I’ve been attending basketball games regularly for the first time this academic year. My older daughter is playing basketball – and really loving it! In fact, I just got back from a game tonight. (My daughter wasn’t playing – but we knew many of the girls who were.) It was one of those games where the teams are dramatically unmatched, and the team we were there to see won, 36-11. It made me hurt a little for the team who lost. Making any two sides that are competing relatively equal is what makes the experience fun and engaging for everyone. My older daughter also complains bitterly when teachers play trivia games and split the class unevenly. It’s just not fun.
So, because games are on my mind right now, I’m going back to Game On! this week and reviewing more games. While many of the games in this manual are card or trivia games, this one is a high motion, physical game.
Hot Potato: The Body Image Challenge
Objectives:
By the end of the session, participants will be able to
- State one fact about body image.
- List one personal quality or ability that could positively impact one’s body image.
Rationale:
According to the U.S. Office on Women’s Health, “developing a positive body image is crucial to a person’s happiness and wellness.” However, external pressures such as friends, family and the media can negatively impact one’s body image. Understanding the facts and developing new ways to think about one’s body and self-worth can help address a negative body image. In Hot Potato, participants will review some key facts about body image and list one positive thing about themselves in order to develop new ways of thinking about their body.
Now, I’m not sure how many of you have actually played the game Hot Potato, or of that subset how many of played with an actual potato. Or whether the potato in question was, in fact, hot or raw, cold or cooked. But as a veteran of an actual game of Hot Potato with one raw, room temperature potato, I can say that it was a terrible idea. Potatoes are HARD. Or, if they’re cooked, they’re mush. The shrieks of hilarity at playing the game with an actual potato quickly turned to shrieks of pain as the potato started to hit children’s bodies. And then the absurdity of the situation came home, even to a group of nine year olds, and it was hilarious again. No one wanted to catch the potato, so bits of it were all over the floor.
In any event, I wanted to warn you all that this game DOES NOT REQUIRE AN ACTUAL POTATO. And so it’s safe. Not to mention educational and engaging! A great approach to trivia, actually.
