It was supposed to be a one-off thing.
I have this rainbow-colored plush monkey that I bought at the Minneapolis airport last summer. He has magnets in his hands and feet, and it says “Minneapolis” across his tummy. Because of the magnets, he sticks to the whiteboards, and the elementary students can entertain themselves endlessly with it. One day, seeing a student toss the monkey at the white board and trying to make it stick, I made a joke about playing “darts” with it. We ended up drawing a target on the white board and tossing the monkey at the target in an ad hoc game of darts.
And then it spread to the middle school – perhaps I wasn’t entirely guiltless in this. I’m always on the lookout for ways to get the middle schoolers to do anything besides nap in their desks and mess with their phones. This, apparently, was it.
This morning, we played monkey darts. I give out my play money to people who hit the target. I take money when they miss. So it’s got an element of gambling to it, which I suspect appeals to them, too – who doesn’t love a game of chance.
The monkey’s name, by the way, is “Dinner.” That’s because he’s the alligator’s dinner.
