Activity Two: Food for Thought Game (15 minutes)

The facilitator will lead the participants through the following game:

Step 1: The facilitator will group the participants into pairs.

Step 2: Instruct each pair to determine who will be  the “Taster,” and who will be the “Observer.”

Step 3: Instruct the “Taster” to close their eyes.

Step 4: The facilitator will then pass out two secret snacks to each “Observer.”

Step 5: Instruct the “Observer” to present one snack at a time for the “Taster” to try.

Step 6: Instruct the observers to pay close attention to not only their partner’s reaction, but also all of the other “Tasters” reactions in the room while eating each snack.

Step 7: The “Taster” will guess what they just tasted and decide whether they liked it or not.

Step 8: Instruct the “Taster” to eat their second snack while the “Observers” continue to observe.

Step 9: After the “Taster” has tried both snacks, the partners will switch roles and repeat the activity.

After both participants have tasted and guessed their snacks, the facilitator will lead a discussion.

Sample Questions:

1. When you were the Taster, what kind of thoughts were going through your head prior to trying each snack? Example Answers: I thought why is this so sticky? Is this going to be terrible? Is she giving me something that isn’t actually food?
2. When you were the Observer, did you notice the tasters reacting to the food prior to even trying it? Example Answers: Yes! As soon as Kylee gave Kingston the sticky candy, Kingston immediately gagged and looked disgusted, but he hadn’t even tried it yet.
3. When you were the Observer, what did you notice while everyone was trying the same snack? Example Answers: I noticed lots of funny faces. I saw them scrunch their nose up when they grabbed the first snack like it was gross but then they tasted it they liked it.
4. When you were the Observer, did you notice different reactions from the exact same food? Example Answers: Yes, on the second snack, my partner didn’t seem to care about it, but I heard another “Taster” yell “yuck!”
5. When you were the Taster, was anyone scared that they wouldn’t like their snacks before they tasted them but ended up liking them? Example Answers: yes, there was one that smelled weird so I thought I wouldn’t like it, but it turned out to be really good.

The facilitator will note that the “Observers” saw how everyone’s experience tasting their secret snacks varied because everyone had their own thinking about the food they were tasting.

The facilitator should end the discussion by guiding the participants to see that their anticipation of “like or disgust” came before they actually tasted the food, and that their feeling and experience could change once they did taste it. Also, even when given the exact same snacks, they were experienced differently. Therefore, it is their thinking, and not the food itself that is the cause of their experience. The facilitator will explain that the same is true for all opinions and preferences.

Activity Three: A Different Point of View (15 minutes)

Activity Focus: The purpose behind this activity is to show that everyone has different views, and that those views are formed based on many variables and on how they think about those variables.

The facilitator will demonstrate this point through the following activity.

Step 1: Choose 5 volunteers and place them in different positions around the room (laying down, kneeling, standing up, sitting down, etc.)

Step 2: Place a random object (that looks different from different angles) on the floor or table.

Step 3: One at a time, without moving from their position, the volunteers will describe what they see. The facilitator should guide them to be thorough in this description, including whatever they can see from their point of view—what’s in front of the object, the object itself, what’s behind the object, what’s above it, what’s below it, etc.

After the activity is complete, the facilitator will lead a discussion.

Sample Questions:

1. What was on the floor? Example Answer: The object you brought. (It’s possible that a volunteer couldn’t see it from their position.)
2. Did it look the same to everyone from their different positions? Example Answer: No, they each saw the object from their point of view.
3. Did any of the volunteers see more than the others? Why? Example Answer: Yes, their vantage point was different, therefore they could see more.
4. Does that make the volunteer who couldn’t see everything wrong? Why? Example Answer: No, because they answered from what they could see.

The facilitator will explain that sometimes we can be so sure about something or so angry about something another person has done, but this is only because we see it a certain way. The truth, however, is that we all live in our own reality, and that reality is always created out of what we are thinking at the time. No two people think exactly the same way about anything, and therefore, no two people can actually see the same thing in exactly the same way—even if they see things very similarly, there are always differences!

1. Can you give a real-life example of how you and someone else have had different views on the same thing, but you could understand both sides? Example Answer: My sister and I don’t like the same games, but I can read and she can’t, so I understand why she thinks the game I like is hard and boring.

The facilitator will end the discussion by explaining that once we realize we are always living in different thinking than others, we can understand how people can have many different opinions. For example, in the previous activity the “Observers” shared that the reactions each “Taster” had to their snacks varied. Nobody’s reaction to their snack was right or wrong/good or bad. It was just that each of us has our own thinking, which makes us experience our own separate reality.

Activity Four: Q & A (5 minutes)

To wrap-up, the facilitator will ask participants if they have any questions or concerns about the class. Invite participants to raise their hands so they can be called on before sharing, in order to conduct the Q & A in an orderly fashion.