To begin with, kids are weird. That's all there is to it. I spent my time leading camps for kids between 4 and 10 years old, and, well, weird things happened. For example, in one of my camps I was helping the kids design some enrichment for the bears at the zoo. After a long discussion of the behaviors healthy enrichment encourages and a look at the allowed supplies, I set them off on drawing their designs. Shortly thereafter, as I circulated the classroom, I asked one 4-year-old what his project looked like. He wrinkled up his face in concentration and pointed to a right angle he'd drawn on his paper. "Well, this is my elbow..."
Yes, he drew himself as enrichment for the bears.
I love the imaginations that kids have, though-- you never know quite where a conversation will take you. One day over lunch, a preschooler leaned over to me and asked if I wanted to hear a joke. Sensing a huge dose of bizarre approaching, I enthusiastically accepted. "Why did the snake cross the road?" I didn't even try guessing. Brimming with excitement, she burst into a grin and shouted, "Because it got hit by an eyeball!!!" (No. No, that makes absolutely no sense. But did I laugh so hard I cried? Yes I did.)
In another instance I was highly entertained by a 10-year-old who ran an imaginary milkshake stand at playtime. There's not too much unusual in that-- I certainly had my share of imaginary businesses (cough, cough). But what I found so amusing was that this was a 2010s milkshake stand; he'd only let me pay with my imaginary credit card... and I had to download an imaginary app to order. Times change.
Once a group of 1st and 2nd graders were overjoyed to have found "amethyst" on the playground. Upon closer inspection, I was able to lead a very productive discussion on quartz and everything was great until that afternoon, when a child looked up at me and asked, "Excuse me, Miss Eleanor, but why couldn't we bring the corpse in?" Cue several children chattering away about "the corpse we found on the playground" and a very confused Miss Eleanor-- until I realized they'd simply misremembered the word quartz. Whew!
I have to say, I was shocked by how gross kids are too. It wasn't just the after-snack coating of crumbs, trash, and clementine peels, but somehow they always managed to exceed expectations. For example, after we gave them "dirt cups" (chocolate pudding, crushed Oreos, and gummy worms) as a treat, I was all set to hand them off to their parents before the sugar rush-- when my teen volunteer noticed a giant smear of pudding 7 feet up the wall. We still have no idea how it got there.
Another kid walked out of the bathroom distraught and handed me his sticker because "it got wet". I'd already taken it in my hands before I put two and two together. With a feeling of disgust and dread steadily rising in me, I asked "Sweetie, did this fall in the toilet?" I shouldn't have. (I later had to explain to this same child that if we can't turn on the sink, the toilet is not an appropriate substitute for washing hands.)
Hands down the weirdest experience I had all summer though was during my very last week on the job. I was teaching Pre-K and kindergarten kids and I'd given them some clay for free building time when I overheard this conversation:
Child 1: "Hey, what are you making?"
Child 2: "I'm making a chihuahua, you?"
Child 1: *scoffs* "A chihuahua? What's a chihuahua?"
Child 3: "Um, I think she means a koala."
Child 2: *glances down at her creation* "Oh yeah, I meant koala."
Could I have intervened? Yes. But I was occupied, and in hindsight I'm glad I didn't. You see, shortly thereafter, Child 2 broke the ears off of her chihuahua/koala and looked up gleefully. "Koala broken!" she exclaimed.
Well, that must have been a catchy phrase to 5-year-olds, because next thing I knew the entire camp had started chanting "Koala broken! Chihuahua broken!" (At this point, the meanings of chihuahua and koala had merged completely.) And it didn't stop there. For the rest of the week, any time we went outside, the entire camp of 18 tiny children would march in time, solemnly chanting "Koala broken! Chihuahua broken!" That was fun to explain to the random museum guests who crossed our paths.
Of course, it wasn't all fun all the time. Over the past couple of months I've had to deal with angry parents, stressful camp groups, and oh-so-many accidents involving bodily fluids. There were times I'd get home and just sit down for 30 minutes, recovering from the shock of the day. I even cried at work once.
But despite the challenges, I absolutely loved working with these kids. One of my favorite aspects of informal education is that it's supposed to be fun above all-- and I definitely could tell that my campers were having a blast. I love being able to go on tangents, chat about whatever my kids are interested in, and modify the curriculum without feeling like I'm falling short.
And on that note.... my new job.
I was lucky enough to get a new position lined up for right after I ended summer camp, so I left the Museum on Friday and started orientation for my new job Monday. I'm working for the Morehead Planetarium & Science Center, which is run by UNC . I'm really excited that it worked out, because I'd actually had my sights set on Morehead as a possible workplace long before I moved to Chapel Hill!
Although it started as a planetarium*, Morehead is so much more today. Through its outreach programs, on-campus activities, summer camps, and statewide science festivals, it reaches half a million people annually and covers all kinds of topics in science. I'm working on Science After School, a program that's funded by GSK. Through this program, we visit 10 Boys and Girls Clubs over the course of the semester for two weeks each, giving us a fair amount of time to get to know the kids we're working with, rather than parachuting in for half an hour. The program itself started two years ago and originally just spent one week at each club, but now that there are two of us working it we'll have a lot more flexibility. I'm also going to learn to drive their Science On Your Street van!
Of course, the first week has been mainly settling in and getting used to everything, but I've gotten started writing some projects for the curriculum. It was also a very strange week because Monday night some protesters tore down a well-known statue of a Confederate soldier, Silent Sam, which stood right outside of my building. Cue a flurry of University emails and news crews, plus additional protests being held this weekend. It was definitely an interesting way to start off my time at UNC!
*A planetarium and training ground for early astronauts.
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