Second day: on target

I felt much better about how today went. The biggest lesson we felt we learned from the first day was not to start the kids out with a run-around-excited game. Adult actors need to be energized at the beginning of a class/rehearsal, and this is what we were thinking of. Not so with six-year-olds: they're always energized.

We decided to have a "senses" day. The first few things we did kept them seated at their tables. We had them draw themselves with their eyes shut, and we had them feel various objects with their eyes shut and then open (sight, touch). Some of the kids liked these activities, others had less patience for them. We probably let them go on for a little too long.

After that, we had planned:

--3 Changes
--Indian Chief
--Word of the Day: senses (and a discussion of why developed senses help you become a character)
--Human Knot

Maybe a few other things as well. We started 3 Changes, had Christina demonstrate it, and they were very excited (the way the game works: you take a good look at Person X, who then leaves the room, changes three things about his/her appearance, and comes back; then everybody tries to guess what Person X changed). Almost everybody wanted the chance to be the person who got to change. Again, we should probably have cut them off sooner, because the kids who had already gone started to get restless.

Next was Indian Chief, with only about 10 minutes left. They loved that, too, and everyone wanted the chance to lead and to guess. Even Donald and Victor were quite successful at leading, once they'd seen other kids do it. But it led to some frustration and almost to tears in a few cases because there wasn't enough time for everybody to try everything. We said we'd play it again sometime, but that didn't really help. We didn't get to anything else because we ran out of time.

So we did a lot less, but the kids were much more under control, and I think they had more fun. Things seemed like they were more comprehensible.

Big lesson of the day: Don't let an activity go on for too long. We need to learn to know when we are just passing the peak of excitement/enjoyment and quit then so that there's enough time and so that everyone doesn't get restless.