The Garden City Telegram
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Fun, games teach adults, kids
Published 9/17/2008 in News : Education
By EMILY BEHLMANN
ebehlmann@gctelegram.com
The elementary after-school program at USD 214 Ulysses could be a little livelier this afternoon, now that coordinator Brandi Andersen has experienced a day with "Mr. H-A-P-P-Y."
Andersen, a Grant County Recreation Commission employee who works on the school district's enrichment program, was among about 15 facilitators of after-school programs to attend a workshop in Garden City Tuesday that featured Jim "Mr. H-A-P-P-Y" Atkinson.
Atkinson is a motivational speaker who used to facilitate children's enrichment programs. His tag line comes from an activity he encouraged workshop participants to do -- every time he says the word "happy," the first person to spell it out, "H-A-P-P-Y," then shout "Whoo!" gets a prize.
"I use the power of play," he said of his presentation, for which he wore warm-up pants and a smiley face T-shirt as he got workshop participants up and moving about the room. "I teach a lot of games."
Atkinson is sharing his ideas at a series of workshops in central and western Kansas sponsored by the Kansas Enrichment Network. The network, created by the University of Kansas Institute for Educational Research and Public Service, promotes out-of-school programs and helps them find resources.
According to the network, made up of more than 400 school-, community- and faith-based programs, after-school programs can help kids stay safe while they're having fun, assist working families, strengthen academics and build workforce skills. However, the agency estimates that 183,500 youth in Kansas are unsupervised between 3 and 6 p.m., and among its goals is to provide after-school opportunities for all youth.
Program assistant Kathy Bryant said the network wanted to provide support to rural programs by scheduling Atkinson's workshop in several western Kansas communities.
Colleen Gleue, of the Stanton County Recreation Commission, said she picked up a lot of ideas for the occasional enrichment activities she supervises through the recreation commission, library and extension office in Stanton County.
"I wanted to expand my horizons" with the workshop, she said.
Gleue said her horizons were expanded with the variety of activities Atkinson led them through during the day, which included games like "Abracadabra." In that game, Atkinson set miscellaneous objects on the floor, covered them up, removed an object, then lifted the cover so the rest of the objects were visible. A participant had three seconds to figure out which object was missing before it was the next person's turn.
He said some games, like "Abracadabra," make sense to play with kids, because lots of people can win. Others, like musical chairs, don't make sense, he said.
"Most kids don't like musical chairs, but they play it all the time because it's one of the few games adults know," he said.
The problem is that the game results in players getting "out," and it leads to hard feelings, he said. He led the group in what he said was the similar but better game of "All My Friends." There, all players but one sit in chairs. The unseated player makes a statement like, "All my friends are wearing blue jeans," and all those to whom the statement applies have to get up and move, until someone else is left without a seat, and the steps are repeated.
Atkinson encouraged the program facilitators to provide a variety of activities for the children they oversee, and to listen to the children's input. They could, for example, have a "free play" session during which youth can choose from among board games, coloring, computer games, puzzles and a sport.
"It's for the kids," he said. "Why shouldn't they get to do what they want to do?"
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