Life Skills Education Toolkit

8 • MODULE FOUR: RELATIONSHIPS

Directions:

ACTIVITY ONE

Relationship Maps

1. Discuss with the group that they are going to talk about all the relationships they have at the
   moment. Some of these relationships are very close while others are not.


2. Give a chart paper to each child and ask her/him to draw or write their name in the middle of the
   chart. They will now draw circles around their name or picture depicting all the people they have a
   relationship with and have regular communication. These could be friends, family or a community
   member.
   Once all the circles have been drawn, ask the children to draw one line if their relationship is not
   very close, two lines for a close relationship and three lines for the closest relationship with who
   they would like to be with the most.
   On the lines ask the children to write what they talk about with this person. These are known as
   Relationship Maps.
   This is an excellent exercise that not only introduces the activity to the children, but also gives
   excellent insight to the facilitator for later sessions or counseling. The facilitator may understand
   which relationships mean a lot to the child and which ones need to be strengthened.
   The drawings will look something like this:


3. Each child discusses his or her relationship map with their ‘buddy’ (the special friend they
   identified in Module Two) or the person on the right.


4. Initiate a discussion on special relationships, and tell the children that in the next session they
   will be exploring relationships with their families, peers and special boyfriend or girlfriend. Be
   sure to explain that special relationships can be between two people of the same or opposite
   sex. For the moment, do not discuss the relationships that have only one or two lines. Tell the
   group that these will be discussed later (See session on conflict.)

Friend 2

NGO Person

Friend 1

ME

Mother

Police

Movies

Beats me

Talk about

problems