Healthy Habits Field Day-Town Creek-Deb Settle
Bridge to Fitness
Equipment: three sets of wooden walking boards, signs
Short game description: This game will be located in the front of the school. Teamswill start on the sidewalk and use the boards to move across to the curb without stepping on the blacktop.
Directions and what to say to each class:Divide the class into teams of three.
Ask students the question……..”What is Fitness?”
(Students in the primary grades should know fitness is how well the body works. The students in third through fifth grade begin to learn that fitness is the efficiency of the heart, lungs, and muscles)
Say, “If you're fit, your body works well, feels good, and can do all the things you want to do, like run around and keep up with your friends. To be fit make sure your body is active at least 60 minutes a day. You also need to fill it with nutritional healthy foods.”
Continue the directions saying, “The game we will play today is called Building a Bridge to Fitness. The object of the game is to get your team to the fit side of life. When I say GO your team must use the boards to make it to the healthy fitness zone (the other curb). You may not step on the blacktop. If a teammate touches the blacktop your team has fallen into a bad habit of unhealthy eating and inactivity and has to start over as a team. Take your time and work together to make sure everyone is Fit!” Students will use the boards in groups of three to cross the bus lane.
Shoot out the Sugar!
Equipment: sling shots, four cones for lines, sweet posters and/or cups, balls
target sling shot-pictures of sweets
Short game description:Students will use the sling shots to propel the balls and hit the posters. They take one shot each and then the next person goes…keep going…they can get more than one turn.
Directions and what to say to each class: “Eating too much sugar can really make you sick. Sugary drinks and sweets don’t have the nutrients your body needs to grow and stay healthy and we know that it gives us quick energy but not long lasting energy and we end up “crashing”. Today you will be shooting out the sugar. In the game the first person will use the sling shot to shoot the sugary snacks (posters and/or cups with pictures of candy on them). They will shoot one ball, retrieve it, and come back to the team and give the sling shot to the next person. Stand as close as you want but make sure to shoot that sugar out of your life!” Students can get multiple turns and please make sure they don’t pull too hard on the slingshots.
Nourishing Nutrients
Equipment: parachute, balls with nutrient names on them
Short game description: Place the balls on the parachute and students either shake or lift and lower the parachute to the ground on your command to get the balls to fall off. The students who collect the balls must say the nutrient name on the ball before they put it back on the parachute.
Directions and what to say to each class:Have everyone stand around the edge of the parachute and say,”Energy is the ability to do work. You get the energy your body needs from the foods and drinks you eat. Foods and drinks contain nutrients. A nutrient is a material in a food or drink that is used by the body. You need six kinds of nutrients. Some help you grow. Some give you energy. Others help your body work well. A healthful diet gives you all the nutrients you need. Today we will be playing a game called Nourishing Nutrients. In this game you will be blasting the nutrients your body needs off the parachute. When I tell you pick up the parachute and shake it hard. (Have them shake it for awhile). Now when I say “Up” you lift the parachute up together as a team. I’ll say down and you bring it down.Some of the “nutrients” or balls will fall off after we do this a couple of times. I will select four students to be the nutrient blasters at the end of the game. They will pick up the balls and toss them back on the parachute saying the name of a nutrient when tossing. The empty parachute is an example of what your body looks like in the morning…before breakfast…it doesn’t have a lot of the nutrients it needs for the day. That’s why we eat breakfast… to replenish the nutrients our bodies used. At the end we will review all the nutrients.”
Calcium Crunch!
Equipment: one milk carton for each student in the school, a trash can of water, an empty trash can
Short game description: Students will firstfill their milk carton with water then the second relay they will stomp the water out of the milk carton and shoot the crushed milk carton in the trash can
Directions and what to say to each class: Divide the class into four teams and have them line up behind a cone then say, “Calcium rich foods build strong bones.” Have them repeat what you said. “Calcium is a key building block for strong, healthy bones. But most kids don't get the calcium they need per day. When your body doesn’t get the calcium it needs you run the risk of developing a bone disease called osteoporosis. Osteoporosis can cause your bones to get weak and break easily when they get older. Today you will be playing Calcium Crunch! I’m going to call each team up to get one milk carton. Team one, please walk and move safely.” After they are back in line call team two and so on until all students have an empty milk carton. “On the word “GO” the first person in each line will run down and fill their milk carton with water and go to the end of the line and hold their milk carton. We will continue until everyone’s carton is filled. Ready …Go…
Now we have a second part to our game. When I say “Go” the first person in line will run down and place his/her milk carton somewhere past the line and stomp on it saying “Calcium rich foods build strong bones!” After they have crushed the carton they will pick it up and shoot it in the trash can and tag the next persons hand to go! Classes should only perform this activity once as we have a limited number of milk cartons.
Slap on the Sunscreen
Equipment: Squirting Water Bottle, blindfolds, polyspots, water from the “community trash can” on the blacktop, a bucket to get extra water
Short game description: Students blindfolded will squirt the water from the water bottle at classmates
Directions and what to say to each class: Have everyone stand on one of the polyspots on the ground and say to the class, “Did you know that we all need some sun? It's our primary source of vitamin D, which helps us absorb calcium for stronger, healthier bones. But it doesn't take much time in the sun for most people to get the vitamin D they need. Staying in the sun without sunscreen can cause the sun rays called ultraviolet rays to damage our skin, our eyes, and we can even cause skin cancer. Protect your skin and body! Wear sun block, sunglasses to protect your eyes, and a baseball cap or some other fun hat to block your face from the sun. Today we will be playing a game called Slap on the Sunscreen. During this game your friends will try to help you protect your skin from the sun by squirting you with sun screen. The first person in line will need to come up to the polyspot in front of the line about four feet away. They will put on the blindfold and hold the bottle of “sunscreen”. I will ask them to turn around a couple of times and then they will try to squirt the “sunscreen” (water) on you. After a couple of minutes we will change places by moving up to the next spot and the person who just went will go to the end of the line.”
(If you need extra water there will be some in a trash can located in your area. )
Hydration Station
Equipment: plungers, pit balls, box or a crate
Short game description: Students run down with a plunger and pick up a ball from the bucket and put in in the plunger and carry it and drop it in the box. IMPORTANT: Students must hold the plunger with one hand and grip it on the blue tape at the end. They cannot use two hands and the ball must be in the plunger when they leave the bucket. If they drop the ball and it doesn’t go into the box then they take it back to the bucket and run back and give the plunger to the next person.
Directions and what to say to each class: Divide the students into four lines and say, “This game is called, “Hydration Station”. Drinking water is an important part of staying healthy, especially when it's hot outside. When you're sweating, you lose water that your body needs to work properly. And if you're playing a sport or running around in the sun, you lose even more water, because you sweat that much more. When you're really thirsty, cold water is the best thirst-quencher. Drinking before you feel thirsty helps keep the water level in your body from dropping too low (dehydration). Now, when I say “GO” the first person in line will run down gripping the plunger with one hand on the blue tape and pick up a ball from the water supply (fourth and fifth grade must grip the plunger with his/her non-dominant hand). Next you will place the water(a ball) in the plunger and carry it to the cells in the body to rehydrate them. They will just keep circling around and fill their class box (cells) with balls. Time them for one minute and count the number of balls in the box. If time permits see if they can beat their score.
Busted Brain
Equipment: one water balloon for each child
Short game description: Helmet Safety-Water balloon activity tossing back and forth
Directions and what to say to each class: Pair students up with a partner and have them stand across from each other. Now say, “Safety equipment protects you from injuries when you play sports, exercise or when you’re at work. Do you wear a helmet when you ride your bike? A bike helmet is a type of safety equipment and a head injury can mean brain injury. That's why it's so important to wear your bike helmet, it’s the law for children to wear one in Maryland. Today we are going to play Busted Brain.” I am going to give you a balloon, you only get one, so be careful not to squeeze it or drop it. When I say go you are to toss the balloon ONCE to your partner……Go!” Next students should take a giant step back and perform the toss again until all are finished.
Each class can only perform this activity once.
Tenacious Tick
Equipment:four pinnies, lots of clothespins, four buckets for the clothespins, four cones
Short game description:Students run down and place the clothespin on the person wearing the pinnie to see how many they can collect as a team.
Directions and what to say to each class:Line the students up behind the cone and say, “Have you ever been bitten by a tick? A tick attaches itself to the skin and sucks blood. There are hundreds of kinds of ticks on the planet, and they can be found almost everywhere. The two types of ticks that many people talk about are the deer and dog ticks.If you think you've been bitten by a tick, tell an adult immediately and don’t take it off. Some ticks carry diseases, such as Lyme disease or Rocky Mountain spotted fever. They can pass these diseases to people. It’s important for adults to see the tick. Today we are going to play Tenacious Tick. In this game you will find a bucket of ticks (clothespins) beside your team. On the word “Go” the first person will run down and place a “tick” on the person wearing the pinnie, then run back and tag the next person’s hand. You will keep going until all the ticks have been collected”,(or a time you deem appropriate to stop). “Now I’m going to pick four special people to wear the pinnies and we’ll get started. Remember to place the ticks on the pinnie, not on the person’s clothes or body.”
Sweaty Safari
Equipment: two big sponges, water from the community water trash can, two buckets
Short game description:students pass the sponge over his/her head to the person in line behind them, the older children pass alternating under the legs then next person over the head
Directions and what to say to each class:Divide the class into two teams and place them in a line. Now say, “Bacteria on your body causes body odor…not sweat. Sweating is your body’s way of cooling down. Sweating is important, just as important as taking a bath. Today we will be playing a game called Sweaty Safari. In this game you will be taking a bath to clean the bacteria off as you sweat! On the word, “Go” the first person in line will pick up the spongeout of the bucketwith two hands and lift it over their head and hand it to the next person in line. That person will do the same thing until the sponge gets to the end of the line. The last person who gets the sponge will run up and get in front of the line, dip the sponge again, and start the whole game again until everyone has had a turn to be first in line.
It’s No Joke….Don’t Smoke
Equipment: three cones, pool noodles
Short game description: Pool noodle activity where students will carry as many pool noodles as they can
Directions and what to say to each class:Line the students up behind a cone and say, “Smoking is one of the worst things kids or adults can do to their bodies.The nicotine and other poisonous chemicals in tobacco cause lots of diseases, like heart problems and some kinds of cancer. If you smoke, you hurt your body each time you light up. The longer you smoke, the worse the damage becomes.If you smoke you will have:
bad breath, yellow teeth, smelly clothes, more colds and coughs, difficulty keeping up with friends when playing sports and an empty wallet — cigarettes are very expensive!Today you will be playing a game where you will pick up the cigarettes and carry them, as many as you can. Each cigarette you carry away has saved a person from smoking. The first person in line will run down and pick up one cigarette. They will run back with it and hand it to the next person in line. The second person will run down with the cigarette and pick up another and bring both back to his/her team. You will keep going until your team drops one. If your team drops one then you start over again with one!“
Be alert! Accidents hurt!
Equipment: different kinds of safety equipment
Short game description: relay race with safety gear
Directions and what to say to each class: Divide the class into four teams and say, “Safety equipment protects your body from injuries. Do you wear a helmet when you ride a bike? A bike helmet is a type of safety equipment. Special clothing keeps skin from being scraped, cut, or bruised. Knee pads,safety glasses, elbow pads, chest protectors and wrist guards are all great examples of equipment used to protectour body from injury. . Today you will perform a safety relay race. On the word “GO” you will run down and pick up safety equipment and put it on (kindergarten can pick one or two…all other grades will pick three pieces of equipment) then you will run back to your team who can help you take it off…the next person in line will put on the safety equipment you picked up and run down and take it off and select three other pieces of equipment to put on from the pile and run back to the team and give it to the next person in line. This is not a race it’s just for fun.
Get Active!
Equipment: sprinklers, tires, and several other “obstacles”, adults with water to spray the students as they run