"I pack my suitcase."
Main Topic
Health – Mental
Additional Topic(s)
Health - General
Duration
1-2 hours
Implementation Mode
Indoor F2F
Goal(s)
Young people think of strategies for their mental health.
They practise their memory skills.
They create an emergency suitcase full of tips and activities to counter stress, bad moods, sadness, anger, and other negative emotions.
They practise their memory skills.
They create an emergency suitcase full of tips and activities to counter stress, bad moods, sadness, anger, and other negative emotions.
Overview of Activity
“I'm packing my suitcase and I'm taking with me…” is a well-known game used to strengthen the memory skills of young people. In this variant, we will use the game to reflect on what we would like to pack in our suitcase to maintain our mental health.
The game instructions include a few examples and activation questions.
For this activity, you will need a poster, poster pens, and pieces of paper.
The game instructions include a few examples and activation questions.
For this activity, you will need a poster, poster pens, and pieces of paper.
Description of Activity
Sit in a circle of chairs. The facilitator starts with an activation round and asks:
When I am sad, what helps me is …
When I am happy, I must absolutely do …
When my friend is sad, I give them these tips …
When I relax, I do …
When I am angry, what helps me calm down the most is …
When I feel stressed, I do …
Everyone answers the question for themselves. The answers are not spoken out loud.
Now the actual game starts. The aim is to pack a large emergency suitcase together, in which you will find tips and activities that you can use when you are angry/sad/stressed, etc.
Go around the circle: "I pack my suitcase and I take with me …" a tip (e.g., my colouring book).
The next person repeats what the previous person packed in the suitcase and adds something new.
Continue playing either until everyone has packed something in the suitcase or no one can think of anything new.
Anyone who makes a mistake or forgets what was in the suitcase is out and helps the group by writing new tips on pieces of paper.
At the end, all the items that were packed into the suitcase are written down on pieces of paper.
TIP: Draw a large suitcase on a poster and stick the pieces of paper with the tips and activities onto the poster. This way, you have visualised the packed suitcase and can refer to it whenever needed.
When I am sad, what helps me is …
When I am happy, I must absolutely do …
When my friend is sad, I give them these tips …
When I relax, I do …
When I am angry, what helps me calm down the most is …
When I feel stressed, I do …
Everyone answers the question for themselves. The answers are not spoken out loud.
Now the actual game starts. The aim is to pack a large emergency suitcase together, in which you will find tips and activities that you can use when you are angry/sad/stressed, etc.
Go around the circle: "I pack my suitcase and I take with me …" a tip (e.g., my colouring book).
The next person repeats what the previous person packed in the suitcase and adds something new.
Continue playing either until everyone has packed something in the suitcase or no one can think of anything new.
Anyone who makes a mistake or forgets what was in the suitcase is out and helps the group by writing new tips on pieces of paper.
At the end, all the items that were packed into the suitcase are written down on pieces of paper.
TIP: Draw a large suitcase on a poster and stick the pieces of paper with the tips and activities onto the poster. This way, you have visualised the packed suitcase and can refer to it whenever needed.
Sources & Additional Materials
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Additional Notes
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