Patterns and Poems

Create connection and joy in a group

This is an online game that works well on Zoom.

First, instruct everyone to be in gallery view and instruct them how to return to gallery view. 

Explain that this activity involves getting up from your seat and bringing objects to the camera. 

Facilitator gives starting prompt such as "Find something that is yellow!" and counts down from 10 (10-9-8-7...) During these 10 seconds everyone finds an object that matches the prompt and holds it to the camera.

Facilitator (or tech person) spotlights 3 people at random. 

People name the pattern they see in chat 
e.g. toys for toddlers, colors of the French flag, things with sharp edges

Facilitator asks one of the people in the spotlight to choose which pattern name in chat best describes the pattern. This become the prompt for the next round.

The facilitator counts down from 10 and everyone finds an object to match this prompt. 

For the last round there are no spotlights. Have the group look around at the many objects. Each person writes on line of a poem in chat but does not press enter. When everyone has contributed (or enough time has passed), the facilitator counts down and everyone presses enter at the same time (aka chat waterfall)

Ideally then the poem is read out loud by either the facilitator or someone else is chose from the group to read the poem. Facilitator notes 3 rounds work well for this. In general things feel good in rounds of 3 and I've found that by the 3rd round the pattern that's identified is more 'poetic' in nature (eg. "Solutions to Sadness" for a coffee mug, a muffin recipe, and a clown figurine) and people have loosened up a bit. To help people you can take a screenshot of the final group of objects and people's faces and then screen share that image. This allows people to view and write without having to also hold up their object. And it creates a great artifact of the activity too.

Variation 
If it doesn't work for some people to turn on their camera the can still play and write their object in chat. 

Co-created in an Applied Improv Network (AIN) Open Space session by Erica Marx, Ada Roseti, & Jeanne Lambin and the lovely creative group who joined on June 17, 2022.

https://www.appliedimprovisationnetwork.org/