Planting Potatoes: Dig, Drop, Cover, Water

With a made-up chant, children learn the four steps of planting a potato (dig, drop, cover, water) and repeat them in their own hoop and in friends' hoops as they travel around. They practice remembering a movement sequence and moving between tasks.

How to play

1. Each child takes a hoop, their own little garden patch, and sets it on the ground with space around it (1 min).
2. The teacher teaches the moves with the chant: "Dig, dig, dig a hole" (hands scratching), "Drop the potato in" (ball in the middle), "Tuck it under its blanket" (scarf on top), "Water it, splish, splash" (fingers sprinkling) (2 min).
3. Do the sequence all together, slowly, three times in a row (2 min).
4. Traveling planters: on the signal, leave your potato planted, hop or crawl to another hoop, harvest it (take off the scarf and pick up the ball), and plant it again with the chant (4 min).
5. The teacher calls the steps out of order ("Water!" "Dig!") and we do them in our hoop (2 min).
6. Final harvest: bring the potatoes and scarves to the basket (1 min).

Rules

• Dig first, then plant: potatoes go in order.
• One gardener per hoop.
• Travel without stepping in other people's gardens.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: place the hoop on a low table or the child's lap and do the sequence with the hands; travel with help.
• Autism: tape picture cards of the four steps in order next to their hoop.
• Hearing impairment: give each step one clear, consistent gesture, and the teacher shows it before saying it.

Learning goals

• Remember and repeat a four-step movement sequence.
• Travel in different ways between work stations.
• Learn the basic steps of planting a garden.

Equipment for a class of 25

• Hula hoops: 25
• Tennis balls: 25
• Scarves: 25

Teacher tip

If you have a garden, follow up with the real thing using seed potatoes in a bed. The chant is original: say it with the same rhythm every time so it becomes the game's signal.

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