World School Milk Day
Celebrated on the last Wednesday of September, World School Milk Day (WSMD) is a fun-filled day of activities that highlight the health benefits of school milk programs and connect students around the world. Since its inception by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in September 2000, the event has grown to become an annual celebration in more than 40 countries around the world!
Why Celebrate World School Milk Day?
World School Milk Day is a fun and engaging way to teach students about the importance of drinking milk as part of a healthy, balanced diet. It also provides an opportunity to view the world through the lens of multiculturalism and global awareness. Local celebrations can be shared with the broader global community while schools and students, just like them, celebrate around the world. What’s not to celebrate!? Milk is an excellent source of vitamins and minerals and packed with protein. These are the very things kids need to stay healthy, alert and ready to learn no matter which country they live. WSMD is an opportunity for students to celebrate your milk program and their connection to the global community in a variety of fun ways, from scavenger hunts to trivia quizzes, dress-up days, wacky contests, sporting events and more!
Get Involved
Whether you are a parent, student or staff member, getting involved in a school-wide program like this fosters a strong sense of community and encourages students to do the same. Come together and celebrate dairy done right with games and activities. Invite your community to join you in the festivities and celebrate your local dairy farmers on an international day!
WSMD is an opportunity for schools around the world to celebrate milk however they like. No matter how they choose to celebrate, they all share the common goal of celebrating school milk programs and the importance of drinking milk.
You can celebrate however you like, but here are a few suggestions to help get you on your way:
- Have students create their own milk-themed costumes, then give away prizes to the most inventive.
- Set up a scavenger hunt. Create maps and clues that lead to the hidden milk cartons and a buried treasure.
- Have a game of milk carton balance. Divide the kids into pairs of two. Then have them stand face-to-face in their pairs and put a milk carton between their foreheads. Next, the host commands things such as “two steps to the right”, “jump”, “kneel down” etc. The last team standing, who hasn’t dropped their carton, wins. But remember, no hands!
- Set up a milk obstacle course.
- Hold a giant game of “hot potato” with all the students, but using a milk carton in place of a potato. The ‘last one standing’ wins a prize.
- Have a milk moustache-making contest. The best ‘stache wins.
- Have students create their own milk-themed song and perform it.
- Have your students create milk-themed poems, pictures, sculptures and more.
- Have them get into groups and choose a popular song or rap that they have to recreate with new milk-themed lyrics. The songs are then performed for their class or the whole school.
- Hold a milk smoothie making contest where the tastiest concoction wins.
- Have students enter a Moo-ing contest. The judges pick the top Moo-ers.
- Milk Carton Bowling – Take empty 1 litre or 2 litre milk cartons and fill the bottoms with a little sand or other material to weigh them down. Set up bowling alleys and hold a competition or tournament to determine the best bowler.
- Have students design new milk carton graphics.
- Invite in your local dairy educator to teach students how to make butter.