The School of Play Curriculum
Secondary School
Week Fourteen brings a vibrant mix of creativity, humour, strategic thinking, and positive reflection to energise the group and strengthen social bonds. Students begin with playful, light-hearted activities like Drawing Animals On Your Head, encouraging laughter, connection, and creative self-expression in an intentionally relaxed environment. They then move into the Respectful Collaboration Challenge, where groups create posters that explore what respect looks like for themselves and others, building communication, shared understanding, and teamwork through discussion and collective creativity. These opening activities set a positive tone, helping students feel comfortable, connected, and ready to engage in meaningful group work.
The week then shifts into strategic, mentally engaging, and emotionally reflective games that blend movement with positive interaction. Through Fibbers Dice, students practise strategic decision-making, bluffing, risk assessment, and physical fitness in a competitive but friendly environment. Positive Reflection Battleships transforms a classic game into a powerful relationship-building experience, where compliments, positive reflections, and thoughtful questions replace traditional gameplay outcomes. Together, these activities strengthen teamwork, communication, emotional well-being, and resilience, helping students develop essential social and personal skills while reinforcing a supportive, uplifting group culture.
Weekly Lessons
Drawing Animals On Your Head
Drawing Animals On Your Head is a hilarious and highly engaging icebreaker that sparks instant laughter and creativity. Participants attempt to draw their favourite animal while holding their paper on top of their head, without looking, resulting in wonderfully unpredictable masterpieces. The challenge of creating something recognisable under silly conditions encourages playful self-expression and sets a relaxed, enjoyable tone for any session.
Once the drawing time is up, the real fun begins as the group reveals their creations and attempts to guess each other's animals. This shared moment of humour promotes connection, communication, and positive group interaction, making it a perfect warm-up for workshops, classrooms, or team activities. Simple, light-hearted, and guaranteed to get everyone smiling, Drawing Animals On Your Head is a joyful way to break down barriers and bring people together.
Respectful Relationships
Understanding & Promoting Equality
Drawing Animals On Your Head promotes equality by:
- Giving every student the same materials and instructions, ensuring all participants have an equal opportunity to contribute regardless of artistic ability.
- Creating a playful environment where everyone’s drawings are equally valued, not judged by skill, talent, or confidence.
- Breaking down social barriers by placing all students in the same humorous situation, reducing hierarchy and levelling the social playing field.
- Encouraging participation from all personalities, introverts, extroverts, and everyone in between, as the focus is on fun rather than performance.
- Reinforcing that creativity can take many forms and that everyone’s contribution is important and valid.
Building Healthy Relationships
This activity strengthens healthy relationship skills through:
- Encouraging shared laughter and positive interactions that help students feel more connected and comfortable with one another.
- Providing opportunities for students to appreciate the creativity and effort of their peers, building mutual respect.
- Reducing social tension and promoting a safe, relaxed environment where students can be silly, make mistakes, and bond through humour.
- Helping students build trust with their peers by engaging in a playful, low-stakes activity together.
- Creating shared experiences that can become conversation starters and strengthen group cohesion.
Developing Communication Skills
Through active interaction and group discussion, students practise:
- Clear verbal expression when guessing what animals their peers attempted to draw.
- Active listening as they pay attention to descriptions and interpretations offered by others.
- Positive communication by giving encouraging, respectful, and humorous feedback that supports peer confidence.
- Observation and interpretation skills as they view each drawing and articulate their ideas.
- Social communication skills that help reduce awkwardness and improve group comfort.
Enhancing Social & Emotional Intelligence
The game builds emotional and social intelligence by:
- Helping students become comfortable with ambiguity, imperfection, and the unpredictability of creative expression.
- Encouraging resilience as students laugh at themselves in a safe, supportive setting, reducing fear of judgment.
- Building empathy as students recognise that everyone is equally vulnerable during the drawing process.
- Supporting self-awareness by helping students notice their emotional responses to humour, creativity, and group participation.
- Strengthening emotional connection as shared laughter releases tension and increases positive feelings toward others.
Challenging Stereotypes
Drawing Animals On Your Head challenges stereotypes by:
- Showing that creativity is not limited to those with strong artistic skills, everyone can contribute meaningfully.
- Encouraging students of all genders to participate equally in a playful creative activity, breaking down gendered beliefs about artistic talent or expression.
- Challenging the idea that classroom activities must be serious or performance-based to be valuable.
- Reinforcing that humour, creativity, and fun are universal experiences that belong to everyone.
- Demonstrating that leadership and participation can look playful, expressive, and relaxed, not always serious or authoritative.
Recognising Rights
This activity reinforces students’ rights and responsibilities through:
- Promoting the right to feel safe, included, and free from judgment during group experiences.
- Encouraging respectful interactions, where students respond kindly to all drawings and guesses.
- Reinforcing the responsibility to maintain a positive and supportive environment for peers.
- Valuing each student’s unique creative expression, helping them feel seen and appreciated.
- Supporting emotional safety by creating an atmosphere where mistakes are welcome, humour is positive, and everyone feels comfortable participating.
Respectful Collaboration Challenge
Respectful Collaboration Challenge is a creative team-building activity designed to help students understand the importance of working together while showing respect for themselves and others. In small groups, students collaboratively design a poster that represents what respect looks like, sounds like, and feels like. The short, timed challenge encourages groups to communicate clearly, listen to one another, and ensure everyone’s ideas are valued and included.
Once completed, groups present their posters to the class, sharing their collective ideas and reflecting on how they collaborated respectfully during the activity. This simple but powerful challenge promotes inclusion, positive group dynamics, and thoughtful communication. Respectful Collaboration Challenge is an engaging way to help students practise teamwork, express their understanding of respect, and build stronger, more supportive relationships within the classroom.
Respectful Relationships
Understanding & Promoting Equality
The Respectful Collaboration Challenge promotes equality by:
- Ensuring every student has an equal opportunity to contribute ideas and creative input during the poster-making task.
- Creating a group environment where no single voice dominates, reinforcing that all ideas carry equal value.
- Encouraging students to share materials, responsibilities, and space in a fair and inclusive manner.
- Establishing expectations that all team members must be respected, heard, and treated as equal contributors.
- Helping students recognise that everyone’s perspective is important, regardless of ability, confidence level, or social standing.
Building Healthy Relationships
This activity strengthens healthy relationship skills through:
- Encouraging students to work together respectfully, negotiate ideas, and collaborate toward a shared goal.
- Reinforcing the importance of active listening and valuing others’ contributions to build stronger group bonds.
- Promoting empathy as students consider how to ensure that everyone feels included, respected, and supported.
- Allowing students to experience positive collaboration, which builds trust and strengthens peer relationships.
- Providing opportunities to practise kindness, patience, and encouragement during a shared creative task.
Developing Communication Skills
Through structured group interaction, students practise:
- Verbal communication as they share ideas, explain their thinking, and negotiate how to design the poster.
- Active listening by attending to each team member's ideas and responding respectfully.
- Nonverbal communication, such as sharing materials, making space for others, and showing attentive body language.
- Collaborative decision-making as they work together to determine what to include on the poster.
- Conflict-free problem solving when differing opinions arise, learning to compromise respectfully.
Enhancing Social & Emotional Intelligence
The activity builds emotional and social intelligence by:
- Encouraging self-awareness as students reflect on how their behaviour impacts group success.
- Strengthening empathy through recognising and valuing diverse perspectives within their group.
- Supporting emotional regulation as students practise staying calm, respectful, and cooperative under time pressure.
- Promoting resilience by allowing students to work through disagreements or challenges without giving up.
- Fostering group appreciation as students celebrate each other’s contributions during the presentation phase.
Challenging Stereotypes
The Respectful Collaboration Challenge challenges stereotypes by:
- Demonstrating that leadership can come from anyone, not just the loudest or most confident student.
- Showing that creativity and strong ideas are not linked to gender, popularity, or academic performance.
- Encouraging all students to share equal responsibility, challenging assumptions about who should take on certain roles (e.g., writing, drawing, leading discussion).
- Reinforcing that respect and collaboration are universal skills, not tied to any particular personality type or identity.
- Promoting diversity of thought and demonstrating that varied perspectives enrich group outcomes.
Recognising Rights
This activity reinforces students’ rights and responsibilities by:
- Highlighting each student’s right to feel heard, respected, and included during group work.
- Emphasising the responsibility to contribute positively, listen carefully, and respect others’ ideas.
- Supporting emotional safety by establishing a collaborative environment free from judgment or criticism.
- Reinforcing the right to express personal perspectives and the responsibility to allow others the same opportunity.
- Teaching students to respect boundaries and encourage behaviour that fosters a supportive group dynamic.
Fibbers Dice
Fibbers Dice is a lively combination of strategy, bluffing, and physical activity that keeps teams thinking and moving. Working in two groups, players roll their dice in secret and must decide whether to report their total honestly or bluff to gain an advantage. The opposing team then chooses to accept the total or call out a possible fib, creating a fun tension between truth and deception. The reveal adds excitement, as teams discover whether their strategic choices and instincts were correct.
The physical element adds another layer of engagement, with teams completing exercises based on the outcomes of each round, winners performing lighter reps and losers facing a more challenging set. This fusion of mental strategy and movement keeps energy high while strengthening teamwork and communication. Fibbers Dice is an unpredictable and entertaining activity that works beautifully as a warm-up, team challenge, or classroom energiser, making it ideal for building connection, strategy, and laughter in any group.
Respectful Relationships
Understanding & Promoting Equality
Fibbers Dice promotes equality by:
- Ensuring every student participates in the same strategic and physical challenges, regardless of fitness level or confidence.
- Creating a fair environment where success depends on teamwork, communication, and strategy, not popularity or physical dominance.
- Giving all team members equal responsibility in deciding whether to bluff, tell the truth, or accuse, reinforcing shared decision-making.
- Providing both winning and losing teams the opportunity to engage in similar exercise challenges, ensuring a balanced experience for all students.
- Allowing diverse strengths (maths skills, emotional intelligence, intuition, communication) to contribute equally to team success.
Building Healthy Relationships
This game strengthens healthy relationship skills through:
- Encouraging players to support one another during strategic decisions and celebrate successes together.
- Reinforcing trust within teams, as students rely on each other to communicate clearly and honestly (or bluff cleverly!).
- Providing opportunities to practise emotional control and respond respectfully during moments of tension, excitement, or disagreement.
- Strengthening bonds by creating shared experiences—whether cleverly bluffing, being caught out, or completing exercises together.
- Helping students practise fairness and empathy when responding to outcomes, regardless of whether their team wins or loses.
Developing Communication Skills
Through active gameplay, students practise:
- Verbal communication as they discuss strategy, decide on totals, and determine whether to bluff or accuse.
- Active listening when responding to teammates’ observations, suspicions, or logical explanations.
- Nonverbal communication, including reading body language that may reveal truthfulness or bluffing.
- Persuasive language when delivering believable bluffs or convincing arguments about accusations.
- Conflict-free problem solving as teams negotiate strategies or resolve differences in approach.
Enhancing Social & Emotional Intelligence
The game develops social and emotional intelligence by:
- Encouraging self-awareness as students recognise how they react under pressure, uncertainty, or surprise.
- Strengthening empathy as students read emotional cues, understand teammates’ perspectives, and consider others’ reasoning.
- Promoting resilience as students bounce back from incorrect accusations or failed bluffs.
- Helping students manage emotions such as excitement, frustration, embarrassment, or triumph in constructive ways.
- Developing responsible decision-making as students weigh risks, probabilities, and group dynamics.
Challenging Stereotypes
Fibbers Dice challenges stereotypes by:
- Showing that strategic thinking, bluffing, and communication skills are not tied to gender, popularity, or academic performance.
- Highlighting that leadership in strategy discussions can come from any student, not just the loudest or most confident.
- Demonstrating that physical fitness activities can be accessible, fun, and enjoyed equally by all students.
- Breaking assumptions about who is “good at reading people,” reinforcing that everyone is capable of developing these skills.
- Encouraging all students, regardless of background or ability, to engage in risk-taking, tactical thinking, and team decision-making.
Recognising Rights
This activity reinforces students’ rights and responsibilities through:
- Emphasising every student’s right to feel safe, respected, and included during gameplay and exercise.
- Encouraging fair play and respectful treatment of all participants, regardless of the outcome of accusations or bluffs.
- Reinforcing the responsibility to communicate clearly, treat teammates kindly, and follow agreed rules.
- Supporting emotional safety by ensuring that bluffing is framed as strategic, not personal or harmful.
- Promoting respect for physical limits by allowing students to modify exercises if needed, and encouraging teams to support one another.
Positive Reflection Battleships
Positive Reflection Battleships blends the strategy and suspense of the classic game with meaningful, uplifting interactions that strengthen connection between players. As participants take turns rolling dice and calling out coordinates, each “hit” invites an opportunity to share a compliment or positive remark, while each “miss” sparks a reflective question. This structure ensures that no matter the outcome of a turn, players engage in rich conversation, thoughtful exchange, and moments of appreciation.
The combination of strategic play and emotional reflection creates a balanced, engaging experience that builds both social and interpersonal skills. Students strategise where to place their ships while also practising communication, empathy, and positive acknowledgment. Positive Reflection Battleships transforms a familiar game into a relationship-building activity, leaving players feeling more connected, supported, and valued, all while enjoying the fun of tactical gameplay.
Respectful Relationships
Understanding & Promoting Equality
Positive Reflection Battleships promotes equality by:
- Ensuring both players participate equally in giving compliments, answering reflective questions, and engaging in strategic gameplay.
- Providing every student with the same opportunity to contribute, regardless of confidence level, social status, or communication skills.
- Offering a balanced format where both partners alternate speaking and listening, creating a fair and safe exchange of ideas.
- Encouraging equal emotional expression, each student gives and receives compliments, fostering mutual respect.
- Removing competitive pressure related to physical ability and focusing instead on respectful interaction, thoughtfulness, and strategy.
Building Healthy Relationships
This activity strengthens healthy relationship skills through:
- Encouraging authentic compliments, which help students recognise and appreciate the strengths, behaviours, and qualities in others.
- Promoting meaningful conversation as students respond to reflective questions, deepening understanding and connection.
- Reinforcing empathy, as players actively listen to their partner’s reflections and respond with genuine interest and kindness.
- Helping students build trust by creating a safe environment where positive remarks and personal reflections can be shared openly.
- Supporting emotional bonding through shared experiences, humour, and strategic collaboration that mirrors positive relationship habits.
Developing Communication Skills
Through structured yet playful communication, students practise:
- Clear verbal expression when giving compliments or answering reflective questions.
- Active listening while their partner shares something personal or thoughtful.
- Respectful conversational turn-taking, ensuring both voices are heard equally.
- Asking and responding to meaningful questions, building confidence in deeper communication.
- Using positive language intentionally to uplift and support others, strengthening emotional communication skills.
Enhancing Social & Emotional Intelligence
The game builds emotional and social intelligence by:
- Encouraging self-awareness as students reflect on their strengths, relationships, and positive experiences.
- Developing empathy through heartfelt compliments and by understanding their partner’s reflections.
- Promoting emotional regulation as students navigate both competitive strategy and personal sharing.
- Strengthening relationship awareness by highlighting how positive interactions improve mood, connection, and trust.
- Reinforcing resilience and optimism through repeated practice of focusing on strengths and appreciative thinking.
Challenging Stereotypes
Positive Reflection Battleships challenges stereotypes by:
- Normalising emotional expression for all genders, showing that compliments, gratitude, and reflection are universal strengths, not tied to gender roles.
- Demonstrating that emotional intelligence, kindness, and communication are valuable skills for everyone, not just “social” or outgoing students.
- Encouraging every player to step into equal speaking and listening roles, challenging stereotypes about dominance or leadership in communication.
- Highlighting that strategic thinking and emotional reflection can coexist, breaking down ideas that games must be purely competitive rather than relational.
Recognising Rights
This activity reinforces students' rights and responsibilities through:
- Promoting the right to feel respected, safe, and valued during peer interactions.
- Reminding students of their responsibility to speak kindly, listen respectfully, and protect the emotional safety of others.
- Encouraging players to honour boundaries, only sharing what they feel comfortable expressing.
- Reinforcing respectful behaviour, such as celebrating each other’s strengths rather than criticising or teasing.
- Highlighting that healthy relationships are built on fairness, appreciation, and positive communication, which every student deserves.
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