The Magic of the Monkey

I always knew there was something more magical about using animals to teach kids how to behave, than my own strategies, solutions, and tools. If you were a kid, whom would you listen to, an adult trying to rationalize the importance of being responsible, or a stuffed monkey you saw your teacher wearing on their back? A monkey that became your best friend through playing a series of games, wearing him on your back, receiving special banana messages, or just playing “giggle belly” on the floor?

The strategies that I have implemented with kids as a teacher would soon become even more powerful. I began to realize that a monkey surprising kids daily with a new idea to help them behave would become a tool that could not only assist me but also be perceived as totally cool by little kids. I learned that there is something about mystery (drawing tools and ideas out of a closed bag) that intensified kids interest and attention like nothing I had ever used before. Once the tools emerged from the bag, the class sampled and experimented with each new idea. At the conclusion of the experimental period, I would return the tool to the bag and place my Heavy Freddy book on the chalk tray. Just by placing the book in front of the children served as a great reminder to them to follow Heavy Freddy’s instructions.

It also became clear that the several lessons were building a very strong relationship between the class and Heavy Freddy. I learned this when I introduced another monkey by the name of “Bad Boone.” This monkey made really bad decisions, thus the name “Bad Boone.” It was interesting to find out what the children’s reaction was when I gasped in disbelief at their “Monkey Business.” I then placed Heavy Freddy in a side cupboard and started to bring out “Bad Boone!” Would the class let me? I told the children there could only be one monkey in the class at a time. Right? No way would they let me put Freddy into the cupboard!!! And best of all, it eliminated monkey business in my class and kept “Bad Boone” in the cupboard, exactly as I had planned.

Gene Bedley, Author Heavy Freddy

– Gene Bedley