There's a game we played sometimes in school. It's a lunch-time favorite. We called it, "What's Your Favorite?"
It was simple, really. As we sat in a little circle around the table in my classroom, we shared our favorites. One person picked a topic and goes first. Then we all shared our favorites as we went around the table. And then the right to choose topics passes clockwise.
Sounds way too simple, really.
Kinda sounds a little too tame for 8 year olds.
But it's not. Trust me. They invented it.
Actually, a boy we'll call "A" invented it. He and his best bud, "M" always saved their vouchers to have lunch with the teacher. I gotta admit - I thought I was special when I first noticed this trend. I thought, "Wow! I must really be reaching these guys!" But then I learned that the duo was buying lunch just to play that game with whomever else bought lunch that day. I was more an add-on.
Ego aside - it was kinda fun.
Got any idea what topics would be favoritized? Foods? Seasons? Colors?
Yes to almost anything else you are thinking. All of us seemed to ask the same questions of each other. (Superman ice cream was a favorite of A and M, by the way.)
But the mind of an 8 year old goes to different topics quickly. Here is a smattering:
video game character
amusement park ride
firework
bug
land animal
water animal
air animal
food that starts with c
super hero
The list goes on. These are just some that I remember.
What's really neat about this game is two-fold. First, the kids seemed so eager to share. Second, (but this really should be first....) the kids seemed so eager to listen.
They Really listened to each other. They even remembered all the stuff that'd been said. I know because I've been caught with my memory down and they reminded me that J loves pistachios!
Pistachios? They can't remember that 7 x 8 = 56, but they can remember that J loves pistachios? And that D loves unicorns best but since that was disqualified by the group, she loves panda bears second best? And that G loves gooey brownies his mom bakes? And that S loves the zipper but hates ziplines? And that - wait!
I remembered a lot more than I thought!
A and M were on to something. They were making new friendships with kids and reinforcing ties with friends they already had. All during this silly game we played - talking with our mouths full even! (What's a little half-chomped PB&J between friends, right?)
So I gotta know... What's your favorite air animal? :)
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