Goals of the exercise: A discussion about affiliation and exclusion; to experience consequences of exclusion; to recognize one’s behavior in situations when they’re excluded; to experience how belonging to an exclusionary group brings positive emotions; to recognize that being the excluded minority hurts much more than the majority thinks
Age of the participants: 13+
Number of participants: 12+
Duration of the exercise: 45 minutes
Materials: none
group size: large
Confrontation exercise Duplo
Goals of the exercise: to find out how different the ways of communication are, how differently people listen or react to certain ways of communication
Age of the participants: 10+
Number of participants: 30
Duration of the exercise: 30 minutes
Materials: Duplo chocolate
Insult scale
Goals of the exercise: To discuss feelings and perceptions in class
Age of the participants: 13+
Number of participants: 4-40
Duration of the exercise: 45-90 minutes
Materials: Pens, scrap paper, A3 sheet or wallpaper, chalkboard, sticker dots
Like in real life
Goals of the exercise: To learn how racism and discrimination take away the opportunity to develop and to experience things; to learn about the unequal distribution of rights and opportunities (by gender, origin, skin color, appearance, age, health, education level…) and its impact on our life and career; to learn empathy towards the role of the weak and strong in the society, discuss competition
Age of the participants: 13+ / very good practice for facilitators
Number of participants: 6-20
Duration of the exercise: 60 Minutes
Materials: space – all participants must be put side by side and they should have enough space to walk forward; all participants need one prepared role card
Power flower
Goals of the exercise: Reflection of one’s own social position, confrontation with one’s own (lack of) power and privilege, thematizing societal power and socially constructed difference lines, developing a responsible and constructive approach to your own power and your own privileges
Age of the participants: 13+
Number of participants: 12-20
Duration of the exercise: 60 Minutes
Materials: one copy of the worksheet “Power-Flower” per person, colored pencils, flip-chart
Goals of the exercise: to raise awareness of gender inequality and its impact on people’s lives.
Age of the participants: from 10 years
Number of participants: 10 to 30 participants
Duration of the exercise: 60 minutes
Materials: a cardboard phone in giant size, A4 sheet with phrases (see below), sticky notes with the symbol: v (right) and sticky notes with the symbol: x (wrong).
The best and the worst
Goals of the exercise: to discuss gender stereotypes and how they affect the lives of boys and girls
Age of the participants: from 10 years old
Number of participants: 12 to 30
Duration of the exercise: 60 to 90 minutes
Materials: markers, several A4 paper sheets cut into 4 pieces, each with one of the following phrases to complete:
The worst thing about being a girl is …
The worst thing about being a boy is …
The best thing about being a girl is …
The best thing about being a boy is …
Who has power over me?
Goals of the exercise: To show that we tend to follow what we have learned and that sometimes it is difficult to question these learnings, such as gender stereotypes.
Age of the participants: 13+
Number of participants: 10 to 30
Duration of the exercise: 10 minutes
Materials: none
Irreversible
Goals of the exercise: reflection on the participants regarding the bio-psychological impact of domestic violence on the victims.
Age of the participants: 13 to 17
Number of participants: 15 to 25
Duration of the exercise: 20 minutes (may vary depending on the debate produced)
Materials: Letter of Rights, adapted from “Violência Doméstica: Intervenção em grupo com mulheres vítimas – Manual para Profissionais” (Matos & Machado, 2011)
Game of squares
Goals of the exercise: To be aware that there are different perceptions for the same reality and that we must present our ideas and listen to others’ ideas in an assertive and open-minded manner.
Age of the participants: 10+
Number of participants: 6 to 30
Duration of the exercise: 15 minutes
Materials: one sheet of paper with drawing of squares for each participant
Chance to Change 