Category: No Props

Aga Zumba Zumba - Action Song (Video)

10/24/2024

I'm back after an amazing journey in India. There is so much to 'unpack' (figuratively and literally). I thought this video would be a fun way to start sharing some of my learnings.

My friend Agyat (salmon-colored shirt on the right) led an early-morning 'Play for Peace' session at the 2024 AEE Asia Pacific Regional Conference in Pune India. (Learn more about the amazing work of Play for Peace – "From conflict to compassion." – HERE and more about AEE Conferences HERE.)

When I use them, I include Action Songs at the beginning of a program as a way to frontload some of the experiences ahead. Here are some examples:

In most cases, the Song will be a 'first-time' experience for everyone. They will be learning something new together.
Mistakes will be made along the way. Then there will be an opportunity to practice to get better if we are motivated to do so.
There is some safe social risk-taking, but most people are more focused on their own actions instead of noticing others.
Not everyone will be good at everything right away, more work will need to be done.
Spontaneous laughter and celebration occur even during something challenging.
(And, I can program Songs for small and larger groups.)

After a Song, we'll briefly explore some of the concepts (practice) and behaviors (laughter) they experienced during the Song. It's a simple thought-provoking exercise to prepare them for what's ahead.

Please let us know if you have a visual source for other Action Songs so we can build our collection together. Leave a trail for us in the Comment. Thank you!!

All the best,

Chris Cavert, Ed.D.

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Claps Challenge (from Robb)

3/15/2024

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I played and learned about this group 'challenge' from my friend Robb at the 2024 ACCT Conference (I'll confirm the origin and edit as soon as I can). Robb called it the 'Clap Game' – I hope he doesn't mind the name change. I really wanted to get some video of this one in action before I posted, but no luck (I'll film and add it here as soon as I can). I just didn't want to wait any longer to share. So, I'll do my best to describe it.

NOTE: It's such a joy to experience programming tools that are new to me. I send a big thanks to the teambuilding collective out there innovating and sharing the newness!! Really. THANK YOU!

Okay. Play this in your head as you read. If it doesn't make sense, reach out to me for clarification. I promise it's worth the cognitive juices to translate into action.

So far my two experiences with this one have been with about 40+ players (ACCT) and about 30 players (UnConferene). During both, we were in one big circle, but I think it could be done with multiple concentric circles (circles inside of circles). I also think the challenges can be done in smaller pods of two to six – being a nice way to scaffold learning.

Claps Challenge
You are going to circle up your participants and ask them to be about elbows width apart. There are three challenge levels to the activity. Before each one, explain and demonstrate the challenge while participants have their arms down and relaxed. If you get them into the 'hands ready' position too soon, you may lose their attention. (And, the arms tire out and cause even more distraction.)

Challenge 1: Clap, Clap
Stand where everyone can see you. For example, in the middle of the circle if you are not planning on participating with the group (so you can observe behaviors). Or be a part of the circle standing in between two other people.

Place your hands in the 'hands ready' position. Your right hand will be open in front of you and slightly off to the right with your palm facing down. Your left hand will be open in front of you slightly off to the left with your palm up (see the picture above - specifically, the person in the middle). Again, you are doing this by yourself to demonstrate the action. NOTE: My thinking here is not to give away any sort of collaborative process by demonstrating with help. Do what works for you, of course.

Now, to demonstrate I'll say,

"The first challenge is to work together as a group and perform two simultaneous claps like this, CLAP, CLAP with the person on your right and left." [I move my right hand down and up twice and my left hand up and down twice on CLAP, CLAP so everyone can see the motions.] "The idea is to perform two distinct claps together, at the same time – as clear and crisp as possible. You can make as many attempts as you would like to reach your best result. When everyone in the group agrees to the best result, I will provide you with the second challenge."

At this point, the group is tasked to work together to accomplish the task. During my two experiences, we each started out working with the people to our left and right to discover how to clap together. Then, someone would eventually speak up, taking on some leadership, to figure out how we could all follow the same process. Then there were attempts, problem-solving, and eventually success – agreement on our best result. It was fun to watch.

NOTE: I'm thinking, that even if there are multiple groups in play, everyone attempts (performs) each challenge together. CLAP, CLAP.

That's the general idea of the process. Plan together. Practice. Perform to the best result.

Here are the other two challenges (each can be demonstrated without help):

Challenge 2: Clap, Clap, Flip, Clap, Clap.
On the 'Flip' everyone turns their hand 180 degrees – right palm faces up, left palm faces down, then Clap, Clap. With this challenge and the next, a rhythmic cadence is not required, like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and done – but we don't tell them this. The requirement is to do all the parts with synchronous claps and everyone agrees on the best result.

Side Bar: During my second experience (I was facilitating), someone did ask me what I thought about their attempt. Of course, I did a little 'facilitated questioning' which ended up with everyone interested in my opinion – fair real-world inquiry. So, I agreed to give them a grade (it was a B+) and the reason why (some claps were not performed at the same time as the majority of claps). The group decided to go for an 'A' grade, which took a few more attempts.

Challenge 3: Clap, Clap, Flip, Clap, Clap, Clap, Flip, Clap, Clap.
On the second Flip, hands go back to the starting position for the final Clap, Clap. During both of my experiences, the first two challenges had a similar pattern-based solution on the two claps. This third challenge made us change our strategy/pattern a bit to accommodate the three claps. Again, this was really fun to watch and experience together with the groups.

Additional Information:

The first group of 40+ I participated with were adults, most of whom had many years of experience leading/facilitating groups through teambuilding activities. Getting through the three challenges, with about a 'B' average, took us about 12 minutes.
The second group of about 30 included high school students and adults, but all of us had experience facilitating teambuilding programs. We played for about 10 minutes with a 'B' average on the first two challenges and only tried the third challenge a couple of times due to our time constraint – I wanted to at least show the group the last challenge.
So, keep in mind, that this three-challenge experience could take a while if a group is set on reaching 'A-level' status. If you plan this as a closing activity, allow enough time to end on some level of success.

I hope this makes enough sense for you to try it. I'll get a video here as soon as possible. (And if you could send me a video!? That would be amazing.)

Have fun out there!

Chris Cavert, Ed.D.

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Twizzling Again (A Warm Up & Energizer)

9/29/2023

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(Note: All my books are boxed up right now, so my references are limited. I’ll be back to edit connections as soon as I can. Thanks to Michelle Cummings for letting me borrow her copy of Rohnke’s Quicksilver.)

A few summers back, before a long Spring Training (ropes) schedule, I picked up a copy of Tinker: Building Purposeful Experiences from Classic Adventure Activities from some of the amazing people at High 5. That Spring I ended up working/playing through most of the activities in the book with my trainees – SO FUN! (Thanks ‘amazing people’!)

One of those activities is forever etched in my mind because I learned it from Chris Ortiz (a High 5er some days back), it’s easy to remember (catchy name), and I can use it as a fun no-prop opener or program energizer with about 12 to 40 players – Clap, Jump, Spin, Run (I’ve also seen it as Jump, Clap, Spin, Run.) NOTE: I like starting with a Clap since it’s a nice auditory way to start the chain reactions. Here’s a quick description from Chris (from his 2015 handout 2015):

What does this have to do with Twizzling Chris? Well, you know me, I love the history!

Jump back (pun intended) to over 25 years ago, somewhere in Massachusetts at a Project Adventure workshop I learned Twizzle. After my recent re-learning of Clap, Jump, Spin, Run I also started re-using Twizzle. It’s the same general idea, moving around within a circle formation, but in Twizzle everyone is in play at the same time….until they're not!

In the classic pre-21st century adventure game style, a player can be called ‘out’ of Twizzle to become a ‘referee’ Whose job is to oust others who break the freeze rule. (For inclusion purposes, I’ve added a way to get back into 21st Century Twizzling.)

If you have Rohnke and Butler’s book Quicksilver you can find Twizzle on pages 135 and 136. They credit the fun to Tom Fuchs – thanks, Tom!! Here is my abbreviated version of the directions – basically, how I'm Twizzling again:

Circle up (12 to 40) participants – face them clockwise NOT holding hands. (This circle of people will be moving in a clockwise direction from time to time, looking at the back of the person in front of them.)

Teach and practice the following Action Terminology – as participants learn the Actions, mix in the old with the new during practice:

“GO – Walk in the direction you are facing.” [Practice for 20 seconds.]
“STOP – Stop moving and FREEZE.” [Practice] Let players know that ANY movement after the stop and freeze, is NOT freezing.
“TURN – Make a half turn, 180 degrees, and FREEZE.” [Practice] Again, any movement after the freeze is not freezing.
“JUMP – Jump, making a half turn, 180 degrees, and FREEZE.” [Practice]
“TWIZZLE – Jump, making a full turn, 360 degrees, and FREEZE.” [Practice]

After a couple of minutes of practice, all players are deemed official ‘Twizzlers’ and are now ready for Competition Twizzle.

Before the game begins, I ask for volunteers to be the first referees – we need one ref for every four players. For example, if there are 12 players there will be three referees, and 20 players will have five refs. I ask all the volunteer referees to step into the middle of the circle. Their job, as with all referees, is to watch for and call fouls. When they call a foul, they get to return to the circle of Twizzlers and the player who fouled becomes a referee in the center of the circle.

The Objective of the Competitive Twizzle Be a part of the Twizzler circle at the end of a three-minute game.

You, the facilitator, will start the time and then call out the Actions. The referees will watch for the following fouls:

A player does not ‘FREEZE’ after an action is made – other than the ‘GO’ action.
A player un-freezes before the next Action is called.

A player does not stop in the correct position of a turn – 180 degrees and 360 degrees. (This means under- or over-rotating.)

When there is a general understanding of play, I like to start with a one-minute practice round to clear up any unknowns. Then, I start the first official three-minute game and play on. Initially, we get in at least two or three games. Then we can Twizzle as an energizer throughout a program day.

Okay. Now that you know how to play. Let me tell you about some of the discussions I’ve been able to open with Twizzle:

What are your views regarding competition? What are some of the negative aspects of competition? What are some of the positive aspects? How can we be better competitors?
Describe how you played the game. Were you competitive? Were you focused? How much did you care about your performance? Were you respectful – in what ways? How did you view the referees? Were you respectful to them? In what ways?
If you were a referee, how did you do at your job? Did you like the job? Explain. Were you respectful? In what ways? If a referee overlooked a foul and did not call the foul, why do you think this happened? What are some ‘fouls’ you see in your everyday lives? What fouls do you ‘call’ and which ones do you not call? Why does this happen for you? What will it take from us to call the fouls we see? Why will this be important to our future?

The ’foul’ conversations have been the most impactful for my groups. We all know we need to call more fouls, but it’s not an easy task. What we discover is that together we can support each other, call the fouls, and make changes that help our communities and us. Twizzling Again can get us thinking and get us doing!

Keep me posted!

Chris Cavert, Ed.D.

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Aga Zumba Zumba - Action Song (Video)

Claps Challenge (from Robb)

Twizzling Again (A Warm Up & Energizer)

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