Common Good Candy Hunt

Grade Level:

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Keywords:

Common Good

Empathy

Equity

Youth Advisory Committee

In this activity, participants practice and reflect on working together to serve the common good.

What does the common good mean to you? How can you serve the common good?

30 Minutes

Enough individual pieces of wrapped candy for each participant to have one piece
Chart paper and markers

Activity:

Hide the candy around the room before participants arrive.
The “Common Good Candy Hunt” has strict rules so everyone wins.
- Each member may pick up only one piece of candy.
- If they find more than one piece of candy, they may not pick it up, but they may help others who have not found a piece of candy find it by giving verbal clues only about its location. An example might be, “It is close to something green” or “It is under something you look at every day.”
- Pointing or leading the others to the candy’s location is not allowed.
- No one may eat their candy until everyone has one piece.
Discuss the rules and allow questions before you start. Ask what they think of a game in which everyone wins.
If you notice youth are not following the rules, call out “Freeze!” When everyone has stopped, explain the rules again.
Once everyone has a piece of candy, form a circle and allow the participants to eat their piece of candy.
Write the words “Common Good” in the middle of a piece of chart paper. Talk about how this activity reflected working toward the common good. Write their observations on the chart paper.

Everyone wins. We all help each other succeed.
They were all given the chance to find candy and made sure everyone got what they needed.
They helped others who were having a hard time finding a piece of candy. How does it help the whole group to make sure everyone gets what they need?

How did they all win? Where else in life do we all win?
In life, is there enough to go around? How can we work together to make sure everyone has an equal opportunity?
What is good for everyone, is good for individuals too. Nobody lost. Someone else getting what they need doesn't mean I don't get what I need. Philanthropy is about working together to make a better world, not about winners or losers.