“Once a group of individuals have laughed together, the bond you create is connected to the emotional experience of laughter and having a good time together.”
After the successful afternoon of Play for Peace training with some local children, master trainers Swati Bhatt and Agyat Shunya had one final day in Shwebo and it was a BUSY day! The day started with a rhythm-based activity as the participants started trickling in. “It is always amazing to see the unlimited fun and positive energy that is created by laughter,” says Agyat. “Once a group of individuals have laughed together, the bond you create is connected to the emotional experience of laughter and having a good time together.”
Once everyone was assembled, Swati and Agyat started the group on some cooperative team-building activities that were designed to take “playing together” to an even higher level. To be successful, the participants would have to talk to each other, listen, come up with ideas, and support each other. The activities involved using simple everyday objects like a cardboard box, a ball, a used tire, a loop of rope, string, etc. to accomplish the tasks that they were given. The group was able to surprise Swati and Agyat with their willingness to accept bigger challenges and try possible solutions that stretched them beyond their comfort zone.
After the activities, the group realized that their supportive behavior and ability to generate new ideas generation contributed to their success. After the cooperative team playing activities, the participants played a game called “Picture a Story”. They each brought in or cut out pictures from old magazines or newspapers. They were then asked to make a story that starts with 'Once upon a time…'. For nearly 30 minutes, the groups created different stories, narrated them to each other, shuffled pictures, and made new stories. There were some “tall tales” told! In Part 2 of this blog post, we will tell you about the Practice Peace sessions that were held by these participants but in the meanwhile take a look at some of the pictures from the cooperative team building and storytelling activities.
