Use this quiet game to calm down at the end of a session

Get your young people to sit in a circle, fairly close together. Instruct everyone to put their right palm face-up, on top of their right knee, and to close their eyes. Pick someone to start, and tell them to draw a symbol, a shape or a letter on the palm of the person sitting to their left, using their finger. They can open their eyes to do this, but must shut them again after they finish drawing.

Once they have finished, the person whose palm they drew on must recreate the drawing as best they can on the palm of the person to their left. The drawing is passed around the circle until it gets back to the person who originally created it. Get the last person in the circle to explain what they have drawn, and compare it to what the first person says they drew.

You can use this game to illustrate how information can be lost when it goes through many people or channels, such as on the internet.

Make it more difficult:

Try sending two drawings around the circle, each going in different directions, and see what happens when they cross over!

Need another five-minute filler? Here’s one from last week.