What are you feeling?

During this period of physical distancing, Equitas has adapted some of its activities for you to faciliate online or with a small group at home.

Here is the online version of What Are You Feeling?, drawn from the toolkit Building Inclusive Communities

• Age: 10+
• Time: 20 min
• Purpose: To have group members act out different feelings in order to explore expressing emotions and to build empathy in the group online.
  

You can download the instructions of this activity as a PDF to share it more easily: What Are You Feeling

Material:

• ‘Virtual circle’ - learn how to create one in step #1 of the instructions below

How to play:

1. If you are facilitating this activity online, create a virtual circle. The purpose of the virtual circle is to recreate a physical space in a virtual meet-up and to foster and give rhythm to participation. On a document that you will share with participants, recreate a circle of people and indicate the names of the participants around the circle. It will allow group members to know who is sitting next to them during the activity. You can use the Virtual Circle to determine the turns of speech. Share this document before your meeting or at the start of it. See pdf above for an example of a virtual circle. If you are doing this activity in person, simply sit in a circle.
2. Ask one group member to act out a feeling (for example, being excited).
3. The group member who is ‘sitting next to them’ in the virtual circle should ask: “What are you feeling?” The first group member must then name a feeling that is completely different from the feeling that is being acted out (for example, “I’m sad.”)
4. The group member who asked the question must then act out this new feeling (I.e., being sad) until the next group member asks, “What are you feeling?” and so on.
5. Continue until all group members have had a chance to act out a feeling.
6. Move to the group discussion.

Group discussion:

Feel:

1. Did you like this game? Why or why not?
2. Was it confusing when group members were acting one feeling but told you they were feeling something different?

Think:

1. Have you ever told someone that you feel one way, even though you feel another? Why?
2. Is it easier to share your feelings with others when you are online? Why or why not? What about with the group during our online activities?

Act:

1. What can you do if you think someone is feeling sad or upset, but they say that they are feeling something else?
2. What can we do to create an atmosphere as a group where everyone feels free to express their feelings freely?
3. How can we make it easier to understand each other when we are communicating online?

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

Except where otherwise noted, content in this document is licensed under Creative Commons, Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Where material is attributed to a copyright owner other than Equitas, this material is not subject to the Creative Commons licence.

• If you have not modified the material in anyway, use the following: Equitas – International Centre for Human Rights Education. Building Inclusive Communities is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
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