Game: "home team"

Needed: one goalie and one person (the player) to kick the football into the goal.  Players line up and take turns trying to score a goal.  Whoever misses is out.  Whoever succeeds carries on playing, but each time they score a goal, they pick a card.  If the card is "good" (ex: "you land a huge advertising contract for a well-known shoe company), you stay in the game, but if the card is "bad" (ex: "You broke a leg and have to retire") you're out.  The winner is the last player left.

In a country where so many desperately poor youth pin their dreams on becoming a football star, it's worth noting how tough it can really be.

Game: "Monopoly unfair"

Similar to regular Monopoly, but when you pass "go" each person gets different amounts of money according to a random dice roll (ex: 1= $10, 2=$ 1000).  If you want, instead of purchasing property, you can purchase items, so low-priced items might be sugar or tomatoes, while higher priced items may be trendy sneakers or laptops.  The idea is simply to show how unfair it all is.

Game: "carry the baby"

I see mamas in poor countries walking up and down the streets between cars selling oranges, cigarettes, gum, candy with their babies strapped to their backs.  Here's a game to show how difficult that can be.

6 cardboard boxes (big enough to be lifted by one person usign both hands) are arranged in a given configuration.  Plyers take turns.  The aim is for the player to move the entire display 2 meters over by dismantling the installation and moving it over box by box as fast as possible while carrying a raw egg.  The winner is whoever completes the game in the shortest time.

Notes on the egg: this egg represents the player's baby and cannot be broken, dropped or placed on the ground.

Game: Capital punishment

This is a board game.  Roll the dice and land on a country.  Pick a card from the "crime" deck.  The game master will tell you what the punishment for that crime is with a point value (0= you get off free, 10= death).  If you accumulate 10 points before the end of the game, you die.  The winner is the one who gets around the board and accumulates the fewest points. 
Note, in some cases the gamemaster may ask if you are male/female, white/black, Christian/Jewish/Muslim, in which case you roll the dice to find out.

Game: "reds and blues"

At the beginning of term, for the first month, give each student a red or a blue card to pin to their shirt.  They have to wear this card everyday (so make extra in case they lose them).  Never refer to the cards or separate stduents by color.

At the end of a month ask them to answer the following questions in their journal:

• Did you notice that half the class had red cards and the others had blue?
• Did you find you worked more with people who had the same color card?  Why or why not?
• Comment on how this exercise could help to raise awareness of issues such as discrimmination or racism.

Game: "no more tears"

Here's an exciting bit of news: Johnson's Baby Shampoo now no longer has formeldehyde (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/business/johnson-johnson-takes-first-step-in-removal-of-questionable-chemicals-from-products.html?_r=0)

Here's another bit on J&J's baby products: they have historically been tested not on animals (because that would be cruel) but on human prisoners! (http://www.madinamerica.com/2014/01/tears-shame-johnson-johnson/

And finally here's a breakdown of the old recipe: http://guardianlv.com/2013/09/why-johnson-johnson-baby-shampoo-is-not-for-babies/

Now I don't mean to single out just this one brand when I'm sure that so many others are just as bad...but come on, it's BABY shampoo!

The game:
Make a treasure hunt.  On the first card list water and the second ingredient.  On the second card, list the effect of the second ongredient and the name of the thrid and so on.  At the end, the "prize" is a bottle of J&J baby shampoo.

Include the articles above for players to read after the game along with a space for theri comments.

Game: "killing room floor"

One of the most horrible jobs in the world has to be cleaning up the slaughterhouse.  Not only does it have the worst hours, usually from midnight to 5am, but it also has the lowest rate of pay and is most likely to be given to undocumented workers without benefits.  The dangers are horrifying: each worker has a hose shooting out a toxic mixture of near boiling water mixed with chlorine.  The fumes alone cause headaches and neurological damage.  Because of the steam, visibility is reduced to nearly zero, which means that workers often accidentally spray each other.  They need to hose out the catwalks and vats, but because they can't see, the number of accidents and even deaths is shockingly high.  For more information, check out this excerpt from Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation" at http://wesclark.com/temp/worst_job.html.

The game:
Use a wet slide covered with liquid soap mixed with red food coloring.  Give each player a hose and glasses covered over with paint or tape so their visibility is limited.  If you fall or get wet, you "die".  If you spray another player, he or she "dies" and you go to jail.  Whoever is left standing wins.  The game should take less than three minutes.

At the end of the game, provide players with an explanation of the game along with space for their comments.