Youth Workin' It

Consultancy and Resources for Youth Workers and Organizations Worldwide

SODAS Problem Solving – Youth Work Session Plan Idea

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SODAS problem solving S.O.D.A.S
This soda must be from… well, anywhere but the US… no ice

As youth are moving towards independence, they’re going to be provided with more and more opportunities to make informed decisions. How they make these decisions can be something that you help teach them during your youth work sessions.

One skill that young people might need to be taught in a structured way is problem solving. The SODAS problem solving method is a tool that can help youth learn the process, that most of us do naturally in our adulthood, to solve problems and identify solutions. This can be a particularly useful skill if you work with youth who haven’t had a caring adult in their lives to teach them basic life skills.

The SODAS problem solving method identifies:

  1. The Situation
  2. A few Options
  3. The Disadvantages of each option
  4. The Advantages of each option
  5. The best Solution

You can make learning about SODAS problem solving more fun by trying the following activities:

  1. Media Project – Help your youth create a film showing the possible outcomes, disadvantages and advantages to a situation they’ve encountered or that they make up.
  2. Frozen Pictures or Role Plays – Give your youth a situation or have them identify one of their own. Have them create frozen pictures or role plays of the situation and explore the advantages and disadvantages of each option the group presents, while viewing the frozen picture or role play.
  3. Group Discussions – Some youth won’t want to do media projects or frozen pictures and role plays, so just having group discussions may be enough. Talk through the various scenarios and discuss the options and their potential outcomes.

No matter how you spice up this topic, you’ll help your youth become better prepared for adulthood and making informed decisions by teaching the skill of SODAS problem solving.

Have you found this idea useful? We’ve got plenty more free youth work session plan ideas.

Question: Have you ever used the SODAS problem solving method with your youth? How did it go? What tips can you give other youth workers? Let us know in the comments below.

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The Human Knot Game – Youth Group Game

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The Human Knot Game - youth group gameThe Human Knot game is an oldie but a goodie for many youth workers, but for those that don’t know how to play this youth group game, here are the directions:

Resources

People!

Objective

Untangle the circle without letting go of each others hands

The Human Knot Rules

  1. Have your group stand in a circle (n.b. This game is difficult to play with more than 12 young people. If you have a larger youth group, split them into several smaller groups to play)
  2. Everyone puts their hands into the center
  3. Instruct them to grab 1 other person’s hand with one hand and then grab another person’s hand with the other. The rules for grabbing hands:
    • It cannot be the person directly beside them
    • It cannot be both the hands of the same person
  4. Once everyone is holding hands, they need to try and untangle themselves without letting go of anyone’s hands – they may need to duck down, climb over and spin around.
  5. Everyone may not be facing inward at the end and that’s OK; as long as the circle is untangled and everyone’s hands are linked but by their sides, it is complete.
The Human Knot game can be used for team building, problem-solving, as an icebreaker or just for fun.

I’ve also had it suggested, by youth workers in Rwanda, that it would be a good game to play with young people dealing with issues of HIV and AIDS (it would also work well with other types of prejudice and intolerance). In Rwanda, some of the youth are unwilling to touch or be near young people with HIV/AIDS because they’re afraid they would ‘catch it’. This could therefore be an excellent game to get them touching and interacting in an appropriate and fun way.

If you like this game idea, check out our other youth group games.

Question: How has playing The Human Knot game benefited your youth group? Do you use it to teach any lessons? Let us know in the comments below.

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  3. Liking us on Facebook
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