Card House
Suggested Age Group(s): Young, Middle, Teen, Adult
Purpose: Group building, ice breaker, sharing feelings or memories
Task/need: Group building, moving toward the pain of the loss, converting the relationship to one of memory, living on the grief spiral
Activity Setup Ideas: Divide room into two or more groups. Give each group the same amount of index cards. Instruct them to write a feeling or memory about their loved one. Have them use the cards to build a card house. Set a timer and see which group has the tallest card house at the end.
Materials: Index cards
Description: Using the whole pile of cards given, each group needs to write feelings or memories of their loved one on each card. The group should use the whole stack, which will require each member to write on more than one card. Once the cards are written on, the group should begin building their card house. When time is up, figure out which group has made the tallest card house.
Activity Wrap Up Ideas:
- For the older children and adults, you can introduce a discussion about how the card house is like life. You go along building and planning for the future and suddenly, one thing goes wrong and your whole life falls down around you, like when a death occurs.
- Give children or adults the opportunity to share what they wrote on their cards.
