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Phantom Tollbooth Tochnit Erev (Evening Program)


Phantom Tollbooth Tochnit Erev

On Monday evening after chofesh (free time), chanichim arrived to the Chadar (dining hall), to find that its doors are a tollbooth and an entrance into the Kingdom of Wisdom. Everyone was sent off on an adventure to help Milo – the book’s main character - bring back Princess Rhyme and Princess Reason. The two princesses had left the kingdom as they were tired of all the bickering over which intelligence was superior. They had once kept the kingdom in balance, and in their absence, discord and disharmony took over the land.

Chanichim went on an adventure through different stations, each representing a different type of intelligence, following Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences.

In the Auditory Intelligence Station chanichim focused on listening to the sounds of the forest, and then sharpened their auditory capacity by locating moving objects using only their sense of sound.

Then, in the Symphony of Color Station – the Musical Intelligence Station - chanichim listened to music and expressed their reactions to it through painting and colors. Metal and classical music yielded wild combinations of colorful expression.

In the Emotional Intelligence Station chanichim played “telephone of emotions”, talked about the importance of expressing themselves verbally, via art and dance. Then they danced some…

Later on, in the Bodily Intelligence Station, awareness was gained as chanichim played a challenge obstacle course where they had to find the best way to move through a tangled web of rope and string. They had to work as a group, assisting friends to find their own unique way through the web.

At these and other stations, campers came to realize that all of these intelligences, in different combinations, play a part in our understanding of the world around us and our interactions within it. With this new balance in mind, the groups came back with Milo to Rhyme and Reason, and persuaded them (in an improvised poetry session) to come back to the kingdom.

Comments

Unknown said…
Some must have discovered each individual has two basic impulses: the yetzer hatov and the yetzer harah!

When and where did those impulses show up during the obstacle course, and how did each camper use reason to temper the yetzer harah?

Stephen Macht (Papa of Ruby, Isaiah, Jasper and Otto)
Unknown said…
How did each camper use his yetzer hatov to temper his yetzer harah during the twists and turns of the obstacle course? And how does the yetzer hatov employ reason to gain balance?

Papa Macht