Building A Friendship Bridge

To promote cooperation, respect, and stronger friendships within the MARS classes invite students to design and build a bridge using a wide array of craft items. Begin by setting up a “construction zone” stocked with materials such as cardboard canisters, paper-towel tubes, assorted boxes, craft sticks, toothpicks, string, and sturdy cardboard. They will also need some type of glue. When the bridges are done have each pair tell the class about their bridge and describe how building it together helped them to get to know each other better. How did they compromise on their bridge-building ideas? What would it have been like to build their bridge alone? Would it have been easier or would it have been more difficult? Are two heads better than one?

Balancing Act

In an arch bridge, two arch halves lean against a center keystone for support. To understand how an arch bridge balances, have two students of approximately the same height stand neat each other back to back. Hold a block or a sturdy item between the two to act as the keystone. Then have the students slowly lean their shoulders back against the block or item, arching their backs as necessary to keep their balance. When they achieve their balance and have “locked” the keystone in place, let go. They have just created an arch bridge! Discuss what just happened. Can an arch bridge be constructed with just one half of an arch? What would happen if one student suddenly moved? Use this demonstration to describe how a friendship takes two people who contribute equally. Without balance, the friendship could collapse, just as the bridge would if one of the children shifted. You can also use this activity to illustrate a different point: Sometimes relationships aren’t balanced, and friends must support each other. Try pairing tow other students who are dramatically different heights to see if they can find a way to keep the keystone in place. How uneven can their bridge become before collapsing? Use this to talk about what behaciors might cause friendships to fail, such as bullying.