The Wiggle-Jiggle Game

A big part of school readiness — and success within any classroom or daycare community — is having an appreciation of the similarities and differences among us all. Such appreciation can also help adults enjoy getting to know the children in their care!  

Watch this video together with children. On a second viewing, you may wiggle and jiggle too, according to your own opinions! You might play your own version; the questions may be:   

• silly (“wiggle and jiggle if you like peppers on your pizza”);  

• more serious (“wiggle and jiggle if you’ve felt angry today”, “wiggle and jiggle if you can think of a solution to the problem of how to share the small number of new blocks we’re  playing with today”);  

• …or in between! (“wiggle and jiggle if you’ve made a new friend recently”)

You can play the game as a group or one on one. You can also use children’s “answers” as conversation starters around important topics, such as asking children how they made a new friend (by asking their name, saying hello, inviting them to play, sharing a toy, and so on).