Chain Food Tag

Introduction

Q: Did you know Vitamin D can help boost your mood, energy, and sleep?
A: You can get Vitamin D from the sun or foods like spinach, salmon, eggs, and cheese! 

Q: What stoplight color is spinach? Salmon? An egg? Cheese?
A: Green! Eat more!

Let's talk about the connection between mood and food:

• All day long you make choices about when and what to eat or drink. 
• Advertisements try to influence you to eat or drink what they are selling. They want you to want their products.
• Many of the foods and drinks that advertisements tell you to buy are red-light foods. They are high in sugar and low in other nutrients.
• Think about your food choices, remember green-light foods are best for your body and brain.

Imagine you just got home from school and want to grab a snack. You checked your mood and really are hungry. This activity will help you practice making green-light food choices in situations like this—instead of  choosing something that was advertised on TV. 

Activity Instructions

1. Select 3 kids to be taggers. Provide taggers with a mesh jersey or alternative identifier.
2. Give all remaining kids a Food Activity Card.
3. The object of this activity is for the taggers to build a chain of green-light food choices. If the player tagged has a green-light food card, they stand behind the tagger and hold onto their waist. The next (green-light food card) player tagged holds the waist of the first player tagged, forming a human chain. No more than 4 kids can make a chain at a time (1 tagger and 3 green-light foods).
4. If a player holding a yellow-light or red-light card is tagged, they freeze in place.
5. Shout, "Go!" to begin game. When one of the taggers has formed a chain of 3 green-light foods, shout, "Stop!" and the kids call out the green-light food on their cards.
6. The 3 kids that were part of the chain now become taggers.
7. Collect, shuffle, and redistribute cards, then continue play until another chain of 3 green-light food cards is formed.
8. Repeat gameplay for the allotted time.

Reflections

Q: Finish this sentence about advertisements:  I used to think _______, but now I know ________.

A: Kids respond with one of the following:

• Advertisements try to influence you to eat or drink what they are selling. They want you to want their products.
• Many of the foods and drinks that advertisements tell you to buy are red-light foods. They are high in sugar and low in other nutrients.
• Think your food before you choose, and choose green-light foods.  

Challenge

Make a menu of green-light snack food choices at home. Put the menu on the fridge to make it easy for you and your family to make nutritious snack food choices.