Activity 2: Games (10 minutes), Session 15: Atonement (Level), in the Toolbox of Faith Program
Preparation for Activity
- Review the games, Human Knot and "Who Started It?" Decide how to allocate your time and, if needed, how you will form small groups.
Description of Activity
Try these games to illustrate concepts related to atonement. In Human Knot, participants move together from disarray to unity. "Who Started It?" demonstrates the difficulties of assigning blame.
Human Knot
Experience being tangled and scrambled, then achieving unity by untangling and finding one or two circle(s) (at-one-ment!).
This game is for five to ten people. Form smaller groups if necessary. The game will put people very close to each other. Ask participants if they are comfortable trying this sort of game, and allow children to watch if they are not comfortable.
Stand in a circle. Everyone puts their hands in the center and grabs hold of two different people's hands. Try to untangle the knot into one or two circles without letting go of one another's hands.
"Who Started It?"
Assigning blame can be an impediment to restoring balance, when what is needed is grace and forgiveness. Play this silly game to illustrate how hard it is to determine "who started it." In this game, no one knows who is copying who, or who started it.
Have participants stand in a circle. Every person secretly picks a person to imitate. The imitator copies the movements of the person being watched, exaggerating them very slightly. (Hint: If no one is moving very much, suggest that each participant spin around once and start imitating while the group is still moving a bit on their return.) Everyone's movements will become larger and larger. Usually everyone will end up doing the same thing without ever knowing who started it.
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Last updated on Wednesday, October 26, 2011.
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