Adventures in Preschool III - Jacks

Do you remember the childhood game 'Jacks', the game where you bounce a ball and pick up so many jacks before the ball bounces again? Anyway, as part of the kiddo's free time, there was a set of jacks on the table, our "manipulatives". i thought it wsa strange that there were jacks on the table and nothing else. I thought to myself'now what are the kids supposed to do with those?", but they found ways to entertain themselves. Children would line them up and count them, for one. I picked one up and spun it on its tip, watching it spin really fast before it suddenly slowed down and then suddenly stopped spinnning altogether. I did this a few more times and pretty soon, preschoolers were commenting on how cool that was . Before i knew it, I had five preschoolers around me all spinning jacks. There were different kinds too, plastic, metal, hard, soft. Some spun easier than others. For at least half an hour, I had different children at this table. One of the teachers walked by me, I turned to her and said "I think I started something". She laughed