Category Archives: Activities

Activities, Elementary School Activities, High School Activities, Middle School Activities, Uncategorized

A Spin on Charades

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We know most of you already know how to play charades. But this activity is a little bit different.

In this activity, the class will split into groups of two. The facilitator (or one person from each group) will act out different words (see word bank below), and the rest of the team will have to guess which word they are acting out. Both teams will act out the same word, so it’s a race to see which team can guess the word first! But there’s a catch- only one person from each group can raise their hand to guess which word their teammate is acting out. This person, the assigned leader, is the only one who will be allowed to guess the word. And after each round, a new assigned leader will be picked from each group. So get excited to have dynamic shifts in leadership and communication in each round of the game. The first team to 10 points wins!

Word bank (only visible to the facilitator and one actor from each team):

  1. Love
  2. Friends
  3. Bird
  4. Pencil
  5. School
  6. Sick
  7. Tree
  8. Grapes
  9. Family
  10. Soccer
  11. Basketball
  12. Ballerina
  13. Rain
  14. Nail polish
  15. Teacher
  16. Doctor
  17. School bus
  18. Gloves
  19. Snow
  20. Water
  21. Computer
  22. Pillow
  23. Cat
  24. Dog
  25. Dentist
  26. Hair scrunchie
  27. Sister
  28. Cellphone
  29. Baby
  30. Elephant
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Activities, Elementary School Activities, High School Activities, Middle School Activities, Uncategorized

YAS it’s Valentine’s Day

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Valentine’s Day is a great time to tell people you are grateful for them. This Valentine’s Day, we want you to celebrate everyone who is special in your life, whether that be your family, friends, teachers, peers, or anyone else important in your life. During this YAS (You are Special) activity, you will create two Valentines- one for someone you know very well, and one for someone you do not know as well. Decorate the Valentine’s in any way you want, and make sure to write, “YAS because…” on the person’s card and say something nice about them!

Activities, Elementary School Activities, High School Activities, Middle School Activities, Uncategorized

Leadership lessons from TV

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Do you have a favorite TV show? Did you know that many TV shows actually include many important life lessons in their episodes? And many of these same TV shows also teach us very important lessons about leadership too!

Take 15 minutes to think about a lesson about leadership you learned from a TV show. It could be something obvious (ex. an example of someone being a leader in a workplace or school, someone leading a sports team, etc.) or something less obvious (ex. someone encouraging another person, someone standing up for another person, causing a change or making a difference in their community, etc.). Then, if you are doing this as a public speaking activity, you will come to the front of the class and present your scenario to your peers, answering these questions in your presentation:

  1. What is the name of the TV show?
  2. What happens in the episode where a character uses leadership?
  3. How can this be applied to our own lives?

If you are doing this activity as a team building activity, instead of presenting the scene to the class, you and your group will pick one scene together and act out the scene for the class! You do not have to act it out word for word, so you can feel free to put your own spin on the scene.

High School Activities, Middle School Activities, Uncategorized

Find Someone Who… Can Understand Hand Signs

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In this activity, we combine Find Someone Who with Hand Signs to make a new game- assigned leader style! In this activity, students do the Find Someone Who Activity (assigned leader style) where they have to take turns figuring out how many people in the class can do a certain thing listed on the page. However, in this version, the students have to lead the group without talking. For example, if they have to find out how many like jazz music, they have to act it, until people notice they are acting out jazz music. To add another twist to this, they start acting these out one by one, but then begin doing it in twos, so they get practice with leadership as well.

Groups will have 20 minutes to complete this activity. Have fun!

Activities, Discussion Questions, Elementary School Activities, High School Activities, Middle School Activities, Uncategorized

Leadership at schools

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One purpose of Leaders UNITE is to help students see that leadership can be fun, and that anyone can step up as a leader in any situation. Think about your own school/a program you are a part of. Now take the time to think about how that school/program could incorporate leadership more into their curriculum. What would you do to provide more opportunities for students to be leaders/feel comfortable speaking out at your school?

This can be done as an activity or a discussion. For the discussion, just answer the question above. For an activity, do the discussion and then create a letter that you would send to your school showing them what they can do to create more opportunities for leadership in the classroom. If you have time, even think of actual changes you would implement and write them out in a detailed plan.

 

Students will have 25 minutes to do this discussion and activity. Be creative and try to think outside of the box!

*Note: If you are stuck for ideas, here are a few:

  • Creating more opportunities for small group learning.
  • Creating more opportunities for students to step up as leaders in the classroom.
  • Having afterschool leadership programs.
  • Having a debate or discussion team where you get to discuss important topics in leadership.
  • Creating opportunities for people to share their culture/identity with the class.
Activities, Elementary School Activities, High School Activities, Middle School Activities, Uncategorized

What would a leader do?

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As we are learning through this club, leadership can come about in many different ways, and in many different situations. In this activity, it is your turn to show us what a leader would do in a particular situations. You will be given one of the following scenarios, and you and your team must create a scene to resolve the conflict. You and your group will have to act this out, so make sure your skit really shows what a leader would do in these situations.

Your group will have 15 minutes to create and plan your skit!

Scenarios:

  1. You are working on a group project with a few of your classmates, and you notice that one of the students always comes late to group meetings. When he is there, you notice that he never says anything, and that he is always yawning. What would a leader do?
  2. You see one kid getting picked on at school by some of his classmates. They claim that they are just joking around, but you see that the student actually looks hurt. What would a leader do?
  3. Your friend comes to you and tells you that she is feeling sad. What would a leader do?
  4. You see a girl sitting by herself during lunch time at school. What would a leader do?
Activities, High School Activities, Middle School Activities, Uncategorized

Marketing a new (old) product

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You are currently working at a startup company who wants to create a new consumer product. You must create a new product based on one item in the room, and you will create a pitch about to show on a tv commercial. Your instructor (aka the head of your company) will tell you which item you must create a pitch about. Here’s the catch: the function of your consumer product must be different from the actual function of the object you are given! For example, if you are given a pencil, the function of your new product cannot be to write, or if you are given a cup, the function of the new product cannot be to drink from it. So be creative in coming up with the function of your new product.

After creating your product, you must create a pitch for a tv commercial, including the name of your product, its function, any special features, and where people can buy this product. Each person in your team must speak in your commercial.

Your team will have 15 minutes to create your product and commercial.

 

Notes for instructors: If students complete this quickly, give them another object. You can also give them another object and make it so one person in the group is not allowed to talk or write anything down.

For a similar version of this activity, see our Commercial activity.

Activities, All Posts, Elementary School Activities, High School Activities, Middle School Activities, Uncategorized

The Newest Videogame

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Congratulations! You have been selected to create the newest videogame! In this activity (which is similar to The Newest App activity), students will work together to create their own videogame and then will create a commercial pitch to sell their videogame to the “audience”. Students must include the game logo, purpose, rules, and features in their commercial pitch, and every person in the group must speak in their presentation.

For younger age groups or for a fun twist, teachers, start by asking the students to name seven things they like in their games (without telling them that they will be creating a videogame). Then once they list their seven things, tell them that they must combine these seven things together to make a brand new videogame. See how they work together to combine these things!

Groups will have 15 minutes to create their videogame and their commercial pitch!

Elementary School Activities, Middle School Activities, Uncategorized

It’s Dance Time!

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Students will work together in groups to think of a dance for one of the following songs. Note: The dance must be your own unique creation, not one that already exists (unless you are tweaking it!)

  1. Let it Go (Frozen)
  2. A Whole New World (Aladdin)
  3. Hakuna Matata (Lion King)
  4. Part of Your World (Little Mermaid)

All students will have 15 minutes to think of their dance. All students in the group should perform this dance together after time is up.

Elementary School Activities, Uncategorized

YAS (You Are Special) Leadership!

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YAS (You are Special) is a central component of the Leaders UNITE curriculum because we believe that a good leader encourages his/her teammates and takes the time to learn why each team member is special and unique. Because of the success of the YAS movement, we have decided to add a YAS activity for our elementary school students.

In this activity, students will write cards for their classmates that begin with, “YAS (You Are Special) because…”. The cards will be based on the YAS Valentine’s Day Cards that Leaders UNITE created a few years ago, and students will get to give these to their friends and teachers during this activity!