Art of the Day - Play dough modelling of their needs and wants
Materials needed: Play dough
Art of the Day: Your home
Procedure:
Explain to the children to make models of the wants and needs with the play dough. Give each child enough play dough materials. Encourage each child to make models of their different needs and wants.
Introduction: Introduce about needs and wants
Goals: To understand the difference between 'wants' and 'needs' and the two categories of people who experience life.
Click: When we believe life has a purpose we will miss life
About the topic:
'wants' and 'needs' are very different, and its important to be able to differentiate between them.
In this whole world, there are 2 kinds of people, 1 kind experiences life once in a while, and the other category experiences life continuously.
Whenever you think you are feeling joy, you are experiencing life! That is why you feel so alive, as if everything is beautiful! You are in tune with that 'ever living presence'.
The desire to experience is what drives us to get out of bed in the morning. In order to live and be connected and have a positive experience with the universe.
When we get things that we 'need', we are happy, but when we just desire and 'want' things, we are not satisfied when we get them.
Every desire which drives us is nothing but the desire to experience that ever living presence. We sometimes have so many desires, but there is a difference between out true desires, and our "borrowed" desires.
Borrowed" desires are called 'wants' and our true desires are our 'needs'.
When our desires are our own true desires, when they reflect our real needs, when they depress themselves in our inner energy we don't feel any desperation about trying to achieve them.
Wants are not our true desire; we just want something especially because others have it and even after getting what we want we won't be happy. We will see somebody else and borrow another want from them.
Assessment:
- What are the differences between 'wants' and 'needs'?
- What are wants?
- · What are needs?
- What are the 2 categories of people?
- How can we experience life? How can we be in tune with our 'ever living presence'?
- Will we be satisfied if we receive things we do not need?
- If we had all the toys in the world, would that make us happy?
- What are important things in life?
- What are things that matter?
Activity of the day: Make a list of desires, their needs and wants. Then they meditate on these desires or discuss them in groups.
At the end of the meditation or discussion they have to recollect from memory their list of desires. What they can recollect is usually a fraction of what they have written
Evaluation:
After you've discussed the topic, ask them questions to make them think about true desires and things that really matter in life.
Conclusion: When we focus our attention on things that matter, life becomes sweeter and more special. We need to value life and get in touch with our true nature.