About the Game: Grades 1-8
The game is designed to be used with The Good Garden: How One Family Went from Hunger to Having Enough, and with free lesson plans, videos and other
resources available on www.thegoodgarden.org to teach children about food security and sustainable agriculture. The program also empowers kids to make a
difference through a food drive, school or community garden or other food related initiative.
The game introduces learning cards and new fun rules to transform the traditional Chutes and Ladders® game into an interactive exploration of sustainable
agriculture.
The goal of The Good Garden program is to reach classrooms with the message that kids can make a difference in the fight against hunger and empowers them to
take action. Children participating in the program will become more globally aware, learn to take personal initiative and work to help others in need.
Teaching Tips
The more knowledge children have about the core lesson's taught in the Good Garden the more fun they will have playing the game and
learning the real plight of those facing food insecurity.
Here is a list of teaching tips to review before playing the Good Garden Chutes and Ladder Game:
- Have players read the book, The Good Garden: How One Family Went from Hunger to Having Enough and explore www.thegoodgarden.org
- Review key lessons to determine what the students know and what you want them to learn. Key Questions to Ask:
- What is food insecurity?
- What struggles do those facing food insecurity have?
- What can people facing food insecurity do?
- What can you do to help ?ght hunger?
- Read some of the chutes/ladders cards and ask children about what is happening to the farmer
- Review glossary board game terms with children:
Glossary:
Organic fertilizer: to mix natural materials, like manure into soil to help plants grow and make the soil healthier.
Compost: a mixture of various decaying organic material, for example dead leaves or grasses, used for building nutritious soil.
Cash Crop: a crop for direct sale in a market, as distinguished from a crop eaten for family survival or fed to livestock.
Crop Insurance: is purchased by farmers, ranchers, and others to protect themselves against the loss of their crops due to natural
disasters, such as hail, drought, and ?oods.
Title to land: a legal right to own a piece of land. Usually this is in the form of a piece of paper called a deed. The deed proves that you
own the land.
Terrace: giant earthen steps built into a hillside and held in place by shrubs and grasses to keep soil from washing downhill when it rains.
Coyote: an unfair middleman who buys from farmers at a low price and sells to merchants at a big pro?t.
Marigold: a plant with yellow ?owers that smells bad to certain insects such as nematodes, white?y, and bean beetles and keeps them
away from crops.
Seed Corn: good quality seeds of corn that farmers save to plant the next season.
Option: Make the glossary section a lesson.
Have students read about the words then write a short story or scenario using the words.
