Work Pack: Youth Club Activities -- Exploring feelings

COLOUR WARM-UP

Aim This icebreaker encourages young people to discuss their feelings and emotions through colour.

You will need

• Pens
• Squares of card in assorted colours

How to do it Begin the session by introducing the idea that colours can represent feelings and emotions. Make sure that you stress that this is not an exact science. Different colours may mean different things to different people.

A good example of this is the colour red, which can mean anger and hate to one person and love and passion to another.

Once the group has grasped the idea ask them to form smaller groups or work in pairs. Hand out a selection of coloured squares with a pen to each pair or group. Ask the young people to look carefully at the squares and think about what feelings or emotions they associate with the colours. Then, they can use the pen to write the word on the colour. If a colour evokes a different response from each partner, write both words on the card.

When everybody has finished, ask the whole group to form a circle and discuss their findings. Is there any pattern or theme emerging? Are there many cards with two or more words on? What colours would the group choose to decorate a room to relax in? To dance in? To work in?

To finish, ask everyone to choose a colour to represent how they feel at the moment to close the session.

LINKING FEELINGS TO BEHAVIOUR

Aim To explore feelings and how they affect the way people behave.

You will need

• Copies of the Feelings sheet
• Pens

How to do it Ask the young people to choose a partner. If there is an uneven number in the group work in threes. Hand out pens and a copy of the Feelings sheet to each member of the group. Explain that during this exercise individuals are free to choose how much they want to share and have the right to withhold things they do not want to discuss. This gives everyone the opportunity to be as selective as they want.

Ask the young people to look at the sheet on their own to begin with and to put a tick next to five words that express how they feel when they feel good and a cross next to five words that describe feeling bad.

When everyone has had time to think about the task and select words, invite them to share sheets with their partners. Spend time comparing and discussing what has been written. Are they similar? Expand upon what situations these feelings might be associated with.

Ask the young people to discuss how they handle different situations and how this affects their behaviour. For example, feeling embarrassed and behaving in an aggressive way. Move on to consider more positive ways of expressing feelings.

MAD, SAD, BAD OR GLAD

Even if you usually find it hard to engage a group in drama-based games, the name of this activity is so brilliant the young people are bound to be intrigued enough to give it a go.

Aim: To look at how we use body language to communicate how we feel. The exercise is also a good way to raise levels of personal awareness within a group and highlight the impact individuals have on others.

You will need

• Chalk

How to do it With the chalk mark four spaces on the ground — MAD, SAD, BAD and GLAD. Make sure that you leave enough space for the young people to stand by a particular feeling clearly.

Explain to the group that each area marked shows a different feeling. You can go on to talk about how in the same situation feelings may differ within a group, and how we often hide our true feelings.

Ask for a volunteer to select the area that most represents how they feel today. If there is reluctance to go first, ask your co-worker to demonstrate.

The rest of the group then gathers round (but not too close), and asks questions about why they have chosen that space. These should be supportive, not accusations or aggressive. For example, "Are you feeling sad?", "Did something happen at school today to make you feel that way?"

The volunteer can tell the group what is wrong - but cannot speak. This means that they have to rely solely on body language to convey their feelings. Make sure that you are sensitive to the group and do not allow anyone to feel that they are being interrogated.

When they have shared all that is comfortable the volunteer leaves the space and another member of the group takes their place. In a small group each member can experience the process. Make sure that you allow time for feedback and review issues that are raised.

NAME THAT FEELING

Aim This activity encourages young people to identify how they feel in different circumstances and encourages them to consider solutions that will not lead to tension and aggression.

You will need

• Copies of the Name that Feeling sheet, folded into a concertina so that only the first scenario shows

How to do it Begin the session by talking about the wide range of emotions that we all feel. Introduce the idea that sometimes these feelings either get in the way of how we deal with a situation or are not identified correctly. So the problem remains unresolved, or becomes larger and we feel less able to deal with it. Ask the young people to think about a time when a problem got worse because of something they did or did not do. What feelings do they remember?

Hand out the Name that Feeling sheet, folded up so that only the first scenario can be seen. Ask everyone to read the situation and then consider the questions posed at the top of the sheet. Have a group discussion for each of the situations. Do the young people all see the problem in the same way? Do they agree on the feelings that might arise? How easy is it to think through some ideas for solutions?

Finally, encourage the group to think about some examples of their own to share and work through together.

FEELINGS AGREE/DISAGREE

Aim This session promotes discussion and the sharing of opinions about feelings and personal responsibility for related actions.

You will need

• Copy of the Agree/Disagree sheet

How to do it Set up the room so that one side is Agree, one side is Disagree and the space in the middle is for any Don't knows.

Once everyone is clear about this bit explain to the young people that you are going to call out a list of statements: if they agree with what you say they go to the Agree space, if not to the Disagree area. If they are not sure they can stay in the middle.

As you go along encourage discussion and ask questions. Reinforce that it is all a matter of opinion, and the point is to feel comfortable sharing yours.

FEELINGS SHEET

These words best describe my feelings

Angry
Embarrassed
Shy
Free
Talkative
Affectionate
Guilty
Happy
Aggressive
Frightened
Left out
Confident
Depressed
Trusted
Attractive
Unloved
Brave
Valued
Envious
Disgusted
Appreciated
Independent
Blamed
Jealous

NAME THAT FEELING SHEET

For each of the situations below think about the following:

What is the problem?
What is the feeling?
What can be done?

• Your friend always has more pocket money than you do. It is not fair. Your mum is so mean and says you should do some jobs around the house if you want more cash.
• Your dad has left home to live with his new girlfriend. He said you could stay at weekends but now his girlfriend is saying that there is not enough room for you.
• Someone keeps calling your mum names and making offensive remarks about your family.
• Your mate won an art competition. You are really fed up and think it must have been a fix. You know your entry was better.
• A girl keeps teasing you about your accent and making everyone laugh at you. When you try and answer back she just mimics you and everyone laughs more.
• The class is kept in after school for something you did. Now everyone is telling you to own up or else.

AGREE/DISAGREE SHEET

• Feelings are simply feelings; there is no right or wrong way to feel
• Not all feelings are nice; that doesn't mean they are wrong
• You should always show people how you feel about things
• Anger is a very negative emotion and you should learn not to express it
• It is okay to feel differently about things to your friends
• It is better to hide how you feel with a smile
• People might not like you if they knew how you really felt
• Sometimes other people make you feel angry
• Sometimes it is hard to know how you feel about something
• You may not be able to be control your feelings but you can control your behaviour
• Feelings and behaviour are linked; you show how you feel through your behaviour
• We are all responsible for our own behaviour

Vanessa Rogers is a youth work trainer, consultant and author. Her books are available from www.nya.org.uk. For training and consultancy, go to www.vanessarogers.co.uk