More Teaching Ideas

Get Into the Game

Grade Level: upper Elementary Idea of the Month

Materials and Advance Prep
• Green bulletin board paper or rolled butcher paper
• Markers
• 1 paper football cutout labeled "Physical Activity"
• 1 paper football cutout labeled "Nutritious Snacks "
• "Post-It" glue
• Nutrition slips
• Activity slips
• Box for completed slips
• Pencils
• Optional: Download and photocopy Milk! The Power Behind the Play mini-posters - 1 per student
• Optional: Crayons or markers

What To Do
1. Cover a bulletin board or a wall with green paper. Add white yardage lines and markers to create a miniature football field, including end zones and goal posts. Write your class name or room number in the end zone. Optional: Design a class logo for the 50-yard line.

2. Set up a place where students can fill out:
• Activity slips letting you know a physical activity they participated in today or yesterday and about how long they did it.
• Nutrition slips letting you know one snack they ate today or yesterday.

3. Optional: Kick off the activity by having students each make a Milk! The Power Behind the Play mini-poster. Distribute posters and have students draw their own MVP (Milk's Valuable Player). Discuss the importance of daily physical activity and healthy snacks as students share their posters.

4. Set the rules of the game by establishing yard values for healthy activities and snacks. For example, a combined class total of 20 hours of physical activity may equal 10 yards, or a combined class total of 10 Milk Group snacks may equal 10 yards. The criteria are flexible and should be set to work with your classroom nutrition and physical activity focus.

5. Establish a time frame for how often students fill out slips and how often you total them. For example, it might be every day, alternating days, or once a week.

6. Each time you total students' slips, move the football cut-outs down the field to show students how far they have come in their effort to eat healthy and be active.

7. When the class scores a touchdown in the end zone, celebrate with a tasting party of nutritious snacks, a special activity or a story.

8. Display your "field" and posters at a parent-teacher event. Optional: Make a scoreboard and display the class' total touchdown points.

Work with the school foodservice manager to do this activity as part of a "Milk: The Power Behind the Play" cafeteria promotion.