At this week’s Boys and Girls LitClub at Broadway housing, the boys and girls stretched out their minds by following their curiosity. Curiosity, for LitWorld, does not kill the cat– rather we see it as a way to discover new ideas and territories. Having and engaging curiosity ensures a constant and changing love of learning.

We started with a game of Never-Have-I-Ever-Musical Chairs. This game calls for one person, in the center of a circle of chairs, to say share something they have never done. Once the person says, for example, “Never have I ever had a brother,” those who do have a brother must get up from their seats and run to find a new one before all are taken. The last person becomes the new question-asker. This game really makes the kids aware of each other. Everyone was curiously eyeing each other, wondering who would get up and provide a new seat, and who they’d have to out-run to get there!

After the game we settled in for a reading of "What Do You Do With A Tale Like This?" by Steve Jenkins. The girls and boys each took turns guessing what tail, eye, nose, ear and mouth belonged to what animal. The best part of this book is it’s occasionally deceiving nature– what begins as a straightforward process soon leads to some truly interesting revelations. What we guessed was a bird’s foot turned out to be a Blue Footed Booby’s foot! What we thought was just fish eyes was really a four-eyed fish! These curveballs made the children more creative and curious in their guessing.

Using what was sparked in the game and read aloud, we complied a list of things that we wondered about (including but not limited to Amelia Earhart, the Bermuda Triangle, Hanukah and birds), and we took those thoughts and put them to paper, creating question poems on fun ‘question mark’ cut outs!

Fly High!

I wonder, I wonder
How birds fly?
I wonder, I wonder
How they have feathers?
I wonder, I wonder, I wonder.

--Written by Natasha Rivera, LitWorld Intern