Web of Connection Game

Participants build a yarn or string web, explore its dynamic properties, then watch it collapse. Insights about community and interconnectedness are revealed in the discussion that follows the activity. 

 

Materials needed:

A large ball of yarn or string

Instructions:

  1. Have the group stand in a circle.

  2. Give each participant a situation card.

  3. Make a loop in the end of the yarn or string and hold it.

  4. Toss the ball of yarn to someone across the circle (it will unwind as it goes).

  5. Have that person loop the yarn around a finger, then toss the ball to someone else in the circle.

  6. Each person in turn should catch the ball of yarn, loop it around a finger, and then toss it to someone else. As the ball unwinds, it creates a web of interconnection. It’s okay for people to get the ball more than once.

  7. Continue until everyone has gotten the ball at least once and the web is nicely filled in (or you run out of yarn, whichever comes first).

  8. Once the web-building has ended, play with the web a bit. Have people move it up and down. You could even drop an inflated balloon, Nerf ball, or beach ball onto the web and bounce it around. Experiment with what happens if one person pulls strongly on the yarn he or she holds.

  9. Next invite someone to let go of the yarn. Watch what happens to the web.

  10. Then have someone across the circle from the first person let go of the yarn.

  11. One by one, have random people around the circle let go of the yarn.

  12. The web will gradually lose shape, form, connection, and life. When the web is lying on the floor, ask everyone to sit down and discuss what has occurred.

 Discussion/Reflection Questions

  1. When the web was created and we were playing with it, in what ways was it like the dynamic community of humanity?

  2. What happened to the web when the first person let go of the yarn? The next person? How is that like what happens when people are excluded from a community?

  3. As more and more people dropped the yarn, what happened to the web? How did this affect its usefulness (or playfulness)?

  4. What lesson for community living could you draw from this exercise?


From RethinkInclusion Curriculum Session 4, “One Family Tree”  

Contributed by Melany Burrill

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