Mad Scientists

Location: Henderson Elementary School

Date: Saturday, May 4, 2013; 9:50 am-12:00 pm

I have provided several humorous anecdotes of me getting lost on the way to a project.  But how does one even begin to explain what happened this morning.  I was so engrossed in my thoughts, that I got on a train going in the opposite direction.  When I realized my mistake, I was scrambling to get out at the next stop and rush across to the other side.  So how does one explain it – one doesn't.  Let’s just get over it and move on.  I arrived at the (correct) train station and saw that Molly was waiting for the bus.  She told me that today would be a special day, where kids from all the different grades, along with the respective program volunteers, would be participating in outdoor activities – a Kids Olympics Day. 

Pin-the-tail

We arrived at the school and collected supplies from the store room and proceeded to the back yard.  Brenna was already there and soon Pat joined us as well.  I looked through the box of supplies and besides some balls and board games, we had portable bowling, horseshoe toss and something that looked like lacrosse, but made out of plastic.  We also had some other activities like potato sack race and I started by helping a volunteer who leads a 2^nd grade project, put masking tape around the yard to outline the area where the potato sack race would be held.  We then put up a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey poster on a wall and were about done with the preparations.  Some of the volunteers went inside to make water balloons and Brenna said that the only way this would end, is with her getting wet!

The Chalkwork

The kids came out and general mayhem ensued for some time.  Some of the kids came over to the Makeup station to get artificial tattoos and their faces painted.  Brenna got into the spirit of things and even had the Olympic rings pained on her face.  Some of the kids were blowing soap bubbles, an activity that never gets old and something that I find is just a great stress-buster.  I mean come on.  Who doesn't like soap bubbles?  The session officially kicked-off after a group warm-up activity, led by volunteers, to get the kids ready for the activities.  I stood and watched as everyone stretched and jumped, happy that I wasn’t in that group. 

Rather than have us determine where the kids would go, we let them choose and many of girls – as was to be expected – stayed with the makeup station, while some of the older boys went to shoot some hoops with Pat.  I went over with a group of little ones to a corner designated for drawing on the floor of the yard, though I couldn't identify the chalk.  On closer inspection I realized that the things which looked like colored Easter Eggs, were actually chalk.  The kids grabbed a favorite color – pink and purple being most popular – and started scribbling.  Some wanted to draw patterns, while others played tic-tac-toe.  But this only lasted for a few minutes because as is the case with kids, they lost interest very soon and left for other activities, the chalk being left behind.  I went over to see the potato sack race being held and some of the kids were being extremely competitive and hopping rapidly.  It did look a bit dangerous to me because the risk of tripping and falling was very real and they could get hurt quite badly.  Fortunately, it did not happen and there were volunteers who were keeping an eye on the proceedings.

The bowling 'alley'

I walked about the yard and festivities were in full swing.  Next I went to the area where Molly was conducting bowling.  There were 10 plastic pins and a plastic bowling ball and my job was to replace the pins after a strike. This was a lot of work, not just because the kids were knocking down the pins, but due to the wind, which would topple them as well.  This is when I had one of my rare, inspired moments and said that whoever wants to bowl, has to form a line and set their pins.  When it was your turn, you came and arranged the pins and then had two opportunities to knock them down.  I used one of the chalk pieces to draw circles where the pins were supposed to go and then it was the kids lined up to bowl and all of them set the pins.  Molly left me in charge and went over to another station and also gave me a bag of goodies to hand out prizes for a‘strike’.  Many did that, but not everyone was impressed with the selection of crayons, mini card games and bracelets – which were by far the most popular item. 

Horseshoe toss

After some time I left bowling in the hands of other capable volunteers and walked over to a place where some of the folks were engaged in a game of checkers.  This is something that I never learned to play, preferring instead to play chess – and a lot of it back in my school days.  I watched for some time and then went over to another station where Molly was conducting horseshoe toss using cans.  Lot of girls had lined up and I stayed back to help with things like collecting the horseshoes, fixing the labels on cans and general arrangements.  Soon we were upon the final activity and the one which both, Brenna and I wanted nothing to do with – water balloon toss.

Two long rows of kids and volunteers lined up from across each other and simultaneously tossed a water balloon from one side to another.  After each successful toss, one member of the ‘surviving pair’ would take two steps back and this would continue.  The idea was to go on and see how far one could toss a balloon without it exploding.  The sharp readers will recognize the flaw in this.  There is no way in which this ends without people getting wet.  I decided that discretion was the better part of staying dry and so retired to watch from afar with Brenna and Pat.  The problem was that the line was moving towards us and we had to keep moving backwards.  Finally folks realized that they had spent a lot of time and many balloons were still intact, and so they just threw them up in the air and let them fall.  As can be expected, there was a lot of screaming and yelling during this activity and everyone was left content.  

The balloon of doom

The kids went inside to have pizza, while all the volunteers had the unenviable task of cleaning all of the mess in the yard.  It took us some time to do that and then we joined the rest of the group in the cafeteria.  Since pizza was being served, I discussed with Molly the pros and cons of a deep dish versus thin crust pizza.  We both got a ride back into town from another volunteer Pete.  We were also joined by a volunteer who had grown up in neighborhood around Henderson and was now a leader through Chicago Cares, trying to give back to the community that he had been a part of.  This is what this is all about and I commend him for doing this.  Today was my last visit to Henderson for some time and as the school takes a break for the summer, I will have to find some other projects to do over the next few months.  But make no mistake; come fall, I will be making the familiar journey to this place.  Perhaps I will even remember to get on the right train.