Game to promote tolerance for 6th grade students "Magic Crystal"

Game objectives:

• To help children to recognize the differences in their attitudes towards who they consider to be a loved one and who is a stranger.
• Give children personal experience of a situation of communication with "strangers" and "friends"
• To propose a model for constructive communication with people who are objectively or subjectively perceived as strangers.
• To promote the development of a feeling of sympathy, acceptance of a person who is different from others.
• To give an opportunity to reconsider and change previous negative ideas about who was perceived as someone else's.

Game structure
The action combines elements of a problem lesson (work of creative groups, group discussion) and a story-role-playing game. Problem situations are created to maintain children's game motivation, to work with concepts and generalize game experience. A story-role-playing game allows children to organize their living in dramatic situations.

Participant and presenters
The game involves the participation of the whole class (preferably up to 30 people).It can be carried out as a developmental psychological activity or as a special one - double - teacher-led lesson. In both cases, the help of an assistant is desirable. They can be a psychologist, another teacher and even one of the students' parents. If necessary, the game can be played in two stages, with an interval of 1-2 days.

Game script

1. 1. Preparatory stage

The presenter prepares the room for the game in advance: desks and chairs are arranged so that all students in the class are seated at four large tables (5-7 people at each table, depending on the total number of students in the class).The tables are arranged so that, if necessary, all students can see each other. There is free space at the board.
The presenter breaks the class into four groups in advance, the following safe and effective way can be used to divide Children are encouraged to break into groups of 2-3, teaming up with those they most enjoy communicating with.
Each group then nominates its representative to vote. When voting, representatives draw one of the squares: yellow, red, blue or green. At this stage, the presenter does not explain to the children what this or that color means, but simply invites all groups that have drawn squares of the same color when voting. For convenience, each table should already have paper of the appropriate color. This is how groups are formed that are approximately equal in composition. In these groups, each child is quite comfortable - friends are happy with him, "their own" guys. But at the same time, children from different mini-communities gathered in one group, perhaps in real life they practically do not communicate with each other. You can say - "Strangers" to each other.
After the children have settled at their tables, the host announces the start of the game. It’s good if at that moment a certain melody, call signs sound, the lighting changes, etc.

1. 1. Aliens and Ours: Working with Concepts

This stage performs as motivational, so and semantic function On the one hand, it is necessary to interest children in the problem, to put them in an active position regarding the topic under discussion, and on the other hand, to help them form the concepts of "alien person" and "one's own person".

Presenter.
Today we will talk about the people who surround us and our attitude towards them Among those who live near us, there are people closer to us and those with whom we hardly communicate, who we do not notice, or notice, but do not understand. In general, there are people of our own and people of others. Let's figure out what this means?

The presenter distributes sheets of paper to the children The sheet is divided into three zones as follows.

The words are written on the board in a column. The teacher suggests that children on the left side of the sheet write the word "one of their own" and on the right side - "alien" He then asks to read the words written on the board and rewrite them on their sheets: related to the concept "alien" - to the right zone, to the concept "one of one's own" - to the left zone. In the lower triangle you need to write words that cannot be unambiguously attributed to any of these concepts.

Sample word list.
Alertness
Openness
Danger
Calmness
Evil
Good
Clear
Incomprehensible
Close
Distant
Similar
Other
Like
Don't like it

Children rewrite words, read what they have done if they wish After oral discussion, the teacher invites each group to define the concepts "one's own person" and "an alien person" Definitions are written down by the teacher on A3 sheets and posted on a board. At the end of the game they should be returned to.

1. 1. Group discussion

The presenter invites children to express their opinions on the following question: "Can all the people around be their own?" During the discussion, the presenter summarizes the children's points of view.

Presenter.
There are always people around us who we think (or they really are) strangers. That's okay. And now we'll talk about how to behave with those we think are not like us, strangers to us. To do this, imagine one unusual situation. We will turn into dwarves for a while.

At this point in the game, you need to take a break or dynamic pause, including children in the moving game. Actually, during this game you can "turn" children into dwarves.

1. 1. Warm-up
      1. The beginning of the first story.
      1. The beginning of the second story.
      1. The beginning of the third story.
      1. The beginning of the fourth story.

The host reveals that he will now become a wizard and turn the children into dwarves To do this, they must build four columns (it is necessary that each column has an equal number of children).
The contestants who are the last in the columns turn to the hosts (each of them working with two teams) and receive from them a red, yellow, blue or green die that matches the team's color, their task is to pass the die in front, "turning" the die into some object For example, by shaking the die in their hands, it can be turned into a baby If the teammate guesses what the die is turned into, he takes it and hands it to the next one, turning it into something else.
Players of the team that completed the task the fastest are the first to be promoted to Dwarf and are given caps of the appropriate color by the host. The other teams then receive the caps.

Immersion in a game situation.

The host explains to the participants that they are now dwarves With each table presenting their "dwarf" family, the inhabitants of the Yellow, Red, Green and Blue Mountains In the depths of these mountains are their underground cities, mines, workshops There is their life There the presenter gives the dwarves of each mountain some special distinction. The simplest option is a circle of a certain color, which children pin with pins to the collar or on the sleeve. For a big immersion in the game situation, you can invite each group to come up with the name of their kingdom and list several of the biggest achievements of its inhabitants (something they are proud of), talk about how and where they live, what they do, what features they have. After a little discussion (no more than 7-10 minutes), the groups introduce themselves to each other.

Presenter.
So our story begins... It concerns milestones of the inhabitants of your kingdoms, each of you, but there is a main character in it. Let's call him a Dwarf with a capital G. Before you know what happened, get acquainted with this Dwarf and what kind of relationship he has with the other inhabitants of your mountain. Now each group will receive its own small text. The texts are different from each other, it cannot be otherwise: you have different kingdoms and different lives. Get acquainted with your texts, please.

Story options.

Once upon a time there lived a great Yellow Mountain of the Dwarves One day, someone knocked on the main gate of their cave. It was a Dwarf, but from a distant "dwarf" country. The evil giant destroyed the mountain in which this Dwarf lived. And now the homeless wanderer asked the Dwarves of Yellow Mountain to shelter him. They agreed. The newcomer Dwarf was strange: he loved to wander alone through labyrinths, did not always understand the meaning of other dwarves’ jokes, came up with some games and jokes that were incomprehensible to others. Other dwarves considered him a eccentric. He knew how he was treated and didn’t try to change anything...

Once upon a time there lived in the vast Red Mountain of the Dwarves One day, someone knocked on the main gate of their cave It was a Dwarf, but from a distant "dwarf" country The evil giant destroyed the mountain in which this Dwarf lived And now the homeless wanderer asked the dwarves of Yellow Mountain to shelter him They agreed The alien Dwarf turned out to be very cheerful and sociable. It was interesting with him that he was always coming up with something: new games, adventures. The Dwarf knew that he was loved and appreciated by other inhabitants of the mountain...

Once upon a time, lived in the vast Blue Mountain of the Dwarves One day, someone knocked on the main gate of their cave. It was a Dwarf, but from a distant "dwarf" country. The evil giant destroyed the mountain in which this Dwarf lived. And now the homeless wanderer asked the dwarves of Yellow Mountain to shelter him. They agreed. In the large and friendly family of dwarves, everyone considered the newcomer Dwarf theirs and treated him very warmly. Many forgave him. But the little Dwarf always felt that he was not like others: he wanted to go out into the open air, into the forests. He secretly wrote poetry... The dwarf felt like a stranger in the company of other dwarves...

Once upon a time, lived in the vast Green Mountain of the Dwarves One day, someone knocked on the main gate of their cave It was a Dwarf, but from a distant "dwarf" country The evil giant destroyed the mountain in which this Dwarf lived And now the homeless wanderer asked the dwarves of Yellow Mountain to shelter him They agreed The visiting Dwarf wanted to make friends with other dwarves, be an equal partner in play and work. But the dwarves shunned him, tried to avoid communication. He seemed somehow different to them...

The host invites the participants to tell each other what their Gnome was like and what kind of relationship he had with others.

Lead
You're probably curious what stories the other groups got Let's introduce each other to them Just let's do it in a way that's not quite usual - with a sculpture or a hitch without words.

The host asks each group to create a sculpture or act out a small scene without words that would reflect the relationship between the Dwarf and his surroundings. The lot determines who will get the role of the Dwarf. Children are given 5-10 minutes to prepare. At this stage of work, children will need organizational help from the presenter and his organizers.
The host asks the contestants to watch each other's skits very carefully, to notice the peculiarities of the relationship between the Dwarf and the others, the host invites the children to make their assumptions as to which case the Dwarf was treated as someone else's and which as their own, and to explain why they think so.
It is better to do such a discussion after watching two skits. After everyone has spoken, the presenter asks the representatives of the groups to read their texts out loud and sums it up. It is important to draw the children’s attention to the following. How did you treat the Gnome as someone else? Why sometimes did the Gnome himself understand that he was a stranger and knew how others treated him, and sometimes it seemed to him that he was the same as everyone else?
After discussion, the host invites each team to draw their Dwarf on a pre-prepared sheet of Whatman paper and paint under his portrait the qualities they believe he possesses.

1. 1. Incidents in the kingdom of the dwarves

Lead
Imagine that your realm held a unique treasure - Magic Crystal (the host places the very cubes used in the warm-up on each team's table) This crystal has the amazing property of turning into anything they want in the hands of the dwarves It helped the dwarves a lot in all sorts of situations Think and tell us what the dwarves turned the Magic Crystal into and for what purposes?
(The host gives the groups time to discuss and present to each other the unique crystal possibilities they have come up with: 3-5 minutes. then his story continues)
But the Magic Crystal had another feature: it remained what it was turned into only while the hands of the dwarves touched it: but as soon as the palms were torn away from the crystal, it again became an outwardly ordinary stone. And if the hands did not touch it for fifteen minutes, the crystal fell asleep, and its ability to transform could only be restored with the help of a special magic powder located far, far away, from the Evil Sorcerer.
Knowing this, the dwarves were on duty in shifts, holding their palms on the crystal. Isn't that a good solution?
(Take the crystal in your hands and, as I tell you, pass it on to each other.)
And then came another duty of our Dwarf He walked at him calmly: not for the first time But he fell to be on duty at night, and it must be said that the previous night he had not been able to sleep, because he had been fishing in an underground lake until the morning. Taking the crystal in his hands, the Dwarf yawned and began to dream about what a huge fish he would have caught if the crystal had turned into a boat and he could have swum into the very middle of the lake. He was daydreaming that he had not noticed how he had dozed off... And the crystal fell out of his hands. Only half an hour later the Dwarf woke up. But it was too late: the crystal had lost its ability to transform.
Very quickly, news of the tragic accident spread throughout the realm Residents ran to the Magic Crystal house, looking at the Dwarf. And not only looking. And what do they tell him? How do they react to the incident? How is the Dwarf treated?

The presenter invites the groups to stage a small skit and show how in their kingdom the inhabitants would behave with the Dwarf (taking into account everything that they already know about the character of this Dwarf and his relationship with others). At this stage of work, many children will need the help of adults.
The children show their scenes, the presenter asks the audience to carefully watch how those around him and the Gnome himself behave in this sad situation in each of the kingdoms.

Lead
So what to do now? After all, without the Magic Crystal, life in the kingdom of the dwarves will become much more difficult! It would be nice to return his amazing abilities for transformation! And the dwarves decided that the one whose fault the trouble happened should save the crystal - the alien Dwarf.

1. 1. Traveling for Magic Powder

Each team advances their Dwarf and takes him on a journey, handing him the Magic Crystal.
The host reports that Dwarves from different kingdoms who went to get the magic powder met and decided to go together. They have to overcome many difficulties to achieve their goal. Dwarves from different kingdoms go to the board (or any other free space), get acquainted with each other and then act in accordance with the script proposed by the presenter.

First task.

Dwarves came to a large dark forest Night came. Strange noises and rustles could be heard in the dark. Some unknown creatures were wandering through the forest. The dwarves didn't know whether they were kind or evil, but just in case they decided not to attract attention. They froze (the children, at the presenter’s signal, freeze in the positions they found themselves in at that moment) and they shouldn't have moved, whatever happened And one more thing: they needed to stay perfectly calm so that none of the creatures inhabiting the forest would feel their experiences. So you Dwarves shouldn't change your facial expressions under any circumstances...
And you, the inhabitants of the Blue, Green, Red and Yellow Mountains, need to think and say what qualities your messengers (of those they possess) must show in order to cope with the task.

The host reminds the children of those drawings and lists of the Gnome's qualities they have prepared a little earlier While each team discusses and offers their answers, the host follows the frozen Gnomes: Do they manage to remain completely deadpan. If one of the Gnomes breaks down - laughs or grimaces, the host may draw the attention of the inhabitants of the kingdoms to this and ask: "What do you think are the features of the Yellow (Red, Blue, Green) Gnome that prevented him from maintaining complete calm?"

Second task.

Morning came The Dwarves set off on They reached the high mountains They walked along a narrow path over the abyss and met the Fierce Cave Bear, the Huge Insidious Eagle, the Ugly Spider and the Poison Snake At first the Dwarves were frightened, but these creatures said to them, "Everyone is afraid of us and sees only terrible things in us! Maybe at least you tell me if there is something good in us?" Discuss among yourself what good qualities the creatures you met have.
And you, residents of the Blue, Green, Red and Yellow Mountains, need to think and say what qualities your messengers (of those they possess) must show in order to cope with the task.

After the people of the Blue, Yellow, Red and Green Mountains speak out, the word is given to the Dwarves, they choose one of the animals for themselves and say something good about it It is important that neither the Bear, the Eagle, the Spider, nor the Snake are forgotten.

Presenter.
Creatures that previously caused only horror and hostility were glad that the Dwarves were able to discern positive qualities in them, and let the travelers through.

Third task.

So, how long, short, did the Dwarves come to the bank of a wide and deep river. (The presenter stands for two Riverbank ropes, the distance between which should be approximately 1.5 meters; in one place the River should make a turn of almost 90 degrees.) On the other side of the river stands the palace of the Evil Sorcerer, There was no bridge over the river, But on the banks of the Dwarf, travelers discovered the following objects: a skein of string, an inflatable circle and two boards.
(All of these items are shown by the host to the game's contestants and placed on the "shore" the Dwarves are on. The boards should be the same length - just under 1.5 meters. in other words, they should be a little shorter than the distance between the "coasts")
You Dwarves need to find at least three ways to cross the river.

One way of using river crossing boards is as follows: the first board is laid with its ends on the outer sides of the river, forming a triangle with the banks, the second - one end in the center of the first board, the other end - on the opposite corner. After listening to the solutions proposed by the Traveling Dwarves, the leader turns to other Dwarves - viewers: "Has anyone managed to find other ways to cross the river?"

Fourth task.

The dwarves made their way into the main hall in the Evil Sorcerer's Palace and saw that bags of magic powder were attached to the ceiling of the hall. It's almost impossible to get them. (It is better to attach bags of different colors in advance at a sufficient distance from each other; they can be suspended by tying balloons filled with gel to threads.) At the same time, you can only remove four bags at the same time, otherwise their magic will disappear! What to do?... But each of the Dwarves has a Magic Crystal. He has lost the ability to transform, but with its help you can make sure that the inhabitants of the kingdom of the Dwarves are here. Call your comrades for help!

The Dwarves call the others for help Each Dwarf decides for himself in what form he will do it The group lifts their Dwarf and, at the Dwarves' command, simultaneously pulls off the bags of magic powder.

Fifth task.

But early on the Dwarves rejoiced at the success of the journey! The doors of the hall slammed shut. All the Dwarves suddenly felt that their feet seemed to stick to the floor. What happened? The palace was all enchanted. So that the kidnappers could not leave the palace. The evil Sorcerer made sure that all the grievances that the dwarves had accumulated towards each other became heavy, like weights, and did not allow them to move. The only way to overcome witchcraft is to get rid of grievances. Now each of the dwarves will receive a piece of paper and a pen. If you want to free yourself from the severity of the grievances that have accumulated on your classmates, you first need to write the words on a piece of paper: "I was offended (I was) by.... because...
While the children are writing, the presenter and his assistant in the center of the room make chairs in a circle - with their backs in. There should be one or two fewer chairs than participants.

Presenter.
Now go to the big bottomless well that's in the hall, go like you've got heavy shackles on your feet. Do you want to get rid of your grievances? Yes? Then let's throw our grievances into this bottomless well!

The dwarves crush the pieces of paper and throw them into the center of the circle formed by the chairs.

Presenter.
Do you feel the heaviness has gone? You can go to the edge of the well and stand above your grievances! Support each other so that no one falls! You have four Magic Crystals. Let the Messenger Dwarves stand next to you and put the crystals together. Now you can turn these crystals into anything. But first agree what you want to turn them into, preventing the return of grievances and quarrels!

Children stand on chairs and support each other They can, for example, turn crystals into an airplane or balloon and return to their realms together. They might want to build a common palace.
This concludes the game.

1. Group discussion

The host invites the participants to step out of their roles: take off their attributes, sit in a common circle, say to each other: "I am not a dwarf, I am a person, a 6th grade student".
In conclusion, the presenter invites participants to discuss the following issues:

• Which of the tasks turned out to be the most difficult?
• Has every Dwarf changed during the journey? Why?
• Have the inhabitants of each kingdom of Dwarves changed their attitude towards the Gnome that came?
• Is it possible to treat strangers in such a way that this attitude does not offend or humiliate anyone?
• What are the features of such behavior and attitude?
• Has your attitude towards the concepts of "friend" and "foe" changed?

Tolerance (tolerantia-patience) - tolerance, condescension towards someone or something.