Theme

Catholic Social Teaching

Age Range

7-18

Type

Games

Number of Participants

4+

Timescale

10-15 minutes

Quick Overview

Great game to set up themes relating to Catholic Social teaching. Big vs Small involves the group being split into two teams by height, in which they must compete in games that will inherently favour one side over the other. This is also a good activity for opening up a discussion on dealing with frustration.

Supplies you’ll need

• A basketball, volleyball or beach ball
• Playing basketball or volleyball will require you to have the additional equipment necessary for that game. In the case of basketball, this would be at least one basketball hoop. In the case of volleyball, this would be a volleyball net

How to run Big vs Small

• Have your group line up, smallest to tallest.
• Split the group in half, with the taller members on one side and the smaller on the other.
• Set up a group to play where height is an advantage: basketball, volleyball or ‘keep away’ with the beach ball are all good candidates for this.
• After playing for about five minutes, call half time. Your tall team will most likely be winning while the small team may possibly be frustrated. At this point, change the rules so that members of the tall team must have a hand behind their back at all times for the rest of the game.
• By the end of the game it is likely that both your teams will have experienced feeling both positive and negative emotions about their current situation.
• From a Catholic social teaching stand point, this can be a great introduction into the need to face some of the injustices in the world. You can draw great parallels to how in the game, even when you tried really hard, the rigged system meant you’d still likely loose. You can point out that, even if the rules are heavily biased towards them, this doesn’t create a healthy system as it creates resentment and breakdowns in a group/society.
• When you are leading a group, teaching them about how to deal with frustration/anger, the following questions can work well:
  • How did you feel when the game was in your favour?
  • How did you feel when the game was not in your favour?
  • Do you ever feel like your life is like this game? Are you usually winning or losing?
  • Do you ever get angry when things seem to be unfair?
  • How do you release that anger you feel when things are unfair?
  • What good about the way you release your anger, is there a better way of handling it?
  • Who can I talk to work though my frustration? (This is a good link if you want to steer them towards developing their relationship with God)