Fun with Character: Cover Up

For this activity you will need a container with an opening that is about 4 -6 inches in diameter and no taller than 8 – 12 inches. Fill it with about 4 – 6 inches of water. If you have a large group, you may want to divide into smaller groups and provide each group with the same set-up. Place the container in the center of the group. Have someone drop a nickel into the container, aiming to get it as close to the center as possible. Explain that the nickel is like a lie that you tell. Now give pennies to the others in the group. Each person has to try to cover up the lie (the nickel) by telling other smaller lies (pennies). If you want to be able to repeat this multiple times so all can try to ‘cover the lie’, you will need some type of strainer and a container for the water so you can strain the coins out. Something to dry the coins for re-use is also handy. Experiment with how much water to put into the container. For younger folks, you may want to have less water. The more water there is the harder it is to cover the nickel.

To process the activity, ask these or similar questions:

• When you were explained the activity, did you think it would be easy to cover the nickel?

• How many pennies does it take to cover the nickel completely?

• How difficult is it to cover the lie when you don’t have a lot of control over where the pennies land?

• How is that like lies that you tell to cover your tracks?

• The next time you are tempted to lie, will you remember how difficult it was to cover the nickel?