Activity
Introductory activities
What kind of animal are you?
Irene Maweu
Fun introductory or warm-up activity.
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ACTIVITY PURPOSE
This is a fun introductory or warm-up activity.
USEFUL FOR
Doing introductions in any size group without asking people to reveal too much about themselves if they don’t want to.
PREPARATION
None.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Ask participants to go around and say ‘if you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be?’
- This can be done in a large group or in smaller groups via breakout rooms.
DURATION
It could take anywhere between 1-5 minutes per participant, so if it is a large group, you may want to limit each person to 1 or 2 minutes.
ADAPTATIONS AND EXAMPLES
If it is culturally inappropriate, or you face resistance from the notion of being asked ‘what kind of animal are you?’, you could modify the activity. For example, Irene Maweu who contributed this activity once had to do this and she asked people ‘what kind of car would you be?’
You can also make the activity more memorable by inviting folks to change their profile picture or rename themselves to represent the animal they would be.
Contributed by Shanali Govender: In some contexts asking people to take part in this activity might be triggering, due to the dehumanising metaphors connected to their national experience of coloniality (e.g. in South Africa). In situations where this might make for a difficult interaction, you can change the activity to focus on cars, colours, patterns, or hats – whatever feels most appropriate for the group. For example, you could ask ‘what type of hat would you choose, and why?’
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
None, other than breakout rooms if you choose to split up the whole group.
USEFUL RESOURCES
Do you have any suggestions? Please share them in the comments section below.
This activity is one of a series of activities from Equity Unbound, focused on equitable online community building.
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