not sure this is exactly
right, but it was something like this: a hot-dog vendor at a ball game got hit
with a two-headed baseball bat and developed a huge bald spot, so he required a
wig, which he took off when he went swimming at the foot of Mount Everest,
which made front page news when a space alien's shrink ray gun minimized it
down to the size of a mouse.
It makes
you wonder just what they're putting in kids' Cheerios these days. . . .
By Susan Darst Williams • www.GoBigEd.com • Class Clown 007