Family Fun Night: Healthyland

The first Family Fun Night was quite a success at the PODER Learning Center! Instead of Candyland, the families played a healthy verison of Healthyland which changed all the pieces, settings, and cards into a fun way to educate about nutrition. Here are steps to create your own family fun night for a birthday party or a fun night just with family!  

STEP 1: Planning

Allen Woods Homes Service Coordinator, Maria, and Intern, Italia, wanted Family Fun Nights to be both educational and entertaining, therefore Healthyland was created. They had to decide how to appeal to families, what materials they would need, how many volunteers it would take to run it smoothly, and how they could keep everything under budget. Providing dinner for the families was a great incentive to have them stay and play the game. They scoped out local businesses for sponsorship. Cuevas Produce donated fruits for a fruit basket as the grand prize and the rest of the families got goodie bags filled with toys, household products, and information about nutrition for both parents and kids!

STEP 2: Creating

Creating a life-size game board is not an easy task! Mostly it took a lot of paper, a lot of tape, and a lot of patience! Game pieces were made to represent the 5 food groups (fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, and protein) as well as the different "kingdoms" in Healthyland (Broccoli Forest, Yogurt Seas, Wheat Fields, Protein House, and Apple Orchards). We used construction paper for the game board and packaging paper to create the "kingdoms." Lastly, we used streamers for the finish line! All of the materials are found at the dollar store!

 

STEP 3: Playing

Families were their own teams and learned to work together to move ahead in the game. The cards either had a question or actions for the whole family to answer or act out (ex.Name 3 kinds of grains or karate chop fruits for 10 seconds). The cards also had one or two squares of the same color or a picture of a place they could move their pieces to on the board game. Rules were also created to make it fair and fun for everyone. Amongst a long week of homework and work, families enjoyed a break to be together and have fun (education was a bonus)!

"Having a place to go is a home.  Having someone to love is a family.  Having both is a blessing."--Donna Hedges