Act it out game

1.

Ask the children to stand in a space. Explain that you will call out a type of person or a type of job and you want the children to act out that person or the person who does the job. (Use the list below).

• Busy mother
• Teacher
• Baby
• Gamer
• Teenager
• Superhero
• Office worker
• Footballer
• Chef
• Cleaner
• Pop star
• Gardener
• Doctor
• Scientist
• Elderly person

2.

After the game ask the children why they chose to act in that particular manner – where did they get their information from? 

• Children may suggest that they saw it on the television/in an advert/in a magazine/on a computer game or just in real life etc.   
• Comment how many of their characters were very similar (baby crying, superhero flying, cleaner sweeping etc).   
• Explain that labelling a group of people with a particular set of looks, personalities, likes and dislikes is called stereotyping. 
• Explain how the media often use stereotypes and their ideas and assumptions are not necessarily true or realistic. 

3.

Ask the children: 

• Are all teenagers moody or ‘way too cool’? 
• Do all babies just cry and sleep? 
• Are all elderly people frail? 
• Do office workers only type? 

4.

Ask the children if they can think of ways when the media use stereotypes. Use prompts if they cannot think of ideas, for example: 

• Clever people wearing glasses 
• Mean Step-parents 
• Old people not able to use technology 
• A man cleaning the car