Strange or Normal?

Topic
- Puberty & sexuality
- Culture & religion
- Identity & emotions
Learning skills
- Self-awareness
- Empathy & social awareness
- Relationship skills
- Critical & reflective thinking
- Communication & expression
Activity type
- Group discussion
- Card game
Materials
- Printable downloads
- Self-made
Age
- 6 - 11 years
- 12 - 14 years
- 15 - 17 years
- 18+ years
5 - 15 minutes
+5 players
Intermediate
Calm
Small (office, pavement)

Contributors

Mobile School

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Everything you need to play this game

Strange or Normal Cards Download strange-or-normal-cards.pdf (13.7mb)
A pair of scissors

Make it yourself

Step 1

Print the cards

Print the Strange or Normal Cards.

Step 2

Cut out the cards

Cut out the different cards (6 per page, 25 cards total).

Good job!

A step-by-step guide to play the game

Show the players one of the cards of the Strange or Normal card deck, e.g.: a boy wearing a princess costume.

Ask the players if they think this situation is strange or normal. If they think it is strange, they jump to the left. If they think it is normal, they jump to the right.

Ask some or all of the players why they think the situation is strange or normal. Encourage them to formulate their arguments in a clear and respectful way.

After the argumentation round, ask if some of the players still want to change sides after listening to the arguments of the other players and let them do so. Ask why they decided to switch sides. Was there one particular argument that made them change their mind, e.g.?

You can open up the discussion a bit more by asking if the players would switch sides if the gender, age, race, ... of the person/people depicted changed. In this case:

Would you think the situation was normal/strange if the boy was a girl?
Would you think the situation was normal/strange if this was a grown-up man?
...

Show another card from the Strange or Normal card deck and repeat the process.

Extra game information

This game is a good preparatory game for the (Not) Okay card game. The players can get used to the methodology and you, as a game leader, can get a sense of what the sensitive issues are in a group, how to address specific topics,...

Variations

Lay out all the cards. Ask the players to organise the cards from most normal to most strange:

Individually: All players make their own ranking. Compare and discuss the differences between the rankings of the different players.
In group: Ask the group to discuss and come to a consensus about a general ranking.

What people said about this game

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