After introductions etc, I tell the student to take the dollar bill. I make a joke about no matter how little they get out of the session today, it will not be a *total* loss.

I then tell them to pass their bill to the neighbor on the right. Usually, we have a "U" shaped table and the end person winds up with 2 bills and the first with none. I joke about this and then pass one of the extras to the first person, closing the loop.

I then ask if anyone is better off that they were before changing bills. The answer is no, they still have a dollar.

I then explain that during the course of the day I want them to write down at least one idea to improve changeover on the front of the card. It can be something they have thought of before, something they learned from me or whatever else. It can't be something already done, though.

I explain that unlike the dollar where by trading with their neighbor, they are no better off, with ideas we can trade and instead of having just one idea we now have two. I emphasize that sharing ideas does not cause them to be "lost" in any way.

That night I type up all the ideas and have copies run off for each participant. We then discuss the ideas and use them for brainstorming.

I generally have people do them anonymously though I have sometimes wondered if it would be better to have them signed. Comments?

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Date: Wed Jan 16 2002
Left In
Scott Goldsmith
SignessX1@aol.com
Activity Description

This is a good beginning activity for medium to large groups that I picked up at the Hyde Leadership School in New Haven, CT. The group forms a circle (standing on spots or seated in chairs). There is one less spot or chair than people involved in the activity. This leaves on person in the middle. That person must make a statement that applies to themselves. Anyone else that it applies to must move to a new spot or seat. This will leave another person Left In the middle to make the next statement. You can either use general statements or make them specific to a group theme (i.e. relating to anger).

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Date: Tue Jan 15 2002
Anger Management Jenga
Scott Goldsmith
SignessX1@aol.com
Activity Description
I find a lack of ABC activities for anger management so created this idea. Create a list of typical anger provoking situations; 10 to 20 is adequate. Number them sequentially. Next, create two sets of cards. On one set, you simply put the #'s that correspond with the situations you've created. Add in a "skip" card. Next, have a set of index cards (we'll call the "action cards") with the following terms (one per card);aggressive, assertive, passive, passive aggressive and reaction. You should have several of each. Have the group discuss the meanings of each of these terms prior to the game. To play, simply have the first group member pick a # and an action card. You read the situation with the corresponding number and they give you a response that goes with their action card. If their action card says "reaction", they simply tell you how they would really react. After an adequate answer (alone or with group help), the group member gets to Jenga!
Continue until the tower falls at which point, I encourage everyone to cheer the person who knocked it over rather than put them down!

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Date: Tue Jan 15 2002
32 squares
Jill Lemieux
ipsloamc@slonet.org
Activity Description
Exercise to help people plan what they would like to be doing, plan to be doing or hope to be doing in the near/distant future. Fold piece of paper into 32 squares and for each write a goal or dream. If there is more info on the directions that you would like e-mail me, Thank You!

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Date: Mon Jan 14 2002
Matball
Ryan Harwood
harwoodryan@hotmail.com
Activity Description
This is kickball but different. played indoors with as many or few people as necessary. a smaller gym is actually better. play is the same as regular kickball, except, you can have as many players as you want on any base at one time, ie. four people on first, two on second, etc. once you reach a base, you do not have to go on to the next base until you want to. you can be on first while three more people kick, and pass you on the bases if you like. however, once you step off of a base you must go to the next base. you cannot go back. outs are made by hitting the runner with the ball below the chest, or catching the ball before it hits the ground. this means the ball can hit the walls, tables, ceiling whatever and even come to rest on a chair and if it is picked up before it hits the ground its an out. we also have a window to the kitchen in the back of our gym that if the ball is kicked through is an automatic home run. no stealing bases, no sliding etc. The rest of the rules are yours to make.

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Date: Sat Jan 12 2002
Space Boots
B.J. Murray
biegem1@yahoo.com
Activity Description
Have all of the participants standing behind a designated line. Approximately 15 to 20 feet away from that, place another line (webbing, line in the dirt, stick etc...). The scenario is that a group of scientists and explorers are traveling on Mars. They have then encountered this river of lava (the space between the lines). The Martians were pretty intelligent however, because they left one pair of "space boots (the group will have to use their imagination for the boots, or use a large pair of galoshes)." This one pair of boots can be worn one time in one direction by each participant. This means that once a person has put them on they can walk one time across the river but cannot walk back. The group cannot "throw" the boots (since there is no gravity they will fly away), walk around the river (they have to meet their ship and the river is too long), they cannot jump (too far), and if you are wearing the boots only one foot in one boot at a time, and you have to wear both boots (so no three legged races). They can piggy back someone else, or have them walk on their own shoes, but do not let the group know this, it is something they should figure out. The challenge is to get the entire group across the river to meet their departing space ship. For safety concerns make sure you spot those going across, and don't allow people to climb on shoulders. During processing focus on the planning element, the trust that is needed, how different characteristics come into play (such as size), and how to not let anyone think of you as weak, because you are small or because of gender (many times a female will have to carry two people at once). Also as a penalty for starting over (which they probably will since the boots will get stuck one side) there is "cosmic space dust" that can render a person blind or mute. At this discuss how it feels when we mute others sometimes just because of their differences, and we don't realize that we do it.

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Date: Thu, 03 Jan 2002

I Need Help! variation
Greg Brooks
gbrooks@betterlife.org
Activity Description:
This is a variation of I Need Help, posted on this page January 2000. DO NOT let the blindfolded group see the rope circle, and tell them it is a 'maze'. They must remain silent, and although they will bump into the person to their front and back, they will not realize the whole group is holding the same piece of rope. Once they are in the circle tell them there is an exit they must use to leave the 'maze'. Then tell them to start walking slowly forward, holding onto the rope (all in the same direction). Once they've gone around once or twice, give the offer of help; anyone who raises their hand asking for help is simply helped under the rope and allowed to remove their blindfold (they must remain silent). They then may assist others who raise their hands for help--great metaphor for substance abusing adolescents, helping each other stay sober. Hope this makes sense! God bless

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Date: Thu, 03 Jan 2002

Three Read
Scott Goldsmith
SignessX1@aol.com
Activity Description:
This is a great activity to demonstrate listening skills, the importance of focus, problem solving and personal strengths/weaknesses. Photocopy atleast 3 pieces of reading material (about 1 page each and in simple enough language that the lowest functioning member of your group can read them). Have one group member sit in the middle with three others around him or her. The rest can observe the first round. Each of the members around the person in the middle recieves a different reading passage. The participant in the middle is told that all they have to do is listen to the others read their stories and then summarize what each story was about giving any details that they can remember. Then, with ABC drama, just before the activity begins, let them know that the readers will all read their stories at the same time. A three count signals the readers to begin reading. Allow a minute to two of reading to go and say "STOP!" Find out what the person in the center can recall!

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Date: Thu, 03 Jan 2002

Silent Team Checkers
Scott Goldsmith
SignessX1@aol.com
Activity Description:
This activity is great for non-verbal communication skills. It stemmed out of doing group on a day that we coudn't go outside. The equipment needed is a checker board set (preferably an oversized one). Your group is divided into two teams. Make sure that everyone knows the rules and agrees on the same set of rules for the game of checkers. Allow the teams a short time to strategize how they will approach the game and the challenge of playing as a team without speaking. After the allotted planning time, inform them that there is no more talking. Any talking results in the loss of a turn. Additionally, if the players on the team move out of turn, they lose their next turn. Your group will now engage in silent team checkers. Afterwards, processing focuses on what was difficult or frustrating, what skills and ways of non-verbal communication emerged, and how they may change their strategy next time. Then, if time allows, give the losers a chance at revenge!!!

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Date: Thu, 03 Jan 2002

One Step (or Ball Gown)
Neil Mercer
tuvalseminar@canaan.co.il
Activity Description:
Greetings...Set up a medium sized hoop to which, equidistant one from the other, three 60cm lengths of bungee elasticated cord are attached. The participants are randomly scattered around the room (random walkabout and STOP!,) and furthermore randomly numbered (from 1 to the number of participants one number each, please - preferably no less than 8) and fixed in their places. No one may move away from their spot other than by means of the One Step that they have at their disposal. Now, all the participants must pass through the hoop in Ascending Order as quickly as possible without the hoop touching the ground/floor and without anybody touching the hoop. They may touch the bungee cords. Penalty for touching the hoop or hoop on the ground let,s say 5 seconds. For an extra little challenge, you can hang another (larger) hoop from the original one with 15cm of bungee cord so that the hoops will resemble a ball gown. Same rules... Issues: Resources, how is it most wise to utilise my One Step? In which direction? How big? Planning, given another opportunity, how would we try to organize ourselves? Aims, what could be our fastest speed? How many penalties are we prepared to take?

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Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2001

Who do you listen to?
crystal Davidson
crystal_crystal23@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
Chairs are arranged in a maze like position, with a beginning and ending, the maze should get more difficult more toward the end. Three persons are needed, one representing the devil and one representing an angel or Jesus, and a person going through the maze should be blindfolded. The object of the game is getting the person through the maze while the devil tries leading them in the wrong direction and dead ends while the angel or jesus is getting the to go the right direction so they can safely reach the goal. The two should talk constantly together the blindfolded person must choose which voice they are going to follow. This activity is useful in showing students that following Jesus and listening to what direction he tells us to go will lead us safely to our heavenly home!!

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Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2001

Human Knot
Peter Gunby
plgunby@msn.com
Activity Description:
Have small groups (6 - 10) facing each other in a circle. Every member of the circle grabs hands of two different people who are not next to them. Once everyone's hand is intertwined, the group works together to untangle without letting go of each other. This activity can be time consuming but very worthwhile for a team activity. The debrief on this can be in the area of problem solving, shared leadership and clear communication.

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Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2001

Get To Know You Bingo
Trina Gillis
trinarosie@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
This is a great game that can be played in small or large groups. Facilitators pass out copies of a "bingo card" which consists of a grid of five squares across and five squares down. In each square, the facilitator writes a characteristic, like or dislike, etc. For example, "Someone who likes anchovies", "someone who can play a musical instrument" "Someone who owns a pair of purple socks" - the possibilities are endless! The facilitator then passes out copies to the group and instructs them to find people in the group that fit the characteristics and have them sign their name in the corresponding square. Depending on how long you would like the activity to last, you can ask for one line, four corners, or a full card. The first person to fill their card yells "BINGO" and can be given a small prize or a specific job to do during training. This is a great way to get a new group comfortable with each other, and it is really fun! I'm not sure where it originated, but I have used it several times.

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Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2001

The amazing Gobstopper
Nicole Lloyd
nicolelloyd78@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
I developed this activity earlier this year as a way to demonstrate the different levels of group development. It's great to use when the group starts to move to a deeper level. Each group member is given a gobstopper candy (the jaw-breakers with different colors and flavors). The group is instructed that they can't speak during the activity. They are asked to simply suck on the piece of candy, without biting it or talking. They are told that they can periodically take it out of thier mouth and look at it, but can't bite it. After everyone's candy has disolved they are told that they can speak again. Then discuss that like the gobstopper, things in group get deeper as time goes on and the flavor changes. The group I did this activity with really got into the similarities between the candy and group dynamics (with a little coaching of course).

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Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2001

Puzzle Definitions
Joy Conley Kacik
jconleykacik@psea.org
Activity Description:
When introducing material with new terminology, make up pieces of paper (any size appropriate) with the term on the left side and the definition on the right. This can also work to introduce a topic with a lot of acronyms - put the acronym on the left and the full name on the right. Cut the outside of the paper in a wiggled shape and cut between the left and right side of the papers in a puzzle format i.e. with a hole on one side and a matching protrusion on the other so they'll fit back together like puzzle pieces. Then mix up all the pieces, give each participant a piece and ask them to go around the room and find the person with the other half of their puzzle piece. When they're all matched up, they can share with the group what their pieces say.

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Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2001

new leader obstacles
Chris Little
clittle@hfhlac.org
Activity Description:
A great reflection exercise for the new director, manager or team leader on how to deal with the hurdles they will encounter. (we use this to introduce the mentoring/coaching relationship) They are in pairs. And one member of each pair is blindfolded. A simple obstacle course has been set up in an big open space. And the blindfolded person has to successfully pass through the course, with the coaching and mentoring of his/her partner. We use people to create the obstacle course, and we make the obstacles metaphors for typical problems a new leader faces: resisitance to change (they need to get through a line of people that is closing off the path, and only occasionally moves to open a space) Interpersonal conflicts (have to pass between two people locked in a struggle, without bumping into either of them) Steep learning curve,(they have to climb up a staircase which we made from cement bags), etc... AFter they complete the obstacle course, they go through it again without the blindfolds, then they reflect together on what it was like to pass through it, what their partner did that helped. How their partner could have been more helpful. And the partners also reflect on what behaviors they saw in the new team leaders, and how those behaviors can impact the team/office/program, that they will be leading. this generates a really good discussion, and can be a great lead in to a dialogue on what characteristics they seek in a coach or a mentor.

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Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2001

Priorities
Kim Wright
Kim.Wright@FAA.dot.gov
Activity Description:
Energizer: Five things are going on simultaneously. Write on easel: 1. Telephone is ringing 2. Baby is crying 3. Doorbell is ringing 4. Laundry is on the clothesline and it's beginning to rain 5. Water faucet in kitchen is running. Ask participants to write down the order in which they take care of these things. (What do they do 1st, 2nd, etc.) Each item represents something in your life. Then tell them: the phone represents your job or career; the baby represents your family; the laundry is your love life; the running water represents money or wealth. Ask: What is your number 1 priority? Have participants share their "priorities" with those seated around them. (Tell them not take this too seriously, it's just a game.)

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Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2001

Coin Game
Nancy Nicolosi
nancychic@msn.com
Activity Description:
To open a training session and to gain group participation, draw a circle on a flip chart. Now ask the group to work together and describe a penny to you. You can begin by getting them started, such as, you know know that Lincoln is on the coin, and begin asking questions until the group takes over. Is it just his head, his head and shoulders and that is about as far as you should have to go. From there will describe the placement of each item. When all have agreed that they have the finished product. You pass around pennies so everyone can see how well (or in almost all cases how poorly they did). You usually relate this back to pay attention to detail, knowledge gained from working as a team, listening to others, etc.

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Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 knock knock
MB
Activity Description:
Several groups are set up. You start off with knock, knock. The group respond who is there you say a name of a movie. An individual from the group will speaks for the group and gives you the name of the starting actor/actress of the movie. The group that answers correctly 5 knock knock request is the winner.

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Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2001

Indoor Balloon Vollyball
Paul Melville
paulmelville@the-gate.org.uk
Activity Description:
Great Game For Children Fill a Black bag up with balloons and tape it all together. Tie a net or even string from one wall to another at whatever hight relevant to the size of your group. You now have a vollyball net and ballon ball. Make sure that you leave enough space between the top of the ne and roof for the balloon ball to fly over. Make up your own rules and have fun.

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Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2001

Walking the trolleys
Eliud Nthiga
adveenture@gatewayonline.co.ke
Activity Description:
This activity is good for harmonising team coordination, leadership and communication. Two wooden planks are used about 3metres long, 1 foot wide and 6 inches thick. Holes are made, 5 of them at the middle of the planks. Ropes are tied from underneath so that they act as support. Participants are asked to walk a particular distance while all are on the plank and if any steps out, they repeat again untill they get to coordinate their movement. Eventually they manage to move without falling.

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Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2001

Drawing perceptions
Brenna Cardy
brenner25_1999@yahoo.com
Activity Description:
This is a good game to play to begin a discussion about people's perceptions. You can play it one of two ways: if you have a two sided chalk board you have one person on one side, and the other person on the other side. The facilitator describes a face (eg. round face, large, oval eyes, hoop earrings, small ears....etc.) until the participants draw a face. When the facilitator and the participants are done with the drawing, you compare the two drawings to see how each person "perceived" the description. The other way is to have the facilitator read the description and the group does it on paper. Later, everyone compares the drawings. You could use this to discuss perceptions, diversity, difference, labels.

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Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2001

Line up in a Circle
Neil Mercer
tuvalseminar@canaan.co.il
Activity Description:
Your group is dispersed in a completely random fashion in the room/field/court etc. While standing still, the participants are instructed to look around them and identify the person who is standing closest to them on the right hand side of their body and on the person who is standing closest to them on the left hand side of their body. Upon the word Go the group is as quickly as possible to arrange themselves in such a way that each participant is standing directly next to those two people. It gets them into a very convenient circle for the next round of SpeedBall, or any other activity in a circle.

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Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2001

The Productivity Ball Game
Dante Ranieri
danteranieri@terra.com.br
Activity Description:
Participants in a circle. The task is to pass a ball (volley, soccer)hand to hand as fast as they can. Ask for a volunteer to start the exercise. In a card board mark the time achieved. Now the ball has to go around as many times as there are participants (15 people = 15 times) with a rule; each time the ball must be passed in a different way (by hand, kicking, jumping). Ask the group how fast they expect to accomplish the task. Watch the exercise, put some pressure urging for speed (usually they under pressure throw the ball away from the circle, loose it, etc.). At the end record the time and challenge the group to improve their productivity (their time). give them 10´ to discuss what they did wrong and what can be improved. Start again. Now the group will come out with a much better score cheering their progress. Close the exercise discussing the importance of planning, teamwork and the ability to resist to external pressures to obtain gains in productivity. (learned from a colleague, Ademir Rossi, and apllied a number of times)

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Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001

"Chubby Bunny"
Kerry Olson
kerry_olson@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
You need to bags of marshmellows (regular sized) and select two, three or four volunteers. Each contestant is to place one marshmellow in his or her mounth and repeat the words..."Chubby Bunny". Each takes turns repeating the word "Chubby Bunny", but each time around one must place an additional marshmellow in their mouth! (You loose by dropping any part of the marshmellow on the ground) It's best to have an "MC" counting to see who wins. It is also a good idea to have a trashcan ready for the contestants reach their limit. We did this at a youth camp recently and the record was 21! Enjoy!
From Christian: This note was sent to me, for what it is worth I am posting it. As with all activities you should practice within your personal level of competence.

Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001

To: kerry_olson@hotmail.com

From:Laura Norvig
Subject: chubby bunny

Kerry, I noticed you posted the game chubby bunny on the site http://www.du.edu/~citin/activitypage.html. It is my understanding that kids have died and had serious medical problems as a result of choking during this game. I believe I may have read this in Ann Landers or Dear Abby.

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Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2001

Self-esteem Hot Potato
Paula Harris
paula@ywcamid.org
Activity Description:
Have everyone stand in a circle and provide a ball (hot potato). Starting person says something that they like about themselves and toss it to another player, who then has to say something about themselves that they like and so on. Make sure everyone gets approximately an equal amount of opportunities to say something positive about themselves. This is a really great before/after activity for programs that address self-esteem or self-confidence.
Note from Christian: Don't underestimate how difficult it is for some to find/say anything positive about themselves. This can be addressed by allowing the group to make suggestions (this models mutual aid and giving feedback). However the person should ultimately make the decision and state what they are willing to state.

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Date: Thu, 01 Nov 2001

Name Game - Concepts
Camille Lasky
clasky@sactocu.org
Activity Description:
I use this as a review game either at the end of a session or at the beginning of a class where there are multiple sessions. Write down each partipants name vertically on colored pieces of paper. Pass these out to the partipants and have them think of words or phrases that correspond with the letters of their name that relate to the topic they have been discussing. It is a great way to see what they have retained as well as letting them be creative.

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Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2001

Write Your Own Eulogy
James Neill
james.neill@unh.edu
Activity Description:
This exercise is one of the most challenging and powerful emotional activities I know, so be careful about the group and situation in which you choose to use it. My suggestion is that it will tend to work better in the middle or latter stages of a program. The short version is simply this: Ask participants to imagine that they died today and for each of them to write a eulogy that they would like to have read out at their own funeral. Give participants a chance to go and sit alone and write their eulogy. You may like to have your class discuss what a eulogy is or you could share with them what you think a eulogy is or you could read an example of eulogy out to them. Or just stay simple and let them make of the activity whatever they will. When the group comes back together you could discuss what it was like to think and write about their life and death. And then invite each person to share his/her eulogy with the rest of the class (not compulsory). This nature of this exercise and the way it is presented can lead to some participants feeling 'too confronted'. In these situations I've taken the pressure off everyone writing a eulogy and instead had a group discussion about whether or not people ever think about dying, if not why not, and if they do, what do they think about the reality that one day, today will be the last day of their life!
Note from Christian: This is an activity that one must consider carefully in the US and other places or particular groups where death and grief are likely signifigant issues. Facilitators must be ready to address and deal with grief and loss reactions (as well as post traumatic stress responses).

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Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001

Picnic
Kimberly
Activity Description:
Group technique: Problem Solving, Patience, critical thinking group size: ANY ages: ANY facilitator has the group sit in a circle. Facilitator states he is having a picnic and would like to invite everyone along but they can only come to the picnic if they bring the right thing. facilitator then states he would like everyone to introduce themselves before stating what they bring..and starts "my name is _____ I am having a picnic and I am going to bring ____" .... KEY: The item they are bringing must start with the same letter as the first letter in their first name...... then passes to the either the left or right as the players will say "My name is ____ and I want to come to your picnic and I am bringing ______" .... each person goes around and takes a turn .. if the item they bring Does not match the first letter of their first name--the facilitator states : "I'm sorry but you can not come to my picnic" If the item matches .. facilitator states: "YES! you can come to my picnic" EXAMPLE: facilitator "My name is Kim and I bringing Kites to my picnic" player: "my name is Ray and I am bringing hamburgers to the picnic" facilitator: "Sorry Ray, you cannot come to my picnic" (goes to next player) player: "my name is George and I would like to come to your picnic and I am bringing Peanuts" facilitator: "sorry George, you can't come to my picnic" player: "my name is Tim and I am going to bring Toys" facilitator: "YES!!!Tim you can bring Toys to my picnic" * it goes all the way around the group back to the facilitator... and goes around again.. if the player got it right the previous round they repeat the correct item they are bringing and add a new one facilitator: "my name is Kim and I am having a picnic and I am bringing Kites and Ketchup" player : "my name is Ray and I am going to bring myself" facilitator: "No, Ray sorry you cannot bring "myself" to my picnic" player: "my name is George and I am going to bring mustard" facilitator: "no George you cannot bring mustard to my picnic" player : "my name is Tim and I am going to bring Toys and peanut butter" facilitator: "no tim , sorry, you cannot come to my party" ** play goes around like this until everyone gets it or time runs out...... ** many times players will out of luck pick an item with the first letter of their name , then the next time not pick the right thing and start to get frustrated,... players will try to find the "connection" as to what you can bring.. looking at the items themselves and not the letters of the words ...... ** the players may get frustrated, agitated, want to quit and need encouragement to continue... or it makes good processing after the activity GOOD LUCK!
Note from Christian: A variation of this is to use first and last names. Other activities similar to this include: "Now Listen" An object is held in different positions and the following lines are used (e.g. "this is a stick, this is a stick, this is a stick; Is this a stick" It is only a stick when the entire sentence begins with "Now Listen"). "Penny and Paul" - Penny loves cheese paul hates it, but Paul loves milk Penny hates it. Paul likes words that have no double letters, Penny only loves words with double letters. "Cross and Uncrossed" - Objects are passed randomly crossed or uncrossed and the following lines are used(e.g. "I received these uncrossed and I pass them crossed" or visa versa. The lines are not said in relation to the item passed but rather to legs or fingers, or arms, etc.). There are many more of these they are great for hikes, van rides, or other times when people need a challenge that can take a while.

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Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2001

The bus driver
Tony Hayden
tony.hayden@wolstenholme-int.com
Activity Description:
Good to see if people are really listening and a good ice breaker. Give everyone a pen and paper and then begin: "If you were driving a bus with 20 people on then the bus stopped and 7 people got off and 12 got on (now 25),at the next stop 17 got off and 13 got on (now 21),at the next stop 3 got off and 6 got on (now 24) who is driving the bus. Most people start adding and subtracting people and forget that you said "If you were driving a bus"

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Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2001

Signature Game
Handriatno Waseso
handriatno@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
Ask the participants to make their own signature five times in a paper. Then ask them to make their own signature five times again .... with their left hand (right hand for the left-handed). You'll see the reactions when they're asked to make signatures with the hand which is not the usual hand to write down a signature. This will teach participants about their own reactions to change.

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Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2001

Cups of Learning
Handriatno Waseso
handriatno@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
This is a metaphor activity and I've found it very useful as an introduction to experiential learning. You just need some cups of different forms and some water. Ask some participants to hold the cups and fill in to them the water. Ask them to watch how the water matches the cups. Water always matches its place. You can tell the participants the meaning of this activity. The cups are like their previous learnings and unique characters and the water is the experience that the training will provide to them. Even though every participants will receive the same water, or the same training experience but the meaning is up to them. It depends on their uniqueness as a person. Try it! It works!

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Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2001

"Bear Protector"
Susie Rhodes
sr@houston.rr.com
Activity Description:
Create a circle of webbing about 8 ft. in diameter. Give this to one of your "wandering" participants. Use the scenario: We are venturing into the woods, and in these woods I have often encountered bears. This (the ring) is a magic "bear protector" which will be with us at all times thannks to (your wandering participant). As we move throughout the woods (and on our ropes course) I will watch for bear. If I see one, I will shout "Bear!" (loudly demonstrated) and you have to my count of ten to grasp the magic bear protector by at least one hand. In the event you don't make it to safety, you may experience some injury which I will mend with my great first aid skills. (I then demonstrate that possibly there could be damage to an arm which would require "splinting" which would require that a participant volunteer their arm to be splinted to another participant's arm as in tied together using a bandana. The two participants would then complete the next challenge with this additional challenge.) This "protector" keeps everyone together on the pathways of our ropes course and out of possible trouble with critters, poison ivy and poison oak. It also provides some unique opportunities to encourage participants to work closely together to overcome additional challenges. This can lead to discussions of other challenges group members might have to deal with daily (as in adaptive challenge course).

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Date: Sun, 09 Sep 2001

"Who am I"
g. c. rasberry
rasberry@gsiwave.com
Activity Description:
Participants will list words to describe themselves, how they see themselves, or how they feel about themselves on a sheet of paper. These can be positive and negative words. They do not share the list with the group (If this is a class activity, the teacher or counselor may want to collect these lists for review and reference to help a child. I was able to help a child with this activity because he wanted to cause himself harm). After the first list is made, students are to have another 1/2 sheet of paper glued to a 1/2 sheet of construction paper (let participants choose the color they wish). At the top of the paper write the person's name and the word "is". For example "Glen is..." Taped the paper to the back of the participants. Everyone is then instructed to go around and write something positive or nice about the person. No one is to take the paper off until time to stop the game. Instructor will need to monitor the activity closely and remind participants to write something positive.

Note from Christian: This was cut off and appeared to have more. I recommend that if you collect the persons list you let them know this will happen. I am assuming that the object here is for the person to compare their list to the one provided by the group. A useful conversation would then be available to compare self perceptions to perceptions of others. I would further suggest that the person be ased to perhaps first write their own list of only positive ways they see themselves (which is often hard for people) but this will be more congruent with the feedback they will get. If you wanted to later do areas for opportunity this could be very appropriate.

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Date: Mon, 03 Sep 2001

The Virtual Leaning Tower of Pisa
Neil Mercer
tuvalseminar@canaan.co.il
Activity Description:
As far as I know this activity hasn't been done before in the framework of Experiential Learning by myself included, but if you give it a try please drop me a line and let me know how it went... You need a 2 or 3 meter high picture of the Leaning Tower of Pisa (you can draw one) stuck on a wall, a Polaroid camera on a tripod (optional, but preferred) - if no camera, then a shoe box with a viewfinder on a table will have to do - 10 to 15 participants (including "photographer"). Just as tourists over decades, upon visiting yon tilting tower have posed in front of it resting their bodies or hands on thin air to be photographed, thus creating the illusion that it is they that are themselves jovially propping up the pillar, such is the task of your group. Each and every member of the team must arrive at the point where, from the perspective of the "photographer they are in virtual physical contact with the underside of the tower. No one in the group may stand any closer than 4 meters to the picture of the tower. Upon the word "click the team will be collectively sharing the load of said burden. Interesting postures and appropriate groans gain extra points. Educational value and moments of learning? Hmmm... How do we know when we,ve succeeded? What are our criteria for success? How were instructions passed along? Are we enjoying ourselves? P.S. If a camera is available it may be fun to photograph the supporting group from a completely different angle before they move away.

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Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2001

HIDE!!!!!
Neil Mercer
tuvalseminar@canaan.co.il
Activity Description:
Puerile? Yes.... Fun? Also yes.... As your group is filing into the empty classroom, you, dear Facilitator, eagerly stand at the door and urge everyone as they enter to hide so that the others won't find them. The room must of course be completely empty except for assorted stepping stones, hoops, buckets, the odd table leg, the occasional magic carpet, boomerang or tube of hand cream. Once everyone is in, then the only thing you have to do is find them all in order to start the program...

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Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2001

Line up according to the Number
Neil Mercer
tuvalseminar@canaan.co.il
Activity Description:
A somewhat ambiguous and open ended opener... Your new, fresh, timid and compliant group walks into the empty classroom at the beginning of the program. All you say to them is "Line up according to the Number". How to line up? What Number? That's up to them... Short (generally) and sweet.
Note from Christian: If you wanted to up the ante on this one, have them do it in silence.

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Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2001

Starburst
Sean Hoyer
shoyer@omniyouth.org
Activity Description:
Group members hold a circle of webbing while facilitator talks about concept that individuals have "unspoken" goals for the day's activities (expectations, etc.). Facilitator passes out objects (one per person, ie. koosh ball). Members hold their object and drop webbing. Facilitator directs participants to turn away from the cicle, take three giant steps away from the circle and drop their object. Participants return, again holding the webbing cicle with both hands. Facilitator directs all: "On the count of three, without letting go of the webbing, get your object. One, Two, Three". What happens next is a good predictor of the group members internal drives about goal attainment. Good discussion about Passive (don't do anything), Passive-Aggressive (let go of the rope or otherwise break the rules), Aggressive (get object but continue to pull at the webbing preventing others from reaching their object), and Assertive (working with others to support everyone reaching their objects (goal). Good discussion.

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Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2001

Comet Ball
Neil Mercer
tuvalseminar@canaan.co.il
Activity Description:
A warm-up (or group task) following on in the good old cosmic MoonBall tradition: Comet Ball. Ideal for groups of 15 or more, gather together as many beach balls as you can the more the merrier. On "Go the group has to ensure that all the "comets are in the air and in movement and not on the ground at any given moment. No holding on to the balls, no passing from hand to hand, only light, underside pats to keep the orbs aloft.

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Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001

Human Scrabble
Pamela McMichael
mcmichael-pamela@dol.gov
Activity Description:
Choose some words pertinent to your group activity. For example: TEAM CONSENSUS FEEDBACK VOTE. The only purpose of choosing the words is to assure a good distribution of vowels and consonants. Put one letter on a good size card (8.5 x 11) Make sure there are enough letters(cards) for each participant. Phase 1: At the beginning of a meeting (best if there is a pretty large group 25-60) announce the Human Scrabble Exercise and pass out the cards. Tell the group that they must form words with at least 4 letters and then stay with the group that formed the word. Every letter must be part of a word. People will start scrambling around looking to be part of a word. It is possible that some participants do not end up in a word which will cause the already formed words to change to include the leftover letters. Once everyone is part of a word formation and with their group, ask: How did the activity symbolized working together as a team. Some answers may include: a)It is chaotic at the start of a team project. b)Everyone has something to offer the team. c)Include everyone's ideas, information, talent. d)Sometimes it is necessary to start over Phase 2: Now ask each group to use their word to state their expectations for the meeting. You will get funny even poetic responses. Everyone laughs. Then go right into other more serious expectations for the meeting.

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Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2001

Fill the Can
Carol Smith
carol@gemsgc.org
Activity Description:
Filling Up! What you need for each team: 2 pound coffee can 1 pound coffee can heavy string or plastic cord washers miniature fruit What you do: 1. Make the cans before club. Drill six to twelve holes at random heights (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 inches) around the 2# can at 2-inch intervals. Thread one end of a 6-foot long plastic string or heavy cord through each hole in the can. Tie a washer on the end of the string to keep it from coming out of the hole. Fill the 2# can half full with miniature fruit. 2. Decorate the 1# can and place this empty can across the room or playing area from the 2# can. You will need one set (one 2# and one 1#) of coffee cans per six twelve kids(depending on the number of holes/strings you add.) 3. Instruct the kids to take an end of the string. They are permitted to hold only the last six inches of the string furthest from the can in their hand and that is all. They are not allowed to wind the string around their hand at all. They,ll need to spread out to make the strings taunt. Instruct the kids that they must lift the can (using only the strings) and working together they must carry it over (without spilling the fruit) to the other can and empty the fruit from the larger larger can into the smaller can. Again, remind them they can only hold the last six inches of string. If the fruit is spilled, the team must begin again. Application: The Holy Spirit really wants to put His Fruit in your life. This game is not only fun, but the kids will use a lot of the Fruit of the Spirit as they play it. They will need to use love, gentleness, lots of self-control, patience, kindness as they faithfully work together. What joy they will experience when then complete the challenge Kids will work together to lift the cans without spilling the fruit and fill the basket. Ask the players if they can identify any of the Fruit of the Spirit they used in this game. When they think about it, they should be able to list all of them and how they were used.

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Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2001

Interplanetary Journey
Dante Ranieri
danteranieri@terra.com.br
Activity Description:
Divide group A and group B. Group A travels in a scientific mission trough space and is running ou of fuel. Their only alternative is to land in a unknown planet and try to get enough fuel to return home. Group B (the "alliens") belongs to a civilization where everything is different; the physical appearance, the culture, the social organization, the language. The travellers have to find a way to communicate with the "alliens" in order to get what they need. The "alliens" are instructed by the facilitator to choose a communication Key, a word, a symbol, an object, something that once discovered allow the communication to initiate. Very good to discuss leadership, individual differences, intergroup conflict and a number of other beavioral traits that hinder effective communication.

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Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001

Wink
Melissa Drinnon
mgdrinnon@ext1.ag.utk.edu
Activity Description:
I have been going to the same church camp (first as a camper then as an adult leader) for the past 11 years. This is always the favorite game of all the kids. You begin by dividing the boys and girls up. Let all the girls get a chair and set in a circle. Have the boys stand up behind the girls. Fill in with adult leaders until you have one more boy than girls. The extra boy stands behind and empty chair in the circle. He chooses a girl to wink at and that girl must attempt to get up before the boy behind her grabs her. The boys behind the girls cannot look at the winker. They must concentrate on the girl in front of them and not look at the winker. After some time has passed you can switch and let the girls wink and the boys run. It turns out really fun. Just tell all the girls to watch their fingernails so that they don't scratch the boys.
Note from Christian: Obviously this activity can be done without the gender role implications, the activity can be done with either gender in the winker role (can even be done with a single gender group). A variation I have used is all people sitting down. This works well in a grass field.

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Date: Mon, 09 Jul 2001

Hot Categories
Christina Puleo
Christina.Puleo@spectrumhealthsystems.org
Activity Description:
This is a great activity to get people's energy up at the beginning of a training. You start by tossing around a kush ball. Than you tell them - as your tossing - that the kush ball has become very hot and if they hold it in their hands too long they will burn. They need to toss the ball as soon as they catch it. Than while still tossing you yell out a category - they need to fill in that category before they can toss the ball - if it takes them too long they are out. For example, if you yell out magazines they need to yell out "Vogue" "Ebony" before they toss the ball but if it takes them too long they will burn and they are out - they are also out if they fill it with something that has already been said. Do this as long as you want or until one person is left. Enjoy!
Note from Christian: Obviously you can link the categories to the topics of the training. You can also use this as a name game. This is actually a variation of the classic category freeze tag game.

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Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001

Group Calculation
Richard McGraw
richard@onewayinc.org
Activity Description:
Set out a perimeter which is twice as big as what would be needed for the entire group to dance in (and it is quite fun to have the group help you measure this by those guidelines- I love having the group actively help me set up for their own games!). Spread out numbers in the circle from 1-whatever you want with doubles if you have them (the best way to do this is with keypunch sets- but whatever you can do to have numbers that can be stepped on is great). Divide the group into 3's or 4's and tell them that you will shout out a number, and then say "Go!". When you say "Go!" each group member must rush to a number so that when you either add, subtract, multiply, or divide all the numbers the group represents you get the number shouted out(and only one of these functions can be represented at a time- no group can say "well if you add Tom and Joe and subtract Bill you get the number" -you might want to have a list of numbers that have several possibilities so no group is left without a success.

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Date: Thu, 31 May 2001

Blind Walk
Sarah
canchick70@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
Late at night you take a group of students and they all are hanging on to a rope in single file...then they are all blind folded. The leader walks through a forest with his/her hand at the front of the rope to provide some guidance for the following students. After about twenty minutes you stop and ask the students to take off their blind folds and look how far they have went. Try first without talking, than try with talking, it demonstrates how important communication is.
Note from Christian: Obviously this activity does not need to be done late at night (though it will add a dynamic). One other variation of the blind walk include a paired walk where one person can see the other can't and the pair switches roles half way through the activity. Another variation is to set up the rope a head of time (similar to the activity as Maze) now participants need to decide if they will support or do it solo.

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Date: Fri, 25 May 2001

Fragments
David W. Johnson
dave.johnson.cats@usa.net
Activity Description:
This is a good "get aquainted" icebreaker for groups that know each other, but not too well. List 6 to 8 partial questions on a flipchart or whiteboard - some ideas that I have used follows: > Any one will work hard if. . . . . > A highly effective team is one which. . . . . > A rewarding job is one that. . . . . > I really get frustrated when. . . . . > I would like to. . . . . > Ten years from now, I would. . . . . > As a child I loved to. . . . . . Use your imgination. Questions can be tailored around particular subjects or be quite general. Ask each participants to pick one of the sentence fragments and complete the thought discribing his/her view. Give participants one to three minutes to share their thoughts with the others and explain why they picked it. The exercise gives some really good insight about what makes the participants tick.

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Date: Tue, 22 May 2001

Little Known Facts about Well-known Fairy Tales
David W. Johnson
dave.johnson.cats@usa.net
Activity Description:
Little Known Facts about Well-Known Fairy Tales -- An icebreaker David W. Johnson I first saw a version of this exercise at a seminar on creativity, facilitated by Ann McGee-Cooper in 1992. I have adapted it somewhat and now use it as an icebreaker to introduce our team building module on communications, listening, and feedback. It would probably be suitable for a number of situations, just use your imagination. The activity is best for use in small groups of from five to nine participants (seven or eight is ideal). If you have 10 or more divide them in to smaller groups and run parallel activities. You will need to be able to separate the groups far enough from each other, so participants aren't confused by "stories" from the other groups. I often put the groups into the corners of the meeting room. If there are more than one group, each group will need a timekeeper/leader to keep the activity on track, but they can be taken from the participants and trained in their duties rather rapidly. The facilitator should perform this function if there is only one group. Tell the group(s) that they are going to reveal some little known facts about a well-know fairy tale. Tell them that they first need to decide what well-known fairy tale they will use. (Participants only need have the vaguest idea about the fairy tale; it isn't important that everybody know the story well.) After the group selects a fairy tale, ask each participant to look around the room and select a common object that is visible to everybody in the group and to write the name of the selected object on a card or 1/2 sheet of paper. Participants should not disclose their object to any other group member. After the preliminaries, the timekeeper/leader begins the activity as follows -- "The other day I was (shopping, skiing, walking, etc.) when I saw (Cinderella, The Three Bears, Little Red Riding-hood, [the agreed upon fairy tale]), (he/she/they) were. The timekeeper/leader should continue to develop the story for another 15 to 30 seconds, and clearly and obviously include some visible object in th Somewhere between 120 and 180 seconds, the time/keeper leader calls time and the story passes to the next person who must pick-up the story from exactly where the previous person left off. S/he too will also have a random time between 120 and 180 seconds to further develop the story and insert his/her visible object. After each person has participated, the group debriefs the activity and "guesses" each participants embedded object. The activity is fun and introduces the importance of listening in team or group communications. The story can and will get wild. It will have little to do with the original story. The facilitator should monitor each group to make sure the "content" doesn't get out of hand. Participants have to focus on listening, while at the same time picking out a common visible item and figuring out how they are going to get it into the story. The activity really opens up the participants for the rest of the session.

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Date: Mon, 21 May 2001

Group split
Chris Little
CLittle@hfhlac.org
Activity Description:
We use this as an early activity to reflect on the cultural diversity of our groups. We use it as a platform to celebrate our diversity, and to discuss how cultural differences might affect us as we spend the next three weeks together. IT works well for groups of 15 or more. Have the group stand all together in a fairly large space. The facilitator will read from a list of characteristics. As he/she reads one characteristic, the facilitator will point to a different part of the space. Everyone in the group who is described by the characteristic that has been read aloud, moves to that area. Ex. I can say good morning in Quechua. I have killed a chicken. I know how to drive a car. I raise my hands when I pray. The characteristics should be designed to reflect cultural differences in the group such as language, food, clothing, politics, religion (requires some knowledge of the different cultures). However they should be "safe" characteristics, nothing that would embarass anyone, or that would reinforce negative stereotypes. Have a few unifying characteristics in place to call out for when you run out of spaces in the room to send groups. This activity is fast paced, fun and always results a very good reflection by the group.

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Date: Mon, 21 May 2001

I CAN TEACH
Chris Little
CLittle@hfhlac.org
Activity Description:
We do a lot of training of trainers, this one is a good name ice breaker that also allows a group to recognize the talents of others within the group and also builds up self confidence in each person's own teaching abilities. Each person writes his/her name on a piece of paper, and one thing that they can teach the rest of the group to do (make lasagna, count to 10 in Quechua, build a dry latrine). Give participants an example so that they understand this does not have to be work related. We do the paper airplane thing, fold, throw and grab someone else's. Then read them aloud in a big circle. (They do not actually teach these during the course, but many seek out others to ask about a particular skill).

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Date: Mon, 14 May 2001

Getting to know you
Kristin Irvine
kristin.e.irvine@intel.com
Activity Description:
Each person writes down 6 things that they can't get enough of on a blank sheet of paper. The organizer then gathers all the papers and reads them aloud and the others try to guess what answers belong to who. If no one guesses, then owner has to fess up which one was theirs.

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Date: Mon, 14 May 2001

Boogie-woogie Beach Ball train
Tamara
reepje@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
Line up all the contestants. Make sure you have enough beach balls (enough is number of contestants minus one). The train is formed like this: person-bal-person-bal-person... The ball has to stay up in the air without touching it with your hands; press it between your belly and the back of the person in front of you. Now the train starts to move. This really requires teamwork for the balls not to fall on the ground! The train has to go as fast as possible and/or over obstacles. In larger groeps you can make two trains going in opposite directions. Very much fun!!! I got this idea from a book called '100 non-compatitive games'.

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Date: Sun, 06 May 2001

Profile
Patricia Beard
pbeard2748@aol.com
Activity Description:
This is an adaptation of a stereotyping activity I have facilitated. In the original, many categories are taped around the room on flipcharts. Participants walk around the room and put the stereotypes they have heard about the different categories. My adaptation is a series of flipcharts that describe myself, the facilitator. (my gender, race, big family, degreed, etc.) I have participants record stereotypes that they have heard about each category. When we process, I ask about how they feel about the sterotypes, especially those they relate to. Where does stereotyping come from. Eventually, I reveal that each of the categories are all of the dimensions of diversity that make up who I am. We process assumptions, how we draw conclusions by what we see which is usually race, gender, age.

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Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001

Documentation Awareness
Nanci Hamicksburg
nanciana.hamicksburg@spcorp.com
Activity Description:
Use children's 60-100 piece jigsaw puzzles to illustrate the importance of complete documentation. Puzzles are of 3 levels of picture complexity, simple, medium and very complex. Students work in groups of 3-4 to assemble puzzle provided by the instructor. The puzzle should be missing 1-2 pieces, from strategic places. The first workgroup to finish at each of the complexity levels gets a prize. When at least 1 puzzle at each complexity level has been completed, the instructor, with student participation, examines what information was lost with the missing puzzle pieces. Additional discussion can include: varying complexity of different processes, importance of concurrent documentation, hard work not coming to fruition due to poor documentation Supplies needed: For this training, 6 puzzles of 60-100 pieces each are needed. Very complex puzzles are of the "Where's Waldo" or "I Spy" type.

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Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001

A table for four...
Anne Agosto-Severa
severas@calumet.purdue.edu
Activity Description:
Activity: The objective is to help people, staff, students or youth groups develop "mutual support and team trust". I call it "A table for four" This was performed at a national conference by the magician Giovanni. Need: 4 people to play and 1 person "in charge" 4 chairs with no arms Arrange chairs all facing in, almost touching corner-to-corner. Players sit down and leader Directs them all to turn right and sit on edges on chairs. One by one players lean back until their shoulders rest firmly on the knees of the person behind them. Then they should all "tighten up" or arch their backs slightly. The leader can then remove the chairs and the pin-wheel of players will remain self-supporting for a minute or two. Put chairs back before everybody starts laughing and falls down. Note: If you wish to make it competitive have two groups of 5 people each do the exercise and see who can hold the pose the longest and award a prize to the winning team. It is very funny and people usually fall several times before accomplishing the task

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Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001

Geographic Warmup
Claire Wright
lorenclaire@msn.com
Activity Description:
Thanks for this site! Not sure if this is in your list (your list is long!) yet here is an activity to get a group up and moving around a little: lay out an imaginary US or World map and ask the participants to designate where they were born; then ask them to move to where they lived when they were 10, 25, etc., now, and where they see themselves living in 5 years.

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Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2001

Pressure Cooker
Neil Mercer
tuvalseminar@canaan.co.il
Activity Description:
I had a dream about a month ago in which this game "came" to me... This simulation can be performed either in a classroom setting or outside. Set out a circular area on the ground with a piece of rope or webbing ("Key Punch"-style) and randomly place within the confines of the circle a set of spots ("Key Punch"-style) numbered in ascending order from 1 to the number of participants in the group (ideally, 12-15). Give each participant a number that relates to one of the numbers in the circle and ask her/him to stand upon their number. Instructions:  Without stepping out of the circle and without touching any other participants, the whole group is to pass from number to number, touching each one in ascending order and return to their original number in the fastest possible time.  If, for example, in a group of 12, someone's number is 8, they must pass through 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, ... 7, and back to 8.  Time is taken from "GO!" to when the last person returns to their spot.  Touching any other participants on the way incurs a 5-second fine. At first, do not give any time for planning. Give 3 or 4 attempts. One possible format may be 4 attempts or 20 minutes, whatever comes first, to achieve the fastest time. You (dear facilitator) may try to count the times the participants touch each other during the completion of the task. It may also be interesting to check out their own truthfulness and honesty at the end of each round by asking them if anyone touched anyone else and how many times.

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Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001

Computer Reminiscing
Norine Cooper
norine.cooper@senecac.on.ca
Activity Description:
With the help of a few committed volunteers, you can introduce the frail elderly to the use of computers for fun and reminiscing. There are a wide variety of sites that have excellent reminiscence material on them. Most of these sites are developed by seniors themselves. Our experience has shown us that the very old 85 plus are just as interested in the wide variety of information on the web as anyone else. We do not use any special adaptation on the screen or the mouse and we are still able to experience with the senior a lot of pride and enjoyment by being able to surf with some help. This activity is best done with individuals but can also be done in small groups especially if you use the data projector and the large screen tv. They love email the most and they love the independence and freedom to choose the topic and go searching for it.

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Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001

Blind Cards
Annonymous

Activity Description:
before activity, take a deck of playing cards and make a necklace out of each one by putting a string though it. give these out to the players so that they can't see what their card is. have them partner up; your partner puts your card on you so that it hangs on your back, with the suit facing out. there is no talking allowed from this moment forward! now everyone can see your card except you. have the players arrange themselves by colour, number and suit, each time trying to beat their previous time. -what worked or didn't? who was trying to be leaders? was everyone trying or did some people allow themselves to be placed? did this change over the three trials? did others in the team recognize the leaders and co operate, or did everyone try to organize the group?

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Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001

TEAM SINGING CONTEST
Albert Jalandoon
albert.jalan@hr.com, al_jaland@pinoymail.com
Activity Description:
Objective: To surface ability of participants to adapt to new situation; develop creativity and innovativeness. Mechanics: Divide participants into groups. Each group selects a leader. The group must select 4 nursery rhymes. The leader list down the songs on the board. No duplication of songs. The leader who wrote the song first have the right to use that song. Groups now separates to practice choreography, arrangement, etc. for 30 minutes. Criteria for judging - creativity, execution, synchronization, and originality. Group leader will draw lots as to who performs first. During the presentation, the Training Facilitator shall announced an additional surprise criterion: First Criterion - The group must perform Song No. 1 with original choreography, marching around in a circle (hands raised up and down) while singing in a very slow tempo. Second Criterion - Song No. 2 must be sang with original choreography, dancing boogie while song is being sang in the most out of tune manner. Third Criterion - Song No. 3 must be sang with original choreography, walking back and forth, very angry with eyes bulging and teeth gnashing with fist raised. Natural tempo. Fourth Criterion - Song No. 4 must be sang in a very beautiful and proper manner.

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Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2001

Find Object
Jake Hope
jakehope@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
Find an Object Objectives: Creating an environment where it is safe for people to talk about who they are in a broader sense than might normally be socially acceptable. Learning about others in the group. Design: Give participants 10 minutes to find an object that represents either how they feel today, what they aspire to, what their job feels like, what they'd like to let go of to be present the possibilities are wide open. Participants may also use an Object they brought with them as well. If the room doesn't not offer enough selections you may allow people to go outside briefly (this should be predetermined by the instructor) also set a reasonable time limit. Participants can either hold on to their object or put it on a cloth in the centre of the room (this assume people are in a circle on the floor or on the mats). Have each participant share with the group what the object means to them. You can either go in order, let someone volunteer to be first and then go in order or let it go according to whoever is ready (this option often feels best). Some considerations: It is helpful to emphasize that they don't have to find the ultimate object and they shouldn't think too hard about it but just let objects speak to them, e.g. whatever seems to catch their eye should be considered. This is also a good example of "challenge by choice" in that participants can choose how much they wish to share of their "inner life" based on the notion that learning requires some willingness to risk

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Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001

Rope Push
Bruce L. Gottlieb
blgottlieb@juno.com
Activity Description:
This is a variation on a game in one of Karl Rohnke's books. I love cooperative games that are disguised as competative games. This one is great. Mark the middle of a heavy rope and set up the play area as for a tug of war. Explain that this is a rope push rather than a rope pull. The goal is for each team to get as much of their end of the rope as possible over the line in one minute. (For safety reasons, do not allow the rope to be raised above waist level.) Start the first round. The players will start throwing, pushing, etc. the rope over the line. At the end of the time, ask them if they really think either team won. Start another round. After a while, the palyers will begin to catch on that the real solution is for the two teams to exchange ends of the rope. (The goal was to get as much of THEIR end of the rope over the line, not the entire rope.)

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Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001

Death By Handkerchief
Bruce L. Gottlieb
blgottlieb@juno.com
Activity Description:
Each person hangs a bandana out of their back pocket. It must be hung in a way that allows it to be pulled out by the other players. Explain ONLY the following to the group: "The bandana represents all you need to live in the world (food, shelter, love, etc.) If the bandana is taken away, you die instantly and are out of the game." Without further explanation, the leader says, "On your marks, get set, go." Inevitably, they all run around and take each others bandanas. When only one person is left alive, ask what happened, repeat the rules, and start another round. Keep the rounds going. Someone will pick up on the idea that they don't need to die and that they cannot use more than what they already have. Soon the idea catches on. Some participants may even form alliances to protect one another. Follow-up discussion can center on themes of greed, persecution, wise use, non-violent response, social justice, etc.

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Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001

Flying Saucers with goalie
Siobhan Murphy
billandsio@home.com
Activity Description:
This activity is made from frisbee golf with the added goalie. I used it with middle school children one day when I was at a loss for an activity. It is partly competitive because of the goalie but I also talk about team work with the group members. It is best if the group leader is goalie but the members will also want a turn. All you need are about twenty soft frisbees and a large garbage can.The object of the game is to fly the frisbees into the garbage can before the goalie snatches them in flight. If the frisbee is not caught by the goalie and falls to the ground any member may retrieve it and try again. If the goalie catches the frisbee before it goes into the garbage can than he or she tosses it into a designated area where the other members can't retrieve it. After all frisbees are either in the garbage can of in the goalie's safe area we count to see where the most frisbees are. The team work part is when the members figure out that passing the frisbees to each other to fake the goalie out.

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Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2001

Hi, My Name Is..
Nanci Hamicksburg
nanciana.hamicksburg@spcorp.com
Activity Description:
Another 'getting to know you" idea: use the generic "Hi My Name Is" stickers. Have participants write their name and the answer to a question you have posed eg Nanci because it makes stresses seem small and unimportant (answer to question "Why do you love chocolate?" at a Chocoholics Party)OR Mark play solataire, answer the phone, read email jokes and write reports (answer to question "what do you REALLY do at work every day?)

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Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2001

The Mouse and the Rattlesnake
Jason Prichard
jasonprichard@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
Mouse and Rattlesnake Equipment: 1 pop can with seeds inside, one noisemaker, 40-50 feet of rope, 2 blindfolds The group forms a circle and holds the rope at waist height. 2 people are chosen to start. One is the mouse, the other is the rattlesnake. Both are blindfolded. The object is for the rattlesnake to GRAB the mouse. Both must stay inside the circle. The rattlesnake can shake his rattle 3 times. Each time he does, the mouse is obligated to respond with his noisemaker. After the rattlesnake has signaled 3 times, the mouse no longer has to respond.

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Date:Wed, 14 Mar 2001

How many words?
Cathy
cltuener@metlife.com
Activity Description:
The purpose is to open a session and get the participants focused on the topic. I did this when training a new system that was being implemented. Write the name of the system on the whiteboard. Have paper and pencil for each participant. Instruct that they have 3 minutes, when you say go, to write down as many words as they can from the letters on the whiteboard. The words must be at least 3 letters long. When done, find out who had the most words and give a fabulous prize. They are now quiet, focused and ready to listen to you.

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Date: Fri, 09 Mar 2001

Group Norms
Patty Slaughter
PattyJeanne.Slaughter@houghton.edu
Activity Description:
Thanks for this great website. so many great ideas here. This is a good activity to help a group become more aware of group norms (expectations about how group members can, should, and/or must behave in a given set of circumstances)and how group norms can and do impact the performance/behavior of a group. Break a group into smaller sub-groups of 5-7 people. The groups are then told that they are to carry out any activities and/or "conversations" of their choosing for the next 10 minutes. No verbal or written communication can take place. After the 10 minutes is up, sub-groups are then asked to generate a list of group norms that seemed to develop in their groups.(if you haven't already, you may need to introduce the concept of group norms). After sub-groups generate their lists, the whole group can come together and discuss the norms they observed in their sub-groups and then discuss the norms present in the larger/whole group and how these norms may affect the group's behavior. (During the 10 minute activity period, it would be fruitful for group facilitators to observe the sub-groups and jot down the norms they see developing-norms tend to develop spontaneously and, thus, group members may be unaware of the norms that develop or they may have a hard time identifying norms) You can modify this by having several sub-groups engaging in their 10 minute activity session while several sub-groups observe and then switch-the obervers become the "actors" and vise-versa. This adds the element of an audience and can generate good discussion about if and/or how the presence of an audience impacts group norms.

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Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2001

Focus
ABby shields
gabyabby@cmq.com
Activity Description:
I use this activity to teach people about focus in our lives. Have people look around the room and focus in on everything in the room that is brown. They re to make a list of all brown colored objects in the room. Give them approximately 2 minutes to do this. Once they have made the list you now instruct them to close their eyes. With their eyes shut, you now have them try and tell you everything in the room that is green. The object of the lesson is to show them that what we focus on in life is exactly what we are going to see about our lives. If we focus on the "brown stuff" ( and that is the most polite way i can say it) then we will see only the negative about our lvies. I am not the originator of this activity. I however, forget the original place I learned this. I have seen other presenters use it as well.

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Date: Mon, 05 Mar 2001

"Listening" Exercise
Shelley Payne
shp@alumni,virginia.edu
Activity Description:
This is a fun warm-up that's good for any size group. I usually say "before we get started, I just want to make sure everyone is awake/alert/here, etc." Then I explain that I'll say a word and we'll repeat it together (out loud) five times and then I'll ask a simple question for them to answer. The first word is "silk", repeat that five times (I ususally hold up my fingers to show the count) and then ask, without pause, "What do cows drink?" Almost everyone will answer "milk" at which point you nicely point out that most cows you know drink water. I will usually express some "concern" about how awake everyone is and let them know that I'm going to give them another chance. The second word is "most", repeat this five times and then ask "what do you put in a toaster?" Many people will answer toast, though some participants will catch on and say after some hesitation "bread". Again point out that most people do put bread in their toaster. I will congratulate them on their improvement and say just to make sure that we are all really awake and listening, let's do one more. The third word is "spot" again repeat fives times and then ask "what do you do at a green light?" Many people will still stay "stop". The key to this activity is to over act a little on your part so that everyone knows this is for fun and won't feel bad about getting the wrong answer. It also helps to establish a good transition into setting an expectiation that everyone will actively listen for the rest of the day.

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Date: Mon, 05 Mar 2001

Definitions
Diane Dunn
tjanddd@aol.com
Activity Description:
Good with smaller groups, and groups that are doing more advanced content training... Devise a list of key vocabulary words and definitions that relate to the training. Prepare pairs of index cards: one with the word written on it, one with the definition. Give one to each participant as (s)he enters the room. Have participants find his/her "partner". If you have time, go over the word and the definition, and any comments, disagreements with, or modifications to them - as a group. This gets people mixing one on one, and has the group set a shared framework for understanding.

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Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2001

Different Interpretations
Judy Cook
judy@cookcompany.net
Activity Description:
This icebreaker activity was desiged by Reggie Murphy, a member of the Real Estate Educators Association. I have used it successfully in a number of adult education courses that have difficult, often controversial subjects. It is a visual display of the unique interpretations we all have of the same information. Supplies: A blank piece of paper for each participant. Process: Instruct the group not to look at their neighbors, but concentrate on their own sheet of paper, following your instructions carefully. Tell the participants (1) fold the paper in half and tear off the upper right hand corner, (2) fold in in half again, and tear off the upper right hand corner, (3) once more, fold in half and tear off the upper right hand corner. (4) Unfold your paper, hold it up, and look around the room. You'll find that each participant has a different "take" on your instructions. The exercise clearly demonstrates to the participants that we do not all hear/interpret information in the same way.
Note from Christian: I doubt very seriously that this activity was designed by Reggie Murphy. I suspect that Judy learned it from Reggie. This activity has been around for quite some time in the experiential education arena.

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Date: Fri, 02 Mar 2001

Stressful Day
Nancy Orser
Nancy.Orser@honeywell.com
Activity Description:
As an opening activity in a class on hadnling stress, I have the group start with the beginning of their day, or when they went to bed and list all the things that might happen to cause them to feel stressed. when we have about two flip chart pages we stop and debrief- I ask questions like: Do any of these things ever really happen? (Of course) What would happen if all of them happened? how do you handle these? Are these unexpected stresses? Are there ways to make any of them less stressful? How could you avoid them? Is there anyone who hasn't had some of these things happen?

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Date: Fri, 02 Mar 2001

Strengh Building
Nick Heap
nick.heap@ntlworld.com
Activity Description:
Strength Building Purpose To build personal self confidence and self esteem To help people to know each other deeply To show that appreciation and being positive is valuable. Method The participants are in a small face to face group. In a larger group when time is short, demonstrate the process with one person in front of the group. Then break people into groups of four and five. Each person has a turn of say 15 minutes as the focus of the group. 1 She or he describes an event in which she or he achieved something they felt good about. It does not have to about work. Everyone else listens intently. 2 Each group member tells the person above two or three strengths she must have used to achieve it. The person adds one or two of his own. 3 The person states the one strength of all the ones she has heard that she /he likes the best. If people are ready they may own this by going round the group and saying to each person in turn "I am (eg) resourceful!". A facilitator may encourage further growth by encouraging her/him to use a clear and positive tone of voice and posture with no trace of self-deprecation. After everyone has had a turn, ask people how they feel about themselves and the group and what they have learned. The effects People develop in confidence and self esteem as they discover their achievements and skills are valuable. They appreciate the depths in other people and want to know more. The shared and rather intense experience builds group cohesion. People enjoy it too. Facilitating style I find it best to be quite lighthearted within a clear structure. I model listening and take part myself if the group is small.

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Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2001

Survey with index cards
Lynne Waymon
LWaymon@aol.com
Activity Description:
When you want to quickly survey a group of any size on their opinions, but keep it anoymous, give each person a index card. Ask them to write their answer on the card then have them exchange cards with at least 3 people so they have no idea who's card they have. Then hear some of them. Example: Ask "What's appropriate (or inappropriate) to wear on "casual day" at the office? Or "What is the one interview question you'd most hate to be asked in a job interview?"

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Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2001

T-shirt team builder
diane
psalm232@juno.com
Activity Description:
T-shirt (either a real one or one cut out of construction paper) Tape on the back of individuals Have markers that won't go thru construction paper Have individuals go around and write on backs either the Christ-like qualities they see in person or something that the person has done that has inspired them to walk closer to Jesus. This is a building activity At the end, have person to right read t-shirt and then hand it to person

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Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001

Appraisal - is or isn't it?
Liz Edwards
liz.edwards@lineone.net
Activity Description:
Prepare sets of Post-its with a range of descriptors such as 'a two-way process'; 'a time for reviewing performance; (positives) - 'a time for disciplining'; 'a cosy chat' (negatives). Prepare flipcharts headed up with two columns 'Appraisal is' and 'Appraisal isn't' - put these on the walls. Brief participants that they will be working in groups to identify what appraisal is and what appraisal isn't. Give each group a set of Post-its. Ask them to discuss in group and allocate Post-its to appropriate columns. Then ask them to identify five 'Appraisal is' which they feel are the key to getting their appraisal sessions right. A spokesperson will have to identify these and their reasons for selecting them. (These may depend on the appraisal process relevant to the organisation and whether or not appraisal is linked closely to rewards.) Discussion will be around all the Post-it statements and why they are - or are not included. Resources: Post-its - a range of colours - one for each group Sets of statements - customised to the organisation and their appraisal process Flipchart paper Blu-tak

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Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001

One up one down - can only be used ONCE
Celia Ross
c.ross@bilk.ac.uk
Activity Description:
Props required: Chairs for sitting on. A game for all ages, no more than 10 in the group. Everyone sits in a circle. Leader explains to team that the highest number that can be stated is 2. So one up and one down reults in 2. One down and one up results on 2. Two up results in 2 or 2 down results in 2. Leader starts and places hands in the direction she wishes either both hands down on knees which is two down. She does not explain that the secret is whereabouts the hands are placed. One could sit with one arm bent and hand under chin the other across and holding ones side. Make it look like a natural movement. This game goes on as long as there are players who still have not guessed the obvious. Great game for all IQ's.

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Date: Thu, 08 Feb 2001

Marshmallow Tower
Kim
Onetrainer48@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
Divide teams into groups (5-7 people works best, give each team a bag of marshmallows and a box of speghetti noodles. Ask the teams to each work together and not to disclude anyone. They may not talk but only work towards accomplishing the goal. Their task is to build the tallest, most stable, widest, (whatever perameters you choose) structure they can. Allow whatever time you choose. When complete, ask the teams to share what was the most difficult, if someone emerged as a leader...you can fill in the rest. It's a lot of fun and gets some great reactions.

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Date: Wed, 07 Feb 2001

World Record Ball Touch
Ian Dignon
ijdignon@yahoo.com
Activity Description:
Good for a group of around 20 - 30 people. You will need a ball around the size of a softball. It can be soft or hard, but soft is better. Get them in a circle. Tell them that the ball has to go in a sequence to a different person around the circle until it arrives back at the starter. Get them to then send the ball in sequence faster and time them. Give them sebveral opportunities to beat their own time, before telling them that the world record is 4.8 seconds. The problem then is for them to match this. We managed this time with 23 students and 3 staff (26 total), although it took 45 minutes and lots of discussion. Great to break the ice with large groups. (the secret is getting the ball to rollover everyones hand whilst the starter runs to the other end - but let the group find this out and try other theories). Good luck

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Date: Mon, 05 Feb 2001

3-d categories
Neil Mercer
tuvalseminar@canaan.co.il
Activity Description:
Based upon the good old categories getting-to-know-you game where a group of any size is asked to clump together according to like categories of a certain subject, eg least favourite food, zodiac sign, most exotic place travelled to etc etc. Only here the group members which have in common the same preferences eg porridge, saggitarius, Basingstoke, etc etc have to create a static/dynamic statue/animation of their preference and the rest of the group is to guess what the preference is.

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Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001

Introduction Chaos
J. Thomas Shook
thomas_t._shook@gsc.state.tx.us
Activity Description:
Exercise: 1. Before the class, create name tents for all employees. I always make a few blanks ones in case of suprises. 2. At the beginning of the class, give the participants name tag and ask them to go ahead and write their name on them and put them on. 3. Give them each participant a tent for another student. If you are not always guaranteed 100% attendance, this will require paying close attention the students names as they enter the class room. I usually have a list of attendees and highlight their name as they join the class. 4. Tell them that their task is to find the person who belongs to the name tent they are holding and get to know them well enough to introduce them to the class. The ensuing chaos as the people try to talk to someone who is talking to someone else can lead to a lot of interaction. 5. After everyone has had time to get the needed information ask for a volunteer to come to the front of the class to introduce their "new friend" who will then introduce the person they talked to. Encourage applause and audience participation. Ask the introduced student if he/she has anything to add.

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Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001

Triangle Experience
Charles Acklin
chuck@volti.cc
Activity Description:
The Triangle Experience Result: Insight into how your people learn new skills. Open new ways to process information, improve situations, and develop strategies. Procedure: 1. Gather materials (3-ring notebook, small hand held mirror, pen or pencil) 2. Stand the 3-ring notebook between you and the triangle diagram. 3. Place the mirror so that you can only see the diagram through the mirror. 4. Draw a line in the white spaces of the triangle. Do this while looking through the mirror. Keep your drawing within the black triangle lines. 5. Complete your drawing within 30 seconds. . Triangle Drawing Description: A drawing is inserted at this point on the instruction sheet. It is a tringle within a triangle. the two triangles create a space for the participants to draw along the triangles borders. Triangle Follow-up One of the greatest challenges to creating new ways to get results is that you already know how to get results. People generally forget what they did when they first learned how to do something. Usually when we get into a situation when we are not familiar with what to do we call it a learning situation. Traditional approaches to drawing the triangle support the assumption that all you need comes from looking into the mirror. When this is the only strategy we can experience a block to getting the results we want. This will paralyze progress. It causes us to continue doing what we are doing and expecting different results. Take a different approach. Think about how the triangle appears. Identify where to start drawing. Think about how your hand needs to move before you start drawing. The only way to succeed is to follow the triangle you hold in your mind. Draw the triangle as you would draw your mental image. The mirror gives you information. Now convert that information to knowledge. The mirror image lets you know when to change directions and if you are with in the lines. When you reach an angle and need to change direction, recall your mental image of the triangle. Refer to the mirror only to verify that what you are doing is right. This same strategy applies to improving personal and group results. We need to look beyond situations, as they appear to be. And increase our ability to see them as what they can become. Then use our measurements to gauge our progress in how we are improving. Following the instructions from the first page, using the mirror, re draw the triangle. Using the lines only as guides. Second Triangle Drawing Description: Another drawing is inserted at this point on the instruction sheet. It is a tringle within a triangle. the two triangles create a space for the participants to draw along the triangles borders. WITH THE INFORMATION
Note from Christian: I'm not sure if this activity is complete or if information is missing at the end.

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Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001

How Many Balloons
Sheri Balthrop
tbal@airmail.net
Activity Description:
Sit a group of children in a circle (works for 5 - 12). Put two children outside the circle. Drop a ballon in the circle and tell the children they must keep it in the air. If it falls to the floor the two children outside the circle are to pop the balloon. Keep adding more balloons to see how many they can keep in the air. Keep adding balloons even after the first one gets popped. The purpose is to open up a discussion on stress and its effects.
Note from Christian: This sounds a lot like Balloon Frantic. I've done this with adults and had people write on the balloons sources of stress. I've also had people visualize letting go of stress as they blow up the balloons.

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Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001

Shared Drawing
Maureen Clarke
privatecitizen@unlisted.com
Activity Description:
Good as a kids game, but is also excellent for loosening up people who are hindered by their need to be in control. I learned it in a Keith Johnstone improv class. Works best with groups of 10-20. Pair everyone off, so that each person has a partner. Leader gives out blank pieces of paper; each two-member team gets one piece. (Typing paper is okay, but larger art paper is better.) Each two-member team also gets one pen, or one pencil. There should only be one between the two of them. The leader tells the group that one member of the team (doesn't matter who) should draw a line horizontally across the paper, about two inches inch above the bottom edge of the paper. In the big space that's left, one of the team should draw a large oval in the center of the paper. (It's good to have one of these pre-drawn to show the group as an example.) At this point, the leader explains that each team will draw a face. The leader says: one team member will take the pen and make ONLY ONE LINE OR MARK on the paper, and then pass the pen to the other team member. In otherwords, one person might draw an eyebrow, but cannot draw both eyebrows. There must be NO TALKING, no communicating of intent. Tell them, NO LAUGHING, since laughing is also a form of communication. Reinterate, DRAW ONLY ONE LINE, and then the other person gets the pen. When enough time has elapsed, and the teams have created some kind of face, the leader explains that the team will now write a caption, or title for the drawing, using the space left below the face. Using ONLY CAPITAL LETTERS, and NO TALKING, the team creates a caption by passing the pen back and forth, each person writing ONLY ONE LETTER. It is interesting to watch the people try to draw. Some will get visibly frustrated at first. Some become quite red-faced and their bodies twist up, trying vainly to mentally control where the drawing is going. When the captions are written, the leader calls a halt. With some deliberate sense of ceremony, the leader should collect the drawings and lay them out (or put them on the wall) to have an "art" show, so that everyone can look at all the drawings and have a good hearty laugh, which will have been building up... The leader should explain that these drawings always turn out rather insane-looking. The captions often make no sense at all. Let the group know that this was exactly what was supposed to happen. A discussion should follow... ask them how it felt to create something without controlling the process. Did you feel yourself "going" with your partner's ideas, or resisting them? Why?

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Date: Fri, 05 Jan 2001

Who am I?
Brook Thompson
Brook.Thompson@weblinkwireless.com
Activity Description:
Put the name of famous people on note cards and put one on each persons back without letting them know who it is. Then have everyone mingle and ask questions about themselves. This is a great game to get people comfortable with talking before they know eachother.
Note from Christian: This activity is also wonderful for a group who mostly knows each other. In this case put each person's name on a card and put it on the back of each person the goal now becomes for the person to guess who's name they have on their back. They go around and ask questions or get clues from their interactions with others.

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Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2001

Team Tees
Mary Anne Maloney
mmaloney@snet.net
Activity Description:
I have found this activity very successful with high school athletic teams in Teambuilding sessions. It would work as well with any club or group. Divide the participants into subgroups. Each group has approximately seven minutes to come up with a list entitled "The ten things this team needs from each member to succeed". After seven minutes each group pairs up with another group, discusses their lists, and must come up with one cooperative list of ten things. Continue combining groups until return to one, and participants choose the top ten things the team needs. After discussion of the process and the selections, give each member a white T-shirt. Have available fabric markers. Turn on some "team spirited" music while each person writes the ten items on the back of their t-shirt, then has every team member sign their shirt...thus forming a commitment to each other to be and to give what this team needs. Kids love the Tees and the shared experience.

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Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2001

Giant Team Scrabble
Melissa L. Hunt, TRS/CTRS
melissa__hunt@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
I have used this activity several times with the adolescent psychiatric patients I work with. You need 3 to 5 decks of 3 x 5 index cards with one letter of the alphabet on each card and 2 blank cards per deck, a large area on which to play (table, large carpet square, or large outline of square on the floor), and a dictionary (for challenges) Begin the activity with an introduction of both the staff and the participants in the group. The group leader/facilitator will also review the objectives with the group each day. Give a brief description of the activity, including the instructions (see below). Ask the group if all participants understand the instructions, and answer any questions participants have regarding the activity. At the end of the activity, review the objectives with the participants. Ask the participants how they felt about the activity. What did they find difficult? How did they like the activity? Did they feel like they have accomplished their objectives? If so, how? Etc. Instructions: The group leader/facilitator divides the participants into two teams. Then the group leader/facilitator shuffles 3 to 5 decks of alphabet cards (depending on number of participants in the group), and has one person from each team choose 1 card. The team with the card that is closest to the beginning of the alphabet will go first. A blank card supersedes all other cards. Then each team will choose 6 more cards to total 7 cards. The first team works together to combine two or more of their letters to form a word, which is placed toward the center of the board (large playing area) to read either across or down. Diagonal words are not permitted. A team completes a turn by counting and announcing the score for the turn. The team then draws as many new letter cards as played. Always keeping a total of 7 cards in their hand. Play then moves to the other team. Then next team then adds one or more letters to those already played to form new words. All letters played in a turn must be placed in one row ac Scoring: There are no Premium Letter Squares or Premium Word Squares (Double Letter Score, Triple Letter Score, Double Word Score, or Triple Word Score) as in Scrabble. The group leader/facilitator keeps a running tally of each team,s score, and records it after each turn. The score value of each letter card is as follows: A 1 F 4 K 5 P 3 U 1 Z 10 B 3 G 2 L 1 Q 10 V 4 Blank Whatever the C 3 H 4 M 3 R 1 W 4 letter is worth. D 2 I 1 N 1 S 1 X 8 E 1 J 8 O 1 T 1 Y 4 The score for each turn is the sum of the letter values in each word formed or modified on that turn. When two or more words are formed in the same play, each is scored. The common letter is counted for each word. Any team who plays seven tiles on a turn, scores a premium of 50 points after totaling their score for the turn. When the game ends, each team,s score is reduced by the sum of their unplayed letters. In addition, if a team used all letters, the sum of the other teams, unplayed letters is added to that team,s score. The team with the highest score wins the game. In the event of a tie, the team with the highest score before adding or deducting unplayed letters wins. Variations: 1. Giant Team Musical Scrabble may be played by using the same rules as listed above, but only forming words related to music. Challenges may be up to the group leader/facilitator or opposing teams to decide upon. 2. There may be four teams instead of just two. 3. Each team my have 10 letter cards instead of 7. 4. The blank letter cards may be work no points, instead of whatever the letter it is being substituted is worth. 5. The game may end after a specific length of time, and then the winner is determined by the team with the most points.

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Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2001

Riddle--Midnight Snack
Melissa L. Hunt, TRS/CTRS
melissa__hunt@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
I learned this one when I worked at camp several years ago. Here's the riddle: A man wakes up to get a midnight snack. He walks to the refridgerator, opens the door, and gets out someting to eat. He finishes eating, turns off the light, and goes back to bed. He awakens the next morning to find out someone outside his residence has died in the night. Solution: The man is a lighthouse keeper. When he turned out the light, a boat ran upon the shore, and the captain died.
Note from Christian: There are many more of these riddles located further down on the page.

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Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2001

Crossing the Border (an energiser)
Irene Guijt
iguijt@worldonline.nl
Activity Description:
Learnt this from my husband, Jim Woodhill First find a straight log or other raised straight and fairly narrow ridge (e.g. around a raised border of flowers or along a footpath), up to 30 cms off the ground. It has to be long enough for all participants to stand on, shoulder to shoulder. Explain to the group that the log represents a bridge between two countries across a very deep gorge, with a crocodile-infested river. So falling off the log has disastrous consequences! Ask the group to stand on the log. With the group on the log, explain that the immigration gate from the country they have just left has been closed and they cannot return. The immigration official at the other end has all of their passports but they are in the opposite order to that in which they are lined up on the log. The official is in a bad mood and is refusing to let them into the country until they get themselves into the correct, i.e. the opposite, order. This they must do without placing any part of their body on the ground. Anybody who does so, has fallen into the crocod

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Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000

Circus (get acquainted activity)
Robert E. Sachs (retired 4-H Extension Agent)
bomar@williams-net.com
Activity Description:
Left-Bumpety-bump-bump-bump begins with everyone in a circle with the pointer person in the center. The center person points to a persons and say left, Bumpety bump bump- bump, and if the person can say the person on their left name before ppointer gets to the last bump, then he or she doesn't have exchange places with the pointer. I play this one progressively with elephant, puppy, cow, and shark. This is a variation of the animal game. But each animal is added one at a time. After 2-3 minutes of Bumperty bump -bump, you add elephant,. Elephant is when the pointer to a person and say elephan the person pointed to puts both fists on his/or her nose and each person to the side puts their hand up to the elephant ear. Whoever makes the last motion or the wrong motion exchanges places with the pointer. Puppy person crouches down puts hand out in front(like aa praying manitis) and sticks tongue out and pants, the ones on either side turn around and wiggle their backsides. A cow person interlocks both hands, with the thumbs pointed down and each person on the side "milks" squeezes gently the thumb. Shark person puts hands out in front of body with the hand coming together like the jaws of a sharks, and each person while standing acts like they are swimming away from the shark. I hope this is what you wanted this series of games are added one by one and the person in the center has the choice to use any one of those like bumpety-bump- bump, elephant, cow, puppy, or shark. This one is a lot of fun. It keeps them on their toes. The processing can include when life gets bumpy, you do you turn to for support?
Note from Christian: This activity is also presented earlier with different characters (and under a different name). Given there are some new characters presented here I thought it was worth posting.

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Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000

It's all in the details 2
Cavan van Ulft
cvanulft@home.com
Activity Description:
We did this activity during communications class in first-year engineering. It's kind of like the pb & sandwich activity explained above, but much better in a number of important ways. The task is deceptively simple: break teams up into small groups and give them each a small number (perhaps a dozen or so) pieces of Lego. Have them build a structure with the Lego (any structure at all), and then have them write instructions for how to build their structure... using only words. Then have the groups exchange Lego and instructions and try to duplicate each other's work. Things to consider when setting up this activity: 1. DIVIDE UP THE LEGO PIECES CAREFULLY. Obviously, if you give one group a whole bunch of identical pieces, it won't be hard for them to write instructions for stacking them on top of each other, but more subtlely, you can really test a group's communication skills by giving them pieces from which it is impossible to make a symmetrical structure (this involves carefully distributing the pieces with an odd number of bumps along one or more sides). Correctly building an unsymmetrical structure correctly involves developing an added layer of instructions for orienting the structure in space during construction. This is not as easy easy as it sounds. 2. CREATE IDENTICAL, PAIRED SETS OF LEGO. This will ensure no one cheats. For my engineering class, we were given a pair of Ziploc baggies containing identical bunches of pieces. After building our structure and writing our instructions, we sealed our creation in a bag, and submitted it to our prof. Then we put our instruction sheet into the other bag along with the matched set of loose pieces and gave it to another team. The finished structures could then easily be compared. 3. DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT TO GIVE GROUPS "PRE-BUILT" STRUCTURES. As a co-ordinator, building the structures yourself beforehand (and having the groups mimic them) can allow you more freedom in deciding what sorts of lessons you would like to teach. Although not as much fun, having teams write instructions on how to build an existing structure forces the teams to be goal-oriented and plan the course of their writing beforehand, rather than piece-by-piece (although many teams will undoubtedly "pre-build" their own structure before writing any instructions anyhow, for some odd reason). It can also ensure that each team has an unsymmetrical structure (see item 1, above) without your having to carefully select the pieces for each group (Why is this important? Apart from making this a more challenging exercise, dissymmetry can be used to teach all sorts of fun stuff besides communication skills and technical writing: for instance, it could be used in a chemistry class to teach kids stereochemistry: that different This activity is an improvement over the pb & sandwich activity because: - It's more precise by nature, which is presumably important if you want your groups to focus on details. - It teaches people to put themselves in the place of the reader AS THEY ARE WRITING the instructions, rather than having them make assumptions and then feel stupid afterwards. - No one has to play "devil's advocate" and interpret the instructions in a criticizing manner: everyone is working together to genuinely understand one another. - It's not as messy! - By making slight changes to the details of the set-up, this activity can teach a variety of other skills in addition to how to write clear, effective instructions.

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Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000

Pontoon Scavenger Hunt
Stephanie Stringer-Activities Coordinator
Smstring@bellsouth.net
Activity Description:
The group is broken into groups of 8, depending on the size of your pontoon. Larger groups of 10, maybe also used. Each group is given a list of items that they must find....company items can also be put on the list. The group is given a map and also a chartered course. Each group has to get as many of the items as they can within an alotted time period. (2-21/2 hours are recommended). All of the items that they must find, must be things out in nature, such as a shiny rock, or a bird feather. You can ad humorous items as well, such as a pair of pantihose, but the majority of the items should be those found in nature. All items with the company logo on it are worth double points. 5 points are taken off for each minute that they are late.
Note from Christian: Scavenger hunt type activities are very popular with both adults and kids. They can be done in urban and wilderness environments. They are only limited by your own creativity.

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Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2000

Egg and Pipe
Christine
Hotair987@aol.com
Activity Description:
I did this at my church youth group and most of the kids had a great time with it. All that is needed is a plastic tube (about three feet) about 1/2 inch in diameter and eggs. Crack one egg into the tube and have two volunteers blow on either side of the tube. Whoever doesnt blow hard enough gets an egg in the face. Have fun!

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Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2000

It's all in the details
Autumn Bogard
autumn@amcomp.com
Activity Description:
I use this activity to help people understand the importance of not assuming your audience has the same learning experiences you have had. It also teachs the importantance of giving details in describing a process or not using jargon. Useful in small groups of ~8-10 people. Materials needed: Jar of peanut butter, jar of jelly, loaf of bread, dinner plate, knife. Ask group for volunteer. When you have a volunteer, ask remaining people to write down how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a time limit (I usually give 5 minutes). Take your volunteer outside and let them know that you will select a person to read their description. Volunteer should follow description EXACTLY with no additions or assumptions. In other words, if the directions do not state to spread the peanut butter with the knife, they should use their fingers, etc. Go back to your group. Set up the pb& (which you have had hidden to this point). Tell them that your volunteer has (shocker!) NEVER made a pb& sandwich, and (I usually first select someone to read their instructions that has very little writing on the paper) ask the person to read their description without making any additions. Invariably, a step is forgotten. Keep asking for descriptions or depending on time limit, you can stop after one or two people. Demonstrates that even though we may make assumptions about what someone does or doesn't know, we may be wrong. (Great site - thanks for all the information!)

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Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2000

Flabby Arm Fly
C Kennedy
Mommye24seven@aol.com
Activity Description:
You will need 2 gallon milk jugs (half full) In a standing position while holding handles bend elbows up and back to form a straight line from the top of your shoulder to your elbow behind you. Then straighten the elbow to form a straight line from your shoulder to the milk jug. This is done out to the back and should be felt in the back of the upper arm as well as in the fatty shoulderblade area. Ten reps of this everyother day will prevent the chaulkboard flabby arms we all cringe at the sight of.

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Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2000

Untrivial Bowl
Bob Rozzelle
Bob.Rozzelle@wichita.edu
Activity Description:
This has been an enduringly effective tool. Some use it as a way to summarize workshop or course content , important ideas, policies, procedures, information. Submitted by Bob Rozzelle, Director, LAS Advising Center Bob.Rozzelle@wichita.edu Wichita State University The Untrivial Bowl* Helping Students, Staff & Advisors Manage the Mountain of Important Information * Developed at Wichita State University for use by all others interested in making the seemingly dull but important stick in the minds of Students, Staff and Advisors. Adaptable to any information intensive environment. The Untrivial Bowl: Helping Students, Staff & Advisors Manage the Mountain of Important Information Wichita State University Introduction As faculty, students, staff and advisors, you will be required to master a mountain of information in order to be able to be a successful in your endeavors. We recognize that you have many responsibilities and tasks to accomplish. To help you we provide you with written resources so that you do not have to have every important piece of information memorized. However, it is important that you have a good grasp of the essential information for your comfort , credibility and for your success. The Untrivial Bowl was developed to assist you to become acquainted quickly with essential information in an enjoyable context. You have become acquainted with key information through a prior assignment(s). You will now have the opportunity to exercise the retention of that information and to have it reinforced through this game. After a brief explanation of the guidelines and a sample warm-up round, you will have 8-10 minutes to "cram for the Untrivial Bowl with the total pool of questions being used. Divide this one list among members of your team for best results. Guidelines for Playing the Untrivial Bowl A. You have previously been assigned to teams. B. Get into your teams and choose a team name which exemplifies your ability and uniqueness. Write your team name on the card provided. C. Each team will test its "buzzers (real one or raise hand or stand up or put on silly item, etc.) as called upon to do so. D. There will be a warm-up round with very easy and fun questions (to free up anxieties) then two rounds of Toss-up questions,and a final round called "Bet the Ranch Round. E. The first member of a team to sound the "buzzer will, upon being recognized by the judge, attempt to answer the question. The questioner will stop asking the question as soon as someone is recognized. Once answered, the questioner will read the full question and the correct answer to reinforce retention of the information. F. Ties will be arbitrated by the judge whose decisions are final. The judge is never wrong! Attempts to abuse the judge may result in a reduction of your team,s points. G. Round one correct answers will be worth ten 25 points each. Incorrect answers will cause no lost points in round one. H. Round one will last approximately 15 minutes. I. Round two correct answers will be worth 50 points each. Incorrect answers will cause a loss of 25 points. J. A correct answer to the last question in round two on each team will make that last person on each team eligible to answer a bonus question. The correct answer to a bonus question in round two is worth 25 points K. Round two will last approximately twenty minutes. L. Round three, the "Bet the Ranch round, will consist of one question; often a multipart question. M. Prior to the question being asked, each team must decide how many of its earned points it will risk on getting the correct answer to the "Bet the Ranch question. The team will write that number on the card provided. The card will then be turned over. N. Once the question is asked, each team may discuss the answer to the question among its members. The agreed upon answer will then be written on the card provided. There is a three minute time limit for this. O. The questioner will call time and then make the rounds group by group, first checking for the correctness of the answer and then the amount of points risked. P. The team with most points at the end of round three will be declared the winner of the Untrivial Bowl. Folks, this is "THE BIGGIE! Q. Ties will be decided by additional Toss-up Questions as needed. R. The winning team and each member will be awarded an appropriate prize (University-related items, candy, etc. donated by whomever.) Equipment Needed for the Untrivial Bowl 1. A questioner with many untrivial questions and answers. 2. A time keeper with timepiece or ability to count "one thousand and one through one thousand and sixty. 3. A judge, who is never wrong, to determine first person to answer each question. 4. A scorekeeper and scoreboard (or play money) 5. "Buzzers for each team. 6. Tables and chairs for four teams. 7. Prizes. such as candy or gum tossed to participants for correct answers (along with points given, this adds fun and excite throughout the game) and for teams at end. 8. Cardstock and markers. 9. A sense of humor and enthusiasm. 10. Other ideas you may bring to the game. Variations On Procedures 1. Substitute for a Toss-up round an everyperson round where each team member must on an alternating basis answer the next question. Buzzers would not be used for this round. 2. Substitute for a Toss-up round head-to-head round where a team can put their "best player head to head with the best from each other team. 3. Have "cheerleaders" for each team to help keep up enthusiasm. Some teams of cheerleaders have even come up with a team chant which they yell each time a team member gets a correct answer or when their team needs an extra bit of encouragement. 4. Others?

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Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2000

Balloon Questions
d ocan
Activity Description:
Have each individual ask a question on a slip of paper and at the end of the training put the question in the balloon and blow it up, then the group tosses the balloons in the air and after 10sec of balloon tossing have the first person in the group pop the ballon and answer the question that was asked.
Note from Christian: You can also play this as Balloon Frantic - the baloons that fall to the ground are the questions asked to the group.

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Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2000

Blindfold Tent
Chris Ockenden
fitz.ock@sympatico.ca
Activity Description:
You will need some blindfolds and a tent or two to do this activity. Blindfold everybody in the group, except one, who can talk, but cannot do anything else. Give the group the tent and have them set it up.
Note from Christian: You can use this same formula with almost any activity from making a meal to building a bird house.

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Date: Mon, 06 Nov 2000

Bird Song
mila yosores
myosores@yahoo.com
Activity Description:
first have a copy of a cassette tape entitled birs song. With the song the participants are instructed to open and close their hands in tune with the music and afterward wiggle their bottoms. This is done first by facing forward, then face ith partner.
Note from Christian: This sounds a lot like the "Chicken Dance" done at weddings.....but I thought I would include it....because who knows.

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Date: Sun, 05 Nov 2000

Insanity Hoops
Kathleen
rankhorn@mc.net
Activity Description:
This activity is used with a large group 50-60 middle school aged children, outside with the focus on team work. You will need 30-40 minutes for the activity and discussion. Divide the group in to smaller groups of the same size. Give each group has a hula hoop and lay it on the ground and ask them to form as circle around a center hoop about 10 feet away from the center hoop. The center hoop contains practice golf balls (looks like mini wiffle balls). 50-60 is a good number. Walmart sells them in packages 12 fairly cheap. The objective is for each group to get all the golf balls inside their hoop. The rules are: no running, no stealing the balls from another group, no throwing the balls. Blow a whistle and have them begin. There is usually a free for all to get the balls. Stop and discuss, did it work? Did the group get all the balls? So now your group needs to make a plan. Give 2-3 minutes for them to think of a plan and try again.This usually takes 2-3 tries and then one kid will ususally step forward

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Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2000

Kindness Box
carolyn claiborn
c_claiborn@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
Students are asked to report acts of kindness demonstrated by other students. The reports are placed in a box and the winner of kindness student of the week has his picture taken and placed on a bulletin board in the classroom.
Note from Christian: A variation of this is to create a Kindness Box that has suggestions of random acts of kindness that people can do for each other. People can also contribute new ideas.

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Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000

Flippy Flier Frenzy
Mark Blatchley
marbla@javanet.com
Activity Description:
Set up a playing area such as a volley ball court. Place a "goalie" for each team with a small bucket behind the opposing team. Give each participant at least one flippy flier (small nylon frizbees listed by PA as 'softies' in their catologue but available from many sources). Each team attempts to throw fliers into their goalies bucket. The goalie may not use their hands, only the bucket to catch the fliers. Players may attempt to catch fliers but may not leave the court and the goalie may not come onto the court. A round ends when all fliers are in one bucket or the other. Missed throws which are out of bounds are randomly returned to play by referees. The game was originally played with real frizbees and 5 gallon buckets in playgrounds in Cambridge Mass in the 70's.

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Date: Mon, 09 Oct 2000

Mickey Mouse Ball
Jeff Albin
skydog@counsellor.com
Activity Description:
A lot of people have probably played Alaskan or Egyptian baseball which as participants discover, is not much like baseball at all. The group is divided into two teams by any one of a number of inclusive strategies. Anything but the "two captains" approach. Materials needed are a Mickey Mouse Koosh and a 3' foam bat and numbered dots like in the Project Adventure "keypunch" game. The rules are as follows: 1) Team "A" takes the field. 2) Team "B" is up to bat. 3) The ball (mickey) is pitched. 4) Any contact with the bat is considered a hit. 6) There are no out of bounds. 7) Every team member of the team that is up gets to bat each inning. 8) Points are scored by the batter as s/he runs around his/her entire team. One point for each full circle 9) A batter is out when the team in the field passes it through the legs of each team member in sequence. They are lined up leapfrog style. The person at the end yells "out." Those are the basic rules with some variation of Alaskan or Egyptian baseball. It might be considered level one. To add an additional challenge the team that is in the field stands on upside down randomly distributed numbered dots (sticky pads or pieces of paper will work also). Once the ball (mickey) is hit, the team in the field must look at their numbers and stand in sequence while passing the ball through their legs to get the batter out. I usually switch the numbers at random to keep the game moving. Don't get stuck in the "now I need to get a foam bat and a mickey mouse." I've seen brooms, phonebooks and heads used as bats and foam balls, fleece balls and hackey sacks used as balls. Usually Mickey ball is played to a tie. This can generate discussion about assumptions.

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Date: Tue, 03 Oct 2000

Pennies From Heaven
Kelly McCool
Kelly McCool@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
I found this activity in a Group Exercises Manual by Susan Carrrell for use with adolescent groups. Purpose: gain feedback and understand how others perceive each other and to identify characteristics that enhance or discourage trust. Materials needed:50 pennies in a paper cup for each member. Each member is given the cup with the pennies in it. In round robin fashion, each member gives or takes away as many pennies as he/she wants from each member in the group. Each member takes turns telling why he/she gave/took pennies from peers (instruct to be specific as possible). Of interest is if one gives all or none of own pennies. Review the positive and negative personality traits identified. It is hoped members will try new behaviors to promote friendship.

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Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000

Self Advertisement
Janet L.
janlpn96@yahoo.com
Activity Description:
Material needed: poster board, markers, or magazines. Have person make an adverisement selling themselves as to why they would make a good friend. This is a good self-esteem exercise.

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Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000

Inside Out
Janet
janlpn96@yahoo.com
Activity Description:
On poster board draw outline of person. Have people write on the inside what they feel. Write all over the body. i.e. on the stomach can write"insecure". On outside of the body, write the way that they protray themselves to others. i.e. they may portray themselves as a "know it all", but in reality feel quite insecure. Or a person that is always joking is really hurting on the inside.

Note from Christian: I have used a variation of this activity with masks. Each person designs a mask with the face they portray on the outside facing out and the face that they wear on the inside facing in. I have also used this in an academic context to talk about Jungian Psychology.

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Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2000

My Day
Oliver Tichmann
otichmann@botsnet.bw
Activity Description:
This one is for groups that have worked together at least for a short time. It works best if people already know a little about one another, for example, occupations. Instructions; Imagine yourself to be the person to your right /left (or whatever you choose) and describe in four or five sentences what kind of day you had. The person concerned then gives a score for accuracy eg. six out of ten. This usually makes for a good laugh but also has people walking a yard or two in one another's shoes. The group also learns a little more about each person.

Note from Chrisian: A variation of this I have used is have people interview each other and then they introduce themselves to the group as the other person. This can be hightened by having the person who is introducing to stand behind the person they are speaking for with their hands on the shoulders.

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Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000

Trust Me
Karen Paskins
Karen.Paskins@wcom.com
Activity Description:
Divide team into teams of 2. Develop a maze and associate points to more challenging areas. Blindfold one member of the team, and the other talks the blindfolded member through the maze. Winning team is the team that developed trust of each other by gaining the most amount of points.
Note from Christian: I have some serious questions about the name of this activity and its ability to develop trust. I do not think that points will necessarily equate to trust. I think there is actually the potential to do real damage to trust by telling people that they should now trust each other more because they got this many points.

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Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2000

Ha Ha Name Game
Jean
Activity Description:
What an incredible site!!!! Combined this one from others I found elsewhere: In a circle, participant introduces self to person on left with a leading adjective 'Talking Tammy' and ends with 'Ha!'. Next person must say while pointing to right individual "She is Talking Tammy and I am Happy Harry - Ha!Ha!" (or whatever their name and adjective is and one Ha! for each name the pointed and said.) Absolutely no laughing allowed. If someone laughs, the game restarts with them - no need to remember everyone's name. Name's will be learned and laughter will definitely occur!
Note from Christian: The Ha Ha Game is a classic from one of the "new game books". The group lies down in such a way that each person's head is resting on someones stomach. Person one goes "Ha", Person two goes "Ha, Ha" and so on until every member of the group has gone. Of course if someone actually laughs you have to start over again. It is helpful to allow people to shift positions.

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Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2000

Noodle Basketball
Rick Smithson
tbarick@yahoo.com
Activity Description:
Items needed: one noodle for each participant (noodles are those foam swimming pool toys, cut in half making them about 3 ft. long) and one basketball per team. Teams are about 8 to 12 each. Game begins with basketball on ground on opposite side of gym from the goal. The directions are: you may not touch the ball with anything except the END of the noodles, no wrapping or resting the ball on the sides of the noodles. Everyone in the group must have contact with the ball with their noodle. You cannot hold any closer to the end touching the ball than 1/2 length of your noodle. Objective: the group is to pick up the ball and make a goal. If the ball falls, you must begin over at the starting place. This game teaches cooperation and communication.

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Date: Mon, 04 Sep 2000

Close as a Brother
Sue
Ndebt2jesus@aol.com
Activity Description:
At the beginning of a service, preaching, worship, music, etc.... pair the group off. Take a thick yarn or cloth strip and tie two together at the wrist. Manipulate the situation so that a quiet person is paired with an outgoing person, a scene stealer with a pew potatoe, etc. This activity promotes togetherness. It also opens doors to worship in different ways or being accepting of others worship. You'd be amazed at how much easier it is to raise your hands in worship when you are holding a raised hand to begin with.

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Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2000

Window Panes
David Stoebel
dps@stoebel.com
Activity Description:
This is generic kind of activity that can be used for visioning or some other kind of "group think" situation. Break a large group into smaller units of 3-6. Give each group a chart page divided into quarters (a window pane). Depending on the content of the session tell them to draw an outcome, alternative future etc.. in each of four categories (this is highly situation dependent). I four is not appropriate make it three or five. Explain that there are no rules as to what "drawing means, encourage creativity. What I find is that people,s minds work differently and more creatively if they put it o paper. Have the breakouts present their "findings" to the whole group. The facilitator keeps notes on each presentation n another flip chart and debriefs summarizing what the whole group has said. I haven't done it, but I don't see why the same technique couldn't be used to identify problems or issues. I found this very useful with a mixed group of teens and adults.

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Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000

Name Tag
Nema Pierce
nema@oxnardsd.org
Activity Description:
Materials: A list of questions on a poster or overhead transparency(see below) This activity works best with a large number of people (20 or more). Facilitator reads the first three questions on the list. The questions may be basic if the participants do not know each other (Name? Where do you live? Favorite Color?) or more challenging if already acquainted (Middle name, favorite cartoon character, # of times you have moved). At the sound of a bell, participants find a partner and each shares the answers to the questions. A short time later (45-30 seconds) a second bell rings and all talking stops. The facilitator is now "It". "It" goes around to different pairs asking questions such as "What his/her middle name?" or "How many times has she/he moved?" If "It" asks 5 people and all answer correctly, "It" rings the bell and new partners share their information. Anyone who does not have the answer to "It's" question becomes the new "It". Ring the bell often and change partners. Also, add to the list of questions, but keep the time limit the same.

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Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000

Networking
Ronald G. Shapiro, Ph.D.
RonShapiro@SigmaXi.Org
Activity Description:
BACKGROUND: I chair a technical specialty group which meets about once a year. This provides an outstanding opportunity for people (including graduate students who are looking to enter the field) to Network. Instead, however, people tend to go to opposite ends of the meeting room when they arrive and sit quietly waiting for the meeting to begin. After the meeting, they leave. Furnishing food and snacks does not help as much as one would like. People tend to get food, but then sit by themselves. While one of the icebreaking games listed on this site might work well, I thought that it would be hard to sell it to this audience. Thus, I tried the following activity and it worked. ACTIVITY: I announced to everyone as they arrived that our meeting would start by calling all students to the front of the room and having them name, with their eyes closed, as many people as they could in the room, and tell something about each one. There would be prizes. It worked... Students started talking to professionals and professionals started talking to professionals. After allowing about 20 minutes or so for this networking, the meeting started. The students were called to the front of the room for the naming exercise. As a student named a professional, the professional stood up and verified the information given. We gave all of the students that participated two years free membership in the technical group. (Next time the change I would make is having the professionals tell something about the students when they stand to verify the information the students provided about them and I'd offer a small prize (e.g., a candy bar) to the professionals as they are named by a student.)

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Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000

Orienting Oneself
Angela Johnson
artsguru@mindspring.com
Activity Description:
Sorry, if this has already been submitted (also thank you for this FABULOUS website, I'm going to tell all of my colleagues about this website. The activity is for larger groups(more than 20. Ask everyone to stand up and then announce to have everyone orient themselves to the room by (1) age. The group has to figure out where the youngest person needs to stand, middle aged folks and then elders. Then ask people to announce how they oriented themselves, by decade, year, or month. Next ask the group to orient themselves in the room by place of birth, do the same exercise with astrological signs or number of siblings. It's a good icebreaker and a way for people to realize there are different ways of orienting themselves within a group and many different ways to identify ourselves.

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Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2000

Middle Management

Andi Roberts

aroberts.eurosite@ctv.es
Activity Description:

I co-designed the following with Julius Lamb, the facilitator that also ran the program. I have posted it in the hope that is useful for some one in the future. I think it is similar to a few other activities. The group was 14 pax. Split into 3 group Management team - 3 pax Middle managers - 4 pax Agents - 7 pax The agents and management teams were placed in different rooms whilst the middle manager went between. Middle management could not enter the management teams room (they were busy) but did recieve faxes from under the door! The lego construction was 28 pieces including the base. Very simple The activity was reviewed by 1) getting the three "groups" to make happy charts (see Roger Greenways www.reviewing.co.uk , or his book "Playback") with each person putting their own happiness on it against the activity time 2) Discussing with that team the differences and similarities and why those occurred 3) Drawing in a bigger line a group average for hapiness/motivation 4) Meeting with the other teams and presenting their happy charts along with again why there were ups and downs 5) A discussion on what the other groups percieved of each other levels of happiness/motivation 6) What they could take from the activity to the workplace Points 5 + 6 were non facilitated group discussion ( well facilitated by the group itself) The activity was timed as follows Briefing - 5 minutes Activity - 30 minutes Review - 40 minutes Below are the briefs the groups recieved Blind Object Assembly Management team brief Objective To get your agents to successfully build an exact replica of the model that you have in front of you within the time frame of 30 minutes Other information Your organisation consists of your team, middle managers, and agents. The agents are the only members of your team that may touch the model pieces Constraints You can only speak within this group Communication to the middle management must be written down All communication to the agents must go through the middle management. Resources The model Pens and paper Yourselves Blind Object Assembly Middle management team Objective Your task is to assist your management team in completing their objectives. Constraints To communicate with your management team you can only pass information by way of a written memo The agents that work for you can only be spoken to. You must not approach closer than 3 metres to the agents and their work area. You may not interfere with their work i.e. touch the model pieces Resources Yourselves Pen and paper Blind Object Assembly Agent brief Spoken brief by the facilitator This is a spoken brief and only to be given once all of their team members are out of hearing range and the Agents are sat at their table. "You are the agents for your organisation. Your task is to assist your management team by carrying out the tasks given correctly. You are supervised y a team of middle managers whose role is to support you and the senior team. On the table in front of you is a box of Lego bricks. You will be asked to wear blindfolds once the middle managers receive instructions from the senior managers. You must keep them on until you have successfully completed the tack or you run out of time. If for any reason you become uncomfortable with the blindfolds please tell your safety team member who will escort you to an area that you may see in" END OF BRIEFINGS

Note from Christian: This was posted to the AEElist and posted here with permission of the author.

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Date: Sat, 05 Aug 2000

Untangle
Kellie
jbclwc@vnet.net
Activity Description:
You will need one piece of string for every person in your group. The pieces should be about 3 feet long. (A little bit shorter for middle schoolers.) Separate the kids into pairs. Give the string out. Now one kid needs to tie one end of the string on one wrist, and then the other end to the other wrist. The other kid ties one end to one wrist, and then they cross the string under their partner's string and then ties the remaining end to the other wrist. By now the strings should be crossed. Now the pairs must get "untangled". They are not allowed to take the string off their wrists.

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Date: Wed, 02 Aug 2000

Adjectives
Chris Little
chris_little@habitat.org
Activity Description:
ICEBREAKER which can work for larger groups. Have adjective written out on small cards one adjective per card, enough for three cards per participant. Hand these out randomly to the group and then, when the music starts they need to go around and exchange cards until everyone is satisfied that the adjectives he or she has describes her or him. Once they are happy with their adjectives they can sit down. At the end, everyone introduces him/herself, and reads aloud the three adjectives.
Note from Christian: This reminds me of the classic adjective introduction. Each person says their name and an adjective that describes them (e.g. Classy Chris, Dancing Debbie). The adjectives can either start with the same letter as the name or not.

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Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2000

Childhood Stories
Shannon Boehm
sbrione@juno.com
Activity Description:
I don't have the time to read through all of these, so I cannot say if this has already been submitted....delete if it has. In this game each person writes down a story from their childhood that they think no one else in the room knows. They put all their stories into the hat and then people take the stories out and read them (each reading a story that is not his own). Then everyone votes on which story they think is who's. At the end, the owners of each story are revealed. Besides getting to know one another better through the stories, you also learn who in the group is the most unpredictable, who's the most intuative, etc.

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Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000

Four Corners
Kimberlea Jones-Galley
kgalley@home.com
Activity Description:
I use this activity as a warmup and as a way to divide a large group into four smaller groups. The participants are asked to stand or be ready to move for anyone who is unable to stand. Four corners of the room are identified. The group is asked to go to the corner that MOST represents their answer when a question is asked. Example of questions are; - the season you were born: winter, spring, summer, fall - the order you are with your siblings: oldest, youngest, middle child or only child - your favorite meal: breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks And often I will make up questions related to the topic or the group experience. For example; - what is a goal: 1. something you want to achieve, 2. a furry animal that lives in the mountains, 3. a point awarded to the team that puts the puck into the net, 4. a small round object - why are you here: 1. to learn everything I need to know about the topic, 2. to eat all of the snacks I can, 3. to get to know the people I will be working with, 4. I really do not know It can be quite fun and allows for the creativity of the facilitator.
Note from Christian: I have used a similar activity and call it connections. People are instructed to get together with those who share the connection (e.g. birth order, birth month, where they were born, etc.). This can also be a way for members of the group to begin to take leadership by sharing some of the categories for connections.

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Date: Sat, 08 Jul 2000

Whose Shoes?
Karen
karen@islandnet.com
Activity Description:
This was given to me by a colleague: it's a fun icebreaker and stimulates discussions on assumptions and judgements. Possible materials needed - large garbage bags or boxes You can do this in a number of ways but the object is to have people remove their shoes without making a big deal of it. You could request everyone remove their shoes prior to entering the room. Or, if they're sitting at tables, pass around the box/bag, ask them to slip off their shoes and place them in the box/bag without the rest of the group seeing. Dump all the shoes in a pile in the back of the room and get the group members to team up in pairs. Each team is to examine the pile of shoes and determine which shoes belong to which participants - They all have a head start on two of the pairs as they'll know their own. This actually takes a fair bit of time and inspires much debate and laughter. It's also alot more difficult than it seems. At the end of the allotted time, compare notes and discuss how people reached the conclusions they did. Then have everyone take their shoes back and see who guessed the most correctly.

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Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2000

Not Named
terri howard
thoward@crisisprevention.com
Activity Description:
In order to get people into groups in a more creative way, give participants a card with the word "boat" "lamb" "bells" or "ball". Tell them in order to find their group they must hum the tune of the song that corresponds with their card (ie boat= row, row, row your boat, lamb= mary had a little lamb, bells=jingle bells, ball=take me out the the ballgame)
Note from Chrisitian: This activity is often called animal farm. Each person is given one an animal sound (e.g. moo) and everyone shouting out moo would find each other. I have also seen this done where each team is given a word (usually symbolic of a theme in the training, e.g. leadership). There are many ways to make this creative. Usually this activity is best done blindfolded. This activity could also be done where each group gives a different sign in ASL.

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Date: Tue, 04 Jul 2000

Hand Contract
Dr. Mary Lee Swickert
Mlsdhjs@aol.com
Activity Description:
Use of the hand makes for easy to do, and easy to remember adventure based contracts. You always have your contract with you, you can always shake on it, and you can use it to emphasize the contract at various points during the day. The little finger stands for vulnerability and the need for safety. The ring finger stands for love and caring about each other. The middle finger (favorite of adolescents and some adults) stands for respect for one another. The pointer stands for support, both emotional and physical. The thumb stands for "thumbs up" you've done a good job! [Depending upon your group, you can exchange the meanings of the pointer and the middle fingers!] Very successful tool with my groups.
Note from Christian: I believe you can find more information on this activity from Project Adventure and their full value contract.

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Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2000

Evolution
Shannon
shannonhecker@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
If this is a repeat-Sorry. It is a paper, rock, scissor energizer for all ages! The "evolution" is from egg to chicken to eagle. And the de-evolve eagle-chicken-egg. Everyone starts as an egg (all hunkered down, low to the ground) and finds another egg. Play paper, rock, scissors and the winner goes to a chicken (elbows out- bah bahk bahk) the loser stays an egg. Eggs play eggs, chickens play chickens, eagles play eagles. Ya just mingle about finding a kindred egg, chicken or eagle to play.
Note from Christian: I've seen some fun variations of this including evolution to supreme beings and as people evolve to this level they join in a chorus of "Stop in the name of love before you break my hear" by the supremes with gestures.

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Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000

Recognition
Ronald G. Shapiro, Ph.D.
RonShapiro@SigmaXi.Org
Activity Description:
Recognizing important events, such as birthdays, anniversaries, graduation, acceptance into college or graduate school, or receiving a job offer or a promotion is important. It helps build teams and a good working or learning environment. Recognition can be as simple as mentioning the significant event in class or at a department meeting. It may involve presenting an appropriately lettered cake or pie. It may involve going out for lunch. On occasion, there is room for some creativity and using the celebration itself as a team building event. One semester, for example, while I was teaching evening classes at a community college, I had a rather extraverted student, Lisa, in class who had three significant events all happening at once. She turned 25, got engaged, and was about to graduate, all within a two week period of time. The class wanted to do something special for Lisa. We organized a surprise party for her during the normal break time. Lisa frequently volunteered to participate in class activities so it was very easy to get her to cooperate. I called Lisa to the front of the room for our class activity. When she got to the front of the room I explained that I did not want her to see what we were setting up until we were finished, as soon as the setup was complete we would explain the activity to her. I then blindfolded her. The remainder of the class quickly set up a nice desert and beverage buffet for Lisa. I then told Lisa her job was to identify what the class had set up. People touched the back of her hand with some objects (forks, cups, napkins, and even some frosting) and asked her what the objects were. She never did figure out what the setup was. So, the class placed her in the middle of the buffet setup, handed her a cake all nicely lettered (Happy 25th, Engagement, Graduation). When the setup (including Lisa holding the cake) was complete, the blindfold was removed and we took a few pictures of her holdin On other occasions, we have celebrated birthdays for our student employees by giving them a gift for each year of their age. On one's twenty first birthday, for example, they would receive 21 (or 22--some people believe in an "extra") gifts. Each gift is a small item which teaches some history or something about our product line. For example, we have presented all sorts of objects nicely wrapped from the history of computing (e.g., a computer card, a mouse pad, a hat used in an advertizing campaign ). The gifts are presented along with a brief explanation of what they are and how they are used. Sometimes we have the recipient tell us what they think the item is how they think the object was used and how they might use it as soon as they open the package. After their explanation, we explain how it was used. We usually also include a gift for them to give to their parents. No matter how you, as a leader and/or teacher, recognize important events, the important thing is don't forget to recognize them! The time spent is fun, but it is also good business... When you show you care, your students and employees will reciprocate by doing better work or doing an extra assignment.

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Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000

Ambush variation
Marijo Cook
Activity Description:
Yesterday we did this variation at a drug and alcohol rehab. I brought water pistols, balloons, buckets and tote baskets. Each team made a construction paper person, and their objective was to keep him dry. One team left 10 minutes early to hide, carrying their weaponry, and left construction paper arrows for clues to their position. The other team followed, found them, and 'fought'. Game ends when ammo runs out or one paper guy is obviously wet. The only rule I gave them was that they could not throw the whole bucket of water-- they could only use it for re-fills, and they had to keep their paper guy with them. Next time I'll add a rule against going into the woods and one against throwing water balloons at other people's heads. Good fun and a nice cooling activity for a 95 degree summer solstice in TN.

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Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000

Straw Tower
Greg Rausch
graren@goodnews.net
Activity Description:
This is additional information regarding the "Tower" activity suggested by Byrant Prince on Sunday, Feb. 27 2000. I just learned of this activity at a "Positive Adolescent Choices Training" course. Divide your group into two teams and provide them with with a bunch of bendable drinking straws and some masking tape. Instruct each team to build the most tall, most creative tower possible in a certain number of minutes (ususally 5-10). The straws can be taped to the base and to each other but no other object. At the end of the time, have each team evaluate the others' project and tell why the other team should WIN rather than their own team.
Note from Christian: This activity is similar to the great egg drop which is listed on this page. It is also similar to a bridge building activity where the bridge that can carry the most weight wins.

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Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000

A Wonderful Name Game
Eve Manz
emanz1@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
Here's a great name game, especially for younger people, but really for anyone. Divide group into 2 equal groups. Hold up a blanket between the two groups. One person from each group sits by the blanket so that when it is lifted the two people are face to face. The object is to say the name of the person facing you before they say your name. The person who loses joins the other team. The extra twist is that if you point at the person as you try to come up with their name, you must join the other team. You can vary by putting 2 people on each side. Very fun.

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Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000

tic-tac-toe
niki
icantsay@Aol.com
Activity Description:
First you set up a grid with two lines going in either direction, and then you get a patner to play with you. Your partner should be either x or o. You take turns putting x's and o's in to the spaces until the grid is filled up and one f the players gets a tic-tac-toe three in a row. Whom ever gets the first three in a row wins the game and then you make another grid and start again. The game is easy and it travels any where. all you have to do is just remember the set-up and you can re-draw the game anywhere. for example, while waiting for a meal to come out of a restaurant you could play a quick round to pass some time.....and before you know it, your meal while be out, in front of you!!!!

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Date: Tue, 30 May 2000

Bombs Away
Jen Jacobi
JenJacobi@aol.com
Activity Description:
I got this from a class I took recently. I don't know where the professor got it. The group leader puts lots of nerf balls (or rolled up socks or other soft substitute) in a playing area. The group divides into pairs, and one member of each pair is blindfolded and guided (in any way desired) by the other. All of the pairs go into the playing area and pick up balls to throw at other pairs. Only the blindfolded member of each pair is allowed to touch the balls. When a pair gets hit three times, they are eliminated. The game continues until only one pair is left.

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Date: Wed, 17 May 2000

Building a Concept Automobile
Reg Theroux
rftheroux@cbe.ab.ca
Activity Description:
Purpose of this activity is; Team Building, understanding the importance of communication between teams and creative problem solving.Sorry, I am not able to acknowlegde the originators of this activity, however it is fun and works well with teams who know each other or not. Materials: Masking tape, flip chart paper and plenty of coloured flip chart pens. Split the class into teams of 4-6 people. Then have each team split themselves into a sub-sections (that is, an A and B section of team #1, and so on). The Assigment: Instruct each team to draw a new concept vehicle for use in your particular environment.The sky is the limit. However, team number #1 (as all teams) have two sub-sections and A section will build ONLY the front half of the vehicle, while B section will build ONLY the back half of the vehicle. Instruct the teams to separate and not communicate with each other at all during the design/drawing of their half of the vehicle. After the alloted time (30 min.) the A and B sections of each team are required to meet, tape the front and back halves of the new concept vehicle together and plan a sales meeting for the larger group. The team will now have to market and sell the new vehicle to the larger class. This will require collaboration and discussion and the selection of a sales person to present the new concept vehicle. The activity can provide a lot of creative team building, certainly brings out a few laughs and demonstrates how projects are tough to put together when teams are not able or don

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Date: Wed, 17 May 2000

Ask and Learn
Shiela Slaughterbeck
intruder800v2@yahoo.com
Activity Description:
Ask and Learn: I am a trainer at a large telemarketing firm.We find that many of our customers respond with the phrase "I'm not interested" Our representatives need to know why they are not interested, so they need to ask questions to find out why. Otherwise they have no where to go. I teach this lesson by telling them the end of a story and they have to ask questions to find out what happened to come the end result. Example: A married couple goes on vacation for a three week period. When they return they find that thier fine jewelry has disappeared forever. The electricity went off for three days What happened? Answer: They gave thier keys to house sit. They kept thier jewelry in the freezer for safe keeping. The neighbor emptied out thier refridgerator to be nice and threw the jewelry out.True story.

Note from Christian: This sounds a lot like a mini-mystery. I believe there are many of them further down on this page. These can be very fun and useful to play with groups on the trail, in a van or in other places.

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Date: Mon, 15 May 2000

Who's Your Neighbor?
William Lorenz
llib_znerol@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
Have the group sit in a circle (on the ground works, but benches or chairs work better). One person will stand in the middle. With their eyes closed, they will spin around with their finger pointing forward until a designated person says "stop." The person in the middle will approach the person who they are pointing at and say, "Hello, my name is __________, what is yours?" They will respond with saying their name. The person in the middle will then ask, "Who are your neighbors?" The person being asked will answer by saying the names of the people on both sides of them (have them ask what the person's name is if they are not sure). The last question the person in the middle asks is, "Who would you like to meet?" The person in the circle responds with, "Everyone who is ____________________." An example would be: everyone wearing pants, everyone who has brown eyes, everyone who likes to swim, ect. Everyone who fits that description and the person who just said the suggestion must get up and change

Note from Christian: This activity is also known as all my neighbors, where the wind blows, or have you ever. There are many variations to this some include you may only ask things that are true for you. This activity must sometimes be monitored for appropriateness with groups (e.g. sexual content). It is an excellent game to help the group get to know each other.

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Date: Wed, 10 May 2000

Variations on Themes
Pam Parrish
pam@azinfo.org
Activity Description:
Great site! I have a few variations on themes and one exercise I didn't see: Introductions/getting to know each other: Write the name of a dog breed on 4-5 sheets of paper. Pick ones with differing temperaments -- i.e., labrador retriever, pit bull, poodle, Australian shepherd. Post the sheets in different parts of the room and have participants stand by the one that best describes them. Then have them tell why they chose that dog. You can vary this in many ways -- by using different kinds of animals, having people choose which they'd resemble in their professional life or in their private life, etc. Human Bingo: Several people mentioned having a sheet with descriptions or qualities on it (i.e., born in this city, has met someone famous, etc.) and asking participants to have each other sign the sheet. One of the teachers I work with had a great variation on this, which would be doable if you can access the participants ahead of time. We asked them to write one thing no one knows about them, or their most embarrassing moment. Then we used those for the "bingo" cards. At the end, we read down the list and had people identify themselves to the group. It was a great icebreaker and resulted in much hilarity. Dividing into groups: Kids and adults alike get a laugh out of using the Beatles names, John, Paul, George and Ringo, to count off and divide into four groups. Any other commonly known group or phrase would work, too, like "U of A," which is our university and a cheerleading chant. The Love Squeeze: This is a closure activity I learned at Children to Children, a grief-support group here in Tucson. Have partcipants stand in a circle and hold hands. One person starts, by squeezing the hand of a person on either side of him or her. That person squeezes the hand of the next person, and the squeeze is passed around the circle. When it returns to the person who started, he or she says, "I got it!" There should be no talking while you do it. Kids like this a lot, and so have adults I've used it with. (It's always fun when one of the kids spaces out and forgets to squeeze the next person's hand, leaving us all standing and waiting.) You could use it as a blessings squeeze, appreciation squeeze, a symbol of commitment to action, etc.

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Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000

Critical Reflection of Self
Carey Manza
careymanza@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
This activity is a variation on the "walk a mile in my shoes" activity submitted by Anne Stevenson. SUPPLIES: Markers and large poster paper or newsprint INSTRUCTIONS: Give each group member a large sheet of paper and have them share markers. Instruct members to draw a picture of self. At the head they should write or symbolize something they dream about. At the eyes they should write a news headline that they would like to read. At the heart they should write the names of people they love. At the nose they should write three smells that they like. At the hands they should write something they'd like to have. At the waist they should write about a habit that they would like to break (waste). At the feet they should write a place they'd like to visit. There are numerous variations. Also, depending on group cohesion etc. each member can choose to share some or all. As a closure to this activity, members can circulate and write a message on the paper of each other group member.

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Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2000

When I Grow Up
Carolyn Lieber
Carolyn_Lieber@dph.sf.ca.us
Activity Description:
This is a very simple introduction game that is good for groups working together and getting to know each other: as a way of introducing yourself, each person says what they wanted to be (or thought they would be) when they grew up and then says what their job actually is. You can add time and interest to this exercise by asking people to describe what, if any, elememts of their job relate to what they wanted (or thought) they would be doing when they grew up.

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Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000

Jenga with a difference
Emma Pitt
emmapitt@msexc.addenbrookes.anglox.nhs.uk
Activity Description:
I saw this at the HRD exhibition in Olympia. I have since tried it and it works really well.Jenga is a game where 2 people take away blocks from a tower.(can be bought from any main street toy store)This task is slightly different in the classroom. One is blind folded the other gives instructions.The pair have 10 mins to build as many new blocks as possible.Great for listening skills,as the 2 candidates can feed back how they both felt.

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Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000

M & M's
Susan Washburn
swash2@jcpenney
Activity Description:
You will need a medium to large bag of M & M's depending on how many people you have, (something to put them in is nice, but not needed hands work well). You pass the bag of M & M's around the room and "share" them with everyone, but ask them not to eat them yet. Once everyone gets their M & M's you then ask everyone, one at at time, to tell one thing about themselves for every M & M they have taken. They can eat them as they tell about themselves. Or move them into a seperate pile. Variation: Tell everyone there is only 1 roll of toilet paper and you would like everyone to take as much as they feel they will need for that session or, that weekend and pass it around. Then for every sheet of toilet paper someone has, they tell something about themselves, tearing it apart as they go.

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Date: Sat, 08 Apr 2000

Circle of Sound
Karen Roman
karenbr1@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
I have to give credit to a former improv teacher, Matt Kaye for this one. This game encourages creativity and is a great way to build group cohesion. Everyone sits in a circle with their eyes closed. The facilitator then walks around the circle and taps people on the shoulder. The person tapped starts making a sound. This continues until everyone in the circle is making sounds. The point of the game is to create an improntu piece of music by giving and taking from the group.

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Date: Thu, 06 Apr 2000

Tissue Talk
pamela roberts
pdroberts1@AOL.com
Activity Description:
Have each person in your group roll of as much or as less tissue as they want. Tell each person to count the squares,once each person counts their squares and come up with a number they have to either tell that many things about themselves or you can have them buddy up with a person and exchange their tissue. Once they exchange tissue they have to find out that many things about their partner. This is a icebreaker to introduce people to one another.

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Date: Wed, 05 Apr 2000

Helen-Helen-Helen
Carey Manza
careymanza@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
Energizer/team-building activity. Group members must stand in a circle, "It" is in the center. "It" must say the name of any other group member three times fast. The member that is being named must interrupt "It" by saying "It"'s name, before "It" says that person's name three times. If/when "It" succeeds, the member that did not interrupt with "It"'s name becomes "It".
Note from Christian: This activity is also called Fruit-Fruit-Fruit, each person on the outside identifies a fruit and the person in the inside of the circle must say the name of the fruit three times before the person who is the fruit can say it once. The one nice twist with this version is that the person who says the fruit three times becomes that fruit, hence as people go in and out they are always changing what they are.

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Date: Tue, 04 Apr 2000

What We Have in Common
Doug Gilzow
dgilzow@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
This is an Icebreaker I've used for professional work groups of about 20,--often made up of nationals from a dozen or more different countries--who do not know each other well. It could be varied for smaller or slightly larger groups. Have people do line-up activities, such as Kristin Cabaniss describes (by height, birthdate, length of time with organization)and then put them into twosomes. Once people are put into these random pairs, they have a set amount of time (5-10 minutes) to find out: 1. information to introduce one another (name, job title) 2. As many things that they have in common as possible. Go around the group from pair to pair to have them introduce one another and tell how many things they had in common,possibly hightlighting any interesting coincidences (We both have twin sisters...) This activity has worked well to begin establishing personal connections in a new group that would be working together for a week or so. Sometimes I've given a little prize to the pair with the most items in common.

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Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2000

Meaning of Your Name Bookmarks
Wendy Smith
Wendi.Smith @gateway.net
Activity Description:
Designing a bookmark which is based on the meaning on your name.All you need is a book of the meaning of names which our group found very cheaply for £1.99.Felt pens paper card and some great visual ideas and away you go.

Note from Christian: It is also possible to do this with out a formal book by having people design a bookmark with what they think their name means, or what meaning they give their name, or other ways they interpret the question of meaning of their name. This can also be a good way to introduce the notion of metaphor.

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Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000

Tower
Bryant Prince
Activity Description:
Build a tower out of of drinking straws and must be 10 and 12 inches in hight.

Note from Christian: This description was limited, however it does raise several activity ideas that are worth noting. They are similar to the great egg drop presented eariler on this page. You might limit the number of straws or require it to hold a certain amount of weight. A related variation is to create a bridge our of pasta or straws. This activity is often used in physics classes to teach basic principles, but it is a useful problem solving activity as well.

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Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2000

Made up Names
Activity Description:
This ICEBREAKER is fun for people that do not know each other, as well as, long time group members. It's comical because of the unexpected. Give the name of the first pet you ever owned and add your mother's maiden name (last). Ex. Fluffy Houseman, Rip Tip Bacon, Tailsy Wagner,Spot Light, Tiny Walls Rose Killer etc.
Note from Christian: Variations on this (and ones you might need) rather then using name of a pet you can use the name of a childhood toy or similar entity. Also rather then mother's maiden name you can use the name of a street you lived on.

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Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000

Tick Tock
Mark Squires
msquires@voyager.co.nz
Activity Description:
In a circle, hand an object to the person on your left saying "This is a tick !". They must reply "A what ?". "A tick" "Ah, a tick !" They then pass onto the next person ......."This is a tick !" "A what ?" "A what ?" (this back to the first person !) This pattern continues around the circle. With the "A what?" question eventually making it's way back to the person who started and the answer "A tick !" heading it's way forward. At some point add a second object moving in the opposite direction. "This is a tock !" ............ ETC ETC Sure to have everyone laughing within minutes !
Note from Christian: This game is also known as "Barkle/Farkle" or simply "A What"

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Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2000

Shield Making
L. Rosenberg
laurie.rosenberg@sru.edu
Activity Description:
For this activity you need a round cardboard shield for each participant. You can use tagboard or posterboard and trace around plates of the appropriate size for patterns. Just plain crayons are sufficient for decoration, or you can gather various craft supplies and get fancy. There are various ways that people can decorate their shields to represent themselves. Themes I have used include answers to questions, (favorite ecosystem, hobbies, favorite animal, etc.) family crests, and various types of symbols. One of the best scenarios for shield making I used was based on the native American concept of a medicine wheel. Another good shield making scenario was to have people draw their favorite ecosystem at the top half of the shield, and then divide the bottom into two parts. On one side they can draw a threat/problem to the ecosystem, and on the other side they can draw a way that the problem can be solved or alleviated. I've also done shields about people's favorite books. Anything to give folks simple ideas of how they can represent themselves visually. (There are many topics you could garner from reading some of the other icebreakers here.) Then folks describe the meaning of their shield to the rest of the group as a way of introduction. You can hang the shields up and have other folks add affirmations to them. You can have groups make a shield and hand decorated paper feathers from the shield representing each group member. This activity adds a festive, decorative touch to educational or therapeutic sessions.
Note from Christian: I've also given this to students as a project and given them some general questions for different quadrants, especially related to culture. I had one student do his shield in metal, others have used family photos and poetry...there are really no limits to this one. I will often give people a bit of an introduction to the cross cultural nature of shields. As with any activity it is appropriate to consider the cultural elements (e.g. using medicine wheel or traditional European shield aspects) with groups who are not connected to this culture.

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Date: The, 10 Feb 2000

People Search
Mollie Tobin
mtobin@orderfusion.com
Activity Description:
I use this during New Employee Training and Orientation as a way to meet other employees. I create a sheet with descriptions that could fit 1 or more current employees. The new employee must find that person and get his/her signature. Each description has a different point value. For example, "find someone who sails," might be worth 3 points, but "find out the nickname of the VP of Engineering," might be worth 6 points. The person with the most points gets a prize! I add new descriptions for each training - it's a great way to let the NewBees in on secret jokes and it makes the current employees feel special and sought out.

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Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2000

Hand Rub Game
t.d. bartley
ms_traci@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
Have group members rub their hands together for about 30 seconds. Have the participants place thier hands next to, but not touching, the person next to them. ASk the group what they feel when the person next to them placed thier hands by them (they will answer warmth, a presence etc). Use this to illustrate that sometimes, as professionals, being present is the most helpful thing to people in need.

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Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2000

Connect Two
Dolores Shavers
s4dolores@aol.com
Activity Description:
In a large group, this activity may be used as an ice-breaker at the beginning of a workshop. 1. Pair-up 2. each partner think of a number between 1 &10. 3. Now add the numbers 4.Now connect hands and jump as many times as the combined total. This also may be used in a self-esteem workshop. With the individual number, the partner is to tell the other as many positive things about him/her self. When finished, the roles are reveresed.

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Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2000

I Need help!
Annie Anderson
amander1@kent.edu
Activity Description:
This activity has excellent processing qualities. It can be facilitated indoors or outdoors. One person would facilitate this activity. Everyone else is blindfolded. A long rope should be tied around about 12 trees in a circle, or you could put chairs in a large circle and tie the rope around them. The blindfolded group will stand inside the circle, and will hold the rope with one hand at all times. Everyone will move around the rope in the same direction. The facilitator tell the group that after they have all gone around the circle once, the facilitator will untie a section of the rope and the participants will have to find the exit. Then the facilitator tells the group if they need help, raise their hand. This game is played completely silent. When the participants begin, the facilitator will say 'I have just made an exit. If anyone needs help, raise your hand.' The trick is that you don't make an exit. After the participants have gone around twice, tell them again 'if anyone needs help, r This exercise shows people how sometimes you can't do things on your own and you need to ask for help, and it's okay to ask for help. It also shows how to trust others (the facilitator in this example). You will find that some of the participants may be very stubborn... allow about 10 minutes for this activity and if people haven't raised their hands, tell them you're going to stop the activity in a minute, then ask them if they need help. Don't let them become too frustrated. See how this works for you!

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Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000

What Are You Doing
Dianne English
dizel@bbsol.com
Activity Description:
Group in circle, first person turns to person next to them and mimes an action ,say brushing their teeth. The person next to them asks "what are you doing" the first person says anything but brushing their teet, say "I'm tying my shoelaces" that person now starts miming tying their shoelaces and the person next to them asks "what are you doing" they could say "I'm flying a kite" and then that person starts miming flying a kite then next person in the circle asks "what are you doing" and so on.. around the circle.

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Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2000

Blind Down the Allie
Ralph Rosenberger
cool__dude@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
This takes about twenty people to play this game. Blind fold a person and spin them around three times. Then send them of in any direction.The others should guide them along till they reach the end where the next person starts though.

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Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000

Giants and Gelphlings
Adam Ekelund
shazzzadam@aol.com
Activity Description:
This activity is really a game that really required no mental metaphoric strain on your mind, but is just some good, old-fashioned, runnning around fun, and it's one of my favorites. It can be done with any amount of people, really (although more than 20 is a good amount) and I have done it with 15 people up to 100 people. It calls for no equipment, except markers to border the playing field and pinnies to maybe mark the "giants". This is a variation of the FREEZE TAG game that gives the people who get "frozen" a chance to get "unfrozen", but requires a little more participation than just tagging the "frozen" kids. A giant ("it") tags the gelphling ("not it") and to let the other gelphlings know that he is tagged, he sends out the "universal gelphling distress signal" which is made by doing the following: make one hand into a fist, but with the thumb up. put your other hand palm-up underneath your other hand. keep your open hand stationary, but slap your open hand with the pinkie-side of your fist. got that so far? at the same time, you start to say, "help me, help me" in the highest pitched gelphling voice you can. This is quite a funny sight and it makes the game almost more fun to watch than to play. SIDE NOTE: This hand signal is very close to the sign language word for "help" To free the tagged gelphling, two (and only two, but you could vary it to three if you wanted) other gelphlings must join hands around the tagged gelphling and wave their arms up and down, saying (in their high pitched gelphling voices, of course) "be free, little gelphling, be free..." and then the gelphling can return to play. RULES: 1) The two gelphlings that are saving the tagged one cannot be tagged by the giant... joined together, they are stronger than the giant. 2) NO CHEATING - i found that kids devised a way of never getting tagged by always pretending to be tagged, i.e. by putting up the "universal distress signal" when a giant came by. 3) No "babysitting" tagged gelphlings - you have to give the other gelphlings a chance to free their friends. 4) HAVE FUN AND RUN TILL YOU DROP - this is a great and fun way to get kids to use up a lot of energy. Ratio: 1 giant to 10-15 gelphlings? it depends on the ability of the group. you will find out what is right for your group, though.

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Date: Sun, 09 Jan 2000

Float the Ping Pong Ball
Steve Davies
sdavies@insightsworld.com
Activity Description:
Slightly more than average materials required: 6 foot 6" diameter plastic waste pipe with holes drilled sporadically up its vertical course and around the circumference (ie so the water can escape out!) Ping-pong ball sits within at the bottom with pipe held vertically. Team has to bucket water from a source some yards away, to the vertical pipe and as a team retrieve the table-tennis/ping-pong ball by floating it to the top. The participants have to organise themselves to cover and plug the holes using only thie bare hands to fill the pipe and retrieve the ball. Fun and can be a little wet but a good outdoor one for a team in the summer. Have fun!

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Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999

Group Juggle
C. Kerr
cbkerr@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
This activity is a good one for a group that does not know each other. I learned it while working at Honey Rock Camp in Wisconsin. Here's how it goes. You have the group stand in a circle (5-12 people). The object is to toss an object(ball, hacky sack, stuffed animal, etc.) around the circle. However, before a person throws the object they have to call out the person's name they are thowing it to. They throw it to the same person each time you go around the circle (they continue the same pattern). As they begin to get the hang of it, I usually add more objects. With the addition of more objects there is usually a lot more laughter as everyone is trying desperately to pay attention so they do not get hit with an objector or drop one and have three more coming their way. After the activity I will have volunteers name all of the people in the circle. I will give everyone in the circle an opportunity to name everyone (also a great way for facilitators to learn names).

Variations from Christian: I have done this with the group in two lines, I have done it where the is no pattern (each person calls out a name before they throw, I have also done it as a lead in to the activity "ward speed" (see below).

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Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999

Simple Tasks
Mindy
mlp28@email.byu.edu
Activity Description:
This one is good for discussions on communication. For: around 8 players. Needed: a 15' rope and two trees or, poles 8 feet apart. Blindfold half your group. The other half is to remain mute. The object is to tie the rope between the two trees, four feet off the ground. Tell only the mute half the objectof the game. Also tell them that they cannot physically complete the task. They must instruct the blindfolded members on what they are to do. Give them an age appropriate time limit.

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Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999

Across the Great Divide
Kirsten Norslien
knorslien@onbelay.cnchost.com
Activity Description:
This is a straight forward A-to-B initiative, which I must give proper credit to Cathy Pruddhome for teaching me. Set up two boundaries about 15 to 20 feet across. The group begins on one side, lined up side by side. Their challenge is to cross this expanse keeping their feet in contact as they cross. Should they seperate, an appropriate consequence is to be assigned. A couple small safety considerations. 1) Do not allow them to tie shoe laces together. As a fifth grader once told me,"tying shoes together is dangerous if there is a fire in the building". 2) Watch for folks falling either forward or backward, usually they watch out for each other, but still watch. A couple thoughts. 1) Don't get caught into THE SOLUTION. Read the directions and parameters. 2) This is a nice activity to do with several small groups coming to a central point. Its a nice metaphore for what it takes to work together when you're coming from different places.

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Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999

My God Is....
Serena Owen
woserena@yahoo.com
Activity Description:
Adapt a classic chain game to review the attributes of God. The first player begins by saying, "My God is (quality beginning with the letter "a"). The second player continues, sayibg "My God is (quality begining with the letter "b"). Continue around the class, helping children as necessary. (Since the object of this game is to help each child reflect upon the character of God, I usually don't eliminate players as in a traditional chain game. Instead, players help one another until each child can remember most of the qualities named without assistance. Although this game is not an original of mine, I thought is was interesting enough to share. This game would also be fun played divided into teams using score points. God Bless!

Note from Christian: This activity can also be used for any type of group regardless of age by choosing any topic or theme being explored in the group (e.g. community, teamwork, love, healing, etc.).

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Date: Sun, 07 Nov 1999

The Chocolate Factory
Brent Grothe
brentandjan@aol.com
Activity Description:
Much like "River Crossing" or "Turtles" but with some details. Participants are each given (or maybe come up two short for starters) one 1 foot square piece of cardboard or anything else similar and told they must escape a chocolate factory that is melting down. They must cross a vat of hot chocolate on the stale marshmallows they have been given(cardboard)and must avoid the Vat Rats (you) who steal marshmallows when a foot loses contact. They cannot slide the objects across the floor or ground like skis. They may also have a time limit to cross this vat (it is melting down, after all). Make the distance long enough to cause the group to reuse marshmallows. Note the dynamics when more and more marshmallows are taken by the rat. It's great for building a sense of team and cooperation and it's also a great workout for the Vat Rat as you must really hustle to snag 'mallows. It's a simple activity but energizes and creates communication along with healthy anxiety. Many metaphors available. Thanks, Ray.

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Date: Fri, 05 Nov 1999

Take Off
Gary Eavey
geavey@indiana.edu
Activity Description:
This activity is great for group awareness. It involves paper airplanes and a lot of personal information. Start by giving each person in the group a piece of paper and pencil. Challenge them to write down as much information about themselves as possible. Instruct the participants that the information must describe their personalities and nothing else. This prevents physical and historical references that people often use to describe others from being written. Give the group several minutes to complete this task and ask each member to keep their information a secret that will be disclosed at a later time. Once everyone is done writing have the participants fold their papers into airplanes. To keep it simple the facilitator should lead this and everyone should have the same design. Be sure to fold the tips over so no one gets their eye poked out. Then have the group gather in a circle with their paper airplanes. Tell them that each identical airplane has a passenger inside. The passengers are fro their group but their identities are a secret. Everyone must close their eyes and launch their airplanes straight up in the air when the facilitator yells TAKE OFF!! Just as the airplanes are at peak flight the facilitator yells SCRAMBLE and the participants open their eyes and try to catch an airplane before it hits the ground. Then the airplane is unfolded and the catcher trys to identify who the passenger is by writing a name of someone in the group at the bottom of the page. Do this process several times until the activity peaks and then share the information with the group. As the descriptions and names are read the real passenger stands up. This activity is always a lot of fun and demonstrates how similar and different people can be in a group. Debriefing topics can be looking beyond physical appearance and personal status and accepting people for what's inside.

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Date: Thu, 04 Nov 1999

Rat Tails
Shawn Becker
seed_planters@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
This is a good warm up activity that quickly became one of my favorites. You need to cut pieces of rope/webbing so that they are at least 3 feet long. They need to be long enough to drag on the ground once they have been tucked into your back pocket or waistband. I use cotton clothes line. Everyone will get a tail and tuck it in so that it is dragging behind them on the ground. The participants then have to remove other tails while protecting their own. Rules: 1. They cannot use their hands to remove tails or protect their tails. 2. They cannot sit down or stand against the walls 3. Once your tail is removed you are out of the game This activity can be fast paced and competitive. You may have to make sure people are not getting too rough When there are just a few left with their tails, I often restrict they space they can run around in, or I have the participants who are out form a circle around the remaining rats. This forces them to go head to head. Sometimes they agree on a tie, but rarely.
Note From Christian: A variation of this game (I learned it as dragon's tail) is to add a rule that you can not be holding more then two tails. This is a nice rule if you want the game to go on longer and if you want it to be more cooperative (e.g. if a person has two tails in their hand and they get one more, they must give it to someone who does not have any tail).

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Toothpick Bridges
Kristin Derr
derr4580@unco.edu
Activity Description:
Each team of anywhere from 2-6 people recieves a box of toothpucks and an hour! In this hour they have to build a structure with the toothpicks that will hold their team. Only one person has to be supported at a time, but all team members have to be able to stand on the structure. After a half an hour, bring out a supply box with glue, tape, rubberbands etc. Some teams will use these, however some will have found ways to build their structure without the supplies.

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Helium Stick
Scott Chreist
teambuilders@bainbridge.net
Activity Description:
This activity will really baffle your group for awhile. Take a tent pole, have everyone support it with their index fingers. The goal is for all group members to maintain contact with the pole and lower it close enough to the ground for all pinky fingers to touch. Group members cannot pinch, trap or hold the pole, ONLY SUPPORT IT. ...No the stick is not really full of helium, and yes gravity does still exsist. Have fun

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Pinball
Peter Kelley
kimesu@worldnet.att.net
Activity Description:
Pinball Props: at least two empty plastic soda bottles, two liter are best. one ball, soccer type or larger Nerf type ball Area: a large indoor area or gymnasium, or an outdoor field of some type. Rules: The game can be played like soccer, or each player on knees, etc to limit hogging of the ball. Divide into two teams; choose a "goalie" who will protect the team's goal, which is one of the two liter soda bottles. Draw a circle around each soda bottle as the "arena" only the goalie is allowed inside (the two "keys" of a basketball court are perfect models for the circle, as well as the separating distances. The object is for each team to kick the ball so that it knocks over the other teams bottle, scoring a goal. Certain helpful rules equalize play, like "the ball has to be passed three times before any one can try to score," or "everyone must have a turn kicking the ball before an attempt can be made to score."

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Cooperation Circle-Icebreaker
Megan Turner
nmnm715@mindspring.com
Activity Description:
This game can be used with younger children, but was recently used at a team building session with therapists. Everyone stands in a circle with one person in the center of the circle. The person in the center of the circle is the "spinner". The idea is to cooperate with the others next to you in the circle to form either an elephant, a tree, and any other character. The spinner turns and points to someone and says one of the previous objects, such as "elephant". The person pointed to forms a trunk with their hands clasped together and each person on either side uses their arms to form ears for the elephant(arms shaped like the letter C). The spinner says ELEPHANT-then counts 1-2-3-4-5. Whoever does not get their part done in time becomes the new spinner. To form tree the person pointed at in the middleputs their arms straight up, each person on the side puts their arms up in the air but angled to the right.

Note from Christian: This game is also known as "Speed Rabbit" "Elephant, Palm Tree, Girraffe" and a few others. It can be used with any group. Also it is a wonderful activity to allow the group to express its creativity by coming up with new animals (or any other character...Elvis is my favorite) and the actions of the three people. Also you can reduce the time given to form the character to make the game more exciting.

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Occupations Game
Allyson Graul
agraul@altinc.org
Activity Description:
This game is used to break a large group of 20-40 people into smaller sub-groups. Create slips of paper that contain possible statements of people from a variety of occupations. For example: "May I see your registration and license please?" "Would you mind stepping out of the car?", etc. might be included in the POLICE occupation. "Stick out your tongue and say 'Ah'", "Does it hurt when I do that?", might come from the DOCTOR occupation. Give each participant a slip of paper, and 5 minutes to figure out what their occupation is, and to find the others who are in their profession. Once everyone is found, sit together with your new 'breakout' grouping.

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Icebreaker--Four Truths and a Lie
MnIPECKMAN@aol.com
Activity Description:
This is a fun activity for getting acquainted at the beginning of a training class. During introductions, ask participants to write down three truths about themselves and one lie. As they introduce themselves, they should read the four statements. The remaining class participants have to guess which statement is a lie. For example, someone might list: -I am married with three children. -I know how to fly a plane. -I have a boa constrictor. -I have a doctorate from Harvard. Participants have to guess which statement is a lie.

Note from Christian: There are several other versions of this activity below, this is a nice example of how the same activity can be varied very easily.

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Cinquains
Kelly Johnston
cispusropes@myhome.net
Activity Description:
I was taught the following as a form of poetry called cinquains. For those literary-minded among us, it may not be entirely correct. It still works. Participants are invited to write a poem (careful calling it poetry - has a way of creating mind-blocks) in the following format: first line, one noun; second line, two adjectives or adverbs (ing words); third line, four verbs; fourth line, four word phrase; fifth line, one noun. I used this recently at a Challenge Course facilitators recertification and asked them to write on the subject of facilitation. The resulting poems (read with numerous disclaimers) were insightful, meaningful and great creators of dialogue about what we do out on the Challenge Course.

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Superman
Martin Csepai
martin@inside.hu
Activity Description:
This activity is an energizer. The story: the group is going to simulate the evolution of men. "Some scientists believe", that the evolution of men had 4 stages - egg, chicken, bird and the final phase, superman. Every stage has a movement - egg: continuously hitting the head with both fists while shouting egg-egg-egg; chichken: the well known chicken movement (elbows moving in and out) while shouting chicken - chicken - chicken; bird: arms strechted out on the sides moving up and down with elegance while shouting bird-bird-bird (slowly, it is an albatros); superman: jumping up and down while one hand streched upward and shouting superman - superman - superman. The flow of the activity is the following: at the beginning, everybody is egg. During the exercise, you need to walk around showing the sign of your current stage and have to find someone who is on the same level as you. After you find a pair, you play the stone, scissors, paper game. The winner jumps up one stage (eg. from egg, s/he becomes chicken).

Note from Christian: When I've played this game I have had the final step in the evolution process becoming a "Supream Being" and at this point the person begins singing the supreams song "Stop in the name of Love before you break my heart, think it over, think it over" they do this until everyone that can evolve has evolved..and then this group can "evolve" all those who could not evolve "naturally"

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Big picture, small picture
James Siew
white_knght@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
This game emphasises the importance of having a clear vision for efforts to be successful. The lessons learnt have powerful lessons in communication and leadership. Divide as many people as you have into groups of 4-5. Each team is given a bag of jigsaw puzzle pieces (normally 50 pieces works best; nothing too complex!) outside its box. The team members cannot have access to the completed picture which is normally found on the jigsaw box. The team must appoint a leader whose job is to guide the team to assemble the jigsaw puzzle. The facilitator has the pictures of the completed jigsaws at the front of the classroom. The team leader may come up to the facilitator's area as often as he likes (ALONE)to look at the picture and return to his group to help them assemble the pieces. The team leader cannot do any of the actual work. Teams compete against each other. As a second-chance round, have the teams compete to finish the puzzle WITH the picture in front of them. De-brief the exercise by focusing on what it was like to function without a "big picture" to aim towards. Explore issues of leadership, trust in the leader, communication, etc etc. Discuss the importance of having a clear VISION in any organization.

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Gutter Ball
Keith Haas
kphaas0@pop.uky.edu
Activity Description:
A great problem-solving activity, in the spirit of "thinking out of the box." Give each member of the group a piece of chair railing, or any piece of wood that is at least a foot long and has a grooved surface on it. Have the group members get into a specific order (use any creative way to do this, using order of birthday, etc.). Then give a marble, or gumball, to the first member of the group. The rules are 1. The marble must touch every piece of wood involved in the game 2. The marble must go in the order set by the group (or the facilitator) 3. The marble cannot touch more than one piece of wood at the same time. The goal is to see how fast the group can get the marble to touch every piece of wood in the order set. Almost every group will find it irresistable to attempt the obvious; but, as they soon find out, there are plenty of ways to quickly skin a cat. Lots of issues can be addressed after this activity; planning, communication, leadership, the whole gamut.

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Couple Coup's
Ashish K.Chawla
ashchawla@netscape.net
Activity Description:
This activity is a wonderful ice-breaking activity. It involves breaking up participants in couples. The condition on formation of these couples is that they must not be known to each other.The couples are to ask each other five(predecided) embarassing/'naughty' questions the answers to which will help us remember them by.The couples are given ten minutes to find out about each other.Then each couple comes in front of the gathering and gives the introduction of his new found partner.The 'audience' participants are allowed to interject, clarify and to a certain extent 'rag' the person being introduced.This results in all the participants coming to know each other better in a fast-forward mode generating lot of laughter and promotes an atmosphere of an easy learning mood before a 'heavy ' training.Also very useful before a Team Building training. This excercise is slightly lenghty and is recommended when the training 1.is going to be 3-5 day affair 2.will need to involve participants in group excercises, 3.has a maximum of 20 participants.

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The Pen Game
Steve Mason
steve@unac.org
Activity Description:
This is an activity which aims to initiate a discussion on the purpose of rules. Have a group of 10-25 people sit in a circle, and give one person a pen. Tell the group that the object of the game is to pass the pen from person to person around the circle so that it gets back to the first person, but do not explain any other rules. After the first person passes the pen, stop the game to tell the group that the person has done something wrong, and explain what that thing is. The wrong move can be anything you make up, like passing with the wrong hand, passing without saying "lazy chicken" at the same time, etc. Continue the game, with continual stops to correct "wrong" passes, until the pen gets back to the first person. After the game, intiate a discussion on fairness and rules.

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Straw Cities
Murray Hair
yfcnt@yfc.org.au
Activity Description:
This activity works well with large groups divide into 6-8 hand out packets of drinking staws 150 is a good no. using 6ft of 3/4 masking tape have the groups build a city landscape eg a train station bridge shops it is up to the groups what they build At the end of 20-30min have the groups come together and build their city as one. A great community building idear take photos

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3D Web
Vishwas Parchure
outbound@scpl.net.in
Activity Description:
This is like the spider's web, but finds application when u want to have an extended activity that could last for upto 4 hrs at a stretch, or attempted a little at a time, depending on whether the group is ready for the intensity the activity demands. Set up a series of strings running across an area measuring say, 10 by 20 feet. Have them criss-cross across the width, at heights varying from 1 foot to 7 feet off the ground. Design the holes so that some have be gone over the horizontal, some from under. Each player has a varying number of holes to pass through, each one of a different difficulty level. This activity allows the team to explore strengths and weaknesses within, leadership skills, loads of opportunity for supporting each other and so on. If this has not been described well enough (i have this nagging doubt!)here, feel free to check back. Promise to send more details.

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Tuba-Ruba
Wendy
Rec-Creations@mindspring.com
Activity Description:
Purchase plastic dryer hoses about 8ft long each. Divide the group into equal teams of 3-4 people. Each team gets one dryer hose and one small ball (croquet ball or tennis ball will work). Each team bunches up in a circle, wraps the dryer hose around their waists, holding the two ends of the dryer hose together. When the leader says "go," the object is to get the ball all the way through the dryer hose. Everyone must hold both hands on the hose, it must be touching everyone's waists at all times, and it needs to stay connected in it's circular shape. (ie, no holding it in a straight line/slant so that the ball just rolls from one end to the other. SAFETY PRECAUTION: make sure there are no sharp wires poking out of the dryer hose.

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Hands(coordination & focusing)
Paul Dear
dears@tribe108.freeserve.co.uk
Activity Description:
Sit in a circle and place both hands flat on the floor in front of you so that your right hand almost touches the left hand of the person next to you and that your left almost touches the right of the person on your other side.(so you are in a complete circle with every one almost touching hands.)One person begins by tapping a(r or l) hand on the floor.The person whose hand is almost touching responds by tapping also(r or l again)The idea is that whichever hand taps next to you controls the direction of the taps.You can reverse or continue the direction.The game becomes more intense as it speeds up.As a variation try interlocking hands.(THEIR LEFT INSIDE YOUR RIGHT ETC)Hope this makes sense!

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The Value of IDeas
Colleen O'Neill
o'neill.colleen@luthbro.com
Activity Description:
Ice breaker - ask a participant to lend a dollar - ask another to lend a dollar- repay the first with the second and the second with the first. Ask the group -What was the value of this exchange? - nothing - money only changes hands. Ask - What if they had each written out an idea to share with me and I passed each along to the other? Much more dynamic exchange. Pass out memos sheets (that look like $1000 on one side)and instruct that their ideas have value when they are shared - inform that they will be asked to share ideas. Additionally use the memo to jot down and idea or concept that would helpful to share with someone else - after the session.

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STRETCH
Chris Brown
sea_monkey_98@yahoo.com
Activity Description:
Stretch is a very similar game to Twister. Works best with a small group (~8 people). You will need a beanbag or some other object to throw around. The group starts in a circle shoulder to shoulder, with one person holding the beanbag. That person then tosses the beanbag into the middle of the circle. The person on their immediate left must stretch to the beanbag (one foot must stay in the last spot) and toss it for the next person. Play continues until everyone falls.

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Perspective Stretch
MB Buckner
mbbuckner@pa.org
Activity Description:
I can not take credit for this activity only for the above mentioned naming of it. A participant in a recent workshop created it as far as I am aware of. It can be a combination name/stretch activity. Have everyone stand in the famous circle formation. One person will start off by saying their name (if this is something that the group still needs to review). Then the person should give the group a word, any word and each member of the group must then create and action or stretch that matches that word. Everyone will most likely come up with very different actions for the same word, this is what I really like about this activity. It is amazing how we can percieve things in such a variety of ways. Anyway back to the activity, each person in the circle comes up with a word for the group and that is that. Words might range from supercalifragalistic, dancer, rain, book, etc. the point I am trying to make is there are no limits here (I do try to keep things "PG" rated however).

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Crumpled Confessions
Stephanie
bushnes_osu@osu.net
Activity Description:
You put the people in groups of no smaller than 5 and each person has the same paper and pencils. Each person writes something wild and crazy they did when they were kids and they crumble the paper up and toss it in the middle of the circle and everyone grabs a paper and tries to figure out who wrote it. Then you can tell about your confession.

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Culture Vultures
Jane Hudson
merlinh@mweb.co.za
Activity Description:
As you can imagine, South Africa has a lot of work to do regarding prejudice and racism. I designed this exercise for a youth leadership development programme. It really works! Step one: Ask the whole group to imagine they are explorers landing on an undiscovered island. They discover a civilisation and wish to understand the culture. Ask them to devise a set of 20 questions to ask the people as a clue to the culture. (luckily they speak the language! Hey...this is a game!) Step two: Once they have agreed on the questions, ask them to divide themselves up in to groups. Each group is to be made up of participants who feel they share the same culture. This is difficult for them to do but is important that you DO NOT interfere with the process. Step three: Once the sub-groups are settled, (they obviously differ in size - we often have groups of one)ask them to send ambassadors to the other groups and apply their set of 20 questions to each group. Ambassadors must then report-back to their sub-group. Make sure you allow adequate time for this. Step four: Once every group has interviewed every other group, bring them all back together to discuss the experience. Common outcomes: A great deal of learning about each other and the realisation that we are all not that different from each other. Move on to a general discussion about the dangers of type-casting and prejudice. Equipment: Paper and pencils to record the questions and answers NB: You need to be skilled to draw the best from the experience. Works best with people from about 15 years old. Takes a bit of time. Must be used in a multi-cultural setting. Shouldn't have more than about 25 participants.
Note from Christian: This is an excellent activity to add to the activity called Culture Exploration on this page. I have used that activity and one like this to devise a set of questions social workers can use when they do intakes to take into account culture.

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Closure
Gwen Moss
yetiwomyn@webtv.net
Activity Description:
If you have to reflect on an hour, eight hours or more try this for a group closure. The world too,is filled with all kinds of symbols. If I would say Nike, Peace, Love, NFL, WNBA, I am sure you could think of a symbol that goes with the words. Have the group as a whole or each individual member try to come up with a symbol that would represent the time they have shared. Good Luck.

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Name Game
Linda King Pruitt
storytaler@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
This is an interactive activity I use for group introductions in storytelling clubs. Have group seated in a circle: Choose an animal that begins with the first letter of your name. Say your name. Name the animal, adding an action (gesture), and sound that helps us see that animal. Group repeats name, action and sound. Go around the circle. Concept of gestures and voice in story are introduced in a fun way that begins building a story community.
Note from Christian: Other variations on this concept of name games include choosing an adjective that has the first letter of the name of the participant, choosing an emotion that is being felt right now and giving a sound and gesture that are associated with it, doing something you would normally not do at the start of a group, an embarrassing incident, one goal a person has, favorite toy as a child, these are just a few. In terms of the group repeating back there are several different strategies each has benefits. One stratergy is to have each person say their name and the assocaition and then all the names and associations before them (either they say all the names and associations and then their own or their own then then others). If you use this strategy I usually suggest a facilitator go first and promise to go last as well, I also use it to normalize that it is ok to ask for help, but that enabeling is not helpful. A second strategy is to have the group say the person's name and association back to them like three times. My experience is the first one is better to help with remembering names (and associations) but the second is faster with larger groups. Being a proponent of purposfulness in the use of activities, I would add that as Linda's example demonstrates. You can use the name game to ground a concept for latter use in a program. For example if you are working on positive self esteem you might seed choosing an adjective that reflects their best quality, if you are working on recovering childhood you might use the toy. Have fun, be creative.

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The M &M game
Jenna Wertheimer
werths@mediaone.net
Activity Description:
For every color of an M&M's or Skittle choose a topic or category that you want students to discuss. give your students a bag or bowl of the candy and ask them to take as much or as little as they like. Ask them to sort the colors they recieve and ask them to refrain from eating them until the activity begins. Tell them that they need to answer the question, topic, or category for each M&M's that they have. For example, for the red M&M's they need to say something that nobody else knows about them;for the orange M&M's they need to say a goal of their for the year and so on and so forth. This is a great warm up activity as well as an activity that can be used when people know each other well or you want to discuss certain issues with a group.
Note from Christian: Another activity that shares this name is though has a different intent involves the old activity of thumb wresteling. Pair people up and tell them you will give each one an M&M for each pin they achieve. This usually produces competition and the winning of very few M&M's. You can promt the group to suggest that they are not winning many M&M's and you wonder why that is. Have another round. You can continue to promt thinking until one team (often does not take that long) realizes that if they COOPERATE they can win lots and lots of M&M's by simply allowing lots of pins. When they get it..can lead to some good conversations about where cooperation could be helpful.

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Celebrity
ssbabygirl@aol.com
Activity Description:
What you need: Notecards, tape, and pens. Have your group pair off. Have the parnters write down the name of a celebrity, cartoon etc. (ex: barney, frank sinatra, cameron diaz...) Then give the notecard to your parnter and have them tape it to their forehead with out them seeing it. Now have everyone re-group and ask yes or no questions to guess who they are. Its a good activity for everyone to loosen up.

Note from Christian: An interesting variation of this is to have names of all the members of the group on cards but they are randomly distributed. In this way I would have someone elses name in the group on my forhead. The object is to go around and to solicit info about this person and to guess as to who you are. Often when I have used this I have the person share some of the feedback they received and their guess (this way the actual person gets some great feedback about how they are preceived, but it is annonymous). This works very well with a group where some people know each other and others don't. If everyone knows each other really well it is probably somewhat less effective.

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Naming Ourselves
Joel Tolman
jtolman@wso.williams.edu
Activity Description:
This activity was adapted from one offered up by Chris Cavanaugh, a popular educator in Toronto. It is an effective way to begin a session in which inclusiveness and representation of many stakeholder groups is a priority -- i.e., in a community visioning session. Ask all workshop participants to stand in a circle. Explain that, any time a group is brought together, there will be voices missing from the room. The goal of this activity is to remind us of those missing voices -- stakeholders that aren't present, friends and allies who couldn't make it, role models and heroes who inspired the group, etc. Ask the participants to say the names of these individuals aloud to the group. If they want, they can provide a sentence or two describing something of that person that they'd like to have present for the meeting, or they can simply say the name. By creating a written/visual record of this activity, posted in the space where the workshop or meeting takes place, these names can serve as a reminder throughout the process. It can also be a tool in planning future outreach work.

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$10,000 Pyramid
Aimee Domingue
Aimee_Domingue@aimfunds.com
Activity Description:
Prepare notecards with concepts, phrases, etc. on one side of the card. Divide the trainees into pairs and have them line their chairs up in the middle of the room with their backs to their partner. Allow one minute for one partner to describe what is on the card to the other partner. They are not allowed to say any of the words that are on the card. This is a great activity for a review session.

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True or False
Karen East
keast@lsb.state.mi.us
Activity Description:
Ask each person to write down three or four things about themseleves, one of which must be false. Ask them to pass the paper to the person on their left, alternatively, invite them to pair up with someone else in the group. Their partner reads the statements out loud and the entire group tries to fathom which is the false statement. This exercise works well for people who know each other slightly or well. There is always something to discover about someone. It is a nice metaphor for discovering something knew about your organization, there is always untapped potential beneath the surface.

Note from Christian: This activity is also known as two truths and a lie or two lies and a truth. It also works without having the items written down and with having the person share the items themselves. Depending on the group you may have to monitor for appropriate content for your context. Can also be a useful lead in on discussions about honesty, deception, and related topics.

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It's Road Signs
Jonathan Halperin
jhalperi@u.washington.edu
Activity Description:
Good for long, difficult, data rich workshops, strategic planning, etc. Create simple images of road signs on 8x11.5 patper, i.e,. stop, go, yield, no u-turn, 90mph speed limit, etc. Post on walls. Ask people to identify with any sign and go over and stand near it. Have participants explain why they chose the particular sign and explain their reasoning. This can be a good, kinestetic - visual - verbal way to take a temperature reading of a group and have people articulate their present state of mind.

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Better with a Team
Candace Bowen
cbowen@kent.edu
Activity Description:
I use team-building activities with high school newspaper staffs. First I give them some sort of individual brain teaser. I tell them NOT to share ideas, NOT to confer with one another, etc. I always make it a fairly difficult concept (the Nine Dots "thinking outside the box" etc.) Then I give them another activity to do with the group. Often that is a brain teaser with a play one words, like a box with the word "SAND" in it, which is "sandbox." These work well with brainstorming and collaborating on ideas. Then we debrief and point out how much more successful and enjoyable the team version was.

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What's good about you.
Jeff Evenson
evenson2@juno.com
Activity Description:
Break into groups of five. Each member writes down five things about the four other members and submits to facilitator, facilitator then compiles data and presents to subject so they see how they are viewed by the team.

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Loop the Group
K. Kelly
kkelly1@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
This is a great activity promoting team work and giving others encouragement. Have the group stand in a circle. Give one member a hula hoop to hang off their elbow then instruct the group to hold hands. The object is for everyone in the group to manuever themselves through the hula hoop then pass it on to the next person . . .without letting go of each others' hands. My groups of inmates are between 35 and 65 so I use three hula hoops in the circle at the same time. You do need alot of space for this since you don't want the hoops getting caught on anything while the people are going through them.

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My Words of Inspiration
Jaywant Parbhoo
portlandhigh@intekon.co.za
Activity Description:
Participants (in my case, educators of adult education) are asked to write a sentence/phrase that they use in their classes to inspire their learners. They write the words of inspiration on a card and in a plenary session, they read their words to the group and explain why they deem this inspirational. I, as the facilitator, attempt to expand on their words and use their message in the context of workshops in the future.

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Wrist Band Contract
Chris Meister
CMeister45@aol.com
Activity Description:
This is a good bonding activity that goes on throughout a whole retreat, workshop, whatever. The goal is to give all your beads away. Materials: colored beads, one of each color for everyone. These can be kept in a sectioned box in a location where everyone has access to them. Wristband for each participant (leather cord works well and looks good). White bead for everyone to start and gold bead for each participant to be given by facilitator at the end of retreat. Activity Description: At the beginning of the retreat, either brainstorm important qualities or pick them yourself and match them up to a particular colored bead (ie.-blue bead-caring, red-sincere, purple-compassion, etc.). Give all participants a wristband with a white bead already on it. Tie wristbands on. Direct participants that throughout the retreat they will be interacting with people who may be demonstrating a quality mentioned above. When someone shows one of the qualities toward them, they are to go to the collection of beads, pick the appropriate color (have a poster board with the qualities listed and the corresponding colored bead), seek out the person who demonstrated that quality towards them. Ceremoniously, sincerely, and with ap- preciation and gratitude remove the person's wristband while explaining exactly why you have chosen them to receive this particular bead. Put the bead on the wristband and tie it back on the person's wrist. At the end of the retreat, gather everyone together to receive a gold bead from the facilitator. He/She gives each person a gold bead for something special you noticed about each person. After everyone's received a gold bead, process this whole activity, giving people an opportunity to share what their bracelet means to them or what it meant to give to others or receive from others. This is very powerful and leaves lifetime memories. It is also very telling when one does not get a whole lot of beads from others.

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Traffic Jam
Heather
Tat76panth@aol.com
Activity Description:
I have to give credit to my favorite college professor... Mr. Accorssi. Only materials needed are flat discs that the participants can stand on. An even # of people are needed. Enough discs are needed for each participant and are placed in a straight line...with an extra disc in the middle. Split the group in 1/2. group will stand on the discs on 1 side and the other group on the other side..like this (assuming there are 3 people per side) The object is to get the groups to switch sides with each other. The trick is they can only move forward and can "jump" around 1 person on the other team at a time. It's a great teamwork activity for adulescents through adults. Have fun!!

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Something about myself
Tracie Hill
Tracie.Hill@NA.BESTFOODS.com
Activity Description:
Have participants in a meeting/class introduce themselves by describing something they have with them/on them (clothing, jewelry, appointment books, etc.) that is illustrative of their personality. For example, "I have a toe ring" I'm a little adventurous.
From Christian:

A variation of this I use is "What's in my wallet" usually people carry a wallet and have something interesting in it to share (pictures, fake id, condoms, phone numbers, expired cards, etc.)

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Wagonwheel
Kerry Spicer
klspicer@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
Participants get into groups of 7 or 8. Groups stand in a circle and llink arms. The object of the activity is to roll around the room (standing up) or building as a giant "wagon wheel". This is more difficult than it sounds, as it is hard to keep the wheel together at times. Promotes cooperation among group member and creates lots of laughter.

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Teamwork Solidarity & Problem Solving.
Suzanne Mark
marksuzane@aol.com
Activity Description:
supplies- 3 tennis balls or any 3 balls that bounce well, (consider the flooring) group size- 3 or more people, 50 is really the high end Activitiy- have everyone stand in a circle, shoulder to shoulder. The leader does not participate but only starts the activity. The leader explains that each ball will be tossed to someone in the ring who will in turn toss it to someone else in the ring until all members in the ring have tossed the ball.(the leader will toss all three balls to the same person to start the activity) The next two balls will be tossed in precisely the same order so that each individaul should remember who they received the balls from and who they tossed to. After the initial practice round, the activity is repeated but timed. After the first timed round a second timed round is performed. The group is then asked to see if there is another way to improve on the timing. Usually the activity can be repeated one or two more times to "better their time". Conclusion:- the group must work as a team to solve problems. The activity is a good ending with a rousing applauses by all for successful performance.

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Dwarves, Giants and Wizards
David Moss
david@dmoss.freeserve.co.uk
Activity Description:
I played this activity when I was trained as a trainer. It is best played outdoors. Mark out two "home" lines about 20 yards from a centre line. Divide group into 2 teams. The teams decide whether to be dwarves, giants or wizards. They walk towards the other team at a signal from the trainer. When they are about one yard from the centre line the trainer blows a whistle or shouts "now". If the team has elected to be dwarves they run on the spot and say "meek, meek, meek". If they are giants, they rock from right to left and say in a deep voice, "ho, ho, ho". If they are wizards, they jump forward, raising their arm and say, "shazam". Then the fun begins ! The giants bash the dwarves, the dwarves can run up the sleeves of the wizards and the wizards can turn the giants into stone - variation of scissors, paper and stone. Once the teams have revealed their role, the "losing" team has to run back to its home line. Captured team players sit out the rest of the game until a natural end.

Note from Christian: I have also done full body gesturs with this (e.g. dwars crouch and put hands to ears with thumbs in the ear, giants stand tall with hands over head, wizards make a spell casting stance). Also instead of captured players sitting out have them join the team of the capture. A fun twist to throw in at the end is when there is one or two people left on one side the team that is winning can throw in a new gesture and sound which really throws the other team off..and provides a way to end with a laugh.

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What Role Do You Play?
Tammy Foster Gray
tammyfostergray@excite.com
Activity Description:
This is a great activity for showing the importance of teamwork. You will need at least 2 groups of 4 people. Split the participants in as many groups as you need to. Each group should be seated at a table for more comfort. Give each person a "role" on an index card. Tell participants not to show their card to the other players. Once everyone has been given a "role", place a bag of spagetti and a bag of marshmellows in the center of each table. Explain the rules to the group as a whole. 1) Everyone should remember to stay in their "role" during activity. 2) No one at anytime should tell what their "role" is. 3) The object of the game is for each group to build the tallest tower in three minutes. Example "role" cards: Leader, worker, destroyer, all talk and no work, etc. Give a brief description of each "role" on the card and make sure to give each person in each group a different role. After three minutes- discuss how difficult it was to build a tower when not everyone was working together. Let each group tell their team what their roles were and how it made them feel. Talk about the importance of teamwork and then allow the groups to build their tower again with everyone working as a team. Give small prizes for the group who builds the tallest tower. This activity will take about 45 minutes.

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"This Is" or "A What"
Tammy Bowles
Activity Description:
Place participants in groups of 4 or 5 FIND objects throughout the room that are all ONE SYLLABLE Each group has to have one less object than the number of people in the group. The person starting the group circle picks up an object and says, "This is a ....." The individual says, "a what?" The starter says, "a ...." "a what?' "a ..." "oh, a ..." the individual responds. Simultaneously the individual turns and repeats the cycle while the starter individual is handing them another item and is also repeating the cycle. ALL of the items should be circling the group at the same time and everyone talking with each other at the same time. It forces immediate communication - and demonstrates the importance of active listening.

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Paperclip and Rope
Tish Henes
tish@gladstone.uoregon.edu
Activity Description:
tie a string onto the end of a paperclip. rest your elbow on a solid surface (desk). Have students close their eyes The facilitator calmlly tells the participants to imagine the paperclip slowly starting to move from fight to left. Slowly, now more and more. After a minute have students open their eyes. They will see the paperclip moving in the direction they pictured in in their heads This Really works "there are tiny muscles in your fingers that moved the sring back and forth. Imagine what you could do if you let your mind have control of your whole body!!" try switching from left and right to forward and backward with eyes closed!

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Human Sculpture
Eric Goodwin
egoodwin@krtinfo.com
Activity Description:
This is a activity for groups of 20 or more. Have the group to sit in a large circle. The facilitator instructs the group to describe situations where diversity played a role; either they were discriminated against, etc. Each speaker must conclude their story with "And it made me feel ..." and they fill in the blank. A recorder writes down themes and feelings of the stories shared. After a few people have told stories, the facilitator instructs them that they will create "human sculptures" to represent these key themes from the list the recorder wrote down. The facilitator asks for three volunteers to stand in middle of the circle to be "clay" and askes for a fourth volunteer to be the "sculptor." The facilitator picks one of the themes (for example, gender relations) The sculptor must shape the clay to form a representation of the theme. The sculpture may add or subtract clay by using other members of the group. Only the facilitator is allowed to talk during this activity; the sculptor must devise

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TV Spot
Chris Holmberg
cholmberg@nelsonjobs.com
Activity Description:
This is a good activity to help a group process a large amount of information received in a short amount of time. I use it at the end of a 4-hour company orientation session. Before the session, warn the participants that they will have to do the commercial. This keeps them focused on important points. 1. Divide the group into teams of 4-5. This is enough to keep anxiety to a manageable level. 2. Tell each group they have 30 minutes to create a TV commercial lasting 90-120 seconds. The commercial must cover the most important points of the content. (You may also divide the content and assign a portion to each team.) 3. Provide silly props - e.g., nose-glasses, noise makers, etc. 4. Tape the commercials as they do them and play them back at other times during the course during "commercial breaks".

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"BINGO"
Sue Jacobs
Sjacobs@worldbank.org
Activity Description:
[Thanks for this great page, by the way.] I use "BINGO" when we have an office retreat to do a bit of team buiding, to get people to see each other as "people" and not just "colleagues". Goal: to collect different signatures in each of your 25 boxes. To do so, each person in a group has to interact with each other person about a personal experience or fact. Winner is s/he who gets signatures in the most boxes on the "bingo" card. Prepare: One "bingo" card (a card with 5 rows and 5 columns = 25 squares)to be copied and distributed to each person. Everyone gets the same card. Each square should contain one general, semi-personal fact that is likely to be true of only a few (1-3) people in your group (for example: "this person is a grandparent" or "this person has no driver's license".) To start: Explain that this is a game of collecting signatures. Each person has the same game card. The goal is to find someone in the room who can sign his/her name in each box because it says something that is true about him/her. (For example, if the card says "this person scuba dives" and your boss Maria is a diver, then she can sign that square.)Each signature can appear only once per card. You can't sign your own card. How you win: If the game is by the clock, the winner will be the one with the most signatures at 8 minutes. If the game is by the signatures, it will end whenever somebody reaches 25 (or 20, or whatever goal you set) signatures.

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US Army Aberdeen Proving Ground
Byrne Huntley
bhuntle@apg.army.mil
Activity Description:
Team gets resources consisting of a deflated bike inner tube, four lengths of thin rope approximately 10 feet in length. Facilitator draws a chalk circle on the floow, 10 feet in diameter. Inside the circle the facilitator places a large coffee can half filled with toxic popcorn. Instructions are to transfer the toxic popcorn to a decontamination chamber (another coffee can outside of the circle, without violating the boundary of the 10 foot circle. Give the team 15-20 minutes.

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Holy Grail
Steven
limsteven@post1.com
Activity Description:
Many versions of the holy grail exists, this version uses poles. Approx. 8 - 12 persons would be ideal for this activity. A square (6 by 6 meters) is marked out. Enough poles of each length 3 meters are provided for all participants. A pail 1/4 filled with water stands at the centre of the square atop a tile/brick. Objective is to remove this pail from the centre. No poles or part of the participant should touch the square (coz' it's a acid pool or something). There are many ways to do this. When I first thought out and modified the activity, I didn't have a clear picture of the solution, but participants would prove that there are indeed MANY ways of accomplishing the task. (feel free to email me if you desire to know the solution, but I feel it's best as a facilitator or trainer, you should try it out and concot your own solution) :) The original version uses ropes and many people would have tried that and try to do this in a similar manner using the poles, which would prove impossibly difficult, thou I've seen one group almost accomplishing it... Metaphor: 1.To solve a problem, there is a need to see the whole picture, frequently the leader whom tries to direct the 'rescue' process would not see the pail toppling in certain directions. Hence, re-enforces the need to use teams to see the different perspectives of a problem and then solving it. 2.If a team tries to 'rescue' the pail in a manner similar to the version using ropes, irregardless of success or failure, the facilitator can raise the issue of participants looking at the solution rather than the problem... (the problem is that they are using poles NOT ROPES!).

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Name Game
Michele
vista@themlc.org
Activity Description:
Give everyone name tags. Have them pick questions that they would want to know about each other. They can be funny or serious, example, "If you could have a tatoo, where would you have and what? You can have as many questions as time allows. We usually use up to five. Have them introduce themselves to each other and answer the questions. Then have them switch name tags and then they take on the identity of the person they just met. Then they go to a new person and introduce them selves as being the person they just met. Its like a game of Telephone. At the end ask someone to start and have them tell who they are and then have the person they are stand up next and do theirs.

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Draw the youth
Maegan Schenker
maegansny@yahoo.com
Activity Description:
Outline of youth: Break into small groups and ask a volunteer in each group to lay on top of flip chart paper and have another group member draw an ouline of a person. Introduce the outline to participants as a youth, provide markers and ask participants to answer the following questions by writing internal resources on the inside of the youth outline and external resources surrounding the youth outline: "What internal resources/attributes do youth today need to be successful?" "What external supports do youth today need to be successful?" Process the activity by asking each group to persent their youth and their group impressions of what has been written, their experience in participating in the activity, what is the meaning of this activity and what needs to happen for today's youth to be successful.

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T.P game
jlutz
jlutz@julian.uwo.ca
Activity Description:
You need: toilet paper roll Send it around the circle and ask them to take as much toilet paper as they want. When everyone has taken it. You ask them to tell as many things about themselves as they have toilet paper squares.

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Magic Squares
Sharon Bond
sdbond@uop.com
Activity Description:
I'm not sure where this teambuilding game came from, but we use it at my company when forming new work teams. It is very good for building a sense of trust and communication. Tools needed: Masking Tape Whistle Paper/pen for leader Beforehand: Block out a large rectangle on the floor with masking tape. Then, create squares within the rectangle that are large enough for people to stand in. Suggested size: At least three squares deep and and six squares across. Mark an entrance and an exit square with masking tape arrows. The leader maps out a route through the magic squares "maze" that has been created, but keeps it to him/herself. Participants (10 is about the largest size group that this works well with in a decent time frame)line up and start going through the maze one by one. The goal is to get from the entrance to the exit by stepping in the right squares. No talking is allowed during the entire exercise. The goal is for every participant to successfully navigate the maze. As soon as a misstep occurs, the group leader blows the whistle, and the participant must back their way out of the maze following the route they came in by. Participants cannot talk to each other, but may communicate in any other way they see fit to get the entire group through the maze. I have seen people write the path down on scraps of paper; shake heads vigorously, point profusely, etc., especially if there is one person who just doesn't seem to be able to remember more than a few steps. If I haven't explained this clearly enough, please let me know! Regards, Sharon Bond UOP Chicago, IL

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Multi-Stage Hike
Steven
limsteven@post1.com
Activity Description:
The hike is conducted over a distance longer than what a non-hiker would walk. Distances of above 10km is recommended. Maps are placed at checkpoints so that they lead to the next check point. This linkage of checkpoints bring the participants over the distance of the hike. Purpose of using multi-stage is when a participant is told they would be going for a (eg.) 18km hike, most would freak out and start reporting in sick, but when they've completed the 18km, they may complain about the aches but they would also rejoice of their 'unexpected accomplishment'. Metaphor: Frequently, a person is daunted by a mounting task but when the task is broken down into pieces, the daunting task can still be completed.

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Group Starter
Amanda G. Ellis
musakamanda@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
THis is a group starter activity for those who have a newly formed group in which the participants have met once or twice but do not really know each other that well yet. Write the names of the different participants in your group separately on 3x5 cards. Hand each card out to a different member of the group. The group assignment is to look at the name of the person on the card and think of 3 positive or nice things that you can say about that person and write them down. THese could also be (positive) first impressions you had of this person. When you're finished, pass this card on to another member of the group...just as long as the last person to get this card is the person who's name is on the card. When everyone has their own cards, ask them to write down 3 positive things about themselves. Possible discussion questions: How did you feel after reading your card? Did you agree with the comments on the card? Was it easier to write positive things about yourself or others?etc.

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Human Machine Game
Kristin Cabaniss
kcab20@yahoo.com
Activity Description:
First, I should say I don't remember exactly where I learned this, so I don't know who to give credit too. This can be a competitive game between two groups or a cooperative game against time. A group of 8 to 20 (or more, but it can get out of hand) is given a task to line up in a specific order -- for instance, from tallest to shortest -- from youngest to oldest -- alphabetical by first name -- by birth month from January to December -- by birth date from 1 to 31 -- be creative with the tasks. Also, you can make the activity more difficult by requiring that they complete the task without talking. In processing talk about communication, leaders (versus bossy people), conflict, sacrifices, etc.

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Favorite Cartoon Character Icebreaker
Jane Didear
jdidear@pigeon.dallas.isd.tenet.edu
Activity Description:
This works well with a group that may not know each other well - and for all/any ages Blank paper, crayons, markers available on the tables---and the ability to move into smaller groups "Who is your favorite cartoon character? * If you are adventuresome - DRAW THAT CHARACTER! * No one will make fun of your drawing! Who picked similar characters? * Which characters are people? * Which are animals? Let,s group animals together, people together." (if you have lots have chosen the same character - ie Bugs, or Batman - group them together if you wish) "Now, Ask each other these questions: * What appeals to you about that character? * What do they help you "get in touch with or express? Let's take turns reporting out for people/ now for animals." Laast but not least, ask "Can we hang the drawings?"

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Star
Phil Hatterman
hattermp@output.net
Activity Description:
This works ideally with 6-10 people but can still be useful with more or fewer participants. You need a length of rope or string 40-50 feet long with the ends tied together. Place the rope on the floor in a big circle. Instruct participants to pick up the rope. Their task is to make a five-pointed star. Not the outline of a star but the kind with five intersecting lines that form a pentagram in the middle. You might want to draw one on the board or flip chart as an example. This is the only rule: Any individual can slide their grip to a different place on the rope but no one can let go of the rope and change places with anyone else. This activity is great when tied to a discussion of teamwork or leadership. Ask: Did a leader emerge? How? What would have made this task easier? Tip: Participants usually focus on their own inadequacies (lack of confidence in the group, frustration with slow progress) rather than what the facilitator could have done (more detailed instructions, advice during the act

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Riddles

These riddles were all posted to the AEE listserv and credit is given to the poster. In general ask the riddle and allow people to ask yes or no questions. You may give hints as you see fit. These are great for helping groups think "outside the box"

 

Farley89HD@aol.com

The man in the Elevator

A man lives on the tenth floor of a building. Every day he takes the elevator to go down to the ground floor to go to work or to go shopping. When he returns he takes the elevator to the seventh floor and walks up the stairs to reach his apartment on the tenth floor. He hates walking so why does he do it?

Solution

The man is (of course) a dwarf. Variants of this puzzle include the clue that on rainy days he goes up in the elevator to the tenth floor (he uses his umbrella!)

The Man in the Bar

A man walks into a bar and asks the barman for a glass of water. The barman pulls out a gun and points it at the man. The man says 'Thank you' and walks out.

Solution

The man had hiccups. The barman recognized this from his speech and drew the gun in order to give him a shock. It worked and cured the hiccups - so the man no longer needed the water.

The Man who Hanged Himself

Not far from Madrid, there is a large wooden barn. The barn is completely empty except for a dead man hanging from the middle of the central rafter. The rope around his neck is ten feet long and his feet are three feet off the ground. The nearest wall is 20 feet away from the man. It is not possible to climb up the walls or along the rafters. The man hanged himself. How did he do it?

Solution

He climbed on a block of ice which has since melted.

This one is often stated with the clue of a puddle of water

Death in a Field

A man is lying dead in a field. Next to him there is an unopened package. There is no other creature in the field. How did he die?

Solution

The man had jumped from a plane but his parachute had failed to open. It is the unopened package.

This is sometimes given with the following rather elegant clue - as he approached the center of the field he knew he was going to die.

Anthony and Cleopatra

Anthony and Cleopatra are lying dead on the floor of a villa in Egypt. Nearby is a broken bowl. There is no mark on either of their bodies and they were not poisoned. How did they die?

Solution

Anthony and Cleopatra were goldfish whose bowl was knocked over by a clumsy dog.

 The Coal, Carrot and Scarf

Five pieces of coal, a carrot and a scarf are lying on the lawn. Nobody put them on the lawn but there is a perfectly logical reason why they should be there. What is it?

Solution

They were used by children who made a snowman. The snow has now melted.

Trouble with Sons

A woman had two sons who were born on the same hour of the same day of the same year. But they were not twins. How could this be so?

Solution

They were two of a set of triplets (or quadruplets etc.)

Push that Car

A man pushed his car. He stopped when he reached a hotel at which point he knew he was bankrupt. Why?

Solution

He was playing Monopoly.

The Arm of the Postal Service

One day a man received a parcel in the post. Carefully packed inside was a human arm. He examined it, repacked it and then sent it on to another man. The second man also carefully examined the arm before taking it to the woods and burying it. Why did they do this?

Solution

The three men had been stranded on a desert island. Desperate for food, they had agreed to amputate their left arms in order to eat them. They swore an oath that each would have his left arm cut off. One of them was a doctor and he cut the arms off his two companions. They were then rescued. But his oath was still binding so he later had to have his arm amputated and sent to his colleagues.

Heaven

A man died and went to Heaven. There were thousands of other people there.. They were all naked and all looked as they did at the age of 21. He looked around to see if there was anyone he recognised. He saw a couple and he knew immediately that they were Adam and Eve. How did he know?

Solution

He recognized Adam and Eve as the only people without navels. Because they were not born of women, they had never had umbilical cords and therefore they never had navels.

Friday

A man rode into town on Friday. He stayed for three nights and then left on Friday. How come?

Solution

The man's horse was called Friday.

Manhole Covers

Why is it better to have round manhole covers than square ones?

Solution

A square manhole cover can be turned and dropped down the diagonal of the manhole. A round manhole cannot be dropped down the manhole. So for safety and practicality, all manhole covers should be round.

The Deadly Party

A man went to a party and drank some of the punch. He then left early. Everyone else at the party who drank the punch subsequently died of poisoning. Why did the man not die?

Solution

The poison in the punch came from the ice cubes. When the man drank the punch the ice was fully frozen. Gradually it melted, poisoning the punch.

The Deadly Dish

Two men went into a restaurant. They both ordered the same dish from the menu. After they tasted it, one of the men went outside the restaurant and shot himself. Why?

Solution

The dish that the two men ordered was albatross. They had been stranded many years earlier on a desert island. When the man tasted albatross he realized that he had never tasted it before. This meant that the meat he had been given on the island was not albatross as he had been told. He correctly deduced that he had eaten the flesh of his son who had died when they first reached the island.

The Realization

A man was walking downstairs in a building when he suddenly realized that his wife had just died. How?

Solution

The man had visited his wife in hospital. She was on a life-support machine. As he was walking down the stairs all the lights went out. There had been a power cut and the emergency back-up systems had failed. He knew that she had died.

The Blind Beggar

A blind beggar had a brother who died. What relation was the blind beggar to the brother who died? (Brother is not the answer).

Solution

The blind beggar was the sister of her brother who died.

This puzzle is one of a type that depends on the listener making implicit assumptions about gender - in this case that a blind beggar is a man. Similar puzzles involve surgeons who refuse to operate on their sons etc. This is probably the best of the class because it is very simply stated

The Broken Match

A man is found dead in a field. He is clutching a broken match. What happened?

Solution

He and a number of other passengers were making a balloon trip in a desperate attempt to flee a country. The balloon had to lose weight to stop it from crashing. He drew the short match and had to jump.

The Music Stopped

The music stopped. She died. Explain.

Solution

She was a circus tight-rope walker who walked blindfolded over a high wire. The band played as she crossed and when the music stopped it was the signal that she had reached the end of the walk and could safely alight. One day the conductor was taken ill and the stand-in conductor ended the piece of music too early. She stepped off to her death.

Swimmer in the Forest

Deep in the forest was found the body of a man who was wearing only swimming trunks, snorkel and facemask. The nearest lake was 8 miles away and the sea was 100 miles away. How had he died?

Solution

During a forest fire, a fire-fighting plane had scooped up some water from the lake to drop on the fire. The plane had accidentally picked up the unfortunate swimmer.

The Elder Twin

One day Kerry celebrated her birthday. Two days later her older twin brother, Terry, celebrated his birthday. How come?

Solution

At the time she went into labor, the mother of the twins was travelling by boat. The older twin, Terry, was born first early on March 1st. The boat then crossed the International Date line (or any time zone line) and Kerry, the younger twin, was born on February the 28th. In a leap year the younger twin celebrates her birthday two days before her older brother.

TrueSu@aol.com

Thrusday

A man rode into town on Thursday, stayed two days and left on Thursday.

Solution
The man rode a horse named Thursday.

The man in the Mask

The man was afraid to go home 'cause the man in the mask was there.

Solution

The man in the mask is the catcher; they're playing baseball.

Fred and Leona

Fred and Leona are found dead on the living room floor in a puddle of water with broken glass all around.

Solution

They were goldfish and their bowl was knocked over.

JESSICA C LEVINE <jessicacaron@juno.com>

Apples
There are ten children and ten apples. each child picks up an apple. yet there is one left in the basket. how?

Solution
One child picks up the basket with the last apple inside.

Joel McCormick <0205005@admin.aurora.edu>

New Shoes

A woman buys a new pair of shoes on her lunch break. She returns back to work and dies. How does she die?

Solution

She is the lady that the knife thrower throws knives at and the new shoes were high heal and made her to tall.

Fishing

A man is found dead in a phone booth with a fishing rod & reel and a fish. What happened?

Solution

He called someone to tell them about the fish, they asked how big it was, he put out his arms to say "it was this big" and he puts his arms through the glass and cuts his wrist and bled to death.

Christian Itin <citin@rochester.rr.com>

The Bell

*A Rope breaks, a Bell Rings, A woman (man) dies. What happened?

Solution

The rope is attatched to a Bouy Bell. The woman is blind and uses the bell for navigation..when the bell breaks the bouy moves and the woman falls off the pier and drowns.

Suicide

A man (woman) jumps from the top of the empire state building and on the way down hears a phone ring and regrets his decision. Why?

Solution

Man thought he was the last one left alive..the phone let him know he wasn't.

Mountain Cabin

*A man is found dead in a cabin on the side of the mountain. What happened?

Solution

Man is in the cabin of an airplain which crashed into the mountain.

He's my Son

A man and his son are in car crash and the man dies and his boy needs surgury, the boy is rushed into the operating room and the surgeon says "I can't operate on this boy he is my son" How can this be so?

Solution

Amazingly people do not get this one....the doctor is his mother. Nice one to talk about sex stereotyping.

53 Bycicles

A man is found shot dead surrounded by 53 bycicles, what happend?

Solution

The man was cheating at cards, the bycicles are from a deck of bycicle playing cards.
Simon Priest <spriest@ups.edu>

Options & Consultants

You have two choices: option A and option B. One gives absolute success, while the other leads to certain failure, but you do not know which is which. Two consultants know the answers: Dr. X and Dr. Y. However, one is a constant liar, while the other is always truthful, but again, you don't know which is which. You can ask one question, of one consultant, once only before having to choose your best option. What is your question and whom do you ask? The above is adapted from the real "Prisoner's Dilemma!"

Solution

Based on the fact that you are doubly unsure of options and consultants, you are likely to get a negative answer. Therefore build this inevitablility into your question. ASK: "WHICH OPTION WILL THE OTHER CONSULTANT TELL ME IS THE ONE FOR SUCCESS?" and ask it of any or either consultant. By building both into the equation (+1 X -1 = -1) you will always get the wrong answer (so choose the right other option). The truth teller will tell you that the liar will suggest the failure option as successful, while the liar will reverse this arrangement.

POLEVAULT POLES & AIRLINE RESTRICTIONS

A person purchases a new polevault pole that is 13 feet long and attempts to check it as luggage on board a domestic airflight. The airline has restrictions that they will carry nothing outside the minimum dimensions (12' long, 4' wide, and 3' thick) and so refuse to permit carriage. The

owner quickly grabs a taxi to the nearest store and returns with the problem solved. Without cutting up the pole, bending it to fit, or changing the length, how was the crisis averted?

Solution

The pole will fit if placed diagonally in a box that meets the maximum size restrictions of the airlines. Use the Pythagorean Theorem for right angled triangles: the square of the hypoteneuse is equal to the sum of the squares of both sides. Therefore, the base of the box will have a 5' diagonal (3 sq'd + 4 sq'd = 9 + 16 = 25 = 5 sq'd) and the internal diagonal will be 13' (5 sq'd + 12 sq'd = 25 + 144 = 169 = 13 sq'd).

THE ODDS OF AN EXECUTION

You are a political prisoner facing execution at the hands of an unusually playful executioner. S/he gives you two boxes of poker chips: one contains 100 red chips and the other has 100 blue ones. S/he explains that after becoming blindfolded s/he will pick one box and then pick one chip from that box. If a blue chip is chosen you will be set free; but if a red chip is selected, you will be put to death. You may rearrange the 200 chips among the two boxes anyway you like, but no box can be left empty and no chips may be hidden or changed. How do you rearrange them to maximize your

odds of freedom?

Solution

If you place 199 chips in one box and leave a single blue chip in the other box, then the odds of getting set free climb toward 75%! First, the executioner has a 50% chance of picking the box with the single blue chip of freedom. However, if the box with 199 chips is chosen, then there is a

further 25% chance of picking one of the 99 blue chips (and not one of the 100 red ones). Total odds are almost 75%.

MARRIAGE VERSUS DEATH

Two young people are in love and wish to be married against the will of their evil gaurdians (who are only caring for the couple, while hoping to someday get their inheritances). The gaurdians meet the couple on the beach of a neutral island between the two family's lands. After much discussion, they all agree to the luck of the draw deciding their fates. Two pebbles will be selected from a wide variety of beach stones and be placed in a bag. If the couple draw a white one they may be married, but if they draw a black one they will be killed (the gaurdians will get their money). As the stones are gathered by a gaurdian, the couple notice that two black stones go in the bag. How do they avoid death and manage to get married, without risking exposure of anyone as a liar or a cheat?

Solution

Draw a stone, look at it in a way no one else can see, and then throw it as far away as possible (into the ocean or across the beach of a million similar stones) and rejoice for you are to be wed. Disbelief? Simply ask the gaurdians to check the color of the stone left in the bag. If it is

black (death) you must have thrown away the white stone (marriage) out of excitement.

WHAT COLOR IS YOUR HAT? (best explanation received from Elango R.)

A professor wished to figure out who was the smartest of his graduate students. He brought them into his office, blindfolded them, covered all the mirrors in the room, and sat them in chairs facing one another. He told them that he would put either a yellow or a green hat on their heads, but then placed, on all three students, a small green hat (representing Creativity from De Bono's Six Thinking Hat Colors) and no yellow ones! He then told them to remove their blindfolds and to look at one another, but not their own heads. He asked "raise your hand if you see a green hat" to

which all three raised a hand. Next, he said "stand up if you know the color of the hat on your head." After a lengthy pause, only one student stood up and correctly stated the color of all three hats was green. How was this known? You will need to outline your logic in detail for this one.

Solution

Three students (A B C) all have green hats on their heads. Student A's logic goes like this. I saw B and C raise a hand indicating they saw at least one green hat, but they could have seen each others' green hats. Therefore, my hat could be green or yellow. Assuming my hat is green doesn't get me any new information, so I'll assume (for now) that my hat is yellow. Now I wonder what B and C would have thought when we all raised our hands and if they saw me wearing a (supposedly) yellow hat? If my hat was yellow, then B would have assumed that C was raising a hand for a green hat on B's head, but B didn't realize this. Similarily, if my hat was yellow, then C would have assumed that B was raising a hand for a green hat on C's head, but C didn't realize this either. Therefore, I can't have a yellow hat on my head. It must be green!

HOW MANY CUTS & SEGMENTS?

A woman is late to pay back a loan and makes a unfortunate agreement with her loan shark. For every day late, she will owe further compounded interest on the loan, but must provide suitable collateral. She offers her gold necklace as collateral, but refuses to give up the entire necklace.

They agree that she will surrender one of the links per day until the end of the month (the necklace has 31 links). By month's end, she will have paid the loan plus interest or she will lose the entire necklace. Both parties agree that 30 cuts of the necklace into 31 single segments will be costly to disassemble and extremely expensive to reassemble. They agree that a minimum number of cuts will be made to keep the necklace in as few segments as possible and that the loan shark will exchange shorter segments for longer ones as necessary. What is the optimal arrangement of the

situation: how many cuts, segments, and links for each of the segments?

Solution

Four cuts, into five segments, with 1, 2, 4, 8 & 16 links respectively (1=1, 2=2, 3=1+2, 4=4, 5=4+1, 6=4+2, 7=4+2+1, 8=8, 9=8+1, 10=8+2, 11=8+2+1, 12=8+4, 13=8+4+1, 14=8+4+2, 15=8+4+2+1, 16=16, 17=16+1, 18=16+2, 19=16+2+1, 20=16+4, 21=16+4+1, 22=16+4+2, 23=16+4+2+1, 24=16+8, 25=16+8+1, 26=16+8+2, 27=16+8+2+1, 28=16+8+4, 29=16+8+4+1, 30=16+8+4+2, and 31=16+8+4+2+1).

THE MINER'S SCALES

A miner has a 40 pound stone that is used for weighing ore on a balance scale. A friend borrows the stone to weigh ore from a neighboring claim and, while caring for the stone, it gets dropped and broken into 4 pieces. Each piece is a different size and weight, but all weights are exact to the

nearest precise pound! The miner is not disappointed, because the new weights permit ore to be weighed pound by pound from 1 to 40 pounds. What are the four stone's weights?

Solution

The four stones weigh 1, 3, 9 & 27 pounds respectively (1=1, 2=3-1, 3=3, 4=3+1, 5=9-3-1, 6=9-3, 7=9-3+1), 8=9-1, 9=9, 10=9+1, 11=9+3-1, 12=9+3, 13=9+3+1, 14=27-9-3-1, 15=27-9-3, 16=27-9-3+1, 17=27-9-1, 18=27-9, 19=27-9+1, 20=27-9+3-1, 21=27-9+3, 22=27-9+3+1, 23=27-3-1, 24=27-3, 25=27-3+1, 26=27-1, 27=27, 28=27+1, 29=27+3-1, 30=27+3, 31=27+3+1, 32=27+9-3-1, 33=27+9-3, 34=27+9-3+1, 35=27+9-1, 36=27+9, 37=27+9+1,

38=27+9+3-1, 39=27+9+3, and 40=27+9+3+1).

15 SECOND FUSE

You have two fuses of the type that are ignited by open flame and that burn with sparks and plenty of smoke. These fuses burn continuously for 60 seconds each. While the duration is precise, the rate of burn is not steady. Each fuse could simmer for seconds and then advance rapidly only

to pause again. Therefore you cannot create shorter fuses by simply cutting a sixty second fuse in half to make two 30 second fuses. How would you measure a 15 second period of time if you don't have a watch?

Solution

Simultaneously light both ends of one fuse AND one end of the other fuse (do this by placing all three ends in a bundle and lighting them together, but hold onto the fourth end). The first 60 second fuse will now burn from both ends in exactly 30 seconds. At the time when this happens, the second fuse will have 30 seconds left. At this very moment, light the fourth end and the remaining fuse will burn for 15 seconds.

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The Right Order
Gerry VanBooven
gerryv@nela.net
Activity Description:
Whether or not this is the right name or not I don,t know. Giving credit where due, I first came across this activity while working for Adventure Woods in Kansas City Missouri. The facilitator presents the participants (5-8 work best in my experience) with the Aces and face cards from a regular deck of playing cards. The challenge for the team is to place the 16 cards in a 4 X 4 square so that no two cards of the same suit or the same value are in the same row or column. For example if the Ace of Spades is in the top row, left column, then neither that row nor column may contain another ace or another spade. Spoiler warning! Solution below. Stop reading now if you want to try this for yourself first. Element Table, A=ace, K=king, etc. S=spades, D=diamonds, etc.

AS QC JD KH

QD AH KS JC

JH KD AC QS

KC JS QH AD

The solution can take many forms, but the elements are the same. It is best to start diagonally (form an "X) based on two unique values or suits (in this example, Aces and Kings). The solution usually comes together fairly quickly since the remaining choices are more limited. Options: I have used playing cards in the example for simplicity. However, I initial participated in this activity using sheets of 4 different colored construction paper and containing descriptions of 4 different types of trees. Possibilities are limitless. If working with professional groups, cards could be made that represent money, customers, compliance, etc. with the goal to bring balance to all areas. In my experience this can be a VERY difficult activity unless a participant knows the solution in which instance you may choose to limit the person,s input. Groups of leaders oftentimes find it particularly challenging as the leadership of ideas ebb and flow. If participants hit a wall, the facilitator may want to recommend they explore patterns, or even just take a break. Processing can bring out the dynamics of how the team interacted, how leadership came about, how plans changed, and how balance and equity was demonstrated.

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Fruit, Fruit, Fruit

Christian Itin

citin@rochester.rr.com

Activity Description:

This is a fun activity to do on the trail or in camp or just to have some fun at any point. It is also a nice game to allow people to put there trickster skills to work. Each person selects a fruit, any fruit though each person must have a different fruit. One person does not select a fruit and is in the center. The object is for the person in the center to say the name of a fruit (that someone has choosen) 3 times before the person who is that fruit is able to say it once (e.g. I might say Apple, Apple, Apple, and if you had selected Apple and did not say it you would be in the center and I would become Apple). Because the person in the center becomes the fruit the new person must now try to say a fruit three times. Once they accompomplish this, they become that fruit..they do not become an apple again. There is nothing in the rules that the fruit must be said three times in a row, that the person switching has to wait till the person has settled into their new role, or any any other rules..only that the fruit must be said three times. Hint for those who want the upper hand....longer named fruits are better then shorter named ones...Have fun!

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Fruit Salad
s.miles
smiles@bournemouth.ac.uk
Activity Description:
Fhis is a really effective icebreaker and can also be used as an enegiser after lunc Sit every one in a circle and name them apple, banana, pear. Go on doing this until they are all named with one of the three fruits. You then selected a caller who can shout Either: Apple Banana Pear Or Fruit salad If apple is shouted all the apples have to get up and swap seats as quickly as they can, the last person sat down, is then the caller. If fruit salad is shouted everyone must change places asap, and so on Simple but effective

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Musical Expression
sarah crockett
partyrockon@yahoo.com
Activity Description:
For an hour activity select different parts of music from about 8 songs. have your group spread out so that they are in their own little world. each person needs about 5 pieces of paper and something to write/draw with. play the different pieces of music- one at a time and have the group put on paper the way the music makes them feel. they can draw pictures or write down words or both. the selections of music should last about a minute and twenty seconds. after each song is played discuss what some people put on paper and why. talk about how the song made them feel. go through this with each song. process the activity at the end. get their feedback. find out what they felt when they heard the songs. talk about how great music is. this activity really gets people thinking and expressing thoughts and feelings through music. some helpful suggestions on music selection- *pick instumental parts of songs *dave matthews band, pink floyd, rusted root, relaxation music, titanic soundtrack, the doors, etc...(all good selections) *never force someone to share what they put on paper

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Make Me The Leader (A similar activity is at the bottom of this page called devience and labeling)
K. Strane
kdegour23@yahoo.com
Activity Description:
Materials: index cards, markers, tape Write one phrase on each card... "Make me the Leader" "Ignore me" "Laugh at everything I say" "Stare at me" "Disagree with me" Give each student an index card, face down in front of them. Assign the students a problem to solve in small groups (of 4 or 5). Tell them they will have ten minutes to discuss it. Then have them place their index cards on their foreheads. ***DO NOT LET THEM SEE WHAT THEIR CARD SAYS!*** Watch as they try to accomplish their task, and are completely distracted by their cards. Then, have the students remove their cards and continue their discussion. Give them another ten minutes. When time is up. Discuss the following... *How did it feel when the others were not listening to you, but rather paying attention to the label? *Were you able to accomplish anything with the labels on? *Dis you figure out what your card said before you looked at it? This activity gives students an understanding of how it feels to be "labeled. the others did not listen to waht they had to say. They were only concerned with what was obvious.

Note from Christian: I've used this activity a number of times. It is important to tell the group to respond to the label on the card, but also to attempt the task. Other lables I've played with include: "I might get violent" "I'm dishonest", "I need help", "I'm slow", "I'm confused" " you can trust me" there is no limit to the options here. I have found it a nice balence to have both "positive" and "negative" lables, raises some interesting discussion afterward. This activity works very well as a fishbowl and can be used to explore group dynamics. I actually use more of a name placard rather then cards on the head (and print them big enough so that the audience can see it). I've had students come back 3 years later and reflect on how powerful the acitvity is. Usually people begin to take on the labels, that is if the the label is ignore me the person either withdrawns or trys very hard to get attention (ussually use this with graduate students and present information on deviency and labeling). I have found it extreamly important to provide time to bring the participants out of the labels. Many of these labels can be too close to home for the participants. It is important to remind them that they are not the labels.

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Secret Box
K. Kelly
kkelly1@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
I am a Substance Abuse Counselor in a prison. I stress to my inmates that you are only as sick as the secrets you keep. I have my group of inmates for 6 months at a time. About our fifth month, I bring in a box that can be openned from the bottem and has a slot in the top. Paper is handed out, half sheets work fine, and each person is instructed to write down something that no one else knows about them. They do not have to put their name on the paper. As they finish they fold up the paper and put it in the box. When all the "secrets" have been picked up the facilitator will read each secret one at a time. The secrets can be processed individually or at the end of the reading of all of them. This activity helps people identify with others who may share a similar experience and to let go of some emotional luggage. This can bring out many feelings and should be done with some professional staff on hand. For a lighter version, use most embarassing moments. This can even be done at showers, parties, etc. To add to the fun, if you know the party go-ers well, try to guess who's embarassing moment it is! :

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LEAVES
Kerrie Mills
ktmjem@aol.com
Activity Description:
This activity has been used as an activity for a geriatric group in a nursing home. A drawing of a tree is made on a poster board and pieces of paper cut in the shapes of leaves are passed out to all participants. Then each member of the group is asked to write down something that no one knows about them. The facilitator then picks up the leaves, mixes them up, and reads each leaf. The members of the group then guess who the leaf belongs to and the leaf is placed on the poster board. At the end of the activity the tree is complete and everyone learns something new about people they see everyday.

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Famous People
Alwyn Klein
kleinfamily@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
Ask all the delegates to choose a famous person/cartoon they would like to be for a day. Go around the room asking each person who they are and why. Get the others to comment on the person's choice. For a group that already know eachother quite well, get them to take on this new name and only to answer to that name for the duration of the training.

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Tower of Truth
Larry Fisher
lfishre@oklaosf.state.ok.us
Activity Description:
I learned this from Dr. Renee Warning, Edmond, Oklahoma. I don't know where Renee got it. You will need the following for each group of 5-7 people: A grocery sack full of old newspapers--lots of papers One standard roll of masking tape One pair of scissors Tell each group they have 30 minutes to build a "Tower of Truth" to these specifications: 1. The Tower must be at least 5 feet, but not more than 6 feet tall. 2. The Tower must be able to withstand being lifted and then dropped from a height where the bottom of the tower is 3 feet above the floor. The Tower cannot collapse when dropped. 3. The Tower must be pleasing to the eye. 4. The Tower must in some manner reflect "truth." Observe the groups as they work. Ask them to describe how they reached decisions, why individuals did certain tasks, whether or not everyone participated and why, and so forth. Great exercise for closing out a day of team building or leadership training. Process this as you would any other team building activity.

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Mine Field (I prefer to create my own name) (Another version of this activity is posted below)

Andre Kotze

get@iafrica.com

Activity Description:

Recreate the hierarchical structure of the company.

For example:

* 3 departments (regions if it is more appropriate),

* Each department with a number of line supervisors,

* 3 Heads of Departments (HOD),

* Board of Directors (BOD).

 

Separate the three hierarchical groups over a distance as well as creating some space between the departments i.e.. BODs all together; HODs out of sight of the BODs as well as each other; Teams (in the metaphoric mine field) are together with their line supervisors and out of sight of the HODs. Roles (I am making this up as I go along - I am sure that you could come up with a more appropriate set) BOD: has a high degree of control over the individual actions of the HODs, line supervisors and team members. HODs: Can only act on orders from the BODs and may only give upward feedback which has been requested by BODs Line Managers:Give five blindfolded people one line supervisors to guide them through the 'field' (a metaphoric financial quarter?). Line supervisors may only do what HODs tell them. They may give whatever feedback the wish to the HODs. Team members may only do what line supervisors tell them. Give the company a deadline and see how they perform. Performance is measured by how many team members manage to cross the field. You can use the 'mines' to create a great Isomorph for the company e.g.. bits of legislation, company policy, competition, stock shortages, meetings (only if your client perceives that they spend too much time in meetings), production overruns, processing delays, wage negotiations, union action, etc.. After a first cycle give the 'company' an opportunity to reorganise and see what they come up with. My bet is that the BODs will give the teams more autonomy and control over their performance. This has potential to surface a fairly narrow understanding of empowerment. My assumption is that the group you are working with has a fair understanding of the concept of empowerment and how it will effect their organisation. There are any number of things you can do to frame and present this activity (or any other activity) which may help you get around the time constraints you face. Consider using email? Why not use the existing chain of command, prior to the intervention, to disseminate information about the exercise? Greg, I have never done this before but with some imagination I am sure it could work. I am also sure, that given the time constraint, you could choose a simpler activity and adapt it in the same manner. Whatever you choose I would love to hear how it goes. Good luck.

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Mirror Walk
Darrel Combs
GreenCountryAPRC@ok.azalea.net
Activity Description:
Use any variety of a trust walk format, with the exception of using mirrors instead of blindfolds. Small plastic mirrors (5 X 7) are held at eye level so as to see above, below, behind, or to the side. A toy periscope could also be used. This can be used as an awareness activity or in metaphors dealing with paradigm shifts. Be creative.

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Cross-Cultural Simulation
Alister Emerson
al.venture.outdoors@xtra.co.nz
Activity Description:
This activity is designed to introduce people to the dynamics of going into another culture. I have used this to train people for working in communities that they unfamiliar with, for teaching people about the youth culture, and for broadening people's life experience. I have done this with adult groups in the past and once with a senior high school class (age 17-18). I first saw this activity at a Youth for Christ training weekend in New Zealand and I have always had positive feedback that this activity is valuable for those that take part, as people get to experience the feeloing of being a starnger in a new culture. The way it works is to set up two cultures that are quite different. I will usually give the groups some starting guidelines and then encourage them to come up with some customs, rules and behaviours for themselves. Typically, when I have done this before, I have had one culture that resembles a western culture (a trading nation, where possessions are important) and a people orientated culture (where touch is important and relationships matter). People from each culture get an opportunity to try and take part in the other culture (and try to work out the rules as they go along.) Rules or guidelines that I have used in the past have been:

 

For the Trading Nation 1. You each start with 4 playing cards 2. The idea is that you must trade cards to get 4 of a kind 3. When you trade, you must give cards with the right hand and receive with the left. 4. The person with the lowest value cards at the end will be an outcast. 5. Aces High, 2 the lowest etc. 6. If anyone in your culture, or visitor, breaks the rules they must sit on the ground until 3 people sing them "Happy Birthday", then they can rejoin

 

People Culture: 1. You are culture where people are first priority 2. Whenever you speak to someone, you must first touch them on the left shoulder and give them a compliment. 3. To finish a conversation you must touch them on the right shoulder and say the name of a fruit or vegetable. 4. Everyone is excited about the up and coming festival (it is the coronation of the new Queen) 5. You need to choose a Queen from your group and get her to sit on a throne 6. If any visitor looks at the Queen they must do 3 push-ups 7. Females are dominant in your culture 8. No male may talk to a female unless spoken to first. 9. If anyone breaks rule 8 thay must do 3 push-ups

 

These are just ideas to get groups started, you may have better ones. The principle here is that these cultures are different and that a person coming in to take part would get the feeling they are a little lost on the culture and don't know the rules, or need to learn them fast. (so quirky rules can be fun) How the simulation works Split your group into two cultures (the smallest group I have done this with is groups of 8 per culture and I have done this with groups of 70+ per culture) Introduce them to the customs of their culture, encourage them to add to these. Remind them not to leave the rules lying around for the other group to find. Let them have 5 minutes interacting with each other to learn the rules and get some life built up in the group. Then ask a small delegation to come from the other culture (about a third of the group) their role is to observe only, they are not to interact. (Both groups send an observing party at the same time) Let this group watch for 5 minutes send them back to their culture to report on what they have discovered. At this satge you will hopefully find the discussion quite lively, as the group is looking for information on the other culture - people tend to be quite interested because they need this info to survive in the other group. Be prepared to facilitate this discussion if the group has not got underway by themselves. After allowing 5-10 minutes for discussion, each culture sends another delegation (third) to the other culture, this time the aim is to take part. Allow 10 minutes or so, then send them back to their culture. After discussion time again, send the final party to interact. If you have time, send the first party that were the observers back in again. Somewhere near visit 3, get the culture to change, modify or add a couple of rules because thats what happen in real life - norms shift. At the conclusion bring both groups together to reveiw. At this point I usually tell the trading nation that the cards were meaningless. It is often fun to get each culture to write on a whiteboard/newsprint the rules that they figure out about the other culture. And then see how accurate they were.

 

Discussion points that have come up in the past: How lost people felt (didn't know the rules) The sense of respect they had for the other culture. How were they treated by the other culture Were they taken for a ride (often the trading nation rip off visitors) How did they go about learning the rules What did they learn that they could transfer outside the simulation

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Penny
Sarah Hyde
sh249@email.byu.edu
Activity Description:
Ask each person how many pennies have passed through their hands throughout their life time. The numbers may be huge. After emphasizing the large numbers, have them draw a penny with all the detail they possibly can. They most likely will struggle. Point: How many people, places etc. do we see every day but don't really know?

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Relationships (at work or anywhere)
Sabina Rechter
sabi@netline.cl
Activity Description:
This can be done 2 ways:
Everybody sitting in pairs facing each other, making eye contact (and the excercise is done
with one person only
or
Make 2 circles, one looking inwards and the other looking outward so everybody is sitting in
front of somebody and everybody does the excercise with everybody.
Questions: "I pretend............." during 3-4 mins.
What do you fear of me? 3-4 mins.
What do you see while you look at me? 3-4 mins.
and then is the other person's turn.

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Free Fall
JF
Biznesswmn@aol.com
Activity Description:
Individuals pair off and freefall backward into their partner's arms. Pairs should be relatively similar in weight. This activity is meant to build trust.

Note from Christian: This is also known as a trust lean. It is best to first teach spotting and to teach this as a progression. I will have the catcher get in the proper spotting stance (athletic position) and keep there hands on the fallers back. I will then work with the faller to stay stiff and fall from the ankles. Also this is a time to work on proper safty communication (eg. ready to fall, fall away, 1, 2, 3 falling). After the pair has done this successfully once have the catcher step back a few inches and repeat the process, the participants can move back up to a foot or so (depending on hight). A final variation is to allow the catcher to actually catch the person by catching them under the arms (it is important for the catcher to rotate the inside knee to the side). Participants need not be of similar weights if participants are taught proper catcher/faller techniques. As with any activity that is designed to faciliate trust, attention must be paid to past history with these activities, many young people (and some adults) will have experienced being dropped.

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Pictionary Introduction
cdrodfam@popd.ipa.net
Activity Description:
To be used for introducting participants who may not know each other in a class or group activity. 1.Give each participant a blank sheet of paper. 2. Participants are given the following instructions; without using numbers or letters each participant should draw things which will introduce them to other ie, where they live, pets they own, children in the family, hobbies, interest, places they have traveled, their jobs, their home etc. 3. After 10 minutes the instructor will gather up all the papers from the participants. 4. Instructors passes out papers making sure that no one gets their own back. 5. Particpants will introduce the person based on what they have drawn. 6. When the person is done introducing the person, ask whose paper it is, and then let them fill the rest of the group in on anything that was missed on their pictures. 7. Have the person tell their name then start introducing the next person.

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Snowball Fight
Susan Cloutier
scloutier@goodwillgr.org
Activity Description:
Write on a pice of paper an idea/concern/comment about a subject/issue/etc. After the group has done this, ask them "To wad the paper up and when I say go, for the next 30 seconds, see how many people you can hit with the "snowball", go!". When 30 seconds if over, have each person pick up a "snowball" and have them read what is on the paper. This way, people can feel free to be honest and express their feelings because they won't know where it came from.

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Arm Wrestling
Gerry Browder
grb4@psu.edu
Activity Description:
Have individuals pair off. Ask them to sit down and clasp hands as it preparing to arm wrestle. Explain that you have unlimited funds for the individuals who press the hand of their partner to the table the most. Say that you have $1000 for the pair that has the highest number of "table touches." Some people will struggle with one another to overpower their partner to bring her/his hand to the table top. Some may discover early that if the pair works together, they can achieve more. The objective is to demonstrate that even though a situation, relationship, or encounter may appear to be adversarial, it doesn't have to be. materials A chair for each person, Table top space for each pair

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Closure in Clay
Jane Teed
jteed@cariboo.bc.ca
Activity Description:
This activity works as a great closure for an educational group that has worked on a blend of tasks and treatment considerations. For the last class of a 13 week course on Social Work with Groups, I bring a large block of grey clay, moist and easy to mold. I ask each person to take a piece of clay and mold it into something that represents, for them, their learning / experience in the course. When the individual work is done, I ask the individuals to meet in their project groups - usually three to four sub-groups. The sub-groups share with one another the meaning they attach to their clay models, then look for themes in their group. Finally, I bring the whole group together [now 12 to 15 people], ask each sub-group to report on their theme or themes, then we discuss the themes of learning / experience for the group as a whole. While people are sometimes reluctant to begin this exercise [ fear of 'artistic failure' ] I find that with a little encouragement from me, they usually become very creative. The debriefing is a good learning opportunity for us all.

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Team Tower
Jennie Page
jepage@mcms.com
Activity Description:
When we teach a class on teamwork, we use the tower as an illustration. We give participants a bunch of straws and clay. They are divided into groups, and told to build the tallest free-standing tower. THe peopel with the tallest tower in 10 minutes, win. We have a follow-up discussion regarding roles people assumed when building the tower. Leader, builders, etc. Did someone have an idea, or vision? (leader) Did someone help make the vision tangible? (facilitator) THis usually gets people talking and makes the class fun.

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A Basketful of Ideas
Joan Greenfield
Jgreenfield@rhs.org
Activity Description:
This works as a great closing activity for a training. Pass around a basket full of various objects (light bulb, toys, tea bag, bandaid, bell, $1, old pair of glasses, face mask, small clock, map, deck of cards...anything you can find around the house or office) and have each participant remove the item they are drawn to. Once everyone has selected, in turn they explain to the group how the item symbolizes what they learned from the training. For example, a light bulb = a new idea (and describing what it is), $1 = a way to save some money for the department, glasses = can see a problem more clearly) etc. I've used this activity a number of times and it's always been a hit.

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Birthday order
erw
erw@enortel.com
Activity Description:
A quick ice breaker for large or small groups. (If group is large ((20 or more)) may divide in half. Also a good method to use to form teams: 1. Instruct group to organize in ascending or descending order by birth date (month & day) without talking. 2. Tools that can be used: paper & pencil, number cards, index cards, etc. Or leave it to the imagination of the group. The object is to not talk to see different forms of communication. 3. After the groups have been organized, then proceed with the orginal task.

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Dividing into Pairs
Rhonda Wood
leaderintraining@yahoo.com
Activity Description:
Write names of famous couples on separate pieces of paper, i.e.: Bonnie Clyde Bill Hillary Mickey Minnie Fred Ginger Then have each person draw one piece of paper with one name on it from a hat. Students must then find their "other half."

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Penny Icebreaker
Candy Cates
candy.cates@tdh.state.tx.us
Activity Description:
Collect many pennies, with a variety of dates Have each participant draw a penny. Have participants share their most vivid memory of the year on the penny. Great for mixed age groups. Encourages communication.

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Scrabble for TQM
Vikki Shine
vikki.shine@teradyne.com
Activity Description:
We use regular scrabble games for this activity. We used this activity for team building in TQM. The purpose is to create as many TQM words in a 10-minute time span. We have groups of 6-8 people. What we were looking to accomplish besides team building, was whether or not people use the tools they have been previously taught to use, i.e. 7-steps, 9-steps methodologies to solve problems. In other words, did they use the process to get the words; or were they striving for results without any established process.

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Reorder the circle
Terry Williams
williamst@nthshore.govt.nz
Activity Description:
Objective - introduce concept of nonverbal communication's importance - Stand with participants in a circle. State the spot where you are standing is the start of the circle. When you say "go", the participants are to reorder the circle from tallest to shortest, without the use of speaking or writing. Say "go" and play active music. Check the results when reordered. Provide feedback. When you say "go", the participants are to reorder the circle based on their birthdays, without the use of speaking or writing. Say "go" and play active music. Check the results when reordered. Provide feedback. When you say "go", the participants are to reorder the circle based on the first house in which they lived and its distance from this building, without the use of speaking or writing. Say "go" and play active music. Check the results when reordered. Provide feedback. To end, have participants turn to their left for a pat on the back for a job well done, then to the right.

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101 Ways to Enhance a Debrief

Tyler Hayden

wave@ns.sympatico.ca

 

Creating a valuable debrief for your learners is kinda like cooking a meal. Like any Dijon Chef you will start your career making allot of cup of soup... cause you can only figure out how to add water, and stir. But with time, experience, and awareness you will make meals into

a dining experiences. To help you fast track your skills munch on some of these 101 ways to enhance your debrief:

 

1. Get the group in a circle sitting knee to knee or standing shoulder to shoulder;

2. Don,t leave any unfinished business, terminate all issues appropriately for every learner;

3. Ensure that you maintain eye contact with whomever is speaking;

4. Feep aware of others in the circle and nonverbally acknowledge when its their turn to speak or are becoming distracted;

5. Maintain a clear structure or "rules to your debrief a good tool is the Full Value Contract (ie speaker in charge, respecting others and yourself, etc.)

6. Don,t be surprised by peoples resistance to a debrief, it,s often not how learners are used to learning and takes them some getting used to;

7. Treat what people have to say with respect;

8. Encourage those who are not participating to speak by asking them direct, fair, and inclusionary questions;

9. Learn from each facilitation session by being evaluated by peers, learners, and yourself;

10. Sit across the circle from your co-facilitator and establish non-verbal cues to communicate with them while you,re co-facilitating (one simple one I have used is leaning forward if I would like to follow a response with a new question direction, and pointing my finger in the air if I have an immediate question);

11. Take discrete notes of the activity the debrief and refer to them when asking direct questions;

12. One structured format that works is Gestalt which has a questioning format of, "What, So What, and Now What;

13. Sometimes it,s best to "let the mountain speak for itself;

14. Be creative and humorous (at appropriate times);

15. Keep notes on each learner so you can have them reflect on things that they have already learned or goals they have already set;

16. Take your time, reflect on the learning, make sure you have a solid awareness amongst the group about what just happened so they can effectively and efficiently transfer the learning;

17. Ask the tough questions really challenge your learners;

18. Probe, probe, probe for the deeper meaning within the answer;

19. Read more literature on facilitating a debrief, understand and apply the theory;

20. Challenge what your learners have said in a developmentally appropriate manner that challenges them to develop their thoughts into meaningful understandings;

21. Pick a key word that a learner has used and when they have finished their response simply say the word in an inquisitive manner (ie "Respect? or "Pressure?);

22. Utilize solution oriented debriefing techniques by asking learners questions about the experiences successes, how learners achieved them, and how the success can be replicated both directly and indirectly;

23. Support your learners responses by nodding and being legitimately interested in what they are saying;

24. Use orgainizers like coloured beads or items from nature to support leanings (ie Medicine Pouch);

25. Speak with learners outside of the debrief and inquire about how they are, what they,ve learned or how you are doing;

26. Return to the same location to conduct your debrief as much as possible;

27. Use non-verbal learnings, like painting, poetry or sculpture to support the verbal debrief;

28. Know your audience and speak in a manner in which they will understand, respect, and support you for using;

29. Don,t swear, it,s a little thing but a nice thing;

30. Watch other people facilitate a debrief and borrow what you like;

31. Be energised about the learning session (when you,re into it, so to will others get into it);

32. Integrating food into the debrief can be effective as it releases a pleasure chemical in learners minds (assuming they like what you serve em.)

33. While on the subject of food, snacks or meals are good after intense debriefs it seems to help relax and reenergize the learners;

34. Practice your speaking techniques in front of groups of people, join the toastmasters or simply be more active in conversations with strangers while waiting for the bus or having a coffee alone;

35. Write and plan questions that may be helpful during the debrief prior to your session;

36. Take yourself only so seriously, remember to laugh;

37. Aattend conferences and go to sessions on facilitation;

38. Have learners use techniques that involve Creative Visualization, (ie Positive Affirmations, Treasure Mapping, etc. A good resource to learn how to do this is by Shaki Gawain called "Creative Visualization);

39. Let learners stay connected with the event during the debrief by letting maintain contact with elements of the activity (ie rope, mouse trap, soft toy, etc.);

40. Conduct a debrief with your learners blindfolded;

41. Try something new when you debrief, like number 26!;

42. Define and plan your outcomes beforehand as recreational, educational, developmental or therapeutic and structure the debrief accordingly;

43. Practice your questioning techniques on people you meet, friends, family, roommate, etc. it will help you hone your skills;

44. Set goals for yourself and your debriefing ability;

45. Take the time to pet a friendly dog or cat on the street (OK maybe it won,t help your facilitation skills but dogs and cats are nice things);

46. Read or experience things that are appropriate to the learning sessions that you provide like research studies on drug abuse, leadership, whatever;

47. Speak clearly when you ask questions and provide clarification and connections with the use of examples from the experience and real life;

48. Create a journal for your learners that speaks to the expected outcomes from each experience;

49. Take photos and collect non private writings during the sessions and send them to your learners post experience as a yearbook or family album;

50. Limit external noise from your experience by locating away from major traffic areas, loud machinery, other groups, etc., but as close as possible to the activity site;

51. Make sure your pants zipper is closed... its always good to remind yourself of that!;

52. Keep an open and inviting posture to your learners by not crossing your arms, legs, or adverse facial expressions, etc.;

53. Smile;

54. Carry a water bottle and drink from it;

55. Try out the Socratic Method of debriefing (a great explanation of that can be found on page 152-153 in Effective Leadership in Adventure Programming, by Priest and Gass)

56. Teach others how to create more effective debriefs by evaluating each other;

57. Ensure that your location has good ventilation;

58. Make sure that there is adequate lighting for the debrief, lighting can create mood so use things like candles, campfires, lanterns, etc (the high beams of your car should be used only for interrogations by the FBI);

59. Send you learners a letter that will help them to dress appropriately, to ensure their comfort during the activity and debrief session (ie miniskirts are not necessarily conducive to sitting on the

floor for a debrief);

60. Get enough rest prior to your session it helps you become a more effective facilitator of learning, by helping you energetically think on your feet;

61. Know where to refer people for more specialised information or support as you might not necessarily be the most qualified person to continue with a debrief, simply know your limitations, qualifications and external resources;

62. Co-facilitate with professionals (ie counsellors, doctors, etc.) especially when there is the potentiality for psychological first aid to be administered;

63. Read, understand and commit to being an ethical experiential educator, a good resource for this is Ethics in Experiential Learning by J. Hunt;

64. Become aware of peoples non verbal reactions to dialogue, they will

speak volumes to an experiential educator who is aware;

65. Respect yourself by knowing your limitations;

66. Know the organizations policies and procedures that you are working for and how they effect your role as facilitator;

67. Know your employers or your own ability to insure any legal ramifications that may result from allegations and outcomes of your debrief;

68. Create opportunities for your learners to continue to learn from the experience even post debrief (ie utilize isomorphic connections during the dialogue of the debrief);

69. In all your dealings with your learners ensure that you create a feeling of trust and respect towards you;

70. Let people talk, don,t tell them they,re wrong, just keep the dialogue running until you get the learning piece that you want to probe;

71. Role model the positive behaviours outside of your group that you desire from them;

72. Eat gummy bears;

73. Design and use facilities that is learner focused their comfort is more important than your own (ie with children have lowered windows and light switches);

74. Celebrate successful debriefs by sharing effective tools with them;

75. Finish your debrief as timely as possible, I read once that debriefing was like cheese too much processing makes Velveeta so be cognizant of "over and "under processing;

76. With some high functioning groups you will find that after awhile they will begin to facilitate their own dialogue, stay interested and help shape the debrief to match your planned learning outcomes;

77. Sometimes it helps at the end of a session to summarize and clarify what was said and learned through the debrief, this can be done by you, one of the learners, or the entire group collectively;

78. Be aware of your voice tone, it effects the learners energy;

79. Use peoples names whenever you can;

80. When outside debrief in shaded areas as the sun can draw energy and be tough on the eyes of some learners;

81. When you,re outside make sure that you are looking into the sun not your learners whenever possible;

82. Break group into solos, dyads, small and large groups for reflection on learning;

83. Jot down notes while learners are talking through a debrief to remember important points and structure your questioning;

84. Take off your sunglasses because, "the eyes are the window to the

soul;

85. Keep groups to a maximum of 15 learners whenever possible;

86. Send learners a letter post program thanking them and support them on their personal pursuits of learning;

87. Be aware of teachable moments and utilize them to their maximum potential for learning by stopping and investigating the learning immediately upon the moments presentation;

88. Evaluate your program against the objectives you set for the session, do this individually as well as invite your learners and colleagues to do the same;

89. Hold a reunion with program learners;

90. As a thumbnail guide schedule your dialoguing sessions to be as long as your doing sessions- but remember don,t "over or "under process the experience;

91. Know where your contracting agent, professional association and group,s position is on confidentiality and adhere to these standards- some groups require you to sign off on a confidentiality clause in your contract;

92. Go camping in your free time.... just cause it,s fun!;

93. If you don,t have time for the debrief post experience, provide the group with a brief summary and make time to debrief later, inform the group of this;

94. Create an atmosphere that encourages learners to contribute questions to the dialogue as well as responses to your questions;

95. Choose to engage in regular dialogues with your learners at established times and locations (ie campfires, after meals, etc.);

96. Gain quick group consensus using scales of 0 to 10, thumbs up or down, etc.;

97. Teach learners to perform relaxation exercises to centre themselves prior to a debrief (ie have the group breath in their nose for 4 seconds, hold their breath for 7 seconds, and push the air out with the tip of their lounge pressed against their back of their front teeth for 8 seconds);

98. Present an open ended statement that learners can complete like, "Right now I am feeling... or My parents are...;

99. Break into dyads and have learners paraphrase and report their partners responses to questions you provide (this is great when you are short on time);

100. Have learners write down their responses prior to speaking, it helps to collect their thoughts and reduce anxiety about speaking;

101. Have fun.

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Games to Divide Groups

 

Finding pairs:

Tom

TeamXpress@aol.com

Circle up and everybody looks in the centre to feel the power

of....While looking in the centre concentrate your imagination on one sepcific

person in the circle. On the count of three (or another committed signal)

look up and at this person. Once you meet your persons eyes you found your

partner. Otherwise stay and try again. Concentrate another time on somebody in

the circle....Those who met move off the circle. I call it "Magic".

 

Shake, rattle, and roll

Susan Markley

susanm@dunncenter.org

Take as many film cannisters as you have people. In each film cannister,

put an object. The objects you pick can be like the following:

 

cotton balls, pennies, paperclips, jelly beans, m&m's, etc.

 

If you have 30 people and you want to divide them into three groups of 10

each, you would place a cotton ball in 10 of the cannisters, a paperclip in

10 of the cannisters, and a penny in 10 of the cannisters. Each individual

then picks a cannister from a bag, basket or some other container. They can

not look or smell in the cannister. They can only shake the cannister to

distinquish the different sounds of the objects. The object is for the

individual to find persons in the group with a like sounding object and stay

with that group. There are many variations on this game. I call it,

"Shake, rattle, and roll". Enjoy!

 

Jennifer Selke

jennselke@aol.com

 

Here is a bunch of ways to divide kids and people into groups. We use a lot

in the context of picking teams for sports so you may see a bias here. None

are created by me - all have been pilfered from various places. PE listservs

have been a huge source as well as the Training and Development listserv.

The "I" in many of the suggestions are from PE teachers working in a school

and the context in which they are speaking may have to be adjusted for your

groups.

 

Numbering Games

1) Make Four Lines and then group line 1&2 versus 3&4.

2) Have people, on the count of "Blue Sky," hold up anywhere from one to ten

fingers. " Green fields, red earth, blue sky. Go!" All the people holding up

an even number of fingers on one side, odd fingers on the other.

3) Randomly number the students 1,2,3,4 etc.; or random teams, ie., you are a

Red Sox, you are a Blue Jays, Marlins, Yankees.

4) Ask the students to get into groups of 4. Groups of 3 or 5 work well

also, depending on the class size and the number of students per team. Give

them 10 seconds to find a group. Count down from 10. From this point, I vary

what I do!!!! One time I will create larger teams, by combining the

different small groups, as a whole. Another time, I will have each person in

a group count off, and then I combine the 1's together, the 2's together and

so on.

5) Have the kids move around in general space doing whatever you want them to

do (skipping, jogging, etc.). When you call out a number, that is the size of

the group the students they have to get into (i.e., "4" is called, so the

teacher should see groups of 4). (Use math equations if you want i.e.,

4-2+7=??). Call out several numbers or equations until you are happy with the

groups that are formed. Have groups that are unable to form that numbered

group come to you. Typically on there way to see you they find other groups

having the same problem and they make the correct numbered group.

 

Type of Attire

Shirt: Sports or College shirts, white shoe laces vs. other color

blue and red clothes - yellow and black,etc.

 

Student Names

1) Line up in alphabetical order, or by age, etc. and divide down the line

(this accomplishes several goals such as learning each other names)

2) Have children count the number of letters in their first name. Now ask them

to find someone in the class who has the same number of letters. Those two are

now partners. If a child can't find someone ask him/her what other name he is

called by (i.e., a student named Matthew may use the name Matt and then he may

look for someone with 4 letters instead of 7.) If they still can't find

someone then have the children come to you so you can pair them up.

 

ADVANTAGE: Now that they are in pairs I wanted one partner to get a balloon.

They had to figure out whose name started with the letter closest to A. That

child went to get the balloon. I tried this with my first graders and they

loved it. It was great seeing them talking with one another to find a partner.

 

Dice, Cards, Poker Chips. . .

1) Each student rolls a dice. The 1,2,3 make a team, the 4,5,6 makes another

team. Or any combination of numbers rolled. (I have used a box for them to

roll the dice in to keep it under control.)

2) Number poker chips to match student ID numbers 1-20. Each kids draws a

chip for the opposing team. Once the teams are selected I do not let them

trade. Reason: I tell them that it is like a job, they get hired by a

company to do a job but they must work with who the company hires to get the

job done. This way everyone has the same random chance of being picked first

or last. For fun I tell them up front that I am trying to make the teams as

unfair as possible. After all the teams are picked I ask them if I succeeded,

Most agree. I have noticed that I rarely have any problems from the students

or parents.

3) I have a deck of Looney Toon playing Cards. It contains pairs of all the

characters. When the class comes in I shuffle 12 pair of cards for 24 kids. If

the class is uneven I throw in a joker. I deal the cards and that is their

"Looney Toon Partner". The person with the joker gets to pick the two he/she

wants to work with.

4) Give each student a card with a different kind of ball or sporting

equipment picture on it. Students are to find the person(s) with the

equipment that matches theirs. Of course you can use any category for this

(i.e., dogs, cars, birds).

5) Make a pack of playing sized cards with the names of your students on

them. The teacher shuffles the cards and the students names are called as they

are pulled from the pack. If you want just one child, you can choose a child

to pick a card, or shuffle them and pick the top one. This is random selection

and avoids anyone feeling "bad" about being last or not picked. Ideal if you

want any amount of groups as each 3 or 4 cards are turned over they become a

group.

6) Decide how many groups you want and what size. For example, if you would

like to have 5 groups of 5 and you wanted to randomly put them into groups

then get 5 Kings, 5 Aces, 5 2's, 5 Jacks, and 5 Queens (of course you will

need more than one deck of cards) and shuffle them up. Pass them out and match

up the five who get the Kings, Queens, etc. Those will be their groups for the

day/period.

 

Shoe Toss

Have each kid put one shoe in the middle and throw them out to each corner to

make teams

 

Standers and Sitters

Have everyone get a partner. Have one person sit and the other stand. Standers

move to a teacher designated area and they form one team. Sitters become a

team. Typically this eliminates best buddies and the higher and lower skilled

being on the same team all of the time.

 

Birthdays

Choose teams by birthdays, people born on odd days of the month, even days of

the month over there. First six months of the year versus last six months.

Spring and winter versus fall and summer.

 

Back To Back

Have students stand back-to-back with a partner (give them no longer than 10

seconds). Use the following options for forming groups:

1. Have the younger of the two go to a designated area.

2. Have the student with the larger or smaller foot size go to a designated

area.

3. Have the taller or shorter student go to a designated area.

 

Arm/Finger Cross

1) Have students cross their arms across their chest. Amazingly (at least I

was amazed) it almost always works out to about 50% cross right over left, and

the other 50% cross left over right.

2) Have students close their eyes and then put their hands together so their

fingers are interlocking and their palms are touching each other. Have them

open their eyes and look down at their hands. If their right thumb is on top

then they are one team and if their left thumb is on top then they go to the

other team.

 

Every Other Student

Have the girls line up in front of you and boys behind you (or vice versa).

Walk down the line and tap every other student and have them raise their hand.

Hands up students are one team, hands down the other. You know have an equal

number of boys and girls on each team. So they do not start to switch places

in line - keep them guessing by tapping a few students in a row rather than

just every other child.

 

Hair Bands

On the days that you need to form groups/teams give students small hair bands

to wear on their wrists (they fit perfectly). Have 4-6 colors so then you can

divide the class up anyway that you need to. You can group students

differently each week by giving out different colors to different students.

You can use for skill practice as well (i.e., yellow bands dribble around the

yellow hoop, orange bands assess their skill by writing the cues they

perform).

 

Teacher Formed Groups

One of the best methods to form equal groups and teams is to have the teacher

make them up in advance. The teachers knowledge of skill, gender, behavior,

and compatibility of their own students is probably the best way to form the

groups. For example, if you are doing stations list the names of the students

on a card, give the group a name, and then have the students go to that

station to start. Change groups frequently throughout the year.

 

Everyday Questions

"If you put both socks on before your shoes (sneakers), then you go to this

side. If you put one sock and shoe on before the other then move over here."

"If you get out of bed on the left side, then you are over here. If you are a

right sider, then you are on this side"

 

Equipment Fun/Forming Groups

Spread the pairs of equipment throughout the playing area. Have students enter

the gym and pick up any piece of equipment. Have them start playing with the

piece of equipment in a creative and safe manner and they should stay close to

their personal space area. After about 3-4 minutes, form teams/partners by

instructing the student to find the student with the matching piece of

equipment. Combine equipment for fast groups of four (i.e., "all bean bags

and nerf balls skip to the red line.")

 

Barnyard

Students are each given one tongue depressor marked with the name of an animal

(i.e., cow, pig, chicken, horse, etc.). (The number of different animals used

depends on how many groups you want to form. For example, for a class of 30

ending in groups of six, use 5 different animals.) On signal and staying

within a marked boundary, students begin to move around general space using a

teacher determined locomotor movement (slow movements work best). While

students are moving around they are to make the sound of the animal on their

tongue depressor.

 

Students "look" (listen) for anyone of the same animal category and hook up

with them. Continue moving through space until all of your animal buddies have

been found and are all together. Students should keep their tongue depressors

in their hand but they shouldn't show it to anyone. Do not allow "human"

communication for this activity and it is best to tell students to make the

animal noises using a soft voice.

 

Seven Dwarfs- (large groups)

Have individuals get into groups of seven and have them each label themselves

a dwarf. This in itself can be hard to them to get all the dwarfs right.

Then tell them to disperse into groups of like-dwarfs bringing all the Doc in

one groups, all the Sleepys in another group and so on.

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Red/Black Game

Scott Trent

strent@flash.net

Activity Description:

Here is the description to the Red/Black game- I have seen the Red/Black game, Black/White game, Game of Life, etc. played a number of times. Basically, the premise goes like this: Two teams (large groups are good) in separate rooms or areas. They are not allowed to talk directly to each other. There is a monitor who goes between each group and gets the color selection. This part I have different directions. You can either identify a couple rounds for conferences or allow certain "delegates from each team to visit between rounds. The objective for each team- get as many points as possible. There are a number of rounds (depending on facilitator) and points are gathered by a formula. Described below: The formula- If team 1 chooses red and team 2 chooses red both teams get 3 points. If team 1 chooses red and team 2 chooses black then group 1 must subtract 6 points and team 2 adds 6 points. >From the directions I am using at the moment there are two more scenarios. The combination is red/red, red/black, black/red, and black, black. You give the two groups ( I imagine you could set it up for more than two groups?) a number of rounds to get the most amount of points. Each round is timed, maybe 5 minutes. All the groups do is choose Red or Black, depending on what the other team selects and then applied to the formula is how they amass their points. Both teams have the scoring formula posted. Even though I have never seen it happen, the solution is a win/win approach. The only way to win the most points is to collaborate with the other teams; although, groups rarely come to this solution before the game is complete. Processing points: Natural tendency to compete and not collaborate, there are all kinds of dynamics in the voting process within each group. Matter a fact, I think the best part of the activity is the group dynamics choosing Red or Black. Leadership style, group control, communication skills used, and who participates and who decides to simply follow. Hopefully, this is understandable. Feel free to contact me directly for further clarification.

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Jail Break

Simon Priest

spriest@mail.ups.edu

Activity Description:

Here is the original description of the activity. To give credit where credit is due, it was created by a several Australian facilitators in a workshop I ran in 1989. Over the years, various pieces have been added, first by CATI staffers (Mindee Naismith and Tim Dixon), in order to give people womething to do other than stand around waiting. Somehow the name got changed to "Prisoner's Dilemma," but I think we should NOT use this label, because "Prisoner's Dilemma" has been used for decades to describe the problem where one has to determine the best question to ask one of two gaurds (one who lies, the other is truthful) for which door to take (one leads to death, the other freedom) to leave the prison. A more general version of this initiative can be found in the corporate section of Mike Gass' Book of Metaphors II under the name TEAM TRIANGLE, where the group has to build a triangle (or other shape) out of rope or assemble a puzzle or.... EXCERPT FROM AN OLD STUDENT WORKBOOK

Name of task: JAIL BREAK

Type of task: Intra- and inter-group communication exercise.

Time required: At least one hour, preferably more depending on the group's abilities.

Facility needed: Three platform "islands" in a line separated by about ten feet, with the central platform walled in as a "jail" island by wooden barriers.

Supplies needed: Blindfolds for one third of the group, gags for another third of the group, written instructions, can of water (nitroglycerin) with refill supply, boxes and planks of sufficient type to construct bridges between the 3 islands.

Overview of task: The blind group on island #3 builds a bridge to free prisoners on island #2 while instructions are mimed from the mute group who have the blueprints on island #1 (freedom). Once freed by nitroglycerin (delivered without a spill) the prisoners and blind group must build a second bridge to freedom.

Preparation: Secure facility & supplies, clear the surrounding area of dangerous objects.

Group Orientation: Do not explain the task. Instead form sub groups and deliver instructions. Individual Structure: Facilitators can ask for the three sub-groups to form voluntarily (thereby learning much about possible cliques within the group), or can assign a few participants to sub-groups according to perceptions of their needs.

CARES: Watch for blindfolded "crashes" with one another or ends of planks, and while they walk or crawl across bridges, carefully spot blind participants.

Implementation: Once everyone is in place (with blindfolds and gags worn) provide the mute sub-group with the following written instructions: "Your friends are being held as political prisoners in an island jail. You have the blueprints to build a bridge to freedom (your island), but the construction supplies are on another island of refugees who have been blinded by their oppressors. In addition, your tongues have been cut out by your enemies and you are forced to mime all instructions to the political prisoners who will translate and direct the blind refugees. GET EVERYONE ONTO YOUR ISLAND without anyone falling into the shark infested waters (individuals will die and be temporarily removed). To blow up the prison walls, and to release the political prisoners, a can of nitroglycerin must be delivered to them without spilling a drop (if spilt, everyone must start over)" Any questions?

Processing: Process with an emphasis on communication and other issue topics noted. Watch for the blind being left out when a second bridge is built to freedom.

Transfer: One corporate metaphor here is cross-functional communication: engineers telling supervisors telling workers how to design and build a new product.

Closure & Evaluation: Share your impressions of the group. Did you meet the objectives above?

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The ABC Exercise

Mac McInnes

amcinnes@unity.unity.edu

Activity Description:

This exercise should be used cold with no introductions.

Rules

1. There must be no talking

2. Five participants take on the roles of A, B, C, D and E

3. They must sit in the formation A B C D E All Facing the same direction i.e. towards "A"

4. The group is executing a project

5. The only form of communication is through Bio Mail, which is a sixth member of the group.

6. B, C, D and E may only communicate by writing messages on the post-it notes provided. You should indicate to whom it is addressed and letter of the sender.

7 The total time for the project is 15 minutes. The status of each project will be taken every five minutes. When the status is being taken or when the end of the project time is announced, all activity must cease.

8. The instruction sheets will be handed out face down. Do not turn them over until instructed.

Person A In this project, you are A. The project reporting structure is as follows: B reports to you; C, D and E report to B. Each of you have been given four symbols, each of which is one of five familiar symbols. Your job is to find which one of the five symbols is held in common. You must then finish this job in 15 minutes. You may communicate with B only through the exchange of written notes (Bio Mail'). B may exchange notes with you and C, D, and E. C, D and E may exchange notes with B only (not with each other). No other communication is permitted. To elaborate: ? There are five unique symbols. ? Each person has four of these five possible symbols ? There are three / four copies of four of the symbols. ? There are five copies of one of the symbols. ? You are to determine which symbol is held by all five persons. ? Your symbols are as follows: % ? + *

Person B In this project, you are B. A and B may exchange notes. C, D and F may exchange notes with B only (not with each other). No other communication is permitted. Do not allow any other project members to see this page. You will find four symbols below: % ? = *

Person C In this project you are C. A and B may exchange notes. You may exchange notes with B. You can not exchange notes with A, D or E. No other communication is allowed. Do not allow any other project members to see this page. You will find four symbols below: % ? + =

Person D In this project you are D. A and B may exchange notes. You may exchange notes with B. You can not exchange notes with A, C or E. No other communication is allowed. Do not allow any other project members to see this page. You will find four symbols below: % = + *

Person E In this project you are E. A and B may exchange notes. You may exchange notes with B. You can not exchange notes with A, C or D. No other communication is allowed. Do not allow any other project members to see this page. You will find four symbols below: % ? = *

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Icebreaker: Effecftive Work Relationships
Karen Friedhoff
refklf@concentric.net
Activity Description:
To emphasize the importance of work teams and the ability to build effective work relationships, have the group do the following exercise: Divide the group into teams of 3-4 participants. In the corner of a blank sheet of paper, ask each participant to write down the number of pennies he/she's handled in his/her life. Have some or all (depending on group size) call out the figure they write down. Record these figures on flip chart. Ask each participant INDIVIDUALLY to draw two large circles on the piece of paper. Ask them to refrain from taking a penny bfom their purse or pocket. Have them label one circle "front" and one "back." Ask them to reproduce the front and back of a penny in one minute. Point out how many they've handled. At the end of a minute point out how we can be overly familiar with an object or situation or event and not really see it. Expand on this. To learn the value of a work team, ask them to go around the team and each person in turn shares one thing they have on their drawing. As each gives a feature, the others add the feature to their own drawings, so that each one's "picture" becomes more and more complete through shared knowledge. Discuss value of team in open-forum. Tell them they can now look at a penny. Allow time for them to do so and to comment to each other. Tell them the Treasury Department estimates we handle 1,000 pennies per year. Refer back to their estimates. Many will be over 100,000. Some may be over 1,000,000.] NOTE: At the end, when dealing with participants who think they already know everything there is to know about the subject, point out that we are selective learners and there is always something new to be learned. Source unknown.

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Alpha Goals
Ann Stacy
fastacy@swbell.net
Activity Description:
include two sets of the alphabet in each envelope. Have each group of 3-4 create words that describe their goals - individule or team goals. Like scrabble. Bring all groups together to combine (without duplicating) team goals/individual. Find the common goals to be shared Post these goals in the lockerroom or gym to be circled when abtained by the team. Each person writes their name next to that goal when they have abtained it themselves and the game or date it was reached.

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Planting a Seed
Greg Kline
gpk@erinet.com
Activity Description:
I used this activity in a day treatment facility for adolescents and children. Each youth received a plant pot which the were encouraged to decorate as they wish. They were then tasked to write their goal for their treatment in the day treatment program. placing the goal in the pot, the youth then filled the pot with soil and planted a flower seed. The procesing of the group centered around how each yuoth is planting a seed of change. Their seed, or process of change is slow, and needs nurturing but in the end will produce a beautiful flower. The metaphor in this activity had a poweful impact on the youth. We now use this activity foe every new admission.

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Weak Links
Kim Blair
kblair@miami.edu
Activity Description:
Great for revisiting expectations at some point during the year. You need a list of predetermined expectations. (We usually make a list at the beginning of each school year.) You then type up the expectations. I use two different colors of paper; ne to represent the staff expectations of me and mine of them. You then cut the paper so that one expectation is on one strip of paper. Then you link them together to form a paper chain. It is best to alternate the 2 colors. The group should sit in a circle and begin reading each of the expectations. As one is read the group decides if that expectation is being met. If not the link is broken and put aside for more discussion at the end. If so then the entire chain is passed to the next person who reads the next expectation. The ideal situation is to have no Weak Links!

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"Ice Breaker Puzzle"
Tim Ringrose
tjringrose@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
A great way of getting strangers to 'gel' at the start of course. The great thing about this activity is that it does not require many resources (or Artistic talent!) Basically, establish how many participants there will be in your group before hand and decide whether you want to include the Instructors as 'particpants' for the activity. Then take a large piece of paper (the bigger the better) and draw on it a scene or 'theme' or 'quote' that best encapsulates the meaning or purpose or activity of the course. Use thichk pens or paint if possible. The more visible the better. One the drawing/ painting is complete, cut the drwaing into the same number of pieces (they don't have to be any particular shape) as there are particpants. When the course starts, hand out a piece of the puzzle to each particpant in random order. Once you have completed your Introduction / Welcome speech etc...ask the group to put together the puzzle. Note: If they are to be divided into smaller groups then you could draw the same number of drwaings as there are groups,but don't tell them what sub-group they're in. This will of course make it more challenging & fun!! (You could perhaps keep each drawing/ painting in seperate colours in order that they can at least easily distinguish between their own group and others. This is also a great way (and an easy way) of getting folks both focused and made to feel more comfortable in their new enviornment.

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Blindfolded Team Twister
Tom Bachman
youthalive@proaxis.com
Activity Description:
Blindfold four players, each player has three teammates. The object is to win, by all the teammates moving hands and legs and helping player stay up. Obviously when the player looses the whole team is out . Have one person with the spinner make it as difficult as possible by choosing the most difficult positions rather than leaving it up to chance. Great in youth group settings have students as the players first and adult help on each team then make the adult help the players and the students, the support team.

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Marble Roll
Dave Walsh
dswalsh@email.uncc.edu
Activity Description:
Jim Cain taught me this activity. I and other staff at UNC Charlotte have come up with some of the variations listed.

Materials: One PVC pipe section per person, one or more marbles (or other objects: ball bearings, ping pong ball, golf ball, etc) Set up: Lay out tubes in a pile and have target in place (bucket, cup, trash can, etc.) Group

Task: To transport the marble(s) into the bucket

Brief: Each person can only touch his/her own tube No one may move their feet while a marble is touching their tube The marbles may not come into contact with anything but the tubes and the final container Common Stories: The marble can represent something significant/relevant to the group (a big client or product for a corporate group) The marble can be a chemical concentration needed to neutralize or purify the substance in the target container.

Options/Variations: Have a blocked tube (usually seen as a defective resource, but is very valuable if used creatively). Use PVC pipe cut in half (open channels). Use multiple marbles- have to get them all, or group can set goal of how many to get in Use a marble too big to fit in pipes, or don,t allow the marbles to pass inside the tubes. Use the elbows that can attach to the pipes to create curves or stoppers With people in wheel chairs or with fine motor skill disability, longer pipes (2ft lengths) work well, and allow them to touch other peoples pipes. Very hard options: Have final container be up a flight of stairs Mark the ends of tubes with color code- can only touch another black tube or blue tube, etc. Move water- have to fill a cup up to a certain level Object cannot stop or move backwards Common Issues Excellent metaphors for many work settings: customer service- customer gets passed to many employees. Quality, attention to detail, integrity, communication, problem solving.

Note from Christian: I have also had clients lable the tubes as resources or strengths they bring to solving problems (especially in a clinical context). Can produce some nice topics for discussions. I have also not identified the course ahead of time, but let it emerge as the activity goes on. I have also invited them to explore if they are ready for more of a challenge (going under or over things). This is a nice activity that can be done inside or out.

Greg Shantz added this variation: team challenge- each group of 10 people is to use the tracks to move a marble (or 5) across a large area and deposit it in a mug within 15 seconds of all the other groups. Participants may not move their feet while a marble is on their track. Should a marble fall, all participants must restart behind the location of the drop. The marbles' path must not be interfered with in any way - fingers, ends of the track,clothing etc. may not hinder the roll of the marble. One "co-ordinator"from each group from each group could be allowed to travel to the other teams to trade ideas, problems, strategy etc.

 

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Mind Field
Casey Desharnais
cmd@hopper.unh.edu
Activity Description:
1. roped off area-50ft.

2. obstacles are scattered through course.

3. 1 participant is blindfolded at one end of the course another person is trying to guide them through the course. the guide has to stand at one end of the course and they have to use their voice. 4. There can be distractions through the course to represent real life distractions in the way of achieving a goal.

Note from Christian: The obstacles can also lables with tape or paper to represent those real life obsticles that a client is dealing with (e.g. substances, corporate challenges, etc.). It is most helpful if the client identifies these. Consequences for touching the obsticles can also be linked to what the obsticle is.

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The Salt Terrain
Carolee Larger (but I didn't invent the game, it came from someone else)
carolee_l@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
Materials needed: clear container with a lid for each participant, salt, food coloring, and something to mix each of the colors (plastic cups work well, using a knife). Pour the salt into the cup and put a few drops of food coloring until the desired color is achieved. Using a piece of paper as a funnel, pour a color into the clear container. Vary the colors. You can tilt the funnel to get variations of colors to get a "wave" look. Continue alternating colors until the bottle is completely full. Then glue the lid on. If you use pop bottles and you can't get part of the sticky label off, then the participants can decorate that side of the bottle with colored paper, etc. This activity takes a lot of salt and works well with children and adolescents. It's an activity where no one can be perfect, but it always turns out cool. Also, if the participants aren't happy with it, they can take out some of the salt and then shake up the bottle to get a tie-dye look. Have fun with it!!

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Star Wars
Neva Griffin
nevag@yahoo.com
Activity Description:
Similar to team ball or dodge ball, yet each team is given a styrofam light saber to tag people back in with. As long as the light saber holder is in tact then the kids may stay on the team as long as they can.

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Great Cooridoor
Tomas Robison
trobison@csuchico.edu
Activity Description:
I'm sorry but this activity can only be done in one place. Of course you can adapt it to a place that you may know of... The great cooridoor is in Joshua Tree National Park. It is a natural rock cooridoor which has been partially filled with house size boulders. Make sure your group is well versed in spotting techniques. I use this activity with our staff (college age outdoor leaders) who are on a backpacking/climbing staff training trip. I have also taken grandparents and 7 year olds on this activity. Its best to go to the coridoor during a full moon. Scout it during the daytime because it can be tricky to find. Take headlamps but try not to use them once in the cooridoor. It is dark, but moonlight finds its way into the cooridoor in many places. This has been a my most successful group activity. LOTS of group communication, trust, faith, adventure, and fun. Its better than rock climbing at j-tree (can you believe it?). Directions: Go to the real hidden valley parking lot. The rock formation to the west holds the GC. Walk toward the south end of the formation. Scramble up through the boulders towards a oak tree and a tall yucca. A small cross has been pecked into the rock above the rock cleft. In you go. The GC goes in a north/south direction, and ends in real hidden valley. No special equipment is needed. I've found that polarfleece works great in its "stickability" to the rough JT rock. If you need more specific directions, send me an e-mail.

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Blind Relay

Annonymous

Activity Description:
Location = Outside/gym Equiptment = Two broom sticks, or equivilent, Two blindfolds, (Teatowels) Execution = Divide into two teams, you'll need two people to run this game, or two people to volunteer not to run... Each team lines up a distance away from their respective pole, (not too far, you'll see why soon).. the two volenteers(you can make them switch if you like this way every one has to play) hold the poles about 5m away. Its basically a relay race but each person when they get to the pole has to put on a blindfold hold the pole in place and circle it 10 times, then walk back to the team, the team have to call out to their team mate and guide him back. this is a good game for any size group, but you'll need at least three people per team and I'd recommend not much more than 6-10 people per team, otherwise it'll take too long.

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Balloon Scramble
Patrick LaRocque
larocque@emirates.net.ae
Activity Description:
This can be done with large or small groups, although any one group over 20 might be unmanageable. Line the group up, front to back. Take a balloon and blow it up. Place it between two people at the stomach/chest level. Continue with the rest of the line. Each person should have a ballon pressed against their stomach and their back, except for the front and trail person. They cannot use their hands to keep the balloon in place. Have them move through a course that you have set up. This is a good icebreaker, and a good communications exercise. Some variations are to blindfold various members of the line or to fill the balloons with water.

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The Human Knot
Chris Pileski
Pileski@aol.com
Activity Description:
This is a pretty good icebreaker. Have your group, the bigger the better, gather facing each other. Have the group members join hands. Hands should be crossed and jumbled as much as possible. No one should have a free hand. Once all the hands are joined the moderator instructs the participants to unjumble themselves (form a complete unbroken circle) without letting go of the person's hands they are holding. It may seem impossible at first, but with some thought and planning it can always be done. Members of the circle may end up looking outward of the circle, which is OK. This activity can be quite a bit like the game Twister. You can also instruct the participants to complete this task without talking.

Additional Thoughts from Christian Itin: I have used this activity to look at issues of family relationships, group relationships, systems theory, change and other issues. I have found it to be a rich activity further on in a groups progression. I have also used extenders (rope, bandanas, or panty hose) which reduces physical discomfort and minimizes issues of touch or personal boundaries (useful for some adult groups and many therapeutic groups).

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GET MOVING
Roger Greenaway
rogg@globalnet.co.uk
Activity Description:
Have you noticed how learners always park themselves in the same place, in the same seat with the same neighbours? This is probably (though not necessarily) a case of being 'too settled'. PHYSICAL movement asists MENTAL movement. By changing place, position, review partner, posture etc. we become less fixed in our postions and more receptive to changing our minds, trying out new ideas and behaviour etc. To get movement in discussions ... Lay out a rope or indicate an imaginary line on the floor/ground. Each end of the rope/line represents opposite positions on the topic under discussion. This could be views about moral issues, or views about how well the group is performing, or views about a decision that the group is trying to make. People then place themselves on the line where to represent where they 'stand' on the issue. This is the start of the process and not the finishing point. In the space of a few seconds everyone has 'expressed' a view. If the purpose is to stimulate group discussion then using a C-shaped line works better than a straight line - because in a C-shape everyone can see each other. If the purpose is to help individuals to find someone else in the group who might support and clarify their views on the issue, then use a straight line. Ask people to discuss the issue with their closest neighbours. If the purpose is to encourage movement (physically and mentally) then choose a suitable time frame (including past, present and future) and ask people to show how (if at all) their position on this issue is moving. (Try this variation one person at a time.) Once you get moving, learners may well come up with ideas and variations for 'GET MOVING'.

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Bull Ring
Rick Smithson
xpchrick@compuserve.com
Activity Description:
Equipment: one steel O-ring from hardware store and strong cord, about 120 ft. Cut the strings in 10ft. sections and tie one end of each of the 12 strings to the o-ring. You will also need a rubber ball about 2" diameter. The group begins with the Bull Ring laying on the ground with the strings spread out in a starburst fashion. Rules are that you must hold the ends of the strings only. You may never touch the ball. If the ball falls off then the group must return to this spot and begin again. Every one must have a hold of at least one end of string at a time. The initiative is for the group to lift the ball and transport it along a path which the facilitator has chosen. You can have them go through tree limbs, small openings, ie chair legs, etc. Really is effective for cooperation and communication. I picked this game up at a conference near Austin, TX a few years ago and have used it alot!

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Audio Scavenger Hunt
Brent Stuart
bulafish@hotmail.com
Activity Description:
This activity is a similar variation to a normal scavenger hunt. However, instead of finding or retrieving objects, the groups will be expected to record various audible sounds. Divide into several "van load" size groups (number will vary according to the size of the main group). Each group should be given an identical list of sounds to be recorded, such as an air plane landing or taking off, an old man singing "You got the right one baby," a train whistle, or tires squeeling, etc. Give the teams a time limit and a final meeting location and assess penalties (point reductions) for every minute that a team is late. A point system rubric should be pre- established prior to distributing the list to each team. Difficult items should be awarded more points. This activity could be used to introduce a lesson on listening, awareness of surroundings, or enhance group cooperation and participation, or simply just to kill time.

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Life-size Bubbles
Sandy James
sjames@pop3.utoledo.edu
Activity Description:
Need: Hoola Hoop / 1 bottle lemon dish soap(Joy)/ glycerin (2 sm bottles) / white sugar (1-2 handfuls) Fill a childs plastic wading pool about 1/2 way with water. Add the dish soap, glycerin, and sugar. Place the hoola hoop in the pool and have the person stand inside it. Quickly pull the hoop up and above their head - they will be inside the bubble! Just plain fun and adults and kids love it!

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Spy Hunter
Chris Knight
cknight@ethics-ed.org
Activity Description: This can be a great deinhibitor/ice breaker activity.

Material needed: None

Space needed: Works best in a small empty room Have everyone stand in a circle, facing each other. Announce that from this point on the only sound you can make are giggles are laughs. Have everyone silently choose someone in the group to be their "enemy". Next silently choose someone in the group to be their "bodygaurd". When the facilitator says "Go!", the object is to be "safe". The only way you can be safe is if your bodygaurd is between you and your enemy. Remember that niether your bodygaurd or your enemy know that they play that role for you, and in fact, they have their own bodygaurd and enemy. What results is a chaotic stacking of people against walls, continually shuffling and rearranging. Its some of the most fun I've ever had playing an indoor game. You can also talk about personal space issues, what it felt like to have "enemies" and "bodygaurds" and how life would feel if you always had to have both enemies and bodygaurds (metaphors for unresolved problems and the walls we build around them). But mostly its just a whole lotta fun.

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The great egg drop - even more
Kris Salisbury
krissal@oocities.com
Activity Description:
One more variation to add, that I have found very useful is to ask the participants to lay on the ground face down in a circle around the area where the egg will be dropped. (thus, getting egg on them if it is not successful) This not only challenges the participants to take pride in their work, but it also - at least with West Indian youth - brings up some issues of trust and group association. In many cases the processing of the laying down was far more improtant than the egg creation itself.

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We Got Fuzzy Balls
Patrick Flynn
Risk2Live@aol.com
Activity Description:
For 12-16 players Need: 5 hula hoops assortment of fuzzy balls Object: to spell a 5 letter word First you must write a letter on each ball, use letters that will easily spell words ie: you will probably want alot of A's, T's S's etc.. Split into 4 teams Put 1 hula hoop in the center with all the balls. The remaining hoops form a square around the center.Each team starts in one of the empty hoops Now on your call One member from each team runs to the center to pick up one ball and brings it back to the team. In relay style the next teammate leaves to get another letter. Once a ball is in your circle you CANNOT defend it. This means when the next person leaves to get a second ball he/she can get that ball from the center hoop OR ANY OTHER hoop! This is where strategy plays a big part.....When a team gets a word spelled they must all scream "We got fuzzy balls!" This game is AKA Sequential Balls in "Quicksilver" by the genius Karl Rhonke

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Human Bowling
Annette Baines
JBaines@aol.com
Activity Description:
Take empty 2 liter soda bottles and fill with water. Use as many as you wish. Usually you set up as many as there are in real bowling. Set the pins up. Divide the kids up into two teams. You will need skate boards. One person lies on his/her belly on the skateboard, while the team members push that person into the pins( the filled soda bottles). Each person gets a turn. The team to knock down the most pins, WINS!!!!! Have fun!!!!!!!

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Bandanna toss
Asano Otsu
aotsu@mail.prescott.edu
Activity Description:
This is pretty simple, intro activitiy for team to feel more comfortable with other group members. props:-one bandanna each for teams -a basket/plastic tote Divide the group into two, or three, or however many. A group needs more than 3 participants. One person from the team tosses the bandanna(tie a knot in it for easier throw) towards two members standing about 15~20 ft. away. Those two people must catch the bandanna together without using their hands (i.e. using their backs, or facing eachother and catching it in bear-hug style...) and then must carry the bandanna to the basket without dropping it. Then take turns to complete the game-everyone from the group must participate as a tosser or a catcher at least once, depending on your group size... This is fun to make it a race, if you have big enough numbers of participants. But don't forget to sensitive about addressing the winner-loser situations!

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Tied up in knots
Billy Broaddus
wbroaddu@d.umn.edu
Activity Description:
Take a retired climbing rope and tie a series of overhand knots spread well apart from each other. Participants must grap rope, keeping both hands to one side of the knots. Hands are then fixed to the rope, but may slide along it. Group must try to untie knots without tying themselves up too much! Variations: Mute, communicate through your neighbor. I usually write down all behaviors/actions/some comments I observe on board and have the group categorize them as helpful or harmful to the success of the group.

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Check In Activities

These activities were posted on the AEElist and Adventure Therapy list based on a request from Andy Greif. Andy later compiled then as a file and posted them to AEE and ATlists. You may e-mail him for a copy of that file.

 

Andy Greif

Weather/Landform Check-in: Over the years I have collected pictures of

various weather patterns and landforms from magazines, personal

photographs, and postcards bought at various national parks. I invite the

group members to look through the collection of about 200 images and select

one or two images that capture their current state of being. Then the

sharing begins. This has resulted in wonderfully rich sharing with

groups from diverse ages and populations.

 

Magnetic Words Check-in: Have you ever seen or bought a pack of magnetic

words? I have purchased sheets of magnetic vinyl at a sign making shop and

attached words to the vinyl with spray photographic glue and then overlay

the words with self stick lamination sheets. The vinyl can easily be cut

with a paper cutter. The words I have used so far have been collected from

magazines and several lists of action verbs and sad, angry, love, joy, and

fear words. The students I rountinely work with are beginning to add to

the list words from their daily language. Then I purchased a 2' X 3' sheet

of sheet metal at the local hardware store and mounted it onto a plywood

frame. I have only used it in group work once in which the group sat

around a table and moved words around that captured each student's current

story and feeling states. Then the rich and personally meaningful sharing

began.

 

3D Sculptures

 

Another one that has been wonderful has been having people check-in by

making a sculptures with various colors of clay or playdough. I've had

kids build 3d structures on the ground in front of them to signify how they

feel things are going or how the group is working

together. Balloons are excellent too. Draw faces on them... kids get

pretty creative with brains, hearts, smiles, and eyes. Pipe-cleaners are

another great tool!

 

Crayon Meditation

 

I have also led crayon mediations in which each person take three crayons

and a sheet of paper. They are asked to make light marks on the paper with

each crayon in a sequence with the three colors. As some meditative music

is played over 10 -20 minutes, they are instructed to make their

marks/strokes progressively harder and harder. At the close of the

mediation they are invited to share any words that come to them related to

their abstract drawing.

 

Chris Cruise

 

* closeness to the group. Place a piece of paper on the floor and

describe it as "as close as you can be to other members of the group."

Then, asking them to stay in the room, have each place them selves in a

spot that indicates how close they feel to others in the group.

 

* I have sent group members outside for 10 minutes and asked them

to bring back something from the outside that represents how they feel.

 

* with children, I will have them choose a feeling from a "feeling

list" and draw a picture to share. Or forget the feeling list and just

have them draw a picture of how they feel and then name it. Depends on

the "emotional awareness" of the group.

 

Francis M. Morgan-Gallo

 

Simple check-ins:

 

1 - If you were a food right now what would you be? Physically demonstrate

and entire group mimic. Depending upon group have the person name the food.

 

2 - Above activity with animal, astronomic body, etc.

 

3 - Make a face that demonstrates how you are right now.

 

Moderate check-ins*:

 

1 - Draw a picture of who you are right now. In pairs have your partner

interpret what they see in your picture; no corrections allowed from drawer!

This may be done as a large group with the person to the right or left

holding up the picture and interpretting for the group. After all

interpretations are done individuals may then share what was true about

interpretations that they didn't intentionally put in and what was missed.

 

2 - Equipment needed: one rubber heart, one rubber brain. Randomly toss

the brain around the group, everyone gets it once. As each person holds the

brain they share one thing their brain would say about them. Repeat

process with heart.

 

3 - Equipment needed: one hand puppet (may be a sock). The puppet is a

mind reader. What would the puppet say about you? Could even start out

with everyone making a puppet!

 

* note - any of these could be classed below with different groups.

 

Intense check-ins (use at your on risk; kids, don't try this at home):

 

1 - If you had two minutes to live what would you write to the world? Two

minute free write letter. Read out loud to group. Challenge by Choice of

course. Variations are limitless.

 

2 - Feedback Loop. Divide group in half (portable chairs a plus). Have

one half (or the group with one less) form a circle with the chairs

facing out. Have the other half from a circle facing the other circle.

The extra person can set their chair back slightly. Set time limit, ie

one minute. For one minute person facing in finishes this statement. What I

honestly see in you is ... (Stop) Then for one minute, What I really want

you to kow about me is... (stop) Person facing out same thing. One person

receives only; NO COMMENTS. After pair finishes outside people get up and

rotate one chair. Once full cirlce is reached, Outside circle takes

chairs divides in half and reproduces smaller version of first, same with

inner circle. Keep breaking in half until groups of two or three. In this

method everyone should have talked to everyone else in the group. Takes

lots of time. One minute is short, three minutes is long.

 

Anne Stevenson

A check in activity I like is called "what's on your mind?"

Everyone gets a sheet of paper with a drawing of a brain on it (xerox these

ahead and put at participant's places). I ask them to quickly-1 minute or

so-write down or draw everything that's on their brain right now-worries, good

things, distractions, etc. Then I have them share (depending on size of group

and nature of the group) ...all the things they've listed, or the 2 most

worrisome things, or the one most important thing on their brian.

Sometimes, after talking about trying to set aside those things so that

learning can take place, I have them crumple up the papers and toss them into a

box-to signify a wilingness to let go for now and focus on the task at hand.

Other times, depending on the group, we use it as a springboard for discussing

all the things that impact us and how we do our work, or how we relate to

others--sort of building group cohesion through sharing the important things on

our mind. We need to sometimes validate that learners have lots on their mind,

that those things effect the person is varying degrees, and that those things

are part of what they bring to the learning experience.

It works very nicely when working with a group who may be hostile or less than

happy about working together-- a bit of a "walk a mile in my shoes" experience.

 

Walk a Mile in My Shoes

 

Prepare drawing of a shoe or moccasins with the title "Walk a Mile in My

Shoes". Ask questions related to parts of the shoe. You photocopy the

sheet for each person and they fill it out briefly, then share. Use open

ended questions such as: 1) for the tongue of the shoe - "who do I talk

to when I really need to talk?"; 2) for the sole - "what helps my soul?"

or "who is a soulmate to me and what qualities do they have?"; and 3) for

the back part - "who gives me support".

 

I'm Glad I'm Here

 

The objective is to start the training with a positive and humorous

opening. This activity would work best for a new or newer group of people,

like for a class or training workshop. Consider that this activity would

work well with some types of groups and not with others. After

introductions, the group leader would say he/she is glad to be at the

workshop. To prove that go around the room asking "If you weren't here

today, what would you be doing that you're glad you don't have to?" Keep

the answers light and fast moving.

 

Jenny Bunce

 

I have a collection of pictures which includes abstracts as well as

themes others have mentioned. As well as selecting a picture that says

something about how you are right now, selections can be based on something

that really attracts you or speaks to you, or something that represents

where you would like to be or get to etc.

Even more useful in some ways is a collection of long pieces of cord,

braid, wool, rope etc which have colour and texture, and often multiple

interwoven strands, and can be selected simultaneously by several people if

wanted. Selections represent my life right now rather than a feeling state.

My third collection is contrasting pieces of fabric which have colour,

pattern, and texture, and again can be used in several ways e.g. something

that matches today for you, something that represents a missing or

underemphasized part of you. Alternatively, you can start by choosing a

piece of material that you like, and then reflecting afterwards.

 

A very quick check in with a group that works for people who are less

articulate and builds a quick picture of the group which respects

differences, is "taking our temperature". This is a very quick group

"round" where each person gives a single word or phrase to say how they're

feeling right now. No explanations or discussion or speeches or questions

allowed!

 

Rodger Greenaway

In advance:

# Please bring with you...

- something interesting from the beach/wood/park

- something you really value

- something that no-one would expect you to bring

- a friend

- a photograph of ... or photo album

- a diary or learning log or record of experience

 

Once arrived:

# What I don't want to happen on this course; then - what I want to

experience; then - what I want to try, explore, achieve ...

 

# Describe the photograph you'd like to take home with you.

 

# Activities quadrant

Create 4 areas:

1) Activities have tried and like

2) Activities I have tried and don't like

3) Activities I'd like to try

4) Activities I'd never like to try

Move round these areas one at a time, in pairs or as a whole

group saying what activities fit each quadrant. That's interesting

enough, but I like to move on by asking "Which of these four kinds

of activity do you think would be of most value to you on this course?"

The ideal finish point is for everyone to realise that each of the 4

quadrants might be of value.

 

These activities may not fit the 'check-in' label, but they certainly

get people talking about what's on their minds. The also help with

self-introductions and talking about how the course might work.

 

Steve Bowles

Sound Creations

 

Invite the group members to make sounds using the vast assortment of

different objects and/or instruments provided. This works, or at least it

has worked with us, especially well when the age groups are varied and

"historical memories" become involved through here and now associations.

 

Randa Thomas

Halloween Masks

 

Who do you think you are?"

Are you wearing a mask?

What do you show, what do you hide/keep to yourself?

Identity Crisis

 

Write down three words that tell about how you are today or pick a

feeling card, animal card, or whatever. Then pair-up. Tell your name and

your story to your partner. Pair-up with new partners. Tell the name and

story of your last partner. Repeat for several rounds.

 

Joseph Baggot

Bag of Burdens

 

The group passed around a canvas bag of rocks. After passing the bag

around the group was asked to describe how it would be to have to carry

this bag around all the time. Then the group passed the bag around again

and were invited to pull a rock out of the bag and share a real-life burden

they were carrying inside themselves. The group had come together with the

common bond of being from families affected/effected by HIV. For most

members of this group sharing was an incredible release of pent up

feelings, it is hard to find people who will listen to you talk about HIV.

Soon the bag was empty, and it was passed around again. Finally, members

were asked to describe what it would feel like to carry an empty canvas bag

of burdens around each day. Most group members were anxious to begin

working on releasing their "bag of burdens" after this activity. It was a

hell of a check-in. Fortunately, we had next 36 hours together to begin the

work.

 

Ben Boykin

Checking of the Gauges

 

With the use of numbers - maybe with 1 being low and 10 being high have

each participant rate how they are feeling physically, mentally,

emotionally, and spiritually. After each member has shared, the floor is

then open to those wishing to explain their numbers - enjoying the

discussion surrounding this subject.

 

Hugh

One check-in activity is to use a numbered scale. For example, if one is

the worst you have felt, ten the best moment in your life (this information

might be, where appropriate, shared), how do you feel now? While a little

bland and mundane, it does give us all (staff &/or participants) a way of

comparing days and charting feelings over a multi-day program.

 

Tamara Lasnover

Rock-paper-scissors method, in which you throw numbers 1-5 depending on

how one is feeling (aka Fists-of-Five). Thumb-rating: similar to

rock-paper-scissors, except you adjust your thumb either up, side-ways, or

down, depending.

 

Positives/Negatives

 

On about day 7 of a 14 day backpacking trip, I had the participants each

write 6 comments: 3 positives and 3 negatives, or things they'd like to see

improved, regarding the trip. For instance, I really like it when we, or

"I would like it a lot if we would...instead of...". They then gave me all

their slips of paper (6 each), which I then read aloud to the group. I

chose this way that time because we were having some issues of one person

being singled out, and I wanted to avoid hurt

feelings. The drawback is that it doesnt' always address the issues as

completely as might be necessary. It might be nice to discuss each

statement if necessary. (Some facilitators call this Positives and Deltas -

things that you would like to see changed. Another variation is "Start -

Stop - Continue" in which each person articulates what they would like to

have "continue" happening in the group or for themselves that is currently

happening, what things that they would like to see "stop" from occurring,

and what they would like to see "start" to happen that haven't been

occurring).

 

Cassandra Snider

Colors

 

An obvious one. Have them find something in the room that contains the

color they feel. Even better if you can get the three primary colors in

tempera paint (red, blue, yellow) and have students mix their own paint to

accurately reflect their disposition and explain. Messy and takes a bit of

time, but with organization, it is beneficial. (I have done something

similar by going to the local paint store to acquire a collection of paint

swatches)

 

Shapes

 

Geometric or original, created shapes. Black on white. Let the shape

speak for itself, and let the student explain. You can have them create

their own or have a variety ready-made.

 

Song or Movie Titles

 

My theater kids like this one. Occasionally they add their own "subtitle"

or create their own title from scratch! (Once I put together a list of the

movie theme sections from the video store ie. drama, comedy, western,

adult, classics, documentary ...)

 

Song Lyrics or Famous Movie Lines

 

"Frankly, Scarlet, I don't give a ...." "Feelin' lucky, punk?" They choose

one and describe the scene they imagine it happening in! (An extension of

this someone passed onto me several years ago was asking each person to

capture the essence of their day in a newspaper headline)

 

Clothing or Shoes

 

If you were a piece of clothing, what would you be now according to your

mood/relationships, etc. You can limit the category or leave it wide open.

(A dance/movement therapy friend of mine has collected many hats for group

members to select from to represent their mood state.)

 

Appliance or Cooking Method

 

Especially good with issues of anger, frustration. Are you a slow

cook/crock pot, a microwave, or a blowtorch today? Leave the options wide

open.

 

Fruit or Vegetable

 

Hard Rind? Spiny? Fuzzy? (I just ordered a box of various plastic

foods from the Lakeshore Education catalog (they have collections of

objects related to about 20 different themes) and have been collecting

vegetable, fruit, tree, and flower photographs)

Bounce a Ball

 

Let it show nonverbally how you feel.

 

Letter of the Alphabet

 

Use alliteration to choose modifiers.

 

Type of Automobile

 

Are you an Edsel or a Porsche? Do you look like a Gremlin or a Ferrari?

(I have put together various photographic collections of about 150 image

each: animals, weather pattern/landforms, modes of transportation/power

sources, notecard/Christmas cards, black & white postcards of people doing

all sorts of things, and a few other that are not yet complete)

 

Chicken Soup for the Soul

 

Going along with an idea out of one of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books

Have students write down frustrations or "failures", put them in a box, and

bury them! Hold funeral rites complete with hymns and an inspirational

prayer. Can be as serious or as light-hearted as your group desires.

 

Jim Sacco

Large Group Introductions

 

Each person has 8.5 seconds to report out their name, role in the agency,

target behavior for change, and a personal strength without using any verbs

or adjectives.

 

Mary Zaccary-Lang

Seven Word Stories

 

Each participant is given a piece of paper and a writing implement and is

instructed to write seven words of a sentence (phrase or an entire

sentence). Next the pieces of paper are passed to the left and each person

adds seven more words to the stories that have been started. Continue with

the passing clockwise and adding of seven words. Once the stories have

returned to each originator they finish the stories and each person reads

their collaborative masterpiece. A variation involves folding the paper

after each addition so each person does not have to consider the preceeding

thoughts.

 

Doug Gray

Paired Sharings

 

Create buddy check scenario, pair up with a buddy. Determine who is going

to speak and who is going to listen. Ask leading questions such as "What

is going really well in your professional/personal life?" A self-esteem

booster to start a buildup program. Other person speaks. Then ask "What

would you like to leave on your desk so that you can focus on the upcoming

training?" Certainly a risky step for some. Then embrace or high fives to

thank that person. New buddies. Ask "If you could have dinner with anyone

in the world or in history, who would it be and why?" The answers are

astounding and often connect to one's heroes/heroines. Then ask "Try to

recall a powerful learning experience... then try to recreate the scene-

who there, why so memorable, what made it powerful..." These may be the

values one would like to bring to the training. Another round of high

fives and move on.

 

Mind Mapping

 

Explain Tony Buzan's work, then provide a brief visual model. Then give

folks large paper, colored markers, and 10+ minutes to map what they're

feeling. Often this leads into what they'd like to feel, in other words

their less-than conscious expectations for the training or meeting. Those

visual thinkers are often quick to share something they've accessed because

it has immediate meaning to them. Learning, man.

 

Trash Bag

 

Pass it around and invite each person to share anything that's on their

mind- positives, negatives, distractions. Frontload with the expectation

that ever after you hope that each person can strive to stay in the moment.

If they're becoming distracted, create a vehicle such as a flip chart

labelled "Bin Items" for further discussion or further action. Tape the

trash bag onto that flip chart as a reminder of a commitment to staying

focused on the tasks at hand.

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Eco Ethics

Rhonda Rosenberg
same@sk.sympatico.ca

This initiative task is a development on River Crossing. The group assumes the various roles involved in an environmental assessment of a northern mine. Each person receives a sheet with their role and a piece of a jigsaw puzzle (when it is put together, it will show the various effects of the toxic leakage on wildlife and the local First Nations people). The team has found considerable seepage of toxic waste into the water system. They are ready to leave and have radioed for a plane, but the mine manager tries to stop them by dumping waste in a canal. They have to cross the canal without touching the waste to get out. They have a few props (whatever is on hand can work) to cross over the canal (a gully, ditch or creek). The facilitator watches for different leadership skills and qualities, or other interactions during the physical phase. Once they have made it to safety, they can go inside, or to somewhere comfortable. They continue to play the assigned roles and piece together the puzzle. This is equivalent to writing the factual part of their report. They then need to come to consensus on the recommendations they will include. Leaders need to allow ample time for both parts of the activity and to debrief at the end. I have done this activity with student teachers. It is most appropriate for high school and older. It allows for considerations of leadership styles, what works when, experimenting with consensus and problem solving, and thinking about the environment. As a follow up, students wrote their own statements of their personal eco-ethics. for more information, please contact me at my e-mail address: same@sk.sympatico.ca

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Angel Walk

John Schuderer
schuder@goodnet.com

This is a great closing activity for a group that has been together for
some time.

Equipment needed: Candles, tissue, cassette/CD player with soft relaxing
music.

Divide the group into two lines that face each other with just enough
space for a person to walk down the middle. The facilitator stands at
the head of the two lines. Each person takes their turn walking down
between the two lines with their eyes closed (optional of course). As
the person goes down the line, each person in the two lines is to (as
lovingly and compassionately as possible) whisper an affirmation or
statement of appreciation into the ear of the walker. I ask them to
envision themselves as angels while offering their affirmation. As the
walker reaches the end (someone from the two lines must tell the walker
they are at the end), they get back into the end of the line from which
they came. It is important that the two lines move back up toward the
facilitator as people walk down or you run out of room. The
facilitator's job is to control the flow of people walking down the
line. Don't bunch people up, make sure that there are 3-4 spaces between
walkers. The facilitator should start each walker by offering tissues
and then giving his/her own affirmation to the walker followed by the
statement: "Go, walk among the angels." After all of the participants
have taken their angel walk, the facilitator should also take the walk.

I usually encourage touching and hugging as part of this activity. To
allow for emotional and physical safety, I provide a tag for each person
to write "YES" or "NO" on. This indicates that it is okay or not okay to
be touched/hugged by others. I also give individuals the option to not
participate.

I offer some preprinted affirmations for people to use but I recommend
that they create their own. Statements like: "I'm glad you're here," "I
appreciate your ideas," "You've been very helpful," and "I'm glad I've
gotten to know you better." are just a few ideas. For therapy-type
groups, I might add in some spiritual affirmations such as "God smiled
the day you were born," "God loves you just the way you are," and "Love,
which created you, is what you are."

After everyone has taken their walk, I have everyone sit in a circle
with the lights off and a candle in the center. Then I ask people who
wish to to share their reactions to what they just experienced. Be
patient with this part, allow for long periods of silence to let people
gather their thoughts and feelings. When it seems those who are going to
share have shared, I encourage the silent ones to give voice to their
experience and again wait. I then use a group hug (held for a long time)
followed by individual hugs as the final closing.

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I need your help!

John Nicholson
farley89hd@aol.com

Object: For everyone to be in the center keeping all balloons afloat!

Set Up: Everyone stands in a circle facing inwards with their hands behind
their back. The facilitator then walks around and gives blown up balloons to
everyone's hands which are kept behind their back. Some people will get none, one, two, or three balloons. No Peeking! No expression to let on to the others the number of balloons you have.

Play: The facilitator starts by being in the center trying to keep
three balloons afloat. After doing this for awhile and finding it difficult he/she then says to somebody in the circle (name) I need your help! That person comes in with all the balloons they have and with the first person tries to keep all the balloons afloat. When more help is needed, the newest person must say (name) I need your help! That person comes in and tries to help. When ready, another person is asked to come in. Now the facilitator steps out, leaving his/her balloons in. The facilitator can go around the outer circle and changes people's balloons if necessary (in case someone knew
what their neighbor had). If a balloon falls on the ground, it must be picked up by the center and tried to be kept afloat.

Game is over when everyone is in the center trying to keep all the balloons up.

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Change Activities

Douglas O'Loughlin
dougo@singnet.com.sg

Here are a couple of activities that can raise some isssue about change:

1. NUMBERS GAME - this is a simple game, but the lessons and impact can be significant (good for those of us who are into "simple, but not ordinary"). Everyone stands in a circle and counts off 1-20 (group size can be from 10 to abt 25). The highest number, in this case 20, starts by yelling another number and that "number" must quickly yell out another number. When someone makes a mistake (delay or own number or non-existent number or wrong person yells out) the group makes a noise and the offender then moves to position #20. So far it sounds easy, but now we've got change becuase the numbers must shift. For example, if #4 made the mistake then they go to become #20. That means that numbers 5-20 all become one number lower. Without much delay #20 starts by yelling out a number. So people may end up being many different numbers, especially if you can get the lower numbers to make mistakes. A nice twist on this is to add a rule that you cannot call the number that calls you - so people can plan what number to call but they must be ready for contingency. Debriefs for this usually focus on personal renewal in times of change.

There is one other option on the numbers game, which is to make it a little more challenging by eliminating a couple of numbers. I remember it stirred up some comments because of eliminating
unlucky numbers in certain cultures (4 for Chinese and 13 for Westerners), but the idea is just to add a degree of difficulty which helps when dealing with management level people.

2. BUILDING A TOWER - First groups are given a deck or two of playing cards, inside a box, and told to construct the tallest tower they can. After they are done, you tell them that these are the shortest towers you have ever seen (if you really want to be dramtic you can destroy their towers. Then you send them off for a tea break and tell them to re-strategise on how they can build a more respectable tower. Let them do lots of planning and then they can come back into the classroom. You give them their boxes and tell them good luck. However, when they open the boxes there are straws in the box instead of playing cards. Most groups resist this surprise (some very strongly), but sooner or later realise that it's easy to build tall towers with straws. This activity is particularly good for a group that is going through a change in technology or work processes.

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Power Shuffle

Katrina Geurkink
kat@together.net

The following is a brief write-up of an exercise that I learned from Bill Proudman and Ginny Hornbecker (adjusted just slightly):

POWER SHUFFLE

The group lines up on one side of the room. The facilitator asks one question at a time (see list below) and people move to the other side of the room if they can respond in the affirmative (and if they choose to move). The people who move to the other side turn and face the group remaining.
The facilitator then says to the group: "Notice who is with you. Notice who is not. Notice what you are feeling. Please step back." (insert pauses between each sentence). This is done for each target group in the list below.

The exercise is usually followed up by Dyads, a large group check-in, and discussion about dominant and target groups.

Facilitator: Please step to the other side of the room if you are/have:

a woman
black, african american
hispanic, latino/latina
asian
indian, indigenous people's or of native descent
arab
under 21 years old
over 60 years old
a veteran
been raised poor or did not have enough resources growing up
received public assistance
a visually apparent difference
been called fat
been homeless
left handed
catholic
jewish
been threatened or verbally put down because of ethnicity or religion
felt oppressed or discriminated against because of religion
a physical disability
gone to bed hungry or did not know where your next meal was coming from
a learning disability or otherwise "invisible" disability
you, a close friend, or a member of your family, sought mental health or
counseling services
sought mental health or counseling services
been proscribed drugs to correct depression or some other mental health
condition
you, a close friend, or a member of your family have been sexually or
physically abused or a victim of incest
sexually or physically abused or a victim of incest
you, a close friend, or a member of your family has had a drinking or
drugging problem
a drinking or drugging problem
gay, lesbian, or bisexual or you have a close friend or family member who is
gay, lesbian, or bisexual
gay, lesbian, or bisexual
parents who never finished high school
parents who did not attend college
spent time in jail
a child

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Change the World

Christian Itin
citin@du.edu
http://www.du.edu/~citin

This activity is used a lot for corporate groups around organizational change. However, I've also used it to look at change in general or to facilitate exploring the change process.

You need a tarp that is large enough for your entire group to stand on (actually to be able to stand on about 3/4's of it). Have each participant to think about how the world is right now (or to think about something they don't like in the world, or the organization, etc.). Have them write it down on a piece of tape and put it on one side of the tarp. Then have then vision about how they would like the world to be, what their ideal world would look like. Have them write this on a piece of tape and put it on the other side of the tape.

Place the tarp so that how they want the world to be is facing the ground and that they are standing on the side where they say the world is. Now give them the challenge that the task is to flip the tarp without getting off (after all their challenge is to stay in this world).

Generally the way to flip the tarp is for the group to bunch on one end and to make a bow like move with the tarp. However, there are other ways, and regardless what happens their are great metaphors.

I usually explore the process, what it took, how they would/could/will use this, etc. Gets at a good about of how group process can facilitate change.

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Recycling Regatta

Heather Burfeind
lazy-f@eburg.com

This is a great activity to use for a group initiative and use to tie into an environmental connection. Note: You need a mild body of water to facilitate this activity (and one you can retrieve the "boats" from).

You provide the group with any number or variety of recyclable materials. You can include soda cans, milk jugs, detergent,bottles, - you name it! The group must then design a boat or floatable object using everything they are given. No materials can fall off during "sailing".

This activity is a nice twist to traditional group initiatives. I especially like the opportunity to touch on the environmental connection when using it with youth.

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Zones of Comfort

Christian Itin
citin@du.edu
http://www.du.edu/~citin

This is a variation of an activity I was introduced to at West Pines Training Center. Have the group stand inside a large circle (use a large piece of rope). Encourage the group to explore feelings and thoughts about being in the circle together. Offer the group the challenge to move in closer to each other. Ask them to explore for themselves individually and as a group moving in a little closer (or to the point where it becomes uncomfortable). After exploring this have them explore moving in to the point where it is extreamly uncomfortable. Process at each point and encourage the individuals to make clear choices. You can move the rope to explore different comfort circles visually. You can also do this activity in reverse having them move out from the circle or extending the boundary. This can lead to a nice exploration of the idea of a comfort circle. Especially the exploration of how staying in a small comfort circle may not really be that comfortable/healthy.

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Solo Challenge or Anyone Can Veto Anything

Roger Greenaway
rogg@globalnet.co.uk
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~rogg

Anne Stevenson's group challenge reminded me of 'Solo Challenge' - a similar concept but for individuals!
'Solo Challenge' involves a lot of creative negotiation, imagination, caring, understanding as well as challenge.
There are three highlights in this event: the negotiation, the challenge, the reporting back.
It can be pitched at many levels because adjusting the nature and level of challenge to suit each individual is exactly what the first stage is all about.
To be able to make such adjustments, and for 'Solo Challenge' to work well, people need to have been together for a few days during which they have become a reasonably supportive group, and are ready to welcome a change from the 'routine' of group challenges.
To get things going, I sell the idea (with just the right mixture of enthusiasm and irony!), and then get a lively brainstorming session off the ground, focusing in turn (and briefly) on each person in the group and asking them and everyone else to come up with ideas for a suitable challenge for that person (for, say, 30 minutes).
I usually throw in lots of rules but these are also subject to negotiation. (To list a 'set' of rules here could be highly misleading.) But a rule that ANYONE CAN VETO ANYTHING can be very useful. The consequences of this (kind of) rule are typically:
- the group doesn't let an individual get away with a challenge that is too easy, too hard, too unoriginal, or too like someone else's
- if an individual feels they've got a bad deal, or feel under pressure, they are encouraged to keep using their veto until a decent/acceptable challenge is devised.
- I will keep using my veto until I am satisfied that everyone has come out with a fair descion.

in this activity?

- for a very academic person: in 30 minutes greet 10 strangers with an everyday comment about the weather (i.e. no mention of the adiabatic lapse rate - 'chilly isn't it?' will do)

- for a busy non-stop person: lie down for 30 minutes (in the same place)

- someone else - write a poem

- someone else - do a crossword

- someone else - come back in half an hour and tell us the story of your life

(5 mins max.)

- someone not mechanically minded to have a hands-on lesson about a repair to a car engine from someone not very patient (not strictly a solo challenge - but who cares? - see 'rules' below)

- a similar pairing for learning to play the piano in 30 minutes

(These are all 'adult' examples. I have used it with young people - where solo challenges in pairs may be preferred anyway.)

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Deviency and Labeling

Christian Itin
citin@du.edu
http://www.du.edu/~citin

This is a great activity to illustrate the power of labels and how labels can create behavior.

Have the group (you can develop a group just for this activity and do it as a fishbowl for larger classes, in some ways this is more powerful because others witness the process) sit in a circle and give them a task (this can be a topic to discuss or a physical project like the egg drop). Then provide labels to the members, some of the ones I've used include: 1) I'm slow, 2) Ignore me, 3) I may get violent, 4)trust me, 5) compliment me, 6) Blame me, don't trust me, etc.

You'll notice I use both positive and negative labels, this allows people to see the effect of both and creates a greater dichotomy. The participants are asked to respond to the person's label. I give the group enough time to really get into the label (45 min.).

Debrief by exploring how the people took on the labels, what the effect was for the person, for the group.

Emotional safety is an important thing to consider with this activity. Since I hand out the labels randomly, sometimes the labels hit close to home. You must provide appropriate ways for members to leave the label behind.

If you are doing this with a group that already labels, you can use these labels (just mix them, up). In a social science context you can use social labels or psych labels.

A variation I've heard of is labeling everyone in the group and conduct a mingle type activity and have everybody treat eachother according to the label.

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The Challenge Game

Anne Stevenson
steve020@tc.umn.edu

The purpose of this activity is to have participants get to know each other and work together.
It is best done with a large group, minimum approx. 30 and can be done with large groups up to 150 or so.
Directions: Divide large group into smaller groups of approx. 10 people. (This varies by size of entire group).
Each group must come up with a challenge that they can achieve and that they want to chalenge the other groups with.
For example, a group may come up with one of the following types of challenges:
We can build a 10 person pyramid.
Our group collectively has the most years of teaching (coaching, advising) experience.
Our group has the most money in our pockets at this moment.
Our group can sing "Amazing Grace" to the tune of "Gilligan's Island"
ETC...
Note: The challenge must be something that each group could possibly meet, not something like "Our group has the tallest person"
Give groups several minutes to develop their challenge. Each group then takes turns challenging the other groups and the other groups attempt to meet the challenge. You can have each groupkeep score (if you want) for how many they are able to meet.
Time: This activity takes a good amount of time, but really gets groups laughing and working together. For processing, I talk about how groups utilize each others skills and talents, how limited resources can effect results or attitudes, how groups come together when they need to solve a common problem, etc. I have used this activity with kids middle school and older and adults.

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All my Neighbors (AKA - Have you Ever) Part II

Andy Carrigan
mikandy@cwent.com

Note: This was taken off the AEElist and posted to this page by christian.

As an early on activity I give each participant a paper plate and ask them to draw on it some strength or quality that they bring to this group that makes them unique and enhances the group. It can be a drawing or symbol. I give them markers
or crayons to draw the design. Then I have the group stand in a circle and we play a game of "All My Neighbors..."
(aka Have You Ever.) in which someone is in the center of the circle and completes the sentence and the individuals
move to another spot/marker(the paper plates). Before a person calls out an "All My Neighbors...", they take a look at
the plate on the ground in front of them. At the conclusio of the game, I ask questions like:

--What things did you find out about your group during the game?
--What are some of the qualities or strengths you have recognized on the plates?
--Is there any picture or symbol you would like to know more about?
--How are these skills, strengths or qualities going to aid your group as you embark on this journey?

I hold on to the plates until the eand of the groups time together and can then use them for part of the closing celebration. I give the plates back to each individual and use them for a 'positive bombardment', where all the other group members can write on the plate one positive statement about the individual.

Kari Ann Weichle added this variation: When participants run towards the center they have a "celebration" of high fives and then run and find a new base.

Note from Christian: Kari's addition is likely a great way to equalize the process a bit, it is also a nice way to celebrate what a group has in common.

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The Great Egg Drop Part II

Christian Itin
citin@du.edu
http://www.du.edu/~citin/home.html

John Nicholson posted some nice additions to the egg drop (scroll down to see). He sparked me to add some of my ideas and to post the basic rules incase some don't know them.

Each group gets an egg (not hardboiled) a given number of straws (I usually give 25) and an amount of masking tape (you can use other types of tape for a different level of challenge) I usually give 30"-36"(inches..about one meter). The directions is to create a device that will protect the egg from a given hight (or you can suggest to protect the egg from the highest point). If you do this indoors be sure to put something down on the ground.

Some metephorical ideas. With corporate or professional groups I often will link the activity to the goals or task of the organization (for example with my social work students I talk about a social service delivery system). With families it can be linked to devleopmental tasks or protecting the family or a family member.

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World Map

Helen Trencher
HMTrencher@AOL.COM

I first experienced this activity when I observed an Outward Bound professional development orientation day for students beginning their two year business school program at Yale. It needs no props and it's a good way for people to learn about each other -- especially when they're from all over (the country, world). The only requirement is that there be enough space for people to move about:

The facilitator(s) stand in the middle "of the universe." (For the Yale example, the center was New Haven, CT) State the following: "With me/us in the center, find your place relative to our position." Then ask a series of questions, for
example:

* Find the place where you were born.
* Find the place where your parents were born.
* Find the place where you grew up.

etc.

After each question,have each participant identify the place/location. It's always fun to see how the participants figure out directions (like north, south) and where they place themselves relative to the 'center.' It's a good get-to-know you activity for a group that's going to spend some time working with each other.

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The Great Egg Drop

John Nicholson
farley89hd@aol.com

I am sure everyone is familar with The Great Drop. We have added to additions to this event.

We added that each group must come up with a
name for their product and a jingle must also be presented to us.

This way if some people are not hands on type people, mayble they can work on the jingle, or come up with the name. Only so many people can actually work on the protective covering for the egg, so this way if your groups are large there is more for others to do.

We have had lots of fun with this and people who have done the great egg drop before said they liked the additions.

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Have You Ever

Duke Whitman
swhitman@elmira.edu
http://ecweb/

This is a very basic get to kow you type of activity. You need: card board recagles or something peopele can stand on. There should be eonough of these so that everyone has one. That's all you need. Arange them in a circle. Have everyone stand on their "spot." The facilitator, who is usualy involved in the game stands in the middle and explains the game:

"The object of this game is to get to know one another and give you something to talk about for the rest of the day. The person in the middle is the one who has to talk. For example I will be the first person in the middle. I will say 'have you ever....been white water rafting?' Anybody who has done this has to move from their "spot" you can't move to the one next to you, that would make it to easy. If noboby moves then the person in the middle stays there and sais something else. The person in the middle has to say something that they have done themselves. There will alway's be someone in the middle untill the end of the game. Any questions?"

You simply do this activity untill people start to lose interest or it starts to get out of hand, the way to end it is to take the extra "spot" and use it so that there is nobody stading in the middle.
This is a great acivity to get people to get to know each other The group size dosn't matter I have done it with a group of 150 the only catch is everyone needs to be able to hear the person in the middle.

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Web of Connection

Christian Itin
citin@du.edu
http://www.du.edu/~citin/home.html

This is a nice closing activity though it can also be used early on to help illustrate that their are connections. Have the group sitting in a circle. Use a large ball of string (or similar material). Ask participants to pass the string to a person they have made a connection with during the group and publically state what this connection is (and perhaps what it means to them). It is important to state that the activity will continue till the string runs out...and that they may not get a chance to share their connection with each person.

After the string is all out you may want to have the group talk about what they see in the pattern, how is this reflective of the group, what do they like about what they see.

If using the activity for closure, talk about the end of the group, about endings, saying good bye and move to introducing the topic of what they are taking away form the group, what they will transfer to other experiences. Have them rewind up the string sharing what it is they are taking away.

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River Crossing

Christian M. Itin
citin@du.edu
http://www.du.edu/~citin/home.html

The basics of this activity are the group stands on one side of a river and is given half the number of props as the number in the group. The challenge is to use the props to go from one side of the river to the other without touching the river.

The props can be carpet squares, cardboard, or different size pieces of wood. Remember to consider the surface you are operating on and the props used.

I will often frame the activity as having them talk about where they are now and where they want to go (especially useful in treatment or organizational change contexts). I will then have them lable the tools they have (the props). Often I will have them discuss the obsticals (the river). Consequencing can vary depending on the desired degree of difficulty or intent.

This is a good early activity as it a relativly straight forward challenge and it begins to get people touching but in a non-threatening way.