Theme

Teamwork

Type

Activities

Number of Participants

4+

Timescale

30-60 minutes

Quick overview

All members of the group are given £2 to buy food for a communal meal. Works best with older groups.

Approximate timings

1 hour – 1 hour 30 minutes

Supplies you’ll need

£2 for each group member, cooking supplies, access to local grocery store.

Prep

N/A

Leading the Activity

Give each member of the group £2 each and take them to the local grocery store.

Instruct the group that whatever the group buys will be what the group has for dinner. They can buy whatever they want but will soon realise that £2 doesn’t go all that far and whatever they buy they will have to share with the rest of the group.

Hopefully this will result in the group working together and pooling their money to buy all the required resources for what can be a pretty substantial meal. This meal can then be prepared back at where the group normally meets. Anything from sandwiches to stew is fantastic as long as they’re working together.

If the group doesn’t do it this way and just buys their own things or junk food this is totally fine as it makes for a fun and interesting object lesson!

Once you’ve shared the meal, you may like to discuss how it went with the young people. Here are some prompts for conversation:

• How do you feel about the meal the group created?
• What process did the group go through to create the meal?
• What is the most difficult part of making group decisions for you? Why?
• When do you have to make decisions with others?
• What are somethings to remember when making decisions with others?

Variation

For larger groups you may like to give each member £1 instead.

Safety and Safeguarding

Ensure that both in the shop and when preparing the food the young people are supervised.

Before deciding on what to buy, ensure that everyone knows of each other’s allergies.