Blog Archives

#25: How Is Team Building with Younger Audiences Different Than Working with Middle School and High School Programs?

10/26/2020

Adventure Play: Adventure Activities for Preschool and Early Elementary Age Children - by Nancy MacPhee Bower

Adventure, Play, Peace: Insights and Activities for Social-Emotional Learning and Community Building with Young Children - by Nancy MacPhee Bower

Journey Towards the Caring Classroom: Using Adventure to Create Community - by Laurie Frank

Adventure Curriculum for Physical Education: Elementary School - by Panicucci & Constable

Activities Shared in the Episode
Moonball - HERE is a link to 'Moonball in Time' with the basics and some variations. With younger groups start out with balloons. Have each student work alone on a challenge and then move to small group challenges with balloons. Cooperation is the goal.

Clean & Messy - Michelle explained that one team is assigned to do one thing, the other team is assigned to do something else. It's easy with plastic cups. Set up the cups so half are open end up and the other half are open end down. One team wants all the cups open end up the other team wants the cups open end down. Play for 90-seconds where both teams are moving around turning cups over. This is competitive - in the end who will have the most cups the way they want them? And, we get to talk about how we behave and how we treat each other during competitive tasks.

Frantic - This is from the book, The Bottomless Bag, Again!? by Karl Rohnke. You need a closed in space to keep the tennis balls contained - like a one-court basketball gym or multi-purpose room. For the most fun, have about three tennis balls per student. Put all the tennis balls on the floor in the center of the space. The objective is for the students to keep all the tennis balls in motion by kicking them (or moving them with a noodle - this version is a bit safer). You (the facilitator) start the game by gently kicking all the tennis balls out of the center of the floor. The group is then tasked to keep them all moving. If you (and the other teachers/facilitators in the room) spot a stationary tennis ball (called a "Hectic") you are to "generate a hysterical scream" (called a "Berserk") so that everyone will recognize the situation. Someone in the group has 5-seconds to get the ball moving again or another Berserk (hysterical screaming) is triggered. Time how long the group can keep the tennis balls moving until the sixth Berserk is triggered. (Need additional info? Email: chris@onteambuilding for more.)

We would love to hear your ideas, answers, questions and comments! You can share here using the 'Comments' link to this post (above & below). You can also....

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Find Us At:
Michelle Cummings - Training-Wheels.com
(Online Store for Team Builders, Trainings, Activity Database, FREE Resources)
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[email protected]

Chris Cavert - OnTeamBuilding.com & FUNdoing.com
(Online Store - Digital Downloads, Blogs, Online School, FREE Resources)
Sign up for the FUNdoing Fridays activity email HERE
[email protected]

Music - Solomon Masala
OTB Graphics - Riki

#24: As Team Builders, How Do We Consciously Keep Things Fresh?

10/18/2020

Jumbo Bananagrams was mentioned in the episode - used for the activity Pangram Project (link below). At the time of this writing, all online retail sites were out of stock. So, check in (search ) from time-to-time to see if they come back. (Another large letter tile option is Crowd Words, but they are more of an investment and are best used inside.)

Pangram Project Video - Described by Chris. In the video, the group is using a small tile set of Bananagrams. When playing outside with larger groups, the Jumbo Bananagrams are recommended.

Pangram - What is a pangram?

Ricochet was mentioned in the episode - Chris found three 'crazy bouncing' dog toys at a Dollar store at turned them into props for a variety of cooperative and competitive activities

Playing with a Full Deck - Michelle used a commonly found resource (a deck of playing cards) and put together a book of 52 activities.

Michelle's YouTube Channel with useful activity resources.

Chris' Activities YouTube Channel

#23: What Are Some of Your Favorite Portables?

10/12/2020

All Aboard - Here's a picture of three different size platforms. The smallest is about the size of the Small-Aboard shared by Michelle.

Balloon Trolley Activity - A nice progression into the elevated Trolleys. You learn and practice coordinated walking so you don't drop any balloons.

Trolleys or Team Skis - Here's a picture of 4 by 4 inch boards used for Trolleys

Flexible Trolleys from Training Wheels - made from webbing material, super-portable.

Wooden Jointed Board-Walkers - found at Training Wheels designed by Dr. Jim Cain.

The PVCystem Portable Team Building Elements Kit - You can find all the activity descriptions (13 in total) and the instructions to build your own 'System' in, Portable Teambuilding Activities.

Pick Up Your Paperback Copy At:
The FUNdoing Store or,
Training-Wheels

Portable Spider Web/Bungee Box (PVCystem) - Pre-made standard white kit from Training Wheels.

NEW - Portable Spider Web/Bungee Box (The PVCystem) - In Color!
Bungee Box/House Trap Set-Up Video
Tall Spider Web Set-Up Video (Using the same PVC pieces as the Bungee box)

#22: How Long Do You Let An Activity Play Out?

10/5/2020

Community Building Activities While Safely Distancing Assets Package - mentioned by Chris during the episode. Over 70 activity resources (45 included in the Video Replays of three different workshops) for face-to-face programming while distancing participants.

Experiential Facilitation 101 - this is the face-to-face training led by Michelle. The next offering is in December 2020. (This link will take you to the next available training information.)

Stage of Team Formation - Chris mentioned the 'Storming' stage of group formation. This link takes you to a brief overview of the Tuckman model.

See Ya! - This is a group formation activity that can be used to organize small groups into processing discussions. (It can also be used in the beginning of a program for participants to get to know each other through ice-breaker questions.)