How do I build my child’s confidence? Answer: make them work! Yes, that’s right.
A big part of the cheeky Tunes experience is the use of props.
During a 35mins Cheeky Tunes show each child will have popped bubbles, played drums, rocked a baby doll to sleep, danced with streamers, dressed up as a superhero, put on monkey ears, played finger puppets, put on wings and flown around the room like a bird, danced with Babycino shakers, played clicking sticks just to name a few activities. Next year I’ll be introducing plush guitars, cowboy hats, and few more surprises…
So people often ask me- ‘How do you handle all those props with 20 kids?’
I have to admit that at first, I was nervous about giving out and collecting props multiple times during a show, I was ready for the idea that it may become too hard. I thought I might need to get a second person to help me collect and give out the props.
But my experience showed me something surprising; the kids loved to pack away!
What? Do kids love to pack away?
That’s right. Not only do kids love to pack away in the show, but the benefits of this repeated exercise are huge!
The biggest benefit; confidence building.
I say ‘Alright my cheeky monkeys, let’s see how good you are at packing away’ and they come running, ready to prove how competent they are at taking responsibility for their props. Some kids even run around and collect props lying on the floor. Each child gets a high five for excellent packing away skills and they puff their chests out proudly.
There are some kids who the only time to come alive in the show is during the time to collect and pack away the props.
It’s actually quite amazing to see the extent to which the kids are willing to ‘help’ if they are being reinforced and congratulated. Recently I was able to solve a problem by involving the kids in the process; I was concerned that blowing bubbles on a wooden floor would create a slip hazard and I was asking some parents to volunteer to wipe up the soap between songs. Then an idea came to me… I would get the kids to clean it up. So I tried it for the first time, after the bubbles song I handed out paper towels and said ‘let’s see who can clean up to bubbles on the floor’. Well, it has become some of the kids favourite activity!
It’s so cute to watch 18-month-old babies running around wiping the floor.
So the answer to the frequently asked question, how do I handle all the props. My answer is ‘easy… I get the kids to take responsibility for them and the to process have a beautiful confidence building activity.’