فعالیت های ندریس مهارت های زندگی در 61 جلسه

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Life Skills, Activity 61: Endings and Beginnings, Moving On

This is a single activity session plan from our Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Purpose of the session

• To help children realise the important of endings and beginnings.
• To learn different ways to make an ending.

Lifeskills: Self-awareness, critical thinking

Important points

It is likely that by the time you are looking at this activity, the children in your group are at different stages in the life skills programme. Some may be ready to move on to something else, some children may be leaving the programme altogether or perhaps you, the educator, are leaving the programme. Whatever the specific situation you are in, this activity can be used to help children understand the importance of proper endings and this helps with new beginnings. This is an important lesson even if there are no real endings to celebrate in the session. 

Materials

• Large pieces of paper or flipchart
• Marker pen or crayon

Steps

1. Introduces the activity by asking the children to think about endings and beginnings. Give a few examples and then try to build up a list such as the one below. You can write this on the paper or flip chart.

2. Make sure the children that an ending very often goes with a beginning for example, one educator leaving and another arriving. Ask the children to describe their feelings at endings and beginnings. To start them off mention some emotions and ask the children to shout out 'ending', 'beginning' or 'both'

• Sadness
• Excitement
• Worried
• Happy
• Relieved 

3. Explain that it is often helpful to mark an ending or a beginning as it helps us to cope better. Ask the children to say how they might mark an ending such as…

• A death
• The end of a relationship
• The end of the year.

Or a beginning such as:

• a marriage
• a new year
• the first day of a new job.

(Use any events that are significant and appropriate for your group)   

Here are some ideas…

• a party or gathering of people
• a speech
• a meeting
• a show or display of work
• a meal or a drink
• a visit
• a chance to share thoughts with a person/people involved
• a gift/card
• a special 'closing' game/activity 

4. Read out this short story (or use another which is more relevant to your group

Mary had been working at the shop with her boss, the shop owner, Rose for 6 years. It was her last day at work as she was going to leave the town to get married to her boyfriend who lived in another town. She got on well with Rose. On Mary's last day they were busy with customers and at lunchtime Rose said that she had to go to the bank. Mary ate alone in the back of the shop. Rose was a long time and only came back just before Mary had to leave. 'Bye then' Rose said to Mary, ‘Good Luck’. Mary said, 'Bye' and smiled but she felt sad as she walked home. Something did not feel quite right. 

5. In pairs discuss the following questions

• Why do you think Mary felt sad?
• What do you think Mary needed?
• What would you have done that day if you had been Rose? Why?

Discuss the questions with the whole group.

6. Using the example from the group, ask how an 'ending' could be marked for this event. For example…

• The end of the lifeskills programme for this group
• A lifeskills educator leaving
• One of the children leaving the group

THIS IS THE LAST SESSION FROM OUR LIFESKILLS HANDBOOK!

BONUS!!!!!!

Finish this session or this lifeskills course with one of these closing games. Click here to download these games!

• The Suitcase game
• The Chair game
• The Web game

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Life Skills, Activity 58: Endings and Beginnings, Where Am I Now?

This is a single activity session plan from our Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Purpose of this activity

• To reflect on new skills they have to help them move forward.
• To think about their support network 

Lifeskills: Self-awareness, creative thinking

Important points: This activity begins with a visualisation activity as described in Activity 47: Resisting pressure using 'SWISH'. It may be useful to do Activity 47 first.

Materials

• Large circle with a body map
• A smaller circle with a body map for each child

Steps

1. Remind children of the SWISH activity. Explain that we are going to use SWISH in this activity.
2. Ask children lie down or sit with their heads in their hands or their eyes closed and they think about themselves as they were the first time they came to a life skills session. They watch that person that they were walk further and further away until s/he disappears completely!
3. They then think about the different activities they have done since that time and how the activities have helped create a 'me' with new ideas and skills. They watch this stronger person coming towards them from far away. Who are these new stronger children?  In this session, we want to talk to them!
4. Put up the large body map and explain what different things you, the educator, have learnt since working on the life skills sessions. Draw a pattern that represents one learning point onto the body with a black pen. Try to fill the body with different patterns representing different learning points. For example, - I’ve learnt that am not a bad person but that sometimes my behaviour is bad.

5. Ask the children to fill in their own body maps.

6. The children can share the meaning of their body maps with two or three friends. One or two volunteers can share their maps with the whole group.

7. Explain that it is not possible to learn these things or use them by ourselves. We need other people to support us especially when we are feeling sad or weak. These people are our network. Some people are very close and others are important but not so close to us. Remind children of Activity 10: circles of friendship. You can draw inner and outer circles around the body on the large poster. You draw and label stick figures to show people who are close within the inner circle and then draw figures who are not so close (but who are also important) in the outer circle.

8. Ask the children to do the same.  This is a personal session so don’t let children become bored. As a final discssion, it is better if they discuss with one or two friends rather than the whole group. 

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Life Skills, Activity 55: Thinking about long term relationships

This is a single activity session plan from our Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Purpose of activity: To examine the challenges of long-term relationships

Life skills: Communication & interpersonal relationships, self awareness, creative thinking

Important points

The 6 qualities discussed in this session are as follows:

• Respect: To value people, their ideas and beliefs (even if they are different) and to treat them well and to treat them the way you would like to be treated. 
• Responsibility: To be dependable or reliable.  People can trust you to carry out your duties in a good way.
• Understanding: To know about and understand another person, what s/he believes, feels, wants etc.  To be able to put yourself in their place and imagine what life looks like for them.  Listening is an important part of understanding.
• Effort: All relationships go through difficult times.  People have to work hard to make sure the relationship succeeds.  Many partnerships break up because people do not work hard at them.  When things go wrong, they just want to leave the relationship and as a result, they do not benefit from the relationship in the way they could have.
• Care: To be concerned about other people and to do what is best for them.  You can show care by helping a family member who is sick, or helping in the farm or with school work etc.
• Sharing: There are many ways of sharing.  You can share things like food, but you can also share ideas and values.  Being open and honest about your ideas on issues that concern you and your partner or friend is very important in building a lasting relationship.  Finally sharing means supporting one another, even in difficulties.  That is why the proverb says ‘A friend in need is a friend indeed'.

Materials

• Large piece of paper (with the six qualities written up in words and/or symbols in advance if possible)
• Marker pen or crayon
• Case studies on small pieces of paper
• Two copies of the roles for Marianna and Romano for the role plays

Steps

1. Write up these 6 qualities. Draw symbols for them if necessary.
2. The whole group discusses what each quality means.  Use their words to write a definition of each on the board.
3. Explain that in a good relationship, both sides contribute all these qualities.  Explain that relationships are not perfect.  They take time and hard work to develop.
4. Divide the children into five groups and give them (or tell them) the following case studies.

Juma and Said are good friends.  Yesterday they fought when playing football.  They want to be friends again but they are not sure how to start.

Sara and Alberto are becoming good friends.  However, Alberto thinks that a relationship between a boy and a girl should be more than just talking about school and what they want to do in life.

A girl has come to stay in Thabile’s house from a place where there is war. Sara welcomed her warmly but the girl wants Sara to be with her all the time as she feels nervous when she is on her own.  Sara wants more time to do her school work and be with her friends.

 Alexei lives with his father and stepmother.  He is angry that his mother is no longer there and has difficulty in accepting his stepmother, especially when she does things differently (cooking, dressing etc) from his mother.  However, he is trying to build a better relationship.

 Rashid is a lively boy who can be quite naughty.  However, he feels that the teacher is always picking on him and punishing him for no reason.  It’s not his fault when someone makes a good joke in class and he laughs!

5.         Each group discusses its case study and identifies two things the characters could do (from the list of six qualities) that will improve the relationships.  They then develop these into a mini drama

You can have a break here

6.         Groups present their mini dramas in turn

7.         Discuss them. Ask the group which are the long-term and which the short-term relationships. What are the differences?

8.         Ask everyone to write on a sheet of paper one relationship in their own lives they would like to improve.  They should then list the various things they can do to improve it, using the behaviours from Activity 58.

9.         Ask them to share their relationship with their neighbour and discuss further.

10.       Invite volunteers to share their relationship with the rest of the group.

Final discussion

• If you had to give up one quality in your relationship with a parent or adult, which of the six would you be most willing to give up?  Why?  What about with a friend?  Or a boy/ girlfriend?
• Which of the six qualities would you never be willing to give up?  Why?
• How can we develop these six qualities in our relationships?
• How would you feel about a friend who does not respect you or who does not listen to your ideas and choices?  What can you do about it?
• How would you feel if an adult who is important to you does not understand you?  What can you do about it?
• When a relationship is going wrong, it is easy to blame the other for lacking the six qualities.  How can you be sure that you are not the problem yourself?

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Life Skills, Activity 54: Coping with Emotions, Breaking The Cycle Of Hurt

This is a single activity session plan from our Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Purpose of activity: To find ways of changing a pattern of behaviour that hurts other people.

Life skills: Coping with stress & emotion, creative thinking, critical thinking, communication & Interpersonal relationships, empathy

Important Points

If you have not done Activities 4 & 5 Identity factors, do these first.  If you have done them, remind the children of the activities and the discussions. This activity uses a technique called visualisation: the children have to use their imagination to be someone else and in another situation. It can be a useful tool to help change behaviour and make sense of events where we lost control.

In a conflict situation, remember that if you want to change another person’s behaviour, you have to change your own behaviour first. 

This activity gives guidelines on what can be said in the session. This is shown in italics. It may be best to try out this activity with a small group first.

Steps

1. Remind children that behaviour is separate from identity. 
2. Ask everyone to stand up and imagine an occasion when their behaviour hurt someone else or they have been hurt/angry/sad. Close your eyes and picture yourself. You are looking at the other person(s) in that situation. What do you feel? What do you see? What are you hearing? What are you telling yourself? 
3. After 5 mins or so, ask them to now open their eyes, step to one side and shake that picture out of your body.
4. Then ask the children to close their eyes again and to imagine they are the other person. When you are ready, step into the other person’s shoes looking at you. What do you hear? What are you feeling, and what are you telling yourself. Give yourself time to experience being this other person. 
5. After 5 minutes or so, ask them to open their eyes, step to the side and shake that picture out of your body.
6. Now imagine you are in a cinema. Imagine that you are in the audience watching a film on the screen. As you see the first character walk onto the screen you, you realise hat this character is you! Keep watching yourself in the film. How do you see yourself? If you find yourself feeling emotions as you watch, imagine that the screen is further away until you can watch only. Now the other person comes into the scene of the film. From this position in the audience, what advice would you give yourself?
7. Now you join the film as yourself. Follow the advice that you have just given yourself. What do you see now, what do you hear, and what are you feeling. Now put yourself in the other person’s place and look at yourself. Take on the other person’s posture, how would they stand, hold themselves and experience the situation from their position. What do they see, hear and feel? 
8. After 5 minutes or so, ask them to open their eyes, step to the side and shake that picture out of your body.

Final discussion

What did you experience in the two different scenarios? Was it easier to give yourself advice and see the situation differently when you stepped out of your shoes and saw yourself in the scene? How do you think the experience would be different for the other person from the first scenario to the second?

Follow-up activity

One person explains their two scenarios, and they role-play the scenarios to the rest of the class.

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Life Skills, Activity 53: Coping with Emotions, Fear and Courage

This is a single activity session plan from our Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Purpose of activity

•  To understand how fear works 
• To explore how to control their fears and where their courage comes from 

Life skills: Coping with Stress & Emotion, Creative thinking, Critical thinking

Steps

1. Before the session, ask a volunteer to stand outside the room and bang on the door at the signal.

2. Ask the children to close their eyes and imagine the following situation

Situation: You are walking on the street one night.  There is no moon and everywhere is quiet.  There have been rumours of armed bandits (thieves) in the area and every sound seems to be dangerous to you.  Suddenly someone jumps out from behind a tree just in front of you, clamps a hand tightly over your mouth and starts to pull you to a half-built house.  You can see he is carrying a big knife with him.

 3. Tell people to keep their eyes closed and say how they would be feeling at this moment if this happened.  What physical feelings would they have?

4. As they begin to answer, the volunteer should slam the door.  Then ask again for physical sensations.  Example are: 

• Muscles tighten   
• Body starts to sweat
• Armpits tingle
• Hands become damp
• Heart beats faster
• Breathing becomes faster
• Stomach feels uneasy
• Stomach jumps into the mouth
• Trembling

5. Explain that these responses are caused by a chemical in the body called adrenalin. When we are afraid, it creates energy to help us fight or run away. 

6. In pairs ask children to tell each other

• What makes them afraid?
• What happens to them when they are afraid?

7. Ask volunteers to tell their partner’s story. The whole group can give suggestions for how they cope with fear. Where does their courage come from? The fishbowl game can be used to do this discussion. See games at the end of this section. If the children feel awkward about discussing their fears, go around the room collecting the ideas and then talk about them without mentioning any names.

Final discussion

Is it bad to have fears? Why or Why not? Can fear help us? What can we do with our fears?

Follow up activities

Much poetry and words for songs are about people’s difficulties and fears. Children can make up songs or poems using ideas from this session. They can write these down or ask others to help write them down. These can be performed in the group; they can be published in newspapers or appropriate newsletters.

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Life Skills, Activity 52: Coping with Emotions, Stress

This is a single activity session plan from our Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Click here for more information on the Life Skills Handbook and how to purchase it. 

Purpose of activity: To identify how stress can build up and cause outbursts

Life skills: Coping with Stress & Emotion, Creative thinking, Critical thinking

Important points

It is useful to do the Behaviour which Hurts/Activities 2-4 (see page xxx) before doing this activity. If the children are not familiar with the idea of a volcano another image can be used instead e.g. a bomb

Materials

• A picture of a volcano or bomb
• Squares of card or paper
• Paper bags

Steps

1. Explain that many things can cause feelings to build up and that can lead to stress and anger. Explain the three types of stress and ask children to give examples for each.

• Frustration – occurs when someone is blocked when they want to do or ask something and they can’t because they are blocked by others or by the situation as a whole
• Conflict - occurs when a difficult choice must be made
• Pressure - occurs when someone feels forced to do something s/he does not really want to do, or forced to do too much.

2. Show the picture of the volcano or bomb. Explain that some people will explode like a volcano if the level of stress builds up too high.

3. Ask the group to give examples of causes of stress. Here are some of the responses from children who did this activity.

• When people harass me
• When I work hard for a little payment
• When we girls have to work more than our brothers
• People using bad language against us
• Hunger
• A sick friend
• Loneliness
• When we are beaten at home
• Noise
• Smell
• Health problems such as headache, tooth ache, sports injury, spots on the face, toothache, heavy cold
• Heat or cold
• Doing unhealthy things in order to cope such as drinking, smoking, acting irritably with others, driving too fast

4. Ask what happens when people explode (become very angry) 

• They may harm others 
• They may harm themselves
• They may run away

5. Divide the children into groups of three and ask them to discuss or draw causes of stress in their own lives. Ask them to decide the point at which someone may explode if all these causes came together. Give each group a paper bag.

6. Each group tells the whole group the causes of stress they have discussed, and  they blow up and burst the paper bag at the point where they think someone might explode because as a result of all this stress.

You can also use physical movement for feedback. In their presentations, the group can take one step forward every time they mention one stress and then shout loudly for the explosion!


Final discussion

What are your main sources of stress? (peers, family, school, media, police, others? 

What signs are there that stress is building up?

• lose temper 
• small things become frustrating
• thoughts going round and round in your mind
• sinking feeling in the stomach

How can stress be reduced? 

• deep breathing
• moving away from the cause of the stress
• go for a walk/run/play sport
• listen to music
• a good diet

How can you tell if someone is stressed

• changes in behaviour
• drop in school work
• conflicts with someone respected
• smoking or drinking more
• drugs
• refusing to admit that s/he is stressed etc

What can you do if a friend has reached that stage?

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Life Skills, Activity 49: A Stronger Me, Preparing For The Unexpected

This is a single activity session plan from our book, The Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format only. There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Purpose of activity: To identify possible obstacles/problems that make it difficult to reach long term goals.

Life skills: Problem-solving, Critical thinking, Self-awareness

Important points: It is useful for this activity to refer back to the Activity 4: Timeline 

Materials: One piece of card of folded paper per child with one of the following changes to the future statements written on them. Adapt these to suit the needs of the group. 

Changes to the Future

• You were selected to go to college
• A friend or relative you love, died
• You decided to leave school and look for a job
• You had an accident and lost your leg
• You got a sexually transmitted disease
• You won a scholarship to go abroad• You set up your own business/farm
• You found out that you can't have children
• You were arrested for taking drugs
• You/your partner had a baby

 Steps

1. Repeat or refer back to the Activity 3: The Timeline. 
2. Ask each child to select three important goals they want to achieve before they are 30. Say that everyone needs to be prepared for the unexpected because usually life does not go to plan!
3. Ask each child to come forward and pick one change to the future card. (If children are not literate, you can go around the group reading the card to each child)
4. In pairs, children discuss how such a change would affect the goals they had and how they could reduce the bad effects. (make it clear that these are imaginary situations only).
5. Ask volunteers to present to the whole group for further discussion.

Final discussion:

How did you feel about the change? If you felt unhappy? is this normal? The important thing is how we face up to the situation and our feelings.  What can we do in such situations?

• Are our long term goals achievable?  
• What are we doing to reach these goals?
• What threatens our plans? Can we control this? (for example economic status, civil unrest or war, death of a parent, our own sexual behaviour, substance abuse, impatience)

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Life Skills, Activity 48: A Stronger Me, Resisting Pressure Using SWISH!

This is a single activity session plan from our Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Purpose of activity: To practice a technique to help to resist pressure to take risks

Life skills: self-awareness, problem-solving

Important points

Before doing this activity, repeat these two activities from our Lifeskills Handbook: Activity 25:Identifying our Problems and Activity 28: Practising Making Decisions. 

It is important to focus on real problems and decisions that children face. Ask colleagues to help support you with this session so that the children have more adult guidance. Children can make their own problem charts and discuss them with an adult they like and trust, and then come back to the next session with ideas on how this activity has helped them.

To resist harmful risk-taking behaviour, children must be sure that they want to say NO. They must know the benefits of refusing and the alternatives or choices they have.Puppets can be used to introduce the activity.

Materials: Puppets if used.

Steps

1. Explain that this lifeskills session is about the dangers of taking risks. Give an example of the kind of risks that children in the group may take. If you have already done activity 26, you can use some of the risks the children identified. Some people enjoy taking risks and others are more cautious.

2. Ask children to give examples of the types of risks they take. Here are some examples from a group of children in India who did this activity:


3. Ask children to think when they may take risks, for example drinking a lot of alcohol:

• Is it at a certain time of day when they are most lonely/down?
• Is it at a certain time of the year (birthdays, religious festivals)?
• Is it when they are with certain people? 

4. Ask the children to discuss in pairs or groups:

• What risk do I sometimes take?
• Do I want to take this risk? 
• What will happen if I say NO to the risk?
• What can I do instead of taking this risk?

5. Explain that saying no to the risky behaviour, they will be stronger. 

6. In pairs, the children to say to each other:

• I am stronger because…
• and because of this, I don’t want to…
• Instead, I want to…

7. Encourage the children to say these sentences out loud.

You can have a break here

8. Ask children to lie down and close their eyes, and to visualise (imagine) the following:- Imagine yourself taking that risk.

• Imagine that picture of yourself going further and further into the distance until it is a small dot. 
• Imagine from that small dot a bright picture of a new strong you coming back towards you. For example: Segei imagined himself coughing and looking grey smoking a cigarette. The picture disappeared into a dot in the distance and coming back he saw a picture of himself looking fit and strong, without a cigarette and with lots of people admiring him!

9. Explain that this technique is called a SWISH because as you practice doing this you can do it faster and faster and imagine a SWISH noise. Every time you feel like taking the risk, do the SWISH pattern and this will help you to be strong. 

Final discussion:

Do you think you will try to use SWISH? Here are some comments from children who used SWISH for the first time…

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Life Skills, Activity 45: Goal Setting, Returning To The Tree of Life

This is a single activity session plan from our book, The Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only)). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Purpose of activity: To develop children's self-awareness about their present lives.

Life skills: self-awareness, critical thinking, creative thinking

Important points

This activity is a repeat of the second Activity in the Lifeskills Handbook. The children now should have better communication skills and more experience in dealing with abstract concepts and with expressing their feelings.

Materials

•  One copy of the tree and a figure picture for each child or
• A drawing of the tree and figures on a large poster 
• Small sheets of paper  (at least one per child) 
• Pencils or pens 
• A large poster of a tree without figures.

Steps

If you have done this activity already from Part 1, remind the children of the session and ask them what they remember. Follow these same steps as in Activity 2. 

 

1. Show the children the picture and explain that the tree represents life. The people on the tree are at different stages of their lives. They are doing different things for different reasons.
2. Ask the children to think of a well-known character in your country, for example a famous sports star, a character from a folktale or a famous person. Perhaps this person feels like the person at the top of the tree because he looks sure of himself and powerful. She is smiling at everyone below her. She is pleased with her position! Ask the children which figure in the picture is like the famous person. (The children will probably have different ideas and different reasons – that's fine).
3. Show the children the figure(s) on the tree which show where you feel you are in life today. Explain the reasons for your choice. For example: I feel I am like the person doing a handstand halfway up the tree with one hand off the branch. I feel like this because I am feeling full of energy and I feel I am doing something a bit different today by starting this life skills work with you. I am not sure if it will be fun or a bit risky!
4. Ask the children to choose one figure that is closest to themselves.
5. In pairs or small groups, children discuss why they identified with a particular figure. For example…I feel like I am at the bottom of the tree waving and looking happy because I am just beginning the life skills (so I am at the bottom of the tree). I am looking happy because I hope the class will help me and I am waving at my friends who will be with me.

Final discussion:

Which figure did you choose? Why? Were you happy to choose a figure? Why/Why not? Were there other figures you thought were like you? Do we feel like different people on the tree at different times of the day or week? Were you happy to tell us about your figure? Why/Why not?

If they have done the activity before, add do you remember the figure you chose to do the first time we did this activity? Did you choose the same or a different figure today? Why or why not?

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Life Skills, Activity 40: Behaviour that Hurts, What Happens to Us When We Get Angry?

This is a single activity session plan from our Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Purpose of activity: To become aware of our physical reactions when we get angry and how anger might be controlled.

Life skills: problem-solving, creative thinking

Important points: Do Activity 39: What makes me get angry? before this activity.

Steps

1. In pairs, children select one idea from the list they made in Activity 43: What makes me get angry? In pairs, children act out one of these situations.

2. In the whole group, ask the children to say what happens to their bodies when they get angry (these responses are different for everybody and in different situations).

• shouting
• head pulses
• stomach aches
• clenching the fists
• frown
• face turns red
• crying
• feeling scared

3. In the whole group ask children to say what people might do when they angry- hit someone- throw something- shout sounds- shout insults (which they may later regret)

4. In pairs, the children make two short role-plays from one of the situations identified in the Activity 43. In the first role-play, shows how things quickly go from bad to worse when someone asks angry. The second shows how the person controlled their anger.

For example by:

• walking away
• reasoning
• ignoring 
• getting someone else to help 

5. The pairs perform their plays. After each, the whole group can comment on how the anger was controlled. 

Final discussion

In an argument, is one person always more to blame than the other? Can you so something about your anger in the same way each time? 

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Life Skills, Activity 33: Sexuality, Special Friendships

This is a single activity session plan from our Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Please note: We have selected just five activities for this section on sexuality. Contact the author at www.lifeskillshandbooks.com for the latest resources and recommendations on materials for sexuality and lifeskills education for young people. Visit the Aids Alliance website for their outstanding three-part ‘Our Future’ series for young people (grades 4-9) and their educators which you can download for free at www.aidsalliance.org

Purpose of activity: To understand what are early sexual feelings and that they are Normal and to begin to talk about sexual feelings.

Steps:

1. Explain that the first special feelings we get for other children are sometimes described as a 'crush' on the person, 'fancying' the person or of a feeling of being 'in love' with that person. The feelings may last a short time or for many weeks. Girls can have special feelings for another girl, boys for another boy or girls and boys may start to have special feelings for one another. All of these are normal.

2. Read out this letter from Felix to a newspaper column which he writes about his feelings for Fatima

Dear Auntie,

My friend Fatima and I really like each other. We are 11 years old and we  have been going around together since last term. We have lots of other  friends who like us both. We can talk about everything and we relax and  laugh together. We like to tell each other our problems and we do our school  work together. At weekends we go to the same singing group. A few weeks  ago I began to feel very warm inside every time I thought of Fatima. She is in  my mind all the time. I bring her mangoes from our garden. I want to hold her  hand and kiss her. I think I have fallen in love with my friend! Shall I tell her  about my feelings?

Felix 

3. Divide children into pairs or three’s. Ask them to discuss and make a list of the signs that the friendship between Felix and Fatima was turning into something more. A special friendship. Ask the children to think of more signs. Here are some ideas:

• daydreaming
• writing the loved one's name
• feeling that the loved one is handsome or pretty
• feeling dreamy
• listening to love songs
• giving the loved one gifts
• feeling shy when you are with the loved one 
• wanting to see the loved one all the time

4. Ask the children to share their ideas.

5. Explain that these special feelings are a normal part of growing up and happen to most children. For some of them it happens when they are young for others it happens later. Sometimes children who have special feelings for someone else may want to tell this person. Sometimes they may want to keep their feelings secret or talk about their feelings with a good friend. 

6. Show the children a box with a slot in it. Explain that this box is place where the children can put any questions they like and they do not have to write their name. The anonymous box will be there for all the activities to do with sexual health (and other activities if needed). Answering the children’s questions can become a regular part of the sessions. 

7. In the same pairs or threes, children discuss these questions: 

What do you think are the best kinds of friendships for children of your age?

• To have one special boyfriend or girlfriend
• To be friends with many boys and/or girls
• To have a mixed group and leave special friendships for later

8. In pairs or on your own, write a letter to reply to Felix.

9. (If time). Ask children to act out a scene in which a child is talking with a friend about their feelings for someone. The friend advises them. The example of Felix or Fatima can be used.

Final discussion: Is it normal for children to start having special feelings for other children at our age? What is good advice to someone who has started to have special feelings for another person?

Follow up: What do parents or older brothers, sisters or friends think about starting special friendships? The same as you or different? Tell them about the letter from Felix. How would they reply?

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Life Skills, Activity 32: Taking Harmful Substances: Avoiding Risks

This is a single activity session plan from our Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only)). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Purpose of activity: To identify the deep reasons behind risk-taking so that children canlearn to avoid risk

Life skills: problem-solving, creative thinking

Important points: Do or refer back to Activity 26: What risks do we take and why?

Steps:

1. Tell the group that sometimes we take action because we believe they give us short–term benefits, even if the action has no long-term benefit for us.
2. Explain that a risk is a chance or a possibility of harm. In groups of four of five, ask the children to discuss and draw risks that they or their peers or friends take in their lives. For example: smoking, drug-taking, stealing, having unprotected sex etc
3. Now ask each child to think of a risk that they do take or they would like to take.
4. Ask for one volunteer to come forward. Reassure them that they will not have to say anything personal or that will embarrass them! Ask them to close his/her eyes and then imagine themselves taking that risk. Now open the eyes and say what the benefits are from taking that risk. Ask…What does that give you? What does it do for you? 
5. The educator lists all the positive benefits down.For example in one session, Anton said that he kept risking his health by smoking. When asked what it does for him, Anton said:• It relaxes me even when I have problems• I feel happy with my friends• I feel part of my group
6. In pairs, ask the group to do the same exercise with each other. Ask for volunteers to report the results back to the group
7. Ask volunteers to report back the results.
8. Now ask the children how they can have the same results but without taking the risk. Often children take risks (for example smoking or taking drugs) to escape, forget or become happier. Ask the whole groups to think creatively about how they can achieve this. For example, Anton decided he could relax and feel happy with the group by playing football more regularly.Still in the same pairs, one child repeats the benefits of the risk they take, and the other child thinks of ideas for achieving the effect without taking the risk. Give time for everybody to have a turn in each position. You can use the fishbowl game here where each child gets at least two suggestion form different people. (See games at the end of the handbook) 
9. Finally ask the children to close their eyes and visualise how to get the benefits in a non-risky way. 

Final discussion: Was it easy being creative with ideas? Why or why not? Do we ask stuck into behaviour patterns? (it is easier, we don’t know any alternatives, we are scared) How can we break risky behaviour patterns? If you have done Activites 22 and 27, remind children of the techniques of saying NO and the three C’s in decision-making. Otherwise, you can do these activities next to develop their skills in changing their behaviour.)

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Life Skills, Activity 31: Taking Harmful Substances, Peer Pressure

This is a single activity session plan from our Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only)). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Purpose of activity: To enable children to look at their attitudes and decisions about drugs and explore the risks of drug-taking.

Life skills: Critical Thinking 

Important points: Before or after this session, do or repeat communication skills activities such as Activity 19: You and I. 

Materials:

• Large sheets of paper
• Coloured pens

Steps:

1. Tell this scenario to the whole group: You meet some friends. Some of them begin to smoke marijuana. Your good friend decides to try it and wants you to join in too.

2. Ask for ideas on what might lead you to try it. Make a list of these and divide the ideas to show if these pressures are from the outside(from other people) or the inside (from yourself)

Outside

• Friends
• Advertisements
• Seeing people in films
• Songs
• Having parents or relatives who drink or smoke to a level where there sis a problem

Inside

• Feeling lonely
• Having problems at home
• Wanting to be one of the group
• Wanting to show that I’m grown up
• Not knowing who to ask for help with  problems

3. Divide Children into groups. Give each group one of the situations below. Use local words for drugs
Situations

• Life has been difficult for you. There are problems at home and you depend more and more on your friends. Someone that a find of yours tells you that he has something you can take that will make you feel 100 times better.
• You keep hearing stories about cocaine which say that it makes you feels great. You are curious and want to try it to see what happens. One day a friend offers you some.
• You meet your friends. They are with a man who you don’t know. He shows you a pill which he says ‘will make you feel like a new person’. He says that they give you a good time and are totally safe and that he will give you one free.

4. In the groups, draw a picture with a title, ‘if only….’ About what happens in the story. These stories could also be turned into raps (a spoken song with a beat), songs or poems.

5. Ask the children to discuss how they would react. Refer to Activity 19: You and I.

• How will you react to this situation?
• What problems might you have in refusing?
• What consequences might you face if you accept? (Remind children of the three C’s of decision-making)
• If another person refused before you, would this help you? Why?
• What identity factors will strengthen you or weaken you
• Can practising, ‘No’ help in real life? Why/why not?

Follow Up: Act out more role plays using real problems situations of the children to practice dealing with different situations.

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Life Skills, Activity 30: Taking Harmful Substances, Responsibility and Consequences (drugs and alcohol)

This is a single activity session plan from our Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only)). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Purposes of activity:

• To help children think about the reasons why people take harmful substances
• To help children think about the short term and long term consequences of taking harmful substances 
• To help children think about the consequences of NOT taking harmful substances
• To give children practice how to resist pressure 

Life skills: Creative thinking, critical thinking

Important points: There may be many reasons why children take harmful substances (tobacco, alcohol drugs etc). Many are motivated to start by reasons like “I wanted to be accepted in my group” rather than anything to do with the drug itself. Activities that aim to change harmful behaviour need to address all the factors that surround the child. Change is more likely to happen when it is linked to a positive outcome.

Materials: Situation cards

Steps:

1. Read out the following situation to children:Tshepo has just become part of a group. He's really happy to be part of the group and enjoys hanging around with them. Recently they've started to smoke dagga (use a local word or a word the children know for marijuana). Tshepo does not smoke and does not like the idea of smoking marijuana. He knows some other groups which use stronger, more harmful drugs. Some of his friends want to try these harder drugs too. Tshepo does not know what to do because he wants to stay part of the group but he does not want to get involved in smoking or taking drugs.

2. Divide the group into three or four smaller groups and ask one child to be the leader in that group. Children discuss answers to the two following questions:

• What choices does Tshepo have?

• What are the consequences of each?

3. Ask each group to act out a role-play which illustrates positive and negative consequences for Tshepo. 

4. The group can then discuss :

• Why did Tshepo respond like he did?

Guide the children towards considering the 'whole' Tshepo:

• his identity- his values and beliefs- his skills (to resist pressure to take harmful drugs)
• his behaviour (how he usually is)
• his environment (does it help him or not?) 

• Why did other characters in the role plays behave as they did?

Final discussion: Do you know someone who was taking harmful substances? Why do you think that they did this? What happened to them? What is good and what is bad about taking drugs?

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Life Skills, Activity 29: Taking Harmful Substances, What Do I Think About Substance Abuse?

This is a single activity session plan from our book, The Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only)). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Purpose of activity:

• To explore children's attitudes about substance abuse and how they are affected by others
• To correct myths and incorrect information

Life skills: self-awareness, critical thinking

Important points: You may not wish to deal with all these issues in one session. You may divide them up according to whether you are dealing with smoking, drinking or other drugs. Many people take risks by using harmful substances even though they know that these damage their health. Some people become addicted, which makes it difficult to give up.

Materials:

• 2 large signs, Agree and Disagree
• Attitude statements such as those below (adapt these to suit the needs of your group)

Steps:

1. Place the sign Agree in one corner and the sign Disagree in the opposite corners of the room.

2. Ask the children to stand in the middle of the room.

3. Say that you are going to read out a statement, they should go immediately to either the agree or disagree corner.  There is no room for ‘not sure’ – they have to decide.

4. Read out a statements and when the children have chosen their corners, ask why they chose to move there.  If necessary, give information to correct any wrong information. Do this for about 10 statements.

5. At the end, ask the children to choose a partner and discuss how they made their decisions: to what extent did they decide on their own, and to what extent did they looked at what others were doing. Use this to talk about the power of peer pressure in our lives.

Final discussion: Why do you think some doctors smoke? If you were the leader of our country, what laws would you pass about smoking, alcohol and drugs?

Attitude statements and facts: Issues surrounding attitudes to smoking and drugs and complex and sensitive, and they are different in different countries. The information below is intended only as a starting point for discussions.

• The risks of smoking are exaggerated. I know people who smoke but they don't have any health problems

Not everyone who smokes has health problems now. But medical studies show a link between smoking cigarettes and diseases like lung cancer and heart disease. Over a quarter of all regular smokers die of smoking related diseases. Those people who start to smoke when they are young are more likely to die of smoking related diseases.  

• People should be allowed to smoke as and where they wish. It’s their right.

A smoker risks their own life but also the health of other people who breathe the smoke from their cigarettes. This is why many countries have laws which do not allow smoking in public areas such as transport and buildings. Many organisations have made their offices smoke-free and some people do not allow smoking inside their homes.

• Smoking is not a serious risk like unprotected sex etc 

Over a quarter of all regular smokers die of smoking related diseases. 

• Smoking is cool

 Smoking cigarettes seriously damages your health so it’s foolish to start smoking. Fools are not cool. It is not cool to ignore avoidable risks and it is not cool if we are fooled by advertisements.

• Everything in life is dangerous, even crossing a road

It is true that life is full of risks, and that everything has some element of danger. However, we have to accept some risks that are necessary and we can reject risks which are unnecessary and avoidable. 

• People who take drugs should be punished

It is important to find out how and why people started taking drugs. It is better to concentrate first on how to prevent people form starting to take drugs. 

• Smoking tobacco is far more dangerous than smoking marijuana

They are both dangerous. The tar produced by marijuana contains more cancer-producing agents than tobacco tar.  

• Drug takers only have themselves to blame if they ask sick

Some drug-taker deliberately started taking drugs but many are pushed into it by peer pressure, pressure in their lives or by drug dealers. Many people take drugs to escape from the difficulties or problems in their lives. Whatever the reason, once they are addicted, they need a lot of support to help them give up.

• People who don't drink are either religious fanatics or cowards

Whether to drink alcohol or not is a personal decision. It may be determined by religious reasons or many other reasons.

 
• Alcohol is a part of our culture

Alcohol may be a part of some cultures, but drunkenness is not.

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Life Skills, Activity 28: Decision-making, Practising Making Decisions

This is a single activity session plan from our book, The Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only)). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Purpose of activity: To practice using the 3 C's to make decisions

Life skills: decision-making, critical thinking, creative thinking, problem solving, communication skills

Important points: Try to ask help from your colleagues in this activity so that children can ask them questions. They can be in the same room or nearby.

Materials: A Poster of the  three Cs (see previous Activity 27) 

Steps:

1. Using the poster, go through the three Cs. Explain that it is not necessary to use the model to make small everyday decisions but it can help for those decisions that could have a big effect on your life. 

2. Tell children that they are going to practice using the three Cs.

3. Divide people into groups and give each group 2-3 challenges they might face (using the ones they identified in the first session and any others you think are relevant). Each group writes or draws the decision-making model on a large sheet of paper and discusses the choices and consequences of each challenge.  You may need to help groups identify choices and consequences. 

4. Allow groups to continue working until the next part and remind them to be prepared to present their response. Encourage them to look for further information from other sources for example by discussing with other friends or with another educators or other adults, religious leaders etc.
Some difficult challenges

• Meena's uncle says there is no money to pay for Meena's school fees.  Her father always sent money before but recently he has sent nothing.  Her mother tells her she is sure he will send the money but Meena doesn’t believe it.  She wants to run away early in the morning and go to town to find her father.  She knows the area he lives in but she has never been to his room.
• Achieng belongs to a group of girls who are a little older than her.  They like to show how grown up they are. All except Achieng have already had sex.  They now tell Achieng that she doesn’t deserve to belong to the same group.  She does have a boyfriend but they have never had sex together.
• Nasir belongs to a group of boys who sell food and drinks to the big buses that stop in the village on the way to the city.  The boys have discovered that it is easy to steal small things from the passengers as the bus drives away (earrings, handbags etc.)  They pull them away as the bus gathers speed. Nasir has never dared try although it looks easy and his friends laugh at him and call him a coward.
• Matteus has been going out with his girlfriend for a year and they have been having sex for 6 months.  They have always used a condom but Matteus's girlfriend is tired of using a condom.  They want to get married and she sees no reason why they should go on using a condom.  She is becoming quite upset about it and threatening to end the relationship.
• Grace has discovered that she is pregnant.  When she goes to her boyfriend, he chases her out and calls her a prostitute.  She is afraid of telling anyone.  Then a friend of hers tells her that there is an old woman who can help her ask rid of her baby.
• Augusto wants to go to secondary school but he has to pass an exam for government school. When he goes to find out the results, he finds he has missed his chance by only two places. A worker in the education office tells him that if he is prepared to give him a certain amount of money, he will make sure he is given a place, since he knows that some of the names on the list are not real. 

You can have a break here

5. Give a few minutes for each group to finish their decisions (in case they consulted other people outside).

6. Ask groups to report their decisions to the whole group. The other children may ask questions and add other ideas for choices and consequences.

7. After all decisions have been discussed, end with the following questions.

Final discussion: Is it easy or difficult to make good decisions?  What makes it difficult?  (for example, the influence of emotions, or alcohol, pressure from peers or a partner etc).  What makes it easy?  (knowing how to resist pressure, being sure about your values or goals, getting good advice from people you trust) Have you made a decision that affected other people?  What happened? How likely is it that one of your decisions will turn out badly?  What do you do if that happens?

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Life Skills, Activity 26: Problem-Solving, What Risks Do We Take and Why?

This is a single activity session plan from our book, The Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only)). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Purpose of activity:

•  To understand better the concept of risk-taking
• To consider when a risk is acceptable or not

Life skills: critical thinking, creative thinking, problem-solving

Materials:

• Marker pens or crayons (red, yellow and green)
• Sets of cards of three blank cards (red, yellow and green) one set for each pair
• Poster listing risk statements 

Steps:

1. Explain that we all take risks as part of everyday life. For example:  

• We cross the road (traffic accidents)
• We work in the fields (snake bite)

The important thing is to think about the risks first and decide carefully. This is not always easy.

2. Read a short story in which a character in the story takes a risk. For example:

Luis is selling cigarettes in the main street. He is approached by a man who buys two packets and then tells him that there is a better way to make money in the street. He tells the boy to follow him to his flat where they can talk about it more. Luis follows.

3. In the whole group 

• Is anyone in this story taking a risk?
• Why did Luis decide to take a risk?
• How do you think Luis felt at the time?
• What might have happened because of taking that risk?  Would it be good or bad?
• What identity factors led to Simon taking this risk?(Luis showed risk-taking behaviour. He lacks skills to think critically about the dangers of this situation. The environment in which he lives and works, as a street vendor with very little money encourages this risky behaviour.)
• What do you think about people taking risks?
• Who take more risks? Young people or old people? Why?
• Do you take risks?

4. Ask everyone to think of occasions when they took a risk.  Maybe it was a small risk or maybe it was a very important one.  In pairs, ask them to answer the same questions as above

5. Ask some of the pairs to share with the whole group.  Can you make any general observations on risk-taking behaviour?

6. Give each pair a set of three coloured cards

7. Read out the 'risk statements' below. Then read them out again, and after each one, ask the pairs to hold up one of the cards: Red for very risky; yellow for risky; green for very small risk.   

8. Record the results using the marker pens or crayons. The educator should be aware of what is acceptable locally. Some of these risks may be considered high risk in some places but not in others. The educator must also be prepared to give guidance if the children’s assessment is inaccurate.

9. Divide the children into boy-only and girl-only groups of four. Ask each child to select three ways in which they have taken a risk (from the list, from real life or invent them). 

10. Each child tells the group their three risks. They discuss why they take these risks, for example:

• Because it's fun/because it’s exciting
• Because I feel I have nothing to lose
• Because I want to be a part of the group and they are all doing it
• Because I feel old enough
• Because I am scared not to
• Because I want to make money

11. In the whole group discuss the risks and the reasons. If groups have common reasons, decide what lifeskills are needed to reduce this risk-taking behaviour. (Use the answers to chose future lifeskills activities).

Final discussion: Point out risks that the children did not think about during their discussion. Do you know when you are taking risks? What can you do to identify risks?

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Life Skills, Activity 24: Rights and Responsibilities

This is a single activity session plan from our book, The Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only)). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Purpose of activity:

• To share ideas about children's rights and responsibilities
• To discuss how to ask closer to achieving their rights

Lifeskills: Critical thinking, creative thinking

Important points: Before the session, find out about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the laws on children's rights in the country. 

Materials

• Pieces of paper large enough to make a life-size drawing of a child
• Marker pens or crayons
• Stickers (optional)

Steps:

1. Explain that this activity explores children's rights and responsibilitiesRights: what children should have (food, shelter, safe water, health care play etc) and Responsibilities: what children should do (respect others' rights, help one another etc)
2. Ask a volunteer to lie down on the large piece of paper on the floor and draw the outline of their body shape.
3. Ask all the children to sit around the body drawing. Explain that the body drawing will become a child's rights and responsibilities. 
4. Children brainstorm all the rights they think children should have. The educator writes all these suggestions inside the ‘body’ using a pen in one colour. 
5. Children are then asked to list the responsibilities they have. To help them, show them that many rights have a corresponding responsibility, for example: A right to speak and a responsibility to listen.
6. Tell the children about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and your country's laws.
   You can have a break here
7. Read through all the rights that the children listed inside the body.
8. Ask each child to vote for the three rights that are most important to them. Children can make three dots beside three different rights using a pen in a different colour, or if possible, give each child three stickers. If the children are not literate you can create symbols for different rights. Make sure the children can easily identify what the symbols represent. Then children tell the educator which rights they want to vote for and the educator shows them where to put their mark or sticker. 
9. Select the three rights with the most votes and discuss how this right can be realised, for example: What needs to happen for children to ask the right to protection from violence?
10. Draw a thin line from each of these three rights. On a card outside the body, write children’s ideas about how to achieve this right.

Follow up: Encourage the children to work together to develop and implement an action plan to improve their rights

Case study

In India, children in a project formed a Child Rights Club. The children were interviewed by the media about their rights at the launch of the club. Here are some of the replies…

• I was not allowed to play because I am a girl.
• My mother does not send my sister to school, but she sends me. [ a boy]
• A right to live a proper life is important because it is only after having this right that we can ask for the other rights [in the UN CRC]. For example, if a girl does not even have the right to live, then what will she do with the other rights? 
• Because I was not educated, a vegetable seller cheated me.
• The police beat me up and put me in an observation home. I wish I could live freely and safely. I hope the police will not beat me in future.

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Life Skills, Activity 23 Communication: Fight and Flight

This is a single activity session plan from our Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only)). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Purpose of activity: To understand that in some situations, assertiveness and negotiation don't work

Life skills: communication & interpersonal relationships, self-awareness, critical thinking

Materials: Small prizes for the winners of the race and the screaming contest. 

Steps:

1. Take children into a large open space where they can run and scream without disturbing anyone. 
2. Tell them that you are going to teach them two methods of being assertive.  However, first you want them to race each other. (Find a short race they can run, for example, to a nearby tree or wall and back again.)
3. After the race, explain that there are some situations where assertiveness and discussion (fight) do not work. These are usually situations where you are threatened with violence. In these situations, flight (running away) is the best options. 
4. Announce that now you will have a screaming contest. The person who screams loudest wins.
5. After the contest, explain that in some situations, screaming may be the best defence, particularly if many other people are nearby. These situations include children being followed or touched by people they do not know or like.
6. Give prizes to the best runner and loudest screamer.
7. Ask the children to brainstorm some situations and to explain whether they would run or scream, and why.
8. You can finish your session with some games.

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Life Skills, Activity 20 Communication: How Assertive Are You?

This is a single activity session plan from our book, The Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only)). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Purpose of activity: To find out how assertive we are

Life skills: Communication & interpersonal relationships, self-awareness, critical thinking

Important points: Assertiveness is about defending your right to what you want or need. Assertivenes requires two basic ways of communicating:

• asking for what you want
• refusing what you do not want.

How to be assertive:

• State clearly what you want or need.
• Defend your right to have what you want or need
• Say what you feel or think.
• Refuse to do what is not in your own best interest.
• Respect other people and never threaten, punish or humiliate each other. 

Many people find it difficult to be assertive because they don't like conflict.  They prefer to keep quiet and hope the conflict will go away.  The problem is that the conflict does not go away. In addition, girls and women are often brought up not to be assertive.  

It is also difficult to be assertive in some situation, for example, young people talk to older people.  It is important to discuss with the group what are acceptable assertive behaviours with parents, teachers, religious leaders, elders etc. 
 

Materials:

Signs:

M = Most of the time

S = Some of the time

A = Almost never

• Poster of a scorecard

0-5 You need to practise hard

6-10 You are doing okay, but you still need to practise.

11-15 You are doing very well. Keep it up!

• Paper and pencils for each child

Steps:

(Put the signs on the wall before starting the activity)

1. Explain that assertiveness is a way of being strong for yourself. It is the best way of communicating in many situations. This game will help the children find out how assertive they are.

2. Give each child a paper and pencil.

3. Go through the instructions for the activity:I will read 15 statements. As I read each one, think about how often you do what the statement says. There are three signs along the wall marked with:

M = Most of time

S = Some of the time; and

A = Almost never

When I read a statement, move to the sign that indicates how often that statement is true for you. Take your pen and paper with you. For each statement, note on the paper where you are standing. Write M for most of the time, S for some of the time and A for almost never.

4. Practice this once and then do the quiz

Quiz: How assertive am I? 

1. If I disagree with a friend, I say so, even if it means s/he might not like me.

2. I ask for help when I am hurt or confused.

3. I do what I think is right, even if I know it may make me unpopular. 

4. I let people know when they disappoint me. 

5. If a friend borrows money and is late paying it back, I remind him or her.

6. I say no when classmates want to copy my homework or test answers.

7. If a friend is talking or making noise during class, I ask him or her to be quiet.

8. If I have a friend who is always late, I tell him or her how I feel about it.

9. I ask my friends for a favour when I need one.

10. When someone asks me to do something that goes against my values, I refuse. 

11. I express my views on important things, even if others disagree.

12. I don't do dangerous things with my friends. 

13. When I don't understand what someone is telling me, I ask questions.

14. When it is clear that a point needs to be made and no one is making it, I say so. 

15. When people hurt my feelings, I let them know how I feel.

5. Repeat this process for all 15 statements

6. Ask children to add up the number of M's on their papers 

7. Show the assertiveness scorecard you have made. Go over the numbers on the scorecard and explain what they mean. Make the following points:

• Many people achieve only fairly low scores on this survey.
• People with scores higher than 7 should be glad they have learned how to speak up for what they want and say 'no' to things they don't want.
• Boys and men generally score higher than girls and women on assertiveness surveys such as this one.
• People are more likely to treat others with respect when they treat themselves with respect.
• People with scores below six can easily improve their score by practising assertive behaviours.

8. Say that many of us would like to behave assertively. We will practise being assertive in the next two activities. 

Final discussion:

• What makes it difficult to be assertive? (the other person is more powerful or stronger, for example, an adult or parent. The person is someone who you want to please, like a friend). Can you think of a situation in which you would like to be more assertive?
• Do you know someone in real life who is particularly good at being assertive and standing up for her/his rights? What about on radio or on television? Describe that person and her/his assertive behaviour.
• Can you describe a situation when you were assertive? What happened?
• Can you suggest how to be assertive without being aggressive? (for example: be calm but firm do not demand or threaten, be firm about standing up for yourself; use a normal tone of voice and keep your body language relaxed, use I statements.)
• Do you have a friend who needs to learn to be more assertive? Explain. How can you help?

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Life Skills, Activity 19: Communication: You and I

This is a single activity session plan from our book, The Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only)). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it

Purpose of activity:

• To learn ways of talking effectively to someone with whom you have a problem
• To practise making non-judgemental statements
• To practice making statements which open the way to discussion rather than close it.

Life skills: Communication & interpersonal relationships, selfawareness, critical thinking

Important points: This is a language-based activity so it needs to be adapted carefully.

 Materials: None

Steps:

1. Divide children into groups of three. Ask one of the groups to be an observer. The group prepares a 5-minute role play on an argument such as those below.

• Husband comes drunk.  Wife is angry with him. Husband blames the wife
• Father is angry with son/daughter because s/he does not hand in homework on time and is often out with friends
• Girl is angry with boyfriend because all he wants is sex
• Woman standing in bus with a baby on her back complains that the young people do not offer her a seat

2. Ask all the observers to come together in a group. Ask half of them to count the number of times the word YOU is used in each role-play and the other half to count how many times the word I is used.

3. Groups do their role-plays.  At the end of each one, ask the observers to say how many times YOU or I was used in each drama.

4. Explain to the people that YOU statements tend to be judgement statements which are often full of blame. They do not consider the point of view of the other side so they cause more conflict.  I statements usually try to clarify your point of view about a situation rather than to blame the other person. I statements help to find a way to a solution.  

5. Explain the steps in I statements.

• The action: When ...Make a specific and non-judgemental statement, for example, ‘When you come home late at night ...’NOT ‘When you finally decide to come home’
• The response: I feel...Your feelings are a fact and cannot be argued. For example…’I feel sad and hurt…’ NOT, ‘I think you don’t care’. ‘I think’ can cause more conflict if the other person disagrees with you.
• The reason: because...You can add an explanation but make sure that it is still a positive one and not a blaming statement, for example ’…because I like to have some time with you in the evening.’NOT ‘because you never do anything for me.’
• The suggestion: What I'd like is...Make a statement of the change you would like, for example, ‘What I’d like is to discuss this with you.’

You can take a break here

6. Remind the children of the ‘I’ statements. In pairs, ask the children  to discuss one of the conflict situations and to think of the ways in which the characters could use ‘I’ statements to avoid conflict and resolve the situation, for example: Father is angry with son/daughter because s/he never does homework and is often out with friends    I statement: When you do not do your homework, I feel disappointed because I want  you to do well at school. What I'd like is to discuss why you do not want to work at home?

7. Discuss the results of this exercise. Point out that I statements can be used in many different situations, in the market, in the bus, etc. Ask children to try using I statements at least once before the next session.

Final discussion:  What do you think of the I statement formula? Can you use it? Who do you think it could be more successful with? (adults?  peers?  partners?) Why?

Follow Up: Remember this formula and encourage the children to use it to resolve conflicts.

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Life Skills, Activity 15: Communication, Mime the Lie

This is a single activity session plan from our Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Purpose of activity:

• To show how people can give confusing messages because their actions send a different message to their words.
• To notice how body language can be misinterpreted
• To practise effective body language effective and how to respond to threatening or inappropriate body language from others.

Life skills: Communication, interpersonal relationships, self-awareness, critical thinking 

 Important points: The first game is a funny way to show how actions have more effect than words and can be used as a warm up. Stress that even though actions often DO show real feelings, this is not always true. Actions can also be misunderstood.

Materials: None

Steps:

1. Ask children to stand in a circle
2. Go into the middle of the circle and mime an action, such as brushing your teeth
3. Ask one of the children to ask you what you are doing.  Reply by saying something else, for example I am digging a hole.
4. Now ask the person who asked you the question to do the action you said you were doing (digging a hole) and ask another person to ask that person what s/he is doing.  Again a wrong reply is given (I’m dancing).
5. Continue to give as many children as possible a chance but stop before the others lose interest.
6. Brainstorm situations where body language is confusing or goes against the words being said for example:- a girl refusing to walk down the street with a man but her expression suggests she wants to- a person saying they are interested while yawningDiscuss whether words or actions show real feelings more. 
7. Brainstorm situations where the body language of a person is threatening or inappropriate. Discuss how to react to these situations.
8. Divide children into groups.  Give each group one situation to act out in mime. The groups can add an ending. The following are suggestions only.

• A teacher asks a girl student to take the books to his house.  In the house he starts to show he likes her.
• A girl you like visits you. You are very happy but then either you realise she has been drinking or she behaves in an aggressive manner towards you.
• Two girls are talking. A man nearby keeps on looking at them. Then he comes and introduces himself. He stands very close while he is talking and is always looking at the body of one of the girls.
• You (boy or girl) are walking home in the evening. Suddenly you realise you are being followed by a man with a strange look on his face.

Final discussion:

How did the people in the role pays react and why did they react like that? Why do some people give the wrong signals? (they are not always aware of their body language, they are not confident, they are confused) 

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Life Skills, Activity 13 Communication: Missing the Message

Purpose of activity: To understand what helps and what stops good communication

Life skills: self-awareness, communication, critical thinking

Important points: In this activity there is a lot of talking and discussing. It may be useful to do an active, physical game at the end before monitoring questions. For example, Dragon Heads or Tails or Community of Five. See the games section at the end of Part 2 on how to play this game.

Materials:

•  Blank paper for each group 
• Pencils for each group

Steps

1. Divide children into groups of five.  Explain that you want each group to draw a pictures but that you will secretly tell one member of the team what you want drawn.  This child secretly tells the next person. This is repeated until the last person in the group receives the message. S/he then draws the picture. The first team to draw the picture correctly wins.
2. Give each group a piece of paper and a pencil. 
3. Call forward one child from each group. Tell them this once only… Your last group member should draw a round table.  In the middle of the table there is plate of biscuits.  To the left of the plate there is a spoon and to the right there is a cup without a saucer.  Under the table there is a cat with a kitten.
4. how the drawings. They may be very different from your explanation!
5. Discuss what went wrong with the communication - did not listen carefully- did not remember- explanation was too quick- too many details etc
6. Explain the basic steps to communication:

• • Sender - Creates and sends the message
  • Receiver - Responds to the message
  • Message - The information that the sender wants to communicate to someone. The  message can be understood in the same way or differently by the sender and the receiver.)
  • Feedback  - How the receiver shows s/he has received the message for  example by repeating it or by asking a question

7. Read the example of communication below.

Ali says to Hussein, 'I'm not going to school any more.  I don't why I should be hungry just because of going to school. I'm going to town to find a way of making money.

8. Ask the following questions:

• Who is the sender? (Ali)
• Who is the receiver? (Hussein)
• What is the message Ali is sending Hussein?

Here are some ideas:

• I want to ask a job and earn money
•  I'm tired of going hungry every day
• It's not worth going hungry just to get an education

You can have a break here.

9. Explain that the message is not just what a person says but the meaning behind the words. Look at the situation between Ali and Hussein again.  How should Hussein reply?

• He could ask a question, for example, why do you want to get a job when you are so young?
• He could tell Ali he doesn't understand. Then Ali will have to explain more
• He can advise Ali not to leave school. 
• Any of these make Ali say more.

10. Explain that bad communication can be because:

• The sender does not send a clear message.  The words may not be clear or there is conflict between the words and the way the sender speaks them or behaves while speaking them.
• The receiver does not listen to the message or understand it.
• The receiver does not make sure s/he has understood the message by giving feedback to the sender
• The sender does not acknowledge or respond to the feedback

Final discussion:

•  What do you think about the communication model? What went wrong with the communication in the game? In the game, the message being sent was too long for the receiver.  The receiver may not have listened well and there was no chance for any feedback.
• What are the consequences of breakdown in communication? Conflicts, fights and wars are often the result of poor communication and misunderstanding.
• Have you ever had difficulty sending a message?  What happened?  
• Why is it sometimes difficult to express what we want to say?
• Has this activity helped you understand why?

This is a single activity session plan from our book, The Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only)). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

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Activity 12 Friendship: Negotiating Roles and Responsibilities in a Group

This is a single activity session plan from our book, The Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only)). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it. 

Purpose of activity: To gain awareness of the roles and responsibilities of members of a group. 

 Life skills: self-awareness

Important points: It is useful to do Activities 4 and 5 on identity factors before doing this activity. Stress that a group identity is different from the identity of its members.

Materials

• A large piece of blank paper or an outline drawing of five or six children sitting in a group
•   Large pieces of paper for each group
• Pens for each group

Steps

1. Divide children into groups of five or six
2. Explain that each group is an imaginary group of friends. They have to decide on the identity factors of the group as a whole. They can use the symbols to remind themselves 
3. They will need to discuss: 

4. The group then prepares a presentation of their group identity and presents their results.

Final discussion: 

Select some of these ideas for discussion. Do not use all of them in a single session.

About the results

• Sometimes a group feels like another being. It has its own identity. Do you agree? Why/why not?
• How is the group's identity different from your own? Could this be a problem? How?

About the process

• Did everyone participate equally?
• What roles did group members play, for example, who guided the discussion, who started the discussion, who made sure that they finished on time, who had the ideas, who did the drawing, writing, who was the leader, who made sure that everyone had a say?
• How were decisions made?
• Did you all respect each others views?
• Was everybody interested? Did they feel that there was trust, and support in the group, or was there any anxiety or conflict?
• How did they deal with any disagreements?
• Was there any sub-grouping?
• Was everyone happy with the conclusions you came to?

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Activity 8 Friendship: What is a Friend?

This is a single activity session plan from our book, The Life Skills Handbook, a book available in digital format (only)). There are 61 activity sessions in this book. Click here for more information on the book and how to purchase it.

Purpose of activity:

To explore what it means to be a friend and to think about what we expect from a friend.

Life skills:

Self-awareness, Critical thinking

Important points:

People have different views on what makes a friend. Disagreeing and fighting can happen even between friends. Friends can have a good and bad influence. Friends should not ask too much of each other. If the group did the self-awareness Activity 1: special me, refer to this activity. 

 Materials:

Three sets of friendship cards 

Steps:

1. Divide the group into three. Give each group a set of friendship cards. Show the children each card and reads what it says. Ask each group to do the same. Make sure the children understand what each image means.
2. Ask the children to discuss each card in their groups and write a tick  on the back of each card that most of them agree with and a cross on the back of a card that most of them disagree with. Say that there are no right or wrong answers and that they should have reasons for their answers.
3. After 10/15 minutes of discussion ask one child from each group to read out a card and say whether the group agrees or disagrees, and to explain why. If other groups disagree, they can explain why. Make an 'agree' and a 'disagree' pile of cards until all the cards are finished. You can also do this discussion by showing and reading the cards to all pairs or groups. The pairs or groups discuss whether they agree or disagree and then report their answer. The important part of this activity is a good discussion.
4. Ask the children to think about two other ways to describe a friend and write and/or draw these in the two remaining cards. For example:A friend is someone who knows what to do when I am sad A friend shares her things with me
5. Ask each group to share their new ideas. 

Final discussion:

How can friends make a difference to you? Can you be friends with anyone? What things make it difficult to be friends with someone? What things make it difficult to be friends with you? What did you learn about having friends from this activity? 

Follow up:

Refer to this session when everyday things happen for example, when friends have an argument or do something considerate. 

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Monitoring and Evaluating Life Skills 15/15: TOOLS TO STIMULATE DISCUSSION

For those of you conducting life skills activities or life skills training with young people or adult facilitators. Here is the last of my series of 15 weekly posts on Monitoring and Evaluating Life Skills. Each of them are extracted from the Toolkit I developed for the Jacobs Foundation with the help of many of their field partners and which you can download for FREE by clicking here. Please find the Lifeskills Toolkit half way down the page under the heading, Intervention and Application. If you wish to have a hard (printed) copy please contact me with a short description of your work and why you would like the hard copy.  As always please comment on these posts and let's get a conversation going!

In the 'tools' download you will find lost of explanations and discussions about the different types of evaluation tools like structured and semi-structured interviews, role plays, surveys and types of survey questions. Also set out are some more qualitative methods like draw and write. In addition, there are twelve activities to engage children and young people and to stimulate discussion and information. Young people can feel uncomfortable in a formal interview or even a focus group discussion. A creative activity can helps to get their attention and focus and stimulate opinions. The informal chatting that happens during a creative activity acts as 'warm up' and often results in deep and interesting reflections at the end of the activity. To give you a sense of the contents here is the list of activities:
1.    CD Covers
2.    Collage
3.    Shields
4.    Masks
5.    The Most Significant Story 
6.    Speech bubbles
7.    Picture This
8.    Builder
9.    Draw and write 
10.    Moving Circles
11.    Image Theatre
12.    Fill in the blanks

For step by step explanations on how to conduct each activity and for examples how some of  the partners of the Jacobs Foundation have used these download the full version of the toolkit here.

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FREE Lifeskills Materials

The Life Skills Handbook provides advice and active learning activities for teaching life skills to young people. It supports and guides all people who plan, manage, teach or work on formal and non-formal education programmes. It can be adapted and used in different cultural contexts worldwide. The Life Skills Handbook is intended for use with young people aged 8-16. The activities need to be adapted to the needs, experiences of the young people you work with. Many people use the activities with adult groups too. View three FREE Life Skills activity sessions if you click here. For the complete collection of all 61 Sessions and sections on planning and training, buy the Life Skills Handbook here of £8.99.

 

If you have no means to pay and you think this handbook is just what you need, let us know and we will send it to you for FREE.

OTHER FREE Lifeskills Resources

• (Aids Alliance) A Parrot on Your Shoulder: A guide for people working with orphans and vulnerable children. (Clare Hanbury was part of the advisory and review team). This fully illustrated activity guide is aimed at those who working with OVC's. Drawing on the experiences of the Alliance, its partners, and other organisations working in the field, it gives some pointers on working with children, including cultural and gender considerations. It includes 30 activities for engaging children in group work, as well as fun ideas for ice-breakers and energisers, group work and co-operation, observation, active listening and analytical skills, drama, mime and role play, and painting and drawing. To download click the link here

• Bamboo Shoots. A training manual on child rights, child protection and child-led community actions for facilitators working with children and youth groups. It  was originally created by Plan in Cambodia. It was developed to: Increase children’s understanding of their rights as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC); raise children’s awareness of their rights and build their capacities to claim them; create opportunities for children to recognize, identify and prioritize issues and problems or gaps in relation to child rights violations; and provide opportunities for children to influence agendas and action regarding identified and prioritized child rights violations.To download, click the link here

• (Clare Hanbury) The Tricycle System.  This is a new framework for promoting children's participation in health and other child rights-related projects. It builds upon the 6-step Child-to-Child approach that I helped to develop as a result of many years of field work with The Child-to-Child Trust. New elements are ideas and activities developed out of work in mentoring, coaching and appreciative enquiry. For a free summary of the Tricycle System click here.

• (Clare Hanbury) We are On The Radio. A book and tape about children making radio broadcasts for other children and families about health and development issues important to them. This is only available from us. Please contact us to find out how to get hold of a copy!

• (Clare Hanbury) Monitoring and Evaluating Life Skills Projects for Youth Development for The Jacobs Foundation. (April 2011). For link click here

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Monitoring and Evaluation Tools to Use with Children: Moving Circles

Lifeskills Activities

For those of you conducting life skills activities or life skills training with young people or adult facilitators, Here is the last of my series of 15 weekly posts on Monitoring and Evaluating Life Skills. Each of them are extracted from the Toolkit I developed for the Jacobs Foundation with the help of many of their field partners and which you can download for FREE by clicking here. Please find the Lifeskills Toolkit half way down the page under the heading, Intervention and Application. If you wish to have a hard (printed) copy please contact me with a short description of your work and why you would like the hard copy.  As always please comment on these posts and let's get a conversation going!

In the 'toolkit' download you will find lost of explanations and discussions about the different types of evaluation tools like structured and semi-structured interviews, role plays, surveys and types of survey questions. Also set out are some more qualitative methods like draw and write. In addition, there are twelve activities to engage children and young people and to stimulate discussion and information. Young people can feel uncomfortable in a formal interview or even a focus group discussion. A creative activity can helps to get their attention and focus and stimulate opinions. The informal chatting that happens during a creative activity acts as 'warm up' and often results in deep and interesting reflections at the end of the activity. Here is the list of activities in this section:
1.    CD Covers
2.    Collage
3.    Shields
4.    Masks
5.    The Most Significant Story 
6.    Speech bubbles
7.    Picture This
8.    Builder
9.    Draw and write 
10.   Moving Circles
11.   Image Theatre
12.   Fill in the blanks

Here is the activity on Moving Circles...

10. MOVING CIRCLES LIFESKILLS ACTIVITY

Before selecting this tool, remember to define the purpose of the evaluation, define your key questions and select or develop indicators that relate to the purpose and the questions. No materials are needed.

Process

1. Identify the area you wish to explore, e.g., a life skill or an indicator or broader themes and issues to do with the life skills project. This activity can be used with young people to evaluate their view of a life skills project or activity.
2. Young people make an inner and outer circle with partners facing each other. This can be quickly done by numbering the group either 1 or 2 and then making the number ones form the first circle facing out and the number 2’s stand opposite one person facing them.
3. Young people in the inner circle think of a problem or a response to a question, and ask their partner in the outer circle to suggest advice. The partner makes a suggestion.
4. After a few minutes, all the people in the outside circle move one place to the right. The children with problems ask the same question to their new partner in the outer circle.
5. The game continues. 
6. Here are some questions that could be used:

• What were your hopes for the project?
• Were those hopes met? 
• What was the best part of the project? Why? 
• What was the worst part? Why?
• What was our biggest success? 
• What would you do different next time?
• What is the biggest change in our community as a result of the project

7. Conclude with a general discussion on these same issues. The ideas and themes can be written on a chart. Young people can vote for the three issues they feel most strongly about. This can be done using a limited number of tick or stickers (3 or 5).

CASE STUDY (extract)

Moving Circles  was conducted in 45 mins with 17 girls aged 12–13 years. We introduced the session and asked the group what they know about research using these questions:

• What is research?
• What is it for? 
• What kind of research have you heard of? 
• What questions do you have?

We gave the group an example of opinion polls using the example of their favorite team in the world cup. We talked to the group about the importance of reviewing & reflecting after an experience, to improve it and invited them to participate in a research process. We placed questions on the wall:

• What did you think about the program at the beginning?
• In relation to the regular activities in school, how do you think this programme is different? 
• What was your favorite part of the project? Why? 
• What was the most important thing you learned about the program? Why? 
• What was the biggest success of the program? 
• What would you like to do different this year, in relation to the program? 
• What is the biggest change in your school/grade as a result of the program? 
• What new things would you like to do/discuss as part of the program?

We asked them to form 2’s or 3’s. Each group was given one question. They discussed what the program was about last year to help them create a second question. Groups paired up and interviewed each other taking in turns to answer and ask the questions. They then move on until every group has interviewed or been interviewed by every other group. They noted the questions and answers.

In the whole group, we asked the young people to discuss the experience. We collected papers and informed them that we would provide feedback. Each young person filled out a further individual survey of 10 questions.

For the full set of results please download the toolkit!

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Monitoring and Evaluating Life Skills

In my work on M& E with the Jacobs Foundation I have been pleased to come across the work of 'Edgework'. This is an organisation who works with NGO's amoung others and in particuler looking at innovative ways to embed life skills into sports progrmames and camp experiences specifically for children and youth who are especially vulnerable.

Summaries of the impact they have had can be read here.

Also on their website are tools and resources that can be used to support the monitoring and evalution of Life Skills.

In addition, they include one or two tools that relate to specific Sport for Development projects.

Lastly they have posted a short manual on some games that help promote conversations about resilience.

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Soccer for Peace and Life Skills

I am working with the Jacobs Foundation at the moment on a life skills project and I have just come across these Soccer for Peace ideas from Futbol Con Corazon.

Soccer for Peace Methodology

The Soccer for Peace methodology uses soccer as a vehicle to attract children and teenagers to the organization, and provides them with the necessary mentoring and care to have a positive and lasting impact on their lives. With a different set of rules than conventional soccer, the methodology promotes gender equality and teaches conflict resolution.

Rules of the game

• A minimum of two girls and two boys per team.
• Each boy and girl participating in the program must play the same amount of time during the game.
• There are no referees. In their place are advisors (tutors), who act as facilitators. Conflicts that arise during the game must be solved by the players themselves.
• The first goal of each team must be scored by a girl.
• Children are encouraged to follow values, such as honesty, solidarity, respect and tolerance, and receive “Heart” stickers for doing so. They can also collect a “Heart” by scoring a goal during a game.
• The game consists of three periods. During the first period, all players agree to follow the rules of coexistence. During the second period, the game is played. During the third period, players evaluate themselves, as well as their opponents, and the final score is established.
• The advisor facilitates the agreements of coexistence during the first period and the self-evaluation in the third period. The advisor also mediates potential conflicts, and takes notes on the game.
• The winning team accumulates the most number of “Hearts”, which are then converted into points for the tournament’s scoreboard.
• If at the end of the tournaments, there is a draw, the team with the most “Hearts”, as a result of values applied during the game, will be declared the winner.

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Sample Life Skills Activity Sessions 1/3

Self Awareness: My Place on the Tree

Purpose of activity: To develop children's self-awareness about their present lives.

Life skills: Self-awareness, critical thinking, creative thinking

Important points: Try to ask the children to think deeply about their place on the tree and to find reasons for their choices. If children find this difficult, do not worry but note what the children feel or do not feel able to say. The activity can be repeated in Part 3 when children have improved their communication skills. If some children do not want to speak in the group, do not force them, but let them think about their ideas and if possible talk about their ideas to one friend.

Materials

A copy of the tree picture on a large poster for all the children to see

Self Awarness: my place on the tree diagram

  

Steps

1. Show the children the picture and explain that the tree represents life. The people on the tree are at different stages of their lives. They are doing different things for different reasons.

2. Ask the children to think of a well-known character in your country, for example a famous sports star, a character from a folktale or a famous person. Perhaps this person feels like the person at the top of the tree because he looks sure of himself and powerful. She is smiling at everyone below her. She is pleased with her position! Ask the children which figure in the picture is like the famous person. (The children will probably have different ideas and different reasons – that's fine).

3. Show the children the figure(s) on the tree which show where you feel you are in life today. Explain the reasons for your choice.
For example: I feel I am like the person doing a handstand halfway up the tree with one hand off the branch. I feel like this because I am feeling full of energy and I feel I am doing something a bit different today by starting this life skills work with you. I am not sure if it will be fun or a bit risky!

4. Ask the children to choose one figure that is closest to themselves.

5. In pairs or small groups, children discuss why they identified with a particular figure. For example…

I feel like I am at the bottom of the tree waving and looking happy because I am just beginning the life skills (so I am at the bottom of the tree). I am looking happy because I hope the class will help me and I am waving at my friends who will be with me.

Final discussion:
Do we feel like different people on the tree at different times of the day or week? Were you happy to tell us about your figure? Why/Why not?

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