Emotional Changes in Puberty

Topic
- Puberty & sexuality
- Identity & emotions
Learning skills
- Self-awareness
- Communication & expression
Activity type
- Group discussion
Materials
- Printable downloads
Age
- 12 - 14 years
- 15 - 17 years
- 18+ years
5 - 15 minutes
+5 players
Easy
Calm
Small (office, pavement)

Contributors

Mobile School

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Everything you need to play this game

Emotional Changes in Puberty game board (HEALTH E4) Download health-e4-code.pdf (17mb)
Optional: Colour Game game board Download colour-game-english.pdf (43kb)
Optional: a piece of paper/cardboard
Optional: a pair of scissors
Optional: a split pin

Make it yourself

Step 1

Make an arrow

Cut out an arrow from a piece of paper or cardboard.

Step 2

Attach the arrow

Attach the arrow to the printed out Colour Game game board with a split pin.

Good job!

A step-by-step guide to play the game

Look at the 12 situations depicted on the panel. All situations relate to emotional changes young people go through during puberty (see extra game information).

Choose one of the 12 situations on the panel. You can do this in many different ways:

Ask one of the players to spin the arrow on the Colours Game game board to determine a colour. Discuss the situation on the Emotional Changes in Puberty game board with the same colour.
Ask one of the players to close his/her eyes and to move a finger over the game board until one of the other players says "stop". The situation the player points to is the situation that will be discussed.
Ask one of the players to choose the situation he/she is most interested in.
Throw a coin/die/... on the game board.
....

Ask the players to describe the situation on the panel.

Ask the players if they can identify with the situation. Ask them to jump left if they do and jump right if they don't. After they have jumped, you can ask one or some of the players why they do or do not identify with the situation depicted and open up a discussion.

Ask the players if they feel positive, negative or neutral about the situation. Ask them to jump forwards if they feel positive about it, jump backwards if they feel negative about it and to stand still if they feel neutral about it. Open up a discussion afterwards. You can ask, e.g., what they (could) do to feel better in a given situation.

Open up the discussion further, asking questions such as:

How do you think the girl/boy on the panel will deal with this situation? How would you?
What would the reaction of others (friends, parents, teacher, ...) be in this situation? What would you want their reaction to be?
Do you think the girl/boy on the panel talks with other people about his/her feelings in this situation? Would you? With whom?
...

Ask one of the players to choose another situation and repeat the steps above.

Extra game information

The 12 depicted situations relate to emotional changes young people go through during puberty:

Feeling pressure of social media and beauty ideals
Feeling peer pressure, wanting to belong
Having a need for privacy, a need to be alone
Dealing with physical changes, body insecurities,...
Having (a) best friend(s)
Feeling insecure about the future (work, studies, travels,...)
Getting sexual feelings (falling in love, feeling attracted to girls/boys or both, having a relationship,...)
Rebelling, resisting authority (of parents, teacher,...)
Having frequent mood changes
Looking for an identity
Feeling insecure, feeling/being excluded, being bullied,....
Thinking about global problems (e.g. climate change) and your place in the world

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This activity is a part of the StreetSmart sexuality package. The package aims to give youth workers the tools they need to address the topic of sexuality in a playful way with the children and young people they work with, so they can learn to make conscious, healthy and respectful decisions.

Sexuality is a very broad term, encompassing various subtopics. Here, you can find a list of all activities included in our sexuality package to address these different topics:

Sexuality in general: The Sex Alphabet, The Sexuality Goose Game, Yes or No Circle, Sexuality Statement Game
Body (development): Anatomy fundamentals, Who has what?, Physical changes in puberty, Emotional changes in puberty, Life Cycle
Boundaries: Stop!, People to People, Kiss the Teddy Bear, Body Carrousel, (Not) Okay?, Body Twister
Relationships: Choose Your Relationship, My Ideal Partner, In The Worst Way Possible
Gender & sexual orientation: Labels, Sex Change, Who does what?
Safe sex: The Synonym Game, Condom Smugglers, Goodie Bag, STD-Roulette, Can I get pregnant?
Sex & media: Who is responsible?

Variations

Give each situation a number from 1 to 12 and ask the players to rate them from "most recognisable" to "least recognisable". You can ask all players to do this individually or come to a consensus as a group.
Top 3: Ask the players to choose the 3 situations that are most important / positive / challenging / ... for them.
Draw a timeline with "past", "present" and "future" on the blackboard or on a piece of paper. Ask the players which of the emotional changes they already experienced, are experiencing now and haven't experienced yet. The players can do this individually as well. You can ask them to compare their timelines and open up a discussion.
One of the players draws or enacts something he/she associates with one of the 12 situations. The player that can guess which situation the drawing is associated with, gets a point. You can also ask the drawer why they thought of drawing what they drew.
Role-play: Ask the players to enact one or all of the situations on the panel in more detail.
Storytelling: Ask the players to invent a story based on one or more of the depicted situations.

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