Tapestry of Faith: Sing to the Power: A Social Justice Program for Children Grades 4-5

Activity 2: Counting Circle

Activity time: 8 minutes

Preparation for Activity

  • Clear an area for participants to gather in a circle.

Description of Activity

Participants are challenged to pay extremely close attention to the rest of the group. In this game, they may speak only when their voice will not interrupt someone else.

Gather everyone in a circle. Explain, in these words or your own:

The objective of the game is simple: With everyone in a circle, individuals call out sequential numbers. For instance, Alyssa says "one," Kyle says "two," Nara says "three," etc. However, any time a person speaks over another person, the count starts over. Do not try to plan the order in which people will speak, and do not try to divvy up roles. Instead, try to pay such close attention to everyone in the group that you sense when there is empty space into which you can speak.

Challenge the group to count to ten in this fashion. If the group accomplishes this goal quickly, try the game again, this time with all participants closing or covering their eyes.

After the game, invite reflection with questions such as:

  • Did you contribute more to the success of the game by speaking, or by remaining silent?
  • Was there any way to tell when it was a good time to speak? How?
  • Was it easier or harder to get to ten than you anticipated? What made it easy or hard?