por The group dynamics for young that I am going to present are designed to learn in an entertaining way and reflect on facts and concepts that are not learned in curricular subjects.
Group dynamics can be useful in institutes, youth organizations (such as scouts) or other institutions, such as centers for minors or shelters. Although they are designed for young people, they can also be used with adults.
These activities help young people to mature and reflect on things that are present in everyday life, but that nobody teaches you how to deal with, such as making moral decisions.
The effectiveness of the dynamics can vary considerably depending on the characteristics of the group, the activity to be carried out and contextual variables such as the moment in which they are carried out. For example, it is not the same to carry out the activity at the beginning, middle or end of the course.
Group dynamics to start the process, clarify doubts and motivate young people to participate
anonymous doubts
It is very common, especially among young people, for a teacher to ask at the end of his class: «Does anyone have any questions?» be in the limelight.
The goal is for students to be able to carry out these questions without any of the fears mentioned above.
Procedure:
Throughout the class, all students will be required to write on a piece of paper any question that may come to mind. At the end of the class, the teacher will pass around a bowl or urn where the students will put their piece of paper.
Once all have been collected, a piece of paper with the question will be chosen at random and the teacher will read it out loud. At that point, you can choose to simply answer the question or involve the rest of the class in answering the question.
Dynamics to break the ice and create a work climate
The onion
This dynamic is done to create a good working environment and for the group to get to know each other a little better.
Aim:
Promote group connection, trust and create a good working environment.
When to use it:
When no group activity has been done yet and it is necessary to foster group connection.
Procedure:
A volunteer will be chosen from the group to be the farmer, while the rest of the group will be the onion.
The participants that make up the onion must all be arranged concentrically together, as if forming the layers of an onion, and the farmer must try to separate them to «peel the onion».
Every time an onion member is separated from the group, they become a farmer and must help peel the onion.
When the dynamic is over, there should be time for the group to express what they thought of the activity and what they felt while doing it.
If the group is very large, several onions can be formed.
Duration:
Approximately 15 minutes.
Recommendations:
It must be clarified before starting the activity that one cannot be violent, obviously physical force must be used to separate the partners, but always trying not to harm.
It is advisable to remove all objects that could hurt themselves (such as tables and chairs), that participants remove their shoes so as not to step on and hurt themselves and, if possible, carry out the activity on a mat.
encounter through objects
The group is divided into two subgroups. The first part will introduce a sack an own object, for example: some keys, a bracelet, etc. And then the other part of the party will take one item each and search for the owner of that item.
Finally, once the owner is found, each couple will introduce themselves to the rest of the classmates, providing the information they want.
fears and hopes
Each participant must write in a leaf with a pen, your concerns, fears and hopes about a situation you have experienced, are experiencing or are experiencing. Once finished, the trainer must give the floor to those who wish to participate and each one will introduce themselves showing the written information.
The trainer will then write it down on the board all the opinions so that at the end of the turn to speak they can point out the most frequent ones and discuss them.
It is important that in the debate the names of the students who contribute information are repeated successively in order to remember them.
Who I am? It’s me
The trainer will contribute newspapers, magazines, and reusable documents (plus glue, colors, and paper/cardstock).
In this way, each component must build a collage with the information that most represents them from all the material that has been provided. Finally, you will explain to your colleagues why you have selected this information and what it represents to you.
the inquisitive ball
Several teams are made, depending on the number of people in the group. It will be provided a ball and it will be necessary to use a music player. At the start of the music, the ball will rotate for each participant so that it does not stop until the music stops.
The person who has the ball at the moment when no sound is heard must say his name and a question asked by each member of the group.
The exercise will be repeated as many times as deemed appropriate so that most of the group can present themselves.
the famous character
Each component must choose a famous person with whom they share their name. Then, in front of the whole group, she must imitate the character and the rest must guess what her name is.
guess who is who
This dynamic is designed to be played when there is a meeting between two groups of different people (the number of members of each group is indifferent). It has a methodology similar to the famous board game Who is who?, where you need to find out the character by offering information.
Example:
Group A, made up of five girls, offers information about each of them without revealing who this information belongs to.
– One is dedicated to accounting.
– One has an intimate tattoo.
– One knows Italian and French.
– One wears contact lenses.
– One is much younger than the rest.
With these five clues, group B, made up of three boys, must find out which of the girls each piece of information corresponds to, giving a reasoning for why they have reached that conclusion.
When the combinations have been correct, it will be group A that guesses the particularities of group B.
Scribble
Each individual takes a piece of paper and a pencil. They must draw a small doodle about what they want, but that is significant about something they like or are passionate about. The rest of the components must figure out what link each doodle has to the component.
Example:
– A component draws an apple.
– The rest of the components have to intuit what their hobby is taking into account the drawing of the apple. You may love to eat apples, but you may also be a fan of Apple products, or you may work as a dietitian.
Dynamics to improve communication and interpersonal conflicts
The history
This dynamic serves to make students reflect on the stories that come to them, whether they are about their classmates or other topics such as politics. The idea is to make them see that there are several versions of the same story and that they should have their own criteria and be careful not to believe and reproduce everything they hear.
Aim:
Encourage good communication and critical reflection on the information that reaches them.
When to use it:
It can be used in any type of group, but it is especially indicated in those in which there are impulsive members who tend to give their opinion on a subject or tell information that has come to them without reflecting on it.
Procedure:
4 or 5 volunteers are chosen and all but 1 are asked to leave the class.
A short story is chosen and told to the volunteer who has stayed (at the end of this section you can see an example of a story).
Once the first volunteer has heard it, they must tell it to another volunteer from those who were outside, then this volunteer will tell it to the next one and so on until there are no more volunteers left.
Finally, the story is read aloud again so that everyone listens to it and reflects on what has come to them and what they have told their classmates.
This activity can be repeated as many times as necessary so that all members of the group can participate.
Approximate duration:
About 30 minutes per group.
photoprojection
The facilitator divides the group into subgroups, based on the number of participants in the activity.
He offers each subgroup a photograph and asks them individually to write down what happened before the photo, what happens at the time of the photo, and what will happen after.
When they have finished, one by one they share their story with their classmates. They discuss among themselves and try to reach a common situation.
Each subgroup chooses a partner to present in front of the other partners.
Discussion: the facilitator should guide the debate so that everyone can apply these situations to their daily lives.
Passive, aggressive and assertive
The facilitator leads a brainstorm about assertiveness.
Then, individually, each one must think of the most submissive person they know and write down characteristics about their behavior.
They are asked to all get up and act from one side of the classroom or room to the other with a submissive attitude, using exclusively non-verbal language.
The facilitator asks them to stand still, like statues, adopting a submissive gesture. He is commenting and taking note of how the group has characterized this behavior.
It then changes from submissive to aggressive behavior. Previously, they have to individually write the characteristics of aggressive communication.
Again, they have to remain paralyzed and the facilitator will comment and ask for the collaboration of the group to take notes.
The members of the group take their seats and prepare, as a group, a list of behaviors of an assertive person, especially in relation to non-verbal behavior.
Again, they have to move around the classroom taking an assertive and silent attitude. The facilitator repeats asking them to stand like statues and taking note of non-verbal behavior.
The facilitator leads a debate in which the different communication styles are analyzed and how the participants in the dynamics have felt in each of them.
Subsequently, situations in which the behavior is assertive are introduced and practiced. Also, examples of situations in which to practice the assertive style can be used.
Freedom
Subgroups are formed, depending on the size of the group.
The facilitator begins to talk to them about freedom and introduces the dynamics.
By groups, they should address the following topics:
-A moment of my life in which I felt free.
-A moment of life in which I felt oppressed.
-A moment in my life in which I oppressed other people.
After all the members of each subgroup have shared their experiences with the others, they create a…