The Cookie Factory Goes Chop, Bump, Whoosh
Lined up, children form a chain of machines that knead, squash, cut, bake and pack a paper-plate cookie passed from hand to hand. It builds coordination, turn-taking and a shared rhythm.
How to play
- Talk about how cookies are made and pick the machines: mix, squash, cut, bake and box (2 min).
- In lines of five, each child is a machine with a gesture and a sound: "chop", "bump", "snip-snip", "whoosh" and "zip"; try them all together (2 min).
- The cookie (a paper plate) travels down the line: each machine does its gesture on it and passes it along (4 min).
- The teacher speeds up or slows down the conveyor belt: slow cookies, fast cookies, and a jam! (3 min).
- Switch spots to be a different machine in the factory (2 min).
- The factory closes and we taste a pretend cookie: "yum!" (1 min).
Rules
- I wait for the cookie to reach me.
- I do my gesture and pass it carefully.
- Each machine makes its sound.
Variations
Easier
For 3-year-olds, three machines per line (mix, squash, box) with the teacher passing the cookie alongside them.
Standard
For 4-year-olds, five machines and speed changes.
Harder
For 5-year-olds, two cookies on the belt at once, one after the other, without crashing.
Adaptations
- Limited mobility: the child is the oven from their wheelchair and receives and passes the cookie at hand height.
- Visual impairment: the friend touches the child's hand with the cookie before handing it over.
- Autism: the child always gets the same machine and a picture card showing its gesture.
Learning goals
- Coordinate a gesture with classmates'.
- Wait for a turn in a chain.
- Act out the steps of a process with the body.
Equipment for a class of 25
- paper plates: 6
Teacher tip
Set up the lines ahead of time, with kids already in their spots and lines spaced apart. The usual mistake is the first child sending cookies nonstop: a new one only goes out once the last one reaches the box.
PatioLab has "The Cookie Factory Goes Chop, Bump, Whoosh" and 8714 more activities ready to drag into your lesson and run from your phone in the gym.
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