EDUCATION FOR CONFLICT AND COEXISTANCE
Divide into Groups
Level of difficulty: 1
Recommended age:
> 6 years.
Objectives:
• Divide into groups.
• Understand that population density can strain the
welfare of living beings.
Summary: Students find
their equals by observing how
they, as a kind, move, and by
manoeuvring according to
their characteristics. It isn’t
easy for living beings to find
their kind in close quarters.
Time: 10 min.
Lesson Type: Active.
Group Size: 12 or more as
one large group.
Materials: Cue cards with
different animals on them
to divide among groups
(see the Appendix).
A set of instructions per
group (Appendix).
Chalk, string, and anything
else needed to draw a circle
on the floor.
Instructions
• Assign verbally each student’s animal.
• Assemble the class into a tight circle with each student against the other.
• The goal of the activity is for each animal type to connect with the other members of its kind. Only
when all students of one animal kind have gotten together can they leave the larger circle. Students
may not speak or make gestures to each other; they may only observe, and they must remain silent
for the duration of the activity.
• Students may begin to manoeuvre when indicated, understanding that they’re not alone and must
adapt to the space available to them. They may exaggerate their movements in proportion to their
designated space.
• Stress that no one may “injure” another animal. Penalize students for this by asking them to leave
the circle and remain still until you permit them to return.
• When an animal group has found all its members, have it say “Stop!” All students must stop and
remain motionless while the group leaves the circle, with a gesture characteristic of its kind, and
spins around a few times as a group. Verify the composition of the group is right. If it’s not right,
ask the group to return to the circle, determine what has gone wrong, and wait until the other groups
have said “stop” before they try again. If the composition is right, the group should stay within 2-3
metres of the circle while the remaining students, motionless in the circle, continue to guess their
animal kind.
• Have each student identify their animal by wearing a mask, wearing a tag with a picture on it,
recreating the gestures of the animal, or anything else appropriate.
Debrief and Conclusions
Questions: How did the exercise go? Was it easy or difficult to find like kinds? What helped or hindered
things? Did the space of the circle help or hinder? What was the relationship between animals in the
circle?
Additional Instructions
In addition to creating groups, you may also want to use this activity to determine the difficulties of
living in limited space (the circle) and the behaviours and needs unique to living beings (the requirement to manoeuvre in a particular way).
Source: School for a Culture of
Peace (2009). Juegos de paz: Caja de
Herramientas para educar para una
cultura de paz. Madrid: La Catarata.
Programme Education for Peace - School for a Culture of Peace - [email protected]
EDUCATION FOR CONFLICT AND COEXISTANCE
Divide into Groups
Characteristics
Crawl along the ground with your flippers pointed outward, like a turtle. Exaggerate the
movements of your mouth when you eat lettuce.
Bend down so your wings touch the ground or your beak touches your knees, just like flamingos do when they’re fishing. Move your mouth like flamingos move their beaks.
Thrust your arms forward simulating the tongue of a chameleon. Stick out your tongue as
far as it will go.
Flap your wings and walk on tiptoes, simulating the circles butterflies make. Keep your
mouth closed and quiet.
Spread your wings and fly quickly and enthusiastically all over the room, just like a bat
would. Squeeze your lips together without making a sound.
Jump. Smile.
Flap your wings in wide sweeps. Pretend to carry things in your mouth.
Crawl along the ground without using your hands, just like a snail does. Use your fingers as
retractable antennae.
Programme Education for Peace - School for a Culture of Peace - [email protected]
&
Group/Animal