Balloon Juggle & Sort Challenge participants to keep all balloons (1+ per person) in the air. This gets the group moving and cooperating. Once they've got the hang of it, make it harder by adding in more balloons or placing restrictions e.g., no hands to keep balloons up. Ask participants to keep juggling the balloons, but to sort them into colors (works best with large groups).

Materials MINE
Rope or orange ribbon to mark the boundaries. Cones or other random toys/objects to be obstacles. A few squeaky toys. Blindfolds
[edit] Set Up
Outline an hourglass type shape about 10-15ft long, with straight lines on ends to serve as “start” and “end” lines, and a narrow part about center. Randomly place cones or toys around in the hour glass to serve as obstacles. (Note in placing objects, go back to the end and make sure there is not easy straight path through from start to finish) Line the narrow center with cones/objects (so everyone must cross over). Leave 3 squeaky toys in there as well.

[edit] Directions
The object is to get the entire team from the “start” to the “finish” going through the minefield. Everyone must go through. While participants are in the minefield, they must be blindfolded. If a participant steps on a “mine” or on or outside the boundary line, he or she is frozen. Someone else in the field may unfreeze that person by stepping on a squeaky toy. (Participants may unfreeze more than one person, but one person may not “hover” at a squeaky toy. Teammates outside the minefield may only verbally guide the blindfolded people. They may not physically touch them!
Competition between different teams can be made by keeping score of the number of "mines" each team hits (both on the way to the finish, and while backtracking back to the start), or by keeping track of the amount of time it takes to get the whole team successfully across. If in a competition, each team should do the exercise seperately with a different "safe route" (although the facilitator should make each "safe route" similar enough to the other as to not create an advantage for one team).

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Jump to: navigation, search Contents[hide] * 1 Objectives * 2 Group Size * 3 Materials * 4 Set Up * 5 Directions * 6 Debrief |
[edit] Objectives
Communication | Collaboration | Team Strategy
To work on communication, problem solving, to understand roles of leader and follower within the group.
[edit] Group Size
At least six people (divided into two even teams).
[edit] Materials
Enough place markers for each participant plus one. Place markers can be anything that people can reasonably stand on (e.g. paper plates, or pieces of 8.5x11 paper) or can be a small area marked on the ground with chalk or masking tape. The key is to make the place markers big enough for one person to stand on easily, but small enough that two people have to balance carefully to both fit on the marker.
[edit] Set Up
Set up a line of place markers, one for each person plus one extra. Divide the group into two even teams. Have each person stand on a place marker with one space in between the two teams. Have each team facing toward the middle space. The following diagram shows the starting placement with one team represented by numbers and the other represented by letters.
Start: [1] [2] [3] [4] [Open] [A] [B] [C] [D]

[edit] Directions
The goal is to have the two teams exchange places and end up in the same order on the opposite side of the open space. The following diagram shows the starting and ending positions with arrows indicating the direction each participant should move.
Start: [1] [2] [3] [4] [Open] [A] [B] [C] [D] --------> <----------

End: [A] [B] [C] [D] [Open] [1] [2] [3] [4]

The participants may not touch anything but the markers and each other (imagine a hot lava flowing all around the markers). The only "allowed" moves are: a person can move to an empty space in front of them and a person may move around a person who is facing them into an empty space. The "forbidden" moves include: any move backwards, any move, which involves two people moving at once. If at any time a participant makes a "forbidden" move, or anyone steps off the markers, all participants must return to the starting position.
Additional challenges: Give them a time limit. Blindfold or ask certain member to close their eyes. Instruct certain members to stay silent. If they are having a particularly frustrating time, call time out and arrange their line in more of a horseshoe pattern, so they can see each other, do not forget to ask about this change in the debrief.
SHOE FACTORY: Have the group stand in a large circle shoulder to shoulder. Then have everyone remove their shoes and put them in the center. After the group has formed a pile with their shoes, the leader has everyone choose two different shoes other than their own. They should put them on their feet (halfway if they are too small). The group then needs to successfully match the shoes and put them in proper pairs by standing next to the individual wearing the other shoe. This will probably result in a tangled mess - and lots of giggles!
ALL ABOARD: The object of the game is to get all of the people in the group onto the board. (Can either use a poster board or a wood board, etc.) Everyone must have at least one foot on the board. HINT: Try not to give solutions, but tell them to listen to other’s ideas. You may enlarge or decrease the size of the board, depending on degree of challenge you would like.