Activities

TIME ON MY HANDS

I was browsing Picnooga Companion on Facebook and found this photo of a block in downtown Chattanooga.  It's East Eighth Street between Georgia Avenue and Cherry Street.  In the mid-1950s, I worked after school as a file clerk for my uncle Roy Chandler Reynolds at his National Teachers Agency, located in an upstairs office in one of those buildings.  I remember Vanderstoop's Shoe Repair, just to the left of the Bill Shores sign.  I think I made 75 cents an hour.

ACTIVITIES for ADULTS

I've found some mysteries you can watch while staying safe at home, including Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.  Or as the AARP site says, "nine thrilling series and where to binge them."

ACTIVITIES for CHILDREN

"Spell your name in the GIF bar (below) and post the first picture that pops up," my daughter posted on Facebook.  This is what I got:  the itsy bitsy spider.  This cartoon version is NOT what I ever imagined happened to the spider.  Did you play this finger game as a child (with hand motions) or sing it to your own children?  Here's how it goes:

The itsy bitsy spider went up the waterspout.
Down came the rain and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain,
and the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.

Alternately touch the thumb of one hand to the index finger of the other to "go up" the water-spout, like this one.  Hold both hands up, and wiggle the fingers as the hands are lowered to show the rain.  Sweep the hands from side to side to "wash the spider out" of the drain spout.  Raise both hands and sweep to the sides to form a semicircle as the sun comes out.  Repeat the wiggly fingers while as the itsy bitsy spider climbs up the spout again.


Here's a video so you can learn (or remember) the catchy tune.  I think I'll be humming it to myself for days, now.  After you watch it, find a child to sing it with you.  Maybe while social distancing and staying at home, you could Skype or Zoom with your grandchildren, or using whatever electronic means you have available.

It's very appropriate that the second selection on this collection of children's ditties is "Rain, Rain, Go Away," after rain washed the itsy bitsy spider out.  When I learned to sing it, the next words were "little Johnny wants to play."  This version is careful to include girls and boys and even their parents

I didn't watch the whole thing because it is 42:42 minutes long, but the first ones are cute and catchy for little children.  I did click here and there and found the hokey-pokey (the illustrations of children represent different races) and Hickory Dickory Dock, which shows all sorts of animals going "up the clock."  What do you think happens when an elephant tries that?

I couldn't figure out how to change the size of this video, as I usually do.  So you may prefer to view it on YouTube.

UPDATE

Someone has removed all those books from the table in the hall near the library that I blogged about on Tuesday.  When I went by there on my way home from walking Clawdia yesterday, the table was completely bare.