Minibeasts

Minibeast with moving legs - a gift from a Reception student

Today I was teaching in Reception - the 4 and 5 year olds. We spent the day drawing pictures of mini-beasts, in between doing fun stuff like playing in the home corner and singing songs.

Four children and I were sitting at a hexagonal table drawing worms and butterflies. Suddenly, without warning, one of the children who I was drawing with, vomited across the table.
"Woah!" I cried.

Luckily, in my short career working with really little kids, I have seen a lot of this type of thing. Within seconds I had whisked a garbage bin next to him, swiped some paper towels through the mess and sent for some of that stuff that soaks up nasty messes on the carpet.

The part that was funny for me was when I sprinkled the magic stuff, which happens to look like a pile of gravel, on the mess and the kids kept on pointing to the floor and wanting to clean up the mess.
"Oh no, Miss Lexonline! Look what happened there! Shall I sweep up that gravel?"

I had to clarify.

"Children, it is time to tidy up. But in this spot HERE (pointing) there is a mess we CANNOT clean up because somebody has been ill and we must LEAVE IT RIGHT THERE until later."

How much sense must it make to children, that a mess must be left just exactly where it is?

More than likely they have already worked out that adults are mysterious creatures.