Resources for Educators

Activities and Resources

• The Empty Bowls Project
  • Ep. 187 – “The Empty Bowls Project”
  • BHS Empty Bowls Project 2014
• The Souper Bowls Project
  • Souper Bowl of Caring PSA
• The Canstruction Project
• Fundraiser Ideas

• Activities Packet– developed by Gallatin Valley Food Bank, this is a large comprehensive packet containing numerous other activities and helpful materials for a large span of age groups.

Helpful Videos

• The Growing Face of Modern Hunger in America
• Child Hunger is an Everyday Struggle
• The New Face of Child Hunger
• Feeding American Map The Meal Gap Tool
• Real Stories of Hunger in America
• World Hunger PSA
• Worlds Largest Lesson/Project Everyone and Unicef – Lesson Plans for all Grade Levels
• National Geographic – The New Face of Hunger
• IFP-25 Years of Fighting Hunger

Suggested Reading

• Stone Soup
  • Stone Soup Recipe
  • Stone Soup Lesson Plan
  • Stone Soup Handouts
• Gettin’ Through Thursday
• Tight Times
• Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen
  • Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen Activity
• The Edible Pyramid! Good Eating Every Day
• Rosie and the Poor Rabbits

Activities

• What Does it Feel Like to be Hungry? – This activity demonstrates that food is not distributed equally. Students will discuss their feelings about inequality, the myths surrounding hunger and the gap between the rich and poor.
• Rice Bowl Lesson – I Need Money to Buy Things – Students will identify various amounts of coins used to purchase goods in the U.S. such as: half a dollar, quarter, dime, nickel, and penny. The students will use these coins to purchase items that they need and want.
• The Perfect Plate – This session uses a coloring activity to lead a discussion with younger students about hunger and food insecurity.
• Connect the Dots – Apple – Have the students connect the dots to form the image of an apple. While they are doing so, explain the nutritious value of eating apples, and other healthy foods. Try to engage the students, and have them give you different types of healthy foods, and what they think nutrition is

Crack The Code Activity – A short, fun secret code word activity that can be used leading or following a discussion of nutrition, hunger and food insecurity.

Suggested Reading

• The Tough Winter Book Cover
• Who Eats What Food Chains and Food Webs
• Dust for Dinner

Activities

• Helping Hands – This activity allows students to reflect on what they learned about hunger.
• What Does it Feel Like to be Hungry – This activity demonstrates that food is not distributed equally. Students will discuss their feelings about inequality, the myths surrounding hunger and the gap between the rich and poor.
• Hunger Quiz with Answers
• Rice Bowl Lesson- Why are People Hungry – Students will use their hands, mind, and heart to explore the plight of world hunger.
• Hunger Tree – A lesson exploring the root causes of hunger. This activity uses the image of a tree to help students understand the problem of “hunger” that may seem overwhelming and impossible to change at first. This Hunger Tree activity helps young people think though the problem and why it occurs. They also think together about actions that can be taken to help reduce the problem of hunger.
• Talk about the purpose of a Food Pantry

Word Search 1 and/or Word Search 2 – Have the students do the word search while you explain the terms used within and their purpose.

Suggested Reading

• Nickel & Dimed
• Rice Without Rain
• Working Against Hunger Together
• Sounder
• Migrants, Sharecroppers, Mountaineers
• Living Hungry in America 
• Grapes of Wrath 
• Amazing Grace
• Rachel and Her Children

Activities

• Life’s Journey Game – This activity will demonstrate the effect of different circumstances on whether a person has enough money to make ends meet or not. The ‘chips’ in the game represent wealth, which is divided randomly between the participants and won or lost based on chance.
• Rice Bowl Lesson- Multiplying Savings – Students will learn how saving small amounts of money over extended periods of time can add up to a substantial quantity of money.
• Rice Bowl Lesson- Dividing the Booty – Building on the lesson “Multiplying Savings”, students will learn how the total savings can be divided up to feed a large number of hungry children.
• Rice Bowl Lesson- Percents and Proportions – Students will determine the proportion of children in our classroom that would have HIV/AIDS, be illiterate, and live below the poverty level were they to live in the US, Haiti, India, or South Africa.
• Hunger Quiz with Answers
• Hunger Obstacle Course – A lesson in overcoming the challenges of extreme hunger and poverty. Hunger affects populations both globally and domestically. Students should be aware of the obstacles to food security and good levels of nutrition that many people face every day. Encouraging students to find solutions to these problems heightens their awareness of the issues, and enables them to realize that members of a community can help each other in concrete ways. This activity engages participants in creative problem solving though a time-limited process of generating solutions to different hunger-related problems. Small groups of students circulate around the room and write down solutions to each of the hunger obstacles.

What Can We Do About Malnutrition? – A mock United Nations conference. Students will create a mock United Nations conference where they will address the issue of child malnutrition and how they plan on ending malnutrition.

Suggested Reading

• Nickel & Dimed
• Rice Without Rain
• Working Against Hunger Together
• Sounder
• Migrants, Sharecroppers, Mountaineers
• Living Hungry in America 
• Grapes of Wrath 
• Amazing Grace
• Rachel and Her Children

Activities

• Life’s Journey Game – This activity will demonstrate the effect of different circumstances on whether a person has enough money to make ends meet or not. The ‘chips’ in the game represent wealth, which is divided randomly between the participants and won or lost based on chance.
• Hunger Quiz and Answers
• Hunger Obstacle Course – A lesson in overcoming the challenges of extreme hunger and poverty. Hunger affects populations both globally and domestically. Students should be aware of the obstacles to food security and good levels of nutrition that many people face every day. Encouraging students to find solutions to these problems heightens their awareness of the issues, and enables them to realize that members of a community can help each other in concrete ways. This activity engages participants in creative problem solving though a time-limited process of generating solutions to different hunger-related problems. Small groups of students circulate around the room and write down solutions to each of the hunger obstacles.

Write letters to their congressman/congresswoman with Fast Facts. Explain how everyone has a voice and should use that voice to express their opinions, feelings, etc.