"Tread ye the path of justice, for this, verily, is the straight path."
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writing of Baha'u'llah, pg. 250.
For this activity we had a bowl full of cashew nuts and some empty bowls (one for each kid). First we asked whether they would be okay if Carolina, who was holding the bowl, could keep all the cashews for herself. Very quickly, we heard "I want some" from all of the kids. We then asked them to figure out hoe they could share the cashews. The first suggestion from the kids was that everybody could get one cashew. When asked whether everybody agrees, one kid suggested that six cashews would be better. Thus we counted out six cashews to everybody, including parents. Some kids then even volunteered to give some of theirs away. This decision was highly praised. After giving everyone six cashews, we still had some left over. After discussion, we decided to store those for later. We were pleasantly surprised how well kids handled the sharing situation.
We tried it also with inedible jello balls. This was not as good of an idea as they desperately wanted to eat these balls.
We used a crib liner as a path of justice. It is padded strip of cloth, long enough to reach from one end of room to another and maybe about 30cm wide. We laid this "path of justice" down and told the kids that they have to practice walking on the path of justice because it is not always an easy thing to do. First, they walked on the path alone, their feet were not supposed to be off the path. Then they had to walk in couples, still, feet on the path only. Finally, three kids walked the path together, holding hands. We then placed an "obstacle" on the path: a metal bowl upside down. Their task was to walk the path but avoid the obstacle. They did this alone and together, holding hands (this last one was already quite difficult). On the very end we tried asking them to walk from opposite ends at the same time such that two kids would meet in the center. Their task was to try to pass each other such that neither would touch the floor. They gave their best try, but, at this age, it was still too difficult of a task.
Here is the song to the path of justice quote as performed in our class (composed by Warren Waren).