poke-play, poke-learn

In case any of you are wondering what my kids do while I'm lying incapacitated in bed with the flu, I stumbled down the hall this morning to take some photos to show you:


Here's a game the kids made up this week to keep themselves occupied. First, Zoo Boy pretends that he's a Pokemon, moving and sounding like that particular Pokemon. He goes to J, who is pretending to be a Pokemon researcher and looks this strange Pokemon up in his field journal.

"Oh," he says, "You are a Speckeldorfer!" (No, that is not the name of a real Pokemon. Yes, I made it up. Yes, if I mentioned it to my kids they would probably have a fit.) Zoo Boy jumps up and down in agreement that J has identified him as the correct Pokemon.

J then reads the description of said Pokemon, including height and weight. They compare the weight to that of other Pokemon in the book. "Look, you are bigger than a Pikachu, but smaller than a Squirtle." (Real Pokemon -- I'm not completely ignorant in the ways of Pokemon.) They then use a ruler to measure off the height of the Pokemon on the wall.

Then they compare their height to that of the Pokemon. "It's as tall as my shoulders!" exclaims J. "It's up to here!" shrieks Zoo Boy, pointing to an eyebrow. "That's taller than a Niederand," offers J. "But smaller than a Regeice," adds Zoo Boy.

Then J rifles through a pile of silk scarves, selecting the color that he feels corresponds with that Pokemon's type. He holds it up to the Pokemon, and a discussion ensues on attacks that the Pokemon uses and how they are unique to that type of Pokemon. Sometimes a pretend battle ensues where the Pokemon's skills are tested out against some invisible well-matched Pokemon.

Professor J then makes observations about the Pokemon in the wild, jotting down notes and drawing pictures in his notebook (his magnadoodle). Here he discovers and documents a Squirtle egg. And then, as likely as not, he recites a verse or poem that seems to not necessarily have anything to do with the Pokemon, but what do I know! (I'm still trying to figure out if he's lifting the verses from somewhere or making them up as he goes along.)

Ok, so let's see. We've got imaginary play and gross motor skills (phys ed); use of reference materials and reading; weights, measures, and comparisons (math); assigning color to mood and drawing (art); and at least reciting, if not composing, poetry.

Sounds a lot like a full day of homeschooling to me.

They've obviously got this under control -- I'm going back to bed.