You will need

• Masking tape or chalk
• Festival facts

Before you begin

• Divide your meeting place into six areas using chalk or masking tape.
• Label each of the areas with a different religious festival: Christmas, Eid al-Fitr, Holi, Passover, Vaisakhi, Vesak.

Play the game

1. Everyone should stand in the middle of the room, and look around at the different festivals spread around the room.
2. The person leading the game should call out an item or tradition which goes with one (or more) of the festivals.

We’ve included some suggestions to get you started. It’s best to include some traditions that are key to all of the festivals, such as prayer, spending time with friends and family, cleaning or decorating, and giving cards or gifts.

1. Everyone should go and stand by the festival they think the item or the tradition belongs to.
2. The person leading the game should let everyone know which festival(s) the item or tradition belonged to. If people want to, they could talk about how and why they chose to stand where they’re standing.
3. Repeat steps two to four until everyone has an understanding of what they might find or see if they took part in celebrating any of the six celebrations.

Reflection

This activity helped us think about how we can respect and value others for who they are, regardless of their background. Did you learn things about other faiths in this activity? Did anything surprise you? Were there any festivals which had similar (or even the same) traditions or objects? Why do you think this is (for example, giving gifts shows generosity and gratitude, lighting candles is a symbol or good or light conquering bad or darkness)? How does knowing more about how people celebrate help us to respect others?

This activity also reminded you that you’re a local, national, and international citizen. Have you ever joined in with celebrating one (or more) of these celebrations? Is it important to understand the festivals other citizens celebrate? What do you have in common with other citizens? What parts of being a citizen might we emphasise during festivals (for example, helping other people, reflecting)?

Make it accessible

You don't have to move around the room if that doesn’t work for everyone in your group. Why not switch moving to different areas of the room for actions, signals, or sounds?

Thanks to Scouts UK for this activity idea. You can find more ideas on their activity finder.