EQ4Peace Ideas for Building, Practicing and Maintaining Community
People inherently need several things at least on an occasional basis. They need social connections of different kinds, some of these being private and confidential. With these they need strategies for navigating the social milieu as well as how to maintain their own sense of efficacy and well-being. They need reasons to be optimistic. They need novelty and humor, including different forms of play. And they need a sense of purpose in their lives.
GOAL: The Goal is to empower people to see a way “out” of the COVID fog & build optimism by giving many brief ideas or strategies to try:
– creating community: the intended purpose is to give people, especially adolescents, ideas on how they might interact & connect socially as normally as possible (adolescents need private & confidential social time)
A few general IDEAS:
- Private conversation times, with agreement and commitment by parents & others
- Scavenger hunts
https://www.scavify.com/blog/virtual-scavenger-hunt
Book groups, CD groups: listen/read the same sample then get together to discuss them
- Binge an agreed upon tv series, then debrief it with a friend on zoom
- Do an art project of some kind then share it (have a virtual art gallery)
Silly & fun:
- Formal dress-up (prom-ish); then have a fashion show
- Costume ‘get-togethers’; wear a costume to a zoom get-together, then have a fashion show
- Hold a formal English tea
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/how-throw-afternoon-tea-party
- Find humorous examples of cartoons, stories, or the like; take turns sharing them; have one a day, like a vitamin, OR find one and have you and your friends each write their own caption
- Create and present lip-sync contests or performances, Karaoke
- Get together on zoom with different instruments and percussion items and play a “Louie, Louie” festival. (look it up if you’ve never heard this classic tune before)
- Perform some kind of mime act on zoom and see if your virtual partner can figure it out
Friendly Competitions:
- Themed get together sessions, ie “soft drink tasting”, ie coke or Pepsi?, or “Tea sampling”, “Search for the best cookie”; “Search for the best french bread”
- Have a chess tournament; influenced by the movie, “Queen’s Gambit”
- Play online chess, checkers, backgammon, poker and more / Chess tournaments; influenced by the movie, “Queen’s Gambit”
Just reasons to get together with others:
- Planned parties
- Playing board games
- Sharing music, “Vinyl Fridays”
- Have a virtual picnic, in your backyard or living room or do a virtual camping experience
- Film festivals: choose a movie for everyone to watch independently. Then, gather on zoom and talk about them, maybe even rate them with a thumbs up or down.
- Have lunch online together, providing your own lunch
Brain-stimulating ideas:
- Write and share poetry; use a variety of different forms or templates
- Plan the celebration when COVID is over
- Individually create a film depicting your inner feelings or experiences and then share it as a part of a film festival
- Travel virtually with a friend somewhere, be sure to plan it first
- Write in journals, then connect and share entries
- Book groups
- Meet in small groups and discuss EQ topics on a regular basis
- Cooperative writing; each member starts a story then after a designated stopping point or time, passes it on to the next person
- Write one’s life story or one anecdote, in first person or third
- Individually create a film depicting your inner feelings or experiences and then share it as a part of a film festival
- combat anxiety (Josh Freedman did 20 minutes on this one! com/watch?v=1j7WgD8-yzA)
Reflective & thought-provoking kinds of activities:
- Try a David Burns Thought Record
https://positivepsychology.com/wp-content/uploads/Automatic-Thought-Record.pdf
- Individually create a film depicting your inner feelings or experiences and then share it as a part of a film festival
- Do some form of play, individual or with others, for a predetermined amount of time
- Travel virtually somewhere; watching travel shows, videos, eat the food, listen to the music
- Do some form of play, individual or with others, for a predetermined amount of time
- combat depression: one of the leading causes of depression is a feeling of isolation and loneliness; a second is a negative sense of self (also see creating communities & building connections above)
- Find a partner to be able to share with, meet regularly
- Do an art project expressing your present feelings and thoughts
Let’s Get Physical & Dramatic:
- Exercise together: take turns leading
- “Be the expert”: teach a real/fictional/hypothetical lesson or something that is an interest of yours to the others on zoom
- Plan a virtual dance with friends; even get a friend’s band to play online
- Take a walk by yourself while talking with a friend by phone
- Individually create a film depicting your inner feelings or experiences and then share it as a part of a film festival
- Individually create a film depicting your inner feelings or experiences and then share it as a part of a film festival
- Perform some kind of mime act on zoom and see if your virtual partner can figure it out
Do something good for others:
- Plan/do community service projects; WE.org is a good resource for this
Schools can foster a sense of identity, agency, community, and belonging by providing a variety of thoughtful opportunities for all students—not just those who regularly volunteer—to lead and contribute both in and outside of the classroom. This includes actively engaging students who don’t typically take on leadership roles by recognizing that the knowledge, life experience, and culture of all students’ are assets to the school community. CASEL supports this method.
- Find ways to encourage student voices
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ1IG9EwJs4
- Write & present speeches for political office or student council (hypothetical or real)
- Collect canned foods for a nearby food bank
- Collect garbage in the streets for a while
- Do something active: clean and reorganize some part of your dwelling, run around the block, jump rope, garden, do yoga with online leadership
- Try a David Burns Thought Record
https://positivepsychology.com/wp-content/uploads/Automatic-Thought-Record.pdf
- Every morning draw how you’re feeling and then throw it away
- Pursue a new hobby or interest
- Individually create a film depicting your inner feelings or experiences and then share it as a part of a film festival with yourself or others
- Take yourself on a virtual trip somewhere
- Find humorous examples of cartoons, stories, or the like
Easing tension at home:
- Play in some form, individually (ie legos, puzzles, reading for enjoyment, reading,…)
or together (ie legos, puzzles, madlibs,…)
- Do an art project before discussing any home issues
- Establish a routine with a clear and accepted vision of what it’d look and sound like
- Read aloud to each other
- Bring in some form of humor (riddles, limericks, jokes, madlibs, cartoons (Gary Larson, movies)
- Do something active, ie go for a walk, alone or with family members
- Go on a virtual family vacation (you can even go on a world tour going everywhere family members want to go) (keep track of hypothetical costs, ie hotel, food, flights,…)
