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Snowflake

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Person unfolding sheet of paper which has holes torn out of it as seen in trust-building exercise called Snowflake

Snowflake

Powerful facilitated exercise that values diversity.

  • Playful & fun
  • Simple to set-up
  • Powerful metaphor
  • Focus on valuing differences
  • Develops critical thinking

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. Ask your group to sit comfortably on the floor or in chairs.
  2. Distribute a sheet of paper to each person.
  3. Holding the paper in their hands, invite each person to close their eyes until you ask them to open them again.
  4. Announce a set of very clear instructions, which you want everyone to follow.
  5. No one is permitted to ask any questions.
  6. Announce the following instructions, with short pauses between each one:
    – FOLD YOUR PAPER IN HALF & KEEP IT FOLDED.
    – TEAR OFF THE BOTTOM RIGHT-HAND CORNER.
    – DISCARD THE TORN SECTION TO YOUR SIDE.
    – FOLD YOUR PAPER IN HALF AGAIN & KEEP IT FOLDED.
    – TEAR OFF THE TOP LEFT-HAND CORNER.
    – DISCARD THE TORN SECTION.
    – FOLD YOUR PAPER INTO HALF AGAIN & KEEP IT FOLDED.
    – TEAR OFF THE BOTTOM LEFT-HAND CORNER.
    – DISCARD THE TORN SECTION.
    – FOLD YOUR PAPER INTO HALF AGAIN & KEEP IT FOLDED.
    – USING YOUR TEETH IF NECESSARY, TEAR OFF THE TOP RIGHT-HAND CORNER.
    – DISCARD THE TORN SECTION.
    – FINALLY, FOLD YOUR PAPER IN HALF DIAGONALLY & PRESS ON FOLD AS BEST YOU CAN.
    – YOU MAY NOW OPEN YOUR EYES.”
  7. Invite your group to share with one another what they now observe.
  8. Take a few minutes to debrief the exercise, exploring why every ‘snowflake’ looks different, and what this exercise says about communication, teamwork and valuing diversity.

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Have you played this activity? What worked, what didn't work? What type of group? Do you have useful advice for other users? Do you know a fun variation?

Comments (1)

  1. SCEC

    I recently used this activity to talk about applied learning. I gave them Paper folding and tearing “theory” and then they needed to learn from that and apply it to a real world (repeat the activity with 2-way dialogue) scenario. Worked like a charm.

    Reply

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