Theme

Affirmation

Age Range

Below 14

Type

Activities

Number of Participants

4+

Timescale

30-60 minutes

Quick overview

A teamwork and affirmations activity for primary school children where they create an image using the body parts of different members of the group.

Supplies you’ll need

For each group you will need: a piece of paper large enough it can fit a lying down young person on it, a black marker pen, colouring pens, crayons, pens or pencils.

Prep

None.

Leading the Activity

The objective of this activity is that of affirming, team building and fun. The activity works best when each team doing it has an adult who can supervise and steer conversation in a good direction.

Have the group for teams of roughly 8-10 as this is ideal. Groups can be as small as two but the closer to ten the better. Due to the nature of the activity and their age this works best when they are in friendship groups.

Lay the paper out upon the floor and explain to the young people we are going to be making a super hero using different parts of them. We are going to trace around a body part of each person to create one complete body. The way the body part is picked is by what the group thinks other members of their group can do well with that part. This doesn’t mean they pick someone’s arms because they look good but rather that person is good at giving hugs or using them for a particular sport etc.

It’s at this point that the adult’s job is most important because while primary school children can come out with some lovely stuff and get a lot from the activity, they can also not quite understand what is meant by saying nice things and so could possibly come out with something like “He smells but not that bad”. To prevent this, it helps for the adult to ensure the affirming is just that.

It’s important to have all young people in the group affirmed and incorporated at least once and this again the adult can do.

If they are coming up with lots, or you have a big group, you may want to trace individual fingers and different parts of arms etc or do additional bodies. Once the body has been created, allow the group to colour in the body and as a group create one body. They can give them superhero clothing and a back story that incorporates their different talents that went into the creation of the heroes. At the end you can get them to present their hero to the group as a whole.

God Link

• Body of Christ: A great way of getting the young people to understand the body of Christ and their place in it and the Church. They, as individuals, have their own gifts and talents and if they put them at the service of Christ he will use them for some definite purpose. Romans 12:5, 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, Ephesians 3:6 and 5:23, Colossians 1:18 and Colossians 1:24.
• They are God’s Masterpiece: The activity shows how we all have fantastic talents and these talents were given to us by God. Ephesians 2:10.
• The importance of affirming others and seeing the Goodness and God in others.