Unspoken rules

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Description

Can you work out the rules of a new game as you play it?
Think about how society’s unspoken rules can hold people back.

Courtesy of The Scout Association
https://www.scouts.org.uk/activities/unspoken-rules/


Resources

10 minutes
Equipment for chosen game

This activity helps contribute towards some of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Find out more about the SDGs, and how Scouts across the world are getting involved. [https://sdgs.scout.org/]

Safety
All activities must be safely managed. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Do a risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Always get approval for the activity and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Change the level of challenge
- Increase the number of people who don’t know the rules before you start playing. See how many players who know the rules you actually need to play the game.
- When someone who doesn’t know how to play is struggling, the person leading the activity should give them clues so they can work out what to do next.

Instructions

Before you begin
• The person leading the activity should come up with an idea for a new game that the group will not have seen before. This could be a card game, like a new version of ‘Snap’, a sporty game with different rules or a word game that you have made up.
• The person leading the activity should take aside a few members of the group and have them complete a short task somewhere out of earshot (for example, in another room).


Run the activity
1. The person leading the activity should get the rest of the group together in a room and explain the rules of a new game to them. Make sure that everyone in this room understands all of the rules and is ready to play.

2. Everyone in this room should start to play the game. At the same time, the person leading the activity should go and get the members of the group who did not hear the rules and bring them into the room to join the game. These members of the group should not be told any of the rules of the game at any time. Should the newcomers break any rules, they should be told that they have done so, but not how. That person should try to work this out for themselves.

3. Everyone who doesn’t know the rules should try to join in with the game. After the game has run its course, the person leading the activity should declare a winner.

4. After the game has finished, the rules can now be explained to those in the group who didn’t know them. The person leading the activity should point out that some people with hidden disabilities find it difficult to remember or understand common rules. They should ask the group what other ways they can think of to show people an unspoken rule (e.g. staying quiet in a library) or how to do something.


Take it further: unspoken rule charades
1. The group should split into small teams.
2. Each team should come up with a common game or activity of their own that can be demonstrated without words (for example, ‘Pat-a-cake’).
3. Using facial expressions, gestures and actions, each team must show the rest of the group how to play their game.
4. Anyone who guesses the rules of the game should join in, until the entire group is playing.


Reflection
- The group has played a game where some people did not know the rules. What did the newcomers do to try and work out how to play? How did it feel to be left out of the first part of the activity?
- Everyone else in the group knew the rules, but had to play with some people who did not. Did they want to explain the rules to the newcomers to help them? How did they show what the rules were without explicitly saying them? What were the most effective ways of communicating and where else could these be used?


Tags

  • autism
  • community
  • disabilities
  • million hands

Badge Links

  • Community Impact - Identify
  • Community Impact - Identify