Hot Potato

I recently agreed to have my Builders Club lead students at my school in a fun lunchtime activity.  Ultimately, we decided to do a game of "Extreme Hot Potato," which we played yesterday out in the quad.  We stood in a giant circle and passed three potatoes around (which were actually giant yams with the words "OUCH" and "HOT" drawn on them with a Sharpie), and every time the music stopped, the three students caught with a potato had to run to the middle of the circle and sit on a balloon until it popped.  The first person to pop his or her balloon got to continue on with the game; the other two students were eliminated.  In theory, the game was simple.  But what a fiasco it turned out to be.  Somehow, during the excitement of the game, the "hot potatoes" wound up getting smashed into a dozen pieces.  So instead of three potatoes being passed around, it was more like ten potato chunks.  This meant that every time the music stopped, ten students (give or take) were running into the circle to pop a balloon with their booties.  It was like a mosh pit, with students pushing and shoving to get to the balloons.  Several times, in an attempt to lunge for balloons, students actually dove head-first into the trash can.

Luckily by eighth-grade lunch we had all of the kinks worked out, and the game ran without a hitch.  But geeez.  Next time I do a lunch activity, I think we'll play a nice quiet game of "Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar" (I was originally going to say "Duck Duck Goose," but I can see that one taking a violent turn).

We are indeed going skiing again this Friday night!  I'm excited to give it another shot, but more than that, I'm excited to try out the "Snowflake Hill" for the first time.

Tonight I'm hubby-less, so I'm going to crank up the music, hang out with the kids, and paint something pretty.