Cholesterol Ball

Kids love that Big Ball!

Objective: To teach students what cholesterol is and how it affects the body. This helps students understand how eating habits affect health for life.

Equipment: A large cage ball. I prefer the Omnikin ball because it so lightweight for its size. Twenty-four colored markers.

Lesson Focus: To teach student about HDL, the good cholesterol and LDL the bad cholesterol. Understanding cholesterol and where it comes from can reinforce the life skill of healthy eating. To keep this simple, I teach that LDL comes from animal products and HDL is increased by exercise.

Preparation to the game: At some time students will be taught what cholesterol is. I usually start my class asking the students what they know about cholesterol. It can be surprising that students will know more than you think. I try to keep things very simple and basic here as too much discussion can lead to complex language that is developmentally inappropriate. Just stick to the fact that bad cholesterol LDL (L for Lousy cholesterol) is bad for you and can clog blood vessels and impede blood flow. LDL is not bad in and of itself. In fact the body makes its own supply of LDL. But when we eat foods that are high in LDL (animal products) we cause excess buildup in the blood vessels that can block blood flow and can result in heart attacks and stroke. HDL (H for healthy cholesterol) is the good stuff and acts as an equalizer that works to rid of LDL in the body.

The only way to increase HDL in the body is by exercise.

After this information is shared then you can set up the game.

Formation: Place colored markers (polyspots) alternating colors in a square formation. Have the students sit down on one of the colored markers. Each side should have about 6 students per side, 3 blue 3 red, for a class of 24. The blue group will crab walk to the middle of the square where the big ball is and act as the HDL, good cholesterol. The ball represents LDL, bad cholesterol. The HDL, while assuming the crabwalk position will try to kick the LDL out of the square (Body). The other students on the square will stand and try to keep the ball inside. The students standing represent the walls of the blood vessels holding the LDL in.

Continue for a minute or two or until the ball is kicked out of the square. If the ball is kicked out of the square than the HDL did their job to keep the body healthy. Keep exercising to insure a lot of HDL in your body.

I try to tell the students the more HDL you have (by exercising everyday) the better chance you have of ridding of any bad LDL in your body. If the students are having a hard time kicking the ball out of the square you can demonstrate this by putting more students in the crab walk position representing more HDL in the body. When the students finally kick the ball out of the square you can make the analogy to a person who exercises regularly. This person has more HDL in their body to combat excess LDL.

I explain to the students how they can control the amount of LDL in their body by eating foods from animals in moderation.

After a few minutes, have the students change position.