Additional Activities Not in the Guide

Can't find an activity that suits your group in the 2010 Kick Butts Day Activity Guide? Be creative! Go beyond the guide. The following activities didn't make it into this year's guide, but they're tried and tested.

Battle of the Bands

Use music to spread your anti-tobacco industry message to your community, and have a great time too!

Age Group: high school and above
Number of Participants: the more the better, with at least five organizers
Preparation Time: 3 months
Resources: paper, copier, and sound equipment
Cost: approximately $20-$40 for basic supplies and copies, and try to get sound equipment donated

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Breathe Easy Track Meet

Organize a track meet to show how cigarettes can affect people's ability to perform well as athletes.

Age Group: elementary or middle school. You can also ask a local high school or
college track team to help out at the event.
Number of Participants: 15 or more
Preparation Time: A half-day activity, one week to plan
Resources: straws, baton or paper towel roll to decorate, paint or markers, measuring
stick
Cost: under $20

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Buck Big Tobacco

Rodeos are for families, not Big Tobacco! Take it to the streets and protest the tobacco industry and brand sponsorship at rodeos. This activity is an example of "Take it to the Streets" from the KBD guide, and features an annual event organized by OK SWAT (Students Working Against Tobacco) protesting U.S. Smokeless Tobacco's (UST) sponsorship of the Bullnanza rodeo in Oklahoma.

Age Group: middle school, high school and above
Number Participants: 15 – 100 or more
Preparation Time: 4-6 weeks planning, 3-4 hours day of event
Resources: Signs, palm cards, gear, t-shirts, cars and a hearse if you have the resources
Cost: up to $200 for the event supplies (if you plan on renting a hearse) and gas money for each driver

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Caravan to the Capital

What better way than a rally at your state capitol or city hall. Gather as many youth advocates as you can and caravan to the capitol to let your representatives know you support strong tobacco control policies and they should too!

Age Group: middle school and high school
Number of Participants: 100 to 1,000 or more
Preparation Time: 3 to 4 months
Resources: paper and access to photocopier and printer; transportation (either private cars or rented buses); access to a microphone, loudspeakers, and a podium.
Cost: varies, but a minimum of $5-$10 per participant to cover transportation and audiovisual equipment rental. (Estimate does not include the cost of box lunches or giveaways
such as T-shirts, buttons, etc.)

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Dead for the Day

One American dies every 72 seconds from tobacco related causes. You can find the statistics for your particular state at www.tobaccofreekids.org. Use members of your group or student body to bring this number to life.

Age group: All Ages
Number of Participants: Depends on the number you decide to use.
Time: 2-3 Weeks
Resources: The same t-shirt or sign for every member, a bell or gong.
Cost: Varies

Day of the Event:

Suppose in your state 52 people die everyday due to tobacco related causes. Have 52 volunteers sign up to dress up for the day all in black and wear signs signifying they are dead.
Be sure to hang up posters explaining your overall message throughout your school or event.
Or you could take the angle that one American dies every 72 seconds due to tobacco related causes. In this case every 72 seconds ring a bell or a gong and have a volunteer stand up and signify that they are dead, either by putting on a black t-shirt, or coming sitting in a specific area. These people should stay “dead” for the rest of the day.
At the end of the school day hold an assembly to discuss tobacco issues and have the people who died throughout the day stand together to present a strong visual on the effects of tobacco.

Extra Warning

Did you ever notice packs of cigarettes and chewing tobacco have only a microscopic warning and no list of ingredients? Here's your chance to design your own creative and shocking messages that tell the truth about tobacco products.

Age Group: middle school, high school
Number of Participants: 3-6 recommended per store (depending on store size) and 1 adult
Preparation Time: 6-8 weeks recommended
Resources: stickers, markers or a printer
Cost: $30-$60

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Kick Butts Day Skits

Create entertainment while at the same time providing important information about tobacco with these KBD Skits.

Age group: All Ages
Number of participants: Enough to make at least a few small groups
Time: 2-3 Weeks
Resources: Paper, scissors and markers can be used to make quick small props otherwise use your imaginations.
Cost: No more than $15

Day of the Event:

Have participants split up into small groups.
Once in the small groups each group should use what they know about tobacco to create a skit. Consider handing out some of the fact-sheets that TFK provides at www.tobaccofreekids.org so the participants have accurate information.
Have groups take turns presenting their skits. Allow some time for questions and discussion after each skit.
Consider handing out prizes for the best, most creative, or funniest skits.

Legislative Breakfast

Everyone loves a free breakfast, so invite your legislators to join you and take the opportunity to tell them exactly what they can do to help you in your efforts.

Age Group: high school students and above
Number of Participants: 5 or more
Time to prepare: 2 months

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Poster Contest

Advertise the contest a few weeks prior to Kick Butts Day
On KBD all participants should bring in their poster submission. You could hang all the posters in a hallway, around the gym or around the cafeteria.
Have a panel of judges, of the student body vote for their favorite posters.
Ask local businesses to donate prizes.
Announce the winners and deliver the prizes at the end of the day.

Puppet Show

Be creative and produce a puppet show that is related to tobacco issues
You can make it funny, sad or scary
Present the show to your peers or younger students
You may want to make it into a competition and have many groups create different puppet shows, judges can then decide on a winner at the end of the day.

Return to Sender

Show magazines that publish tobacco ads that you’re not buying the lies, and they shouldn’t either!

Age Group: middle school, high school
Number of Participants: the more the better
Preparation Time: at least 3 weeks
Resources: magazines, rubber stamp and inkpad, or stickers and markers or a printer
Cost: $20 to $40

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Smoke Free-Dining

If you think workers and patrons shouldn't have to put up with secondhand smoke in restaurants, or any other workplace, this smoke-free sit-in is a creative way to send your message and keep your favorite restaurant smoke-free at the same time.

Age Group: High school and above, but can be adapted for other ages
Number of Participants: As many as it takes to fill up the smoking section
Preparation Time: 3 weeks
Resources: Paper, poster board or palm cards, markers or access to a printe
Cost: $20-$40 for materials. Participants will need to cover their own meals at the restaurant and will need to get to the restaurant on their own.

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Smoke-Free Movie Night

Show movies that don't have any smoking in them.
But, be sure to bring to your audiences attention all of the movies that are geared towards kids that do have smoking in them.
Prior to starting the feature presentation, perhaps show clips of the many children's movies that include smoking, examples include 101 Dalmations, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,and Iron Man.
Discuss how smoking in movies can influence kids in their decision to smoke.
Have a petition or letters available to participants to sign and send to Hollywood, demanding that smoking be banned from children's movies.

Smoke-Free Playgrounds

Have you ever wondered if your younger brother or sister, or other young relatives are being harmed by secondhand smoke and cigarette butt litter? To ensure their protection create a city ordinance that will not permit smoking 25-feet from a tot-lot (playground).

Age Group: Middle school, high school and above
Number of Participants: 8 or more
Time: 3-4 months
Resources: Signage, containers for cigarette

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Tobacco Facts Scavenger Hunt or Trivia Game

Get everyone in your community familiar with tobacco facts with this fun activity. Use information you find on TFK’s website or in the front pages of the KBD Guide to give you ideas and information.

Age Group: Any age.
Number of Participants: Anywhere from a few people to a large group
Time: 2-3 Weeks
Resources: Depending on your choice of event you may need poster board, a table, a game board, markers or items to give away as prizes.
Cost: $10-$30

Day of the Event:

Set up your game. Your game could be similar to Jeopardy or perhaps Trivial Pursuit. Or maybe you decided to make a scavenger hunt and give people tobacco related clues for the things they needed to find.
For a Jeopardy game create a large board with different categories and point values. Write your questions (remember in Jeopardy the question is really the answer) on the back of the point values. A participant will then pick a category and point value and have to answer the question on the back of the card.
For a Trivial Pursuit game use the trivial Pursuit game-board but make your own tobacco related questions. Play with teams or as individuals.
Or for a scavenger hunt find ways to relate the tobacco facts you have found with items the participants can find. Give a time limit and the first person back with the most items wins.
At the end of the event distribute prizes and awards.

Tobacco Museum

Get together a large group to create exhibits for your tobacco museum.
Consider providing information on the dangers or tobacco smoke, second-hand smoke, tobacco laws, cessation information, Big Tobacco's advertising strategies and anything else you can think of.
Make posters and displays.
Make your information interactive and illustrative.
Consider incorporating the They Put What in a Cigarette?! Activity in your museum.
Have your tobacco museum in a heavily trafficked area, for example at the front of your school cafeteria or in your local mall.