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Community Community-building 4 minutes · opener

Make it rain

Card 3 of 52

Put it on the board and read it out. Nothing to prepare.

Illustration by RecipesforWellbeing.org, CC BY-NC 4.0

Open this drawing in the library

Autumn is here, so let's make a rainstorm together. It gets loud: if that is hard today, rub your palms only or just watch. Follow my hands and rub your palms as the wind rises.

Add the first drops by clicking your fingers, move into steady rain by clapping, and then pat your legs to make the sound of a downpour.

We will bring the storm down in the opposite order: from patting to clapping, then clicking, then rubbing our palms until the room is quiet again.

Take a moment to notice what we made together by listening to one another.

That’s the practice.

Listen for Watch whether everyone can follow the changing pace, and leave a moment of quiet at the end before anyone speaks.

The skill of community building. Deepening the bonds between a group of people who care about each other and feel they belong together.

What experiences of belonging to a caring community have meant the most to you? What conditions made them possible?

Try the interactive practice on this skill

The skill of community building

Deepening the bonds between a group of people who care about each other and feel they belong together.

Hear this skill read aloud
Read the whole postTry the interactive practiceReflect on this skill for yourself

Adapting it

Ages 13 to 15
Run the storm twice so students can learn the sequence before the second round.
Ages 16 to 18
Invite a volunteer to lead the second round if someone would enjoy doing so.

If you have longer

There is a full lesson on this skill, about 40 minutes.

The connections in this room
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