Tuesday, August 23, 2016

First Day Activity: Saran Wrap Balls

The first day has came and went, and overall it was a successful day! I think they kids this year are going to be great (with a few exceptions, but that's always the case and I think we will learn a lot.

This year for my ice breakers, I wanted to do something engaging and fast-paced that all students would enjoy. I came across saran wrap balls on Pinterest one time and thought about how much fun that would be to incorporate into my class. Thus, my plan was set!

Unfortunately I did not take pics of the process of making the saran wrap balls, but it really is pretty simple. Here's what you need:

 A bunch of candy (I used probably about 50 or so pieces per class)
Saran Wrap (I got 2 rolls that worked for 5 classes)
Packing tape
Anything else you want to give as prizes (I just used candy since I teach high school)

Pick some candy and start wrapping. I would wrap about 5 or so pieces per strip, cut it, tape it with packing tape (adds a challenging factor), and then start again. I would say that the end result was a ball about the size of a child's size basketball (those smaller ones used for Little Tyke basketball goals).

Here's how you play:
  1. Give a student the ball and the student right next to them 2 dice.
  2. When you say go, the student with the ball can start unwrapping. Whatever falls out is his/hers.
  3. While the one is unwrapping the ball, the student next to him/her is rolling the 2 dice.
  4. When doubles is rolled, the student who rolled gets to take the ball and start unwrapping it.
  5. The next student starts rolling dice until they get doubles.
  6. Continue around the circle until the ball is gone.
I only had 2 rules. They could not cut/rip through the saran wrap unless it was to get passed tape. They also had to leave their candy alone until the end.

It's that easy! Kids LOVED this. Some even said that we could do this without candy and they would still love it (doubt that, but maybe).

Here are a few pictures from one of my classes. It worked really well with my new tables this year :).








If you try this, let me know how it works out for you in the comments! Happy teaching!