To celebrate International Family Day, Debate Mate Virtual has compiled a list of family-friendly activities, tailored to developing confidence and communication skills in your children!
Not only do these games give you some quality family time, they also support the development of key soft skills in young people, a mission at the heart of all our Debate Mate programmes! Keep reading to learn more 👇
1) Where Do You Stand?
This is a fun, fast-paced debating activity we regularly play in our Fundamentals of Debating clubs! In this family-friendly version, 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. Choose a statement (e.g. zoos should be banned) and you all 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.
2) Water Balloon Debate
Another Debate Mate classic, this summer-y adaptation of our famous balloon debate 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!
3) Just a Minute!
Our family-friendly take on the BBC Radio 4 panel game! Take it in turns to each talk for 1 minute giving an opinion on a topic that interests you without hesitation, deviation, or repetition. If you do any of these things, you have to stop the clock and start again!
4) 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 🙌
