Issue #73: Why Children Play Follow-Me
January 6th, 2009See What Children Know
We invite you to submit your comments surrounding the question: What do the three year old children in this video clip gain from playing the game of following one other in a circle? Please submit a short paragraph to George at GEForman@aol.com and become eligible to receive a year’s subscription to our Videatives Video Streaming service. Ellen Hall and George Forman will select the submission that we believe best answers this question. At Videatives we like to reveal what children know and to find the cleverness of children during ordinary moments. Here are some of the ways you might choose to reveal the significance of this 1 minute 40 second clip. Are there some children whose strategies keep the game going for the others, i.e. the leaders if you will? If so, what are these children doing to maintain the game? What can you say about the game itself that offers children of different levels an opportunity to enter? If you like, focus on one child and lay out the development of that child’s participation in the game. What might you say about the emergent structure of the game and how the game itself changes to accommodate what is happening to individuals as the game progresses? Why do you think children enjoy a repetitive game that does not have a targeted or defined ending the way the game of “Ring Around the Rosey” has with its defined ending, "All fall down”? What actually occurs in this specific video clip that portrays the value of these sorts of games for children? Of course, please derive your comments from any other general idea(s) that you may prefer. We thank the Beauford Elementary School, South Carolina, for allowing us to present this video clip to you.
With your permission, we will publish a number of your submissions in our blog for this issue of Videatives Views. But for now, submit your comments to GEForman@aol.com.
Notes from the Field
We have entered a new year, and thus, George and Ellen would like to share a short video message that reviews our growth in 2008 and that gives you some hints about new directions in 2009. Please watch this short video and accept our heartfelt thanks for supporting our work at Videatives, Inc.
George Forman, President
Ellen Hall, Vice President
