Christian Aid: The Paper Bag Game

This is a one of a range of popular and highly interactive games created by Christian Aid that an insight into what life is like for poor people trying to earn a living. A downloadable PDF gives full instructions for how this may be used in the classroom. There is also a link to a detailed PowerPoint presentation.

The Paper Bag Game is suitable as an activity within Geography, RME or Social Education. It provides a good introduction to issues of poverty, unfairness and inequality. It can be used at the beginning of a series of lessons, or simply to get people thinking about poverty and what they can do about it. The resource provides good advice about how to follow up this activity as part of a larger programme of study.

The aim of the game is:

• To reveal some of the pressures that force children into work.
• To understand the pressures of trying to survive in an economy with massive unemployment and no social security.
• To question our use of the world’s resources.
• To look at and debate the ways in which work is organised and the economic systems that exploit vulnerable communities.