AGELINE
Ask participants to line up from youngest to oldest without talking. They should put themselves in the line where they think they should be. Then ask participants to introduce themselves by name and age. They should then rearrange themselves so they are in the correct place. Facilitator can then ask a series of questions, such as: What is the best/worst thing about your age? What age would you like to be if you could? Why? Give participants an opportunity to switch places and "try out" a different age. Ask those who switched why they did so. Ask the youngest and oldest people to switch places. Do they have any questions for the other? Any advice? Ask the youngest group if they were surprised by the answers of the older people. Ask the older group the same question. Discuss the stereotypes and myths we hold about different ages.
GUESS WHO?
Ask each participant to describe five significant things about themselves on a 3 X 5 card. Instruct them not to include their names. Shuffle the cards and give them out to the participants. Make sure that no one has her/his own card. Tell the participants to find the author of the card. To do this, they have to look around and guess who might have written the card. Once they find a candidate, they should not show them the card; instead, they should ask questions. They cannot ask, "Did you write that you love cats?" Instead, they should ask "Describe things you really love." When they find the author of their card, they should hold onto the author's right arm. Then the author must take them with them to find out whose card they have. When they find out, they hold on to that person's right arm. Eventually, everyone will be connected.
Next ask group members how they decided whom to approach. Did some cards suggest that they were written by a young person or an older adult? A male or a female? How did it feel to latch onto someone? To be latched onto?
PARTY
Affix each end of a two foot long piece of string on the top comers of 8.5"
X 11" sheets of construction paper. On each piece of paper write in large
bold print an occupation or a social role. For example, "banker", "third
grader", "homeless person", "nursing home resident",
"basketball star", "nuclear physicist", "person with
AIDS", "teacher", "hearing disabled". Without letting
participants see which you are giving them, hang these signs on people's backs.
Instruct them to mill around making small talk with each other as though they
were at a party. Ask them to treat each other as is appropriate to the sign on
their back. Their goal is to give clues to help each other guess their roles.
They should be somewhat subtle. To one with a sign that says "McDonald's
cashier" say "I smell french fries" or "Why did you only give
me back 43 cents". Don't say "How does it feel to work at McDonald's?'
Ask them to exaggerate their response to the social roles. Encourage them to be
obsequious to the rich and famous, disdainful of the poor, patronizing to the
very young and very old. When people guess their role correctly, ask them to wear
their signs in front of them to let others know they've correctly guessed their
roles. After everyone has guessed the role on the signs on their backs, process
the experience. How did it feel to be treated the way they were? How many would
want to have that role permanently? Did people's behavior mirror that of general
society? How would people have preferred to have been treated? Have any of them
ever felt that they've been treated stereotypically because of their appearance,
age, job, etc.
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE
Ask participants to sit in age-integrated groups of three. Within each group, each member should tell her/his partners two true things about her/himself and one complete fabrication. The partners must try to guess which is the lie. Stories about adventures, famous people they've met, strange occurrences in their families or major life achievements all work well in this exercise. When everyone has told their truths and lies within their groups, ask each group member to introduce one of their partners to the larger group by telling them one interesting thing they learned about them.
BODY HELLO
Ask participants to mill around the room, passing by and between each other. Ask them to say hello to the people they pass with a particular part of their bodies. For instance, if you call out, 'Say hello with your eyes!', they may bat their eyes at their neighbor, or flutter their eyelashes against each other's. Encourage creativity, but no talking. Start with the eyes. Then after a minute, move on to elbows, then shoulders, backs, noses, and backsides. While they are saying hello with their shoulders, call out "Freeze". When the group hears this word, they must remain with whomever they are presently engaged. Make sure that each person is with at least one other person, and with no more than two people. Then ask them to tell their partner who their favorite hero is and why, or what their dream is for themself for the next three years. Design your questions to bring out whatever you want the group to know about each other. When one question has been discussed, ask participants to mill around again. Call "Freeze" again with each new kind of body hello, this time insisting they are touching as they discuss their questions (i.e. nose to nose, back to back).
NAME GAME
Name games are a great way for intergencrational groups to begin their first meeting. Seat participants in a circle. Ask the first participants to say their name proceeded by an adjective that describes them and that begins with the first letter of their name (e.g. Amazing Amy, Gregarious Gregory, Hilarious Hilary). The next person must say the first name and adjective and then their own. The third person must say the first two names with their adjectives and then their own, and so on. One variation would be to not compel the group to memorize the other names but for everyone to repeat each name as they go around. Or, instead of using adjectives, ask members to come up with a famous person with the same first name or to name an animal or a kind of food they like.
Compiled by Steven Tunick
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