Discovery! Parachute

I did a second parachute program in the spring sessino of Discovery!. Here’s our playlist:

1. Introduction & Rules: Do not walk on the parachute. If Miss Katie asks you to find a spot on the wall, you need to put a hand on the wall. Caregivers, I need your help to watch out for our little ones. We don’t want anyone to trip on the parachute. If anyone does step on the chute, we need to stop what we’re doing until everyone is safe again. Thanks!

2: Read “Higher, Higher” by Leslie Patricelli: I read “Higher, Higher” while the kids/caregivers sat on the floor. As we read each page, we raised the parachute higher and higher until everyone was standing at the end of the book and I was reading under the chute so the kids could still see. This worked out beautifully and was a very engaging way to read the book.

3. “Take the Sun” by Caspar Babypants: We worked on different parachute directions with these next two songs. This song was up and down. Eventually kids got bored and started running under the parachute which was fine by me. When that happens though, I do stick my head underneath and police kids that might be running too fast or aren’t aware of their surroundings.

4. “Fast and Slow” by Laurie Berkner Band: Shaking the chute fast and slow absolutely brought the kids back to holding the chute. I cannot describe the shrieking that occurs when I tell the kids that they can shake fast again.

5. “The Tempo Marches On” by Jim Gill: I tried very hard to get the kids to shake slow at the beginning of this song and to shake faster towards the end. Thankfully the parents helped make that happen!

6. “Boom Boom” by Bari Koral Family Rock Band: This song has actions (stand up, jump up, spin around, comb your hair, shut the light) which I adapted for the parachute — stand up, jump up, kids spin while parents hold the chute up, give yourself static hair, and curl up under the parachute. This was incredibly fun and was a great transitional piece for our next book.

7. Read “Monsters Love Colors” by Mike Austin: I made this interactive by asking the kids to shake the chute while sitting to help mix the colors. I also had the secondary colors scarves in bags, prepared to toss on the chute when we “made” that color. The kids thought that this was magic and were so happy when another color joined the chute. I kept the scarves on the chute for the next song.

8. “All My Colors” by Ralph Covert: We had another round of shaking the chute since the kids were ready to get back up again. Afterwards, they all found the wall and I collected the scarves by walking on the parachute.

9. “Pass & Clap” by Michael Plunkett: This is a song that’s supposed to be used with bean bags, but I had the kids/caregivers sit back down and pass the chute around the circle. This is a great chance to develop some teamwork skills. One of my kids struggle with this and mom pulled her away from the chute since she couldn’t/wouldn’t pass it.

10. “Peek-a-Boo” by The Learning Groove: A really quick fun game from Mr. Eric & Mr. Michael. I asked the kids to crawl under the chute and their caregivers lifted it slightly so the kids could peek out. Lots of laughter with this one.

11. “Popcorn” by Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights: I made paper popcorn again out of recycled materials and the kids shook the chute. After a while, I invited them to go underneath and “pop” the popcorn off the parachute. This was a great way to get the paper off of the chute without having them find another wall to do it safely.

12. “Rocks and Flowers” by Caspar Babypants: This last song, the kids went underneath the chute and crawled around to pick up the paper and bring it to me!

Another successful parachute program! I absolutely love playing with the kids and the parachute. It brings back such fond memories of when I was in school and we did the parachute. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures though because it’s so difficult to try and lead this program and document it at the same time.