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Fun Find: Line Ups

2/25/2016

If you have been in activity programming for a while I'm sure you've used a variety of Line Ups as a way to get your groups to work together to solve a simple problem - figuring out where everyone goes in the line. (Can you figure out how the group in the picture was asked to line up with the number cards?)

Recently I met some great folks from Paradigm Shift out of Oklahoma. They do a lot of great work with youth, among other things. To find out more about their operation I went to explore their website. One of the awesome resources I found was a compilation of 101 Ways to Line Up a Group. Check it out - lots of fun ones in there.

For me, I like to use line ups that require people to talk a bit more - giving them an opportunity to share their voice and more details about themselves (don't get me wrong, it is also important to provide some easy, less talking, line ups at first to get participants warmed up). Here are some of my favorite "talkative" line ups:

Distance from the point we are standing at right now to where you were born.
Distance from this point to your favorite vacation spot. (When was the last time you were there?)
The coldest place you've ever been - line up by cold to coldest temp.
The hottest place you've ever been - line up by hot to hottest temp.
Largest picture of something (in your photos app) you have on your phone - large to largest pic. (Where was the picture taken?)
Longest road trip, by car or bus, you have ever taken - in miles (Where were you going?).
Longest wait at an airport (Where were you going?).
The most calories you ate in one sitting (your best guess based on the meal you had). (What and where was the meal?)
The number of things - line up fewest to most - you will need with you (besides food and water) if you were stranded on a tropical desert island.
(Using Chiji Cards - or any other image cards) Line up by the SIZE of the object on your card - the size it would be if it wasn't confined to the space on the card.

My hope is that my participants will be sharing more of the story behind these negotiations as they figure out where they are in the line. Once the movement stops I ask for some volunteers to share their story. Just another way to break the ice a bit more.

If you have other "talkative" line ups for us, please share in the comments below.

Have FUN out there.

Chris Cavert

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Word Circle Puzzles: February 2016

2/7/2016

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Recently I attended the Association for Challenge Course Technology's annual conference in my backyard in Texas. I picked up lots of great activity ideas that I will be sharing over the next couple of months.

Since it's about time for another round of Word Circle Puzzles (WCP), I want to share a technology-related WCP presentation I learned from my friend Jeremy Yarbrough from the Campus Recreation Department at Baylor University. Jeremy lead us through a wonderful progression of puzzles and ways to lead the group into the puzzles. His final offering was a puzzle set with QR Codes on each card.

First we had to use our Smartphone's QR Code reader (I use "i-nigma") to decode each word on the cards (some people needed to ask for help since they didn't have a Smartphone - yes, some people still do not have them! Awesome!)

Then, we had to remember each word or words we were holding (since Jeremy challenged us not to use our phones again after we found our words). I had to focus intently on my two words while others (I heard in the background) were organizing the solution to the puzzle. For me it was very interesting to see how people operated within their short-term memory capacity. Great fun. And YES, we solved it!

Jeremy uses a free online QR Code generator (here's the one I use) and goes to Dictionary.com to put in his words for the puzzle. Once a word is defined Jeremy copies the URL for that word and pastes it into the generator. When a QR Code is generated he has a document template for Avery printable business cards set up - he copies and then pastes one QR Code per business card and then prints out the page when it's full. You could easily make cards in a Word document like I do - I can get about eight rectangle images on one page. From there I can drop in a word, or now a QR Code, into each rectangle and print them out after I make a set of cards.

Jeremy did warn us to label our QR Code puzzle card sets in some way so that if we make a number of different QR Code sets you know which cards go together. In the picture above you see Jeremy has outlined the QR Codes in green. With a little effort you too can produce a very interesting puzzle challenge that brings tech and face-to-face together!

Here are some new Word Circle Puzzles for your team building adventures. (I've mixed them up of course so you can figure them out on your own if desired (write out each word on an index card so you can shuffle them around to solve), The answers are included after the puzzles. (New to Word Circle Puzzles? Go Here. After more WCP? Use the Search box in the right side bar on this page - type in Word Circle Puzzles to find other installments and presentation ideas.)

SOME, HIT, NIGHT, GOING, TIME, ON, SWITCH, OVER, LIGHT, HER...(10 Words)

HOLD, NECK, CARD, STAGE, SMART, LACE, BACK, STREET, CREW, HOUSE, OFF, WORK...(12 Words)

STREET, POWER, PLANT, CONE, SMART, FLOWER, PITCH, PLAY, MONEY, BACK, STAND, PINE, FAST... (13 Words)

BOTTOM, STAMP, GAME, COACH, SCHOOL, MAN, LINE, LESS, DATE, PAYMENT, BELL, DOWN, BOARD, LAW, PLAN, ON...

SPOILER ALERT - ANSWERS BELOW
10 Words: NIGHT, LIGHT, SOME, TIME, SWITCH, HIT, HER, ON, GOING, OVER...
12 Words: STREET, SMART, CARD, HOUSE, HOLD, BACK, STAGE, CREW, NECK, LACE, WORK, OFF...
13 Words: PINE, CONE, FLOWER, POWER, PLAY, BACK, STREET, SMART, MONEY, PLANT, STAND, FAST, PITCH...
16 Words: GAME, LAW, SCHOOL, BELL, BOTTOM, LINE, COACH, MAN, DATE, STAMP, DOWN, PAYMENT, PLAN, LESS, ON, BOARD...

Have fun out there!

Chris Cavert

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Fun Find: Line Ups

Word Circle Puzzles: February 2016

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