Quarantine Brick by Brick

To illuminate this period of social distancing and offer you meaningful activities, Equitas has adapted some of its activities to offer them online.

Here is the online version of Graffiti Wall , drawn from Young Women Young Leaders.

This activity can be done during regular youth group meetings online as at the beginning or at the end of the activity, or individually, with your family or other members of your household, or it can be facilitated in a one-time virtual meeting.

• Age: 8+
• Time: 10-45 min (depending on the format
• Purpose: To engage youth to think about how they are feeling and overcoming challenges during this time.

You can download the instructions of this activity as a PDF to share it more easily: Brick by Brick

Material:

• Blank pieces of paper (any size)
• Pens/markers/colours

How to play:

1. Ask youth to cut out a “brick” sized piece of paper.
2. Ask them to write or draw, in any way, how they overcame a challenge (an alternative is asking them to write a challenge they overcame depending on the level of familiarity of the group).
   1. For a recurring youth group meeting, you could ask about a challenge they overcame that week.
   2. For a stand-alone activity, you could ask them about challenges they overcame since the start of quarantine.

Some examples:

• Loneliness: Reached out to a friend; checked-in on a friend
• Irritability: Being patient with people you live with
• Anxiety: Doing grounding breathing exercises
• Lack of motivation: Make a to-do list; got out of bed; took a shower
• Lack of focus: Accomplished one task
• Over reliance on social media: Creating parameters for usage
• Insomnia: Stretching before bed; no screen before bed
• Despair: Called a helpline or write a gratitude list
• Overstimulation: Took no screen time to write; read; draw; dance; pet a pet; do a puzzle; cook

3. Ask them to stick it on their wall (if they can).

a.For a recurring youth group meeting, they can add to this every week in the activity time and some youths can share back each week (if they feel comfortable).

b. For a stand-alone activity, they could add several “bricks” of different challenges they overcame since the start of quarantine all at once.

4. Ask those who feel comfortable to share back the challenges they overcame.

a. For a recurring youth group meeting, you could ask youth who feel comfortable to take a photo of the brick they added and you could collect them in a virtual collage.

b. For a stand-alone activity you could ask youth who feel comfortable to take photos of all the bricks together and collect them in a virtual collage as well.

Tip! To make an online photo collage you can use: https://www.canva.com/create/photo-collages/

Group discussion:

Feel:

1. Was it easy to express how you overcame challenges in this way?
2. How does it feel to see all the challenges you overcame in this way?

Think:

1. Why is it important to express what we think and what we experience?
2. Looking at the different bricks is it possible to identify common challenges for yourself and others?

Act:

1. What can we do to ensure that we respect everyone’s different challenges experiences during quarantine?
2. What can we do to support each other better during quarantine and afterwards?

Human rights education for building welcoming and inclusive spaces.

This activity uses our 3-step participatory approach to promote learning about human rights and human rights values leading to action:

1. Children and youth participate in activities that promote learning about human rights and human rights values (e.g. inclusion, respect for diversity, responsibility).
2. Children and youth discuss how an activity made them feel, what it made them think about, and what they can change (act) in their own attitudes and behaviours and those of their peers.
3. Together children and youth take action to promote respect for human rights values and children’s rights, and greater understanding, acceptance and inclusion in their classrooms, school playgrounds and communities.

Creative Commons Licence

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• If you have not modified the material in anyway, use the following: Equitas – International Centre for Human Rights Education. Speaking Rights: Human Rights Education Toolkit for Youth is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
• If you have modified, adapted or remixed the material in anyway, use the following: This work, [NAME OF YOUR PUBLICATION] is adapted from Equitas – International Centre for Human Rights Education’s Speaking Rights: Human Rights Education Toolkit for Youth used under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. [NAME OF YOUR PUBLICATION] is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.