On December 27th, 2014, seven volunteers from Brazil, Thailand, Indonesia, and China traveled to You Dao's Qingpu Center, to celebrate the coming New Year. The volunteers spent a happy afternoon with more than 50 children, playing different games and activities.
The volunteers divided the children into five groups and assigned each group a color and a volunteer team leader. Each group then came up with a group slogan, which gave each team its own sense of pride.
At 2pm, the groups started a game called "Grab the Ball.” Two teams were picked to compete against one another. Each child was assigned a number, then the children were aligned in two rows, separated by a large running field facing each other, with a ball placed in the middle of the field. The game leader then shouted a number and the child with that number would run to the middle of the field to grab a ball and bring it back to their side to earn points for their team.
The game brought the children a lot of excitement and fostered team spirit. The game also helped to build the children’s teamwork and team building skills.
The children continued to play other games throughout the afternoon. The activities ended with a competitive game of tug-of-war. Throughout the competition, some children argued with one another about the fairness and results of the games. This demonstrates the children’s competitive spirits and desire for fairness.
After the games and activities ended, volunteers announced the Winning Team of the Day. The winning team received a small gift of home-baked cookies as recognition of their efforts. The rest of the teams were also praised for their hard work and competitive spirits. Small gift bags prepared by volunteers were later distributed to each child. Both volunteers and children thanked each other for their fun time together.
After the event, the volunteers expressed their interest to return more often, to play, learn and grow together with the children.