Our Boyle Heights Program 19 Coordinators, Raquel and Cursta, work with the student Dreamers in the classroom and during the I Have a Dream Foundation – Los Angeles (IHADLA) after school program Monday through Friday. They assist and guide in the classroom alongside the Sunrise Elementary School teachers and run the entire after school program component from 2:30 – 6:00 PM. The IHADLA after school program consists of homework time, tutoring, reading circles, math assistance, enrichment clubs, the occasional Dream Speaker, team building activities for kids, and Fun Friday.

Fun Friday is dedicated to team building activities that enrich students’ educational experiences. Raquel and Cursta, along with our wonderful program assistants (Mayra, Michel’le, and Joshua), consistently make Fun Friday as interactive as possible to ensure all of the Dreamers participate interact with their peers. Giving the Dreamers the opportunity to experience a variety of programming that caters to an array of learning styles and preferences is a priority that our Program 19 team considers when creating Fun Friday. The practice of working together is very important for younger children to understand, and team building activities during Fun Friday seem to be a hit!

Fun Friday Cup Stacking Team Building Activity for Kids

The most recent Fun Friday team building activity that truly resonated with this group of Dreamers was a cup stacking game. This game began with the cups all lined up side by side on a table. The objective is to pick up one cup at a time using the make-shift “claw” (rubber band with a enough string tied to the rubber band so that each person has only one string to hold onto and pull). No one is to touch the cup with their hands, as it all has to be done with the rubber band and the control of each person pulling on his or her own string to open or contract the rubber band. The trick is that everyone has to work together, which they must discover as a team in order to win! Once a cup has been “clawed,” it then has to be carefully stacked onto another cup and released from the “claw” so that it doesn’t fall onto the table. If it falls, the team has to start over from the first step. The goal is to be the first team to build a tower of cups.

Raquel shared that this group of Dreamers is especially competitive and had a fantastic time playing the game. Frustration kicked in for many, but they didn’t want to give up. Once they got the hang of it, they were eager for the next challenge, which was to add more cups to build a higher tower. One Dreamer even expressed that, “This is my best day ever,” meaning that this past Fun Friday was her favorite day of after school program thus far. We love hearing our student Dreamers make comments like this, as this pushes our team to continue to serve the kids the best we possibly can so each day is the “best day ever” with IHADLA. Teamwork makes the dream work.