We always enjoy sharing these unique, creative and festive ideas for a healthy classroom each holiday season. We appreciate the variety of holidays being celebrated during this season so feel free to modify any of these ideas to fit your specific celebration!
An OrganWise Tree Contest – Have a contest for all of the classrooms in one grade level. Make a chart for each classroom and if every student drinks low-fat or skim milk for lunch, they get to put a sticker (you could even use a Calci M. Bone one!) on the chart. The class with the most stickers wins an OWG tree for its classroom. For the winner, Ollena loaned the classroom a small tree with the plush organs from the small OrganWise Gal doll used for ornaments.
Santa Claus Letters – Have Santa Claus send each class a letter (once permission from the principal is granted of course). In the letter talk about how hard it is for Santa to make it through the entire night with all of the sweets the kids leave him to snack on. Santa can ask for veggies and fruit to be left for him instead this year if they didn’t mind. Santa can also mention the exercise program that Mrs. Claus has them on and how much the reindeer and elves enjoy learning from the OWG (after all, Mrs. Claus uses OWG in her classrooms at the North Pole.) The letter is so much fun and the kids will go crazy over it.
OrganWise Guy/Gal on the Desk – By now we are sure you have heard of the wildly popular Elf on the Shelf. Try out this healthy version that can be used in the classroom. Every night OrganWise Guy/Gal emails Santa and lets him know if the kids in that classroom ate healthy snacks, lunches, were helpful and nice students, etc. (Note: Send an email response to Guy/Gal from a separate email account from “Santa.”) The teacher prints out the email each morning and reads it to the students. The email always has a healthy message and a holiday tip to share. The teachers tend to really get into this and move Guy/Gal around the classroom at different times of the day when the kids are out of the room. You can even get the principal and other excited staff to join in the fun!
OrganWise Wreath – Make your classroom door the prettiest (and healthiest) of them all by creating a fun OrganWise wreath. What a great idea for a constant reminder to kids to make healthy choices as enter the classroom multiple times throughout the day.
A huge shout out to Ollena Jackson, a former innovative extension agent in Tazewell, Virginia for her contributions and to University of Illinois Extension/Illinois Nutrition Education Progams, Unit #26 for the fantastic wreath idea! We are so impressed with the creativity.
