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104 Activities That Build:
The second activity, "Gift from the Heart" is from the book The wRECking Yard of games and activities
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Campaign Craze
When politicians run a campaign they sell themselves by telling everyone about all their successes, strong points, values and positive traits. Creating your own campaign takes guts, and it isn’t easy to stand up in front of a bunch of people and brag about yourself; but it can be fun if you get creative, a bit outrageous, and most of all a bit bold.
Objective
For people to recognize and to verbalize positive traits that they possess.
Who
People who have difficulty recognizing their own positive attributes.
Group Size
2 or more
Materials
- Paper
- Pens or pencils
- Colored markers
- Tape
- Scissors
- Optional: paints, glitter, ribbons, glue, etc.
Description
Inform everyone that they each will be running for an office of their choice. Each person will need to run an extensive campaign in their attempt to become elected (it’s all pretend of course). Each person must then create the following campaign items: a poster, campaign button/s, an original speech, a slogan and anything else they can think of (some people even write their own song). Encourage everyone to base their campaign on all of their positive attributes and traits.
Once everyone is finished, ask each person to present his/her campaign to the rest of the group. After each presentation there is usually a round of applause from the rest of the group. During the campaign encourage people to put their posters up on the wall and to wear their buttons (they may even wish to hand out buttons for others to wear).
Discussion Prompts
1. How did you feel when you were presenting your campaign?
2. Was it difficult or easy for you to think of positive things about yourself for the campaign?
3. Would you ever consider running for a school or political office? Why or why not?
4. What did you learn about others in the group when doing this activity?
Gift from the Heart
Giving and receiving gifts is often a very special and magical event. The giver expresses caring for the receiver by selecting something he or she feels would be appreciated. The receiver gets a token of affection and love.
This activity is about giving your understanding of others to them and learning how others see you through the exchange of thoughtful gifts.
Objective
To build relations among group members through positive interactions and to increase self-esteem by receiving thoughtful gifts from others.
Who
People with low self-esteem who could benefit from being thoughtful and nice towards others.
Group Size
2 or more
Materials
- Paper
- Pens, Pencils
- Colored markers or crayons
Description
Each member of the group chooses an imaginary gift to give to each person in the group. Each gift is drawn or described on a piece of paper to be given to the recipient. The gifts should be thought out so they represent the individuals who receive the gifts.
The gifts may be deep and thoughtful such as “courage to face life’s difficulties”, for someone who has shared many deep problems with the group. Or the gifts may simply be something the receiver would enjoy, such as “a season ski pass to go skiing any time you want,” for someone who enjoys skiing.
Once everyone has completed their gifts, let one person at a time give out his/her gifts to the others. When giving the gifts, the giver should explain what the gift is and why she or he chose to give that particular gift to the individual.
Discussion Topics
1. How did you decide what gifts to give?
2. What did you think about the gifts you got?
3. Do you think there was a good match between the people and the gifts they received?
Variation
If the group is large, assign each person a select number of group members to create a gift for, or break the large group into smaller group.
