LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION TOOLKIT FOR ORPHANS AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN IN INDIA 5•
- Quietly soften your voice. After a minute or so ask the children to open their eyes and relax. Do not
say anything for a minute or two. Ask if anyone would like to share her or his wishes and dreams. Do
not force anyone. Do not comment on any of the life histories.
Review
Ask the children if they felt it was easy to visualize their future.- Was it easier to look at their life for the next year or for 10 years later? Were there any
problems they saw? - What would they have to do now to realize their dreams?
Linking Learning With Life
Children are asked to reflect on their dreams, remember and hold on to them until the next
session. Ask them to take time out, relax and try to visualize and experience them before the next
session as many times as they like or when they are feeling really low and sad.
If children have written the Book of Me (in the Module on Coping with Emotions), they can
continue writing or drawing their dreams in the book.ADDITIONAL ACTIVITY
My Needs Ladder- Introduce the activity by saying that we want many things in life, but we need only some.
- Ask the children to brainstorm and list their needs and their wants.
- Explain that needs are something that are required for survival. These could be physical things like
food and shelter but there are many others that are mental or emotional, such as love, respect
and belonging. - Make two columns on a sheet of paper. Write “Wants” on top of one column and “Needs” on the
other. Make two groups of children and give each half the list (with listed items from the
brainstorming). They have to discuss and decide which is a“Want” and which is a “Need.” Both
groups present their findings. Discuss any items that are in the wrong column. - Make a ladder with five steps and write “Survival Needs” at the bottom. Ask the children to give
examples of survival needs (food, clothing, shelter, rest, water, air). Explain that if you want to climb
the ladder, you have to climb the first step.
Write “Safety Needs” on the next rung of the ladder. Say that you may fulfill all the survival
needs but you still need to be protected and safe. “Safety” includes both physical and mental
safety. One needs to be physically safe to prevent HIV infection. Many vulnerable children need
to feel mentally and emotionally safe when their parents are sick or dead.
On the third rung write “The Need to Belong.” This relates to all the relationships we want to
build up, relationships that are strong and healthy and ones that will not harm us. Explain that
often it is our need to belong to a group that makes us indulge in risky behavior.