Fast Food Foolery
By Tim Mueller (Muellertim8@gmail.com)
Introduce proper nutrition concepts and get students moving while improving spatial awareness.
Grade Levels: K-12
National Physical Standards Met: Standards 1,2,3,4,5
This game is also a great brain break/booster for health class, or for classroom teachers.
Equipment:
- Fast Food Foolery Game Pack (burger, fries, and drink). Use two or more packs for large groups of students.
Object of the game:
The object of the game is to keep moving constantly (walking) while trying to avoid being tagged by any of the fast food items. If tagged, the student must pick up the fast food that touched his/her back, put it back together (items will come apart when dropped), and then try to tag another student as quickly as possible (walking is required at all times).
Procedure:
Assign boundaries for the game (e.g. basketball court, coned area, classroom area around desks). All students begin walking within the playing area with both hands behind their backs, with elbows out pretending to be holding something hidden. Practice continually moving while staying away from each other before adding the fast food.
Hand out all of the fast food pieces (3 per game pack – burger, fries, and drink). Students with the fast food pieces must try to gently touch another student on the back and then drop the item to the ground. If a student is tagged, he/she must stop and pick up the item. The item must be put back together and then hidden behind the new student’s back. The new tagger must try to find another student to tag quickly. As a tagger passes another student, he/she can reach out with the fast food object to tag the student. This game is more about surprising someone (or fooling them) with a gentle tag, rather than chasing another student.
Rules:
- No running is allowed by anyone (only walking).
- No stopping, except to pick up a fast food item after being tagged.
- Stay inside the assigned boundaries and spread out away from other students.
- No throwing a fast food item (tag other students gently on the back and then drop the item).
- All students should walk with hands behind their back and elbows out, so no one knows who has a fast food item.
Variations:
- Students who get tagged by a fast food item could be required to perform a fitness task before trying to tag another player. (Possible fitness tasks: 15 jumping jacks, 8 push-ups, 5 star jumps, 10 crab walk push-ups)
- Play music for about one minute, when the music stops the students who have a fast food item could be required to perform a fitness task.
- If tagged, student must go to classroom marker board and write a healthy food alternative before going to tag someone else. Students could also be asked to write the food in the correct food group on “MyPlate.”
- Use different locomotor skills instead of walking (e.g. skipping, galloping, hopping).