Hunting for Crabs with Little People

Yesterday morning I visited Carolyn’s kids on their field trip at Janes Island in Crisfield. It was fun, but also kind of sad because it’s probably the last time I’ll get to hang out with this group of kids since their school year ends next week.

It’s interesting to go crabbing with kindergarteners. One little girl told me excitedly: “We’re hunting for crabs!”

A little boy in my group caught a crab in a trap. When the park ranger pulled it out and held it up for the kids to look at, we discovered it only had one claw. The little guy who caught it said in a rather vicious snarl, “I’ll tear that claw right off!”

At one point the kids played a game that was kind of like tag, but the person who was “it” was blindfolded and was called the “bat,” while the other kids were moths. The park person tried to use this as an opportunity to teach the class a thing or two about bats. When they were asked how bats get around since they don’t rely on sight like we do, the kids got pretty close to “radar,” but not quite. One kid said, “Red eyes!” And another one chimed in: “Cigar!” (He said it like “see-gar.”) If you combine those two answers, you almost get “radar.”

In another game, each student had a picture of an animal hung over their back, and they weren’t allowed to see the animal. Then they paired off and had to ask each other questions about their animal until they figured out what it was. The questions were all supposed to be answered with a “yes” or a “no,” as in: Does my animal have feathers? Does it growl? Can it fly? Does it have claws? The kids didn’t quite grasp this concept, which resulted in a very, very short game for the kids I was with. Our conversation went exactly like this (except for the name changes, of course):

Me: “Billy, now it’s your turn to ask Luke questions about your animal.”

Billy: “What is it?”

Luke: “A monkey!”

Sigh.

Another great year, another great group of kids… and almost time for another great summer for my overworked wife! One consolation is saying goodbye to the kids is that at least we’ll see them around the school next year. And, of course, Carolyn will have her hands full with another precious class of children!