For a downloadable version of the Activity Guide, click here!
For this week’s bonus game, click here.
For this week’s challenge, click here.
Overview
This Empower Session focuses on community. This session will show us that we can use play as a tool for connecting with others, even across distance and across virtual platforms, because play creates a common experience.
Here are a few communities that we are all apart of:
- Empower Session Community
- Chicago Community
Being apart of a community can lift our spirits, make us feel happy and motivate us to reach our goals.
This lesson can be completed in 10 minutes.
Definitions
Community — Being a part of a community means that you have people around you that share common attitudes, interests or goals!
Materials
- Paper (Sign Making) — Any paper will do! Feel free to grab multiple if you would like to make a few signs
- Markers (Sign Making) — The more the merrier. Grab as many colors as you can
Building a strong community
In the video, we brainstormed ideas to strengthen your community during these challenging times. Below, you will find a few other suggestions to get involved:
- Recycle — A cleaner environment is good for us all
- Help others — Ask your friends/family members if they need help with anything (school work, chores, etc.)
- Start a book club — Select a book (preferably an e-book) and organize a book club. Try and get a few friends/family members to read along with you each week.
- Share Empower Session videos with your friends/family — Sharing knowledge is one of the best ways to strengthen a community! A great way to start is by sharing these empower session videos
There are so many ways to strengthen your community. Feel free to brainstorm your own ideas.
Activity overview — Create a community building sign
The goal of this activity is to do a craft that will help spread positivity in your neighborhood.
Ask an adult if you can hang a sign in a window of your house. If their answer is yes, then grab paper and markers (or any coloring materials you have at home) and make a sign that has a positive, uplifting message. Here are some ideas for things to write on your sign:
- We will get through this together.
- #stayhomesavelives
- Wash your hands, stay home, take care of your neighbors!
- We can do this!
- Be kind!
If you can’t hang a sign in your window, do this activity and then ask an adult to help you text your sign to friends and family instead of hanging it up!
Activity overview — 1,2,3, word!
The goal of this game is to say the same word as your partner after the countdown.
To begin, you will need to find a family member/friend to play along with you. This game can be played via video chat, so feel free to call someone up. After you have found someone to play with, you will begin with a countdown (one, two, three!). After the leader says three, both partners will say the first word that comes to mind (it can be any word).
This is where it gets a little tricky. After hearing both partner’s first words, you must find the middle ground between each word. For example:
Partner #1: garden
Partner #2: plants
Both partners must ask themselves “what word relates to both a garden and plants?”. Once each partner has that word in mind, the leader will start another countdown (one, two, three!). Again, after the leader says one, both partners will say the relating word that comes to mind.
If both partners say the same word, you win! If you and your partner say a different word, keep repeating the process until you hear a match.
Have fun!
Bonus activities
Would You Rather?
The goal of this activity is to connect with friends and family. Call someone and ask them a series of would you rather questions. We’ve provided some examples below, but feel free to come up with your own too! These questions are fun ways to learn more about people in your community.
- Would you rather be able to talk to animals or speak all languages?
- Would you rather have a rewind button or a pause button on your life?
- Would you rather be a detective or a pilot?
- Would you rather sing or dance on a stage in front of 100 people?
- Would you rather be a famous inventor or writer?
- Would you rather create a new holiday or a new sport?
- Would you rather live in the forest or on a beach?
- Would you rather be the size of an ant or the size of a big tree?
- Would you rather have eyes that change color depending on your mood or hair that changes color depending on the temperature?
Ask several people the same questions and record their answer to see what is the most popular answer! You can answer them yourself too!
Other resources
Speaking of Community- Chicago is a city that really loves our sports teams! If you’re missing the action, you can check out the Blackhawks “Future Goals” program. Future Goals includes two online resources: Hockey Scholar – an interactive hockey-themed STEM curriculum for middle-school and elementary-school-aged students and Healthier Me – a program that provides elementary-school-aged students the tools they need to make healthy decisions.
You can find the Future Goals Program here: https://futuregoals.nhl.com/
On May 6, Join the Chicago Park District as they stream a variety of fitness formats straight to you, for an online version of their annual event, Chicago MOVES Day. The workouts (including yoga, kids fitness, circuit training, chair aerobics, and more) are intended to give you the opportunity to get up and moving at home!
Follow the link to learn more: https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/chicago-moves-day