Activities

Lifting a heavy object

To demonstrate the concept of unity we asked our 3- year olds to move the coffee table. We had thought that they would try it alone first, fail, and then do it together. Instead, they jumped at the invitation and, as a group started pushing the table. A great example of unity! We then asked them to try to lift the table. This task followed our intentions better. Now it was obvious that one kid cannot do it alone, but as a group we can. Overall we loved the simplicity and the physicality of this activity.

Carry your friend

Similarly to lifting the coffee table we asked kids to lift up one of the kids, sitting on a small chair. It was a little messier to follow through since first none of the kids wanted to be the one sitting and to be lifted. After a little convincing, though, we managed to take turns and have one kid sitting while others lifted him/her up. As a task overall it was harder and, obviously, not achievable without unity. Managing the task was a bit more difficult than lifting the coffee table, but still doable.

Garden diversity

We stepped outside to see the flowerbed in front of the house (we called it a "garden"). We asked kids to note what different color blooms they see there. We also asked what different shapes of blooms they see. The color question worked better because of the age of our kids (the shapes are still hard for them). We explained that different looking flowers together make a beautiful garden.

Building blocks

We used wooden blocks to try to build a bridge together. Kids loved the blocks and started building right away. However, they all wanted to build by themselves and I think we failed in demonstrating unity with this activity. Perhaps it would have worked better to show them an example bridge first.

Clean-up duty

This activity was super fun, simple, and got the message across well. All you need for this is something to clean up. We used a bag of large lego blocks. We asked the kids how could we get all the blocks back in the bag quicker - by picking them up alone or together? To demonstrate, we asked a volunteer to pick up all the blocks. While that kid was working, we were all counting. Counted up to ninety... Once the blocks were all back in the bag we poured them out again and asked all the kids to pick them up together. We challenged them to do it in 20. And they almost managed! (granted, we were counting the last couple of numbers a little slower...). It was clear that we can clean up much faster together. Unity makes us faster.

Warning though - explain the activity before you pour out the blocks. We did not... It took us a while to get back on track because everybody wanted to just start playing with blocks. However, when the first kid started to clean up and parents counting all the other kids got focused on counting as well. From there onwards the activity went well.

Sticks sticking together

For this activity you need long thin wooden sticks (if they are sharp, cut the sharp ends off). Give each kid a stick and ask them to break it in two. Relatively easy, isn't it? Now take the two pieces, put them together and try to break two at a time. Much harder, but still doable! Now you have four pieces. Can we break four pieces of sticks in one? No. This is too hard! Thus, the more pieces we have, the harder to break them. Unity makes us stronger.

This activity might be a little better suited for little older kids. We had at least one kid cry when he could not break the four sticks together.

Peanut butter sandwich

For this activity we went into kitchen. Every kid got one of the following: a slice of bread, a jar of peanut butter, a spoon, and a table knife. Their task was to make peanut butter sandwiches. To do so, everybody's help was needed. We needed the bread person to provide the bread, the knife person to cut it, the peanut butter person to provide the peanut butter, and the spoon person to scoop it out onto bread. Since that last job was hardest, kids took turns to do it. And finally, after unified effort, we had our yummy peanut butter sandwiches. The inspiration for this activity came from an old Sesame Street episode.

Crafts

People of the world

We brought out a world map and started showing where we live. Each of the parents then showed where they were born. We have quite the diversity: China, Australia, El Salvador, Alaska, Hawaii, Estonia. We come from such different places, but work very well together. Kids were very engaged and interested. We then used a coloring page with people from different continents. It was nice that one kid deliberately colored all the people the same color, showing unity.

Reflections on teaching unity

Unity is a relatively simple (but powerful) idea that works well with toddlers. The quote is really well-suited for toddlers - it uses easy language and is relatively short.

The activities where the end-result is NOT possible to achieve alone are the best activities to teach unity to 3-year olds. Since these kids still developmentally struggle with playing together, activities that can be done alone too are too difficult and likely won't work (they would work for older kids though).

Two possible types of activities fall into the category of "NOT possible to achieve alone":

1. a task that is too difficult for one person
2. a task where all the participants have a unique role and task can be accomplished only by combining all these unique roles.

Examples of the first one include: 1) lifting a coffeetable that is too hard to lift for one person; 2) building a tall tower with cardboard boxes where it is too hard to lift a box so high for one person alone; or 3) rescuing a doll (each person holds one corner of a tablecloth to use the cloth as a soft landing place for a doll falling). None of these tasks can be accomplished by one person alone and, thus, the power of unity is easily seen.

The second type of activity requires that every participant would have "a piece of the puzzle" and only coming together would it make something doable. Like, one kid has a bowl, the other a spoon, and third one the ingredient to use. Alternatively, each kid could practice some skill with his/her parent, a skill that later is needed to finish the common task. This type of task would demonstrate the unity in diversity principle. Unfortunately, I have this idea only in theory, I haven't figured out a practical example for this one yet. And, we have not tried it in practise with kids yet.

Other possible ideas

Here we have collected ideas that we have not tried out. We cannot comment on their effectiveness.

Rescuing a doll

In this activity children would play firefighters and rescue a doll. For this you need a sheet (tablecloth or a bed-sheet). Each kid will hold one corner of the cloth to create a soft landing place for a doll that needs rescuing. Like this, together, they can catch a falling doll.

Story

This story from the Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá might work well with toddlers in showing the importance of unity - the idea that we are all different, but also very similar.

"At the city gate four travelers sat, a Persian, a Turk, an Arab and a Greek. They were hungry and wanted their evening meal. So one was selected to buy for them all. But among them they could not agree as to what should be bought. The Persian said angoor, the Turk uzum, the Arab wanted aneb and the Greek clamoured for staphylion, green and black. They quarrelled and wrangled and almost came to blows in trying to prove that the particular desire of each was the right food. When all of a sudden there passed a donkey ladened with grapes. Each many sprang to his feet and with eager hands pointed out” “See uzum!” said the Turk. “See aneb!” said the Arab. “See angoor!” said the Persian. And the Greek said, “See staphylion!” Then they bought their grapes and were at peace." (Honnold, Annamarie, Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 156)