Fun with Character: Domino Determination
You will need dominos or any object that can be set up like a domino drop chain. You will need to set up 3 chains. The first chain should have the dominos set farther and farther apart until they are too far apart to trigger the next one so the chain stops falling. The second chain should have the middle of the chain offset so that the second half of the chain does not fall. The third chain should have all the dominos aligned so that they all fall consecutively. Before tripping the domino chains, discuss goals and how determination plays a part in achievement. You may want to find an age-appropriate story or just a few facts about Thomas Edison’s determination to invent the light bulb. He had an unbelievable number of failures before hitting on the right combination. Talk about how stopping work on a project makes it hard to stay interested in completing it. You lose momentum. Demonstrate this with the first domino chain. Next, you can talk about how distraction or losing your focus on a goal makes it hard to achieve. Demonstrate this with the second domino chain. Staying determined helps achieve goals. Demonstrate this with the third domino chain.
To process the activity, ask these or similar questions:
Is it fun to play with dominoes?
What happened in the first domino chain?
Can you see how important it is to keep working?
What happened in the second domino chain?
Can you see how important it is to stay focused?
What happened in the third domino chain?
Can you see the importance of focus and continuous work to be determined to get a job done?
How many dominoes were in the third chain? Did the first domino trigger the last domino right away? (No – took many steps to get to the end.)
Do you think visualizing the steps you take to complete a goal or project, like dominoes in a chain, will help you stay determined to finish?