Social Mapping

Topic
- Communication & media
- Identity & emotions
Learning skills
- Self-awareness
- Relationship skills
- Communication & expression
Activity type
- Group discussion
Materials
- Basic
Age
- 6 - 11 years
- 12 - 14 years
- 15 - 17 years
- 18+ years
>15 minutes
2 - 4 players
Easy
Calm
Small (office, pavement)

Contributors

Mobile School

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Everything you need to play this game

Paper & pens
Or: A blackboard & chalk

A step-by-step guide to play the game

The social mapping methodology works best in pairs. As a street educator, you can pair up with one of the children you work with, but you can also ask the children to pair up with each other or you can pair up with a colleague, friend,...

Draw your partner in the middle of a piece of paper. You can also make the drawing on a blackboard.

Ask your partner which places he typically spends time at throughout the week, e.g.: school, educational center, sports club, work, friend's house, favourite restaurant,... and draw a circle for each of these places on the piece of paper (see pictures for an illustration).

Now, go over each place one by one and ask your partner what he does at each place, who he meets there, how he feels there,...

When all places have been discussed, ask your partner to make a ranking of the places: from his most favourite place (number 1) to his least favourite place (e.g. number 5) and write down the numbers next to the places.

Now, the roles will be reversed and your partner will draw your social map.

After the exercise, take the time to reflect: Did you enjoy the exercise? Did you notice something in particular? Are you surprised about your own social map? Did you learn something new about your partner and/or about yourself?

Extra game information

Using this methodology, you can learn a lot about the children and youth you work with in a short amount of time, just by listening and asking the right questions. It can help children become aware of their own network and their connections and gives you a sense of how many connections they have and how big and strong their social network is.

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