Here's another excerpt from our book, Great Group Games: 175 Boredom Busting Zero Prep Team Builders for all Ages.
Hidden Hands
Time: 15 – 25 minutes
Supplies: one comic strip panel (make a copy of the strip for each group of 3-4 participants), one envelope for each group
Description:
This activity is good to give participants practice in communicating with other team members and in making group decisions. You will need a comic strip (duplicated so each work group has a copy), and one envelope for each subgroup. To prepare, photocopy enough copies of the comic strip to provide one for each work group. Cut each strip into separate panels and place the panels in an envelope.
Instruct the participants to form work groups of three to four members each. Distribute one envelope containing a set of comic strip panels to each team.
Direct the members of each team to open the envelope, place the panels of the comic strip face down without examining them, and shuffle them around the table. While the panels are on the table face down, hidden from view, members of each team take turns drawing a panel (without showing it to others), going around until all panels have been chosen. Team members are allowed to describe their own panels as fully as possible, but they are not allowed to look at the panels of the other participants or to show their panels to others.
When the team members have agreed on which panel is first in the cartoon (based on the participants' descriptions of the panels), they place it face down on the table. After they have placed all the panels face down in the order they have determined, they then turn them over to see if they have sequenced the comic in the proper order.
Going Deeper:
§ What communication process was used to describe the panels?
§ What are the strengths and challenges of your communication style?
§ How did the team decide what panels went where?
§ Did you readily share your opinions, were you hesitant to share, or were you perhaps a bit too wordy in your sharing?
§ How might this activity challenge your group to more effectively work together in the future?
Assets: social competencies, commitment to learning, boundaries and expectations
Monday, September 22, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
Kelly's Thoughts on Great Group Games
Kelly Curtis from Pass the Torch just made my day! She just read our Great Group Games book, and look what she had to say!! You can also enter her free giveaway for your own copy of the book!
By the way, if you don't already know about Kelly's blog, she has great things to say about nurturing young people, including her own new book, Empowering Youth. Take a look at her great stuff!
By the way, if you don't already know about Kelly's blog, she has great things to say about nurturing young people, including her own new book, Empowering Youth. Take a look at her great stuff!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Back to School - Games Style #2
I finally added a paypal link to the blog, so you can buy our Great Group Games book directly from here! Thanks to Joanne Heim for coaching me through the process.
Here's another warm-up for a new group during this back-to-school season:
It’s Your Birthday
Time: 10-15 minutes
Supplies: music
Description:
“Today is your birthday and this is your party! As hostess/host of this party you have to introduce as many of these people to each other as you possibly can.” After people have had a chance to mingle, do a quick hand count of who introduced the most people. To make it more like a party, play some music as the people mingle.
Assets: support, social competencies, safety
Here's another warm-up for a new group during this back-to-school season:
It’s Your Birthday
Time: 10-15 minutes
Supplies: music
Description:
“Today is your birthday and this is your party! As hostess/host of this party you have to introduce as many of these people to each other as you possibly can.” After people have had a chance to mingle, do a quick hand count of who introduced the most people. To make it more like a party, play some music as the people mingle.
Assets: support, social competencies, safety
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Back to School - Games Style
Back to School time equals start-up time for clubs, classes, sports teams and youth organizations. Playing GAMES with PURPOSE is a great way to kick off your year to a great start. You can find 175 ideas in our GREAT GROUP GAMES BOOK, but here is one name game to help your participant's (and you!) learn everyone's names:
Names in Action
· Time: 10 – 30 minutes
· Supplies: none
· One by one, each participant introduces herself to the rest of the group by putting a motion to each syllable of her name as she says it out loud. (For example: Crystal has 2 syllables in her name, so she puts her hands on her hips with “Crys” . . . and bobs her head with “tal.”)
· The group, in turn, repeats back the name with the action motion (affirming the person and solidifying the name in their heads).
· The next person goes. The group repeats their name/action and then repeats the name of the first person again.
· And so it goes until all action names have been done.
Variation: For the Brave and the Bold and Those Who Want to Have FUN
· After everyone has gone around and all names have been done, put on a compilation of music. Randomly yell out “do the Crystal!” or “do the George!” or whoever is in the group and everyone can dance around doing the motions of that particular person to the beat until you yell out the next person, then they change to that person’s motion action.
Names in Action
· Time: 10 – 30 minutes
· Supplies: none
· One by one, each participant introduces herself to the rest of the group by putting a motion to each syllable of her name as she says it out loud. (For example: Crystal has 2 syllables in her name, so she puts her hands on her hips with “Crys” . . . and bobs her head with “tal.”)
· The group, in turn, repeats back the name with the action motion (affirming the person and solidifying the name in their heads).
· The next person goes. The group repeats their name/action and then repeats the name of the first person again.
· And so it goes until all action names have been done.
Variation: For the Brave and the Bold and Those Who Want to Have FUN
· After everyone has gone around and all names have been done, put on a compilation of music. Randomly yell out “do the Crystal!” or “do the George!” or whoever is in the group and everyone can dance around doing the motions of that particular person to the beat until you yell out the next person, then they change to that person’s motion action.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Reading List for Youth Workers
I received this great reading list from SLYPN, the Service-Learning Youth Professionals Network. I already love some of these books, I can't wait to read others:
Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
By Malcolm Gladwell
Gladwell considers the elements needed to make a particular idea take hold. The tipping point occurs when something that begins as small turns into something very large. Gladwell's premise rests on three rules: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context.
Good to Great and the Social Sector: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great
By Jim Collins
This monograph is a response to questions raised by readers in the social sector, and it is not a new book. The author wanted to avoid any confusion about the monograph being a book by limiting its distribution to online retailers. This monograph is based on interviews and workshops with over 100 social sector leaders.
Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High Impact Nonprofits
By Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant
What makes great nonprofits great? Not large budgets. Not snazzy marketing. Not perfect management. Great nonprofits spend as much time working with institutions outside their four walls as they do managing their internal operations. They use the power of leverage to become greater forces for good. This reveals the six powerful practices of twelve high-impact nonprofits and tells their compelling stories. Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant spent four years surveying thousands of nonprofit leaders, conducting hundreds of interviews, and studying in-depth a dozen high-impact organizations to uncover their secrets to success. Their quest took them from the well-known, Habitat for Humanity; to the less well-known, YouthBuild USA; and to the unexpected, the Exploratorium. What the authors discovered surprised them.
Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable...About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business
By Patrick M. Lencioni
Lencioni uses a parable to frame his advice on how to get value from time spent in meetings. Meetings are like movies in that they need conflict and resolution to hold people's attention. They also require seriousness of purpose, diligent preparation, and a persistent focus on stated goals. He then offers explicit advice about providing drama and structure.
The Complete Guide to Service Learning: Proven, Practical Ways to Engage Students in Civic Responsibility, Academic Curriculum, & Social Action
By Cathryn Berger Kaye
How to Change the World
by David Bornstein
HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD tells the stories of people who have both changed their lives and found ways to change the world. It tell stories of people who have discovered how to use their talents and energy to advance deeply meaningful changes -- defiant people who refuse to accept the status quo, who simply cannot sit still in the face of injustice, suffering or wastefulness. The book shows (and analyzes) how innovators advance new models to solve social and economic problems -- how they make headway against the odds. Full of hope and energy, pragmatic solutions and compelling characters, this book will be practical and inspiring reading for individuals who seek to understand the fast growing field of "social entrepreneurship" and discover opportunities to enrich their work and their lives. Whether they are teachers or management consultants, bankers or doctors, nurses or social workers, writers or engineers, the people in this book are successfully demonstrating that one person with initiative and the courage to try out a new idea, along with a determination to seek out and connect with other changemakers, can advance changes that improve the lives and unleash the potential of thousands or even millions of others.
The Call to Service
by Robert Coles
Leading from Within
by Nancy S. Huber
The Impossible Will Take a Little While
by Paul R. Loeb
Finding Your Voice
by Lorraine R. Matusak
Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
By Malcolm Gladwell
Gladwell considers the elements needed to make a particular idea take hold. The tipping point occurs when something that begins as small turns into something very large. Gladwell's premise rests on three rules: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context.
Good to Great and the Social Sector: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great
By Jim Collins
This monograph is a response to questions raised by readers in the social sector, and it is not a new book. The author wanted to avoid any confusion about the monograph being a book by limiting its distribution to online retailers. This monograph is based on interviews and workshops with over 100 social sector leaders.
Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High Impact Nonprofits
By Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant
What makes great nonprofits great? Not large budgets. Not snazzy marketing. Not perfect management. Great nonprofits spend as much time working with institutions outside their four walls as they do managing their internal operations. They use the power of leverage to become greater forces for good. This reveals the six powerful practices of twelve high-impact nonprofits and tells their compelling stories. Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant spent four years surveying thousands of nonprofit leaders, conducting hundreds of interviews, and studying in-depth a dozen high-impact organizations to uncover their secrets to success. Their quest took them from the well-known, Habitat for Humanity; to the less well-known, YouthBuild USA; and to the unexpected, the Exploratorium. What the authors discovered surprised them.
Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable...About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business
By Patrick M. Lencioni
Lencioni uses a parable to frame his advice on how to get value from time spent in meetings. Meetings are like movies in that they need conflict and resolution to hold people's attention. They also require seriousness of purpose, diligent preparation, and a persistent focus on stated goals. He then offers explicit advice about providing drama and structure.
The Complete Guide to Service Learning: Proven, Practical Ways to Engage Students in Civic Responsibility, Academic Curriculum, & Social Action
By Cathryn Berger Kaye
How to Change the World
by David Bornstein
HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD tells the stories of people who have both changed their lives and found ways to change the world. It tell stories of people who have discovered how to use their talents and energy to advance deeply meaningful changes -- defiant people who refuse to accept the status quo, who simply cannot sit still in the face of injustice, suffering or wastefulness. The book shows (and analyzes) how innovators advance new models to solve social and economic problems -- how they make headway against the odds. Full of hope and energy, pragmatic solutions and compelling characters, this book will be practical and inspiring reading for individuals who seek to understand the fast growing field of "social entrepreneurship" and discover opportunities to enrich their work and their lives. Whether they are teachers or management consultants, bankers or doctors, nurses or social workers, writers or engineers, the people in this book are successfully demonstrating that one person with initiative and the courage to try out a new idea, along with a determination to seek out and connect with other changemakers, can advance changes that improve the lives and unleash the potential of thousands or even millions of others.
The Call to Service
by Robert Coles
Leading from Within
by Nancy S. Huber
The Impossible Will Take a Little While
by Paul R. Loeb
Finding Your Voice
by Lorraine R. Matusak
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Games in Unlikely Places
We received this letter from a woman using games from Great Group Games in the prison system. It's amazing to see how many different types of organizations and businesses and schools can use this resource! It's exciting to see!
The women in our program are truly enjoying the games in your book. Just to give you some background... I work at the Tennessee Prison for Women (the only maximum security prison for women in the state). I am a Substance Abuse Counselor in the Therapeutic Community, which is a long-term substance abuse program within the prison. The ladies in our program are incarcerated for charges related to their addiction to drugs or alcohol ( i.e.- vehicular homicide, possession of controlled substances, child abuse, etc.) We primarily utilize cognitive-behavioral therapy to address their criminal thinking and anti-social behaviors.
Our program is structured as a hierarchy- every person in the program has a function and responsibility. They are all put on different crews, such as Education Crew, Service Crew, Orientation Crew, and Creative Energy Crew, just to name a few. The responsibility of the Creative Energy Crew is to motivate the women first thing in the morning with some type of game, skit, activity before they start their therapeutic groups. As you can imagine, having to do this every day, they are running out of ideas. When I saw your book, I thought it would be perfect to help give them some great ideas that require little preparation and few props. It is ideal because we are limited (as staff) as to what we can actually bring into the prison. Most things are considered contraband, so it gets challenging for us to "think outside the box" when it comes to motivating the inmates.
So far, they LOVE the games! This morning, in fact, they did the one where they have to sing their name to the group and then the group in unison sings it back to them. We were all laughing hysterically and it got the day off to a great start.
The book truly give ideas that are great for any setting-- from a corporate group to inmates in prison. Thank you for your contribution and we are going to keep on having fun!
Amber Stevenson
The women in our program are truly enjoying the games in your book. Just to give you some background... I work at the Tennessee Prison for Women (the only maximum security prison for women in the state). I am a Substance Abuse Counselor in the Therapeutic Community, which is a long-term substance abuse program within the prison. The ladies in our program are incarcerated for charges related to their addiction to drugs or alcohol ( i.e.- vehicular homicide, possession of controlled substances, child abuse, etc.) We primarily utilize cognitive-behavioral therapy to address their criminal thinking and anti-social behaviors.
Our program is structured as a hierarchy- every person in the program has a function and responsibility. They are all put on different crews, such as Education Crew, Service Crew, Orientation Crew, and Creative Energy Crew, just to name a few. The responsibility of the Creative Energy Crew is to motivate the women first thing in the morning with some type of game, skit, activity before they start their therapeutic groups. As you can imagine, having to do this every day, they are running out of ideas. When I saw your book, I thought it would be perfect to help give them some great ideas that require little preparation and few props. It is ideal because we are limited (as staff) as to what we can actually bring into the prison. Most things are considered contraband, so it gets challenging for us to "think outside the box" when it comes to motivating the inmates.
So far, they LOVE the games! This morning, in fact, they did the one where they have to sing their name to the group and then the group in unison sings it back to them. We were all laughing hysterically and it got the day off to a great start.
The book truly give ideas that are great for any setting-- from a corporate group to inmates in prison. Thank you for your contribution and we are going to keep on having fun!
Amber Stevenson
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Fusion - A Peek Into Our Working Style
Two weeks ago, I went to the beautiful Barefoot Republic Camp in Kentucky with a group of 28 teens, college students and adults; working to build unity among teens in Nashville through a series of worship events called Fusion. We had the best time singing, planning, and hanging out together.
My job was to create a sense of community among these volunteer leaders who will carry out 3 events for 200 teens this summer. They wanted me to lead games from our Great Group Games book because “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” (Plato)
So we played – lots! Our first session was focused on getting to know each other. We bounced, finger fenced, searched for commonalities, sang, played with balloons, and scavenged for treasure. We learned the stories behind the names of people from teammates around the world.
The second playtime was about leadership and community building. We played silly games that led to deeper conversations about change, empowerment, appreciating diversity, listening, using the group’s strengths, creative problem-solving and trust.
We laughed together for 24 hours and left with 28 new friends, ready to make waves of change in our city. I feel so blessed in my job!
My job was to create a sense of community among these volunteer leaders who will carry out 3 events for 200 teens this summer. They wanted me to lead games from our Great Group Games book because “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” (Plato)
So we played – lots! Our first session was focused on getting to know each other. We bounced, finger fenced, searched for commonalities, sang, played with balloons, and scavenged for treasure. We learned the stories behind the names of people from teammates around the world.
The second playtime was about leadership and community building. We played silly games that led to deeper conversations about change, empowerment, appreciating diversity, listening, using the group’s strengths, creative problem-solving and trust.
We laughed together for 24 hours and left with 28 new friends, ready to make waves of change in our city. I feel so blessed in my job!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)