There is a bird in a poem by T. S. Eliot who says that mankind cannot bear very much reality; but the bird is mistaken. A man can endure the entire weight of the universe for eighty years. It is unreality that he cannot bear.

Ursla Le Guin (1929-2018)

The Lathe of Heaven, 1971

Wake Up!

Target:

command "Wake up!"

Age:

toddlers and young children

Duration:

10 - 20 seconds

Class Size:

any

Energy Level:

high - usually energises a group

Type:

make believe activity

Equipment:

none

verbal
energise
give control
humour

This activity always excites young children. I pretend to fall asleep. The children notice. A team teacher feeds them the line "Wake up!" I wake up - and then go back to sleep again. When the children have got this idea they can learn the matching line - "Sleep!" (and later "Go to sleep!"). Then they can send me to sleep and wake me up. Works well when combined with Be a monster...

This activity can be used to re-energise a group or as a way of creating a pause to switch away from one activity to another.

It is possible to introduce this game without a team teacher. Fall asleep for a moment and then wake up saying the line "Wake Up!" as you do so. Pause, and say the line "Wake Up!" again. It's important to create some 'space' for the children to hear the line. Then fall asleep again. Wake up immediately when someone uses the line. Avoid responding directly to 'non-English' attempts to wake you up (verbal and nonverbal). Link the action of waking up to the line "Wake Up!". It can be done.