Dream a little dream
Key message
This activity will give young people the opportunity to work in groups and on an individual basis to dream up what their 'ideal world' would look like. It engages young people to reflect on the issues that are of importance to them and to discuss these issues with their peers.
Key words: evaluating attitudes, understanding what is important, self-reflection, negotiating with peers
Summary :
This resource helps foster a process of understanding and co-operation amongst participants by using self-reflection, group work and a creative medium (the clouds) to help group members express their concept of an ideal world.
LessKey message
This activity will give young people the opportunity to work in groups and on an individual basis to dream up what their 'ideal world' would look like. It engages young people to reflect on the issues that are of importance to them and to discuss these issues with their peers.
Key words: evaluating attitudes, understanding what is important, self-reflection, negotiating with peers
Summary :
This resource helps foster a process of understanding and co-operation amongst participants by using self-reflection, group work and a creative medium (the clouds) to help group members express their concept of an ideal world.
Key message
This activity will give young people the opportunity to work in groups and on an individual basis to dream up what their 'ideal world' would look like. It engages young people to reflect on the issues that are of importance to them and to discuss these issues with their peers.
Key words: evaluating attitudes, understanding what is important, self-reflection, negotiating with peers
Summary :
This resource helps foster a process of understanding and co-operation amongst participants by using self-reflection, group work and a creative medium (the clouds) to help group members express their concept of an ideal world.
- Module
- Early detection
- Group size
- small
- medium
- large
- Duration
- 1 hour
- Group age
- 12 - 15
- 16 - 19
Exercise Category: Activities / Exercises
CC - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Purpose
- To provide an opportunity for participants to share their ideals and influence each other
- To encourage participants to focus on and analyse the issues of relevance to them with a view to forming strategies for their resolution
- To share personal insights and ideas in a group setting in order to come up with a collective vision for the future
Participants
Suitable for use with any type of group; non-gender specific.
Description
Step 1:
The facilitator invites the young people to put their heads in the clouds for a while and dream a little about what a perfect world would look like. Ask them to reflect on what the ingredients are of such a place.
Step 2:
The facilitator hands out a cloud worksheet to everyone in the group and asks them to individually fill in the ingredients they have thought of.
Step 3:
Each participant is invited to share their cloud with the rest of the group and this can be done in one of two ways.
- The worksheets can be stuck on the wall or placed on the floor and group members can be invited to wander around the room to look at the various responses.
- Each person can present their cloud to the full group from their seat, or at the top of the room.
Step 4:
The facilitator then invites the participants to bring their individual clouds together through the formation of small working groups where participants share their clouds with each other, saying a little about what prompted them to include these particular ideals.
Step 5:
Each group is then invited to draw a big cloud on a flipchart sheet that represents the group’s ideals using all of the ingredients that have come through their sharing and discussions.
Step 6:
Each small working group presents their large cloud to the main group.
Step 7:
The facilitator then tells the participants they need to ‘come back down to earth’ and asks:
- What are the things that threaten our world and prevent it from being the one described in the clouds?
Materials needed
Individual cloud worksheets, Flipchart sheets, Markers
Methodology
Individual reflection, Small group negotiation to achieve task, Large group discussions.
Advice for Trainer
Issues identified will probably include the likes of racism, discrimination, terrorism etc. However, if these are not initially presented by the group members themselves the facilitator can prompt their inclusion so as to ensure this theme is addressed.
Source / Literature
Original material developed for the purpose of the YCARe project.