The Sun Shines
Suggested Groups: Young/Middle/Teen
Purpose: To encourage sharing about one's self and to identify what others may have in common with one another; to build your group
Task/need: Group building, group structuring (as adapted: converting the relationship…to one of memory)
Activity Setup Ideas:
Discuss the idea that although each of the group members is unique, they are likely to have many things in common.
Materials: Set up a circle of chairs with one less chair than the number of participants.
Description: Have each participant sit in a chair. The leader will start off in the middle without a chair and make a statement of something true about himself/herself. The participants in the group who share that statement in common with the person standing in the middle must get up from their chairs and move to a different chair (i.e. “The sun shines on anyone who has blue eyes." Everyone with blue eyes must then find another chair.) Then the person who is left without a chair must make a statement of truth about himself/herself, etc.
Activity Wrap Up Ideas:
- Ask, "Did you have more or less in common with the group members than you thought?"
Suggestions: This activity can go on until everyone has had a chance to be the leader at least once. You may want to have one volunteer stand in the middle of the circle to assist children in deciding what to share if necessary.
Variations: In later sessions, use this activity to encourage the children to share common grieving feelings, have the children share something about their grief experiences (i.e. how the person died, their birthday, etc.)
Another variation is to put a few chips or other objects in a container and have the children select one. Each chip represents the type of characteristic to be shared during that turn.
For example:
- Share something about yourself
- Share something about the person who died
- Share a feeling or experience related to that person or their loss
- Share a change that you have experienced since the person died
Adapted from a Fernside Grieving Center Activity