Mummy Maker

We started our latest little “game” (more on that in future posts) with a reading of the book Inside a House That is Haunted by Alyssa Satin Capucilli to introduce our subject to the kids. It was an easy grab off the shelf, and I knew it included mummies so it was perfect!

Then it was time to go over the rules and the objective. I’m sure many of you know exactly how easy it is to give rules to a large group of excited kids. Yeah. It’s fun. If only it were possible to go over the rules WITHOUT telling them what they will actually be doing.

Here are the rules and the objective we used this year.

We set the timer and then…we let them go!

Let me just say, giving 27 kindergarten students several rolls of toilet paper is always interesting. Each year is different, but one thing is always the same. They always tear the paper off the roll. Without fail. In short little strips. Every. Single. Time.

It’s so fun to watch them try to cover each other with little strips. They set it so gently over an arm or the mummy’s head and expect it to stay there. We decided this year that the word “wrap” would need to be added in the directions along with a description of what that means. It might change the way they do things.  And… it might… not…

When the timer goes off, students immediately stop what they are doing. If they continue to try to cover their mummy, the team is disqualified. It’s very important that they understand that their actions affect the entire team.  After the game, there is a lot of reflection about how the different teams tried to complete the task, why certain teams got disqualified, etc.

It’s a hard lesson when YOU are following the rules but, you do not get to win because a person on your team did not. Think of a soccer game, a gymnastics competition, a swim meet, the debate team… all of these activities involve working with a team towards a common goal.  Yes, some parts have their own individual success but when one person doesn’t do their part, the rest of the team sacrifices in some way.  While these lessons are hard in the Kindergarten classroom, they are often much harder (to experience and witness) out in the field, in the pool and in public.

My favorite part about teaching kindergarten is having the opportunity to work on these life skills during what I think is the best age of all! (I’m sure if you could see my giddy smile… you would smile back).

It is games like these that allow the students to not only have tons of fun, but also gives teachers the opportunity to work on skills that will ultimately affect these children for a lifetime.  And YES, this IS part of our job whether it is written down in a curriculum map or not.

Back to OUR Mummies…We asked all the mummies to stand very still while the adults walked around and judged who was covered the most. The kids got so excited to hear who the winner was. Judges take into account the rules that were given and if each team followed them when they decide the winner. Out of 9 groups, we had 3 “finalists”. In the picture above, the mummy on the left was not chosen because she isn’t covered as much as the others. Ultimately, the mummy in the middle was the winner because she was covered more and, if you look closely, you can see our third mummy is actually holding most of his wrappings.

We’d love to see pictures and hear how this goes over with your group!