Easter Holiday Activities

1. Water balloon debate 🎈
A summer-y adaptation of our famous balloon debate, this game requires a collection of water balloons and at least 5 participants. (If you don’t have water balloons, a bucket of water will do!) 3 of your group must think of a character (celebrity, politician, historic or fictional, someone famous that everybody knows, they can be dead or alive). Each of these individuals must speak for 30 seconds about why their character is so important that they do not deserve to have a water balloon thrown at them. The other participants are the judges, and must vote for their favourite based on the arguments the speakers make, how they spoke and how well the convinced them. Make sure to give them good feedback! 

After this first round, you should have one person that has been voted safe, and the other two must go head-to-head. They will speak for 30 seconds in criticism of the other individual left in the game. Another vote is held to determine who deserves to have the water balloon thrown at them. The judges must give good feedback before carrying this out!


2. Ma Ma Moo 🐮
For this exercise, you must not use any words, instead you say the phrase “Ma Ma Moo” repeatedly, using your tone, pace, volume, emotion and body language to communicate scenarios. For example, a scenario could be that you’re opening a present and you’re really excited about it. Whoever you’re playing with has to guess the scenario that you are trying to communicate. If you are playing with more than two people then pair up – you (A) and your partner (B) can act out a scenario and the third player must guess what it is. 

3. Where do you stand? ⚖️
Either play in your garden or a park nearby. Pick two spots (maybe two trees quite far apart from each other) and assign one as agree, and one as disagree. You’ll hear a statement and you have to decide whether you agree or disagree with it. When you’ve made up your mind, move to whichever spot corresponds with your view. The closer you are to the spot, the more passionately you agree/disagree about the issue. If you’re unsure, you can stay in the middle, but remember – you’ll have to justify why you’re unsure! Clearly explain why you’re standing where you are. For an extra challenge, try and use a piece of evidence to support your point. 

4. Magic Number Game 🗣️
This can be played alone or with other people and involves some shouting so it’s best to play outdoors! Count from 1 to 10, with 1 as a whisper and each number after that louder than the last. Then do it again, but crouch when you say 1, and as you say each number increase the volume of your voice and gradually come to standing – when you reach 10 you should be shouting on your tip-toes! Once you’ve done a couple of rounds, have a think about what number you think you should be speaking at when you are in a debate (hint: it’s higher than 6 and lower than 8!). This may seem quite loud, and takes a bit of getting used to, so try having conversations with the people around you at this volume. It may feel weird when having a 1 on 1 conversation, but when you’re in a debate it’s really important to speak loudly!


5.  ZAH 🔥

Stand in a circle with the other players (you need around 4 or more players). Pretend that you are holding a ball that is really hot – you want to get rid of it quickly! Pass it to the other people in the circle, but you’re not allowed to say their name – you must pass it via eye contact. Once you’ve practiced this a couple of times, add in emotions. Are you happy about pretending to pass the ball? Sad? Scared? The more ridiculous and over-the-top you are with the emotions, the better!

All of these games are tailored to developing the confidence and communication skills necessary to engage in a debate 🙌

Learn more or sign your child up to a FREE Taster Session here at www.debatematevirtual.com/freetasters