From Florida:
Hi, Erich. The Egg Game was a great success at the conference. It was, literally, a show-stopper: we had “egg-experts” mingling with the group, teaching participants, including the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, how it worked. People loved it, and I hope they have or will be ordering a bunch from you. Many, many thanks for sending us the demos. I recently took it to several workshops that I did for middle and high school teachers (they loved it, too), and I’ll keep showing to people down here. Hope to see you again soon, and meanwhile we all send you our Best wishes,
John
June 16, 2003, John Cech
Producer/Host, “Recess!”
Department of English
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611
http://www.recess.ufl.edu
Group Activity for Kids
We have been having a great time with the game. Our youth group has what the youth call “cons” which is short for conference, but it is really a very close community of kids who enjoy each other a lot. It’s usually about a hundred kids. So I brought two eggs and a couple boards to one of these. I don’t think they EVER stopped moving. The kids did them together, alone, and they did tricks and jumped them (‘way higher than one might really like, as a fusty old adult). I could keep an entire con busy with these. Atthe end, I couldn’t find one egg, but the kids knew exactly which windowsill it was on, and we are all ready to start again.
The other big use has been with kids about 8 to 10. Really active little boys. If there is a pause in the classroom action, they get the egg game and can go for, oh, a half hour at least. If one of the children playing is really young–like 5–they sit on the floor and put the board on a big, slightly round pillow. And go forever.
Love that game.
Alice Lium December 22, 2000
Constructivist School
My name is Shirley Bruce.I am a teacher at Freeburg School in Waterloo Ia. Our school is a constructivist school. We purchased the egg game at a conference in Chicago a few years ago. I want to tell you what a wonderful physical knowledge activity you have created.This activity offers endless opportunities that inspire childrens reasoning.. I will be using the egg game for a presentation at the NAEYC conference in Washington . I will share some of the relationships that the children have had the possibility of constucting.
Thank you, Shirley Bruce
Feedback from a middle school educator …
Thanks for making a neat product. I had a really hard time picking this game up. Getting the eggs to spin in particular, and keeping them going took me a long time to get he hang of. My year old loves to try to spin the eggs, loves to watch and is getting better at keeping them going. The 6th grades that I teach, picked it up very quickly, almost instantaneously. They particulalry like “jumping ” the eggs. I have not actually used it in my teaching, but have it as a before school/recess activity. I like the fact that it is a physical activity that you don’t need to have any particular physical stregnth/ability. One of my most awkward students has become the best at getting the eggs started.
Thanks
Derek Cribb
Xavier University
Erich –
Used your amazing Egg Game with the 40 students in the Methods of Observation class. I started the discussion about how we, as teachers, are observers of the environment, the children, and ourselves. Then I went into how we, as teachers, need to be aware of our body movements and how we move around the classroom environment. I then modeled how to use the Egg Game and then let the students go for it. I had so much fun watching the students in the class work together and build their self-esteem as teachers. It was also so much fun watching other college students walk pass us and see their expressions. Overall, as adult learners and teachers, everyone learned so much from the experience. It was a perfect example on how to observe yourself, your environment, and others.
Peace,
Heidi Larson
Family Therapy
I have been using the egg game with several of my families. I discovered that it is an important and effective tool that allows parents and children to let their guards down and PLAY. Children who haven’t had consistent contact with a parent can be nervous during the initial meeting. The egg game lets them be in close proximity without touching, helps them to work together and problem solve to keep it spinning and creates a sense of accomplishment. I have seen it break down barriers and for some families, it is their weekly ritual when they come to visit. In fact, the kids that have the egg game at their schools are becoming quite accomplished and love to show off their skills to their parent.
Clariese Lyons
Supervised Visitation Coordinator
Safe Havens — Kalispell Montana
Waterloo, ON
I played the game at an Experiential Education conference in BC, Canada about 5 years ago. We bought one for our expulsion program and it was very useful. Now that I’m doing Special Ed back in mainstream, I thought it could be very useful for team building, metaphors about give and take in interpersonal relationships and building personal perserverence.
Thanks.
Holly Corman
SERT, Lincoln Heights P.S.
4H
Hi Erich-
Thanks for your message , words of wisdom and news updates on the egg boards. We bought some first in 2005 and have used them with MN 4-H Youth Development ever since. We use them with our 4-H clubs, our youth leaders, in school and afterschool programs, and in our trainings. I am using them in Dec when I train an elementary school student council I am working with! We have shared them at our statewide staff trainings so I think some of our colleagues have ordered them. I agree with you on their value for team building and cooperation. I am now working with our state science team so I will go to the website for the science lesson plans as well! We’ve bought more since 2005 so we can use them with bigger groups.
~ Anne
Anne Stevenson
Extension Educator and Extension Professor-
Educational Design and Development
Minnesota 4-H
Extension Center for Youth Development -Univ of MN