• Obedience can be a key issue when working with young children. Instead of making it out to be a big deal later on, start out by establishing rules and playing obedience games to make sure students pay attention to you and your rules.
  
  

Making Up the Rules

• On the first day of school, ask the children what rules they feel are appropriate for a classroom. Do not laugh at any suggestions the children make. Even if they are funny, they are usually suggesting them in earnest. Write on the board the rules they suggest that you feel are appropriate. After a few minutes, if the children haven't named all of the rules you feel are appropriate, write down your rules and read them aloud. Then ask the children to stand up and line up, left to right in the classroom. Read some of the rules you have decided together and some made up rules. Ask children to step forward if they think what you have just said is a rule and ask one child to explain why. If the child is wrong, she merely returns to the line. If she is right, she will earn something small like a sticker or star on her discipline chart.
  
  

Mother May I?

• This game is a great way for children to see how obedience works in a way they can understand. The rules for this game are relatively simple. The children will stand in a line while you act as the mother (or you can substitute the word "teacher" for "mother," if you wish). Call on the students by name and tell them to take one step forward or backward. The student must ask "Mother (teacher) may I?" before you grant him permission to move or tell him not to move. If the student fails to ask "Mother (teacher) may I?" then he is out. The game continues until one student is left.
  
  

Noah Says

• This is a version of Simon Says, although you can substitute any other name for Noah to take any potential religion out of it. Students will be broken up into teams: cats, dogs and ducks. Cats meow and pretend to lick their paws, dogs bark and beg (by putting their arms down as if to beg for food) and ducks quack and waddle (making wings out of their arms by placing their hands in their armpits). Noah will then precede a command with "Noah says" and must ask the children to bark, beg, meow, lick, quack, waddle or stop. If the action is preceded with "Noah says," all children must participate. If the action is not preceded with "Noah says," then only cats may meow, dogs may bark and ducks may quack. If a child does an action not assigned to her animal, she will be out. Conversely, if the child does not do the action everyone is supposed to do, she will be out. The game continues until there is one student left.