The Goodman Initiative - Open Space

Human Bingo, Israel-Style

Natalie Blitt — Tue, 11 Nov 2014 20:53:46 +0000

Human bingo is all the rage as a way of getting to know the people in a group. But wouldn't it be more fun to meet and get to know famous people? Use the content cards to introduce your campers and staff to the people, places, and events in Israeli history in a fun and interactive way.

Curriculum Themes:

Dreams & Realities

Materials Required:

copies of content cards

Program Duration:

Physical Space:

Open Space

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

While it depends on the cards you choose, this is a content rich activity

Explanation:

Human bingo is a game designed to have participants learn things about the other people in the room. In this version, campers and/or staff will be given a card and take on that identity for this game. You can have them create nametags or a piece of costume first, if you have the time. There's no need to keep the identity secret.

In advance, you should prepare bingo cards with clues. Use the following website to generate randomized bingo cards, using your clues: http://www.print-bingo.com/.

Depending on the number of people who are playing, you can give more than one person the same card. You can use the list we provided that includes clues that refer to every content card, or you can choose to make ones that only refer to a certain section, like people or places. Feel free to add more people, places or event "cards" than what are available. You can do this by collecting a few facts and maybe a picture, and handing them out in lieu of an actual content card.

1. Give each camper/staff an Israeli bingo card
2. Have each camper approach other campers in the room and
• Introduce themselves (even if they are an event or place) and tell the other person one fact/tip about them.
• Ask if the camper they are talking to fits the description found on one of the squares of their BINGO card. If they do, get that person to sign their name in the square with their identity.
3. Continue talking to people and asking them if they fit the descriptions on their card.
4. When someone completes the full card they shout 'bingo' and are declared the winner.

Clues are provided in the word document attached. We've also generated sample bingo charts based on all the clues (excluding the easy ones), with 14 clues listed per column (in the bingo card generator).

Variations:

You can use clues that are specific to one card, or to make things easier/faster, you can use more generic clues. Suggestions for each are included.

You can use clues that are generic to people, events, and places. For instance, connected to 1948 could be a number of people and events and sites.

The important part to writing clues is to think of what you want your camper/staff to know about the information that is listed on the content card. Don't use random and obscure facts, but also don't make the clues too easy (unless you are playing this game with younger campers).

Feel free to have campers create a list of facts they've learned on the back of the bingo sheet.

Background Cards:

Supporting Materials:

print-bingo-com.pdf

Clues for Israeli Human Bingo.docx

Someone's in the Kitchen with Golda!

JAR — Fri, 09 May 2014 16:05:59 +0000

Participants will create a presentation of Israel that highlights all 5 senses of the human body.

Curriculum Themes:

Materials Required:

video cameras

Program Duration:

30 minutes

Physical Space:

Open Space

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Israel cannot be 'digested' merely as something you hear about, look at pictures of, or watch on tv. It is a multi-dimensional place, with sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and texture, both literally and metaphorically.

Explanation:

Split campers up into groups (with one staff member for each group).

Each group will be given 10 minutes to create a segment of a cooking show. The dish they are cooking is: Israel.

To be clear, this is not a cooking show for an Israeli dish but rather what if the STATE OF ISRAEL was the dish? What would the ingredients be? What would it taste like? Smell like? Feel like in your hands? In your mouth?

Your cooking show must include:

A list of ingredients
Steps for preparing the dish
An anecdote about someone in your group’s personal experience with or in Israel
At least one Hebrew word (not including the word “Shalom”)
A creative title for the show
A special guest chef
Every member of the group must participate in some way in the presentation of the cooking show (be creative with this one – there are no rules to how this is achieved)

After 10 minutes, all groups will be gathered for a quick check in, followed by the next set of instructions:

Using a video-camera or ipad, please film your cooking show. You can spread out to go to a quiet place to film, but you must return to the group in 10 minutes with a finished filmed cooking show segment. Then everyone gathers to watch!

At the end, you can serve Israeli snacks to the campers if you want!

Tag into the Flag: An Israel Icebreaker

JAR — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 15:35:54 +0000

The campers will participate in an icebreaker that simultaneously engages them in conversation about Israel and puts them surreptitiously into the shape of the Israeli flag!

Curriculum Themes:

A Land & Its People

Materials Required:

Program Duration:

15 Minutes

Physical Space:

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Icebreaker - getting to know other people

The sense that people have all different kinds of relationships with Israel

Explanation:

The faciliator will gather the campers/participants on a large field or in a large open indoor space. They will be instructed that this will be a game of tag, but not a traditional game of tag. The facilitator will ask everyone to follow the directions of each task.

The first task – please find someone from a different city or whom you don't know from home. Great! You should all be standing in pairs, holding hands. (If you are shomer n’giah, you may find an alternative to holding hands, of course.)

Next, please discuss and add up among the two of you how many years you have been at your camp. Now, find another pair that matches (or comes close to) your number. Great! You should now be standing in groups of four.

Next task is to talk amongst yourselves and determine how many times the members in your quartet have visited Israel combined. If you are playing this game with staff and have a shaliach in your foursome, consider yourselves lucky! You have a lifer! And add the number of the non-shlichim in your group and then add 10 to your number. Now find another quartet that matches (or comes close to) your number. Great! You should now be in standing in groups of eight.

Now this gets fun! Please now circle up, huddle, and go over who everyone is in your group and what they love most about Israel (even if they haven't been).

Your next task now is to find another group of eight that has at least one person in that group who has been to Israel! Great! You should now be standing in groups of sixteen.

Our next to last task is to get into 3 groups of 32. In order to do that, please circle up and huddle with your group of 16. A staff member will now bring to your group a slip of paper. Please read the slip of paper and accomplish your task!

SLIPS OF PAPER

(4 groups get this slip) Your task is to stand in a line, shoulder to shoulder with your backs right up against the long end of the open space, facing the space. There will be another group with this same assignment. Please include them in your line. There are three other groups getting this slip of paper. You can only partner with one other group and your two groups must be standing opposite and facing the other two groups.

(2 groups get this slip) Your task is to create a standing equilateral triangle in the very center of the field using all 16 people in your group. There will be another group with this same assignment. Please ensure that their triangle and your triangle overlap to make a Magen David.

The faciliator should be in a place where a picture from above can be taken and the ideal way to end this program is to play Hatikvah on a loud speaker and get everyone to sing along while showing them an Israeli flag so they recognize the shape they're standing in.

Variations:

You can always do this with smaller/less groups.

Curricular Subjects:

Current Events

Movin' On Up!

JAR — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 15:09:17 +0000

The campers will experience a modified 'Aliyah' to Israel either as immigrants or existing citizens, where they will get to engage in dialogue and learn about Aliyah from a personal place.

Curriculum Themes:

Materials Required:

Program Duration:

Physical Space:

Open Space

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

The process of Aliyah

The role customs and traditions play in social interaction

The diversity of Israel's population

Explanation:

The participants will spend the first five minutes of the session doing a series of warm-up activities to get comfortable in the room. After the warm-up, one facilitator will remove half the group and take them outside the room.

The group outside the room will be given two sheets of paper. The first is an empty registration/application form for making Aliyah to Israel. The goal is to get the participants to create, quickly, an identity of a person they imagine might be making Aliyah (including information such as number of children, profession, age, etc.). The participants in this group will then be given a second piece of paper, empty, for them to write an answer to the following question: “Why are you making Aliyah?”

The group inside the room will spend the first few minutes collectively deciding on specific weird customs (such as pointing at a person when they begin speaking). Once those customs are agreed upon and memorized, the group will discuss the different kinds of people who exist as Israeli citizens in 2013. Each person in the group will assume one of those identities and spend a few minutes writing down an answer to the following question: “What does it mean to be Israeli?”

The outside group will be invited back into the room for a cocktail party during which they can schmooze and meet the people in the inside group. This will be framed as new olim meeting current Israeli citizens to ask them one question: “What does it mean to be Israeli?” The Israelis can ask the olim “Why are you making Aliyah?”

Following the cocktail party, the entire group will sit on the floor in a circle and the facilitator will guide a group discussion about Israel, during which the customs will emerge. After a few minutes of this, the facilitator will end the exercise and begin a debrief of the entire program.

Variations:

The group discussion should NOT be a debrief on the session itself. So, you can change up the subject matter of the group discussion so as to facilitate the customs being brought to the fore without stymying any debrief or talkback on the session itself (and on the Aliyah portion of the session, in particular).

Supporting Materials:

Aliyah Form for Movin on Up.pdf

Curricular Subjects:

Current Social Issues

The Situation Room: The Many Faces of Israel

Natalie Blitt — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:47:35 +0000

This program uses the model of the White House Situation Room to help Israeli and American staff members work together to create Israel programs for the summer.

Curriculum Themes:

Program Duration:

1 hour

Physical Space:

Age of Campers:

Staff

Core Learnings:

Since its founding, Israel has been open to Jewish immigration from around the world

Jews in need have come to Israel from Yemen, Iraq, Russia, Central Europe, Ethiopia, and many other places

Staff can work collaboratively to create amazing Israel programs for campers of all ages and in any setting

Explanation:

Step 1: Introducing the Activity

The facilitator will stand up in front of the staff and present the following scenario:

“The President of the United States, when faced with an international military crisis, huddles in the Situation Room and listens to proposed solutions offered up by different working groups before making a decision. In today’s activity, the director of the camp is faced with a similarly dire situation. The camp wants to give campers an opportunity to learn about Israel while having fun at camp. But the director has no program ideas to implement. Your task is to come up with a program that is both fun and engaging and also successfully integrates content related to the modern state of Israel, its history, and its culture. You will be split into groups and given 20 minutes to design your program from start to finish, after which you will make your presentation to the director. Just as in the Situation Room, there will be a list in your folder of circumstances which your program must satisfy. Also, when you are presenting, you will not just be presenting to the director, but to the rest of the staff.”

Step 2: Connecting with the Many Faces of Israel

Share the following excerpt from Israel's Declaration of Independence:
- The State of Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
Facilitate a brief (5-7 minutes) discussion about this passage. Questions might include:
- Why does it call Jews "Exiles"? (When the Romans conquered Israel in the year 70 CE, they exiled all Jews from the land).
- Why do you think Israel made itself open to any Jew who wanted to move there? Why do you think Israel does this today?
- What about non-Jews? (Nearly a quarter of Israeli citizens are non-Jews -- mostly Arabs. Non-Jews do not enjoy the same "Right of Return" to Israel, but those who live there and are citizens do enjoy the rights described in this passage.

Step 3: Creating New Programs

The facilitator divides staff into groups and gives each group a packet that includes an instruction sheet (each group is assigned a slightly different task).
The facilitator explains that the groups have 20 minutes to create a program for a specific audience and in a specific setting, as indicated in the folder. The program should impart the following information about Israel using at least 7 "ingredients," including at least 3 from the list below. At the end of 20 minutes (or more, if you desire), each group will have 1 minute to describe the activity they have created and 4 minutes to model it. Stress the importance of actually leading a shortened version of the activity!
The facilitator and other staff circulate among the groups to help ensure they understand their challenge and to provide encouragement.
The facilitator should give the groups a 10 minute and 5 minute warning before calling them back to make their presentations.
After 20 minutes, everyone comes back together and the groups present their programs to a 'cabinet' of division heads who will vote to decide which program is the most engaging and creative while also including the required information.

Stage 4: Wrap-Up

After each presentation, the director of the camp, along with the ‘cabinet’ of division heads or chosen staff members, can ask questions of the group and make recommendations for suggested alterations of the program for maximization. At the director's discretion, anyone in the room can pose questions or make suggestions.
At the end of the program, the director will announce her/his decision which should be something along the lines of: ‘Thank you all for working so hard together on these great programs. I have decided that all of them could work and will work this summer when you do them with your campers! You have just given yourselves (x number) new programs for the summer. Great work! Or as we say in Hebrew “Yasher Koach!”’

Variations:

You can do this activity using any Israeli concept, historical event, etc. The background cards can provide lots of ideas, as can any area of interest suggested by a staff member.

Background Cards:

The Hebrew Alphabet Paparazzi

Joy Langer — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:20:08 +0000

Discover you know Hebrew when you look through your camera lens, do yoga, and eat glida! Look for abstracted Hebrew letters around you and photograph beautiful meaningful art. Move your body and get a great yoga workout spelling Hebrew words with your peers. Celebrate what you’ve learned, Ben Yehudah, and have some glida! This Hebrew literacy through art program is great for visual and kinesthetic learners.

Curriculum Themes:

Materials Required:

see attached materials list

Program Duration:

Full-day program

Physical Space:

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

To learn kinesthetic and visual ways to approach teaching Hebrew

To use digital cameras to think abstractly

To learn some basics in composing a successful photograph

To learn about Ben Yehudah and the Hebrew language

To learn Hebrew letters and words through photography as medium

To learn how to incorporate yoga and movement into Hebrew literacy

To celebrate our national language with an ice cream party! To use culinary art to teach literacy.

Explanation:

1. Begin with a basic yoga warm up. Start with breathing exercises, mountain pose, downward dog, stretching, etc. Have a large Aleph Bet chart up somewhere participants can see it.
2. The facilitator will ask participants to make the sound of the bet. They will then try to move their body in the shape of an aleph. There are many ways of approaching this. Participants can move their body however they think it makes a bet. Be sure they move in ways that feel comfortable to them as no one should feel any pain. Ask the participants to come up with a few words that start with the letter bet. Repeat with a few other letters. Hand out alphabet sheets.
3. Invite participants to pair up to create letters and then eventually words.
4. Ask a few participants to photograph the poses.
5. Share a few successful photographs from magazines or from famous photographers. Discuss why they are successful. Introduce the terms: composition, contrast, focal point, and depth of field.
6. Share the abstracted photographs of letters from google searches.
7. Participants should make view finders with index cards by cutting a rectangular opening in the center of the index card to look through to search for letters and frame them before shooting.
8. Send participants in groups of 2-4 with a digital camera to photograph. Ask them to find letters of the Hebrew Alphabet and photograph them. Ask them to find as many as possible in the given time. If possible try to find letters that might create a Hebrew word. Give participants a few Hebrew words to “look for” around camp – see handout.
9. After participants photograph 5-10 letters in their groups, facilitator will send them to be printed.

Variations:

1. For younger participants and or beginning Hebrew language learners, facilitator can focus on the letters and create Aleph Bet books. You can do this in various styles. Participants can create group dictionary or individual books. Participants can come up with vocabulary word lists that start with each letter.

2. For older participants facilitator can expand this project into more conceptual art and create poetry or sentences. Each photograph can be thoughtful and used as a visual interpretation of the meaning of the word or phrase they write – example teva – where each letter is found in nature…. or a poem or teffilah about nature where the letters are all found in nature.

3. Participants can create acrostic poems with the letters.

4. Have a photo exhibit for the entire community and invite participants. Have the artists act as guides and explain their work to the viewers.

5. Older or more advanced Hebrew learners can create a yoga dance and tell a story highlighting the main words of the story with Hebrew yoga words and yoga art. They can tell any story or a brief biography of Ben Yehudah.

6. Younger participants can have a Hebrew letter scavenger hunt. To transition campers from one place to another, counselors can ask them to look for letters and photograph on the way. They can do this for a few days until they collect many letters.

Background Cards:

Supporting Materials:

Aleph Bet Handout.doc

Hebrew Literacy through Abstract Art Materials list.doc

Attribution:

Joy Langer

Stories Come Alive Late at Night at the Museum

JAR — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 03:05:28 +0000

Campers will create a sculpture museum demonstrating different stories from modern Israeli history. This is great for a group of campers who like to be physical and/or run around.

Curriculum Themes:

Materials Required:

none!

Program Duration:

1 hour

Physical Space:

Number of Campers:

A Division/Age Group (30 – 50 campers)

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Campers will learn about the stories behind 4 important events in Israel: the foundation of the state, the Yom Kippur War, the illegal Aliya movement, and the 1977 Maccabi Tel Aviv European championship

A sense of the scope of different events throughout modern Israeli history

Explanation:

Step 1: Introducing the Museum

Introduce a benign concept such as "A Baseball Game" and ask a few volunteers to come up and create a sculpture that represents the theme of a baseball game. Once the sculpture is in place and has been frozen, the leader will invite the rest of the group to come walk around the sculpture (of frozen people) being careful not to get too close to the 'artwork' and certainly not to touch it.

Step 2: Stepping into the Story

The leader will then give instructions for the activity:
- You will be split into groups and each group will be tasked with creating four different sculptures, one for each story on the sheet (see attached resource). The rules stipulate that every member of the group must be a part of every sculpture. There will be four exhibits, and you must create your sculptures in order of the sheet.
- The leader will then split everyone into groups. Each exhibit will get 4 minutes of prep time followed by the groups displaying at once. The leader will walk around and invite one group at a time (and only one group at a time) to release their sculpture to walk around to see the others and then return to their sculpture form in time for the next group to take the tour. This will happen four times.

Stage 3: Wrap-Up

The leader should ask everyone what the experience was like being a sculpture of a frozen scene in Israeli modern history. Did they learn anything new?
How did they decide what moment to portray? Was there disagreement in the group?

IMPORTANT NOTE:

You are strongly encouraged to try coming up with your own moments in Modern Israeli History that you feel would be interesting for the campers to play with. They could be part of a curriculum that already exists, that the campers have been studying, or they could be new for most of the campers. (This activity can be used both as an introductory activity and/or as a review activity, or both).
Engage with your Israeli staff to think of stories they might know that would work in this activity.
If you are choosing new moments for this activity, you should be sure to give a summary blurb of the event along with several key elements and historical facts about the event. The events you choose do not have to be positive, happy events, though that is encouraged.
They should involve several characters, moments of suspense or achievement, and they should be uniquely about Israel.

Variations:

Variations in Format:

If you have campers who are really into drama, you can turn this into a drama program by having them act out a crucial moment in the story instead of creating a tableau.
This can also be done in a photography class. Take pictures of each of the tableaus (including close-ups of different parts) and display them around camp (or on your website) with an explanation of the story.

Variations in Content:

There are endless variations on the type of stories you use. For younger kids, you might want to choose simpler stories, or just places (like the shuk or the Dead Sea).

Background Cards:

Supporting Materials:

Night at the Museum.docx

BUY IT NOW! My Camp's Israel Infomercial

JAR — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 22:00:44 +0000

Your staff doesn't need to be fans of Mad Men in order to enjoy the process of creating a fake ad for an audience of parents who care about Israel education as one of their core reasons for sending their kid to your camp. While you can use this activity with campers, this is a particularly good program for staff to play with the questions of why Israel is important to them and to their camp.

Curriculum Themes:

Dreams & Realities

Materials Required:

Program Duration:

1 hour

Physical Space:

Age of Campers:

Staff

Core Learnings:

Israel is an important element of my camp

Explanation:

Stage 1: Setting the Stage

Introduce the activity by either playing a video of an infomercial for some random household product (many can be found on Youtube) or by performing an infomercial for a random household item (script can be taken from Youtube as well but it should be polished and delivered with intention).
Ask the participants to make a list of the ingredients within the infomercial that made the commercial successful. (There is a difference between an infomercial and a commercial - a commercial is only usually 30 seconds to 1 minute long...these can be longer).

Stage 2: The Israel infomercial

Create your infomercial! Here's a sample of what you can say:

Your group will create an infomercial to sell your camp t-shirt (or sweatpants or whatever item of clothing from camp you have to sell - it can be a whole outfit!). The t-shirts are your tools for selling the story of how your camp teaches about Israel. The idea is that you aren't just trying to get someone to buy the t-shirt – because they are only allowed to wear the shirt if they come to camp – so its about selling the lifestyle, the environment of Israel education that happens at your camp. Imagine that the audience for the infomercial is made up of parents who only are interested in sending their kid to your camp if there is some Israel component. And your camp will close if it doesn't successfully lobby the parent to send their kid.

Your infomercial must include:

a narrator
a creative use of clothing
at least one sentence in Hebrew
a joke
a debate
a surprise entrance
a cameo from the camp director
a Jewish song

Split everyone into groups (probably of no more than 3-5 people per group). The groups will have time to prepare, and then present their infomercials.
Make sure to film the presentations.
A winner will be announced after the performances (based on whatever criteria you choose).

Stage 3: Wrap-Up Discussion

Bring everyone together and lead a discussion using the following questions or any of your own:
- What did you learn about how our camp teaches about Israel?
- What ideas did you get about how we can do more creative things to teach about Israel?
- Would you want your kid to come to this camp if you felt Israel was important to you?

Variations:

Variations in format

Have your staff create a skit that can be performed during camp.
Do this program with your campers! Ask them to create promotional videos for why people should vacation in Israel. Tell them they need to include 3 facts, 2 opinions, and 2 testimonials as part of their video. They'll become great videos for your donors, your parents, and your website!

Variations in content

After your staff creates videos on Israel education, have them create a video about Israel using the same techniques. These videos can be used throughout the summer as entertainment for the campers or can be played as an introduction to an Israel activity.

The Situation Room: A Staff Week Program

JAR — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 16:56:40 +0000

This program uses the model of the White House Situation Room to help Israeli and American staff members work together to create Israel programs for the summer.

Curriculum Themes:

Materials Required:

Folders for each group containing the reommended piece of paper described in the session

Program Duration:

1 hour

Physical Space:

Age of Campers:

Staff

Core Learnings:

A Kibbutz is a rural community dedicated to mutual aid and social justice

Kibbutzim went through a period of economic and social crises for nearly two decades

In recent years, Kibbutzim report growing numbers

The collaborative process of creating a kibbutz activity can be used for any other Israeli concept or historical event

Explanation:

1. The facilitator should announce the groups and give them each a folder that contains a document with instructions (the document has variations so that you can give each group a slightly different task).

2. The facilitator should explain that the groups have XX amount of time to create a program for a cabin/large group of 8/12/16-year-old campers. The program should impart the following information about Israel using 7 of the 10 listed ingredients below. Once time is up, the groups will present their programs to a 'cabinet' of division heads who will vote on which program is the most engaging and creative while also including the following information.

INFORMATION TO IMPART:

The kibbutz (Hebrew word for “communal settlement”) is a unique rural community; a society dedicated to mutual aid and social justice; a socioeconomic system based on the principle of joint ownership of property, equality, and cooperation of production, consumption, and education; the fulfillment of the idea “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”; a home for those who have chosen it.
The first kibbutzim (plural of “kibbutz”) were founded some 40 years before the establishment of the State of Israel (1948).
Degania (from the Hebrew “dagan,” meaning grain), located south of Lake Kinneret, was established in 1909 by a group of pioneers on land acquired by the Jewish National Fund. Their founders were young Jewish pioneers, mainly from Eastern Europe, who came not only to reclaim the soil of their ancient homeland, but also to forge a new way of life. Their path was not easy: a hostile environment, inexperience with physical labor, a lack of agricultural know-how, desolate land neglected for centuries, scarcity of water, and a shortage of funds were among the difficulties confronting them. Overcoming many hardships, they succeeded in developing thriving communities which have played a dominant role in the establishment and building of the state.
After almost two decades of an economic and social crisis in most sections of the Kibbutz Movement, resulting in a sharp decline of Kibbutz population, the last few years are indicating a fresh and a new trend.
Recently, many Kibbutzim report growing numbers of youngsters – singles and families – seeking to join Kibbutzim, either as permanent members, or as non-member inhabitants. The main obstacle to a more speedy response to this potentially promising trend is lack of housing for absorption. In 2010, there were 270 kibbutzim in Israel. Their factories and farms account for 9% of Israel’s industrial output, worth $8 billion, and 40% of its agricultural output, worth over $1.7 billion.

INGREDIENTS:

a game of some kind (not sport)
a warmup activity
hula hoops
candy
music
planting a garden
a debate
designing a brand new Kibbutz
art
a sports practice/activity/game

Variations:

You can do this activity using any Israeli concept, historical event, etc.

Curricular Subjects:

Kibbutzim

Israeli Schlep

JAR — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 20:11:35 +0000

Schlep is Yiddish for ‘lug stuff around’ and while that might not sound like a lot of fun...it actually IS! In 'Schlep', groups of campers -- perhaps divided by cabin -- are asked to bring to the activity a pillowcase full of random stuff from their cabins. The random stuff then becomes iconic items in Israel as the competition heats up and the cultural funducation ensues!

Program Duration:

1 hour

Physical Space:

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Israeli iconic symbols (menorah, shield, star of david, olive branch, etc.)

Israel's geographic diversity (Eliat, Jerusalem, the Negev, Ein Gedi, kibbutzim, the beach, etc.)

Foods native to Israel (falafel & pita, oranges)

Explanation:

Stage 1: Explaining the Game of Schlep!

Campers should be divided into equal groups and seated around the space in a circle equidistant from the center. (Make sure they are equidistant otherwise one team will have an advantage!)
The leader should stand in the center of the circle with a microphone or loud voice. Once everyone is seated in their groups with their pillowcases full of stuff, the leader should explain the game.
The name of the game is “Israeli Schlep” and here’s the way it works:
- The leader will call out a word that represents something found in Israel or something that represents Israel. Each group then has two minutes to create a representation of that word using people of the group and at least one object from the bag, and schlep it to the leader (or judges table if there is one). Points will be awarded based on speed and creativity.
The leader will then do a test round for no points. The leader should not just say a word from the list included below. Rather, the leader should describe how it fits in Israeli life. For instance:
- Ein Gedi is a beautiful park in Israel that contains a waterfall. Schlep over a ‘waterfall’.
- The national emblem of Israel is actually a Menorah. Bring me a ‘menorah.’
This way, the campers will learn something about Israel (there’s a waterfall? in the desert?) and will have fun at the same time!
The leader should stress that it's not just about putting objects together but using the people in the group to create a picture.

Stage 2: Playing!

THE LIST:

You will need this list to facilitate the program (please add to it and add to this template). Feel free to add your own, especially in consultation with the Israelis on your staff:

In Israel, many people eat FALAFEL AND PITA SANDWICHES. Schlep over a FALAFEL AND PITA SANDWICH.
The national symbol of Israel is a MENORAH. Schlep over a MENORAH.
The symbol on the Israeli flag is the STAR OF DAVID. Schlep over the STAR OF DAVID.
Israel is home to olive trees, lots of them. Schlep over an OLIVE BRANCH
Israel has lots of shoreline where people go to the beach. Schlep over some SAND.
The sun is bright in Israel, especially since the buildings in Jerusalem are all made of white Jerusalem stone. Schlep over some SUNGLASSES.
THE WESTERN WALL is the last remaining exterior wall of the Temple in Jerusalem. Schlep over THE WESTERN WALL
Want to get around in the Negev (the Israeli desert?). Ride a CAMEL. Schlep over a CAMEL.
Another symbol of Israeli strength is the SHIELD. Schlep over a SHIELD.
In the Negev, there are a people called Bedouins. They live in really neat tents. Schlep over a BEDOUIN TENT.
In Israel, there is a park called Ein Gedi which has a WATERFALL. Schlep over a WATERFALL.
In Eilat you can get lots of things...including a SUNBURN! Schlep over a SUNBURN.
In Israel, some people live on a communal farm called a KIBBUTZ. Schlep over a KIBBUTZ.
Motorola developed the cell phone in Israel, and voicemail was invented in Israel too! Schlep over a CELLPHONE.
Israel is home to many fruits and vegetables. One fruit that grows in Israel is the ORANGE. Schlep over an ORANGE.