32 GROUP DYNAMICS FOR YOUTH AND ADOLESCENTS - GEOGRAFÍA - 2025

The group dynamics for young people that I am going to present are designed to learn in an entertaining way and reflect on facts and concepts that are not learned in curricular subjects.

Group dynamics can be useful in institutes, youth organizations (such as scouts) or other institutions, such as centers for minors or reception centers. Although they are intended for young people, they can also be used with adults.

These activities help the young person to mature and reflect on things that are present in the day to day but that nobody teaches you how to face them, how to make moral decisions.

The effectiveness of the dynamics can vary remarkably depending on the characteristics of the group, the activity to be carried out and contextual variables such as the moment in which they are carried out. For example, it is not the same to carry out the activity at the beginning, middle or end of the course.

For this reason it is very important that the instructor stop and read the activities carefully before carrying them out, in order to choose the optimal activity according to the situation.

To facilitate the task of the instructors, the activities will be grouped according to their functionality and the most recommended time for their completion.

Group dynamics to start the process, clarify doubts and motivate young people to participate

Start point

This dynamic consists of filling in a short questionnaire with questions to make themselves known to the group. The form presents the ideas of the young people about the group, their participation in it and their expectations about this process. The answers will be shared at the end of the dynamic.

Objective:

With this dynamic, it is intended to know the expectations of the young people, as well as to adjust future dynamics to the needs of the participants.

When to use it:

This activity is indicated for any type of group and it is recommended to use it at the beginning, before doing any other group activity.

Process:

1. The token is distributed to each member of the group.
2. Participants are instructed to fill it out in 10-15 minutes individually.
3. Once the answers are filled in, it is recommended to write down the answers on a blackboard to simplify the conclusion.
4. The topics to be discussed throughout the process are concluded.

Total duration: approximately 1h and a half.

Necessary materials:

You only need the form below, it can be printed and filled in or done directly by computer.

Recommendations:

Young people must be motivated, who know that their ideas and needs will be taken into account and that, for this, they must be sincere and express what really concerns them.

It is necessary to review all the answers and spend approximately the same amount of time on each student to make them feel that they all matter the same.

Anonymous doubts

It is very common, especially among young people, for a teacher to ask at the end of his class: "Does anyone have any questions?" be in the limelight.

The goal is that students can carry out these questions without any of the fears mentioned above.

Process:

Throughout the class, all students will have the obligation to write on a piece of paper any questions that may come to mind. At the end of the class, the teacher will pass a bowl or urn where the students will put their paper.

Once all have been collected, a piece of paper will be chosen at random with the doubt that the teacher will read aloud. At that point, you can simply choose to answer the question or involve the rest of the class to answer the question.

Dynamics to break the ice and create the working climate

The onion

This dynamic is done to create a good working environment and for the group to get to know each other a little better.

Objective:

Promote group connection, trust and create a good work environment.

When to use it:

When no group activity has been done yet and it is necessary to foster group connection.

Process:

1. A volunteer will be chosen from the group that is the farmer, while the rest of the group will be the onion.
2. The participants who form the onion must all be arranged together in a concentric way, as if forming the layers of an onion and the farmer must try to separate them to “peel the onion”.
3. Every time a member of the onion is separated from the group, they become a farmer and must help peel the onion.
4. When the dynamic is over, time should be given for the group to express what they liked about the activity and what they felt while doing it.

If the group is very large, several onions can be formed.

The total duration of this activity is approximately 15 minutes.

Recommendations:

It must be clarified before starting the activity that it cannot be violent, obviously physical force must be used to separate the companions, but always trying not to do harm.

It is advisable to remove all objects that could be injured (such as tables and chairs), that the participants remove their shoes to avoid stepping on and hurting themselves and, if possible, carry out the activity on a mat.

Encounter through objects

The group is divided into two subgroups. The first part will put an object of their own in a bag, for example: keys, a bracelet, etc. And then the other part of the group will take an object, each one, and look for the owner of that object.

Finally, once the owner has been found, each couple will introduce themselves to the rest of the partners, providing the information they want.

Fears and hopes

Each component must write on a sheet with a pen, their concerns, fears and hopes about a situation that they have lived, lives or is living. Once finished, the trainer must give the floor to those who wish to participate and each one will introduce themselves, showing the written information.

Next, the trainer will write down all the opinions on the board so that at the end of the turn of words he can point out the most frequent ones and discuss them.

It is important that in the debate the names of the students who provide information are repeated successively to remember them.

Who I am? It's me

The trainer will provide newspapers, magazines and reusable documents (in addition to glue, colors and paper / cardboard).

In this way, each component must build a collage with the information that best represents them of all the material that has been provided. Finally, you will explain to your colleagues why you have selected that information and what it represents you.

The questioning ball

Several teams are made, depending on the number of people in the group. A ball will be provided and the use of a music player will be necessary. At the beginning of the music, the ball will rotate through each component of the groups so that it does not stop until the music stops.

The person who has the ball at the moment when no sound is heard should say his name and a question that each member of the group asks him.

We must specify that the exercise will be repeated as many times as deemed appropriate for most of the group to present themselves.

Famous person

Each component must choose a famous person with whom they share their name. Then, in front of the whole group, she must imitate the character and the rest must guess what her name is.

Guess who is who

This dynamic is designed to play when there is an encounter between two groups of different people (the number of members in each group is indifferent). It has a methodology similar to the famous board game Who is who ?, where you need to find out the character by offering information.

Example:

Group A, made up of five girls, offers a piece of information about each one of them without revealing who owns that information.

- One is in accounting.

- One has an intimate tattoo.

- One knows Italian and French.

- One wears contact lenses.

- One is much younger than the rest.

With these five clues, group B, made up of three boys, must find out to which of the girls each piece of information corresponds, giving a reasoning as to why they have reached that conclusion.

When they have hit the combinations, it will be group A that guesses the particularities of group B.

Scribble

In this technique, each individual takes a paper and a pencil. They should draw a small doodle about what they want, but make it significant to something they like or are passionate about. The rest of the components must find out what link each doodle has with the component.

Example:

- A component draws an apple.

- The rest of the components have to guess what their hobby is taking into account the drawing of the apple. You may love to eat apples, but you may also be a fan of Apple products or you may work as a dietitian.

Dynamics to improve communication and interpersonal conflicts

The history

This dynamic serves to make students reflect on the stories that come to them, whether about their classmates or other topics such as politics. The idea is to make them see that there are several versions of the same story and that they must have their own criteria and be careful to believe and reproduce everything they hear.

Objective:

Encourage good communication and critical reflection about the information that reaches them.

When to use it:

It can be used in any type of group, but it is especially indicated in those in which there are impulsive members who tend to give an opinion on a topic or tell information that has reached them without reflecting on it.

Process:

1. 4 or 5 volunteers are chosen and all but 1 are invited to leave the class.
2. A short story is chosen and the volunteer is told that he has stayed (at the end of this section you can see an example of a story).
3. Once the first volunteer has heard it, he must tell it to another volunteer who was out, then this volunteer will tell the next one and so on until there are no more volunteers.
4. Finally, the story is read aloud so that everyone listens to it and reflects on what has come to them and what they have told their colleagues.

This activity can be repeated as many times as necessary so that all members of the group can participate.

The approximate duration of the activity is about 30 minutes per group.

Photo projection

The facilitator divides the group into subgroups, depending on the number of participants in the activity.

He offers each subgroup a photograph and asks them individually to write down what happened before the photo, what happens at the time of the photo, and what will happen afterwards.

When they have finished, one by one they share their narration with their classmates. They debate among all and try to reach a common situation.

Each subgroup chooses a partner to present in front of the other partners.

Discussion: the facilitator should guide the debate so that each one can apply these situations to their daily life.

Passive, aggressive and assertive

The facilitator leads a brainstorming on assertiveness.

Then, individually, each one should think about the most submissive person they know and write down characteristics about their behavior.

They are all asked to get up and act from one side of the classroom to the other with a submissive attitude, using exclusively non-verbal language.

The facilitator asks them to stand still, like statues, adopting a submissive gesture. He comments and takes note of how the group has characterized this behavior.

He then changes from submissive to aggressive behavior. Previously, they have to write individually the characteristics of aggressive communication.

Again, they have to remain paralyzed and the facilitator will comment and ask for the collaboration of the group to take notes.

The members of the group take their seats and draw up, as a group, a list of behaviors of an assertive person, especially in relation to non-verbal behavior.

Again, they have to move around the classroom taking an assertive attitude and in silence. The facilitator repeats asking them to stand as statues and take note of the non-verbal behavior.

The facilitator leads a debate in which the different communication styles are analyzed and how the participants of the dynamic have felt in each of them.

Subsequently, situations in which the behavior is assertive are introduced and practiced. Also, examples of situations in which to practice the assertive style can be used.

Freedom

Subgroups are formed, depending on the size of the group.

The facilitator begins to talk to them about freedom and introduces the dynamics.

In groups, they should address the following topics:

-A moment in my life in which I felt free.

-A moment of life in which I felt oppressed.

-A moment in my life in which I oppressed other people.

After all the members of each subgroup have shared their experiences with the others, they work together a definition for the word freedom and another for oppression.

All the subgroups present their definitions and a debate takes place until they reach a common agreement.

The facilitator should emphasize how to approach these aspects in relation to assertive communication.

Dynamics for group and individual reflection

The dice

This dynamic is carried out to know the current situation of the group and for the young people to reflect on this situation and have a debate to share all the points of view.

Objective:

Reflect on the current situation of the group and improve relationships between members.

When to use it:

This activity is suitable for groups that have been together for a while and have a common path.

Process:

1. 6 questions about the status of the group are written on a piece of paper (at the end of this section you can see an example of questions).
2. All the members of the group are arranged in a circle around the questions.
3. One of the members begins by rolling the die and answering the question with the corresponding number and so on until all the members have answered at least one question.
4. The instructor should write down the questions and answers.
5. Finally, all the answers given to the same question are analyzed as a group and a debate is held about what could be improved and how to improve it.

This activity can last a total of about 90 minutes.

Necessary materials:

Given, paper with questions and paper and pen to write down the answers.

Sample questions:

1. What makes the group stagger? Is there something that threatens your stability?
2. Do we communicate sufficiently in the group?
3. How do we solve our conflicts?
4. What is it that unites us as a group?
5. Do we know how to ask for help when we are bad? Who do we turn to?
6. What can I contribute to the group for a better relationship?

Stimulating critical thinking

The group facilitator will ask a series of questions and guide the group conversation. They can be: If you could choose to be someone, who would you be? If you see a person scratching someone else's car and they don't leave a note, how would you act? If you were rich, how would you spend the money? If you see someone harassing or mistreating another person, what would you do?

Discussion: telling children and adolescents how to think or act is not effective. Therefore, this dynamic that can generate debate will offer better results.

The story of Juan and Juana

Participants sit in a circle and pass the ball arbitrarily and quickly. They must create two stories. First, Juana's and then Juan's.

Every time someone touches the ball, they must add something else to the story of the character they are talking about. Thus, a story is created among all.

When they have developed the two stories, the values ​​related to each of the characters are analyzed. Have there been differences related to the gender of each of the protagonists? For this, the facilitator must be aware of what adjectives and elements are stated about each one.

Survival in the Andes

The instructor divides the group into four teams and explains that a tragedy has occurred in the Andes when a plane crashed. The survivors had to resort to anthropophagy to survive.

At first, they will have to decide who must die to be eaten.

Once this decision is made, it will be discussed why part of the body they should start eating it.

Dynamics of Emotional Intelligence

You are worth it!

The facilitator will ask for two volunteers. They should leave the room while the dynamics are explained to the rest of the group.

The group is divided into two subgroups. Group 1 should encourage and motivate the first volunteer, the second volunteer will be treated indifferently. Group 2 has to act in a neutral way towards the first volunteer and discourage the second.

The first volunteer enters and is asked to toss the coins trying to get them to enter the circle on the cardboard that is about 2 meters away.

It is repeated with the second volunteer.

Reflection on the result and how the volunteers have felt. The facilitator introduces the Pygmalion effect and is debated.

The dictionary of emotions

The person in charge of leading the group will propose the idea of ​​making a dictionary of emotions written by themselves.

For this, they must reserve work time. So that is one more task to be done in that group.

Spaces for reflection will be promoted to talk about emotions, or the facilitator will propose a specific emotion and, together, they will elaborate a definition of it.

Discussion: the result is a dictionary developed together so that they can have it and work individually.

Lazarillo

The facilitator will ask them to stand in pairs. Once they are done, he will distribute to each one of them a mask or handkerchief.

One of the members of the couple will cover his eyes in such a way that he does not see anything.

The person who does not have his eyes covered should guide his partner according to the orders that the facilitator is saying. For example: we walk, we turn right / left, we jump, we run, etc.

In no time will you be able to touch your partner. You can only address him by speaking to him.

After a while, the roles are changed. At this point, it is interesting that the facilitator changes the orders or repeats them in a disorderly way so that no one expects what to do.

Final reflection of the whole group in which they will express how they have had each other and if they have trusted their partner.

The great shared history

In this dynamic, we seek to get to know the other person through a sharing of anecdotes. It serves to improve creativity, empathy and interaction between individuals.

Methodology:

A person begins by telling the beginning of an anecdote that has happened to him at some point in his life. At a certain point, he stops his story and gives the floor to another person to continue adapting some of his anecdotes to the story of the first. It will continue like this successively until the story reaches the last person, who must put the end point.

Example:

Person 1: I lived in a humble neighborhood where we barely subsisted at home on my father's small salary. One day…

Person 2: I was awarded a scholarship to study graphic design in the United States. There I met…

Person 3: My Toby, who I found in the middle of the street shivering on a frigid night and was so distressed that I decided to adopt him.

Thanks to this shared history, it follows that person one is of humble origin and therefore may not have had as many opportunities as Person 2, who studied in the United States and therefore knows English. Finally, Person 3 is discovering to us that he has a pet and perhaps a special sensitivity towards animals.

Trust Dynamics

The statue

Pairs will be formed randomly with the aim that people who do not know each other very well have to work together.

One of them will adopt the role of a statue and the other will have to cover his eyes with a blindfold.

When they are covered, the one who acts as a statue will take a stand. Her partner must touch her in order to guess the position she has taken and, later, imitate her.

They will imitate it without their partner removing their position and when they think they have finished, the facilitator will remove the blindfold so that they can compare the result themselves.

The exercise is repeated, but changing roles.

Evaluation: ask couples what role they found easier, if they felt comfortable with physical contact between partners, etc.

Variation: instead of in pairs, do it in small groups (3 or 4 people) with only one acting as a statue. That way, others can talk to each other and comment. In this way, communication would be another dimension that would be taken into account in the evaluation.

The sounds of the animals

This dynamic is ideal for the first moments of a group, as it will help the members get to know each other and share a laugh together.

The facilitator will introduce it as a presentation dynamic and the objective is for each one to learn the names of their classmates.

The facilitator will begin by saying his name and imitating the noise of an animal. For example: my name is Sara and "mouuuu".

Then the next person will introduce themselves and add the animal sound they like and have to repeat that of their previous partner. In this way, the list of names and noises will increase.

If one person makes a mistake, the whole group must start from the beginning.

Evaluation: after a few minutes, ask someone what their classmates are called, once they have taken another seat or are doing another task in order to check if the names of their classmates have been learned.

Blind animals

This dynamic is very attractive to carry out in large and open spaces, such as the schoolyard or sports fields. It should be applied when you have many individuals, such as sports clubs or job groups with many members.

It is a matter of all individuals being arranged in a part of the space and closing their eyes. A monitor will approach them and whisper in their ear the animal they are supposed to imitate (cow, frog, pig, etc.) and, once they are all assigned, the monitor will blow a whistle.

The goal is that, by imitating the sounds, the people who were assigned an animal get together. The first group of people-animals that manages to get together is the winner.

Leadership Dynamics

The changing circle

Group members will be asked to stand in a circle and hold hands.

Afterwards, they will be told to form different figures, holding hands together. For example: a triangle, a star, a house, etc.

Discussion: what is really important in this dynamic is not the result of the figures, but how communication flows and who are the people who take the initiative when carrying out the exercises. Finally, there should be a space for reflection in which these issues are addressed and all members of the group have the opportunity to express their opinion.

Paper Planes

Divide the group into subgroups. Each of them must choose a leader.

They are given 20 minutes for each group to design their own airplane model and make several, depending on the number of members.

By groups, each member has a landing opportunity.

The team that has successfully launched the most airplanes onto the learning track wins.

Discussion: in the moment of reflection, the leaders will be asked what tasks they performed during the construction time and, also, the group members how they felt throughout the dynamics, if they were listened to, what they took into account when choosing the leader, etc.

Counting blind

Place the different members of the group randomly.

They must count to a certain number (for example, 20) in an orderly fashion.

They should do it without two people saying the same number at the same time. In the event that it occurs, they must begin.

Discussion: as they take a while, it will be seen how there is a greater connection in the group. We must emphasize the importance of this connection because it is not really being seen nor do they have to be close.

Other comments: reflect on the importance of the organization, both by the leader and among the team members.

Teamwork dynamics

Technique 6.3.5

It is a dynamic that serves to generate creative ideas. In groups of 6 people, the participants gather around a table to generate ideas related to a topic that had been previously agreed.

Each participant is offered a blank sheet where they have to write down three short ideas, since they only have five minutes to write them down.

Once the five minutes have passed, they will pass their sheet to their partner, where the process of writing three new ideas will be repeated in five minutes.

Once the entire cycle has been completed and all the sheets have been circulated, there will be 18 ideas on each sheet.

The aerostatic balloon

A situation is proposed to the group:

“A meteorite falls into the ocean creating a giant wave that submerges all the continents of the planet.

However, you and five other people find yourself flying over Teide National Park in a balloon. After a few hours, you start to lose air but you see an island. The sea is full of hungry sharks and the only way for the balloon to reach the island is to shoot one of the occupants ”.

A debate must be established to decide who will be the one to leave the balloon. Each of the participants has an assigned role: a priest, a journalist from the pink press, a nurse, a political advisor, a teacher of primary education and an official from the National Institute of Statistics.

You have to fulfill the premises that: you are the only survivors and you have to ensure the continuation of the species; the decision must be made unanimously; none of the participants can voluntarily leave the balloon and all must present their arguments.

This test aims to analyze the group decision-making process and see the communication processes, as well as analyze the ability to cooperate and implement help, equality. Initiative and leadership can also be seen.

Common things

Participants are asked to divide into groups of about 5 people. Next, they are told to find 10 things that they all have in common.

They cannot describe things about clothing, or about work, or about anatomy.

They should take note of those things they have in common and write them down to put them later in the large group.

General dynamics

Role playing

This dynamic is often used in some group therapies and aims to make the group members learn the best way to act in certain situations through both their own and vicarious experience (observing their peers).

Objective:

Improve social skills and effective problem solving.

When to use it:

This technique is especially indicated in groups in which conflicts have arisen due to the lack of communication and social skills of its members.

Process:

1. All group members are brainstormed about the situations they would like to represent through role playing and one is chosen by consensus (at the end of this section you can see a list with examples of situations about which role playing).
2. The first person who proposed the topic will be the first actor and will have to choose the rest of the actors that are necessary to represent the situation.
3. First, the situation will be explained in detail, making a kind of script (it is not necessary to write it) and explaining to all the actors what the role of each one is. The rest of the group members will be the observers and must be very attentive and take note of the performance of their teammates.
4. The role is played representing what each actor would do if he were really in that situation.
5. When the performance ends, the actors must express what they have felt and the observers must assess with both positive and negative feedback the way of acting of their companions.
6. At the end of the whole, the instructor must give some guidelines to solve that specific situation in the most efficient way possible, also acting as an actor if necessary.

The sequence can be repeated until it is done optimally or with other actors.

So that the actors can value themselves, it would be useful to record the role-playing session.

The entire procedure can take about 90 minutes.

Recommendations:

Situations that have recently produced problems should not be chosen so as not to heat up the atmosphere.

It should be explained to the observers how feedback is given in an assertive way so that they do not hurt the feelings of their colleagues.

Examples of situations in which to role-play:

• A colleague learns that another has been speaking ill of him behind his back.
• A colleague has lent something to another for a long time and he has not returned it.
• A teacher catches your attention, the young man recriminates him and an argument breaks out.
• One partner plays a practical joke on another.
• You find out that your group of friends is planning to do something bad to another partner.

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Other dynamics of interest

Assertive communication dynamics.

Motivational dynamics.

Dynamics of self-esteem.

Dynamics of emotional intelligence.

Group integration dynamics.

Dynamics of creativity.

Trust dynamics.

Leadership dynamics.

Dynamics of conflict resolution.

Dynamics of values.

Presentation dynamics.

Teamwork dynamics.

References

1. Azpeitia, P., Galaradi, O., & Arguilea, C. (2016). 24 Group dynamics to work with adolescents. Retrieved on June 29, 2016, from GAZTE FORUM.