Activity: Seed & Spoon Race

We can all remember doing an egg and spoon race as a child where we frantically ran back and forth trying  not to let our delicate egg topple to the floor. 

In a garden twist to this classic game, the egg is replaced with seeds. 

Materials

• Spoons
• Bowls
• Seeds [Note: Choose larger seeds, such as sunflower, pumpkin, or bean seeds, so that they are easier to clean up]

Activity

• Divide the class into teams.
• Give each team a spoon and one bowl filled with seeds.
• Have the teams line up on one side of the room.
• Place an empty bowl across the room from each team.
• Instruct one player from each team to scoop a spoonful of seeds and carefully run/walk across the room to dump them into his/her team's empty bowl.  If the student drops any seeds, he/she has to start over.
• After the team member puts the seeds in the bowl, he/she returns to the team and hands the spoon to the next player.
• The first team to complete the relay race with the most seeds in their bowl wins.

Alternative

• Instead of seeing who can dump the most seeds into his/her team's bowl, have students take a spoonful of seeds and, in a more traditional egg/spoon race fashion, transfer the seeds between teammates.  Each player must run/walk to one side of the room and back and then transfer the seeds to the next player.  The team that completes the relay race the fastest with the most seeds wins.

Activity: Veggie Twister!

This fun activity teaches kids about their fruits and vegetables and is a great form of physical activity.  In a "twist" to the classic game, students have fun and learn to identify their fruits/veggies.

Materials

• Colored pictures of red, yellow, orange and green fruits and veggies
• Examples:
• Red: apples, strawberries, tomatoes, cherries, tomatoes
• Yellow: bananas, corn, lemons, pineapple
• Orange: pumpkin, orange, carrots, cantaloupe
• Green: lettuce, celery, asparagus, broccoli, cucumbers
• Clear shower curtain
• Tape
• Poster board
• Markers
• Scissors
• Brad

Preparation

1. Print out images of fruits and vegetables so that there are four images of each color
2. Tape the images to the clear shower curtain in a grid pattern.  [See below]

3. Create the spinner using poster board [See below]
• Cut a 12 x 12 inch square out of poster board
• With the marker, divide the poster board into four sections labeled: Right Hand, Left Hand, Right Leg, Left Leg
• In each quadrant, draw four circles representing the four colors of the fruits and veggies
• Cut an arrow out of poster board and attach using the brad

Activity

1. Lay the shower curtain on the floor with the images facing up
2. Each time, spin the spinner to identify which body part goes on which color (Example: "Right hand yellow")
3. Have each student shout out the name of the fruit/veggie they place their hand/foot on (Example: "Corn!")
4. If a student falls onto the mat or their knee or elbow touches the mat, they are eliminated
5. Continue until only one student remains

Alternative

• Other types of images can be used on the mat.  For example: Use images of various parts of the plant or items from the food pyramid.