Activity for Monday @ Crossan

Goal	Communication, Focus, Creativity, Surfacing Cultural Difference
Time	10-15 minutes
Physical Contact	Minimal
Physical Challenges	None
Number of Participants	8-25
Space requirements	Open Floor Space
Materials Needed	Name Tags to write out the Foods to Identify with
Preparation	Post a list of choice words to be used to describe the different foods (for instance: Grain, Dairy, Poultry, Processed, High Fructose Corn syrup, Soul Food, Tacos, Fried Rice, Cheesesteak, Beets, etc.)

You Are What You Eat

Theory

How many students in here think like food? Do you think like carrots or tomatoes or Cheetos? If you did, what would you say?

Instructions

1. Hand everyone a name tag with a food product.
2. Instruct them to put it on their foreheads before looking to see what it is.
3. Tell them the goal of the game is to figure out what food you are without anyone telling you directly the food. So, you can’t ask what food am I? You have to ask questions like: is this food sweet? Or Would I have it for breakfast?
4. Write up on the board the first three questions all students must ask first. Once they have asked these three questions, they can ask any others after. (For instance, Can you eat this food for breakfast? Is this food nutritious? What is this food made of? Etc.)
5. Group Mingles for 10 minutes talking to one another in attempt to communicate (through hints) to the other what kind of food they are, without using the word itself.
6. After 5 minutes take the list of hints back and have them ask their own questions.
7. After 10 minutes have everyone return to their seats and find out who knew their food and how they came to the conclusion.
8. Explain to the children that we are going to play a game with rewards. Students who answer three questions right get a prize.
9. Ask nutritious questions (yes or no answers) relevant to the foods in the group and instruct the kids who think yes to put their hands up and the students who think no to put their hands down.
10. Finish the stand up/sit down exercise with the question: “Who is ready to go home and eat a healthy breakfast tomorrow?”

Processing Suggestions

1. This activity can show us how well we know our foods, who figured out what food they were?
2. This exercise helps to illustrate the associations we make with food. How difficult was it to talk about the food without using the food itself? How did you describe them? Was it easier with the hints I provided? Or was it easier to ask your own questions?
3. There is a popular logic when describing food like using the food pyramid, what kind of language did you use? Do you talk about food the same way grown ups do? Why? Was there any food you were familiar enough with to describe? Was there any food you didn’t know and for that reason couldn’t describe?

Reflection

Was it easy to think like food? What foods are healthy? Which one of us was the most unhealthy food?

Feedback

Ask students what they would like to do the next time I come to class. Take notes.

With this activity I am hoping to incorporate fun, critical thinking, and physical movement in order to best teach the students skills for making good health decisions. Admittedly, they know better than I do the food environment they live in and how supportive it is of healthy lifestyles. Therefore, it is my responsibility to empower them to know what kind of decisions are the best for their health and how to implement an action to get healthy results (see letter writing campaign to Michelle Obama).