Friday, November 29, 2002
"Why play games when there's work to do?"
Adam Fletcher's article "Why play games when there's work to do?" offers us some far-too-often needed words of rationale, and a good collection of links, for those times when we try to bring a little innocent fun into our world. He writes:
When a group of people are preparing to participate in social change, there needs to be some breaking down of inhibitions before they become group participants. "There is no 'I' in T-E-A-M" and all that. Before a group can build effective solutions to the problems facing their communities, they need to trust each other and communicate.
Cooperative games also help set the tone of an action. Social change work is often hard-driven and energy-consuming. Many groups find that cooperative games offer a brisk, friendly way to couple passionate task-oriented goals with driven, group-minded teambuilding. In other words, fun and games help propel social change.
Another purpose of games is to get people to think together, as a team, so that everyone in the group has input and shares ideas. When we have input we have ownership, and when more people have ownership there is more success.
The website is devoted to what's called the Freechild Projects - "Resources for Social Change By and With Young People"
Check out the many links, and scroll down to the bottom of the article for more playworthy inspiration.
When a group of people are preparing to participate in social change, there needs to be some breaking down of inhibitions before they become group participants. "There is no 'I' in T-E-A-M" and all that. Before a group can build effective solutions to the problems facing their communities, they need to trust each other and communicate.
Cooperative games also help set the tone of an action. Social change work is often hard-driven and energy-consuming. Many groups find that cooperative games offer a brisk, friendly way to couple passionate task-oriented goals with driven, group-minded teambuilding. In other words, fun and games help propel social change.
Another purpose of games is to get people to think together, as a team, so that everyone in the group has input and shares ideas. When we have input we have ownership, and when more people have ownership there is more success.
The website is devoted to what's called the Freechild Projects - "Resources for Social Change By and With Young People"
Check out the many links, and scroll down to the bottom of the article for more playworthy inspiration.
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