Fun with Character: Crush Your Fears
You will need plastic bags, crackers, and markers or paint for this activity. Start a discussion about how fear can hold you back from doing the right thing. Ask for suggestions from the class. You are looking for ideas such as, afraid of standing up for someone being bullied, afraid to tell someone you don’t want to hear gossip, afraid to tell someone you don’t want to do something that is fun but wrong. They do not have to have experienced what they suggest. You are not looking for answers such as afraid to go off the high dive.
Distribute the crackers (matzah crackers work well as they provide a larger surface). Instruct the students to write or paint a symbol of something where fear holds them back from doing the right thing. You can use a single large plastic bag like a freezer bag that you can write on or each student can have their own bag. Have the students make suggestions of things that can help you conquer fears i.e. think positively; picture success; do something small towards your goal; practice in private; find someone who agrees with you; don’t hang around the people who feed your fear, etc. They can write these on their bags or you can write them on the single bag. After you have discussed these strategies place the crackers with the fears written on them inside of the bag and seal it. Now the students can crush the crackers representing their fears. Each student can crush their own or you can pass around the bag for all them to crush. An alternate activity would be to take the crackers outside and let the students crush them with their hands or stamp them with their feet. (If you do it outside, be sure to clean up the mess so birds won’t eat the markers or paint.)
To process this activity, ask these or similar questions:
Was it hard to come up with a fear?
Did you like crushing it?
Do you think that sometimes our fears are not as big as we think?
Do you feel more courageous now that you have named a fear?
The next time you need Courage to do the right thing, will you think of the crackers and “crush it”?