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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Mike Zaffuto sang his original song “Rock N Roll Pet Store” during his children's show for the students at Canfield United Methodist Preschool on Jan. 9.
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Kahley, Siena and Santino Speziale, a member of the Fours Class, welcomed Mike Zaffuto and his Rock N Roll Pet Store Kids Show to the Canfield United Methodist Preschool on Jan. 9. The Speziale family brought Zaffuto and his show to the preschool for all the children to enjoy.
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Thanks to some magic, Chomper the chinchilla made an appearance during the Rock N Roll Pet Store Kids Show on Jan. 9.
By ABBY SLANKER
Students at Canfield United Methodist Preschool had a variety of special visitors on Jan. 9.
Mike ‘Mr. Mike’ Zaffuto traveled to the school, bringing his Rock N Roll Pet Store Kids Show, along with a few furry friends. Zaffuto’s show included music, magic, puppets and live animals.
While all the students of the school were invited to attend, the show was especially significant to the Fours Class.
“The Fours Class with Mrs. Bennett is just beginning their pets ‘study,’ bringing pictures to share, along with stories about life with their pet or a pet they know. This show will be an interactive lead-in for them. We were fortunate enough to have John and Kahley Speziale provide this show for the entire preschool. Their son, Santino, is in the Fours Class. They wanted to include all the kids in the show, so instead of a big birthday party for their son, they decided to bring this party to the preschool,” Williams said.
Zaffuto started the show with his original song, “Rock N Roll Pet Store.”
“At night, after the owner of the pet store goes home, the animals get loose and run around the store and have lots of fun. How do you think the animals get loose?” Zaffuto asked the children, to which he got lots of answers.
Zaffuto told the children a monkey named Bongo gets loose and gets the key and lets all the animals out. He then introduced Bongo to the children, much to their delight. As Zaffuto continued with his song, he asked the children to make monkey and drum sounds and dance with Bongo.
Zaffuto told the children they needed to fill the pet store and continued the show with a few magic tricks which did just that. First, he asked for volunteers and gave one lucky helper a small pan to hold.
He asked the rest of the children to fill the pan with magic by sprinkling their magic into the pan while his helper walked around collecting the magic. After saying the magic word and waving the magic wand over the pan, Louie the bird appeared, to the surprise of the children.
Continuing to fill the pet store, Zaffuto asked for another volunteer and handed him a slightly larger pan. After following the same magical path, Chomper the chinchilla appeared in the pan. To fill the pet store with one more animal, Zaffuto asked for one more volunteer and handed him a very large pan. After following the same magical formula, Weasel the ferret appeared, to much applause.
Zaffuto then sang another original song, “Safari Hunt.”
“This is an imaginary song. I want you to pretend you are walking through the jungle. I want you to think about the sounds you might hear and the trees and animals you might see. We need to ask Bongo if he will be the guide for our safari,” Zaffuto said.
As Zaffuto sang, he gave clues to the children as to which animal they would see next and asked them to shout it out when they knew the answer. First they saw an elephant, then a zebra, a lion, a giraffe and finally a snake.
For his final magic trick, Zaffuto brought out a large, empty box with several magic ‘swords’ through it.
“I want you to think about your favorite animal. Now I want you to sprinkle your magic onto the big box,” Zaffuto told the children.
As Zaffuto removed the swords and said the magic word, Fluffy the bunny appeared in the box.
“Thank you. I hope you had a lot of fun. Give yourselves a round of applause,” Zaffuto said in closing his show.
As a special treat, the children lined up to pet Fluffy on their way out of the show.