Supporting Facts4Life

2. Facts4Life Ups and Downs Tower Game

Use a Jenga style tower toy and a coin to decide move choices. Life is full of ups and downs, we can have times of things going well with our mental and physical health and we can have set backs when things aren’t so great. This game is a playful way of illustrating this. Flipping ‘heads’ results in removing a block from the top of the tower to place in a supportive position. Flipping ‘tails’ results in removing a block from the bottom of the tower to position on the top.

Consider what factors could be represented by the supportive ‘heads’ moves compared to the potentially wobbly ‘tails’ moves.

3. Twister

Played in much the same way as traditional Twister, this Facts4Life version incorporates some helping hands options to aid the body in restoring balance. Rather than using the original spinner to select a move, use the new spinner (using the template below and an old pencil) to determine the colour. Each colour represents one of the downs that our health may experience.

Blue – Feeling Sad
Red – Broken Leg
Yellow – Hayfever
Green – Tummy Bug

Next, roll the dice to determine what you do with hands and feet. Eventually, balance will be compromised, as per the usual game. However, with this version, balance can be restored.

If a 5 or 6 is rolled, the player must think of something to help the body when it is experiencing the down time, e.g. blue on the spinner (feeling sad), 5 on the dice (helping hand) = If I was sad, talking to someone would help me.

A helpful suggestion means that the player can choose their next move to help them feel more balanced such as moving a hand or foot to a more stable position or off the mat completely.

Challenge the children to think of non-medical helping hands. It’s good to remember that most of the time, most people get better from most illnesses on their own without needing any medical help.

Spinner template download

4. Healthy Me Game Design

Using one of the blank templates, have a go at designing your own Facts4Life game. Include lots of ‘Ups and Downs’ because that’s what life is like. You could include some question cards with interesting facts about health and how the body works, or maybe some physical challenges to get players active.

5. Home Help for Felix

Felix isn’t feeling too good today. Choose one of the downs from the list below that might be affecting Felix. Felix knows he will get better with time and that he doesn’t need to see a doctor but right now he needs a bit of help to feel more balanced. What ideas can you think of to help Felix feel better?

Feeling sad
Tummy bug
A cold virus
Heat rash
Feeling angry

Create a ‘Home Help for Felix’ poster with words and pictures to show what’s wrong and what will help. You could use the poster to remind you of what to do when you’re having a down time.