Who wants you to be in their group?

Issues addressed

• Majority - minority relations

• Discrimination

Aims

• To start discussion about different groups in society

• To raise awareness about prejudice and discrimination

• To encourage empathy with the experience of rejection or exclusion.

Time:10 minutes

Group size: 16+

Preparation

Coloured sticky paper spots. For example, for a group of 16 people you will need 4 blue, 4 red, 4 yellow, 3 green and one white spot.

Instructions

1. Stick one spot on each player's forehead. Players should not know what colour spot they have.

2. Tell the players to get into a group with others who have the same colour spot.

3. Noone may talk, they may only use non verbal communication.

Debriefing and evaluation

Help the group explore their feelings about what they did and what they learnt:

• How did you feel at the moment when you first met someone with the same colour spot as yourself?

• How did the person with the odd spot feel?

• Did you try to help each other get into groups?

• What different groups do you belong to e.g. football team, school, church?

• Can anyone join these groups?

• In our society who are the odd ones out?

Tips for the facilitator

Be aware of who gets the white spot.

You can take the opportunity to manipulate the composition of the final groups, but do not make it obvious. Let the players believe that the spots were distributed at random.

This activity can also be used as an icebreaker and to get people into groups for another activity.

Variations

1. Use coloured sticky paper spots as above but don't have someone who will be the odd one out - at the end everyone will be in a group.

2. Preparation as for variation 1. Ask the players to get into groups so that everyone is in a group, but no group has more than one person with the same coloured spot i.e. you will end up with a 'multi group.

3. Use "jigsaws" made from pictures which will stimulate discussion.

Tip

Stick the pictures onto card before cutting them up.

Suggestions for follow up

Review the membership policy of your group or organisation. Can anyone join? What can you do to make your organisation more open and welcoming to everyone?

Being the odd one out doesn't always mean we've been excluded, sometimes it's by choice that we want to stand apart from others and be different. If you want to work more on looking at what it means to be an individual you could use 'One equals one'.

If your discussion touched on disabled people being the odd ones out, then you may like to consider doing the activity, 'See the ability!' in Compass. It is a practical activity to encourage empathy with people with disabilities.