For a downloadable version of the Activity Guide, click here!
Overview
This Empower Session takes a close look at the importance of connecting with friends. Friends can help you celebrate good times and make you feel better during bad times. Friends help stop you from feeling lonely and give you a chance to express yourself. Friends can also increase your sense of belonging and purpose.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when thinking about what makes a good friend. You should:
- Have fun together — Having fun can reduce stress, boost your energy and bring you closer as friends
- Respect each others’ differences — Doing this can open your mind up to so many new ideas, cultures and people
- Stick up for each other — Having someone there to back you up when life gets hard is always a great feeling
- Care! — Caring for someone is contagious. We all love to be cared for. This can spread love and happiness!
Friendships are always better when they are growing and getting stronger and you can do that by being a friend to lots of people. Always be open to making new friends. You never know who might just become your best friend 🙂
This lesson can be completed in 10 minutes.
Definitions
Friends – A friend is someone who cares for you as much as you care for them. They will be there for you no matter what. They are real with you and are not afraid to tell you when you made a mistake. It is important to always ask yourself if hanging out with your friend(s) makes you happy.
Materials
No materials needed!
Friendly tips
In the video, we talked a lot about friends. Below, you will find a few tips on how maintain a strong relationship with your friends.
- Be real — People are turned off by those who are constantly trying to be someone they are not. We are most comfortable around others who are comfortable in their own skin, so just be yourself!
- Be honest — Keep your promises and do what you say you’re going to do. Be reliable.
- Make time for your friends — Time is one of the greatest gifts we possess. When we share extra time with a friend, we are giving that gift back to them. No friendship can develop overnight. It takes time.
There are many ways that we can strengthen our relationships with our friends. Keep these tips in mind the next time that you are spending time with yours.
Activity overview — The big wind blows
The goal of this activity is to have fun and learn a little bit about all of your friends!
You can play it with a group of friends while socially distancing in a park or in your neighborhood or you can play in a group Facetime! Here’s how it goes:
- One person will start by saying the phrase “The wind blows for everyone that …..” Then they will pick a statement that may describe some of the people in the group. An example is “The wind blows for everyone that has long hair.” Then everyone that has long hair does a physical activity, decided by the speaker.
- Physical activities might include 10 jumping jacks, 5 squats, 10 high knees or 3 burpees. You can come up with your own physical activities too.
- Then a new speaker goes and picks a description and a physical activity.
- Other examples of descriptions you might use are: The wind blows for everyone whose favorite color is red, who have brown eyes, who wear glasses, who played Fortnite in the last week
By the end you’ll know even more about your friends, and you’ll get a workout in! Have fun!
Bonus activities — Nature to nature
The goal of this game is to find the closes match to the original object that was shared.
Here’s how you play:
- One person will be the leader first and find an item outside- like a rock, bug, stick, or leaf
- They will show the group for 10 seconds
- Then, the group will have 20 seconds to find the most similar item
- Everyone will hold up their item and the leader who found the original item will pick the best match to their item
- Whoever the leader picks as finding the best match, will become the leader and a new round starts!
This is a great game to play outside now that the weather is nicer! Enjoy!
Other resources
Gartic.io is a team-based drawing guessing io game that you can play with friends!
There are lots of classic games to play with friends online at playingcards.io/