Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Popcorn Party!

Popcorn Party!


 Introduction: The Book

 I checked out a great book at the library about popcorn. It is wonderful. The book contains a lot of facts about popcorn that could be a great introduction into many units of study including the first Thanksgiving, Native American Culture, American History and many others. The kids really enjoyed the book. It had some humor that they could understand as well. The book is quite long for young children though. I would recommend this book for children in 2nd through 5th grades.


Popcorn Popping Game


Try this game! If you have a classroom or large group of students sit in a large circle and sing the song together. Then have a few children in the middle of the circle at a time and have them POP!

This is a fun warm up activity for all ages! I think it is especially good for children in pre-k through 1st grade. The children really enjoyed it, and I think it would be even more fun with a bigger group. It would also be a great introduction for an ELA study unit. You could mix up the order of the song and see if the kids notice. Then have the kids help you remember which order the song goes (how do you make popcorn?). Then discuss how important it is to pop the popcorn following the directions. 
After this activity have the children write down their own instructions on how to do something.

Popping Popcorn!

We learned lots of facts about popcorn. Did you know that there is a certain kind of corn that is popcorn? If you didn't you really should check out the book.

We tried a new recipe! We madeDisneyland caramel chocolate popcorn found on the sixsistersstuff website. It turned out great, but it is very rich. Didn't the kids do  a great job? It looks delicious:) After reviewing the correct way to pop popcorn it was fun to have the children actually do it.

Popping popcorn, don't worry about the little guy, I'm standing right next to him.

Popcorn Olympics!


I found this cute idea on pinterest as well. It is actually a FHE lesson. It is from one of my favorite websites livecrafteat.com. It includes activities to do with popcorn called popcorn olympics. I tested the children's large and fine motor skills by playing some games with popcorn. These games were fun for all ages. The games included:
Popcorn Cup Drop 
(stand on a chair and drop the popcorn into a cup on the ground.)
Popcorn Relay 
(walk or run down to a marked spot and around something and back with a cup of popcorn on your head)
Popcorn Distance Throw 
(see how far you can throw a piece of popcorn) 
Popcorn Straw Blow
(put a piece of popcorn on the table and blow it with a straw to the other side of the table.)
Popcorn Mouth Toss
(throw pieces of popcorn into your mouth, how many can you catch in 1 minute.)
Don't Eat Pete 

My five year old doing the cup drop.

My ten year old doing the relay with a cup of popcorn on his head. This one was more challenging for my five year old, but she did well:)
These games were a great way to exercise motor skills and the children enjoyed them. I would recommend doing them outside. You could also adapt the activities to a certain age group.
For example: you could have preschoolers or kindergarteners use tweezers to put the popcorn in a theater bucket. For children in 1st through 2nd talk about why you cannot throw a piece of popcorn very far.

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