6. Do You Know Your Neighbor? Game

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Do you love your neighbor or do you know your neighbor? Getting to know you game. One of the fastest ways to build class unity is helping students stop feeling like strangers. Because once students know each other's names, stories, personalities, and interests, participation rises, trust grows, And the class starts feeling less like a room full of random teenagers and more like a family. One activity I absolutely love for this is called Do You Know Your Neighbor? I change it from Do You Love Your Neighbor? Because sometimes teenagers and love, it's not a good combination, if you know what I mean. And honestly, students love this game. Here's how it works. You have everyone sit in chairs in a circle facing inward with one less chair than people. One person stands in the middle. I usually demonstrate this by standing in the middle to demonstrate how this is gonna work. The person in the middle walks up to somebody and asks, "Do you know your neighbor?" The student being asked has to quickly name the person on their left and the person on their right. For example, "Yes, this is Tom and this is Bill," pointing to each student. If they cannot name both neighbors fast enough, then the neighbors on each side jump up and switch seats while the person in the middle tries to steal one of their seats. Whoever is left standing becomes the new person in the middle. But if the student does know both neighbors' names, then the middle person asks, "Who would you like for a new neighbor?" Then the student says, I would like for a new neighbor someone who blank, blank, blank," or dot, dot, dot, and they fill in the blank with a descriptive trait like has brown hair, loves country music, walks to school, plays basketball, loves Taylor Swift, has a dog, plays an instrument, likes Dr. Pepper, has been camping this year. Now, some students will struggle with this, and you may want to have a list of options on the screen and say, "Pick one of those options on the screen." Simply have ChatGPT come up with one hundred options to give you a good list. Once this is done, then everybody who relates to this statement has to jump up and switch seats while the middle person tries to grab an open chair, leaving the last person in the center of the circle, and the cycle continues. Now, here's why this game is so powerful. At first glance, it just looks like loud fun, but something deeper is happening. Students are learning names. They're noticing each other They're discovering shared interests. They're laughing together. And laughter builds connection faster than almost anything else. What I love most is this game helps students realize, "Oh, wow, other people here are like me." Sometimes teenagers feel isolated. They think, "I'm the only one who likes that. "I'm the only one into that music or hobby." But then suddenly, five people stand up for the same category, and they realize, "Oh, I belong here." That matters because students participate more when they feel connected. They open up spiritually more when they feel safe. Classes become stronger when students become friends. Now, here's another variation. I absolutely love this variation for the end of a semester or an end of the year or after students have gotten to know each other pretty well. The game is played the same as in the original outline above. This variation, it adds that when somebody gets stuck in the middle, instead of immediately continuing the game, you pause everything. Set a one-minute timer, then the class spends that minute saying positive things about that person, things they appreciate, things they admire, things they think are awesome about them. Maybe students say, "You're always kind. You make everybody laugh. You include people. You're really brave. You make seminary fun. You have a strong testimony. You're good at listening. You always brighten the room." And here's an important rule. No duplicates and no doing the same person twice. Last and a very important rule is I say no compliments on shoes or physical appearances. Then when the timer goes off, the game continues until eventually another person ends up in the middle. Then the class repeats the process for them. And over time, every student has a moment where the class speaks life into them. Can you imagine what that does for a teenager? Some students may never hear that many sincere compliments from peers in an entire year. And suddenly in seminary room, they hear, "You matter. We see you. We're grateful for you." That changes people. Honestly, activities like this become more than games. They become belonging. And I think Zion grows when people feel known, valued, included, and loved. Sometimes the Spirit enters a classroom through scripture, and sometimes it enters through students learning to see the good in each other. Thanks for joining us on today's episode of Seminary Teacher Helper. Be sure to check in for more. Have a great day. And remember, you're awesome!