Curriculum Topic: Group Activity
Activity Type: Multi-topic, Labor & Birth, Healthy Birth Practice 1, Anatomy
Purpose: Expand on how the four hormones support mothering behaviors.
Supplies: -Hormone is Right key
-4 Large cards one for each hormone (string if having participants wear around their necks
-6 packets of small cards, one for each row on the Key
-Recording of "Price is Right" music, if desired
-Game Instructions
Instructions:
Review information on the critical role of the birth hormones in readying both the mother and the baby for labor and birth (from Dr. Sarah Buckley’s report, Hormonal Physiology of Childbearing: Evidence and Implications for Women, Babies and Maternity Care, to be published online in 2015 at
www.childbirthconnection.org.) An interactive way to share this information with students is to present a mini-lecture on the four birth hormones, then review the information by playing the following game, “The Hormone is Right,” developed by Patricia Predmore.
Playing the game: Four volunteers are asked to come to the front of the room and are given the four hormone cards to wear (or just to hold). Play the music from “The Price is Right” and call a volunteer contestant “DOWN” from the audience to play the game. Give the first contestant the first set of cards (there are 6 rounds to play). For example, the first set of 4 cards in the first row of the KEY: Love or Cuddle Hormone; Pain-relieving or Pleasure Hormones; Fight or Flight Hormones; and Milk-producing or Mothering Hormone. Tell the contestant to match the card with the appropriate hormone. Ask the audience to help by calling out the answers. You can time the contestant for 30 seconds and ring a bell (optional). After the contestant has matched each card to a hormone, establish that the cards are in the right place. If they aren’t, give them another 15 seconds or ask the audience for more input.
Repeat with five additional contestants for the other 5 sets of cards.
Matching the cards to the hormones gets progressively harder, except for the last round where all the answer cards are the same! They are the same because all four hormones support mothering behaviors. This is the message we want them to leave with. The mp3 file for the music from “The Price is Right” can be played right off your computer or loaded to a disk or iPod.
Set-Up:
Pre-game preparation: Make four large (8 ½ by 11) cards, each with the name of one of four hormone groups: oxytocin, endorphins, catecholamines, and prolaction. Attach string so that four volunteers can each wear a hormone card around their neck. Using the Hormone is Right key, create 6 packets of small cards – one for each row on the key. It IS important that the contestants be given the four cards that are on the same row. Mix up the four cards.
Talking Points:
An interactive way to share this information with students is to present a mini-lecture on the four birth hormones, then review the information by playing this game.
Reference: “The Hormone is Right,” developed by Patricia Predmore. Adapted from Lamaze Toolkit.
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