So after my last post about my Mini-Camp, I got some requests for specific descriptions of some of the team-building games I do. I chose four that I think are among the best (and actually lend themselves to written description) and I've written about those below:
Hammer in the Circle Name Game: So I do this game with a big inflatable hammer, like this:
You don't need the big inflatable hammer for this game, but it helps. I've done it before with a rolled up newspaper (which you have to be really careful because that can potentially hurt more than an inflatable hammer) and just with tagging by hand. Here is how the game works:
Students get in a circle and go around quickly with everyone saying their first name. One person is in the middle of the circle with the hammer, and their objective is to get out of the circle. They do this by (GENTLY AND NON-VIOLENTLY, I always tell my kids) bopping someone in the circle. The only way you can be "safe" is to the say name of someone else in the circle before you get bopped. Then the person in the middle has to go after that person, who says someone else's name in the circle and so on and so forth. It's fun, it's easy to learn, it helps kids learn names and stay engaged, because if they don't then they're gonna get whacked. A couple of notes:
*You can't say the name of the person who just said your name, or (obviously) the name of the person in the middle. Do either of those things and you automatically end up in the middle.
*You cannot move away from the circle to dodge the hammer. You either say someone else's name or get hit. Moving away from the circle puts you in the middle automatically.
Throw & Catch Name Challenge:
I got this one from one of my mentors, Emily Martin and then added variations to it over time. This one starts as a name game but there are a lot of variations that can turn into more of a team-building/team-challenge activity.
Put everyone in a circle. Get a ball or something soft and weighted of a similar size. I prefer a little Kung Fu Panda bean bag toy that I acquired early in my career:
Have everyone say the name of someone (preferably someone they don't know well or at all) else in the circle as they throw the ball to them. Then that person selects someone else, says their name as they throw it to them. Notes:
*Tell the kids before you start to remember who they threw it to.
*For the first time and first time only, have them sit down after they throw the ball to someone so people know who has not received the ball yet.
*If you don't know the name of the person you want to throw to, politely ask them their name.
*Underhanded throws only. This goes double if you're doing this activity with middle schoolers.
Once EVERYONE has received the ball, it goes back to the person that started (in this activity I am always the person who starts and ends). Then you tell all the kids to stand up, and complete throwing the ball to everyone in the same order that they did it the first time. Once they have a pretty good flow going and understand the order, its time for all sorts of variations that challenge them to work together and accomplish goals:
*How fast can you go once through the order? I like to let the kids set their level of challenge and choose the time they want to beat.
*Once you've beaten your initial time, can you do it faster?
*Can we go all the way through the order without dropping the ball more than a number of times that the students decide on? With no drops at all? (You have to be careful that the competitive kids don't get frustrated with the kids who don't have great hand eye coordination. A good way is to remind them that you never said they HAD to throw the ball, and perhaps there are other ways to solve the problem if not everyone can throw or catch it in the most accurate way).
*Can you successfully beat your time AND do it with no drops?
*Have them go backwards and throw to the person who threw to them and go all the way through the order.
*Introduce a second ball or toy and have them go through the order with both balls, one right after the other.
*Have one ball go forwards through the order while the other ball goes backwards (this one is my favorite because the kids really have to focus).
*Infinite variations on these in terms of time and number of drops.
When the students don't achieve their goal, stay positive and ask them for ideas on how to be more successful the next time. When they do achieve their goal, ask them to identify what they did to be successful as a team, and then raise the level of challenge. Kids really get into this one, and you can make it more or less challenging depending on the capabilities of your group and how well they work together as a team.
Human Knot:
A classic for a reason. Kids get in a circle, put all their hands in, each hand grabs another hand that doesn't belong to someone directly next to them, and then off you go! They have to untangle the knot without letting go (students can let go for safety reasons if their arm is being pulled in a weird direction, readjust and then grab the same hand again), and have to figure out how to communicate and work together in order to successfully untangle. I love this one because I can really just get out of the way and watch the kids problem-solve on their own.
A cool variation on this, especially if the kids get really good at communication, is have them do it again but identify certain people who are allowed to talk and certain people who are only allowed to communicate non-verbally. Not only does this add an extra level of challenge, but it forces the really extroverted, take charge kids to take a step back (because of course they are the ones I say aren't allowed to talk), and forces the quieter kids to find their voice a little more and step out of their comfort zone. I did that variation when I was working with my section leaders before camp started and it make them consider different styles of leadership and what they were most comfortable with. It was a nice reminder that you can lead quietly but sometimes you need to step up more and be heard, and you can lead loudly but you can't drown out the voices of others.
Giants, Wizards, and Elves:
This last one is just for fun and running around. It's basically rock, paper, scissors with running. Here's how it works. Two equal teams line up on either side of a line or a rope. A referee counts to three and after three each group throws a sign that they have decided on in a huddle before stepping up to the line. The signs are:
Giants: Holding your arms high above your head like a big scary giant. Giants beat elves, because they are bigger.
Wizards: Hold your arms out in front of you with your hands pointed at your opponent, like your casting a spell. Wizards beat giants, because they have powerful magic.
Elves: Crouch down very low to the ground like you are a small creature. Elves beat wizards because something has to beat wizards for the game to work.
The team with the winning sign immediately begins to chase the team with the losing sign. The team that lost needs to turn around and run to try to get past their "home" which is a clearly marked boundary (I usually try not to have them run super long distances) before getting tagged. If someone from the winning team tags someone from the losing team before they make it "home," then that tagged person now joins the other team. The two teams now regroup (the winning team most likely being larger than it was before) and decide their next sign. The game continues until one team is completely out of members (which I have never seen happen) or you decide to be done.
A couple of notes:
*Teams should always decide a "back up" sign in their huddle that they will throw if both teams throw the same sign the first time. This important as I would say both teams come up with the same sign about 50% of the time. When that occurs, you the referee tell them to reset, get ready to throw their back up sign, and then count to three again.
*Remind kids about safety and make sure you choose a good playing surface. This game is a recipe for rolled ankles and pulled muscles.
*I recently invested in a rope (to mark the line on which the teams face each other), and some orange athletic cones (to mark the boundaries for "home" for each team). These have made the game easier to understand for my kids.
So there you have it! Four of my favorite team-building games from my Youth Corps days or my teaching experiences. I would also recommend you check out this page, Icebreakers That Don't Suck, for some quick and easy activities that will help your students get comfortable with one another without having to step way outside their comfort zone right off the bat. I've used most of these the past two years at my mini-camp, and they are great!
Like I said in my last post, I know that a lot of people are hesitant about ice-breakers and team-builders (as an introvert who hated participating in them, I understand), but I think doing things to help your choir bond is essential to a healthy ensemble. You have to find ones that work for you, and your group, and then you have to make sure you roll them out the right way and commit to them. When you do that, you can help those walls between choir members come down much faster!
Hammer in the Circle Name Game: So I do this game with a big inflatable hammer, like this:
You don't need the big inflatable hammer for this game, but it helps. I've done it before with a rolled up newspaper (which you have to be really careful because that can potentially hurt more than an inflatable hammer) and just with tagging by hand. Here is how the game works:
Students get in a circle and go around quickly with everyone saying their first name. One person is in the middle of the circle with the hammer, and their objective is to get out of the circle. They do this by (GENTLY AND NON-VIOLENTLY, I always tell my kids) bopping someone in the circle. The only way you can be "safe" is to the say name of someone else in the circle before you get bopped. Then the person in the middle has to go after that person, who says someone else's name in the circle and so on and so forth. It's fun, it's easy to learn, it helps kids learn names and stay engaged, because if they don't then they're gonna get whacked. A couple of notes:
*You can't say the name of the person who just said your name, or (obviously) the name of the person in the middle. Do either of those things and you automatically end up in the middle.
*You cannot move away from the circle to dodge the hammer. You either say someone else's name or get hit. Moving away from the circle puts you in the middle automatically.
Throw & Catch Name Challenge:
I got this one from one of my mentors, Emily Martin and then added variations to it over time. This one starts as a name game but there are a lot of variations that can turn into more of a team-building/team-challenge activity.
Put everyone in a circle. Get a ball or something soft and weighted of a similar size. I prefer a little Kung Fu Panda bean bag toy that I acquired early in my career:
Have everyone say the name of someone (preferably someone they don't know well or at all) else in the circle as they throw the ball to them. Then that person selects someone else, says their name as they throw it to them. Notes:
*Tell the kids before you start to remember who they threw it to.
*For the first time and first time only, have them sit down after they throw the ball to someone so people know who has not received the ball yet.
*If you don't know the name of the person you want to throw to, politely ask them their name.
*Underhanded throws only. This goes double if you're doing this activity with middle schoolers.
Once EVERYONE has received the ball, it goes back to the person that started (in this activity I am always the person who starts and ends). Then you tell all the kids to stand up, and complete throwing the ball to everyone in the same order that they did it the first time. Once they have a pretty good flow going and understand the order, its time for all sorts of variations that challenge them to work together and accomplish goals:
*How fast can you go once through the order? I like to let the kids set their level of challenge and choose the time they want to beat.
*Once you've beaten your initial time, can you do it faster?
*Can we go all the way through the order without dropping the ball more than a number of times that the students decide on? With no drops at all? (You have to be careful that the competitive kids don't get frustrated with the kids who don't have great hand eye coordination. A good way is to remind them that you never said they HAD to throw the ball, and perhaps there are other ways to solve the problem if not everyone can throw or catch it in the most accurate way).
*Can you successfully beat your time AND do it with no drops?
*Have them go backwards and throw to the person who threw to them and go all the way through the order.
*Introduce a second ball or toy and have them go through the order with both balls, one right after the other.
*Have one ball go forwards through the order while the other ball goes backwards (this one is my favorite because the kids really have to focus).
*Infinite variations on these in terms of time and number of drops.
When the students don't achieve their goal, stay positive and ask them for ideas on how to be more successful the next time. When they do achieve their goal, ask them to identify what they did to be successful as a team, and then raise the level of challenge. Kids really get into this one, and you can make it more or less challenging depending on the capabilities of your group and how well they work together as a team.
Human Knot:
A classic for a reason. Kids get in a circle, put all their hands in, each hand grabs another hand that doesn't belong to someone directly next to them, and then off you go! They have to untangle the knot without letting go (students can let go for safety reasons if their arm is being pulled in a weird direction, readjust and then grab the same hand again), and have to figure out how to communicate and work together in order to successfully untangle. I love this one because I can really just get out of the way and watch the kids problem-solve on their own.
A cool variation on this, especially if the kids get really good at communication, is have them do it again but identify certain people who are allowed to talk and certain people who are only allowed to communicate non-verbally. Not only does this add an extra level of challenge, but it forces the really extroverted, take charge kids to take a step back (because of course they are the ones I say aren't allowed to talk), and forces the quieter kids to find their voice a little more and step out of their comfort zone. I did that variation when I was working with my section leaders before camp started and it make them consider different styles of leadership and what they were most comfortable with. It was a nice reminder that you can lead quietly but sometimes you need to step up more and be heard, and you can lead loudly but you can't drown out the voices of others.
Giants, Wizards, and Elves:
This last one is just for fun and running around. It's basically rock, paper, scissors with running. Here's how it works. Two equal teams line up on either side of a line or a rope. A referee counts to three and after three each group throws a sign that they have decided on in a huddle before stepping up to the line. The signs are:
Giants: Holding your arms high above your head like a big scary giant. Giants beat elves, because they are bigger.
Wizards: Hold your arms out in front of you with your hands pointed at your opponent, like your casting a spell. Wizards beat giants, because they have powerful magic.
Elves: Crouch down very low to the ground like you are a small creature. Elves beat wizards because something has to beat wizards for the game to work.
The team with the winning sign immediately begins to chase the team with the losing sign. The team that lost needs to turn around and run to try to get past their "home" which is a clearly marked boundary (I usually try not to have them run super long distances) before getting tagged. If someone from the winning team tags someone from the losing team before they make it "home," then that tagged person now joins the other team. The two teams now regroup (the winning team most likely being larger than it was before) and decide their next sign. The game continues until one team is completely out of members (which I have never seen happen) or you decide to be done.
A couple of notes:
*Teams should always decide a "back up" sign in their huddle that they will throw if both teams throw the same sign the first time. This important as I would say both teams come up with the same sign about 50% of the time. When that occurs, you the referee tell them to reset, get ready to throw their back up sign, and then count to three again.
*Remind kids about safety and make sure you choose a good playing surface. This game is a recipe for rolled ankles and pulled muscles.
*I recently invested in a rope (to mark the line on which the teams face each other), and some orange athletic cones (to mark the boundaries for "home" for each team). These have made the game easier to understand for my kids.
So there you have it! Four of my favorite team-building games from my Youth Corps days or my teaching experiences. I would also recommend you check out this page, Icebreakers That Don't Suck, for some quick and easy activities that will help your students get comfortable with one another without having to step way outside their comfort zone right off the bat. I've used most of these the past two years at my mini-camp, and they are great!
Like I said in my last post, I know that a lot of people are hesitant about ice-breakers and team-builders (as an introvert who hated participating in them, I understand), but I think doing things to help your choir bond is essential to a healthy ensemble. You have to find ones that work for you, and your group, and then you have to make sure you roll them out the right way and commit to them. When you do that, you can help those walls between choir members come down much faster!
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