Activity 3: Build It Together
Activity time: 25 minutes
Materials for Activity
- Art supplies, including small sheets of poster board, construction paper, small boxes, crayons, pencils, glue, tape, and colored pencils. If available, include more fanciful supplies, such as feathers, glitter, buttons and seeds
Preparation for Activity
- Set out all materials in two boxes on two tables across the room from each other.
Description of Activity
Participants cooperate to create an art project.
Divide participants into two teams. Tell them that each team is responsible for creating a model village. Oasis of Peace used education as the focus of their village. Each team should choose a different focus for their village. Every team member should help decide on the theme and should create at least one piece of the village. Try to make the villages as functioning as possible. After choosing a theme, teams might brainstorm what their village needs most. For Oasis of peace, it was schools and learning centers. Yet, their village also needed markets, houses, and government centers. Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam also has a large municipal pool. Was that something they needed or something they wanted? Tell teams that they have 15 minutes to work on the project and two minutes to present it to the larger group.
While the teams work, give time updates. Be available to answer questions, but let the teams make all the decisions. Reconvene the larger group and hear presentations. Process the activity with the following questions:
- How did you feel about the process?
- Were there times when cooperation was not easy? How did you handle differences of opinion?
- How does this experience relate to cooperative experiences you have had previously?
- What is hardest thing for you personally about cooperating? What is the easiest? Is it the same for everybody? If not, how do you go about trying to make the cooperative experience meet everyone's needs? (Make sure they discuss the importance of having a safe space where you feel respected enough to speak up for your needs. Relate this to the first Principle, which affirms the inherent dignity of everyone.)
Including All Participants
Be sure the tables are accessible to anyone with mobility needs.