Try a balloon relay. The students can either:
The students need to walk or run a certain distance without letting the balloon touch the ground. If the balloon touches the ground, they would need to go back to the starting place and start over.
For these games you will need medium to large balloons (any color). Consider latex-free balloons as some students may have allergies to latex.
Divide students into equal groups of 3 to 6 people per group. These games can be done either standing or sitting.
Have the each group form a circle. Using just one balloon, see how many times they can volley the balloon without it hitting the ground or see how long they can keep it in the air (i.e. 1 minute, 2 minutes, etc.) The team that keeps the balloon up the longest wins!
A different version of this game would be to add a second balloon to the mix and have the students try the same activity.
Give youth the option to do this from a seated position so individuals who use a wheelchair can join in the fun, too!
Place the hula hoops into six separate areas of the gym. If hula hoops are not available, choose four corners and two middle areas of the gym. Label each hula hoop or area of the gym with the five food groups, (fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, protein, plus one hula hoop for unhealthful food (to supplement the ‘Fast Food Alert’ lesson). Scatter the laminated food cards or photos throughout the gym. The goal is for students to run around the gym and sort the foods into the right food group.
For example, a photo of an orange goes in the fruit category. A photo of a steak goes in the meat category.
*For the Fast Food Alert lesson; have one more hula hoop labeled with unhealthful food and laminate fast food/unhealthful food for this hoop.
Tell the students to think of a name of a fruit and remember it. Then tell the students to move about the gym and find another person who has selected the same fruit as you have. When two students with the same fruits find each other they stop and do five jumping jacks, three push-ups or any other chosen activity. Once the two food items have found each other and the activity is completed, the students should think of a different fruit and start moving to find the new fruit item chosen.
For example: John and Marissa have each selected apple. They move around the room. When they whisper the word “apple” to each other, they find out that they have a match. They both do five jumping jacks and then each pick a new fruit and start looking for that fruit match.
This game could also be played with any other food group category as well as fitness activity (swimming, running, baseball, etc.).
Choose five corners/walls to be stations. Label each of the five stations as one of the five main food groups (fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, protein). The teacher will then close his or her eyes and count aloud from 10 down to zero.
As the teacher counts, the students move quickly around the gym or play space to any food group wall/corner of their choice. The students need to select and stop at one of the five stations before the teacher reaches zero.
When the teacher is down to zero, with eyes still closed, he or she will choose a food group, call out that name (such as vegetables) and all students standing at that station will be eliminated. The eliminated students will then go to the center of the gym and the game starts over with the remaining students. The game continues until only a few students remain standing and they are considered the winners of the game or that round.
Before beginning:
Depending on how much time you have, you can take your students just through the mindful breathing and add in the Moon Walk Yoga activity to engage right and left brain thinking.
Optional: Do eight of our Power Charger yoga poses/movements in order:
Take time for each, doing at least five full breaths each. You can also time each pose/movement for one minute. Allow two to five minutes for the Sea Turtle: Deep Relaxation pose at the end.
Lie on your stomach on the floor. If you are sitting in a chair, sit up straight with your feet flat on the floor.
Put your hands on the floor under your shoulders. If you are sitting in a chair, put your hands on your knees or desk.
Stretch your upper body up high, with your arms straight and your stomach resting on the ground. If you are sitting, lean forward slightly, push your hands against your knees or desk and push your shoulders back to look up slightly, keep your neck as straight and in-line with your spine.
Stretch your head as far up as you can and HISS! Feel the stretch in your spine.
You are a very fierce cobra snake!
Keep stretching and breathing in and out, and make a hissing sound when you breathe out, continue this breathing and hissing for a minute.
If you are on the floor, breathe in and lift your “tail” (feet) up by bending your knees. Try to bring your head and “tail” (feet) close together. Can they touch each other?
Remind students that physical activity is good for the heart. The heart is a muscle that works better when we are active.
Ask students to trace their footprint on a sheet of drawing paper or construction paper. Inside the footprint, have the student write in a simple activity, such as:
“Do 10 jumping jacks” or “Do five curl-ups.”
Have the students trace their other foot on the backside of the paper and write a different activity on this footprint.
Make a path by laying the footprints around the edge of the classroom or the gym. Invite students to exercise their heart muscle and their other muscles by following the path and doing the activities written on the footprints.
Choose three students to be the “chasers.” Have these three students pick one of the five colors from the Choose MyPlate food categories: green for vegetables, red for fruit, blue for dairy, purple for protein or orange for grain. You can also include the fats/oils group if you would like. Once they have picked their color, have them each choose one nutritious food item from that food category.
Have the rest of students line up at one end of the gym and the three chasers in the middle of the gym. One of the chasers tells the group which food category was chosen. He or she then tells their classmates that they need to decide to be one of the three chosen food items.
The chaser calls out one of the three food choices. All of the students who have chosen that food item run from one side of the gym to the other without getting tagged by the chasers. If the student is tagged they are out of the round and need to go to the side of the gym and wait for the next round to start. For example: The fruit category is chosen by the chaser group. From the fruit category, the first student picks strawberries, the second student picks grapes and the third student picks watermelon.
One of the chasers tells the group that they have chosen the fruit category. He or she then tells their classmates that they need to decide if they would like to be a strawberry, a grape or a watermelon.
The chaser calls out grapes. All of the students who have chosen to be grapes run from one side of the gym to the other without getting tagged by the chasers.
If the chasers would like all of the students to run at once, they might call:
“Fruit Salad” for the fruit group, “Salsa” for the vegetable group, “Milk shake” for the dairy group, “Popcorn” for the grain group, “Chili” for the protein (meat and bean group), “Grease” for the fat and oil group
Or some other food category name that the group has decided upon.
The game starts over when there are only three participants left to run. These three students then become the new chasers and a new food category and foods choices are chosen.
Pass out one feather to each student.
Have the students spread out so they each have their own space to work.
Tell the students to hold the feather high in the air and let it go. Have them watch how it slowly and softly floats to the ground.
Now challenge the kids to the following feather tests. Have them hold the feather up in the air as high as is possible again and let it go.
As it floats down, see if they can catch it or have it land on the following body parts:
Spread the feathers out on the floor. When you say “go,” have the students run to the feathers, grab one, and then quickly go to a corner or area of the room that represents that food group. The students with the green feathers could group in one corner and so on. The students with black, brown or yellow feathers could all represent the fats/oils group.
