These desert plants are also known as the Rose of Jerico are quite fasinating and once bought for a few pound it will last a life time for countless illustrations.
It is a natural plant that without water shrivels and goes quite hard and looks completely dead but when moisture comes they spring to life.
This is well worth the investment as it is a great illustration for new life, the water of life, resurrection etc.
This is a simple yet good illustration to get young people thinking about value and caring for others / something.
Give each young person a raw egg and let them mark it so it is recognisable as theirs. When this is done explain that they are now going to have to look after the egg and that it must not break.
This is a great brainteaser, visual illustration. It could help open up the subject of how we judge people, first impressions, things are not always as we think. I am sure you can find many more. Enjoy.
Even harder if you are colour blind like me!
This is a great discussion starter or session opener on the subject of assumptions and is easy to put together. I have used this in so many settings and it works whoever the group is.
Simply gather photos of different types of people Google image is a good source for this.
Either print large copys or put on a powerpoint.
Some I used are:
Old people.
This is a great little starter that I owe to Matt Calvert of Prospex (Thanks mate).
This helps open up subjects around self esteem, uniqueness, image to mention a few.
Get everyone to pair up.
Give each person a piece of paper (or thin black card), pencil, scissors.
In a given time limit they have to draw the other persons face a side on profile the bigger the better.
This is a simple opener that helps explore our purpose.
Give several young people some objects that are not well known and ask them what the point of them are or why were they created. Strange kitchen gadgets are often good (the kind that you are given and sit at the back of cupboards). I used a pasta maker, a butter curler, a melon baller and a pineapple corer.
At the start of your talk ask for two volunteers who can win a ten pound note if they follow your seven simple instructions. <P>
Once they are up start by saying the following things embelish the wording in your own way. <P>
Each one gets a little harder or more embarressing, at each point ask if they want to carry on and show them the crisp ten pound note. <P>
