Did Ya Notice an Exclamation Point Fell Upon Your Nose?

/
Point_Exclamation.png

A truly wonderful thing happened to me. As I was walking home from my beloved farmers market with tomatoes, basil, and flowers in my arms, an exclamation point bounced down upon my nose.

I was passing a beautiful front yard garden when I heard a voice: “Would you like some rosemary?”

I looked up to find a woman holding huge scissors near a huge bush.  Would I ever! Rosemary was the perfect addition to the smells of the basil and the flowers.

What a morning! The sky was bright blue; the temperature was perfect; and the vegetables, fruits, and herbs in the market composed a beautiful painting of colors and shapes and scents. The morning was terrific. And then…a bonus! The exclamation point of a gift of rosemary in my arms made the day absolutely awesome!

 

CONVERSATION KICKSTARTERS

For kids 8-18:

Can you think of a time that a punctuation mark “bounced down upon your nose?”  Maybe you were quite sure about something, but then you learned some new information and that made a question mark “bounce down upon your nose.”  Or maybe you felt something must be final and a period “bounced down.”  Or maybe something really great happened and you too felt an exclamation point “bounce down upon your nose!” Adults can start the conversation by giving their examples.

For kids 5-8:

With younger children, remind them what a period, question mark, and exclamation point are. Give examples of when one of these marks might have “bounced down upon their nose.” For example, maybe they were having fun at a birthday party and then they were the winner of a game. Exclamation point! Maybe last night they had to turn off a show they were watching and go to bed. Period! Maybe there was a new girl in school who came from someplace they never heard of before. Question mark! Ask them for more examples.

For preschoolers:

Act out an exclamation point together. Yell ,“Yay”, and make a big jump.

Act out a period. Plop down on the floor and stay absolutely still.

Act out a question mark. Bend over to look like the mark and repeat “Why? Why” as you walk around.

You can make a game of this by saying: “Period!” and they have to plop down. Question Mark! and they have to walk bent over and say Why? Exclamation Point! and they have to jump and say Yay! They won’t know what you will say next. Fun for toddlers to follow their older sibs.