Ghostly Halloween Game for Kids Suite101.com

Susan Caplan - Susan Caplan McCarthy is a writer, crafter, and environmental educator.

Halloween Activities for Kids - Photo by Susan Caplan McCarthy

Play this game at a Halloween party or a monster-themed birthday party for kids ages eight and up. You’ll want at least eight players, although if you have the entire class, that works as well. This is a very active game, so plan for a space without the interference of tables and chairs. The game gets all players to participate in the game and also challenges players to work together to best solve the problem set up by this game’s scenario – capturing escaped ghosts.

Materials for this Kids’ Game For each player you will need a one-gallon plastic milk jug. Before the party, you should cut out the spout section, leaving the handle. If desired, turn this into a craft project by giving the kids permanent markers and stickers with which to decorate their ghost catchers.Two tennis balls in different colors or marked with different designs you draw onto the balls.Objects to create two boundaries; you can use masking tape on the floor. You want enough space that the kids can move around without bumping into the other players. However, too much space (such as an entire school gymnasium) can cause the kids to be too spread out. The number of players really determines how much space you will need. Play this game indoors or out.Stopwatch – Although it isn’t necessary to time the game, it does add a challenge to this activity. Sometimes you can even get a second or third round from the game by asking the kids if they think they can improve their time on completing the activity.Bowl to represent the ghosts’ final home.Set the Scenario for the Kids’ Activity

Explain to the children that a couple of ghosts have escaped into the city and that they, The Ghost Catchers, have been called. The only way to safely transport the ghosts is with the ghost-safes that the children have been given (the jugs). The ghosts must be brought from the city to the ghost house. To stay safe, no Ghost Catcher can touch a ghost. To make certain that the ghost stays trapped in the ghost house, each ghost must go inside each safe, binding it with ghost-trapping energy.

Cooperative Games Kids Play Together Set the two tennis balls, the ghostly orbs, behind one of the boundaries. Explain that this is the city. Beyond the other boundary is the ghost house.Kids cannot use any body part to move the ghosts (tennis balls) into the ghost safes (the jugs).Each ghost must touch the inside of each player’s ghost safe to insure that enough energy is build up to hold the ghost in the ghost house.Any ghost that drops to the ground is considered escaped and the game starts over. (Since it’s easier to start over than to have kids remember which ghost they have or haven’t captured in a round, you can explain that when a ghost escapes it crashes the energy built up in both ghost safes, requiring everyone to begin again.)Start the game with players using the ghost safe jugs to capture the ghosts. Players must figure out how to move the ghosts from jug to jug so both ghosts touch the inside of every ghost safe before they reach the other boundary and are set into the bowl, completing the game.

If you want, you can time this game with a stopwatch. Although it may be tempting to explain to the group how you think they should reach the goal of the game, avoid doing so. You can suggest that the kids do some problem solving before playing the game so they can figure out how to get the ghosts into each player’s ghost safe. Don’t discourage creative thinking; as long as the children stick to the rules (not body parts can touch the ghosts) allow them to reach an imaginative solution.

Game adapted from “Save the City” by William J Kreidler and Lisa Furlong’s Adventures in Peacemaking ; Educators for Social Responsibility and Work/Family Directions, 1995.

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By Ungenita Katrina Prevost

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, , , Why Evaluate Your E-learning

E-learning projects have recorded some spectacular successes. These successes may suggest that your e-learning projects will work equally well. Reported success should encourage you but not convince you. As they say in the auto-mobile advertisements: "Your mileage may vary," or, as is printed at the bot-tom of a stock prospectus: "Past results do not guarantee future performance."

First, realize that only successful projects tend to be reported. If a project was not completed, or if its failure would embarrass the sponsors, the project will probably not make it into the academic or trade press. And, even if other projects have succeeded, their success may not signify much for your project if it differs in substantial ways. You have different goals, face different problems,and rely on different resources. By the time you complete your project, the conditions that led to success in earlier projects may have vanished. Or, new technology may offer solutions to problems that stymied earlier projects. In any case, someone else's success does not benefit you. Only your success does that. Only your evaluation can measure your success.

Specific Reasons to Evaluate

Before evaluating e-learning, you need to be clear about why you are evaluating. Consider a few specific reasons to evaluate your e-learning:

Justify investments in training. An effective evaluation can prove that training is not a net expense but a strong contributor to profit. Such proof can help training jump from the cost column to the benefit column in the mental ledger of top executives. Proving that training is an effective business investment spurs increased investment in training. Make better decisions about training. A proper evaluation process can aid in making informed business decisions regarding training, such as whether to buy, license, or build particular courses; whether to hire particular individuals or firms to develop training; which training media to use; and which internal and external suppliers to hire. Hold participants accountable. Evaluation reveals whether individual training departments, developers, instructors, facilitators, and suppliers delivered the results they promised. Demonstrate financial responsibility. Evaluation demonstrates to executives, stockholders, and employees that the training department is financially disciplined and clearly focused on the business goals of the overall organization. Improve training quality. Evaluation can measure the quality and effectiveness of various aspects of training, such as materials, instructors, facilities, and presentation techniques. It can identify areas that need improvement and ones that can serve as models of excellence. Encourage learning. The very process of evaluating learning focuses attention on results and encourages learners to try harder. Tracking job performance signals the importance of applying what was learned in training. The evaluation process may be more important than the data it gathers if it strengthens efforts to apply knowledge.

Anticipate Objections to Evaluation

For all the reasons to evaluate e-learning, there are as many concerns about evaluation, especially as commonly practiced. Though some objections to evaluation are ill informed, you should honestly consider them and be prepared to overcome them before embarking on the evaluation, AH these objections can be countered with a carefully crafted evaluation plan. That's what this book is about. Here is a list of some of the common reasons for not evaluating e-learning:

Evaluation is too expensive and difficult. Many training organizations believe they lack the budget, time, or skills necessary to mount an effective evaluation program without endangering their primary mission of conducting training. Results will be meaningless. Many in training fear that all the effort of an evaluation program may be pointless as it is nearly impossible to accurately gauge the effectiveness of training. Some fret that benefits are too subjective and ephemeral to measure and that they take too long to accrue. Irrelevant factors dominate results. Training can fail for reasons other than the training product itself. Real-world results have many causes. Many believe that it is too difficult to dissect out the effects of training. Anyway, e-learning is so new, much of what is measured will be the novelty effect.Evaluation is too political. In a highly contentious organization, the idea of evaluation can set off political battles and organizational paranoia. Who sets the criteria? Who is evaluated? Who sees results? Instructors who teach in classrooms and managers who preside over large training facilities may feel threatened if evaluation compares e-learning to conventional training.

, , , St. Patrick's Day Craft for Kids Tissue-Paper

Lara Smith - is a freelance writer with a Bachelor of Arts in English, History and Religious Studies.

Hanging Tissue-Paper Rainbow - Lara Smith

This St. Patrick's Day craft for kids is a fun way to introduce children to the Irish lore of the lucky pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Little ones will love sharing in the magic of the holiday by making a colorful rainbow they can proudly display in their home.

Things you will need: Tissue paper (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple)Cardboard (cereal box)Glue stickGreen pipe cleanerScissorsGold glitterBlack and yellow construction paperUnsharpened pencilHole puncherCotton balls

Steps for Making a Hanging Tissue-Paper Rainbow and Pot of Gold (Scroll to bottom for pictures and click to enlarge)

Draw or trace a rainbow shape, as large or small as you like, onto a piece of cardboard (cereal boxes are perfect) and cut it out.With a hole puncher, make a hole in the center of the rainbow's top.Make another hole in the middle of the rainbow's end for the pot of gold to hang from.Cut your tissue paper colors into strips about 1.5" wide. Wrinkled tissue paper works just as well for this craft, so if you have used tissue paper from gift bags, you can put it to good use.Have child cut the strips into squares approx. 1.5" x 1.5".Once all the colored strips are cut into squares, have child sort the squares by putting each color into its own bowl or container.Have child spread glue stick onto one end of the rainbow and press the cotton balls down to make clouds. They can pull them apart slightly for a more billowy look.Starting with the red squares, they can press their unsharpened pencil into the square's center and then twist/wrap the square around the pencil.Have them apply a small line of glue following the rainbow's arch. They should only apply a small section of glue at a time so it does not dry while they are applying the tissue paper.To apply the tissue paper, have them press the pencil with paper twisted around the end onto the glued section. Repeat doing a small section at a time until they have the first red line of the rainbow complete.Follow the above steps with each new color of the rainbow until the cardboard underneath is no longer visible.Draw or trace a small pot of gold shape onto some black construction paper and cut it out.Cut out a small piece of yellow paper to look like gold brimming over the pot's edge.Have child glue the yellow paper onto the back of the pot.With the hole puncher, make a hole in the center of the top of the gold pile.Have child spread some glue onto the yellow paper and sprinkle the gold glitter onto the glued section. Tap off excess glitter.Cut a tiny section of pipe cleaner and thread it through the hole at the end of the rainbow and the top of the gold. Twist ends together so the pot is hanging at the rainbow's end.Thread the remaining pipe cleaner through the hole at the rainbow's top and twist ends together for a hanging loop.For the finishing touch, trim the edges of the rainbow and tops of the tissue paper for a more uniform look.Hang and enjoy!

Creating a colorful rainbow and pot of gold is the perfect way to get children involved in the magic of St. Patrick's Day. From dabbing on the tissue paper and sprinkling on the gold, kids will love adding their personal touch to this St. Patrick's Day craft for kids.