Gift Discovery Activity

OPTION 1: Personal Gifts - Step by Step Instructions

This option is best for learners who do not share the same home community.

1. Distribute Paper/Cards:

• Hand out blank pieces of paper or index cards to each learner or prepare a digital whiteboard where each learner will have access to space to write down their notes for this activity.

1. Personal Gifts:

• Ask participants to use the blank pieces of paper to list personal gifts they are willing to share with others for a cause they deeply care about (e.g., children, family, social justice).

• Encourage participants to write one gift per piece of paper/card.

• Gifts can include practical skills (e.g., trapping, carpentry, cooking), knowledge-based skills (e.g., history and stories, youth development, fundraising), or any other expertise they possess.

• Give participants sufficient time to think of, and list, their personal gifts.

1. Gift Posting:

• Gather everyone and guide them to the designated areas on the wall.

• Have participants post their personal gifts (yellow cards) on the largest wall. As they do, ask them to announce their gifts if they’re comfortable doing so.

1. Option: Gift Expansion

• If the learners are familiar with one another, invite them to add on any other gifts they think each other possesses that may not have been captured by the learner themselves. For example, once Adam is done sharing his gifts of river guiding, making homemade stew, and his knowledge of birds and bird types, Lee-Anne might say “I’ve noticed you’re also really good at active listening,” and that would get added to the wall as a gift of Adam’s.

This exercise will swiftly reveal the abundance of gifts and resources within the group. It is a way to showcase what asset based or strength based approaches look like.

OPTION 2: Gift Discovery - Step by Step Instructions

This option is best if the majority of learners in the group share the same home community or close geographic home base.

1. Distribute Paper/Cards:

1. Hand out three colors of paper/cards (yellow, blue, and white) to each learner or prepare a digital whiteboard where each learner will have access to each of the card colours in digital format (i.e. sticky note)

1. Personal Gifts (Yellow Cards):

1. Ask participants to use the yellow pieces of paper to list personal gifts they are willing to share with others for a cause they deeply care about (e.g., children, family, social justice).

2. Encourage participants to write one gift per piece of paper/card.

3. Gifts can include practical skills (e.g., trapping, carpentry, cooking), knowledge-based skills (e.g., history and stories, youth development, fundraising), or any other expertise they possess.

4. Give participants sufficient time to think of, and list, their personal gifts.

1. Institutional Services (Blue Cards):

1. When everyone is done with the yellow cards, ask each participant to choose and share a business, organization or institution in their community. They’ll keep that institution in mind for this part of the activity.

2. Invite the learners to use the blue cards to list the gifts they believe their chosen business, organization or institution has and shares with the community. These can include services (e.g. photography studio, delivery service, or a mechanic), and programs (e.g. language revitalization program, summer camps, birth support).

3. Encourage participants to write one gift per piece of paper/card.

4. Give participants sufficient time to think of and list the gifts associated with their chosen institution.

1. Community Gifts (White Cards):

1. Ask the learners to identify any other gifts they believe exist in their community that may not be captured within specific individuals and institutions.

2. These can include natural resources, cultural practices, norms and ways of being, etc…

3. Learners can write each additional gift on a white card.

1. Individual Gift Posting:

1. Gather everyone and guide them to the designated areas on the wall.

2. Have participants post their personal gifts (yellow cards) on the largest wall. As they do, ask them to announce their gifts if they’re comfortable doing so.

3. Option: If the learners are familiar with one another, invite them to add on any other gifts they think each other possesses that may not have been captured by the learner themselves.

1. For example, once Adam is done sharing his gifts of river guiding, making homemade stew, and his knowledge of birds and bird types, Lee-Anne might say “I’ve noticed you’re also really good at active listening,” and that would get added to the wall as a gift of Adam’s.

1. Sharing Institutional Gifts:

1. Ask everyone to move to the next wall or section of the wall, and post the gifts (blue cards) of their chosen institution.

2. Invite learners to add on to what their peers have written down, sharing their own insights and knowledge about each institution to add to the gift wall.

1. Community Gifts Posting:

1. Have them proceed to the third wall to post all of the additional gifts in their communities that weren’t covered by the blue and yellow cards.

2. Invite the group to identify any other missing gifts that are part of the community that have not yet been covered by the individual or institution gift walls.

3. This exercise will swiftly reveal the abundance of gifts and resources that exist in a community.

1. Wrap up

1. GIve learners the opportunity to take any pictures they would like to take (of the gifts they identified for themselves and that others added to, of the gifts in their community, or of the particular businesses and organizations that were discussed). They may also choose to take notes.

1. These may be useful to have in other activities where learners are asked to reflect on gifts and assets (i.e. personal canvas, community canvas, etc.)

Alternative Method:

• If you are in a large community with many services, you may want to narrow the focus of the gift discovery activity to a specific topic or issue of concern.

• Have participants list any of the social or community issues they are passionate about addressing. Put these issues up on the wall around the room, or on a digital white board.

• Ask participants to vote with their feet by going to the issue they are most passionate about.

• Have them place their resource cards by the relevant issue, focusing in on the specific gifts that exist in the community related to that issue.

• Once groups have formed around their chosen issue, have them go through the yellow, blue and white card process, considering all of the gifts that exist related to that specific community issue or challenge.