Rivet 'n' Tuft:
"Oops! Growing from Blunders"

Synposis

Opps! is a wonderful story about tolerance in the face of differences: different people and different ideas.

Heeding the bad advice of  the ‘personal trainer’ B. Slickman, a young ‘clutz’ named Barry tries to become a ‘success’ by never making any more mistakes. Along comes a walking disaster called Proto with his hypotheses, exploding cups, collapsing stools, and amazing fall-apart bike. From his inventor’s perspective, Proto helps Barry discover a thing or two about looking for possibilities amongst the mistakes. Some great examples of inventions discovered by mistake are presented and Proto helps Barry to see what real success is all about. To Barry’s credit he looks beyond Proto’s strange ways and discovers a friend.

Themes

Tolerence, mistakes vs success. types of mistakes, seeing potential in and learning from mistakes, ‘can’t judge a book by its cover’.

Application

Years R-9

Discussion Topics

Have you ever had an experience when you ‘warmed’ to a person over time when at first you disliked them? What helped you? At first what sort of things ‘put you off’?

Discuss categories of mistakes (e.g.: illicit behavior, opinions, accidents etc)

Audience Experience

The whole audience makes sound effects for the story. Several individuals become involved in the story as characters and objects. They problem-solve, just as Proto has modeled, solutions for reconfiguring the bike to ride more easily.