Discipline: Team Building
Age Range: All ages
Estimated Time: 20-30 minutes
What you need: At least three or more people our choice of rope, string or yarn, approximately 20-30 feet in length; vision blockers (i.e., bandana, scarf, beanie, t-shirt, pillowcase, headband, or a hoodie worn backward)
Instructions:
You and your team are going to work together to use the rope in front of you to create a shape. The catch is that you will be vision-blocked while you do it!
Have each member of your team pick a spot on the rope and grab onto the rope with hands out in front of them like a set of handlebars on a bicycle (palms face down, hands out in front on the rope).
Once each team member has grabbed onto the rope and put on vision blockers, decide on which shape you would like to make. You can make any shape that you want, but here are some examples to get you started:
Easiest: circle, square, triangle
Easier: banana, ice cream cone, tree, hot sauce bottle
Medium: the letter “Y,” shape of Nevada or California, Pac-Man
Harder: star, lightning, heart, tea kettle
Hardest: sunglasses, human body outline, a handOnce you have begun, there is one important rule: You may not take your hands off of the rope! You may slide your hands up and down the rope, but if you bump into someone you cannot go around them.
During the activity, you will have to communicate with your team members to try to create the shape. Once you feel good about your shape, lower the rope to the ground. Once you have done this you can take your vision blockers off to see how you did!
Debrief Questions:
How did it feel to be vision-blocked?
What was your plan for this activity? How did you come up with that plan?
What did/didn’t you enjoy about the activity and why?
How did you ensure that everyone knew what was happening?
Did you adapt your approach to the activity at any point? How did you adapt?
Helpful Hints: Start with a less challenging shape and once it is complete, talk about it as a team afterward. This will give your team a chance to talk about what went well, and make an improved plan for the next shape!
With some of the more challenging shapes, you may not get it perfect. Our team took 30+ minutes trying to get into the shape of a star before we decided as a group it was the best we could do.
New Words:
Polygon: Any two-dimensional shape formed with straight lines. Triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, and hexagons are all examples of polygons. The name tells you how many sides the shape has.