Can You Do the CAN CAN?

Three children stacking aluminum cans to build a tower.

CAN CAN Song

After a holiday party, there might be an excess of empty aluminum cans.

It’s just the right material for a fun game. So, before you bundle the cans up and take them to a recycling center, play the game, “Can you do the CanCan”?

Start off with everyone sitting in a circle and each person has 2-3 cans. One person puts one of their cans on the floor in the middle of the circle and then, in turn and one by one, each player adds their can to an ever-growing tower of cans while everyone sings the fast paced CanCan song.

The joy and pace of the song moves the game along as the tower continues to grow until, unpredictably but inevitably, it crashes with a wonderful clatter.

The simplicity of the game means that children of very different skill levels can play but it doesn’t mean that there is not a lot of learning going on. Waiting for one’s turn reinforces impulse control, adding a can encourages eye-hand coordination and building the tallest tower together elicits a sense of social cooperation.

You probably heard the CanCan song before even though it once went with the scandalous “French Cancan” dance at the French Moulin Rouge in the 1920’s.