Last summer I did a show at a summer camp at a child care center. They said they had a large group asked me if instead of one large show, if I could do five short shows. I declined saying that they one show they booked was 40 mins and that’s all the time I have, so they can chop up that 4o mins however they want, and suggested we do one big show (like we originally agreed on). They said how about two 17 ish mins shows because they were such a large group. I agreed to that.
The first show was about 60 kids ranging in ages from about for years old to about 10 years old. I’ve done this a thousand times, no big deal. Then the second group came in and it was four toddlers.
FOUR TODDLERS!
There’s really nothing I can do for a group like this. When the kids are two years old, I’m a scary stranger, unless they have visual cues from older kids that I’m OK and that this is a fun thing.
When booking these shows I’m very clear that the show is written for ages 4 and up, however younger kids can attend with the older kids. Developmentally a lot happens between two and three years AND between three and four years of age.
Here’s a sample of what happens when a kid turns about four years old:
Those are at four years old, imagine what a two year old doesn’t under stand!!!
Well, since they were there and I was there, I just blew through the show. It was a emotionally very unfulfilling, but I got through it. That was rough and I learned my lesson if this ever comes up again to ask the age groups of each group and specifically remind them that I won’t take a group of kids that are all three and under.
-Louie
Louie, yes, it is dispiriting. I do preschools, and when I had multiple shows in the past, they brought in the three-year-olds first. I’ve never done the young again separately. When the director asks for multiple shows that day, I ask about the kids’ ages. I tell them to bring the three-year-olds with the older ones and follow David Ginn’s advice to put the little ones in the back, and all goes well. Thank you for the reminder.
Dana
P.S. and no two-year-olds.
I can do a group of three year olds, but I can be challenging.