I was gifted this new book by Jon Grizzle (from Jon himself) when I was attending the Association for challenge Course Technology Conference last year. (This year The ACCT Conference is in Denver Colorado, my backyard, Feb. 7-10. I'll be leading a pre-conference on Portable Team Building Activities - I get to bring ALL my props - and a couple other activity workshops during the conference. If you are in the area, it would be great to see you - let me know you follow the FUN so I can thank you properly!)   

I have really enjoyed learning some new card activities and variations from the book. Along with the new activities I've picked up, Jon opened my thinking about using cards as boundary lines and borders (literally in one case) - perfect. There are some really good adaptation of well-known team building activities as well, that substitute the standard props with cards - like a card Spider Web. Clever! (You've got to build it, but we all know I like it when we build stuff.)

I put an Amazon link below to Jon's book if you're interested in picking it up.
(To help me supplement my professional blogger income, I'm now an Affiliate for Amazon. If you buy the book after using the link below, I get a little - super little - piece of the action. Every "little" bit helps.)

Here's one from the book I've already used, with a little addition from me:

Who Am I? (A nice tried-and-true ice-breaker - take out the index cards with names on them and use playing cards)

Have everyone randomly select a card without looking at the face value. Then, break into pairs (I, Chris, always ask my participants to raise up a hand, look for someone else doing the same thing, and get together.)

The goal is to discover which card they are holding by asking each other ONLY five "yes" or "no" questions. It's perfectly okay to ask more if needed, but the challenge is getting it in five questions or less.

Having multiple rounds will allow people (pairs) to begin strategizing. (Excerpted from the book.) 

Here's the way I've used this one: 

After giving everyone a card - asking them not to look at the face - I hold the remainder of the deck in my right hand, face down, and call it the draw pile. The same goal - discover the "rank" of the card you are holding (that's the number, letter or face card - no need to guess the suit), without looking at it. The additional goal: As a group, discover the rank of as many cards as possible in 3 minutes.

"When the activity starts, hold your card out in front of you, mingle around and ask other players questions that can ONLY be answered with a "yes" or "no". After you ask a question of someone, and get your answer, you must go off to ask someone else a question. You can always return to someone you've questioned before, you just can't ask more than one question at a time. 

Once you have discovered the rank of your card, find me (the facilitator) and place your card, FACE UP in my left hand - my left hand holds the discard pile - and then take a new card from the draw pile in my right hand - don't look at the face. Then, get back out there to ask more questions. (Discovery - participants get some good cardio when doing this.)

The activity begins when I say, "GO" - time starts - and ends when I say, "FREEZE" - when time stops."

As Jon notes, multiple rounds will allow participants to develop strategies. (Discovery - I set the countdown timer on my phone to "BUZZZZZZ" after three minutes and had to put the phone in my pocket since my hands ended up being full of cards.)

Thanks for the inspiration Jon - GOOD STUFF!

HERE'S a link to Jon's book if you want to add it to your library. 

(I was a guest on Jon's Card Talk - Team Building FUN with Cards. You'll see in the video (Episode 5), we added some Cups to Card Throwing. Check it out! 

Do you have a favorite card activity? Leave us a Comment below. 

​Have FUN out there! 

Chris Cavert, Ed.D. 

My good friend Dr. Jim Cain just released his new book, Teambuilding with Index Cards. (Training Wheels has them discounted this week HERE - get your copy today!)

Here's the tag line: 180 activities for teachers, trainers, facilitators & group leaders of all kinds that turn ordinary index and playing cards into extraordinary teaching tools. (Full transparency: Jim has packed his new book with LOTS of activities - about half of them use Index Cards and Playing Cards. The other half are team building activities that utilize other props.) 

STORY CARDS Here's a fun Icebreaker I found right away. Give each participant an index card (I like the bigger cards) and supply a variety of colorful writing tools. (Other supplies can be fun too, like stickers, glitter and glue, and even magazines so people can cut out pictures and words to glue on their card.) 

Next, invite everyone to draw on their card (or create) five events from his/her life and then be prepared to share and discuss these illustrations (creations) within a small group of four to six people. So, this one can be done with any size group if you have enough creative materials. 

(The story behind my card above: I'm an only child [the number 1] - I had an amazing mother. Summer camp and camping changed my life after moving "up north" from Milwaukee Wisconsin to Lake Five - country life was much kinder than the BIG city. I discovered my calling as an adventure educator and never looked back. And, finally, I've been able to travel all around the world, and have met some incredible people with their own wonderful stories.)

Crossword Names (in Jim's book) is another index card favorite of mine. When Jim requested activity submissions for this book, I gave him this one. It's written up HERE (I call it, Name Letter Opener) if you haven't seen it yet. You can play with any size group and with anyone able to write their name. 

All the best my friends!

Chris Cavert, Ed.D. 

NOTE: Received some feedback about font size - "...can you make the font bigger?" Well, yes! Thanks for asking. What do you think out there? How's this font size? 

This last week two different people asked me about the adventure education (related) books I would recommend reading (or having on ones shelf). I thought my answer would make a useful post as well. Choosing a Top 10 book list is no easy task since there are so many amazing books out there.

Here's how I approached this (current) list. I asked myself, "If I was approached by anyone  interested in learning about team building but  knew nothing about getting started much less the adventure education field  (specifically facilities-based adventure education, also known as adventure-based education), what books would I recommend?" I decided to list the more contemporary choices, ones that can easily be found and purchased. If someone asked me about the "seminal" works to pick up related to adventure education the list would certainly be different (and worthy of another post).  

The list below includes three categories: Theory (cognitive information related to facilities-based adventure education), Theory & Practice (cognitive information and experiential activities), and Practice (only experiential activities). I also included a link that will take you right to a source where you can purchase and find out more information about each book.

​(NOTE: I used two purchase sources, Training Wheels - the store site owned and operated by Michelle Cummings, one of us,  and Amazon. I just thought you might want the heads up if you plan to purchase multiple titles.)

Theory & Practice: 

• Quicksilver: Adventure Games, Initiative Problems, Trust Activities, and a Guide to Effective Leadership (1995), by Karl Rohnke & Steve Butler. This book has an easy to read and practical section on Adventure Leadership and then lots of classic Rohnke & Butler activities. You can find it at TRAINING WHEELS (and also "Look Inside" at AMAZON). 
• The Leader's Handbook: Learning Leadership Skills by Facilitating Fun, Games, Play, and Positive Interaction, 2nd Edition (2013). Simply the best book about leading team building activities that I know. It's also packed with great activities. Find it on AMAZON. 
• Teamwork & Teamplay (1998), by Jim Cain & Barry Jolliff. The initial section of the book provides some great information about adventure education and it's applications. The rest of the book is loaded with team building activities along with building plans to make your own elements and adventure props. Find it at TRAINING WHEELS. 
• The More The Merrier: Lead Playful Activities with Large Groups (2007), by Sam Sikes, Faith Evans & Chris Cavert. (I'm a little bias when it comes to this one!) A good read on how to build community through team building with large groups. Then there's over 100 activities to make it happen. Find it at TRAINING WHEELS. 
• A Teachable Moment: A Facilitators Guide to Activities for Processing, Debriefing, Reviewing and Reflecting (2005), by Jim Cain, Michelle Cummings & Jennifer Stanchfield. A practical guide to understanding what comes after team building activities. Some foundational theory and 120 techniques (activities) for opening up discussions. You can find this one at TRAINING WHEELS. 

Practice (Just Activities): 

• The Bottomless Bag Revival, Revised 2nd ed (2004), by Karl Rohnke. This book is the most recent iteration of activities (after Silver Bullets - on the "seminal" list, even though there is a 25th Anniversary Edition) from Karl Rohnke dating back to the 90s - but still proven powerful team builders. Find it on AMAZON. 
• FUNN 'N GAMES: Adventure Games & Trust Activities for Fun and Facilitation (2004), by Karl Rohnke. This book is a HUGE collection of activities from Karl that were introduced after the "Bottomless Bag". (If you know about Karl's "FUNN Stuff" series of books, FUNN 'N GAMES is the compilation of all these books and more.) Find it on AMAZON. ​

Let me know what you think? I'd love to hear about your top book choices. Leave a comment below.

Have FUN out there! 

Chris Cavert, Ed. D. 

Begin by inviting everyone to find a partner and link elbows. Next, instruct each pair to take a stroll together and find three things they have in common - the more unique or unusual the commonalities, the better, This combination of walking and talking is an active way to move a group and encourage the group to focus on what they have in common. You can also use this activity when you are moving a group from Point A to Point B. Explain the activity and then invite them to find commonalities as they walk from here to there. 

Other than commonalities I've asked pairs to talk about what they like to do when they have free time, or talk about favorite things like movies, vacations, holidays, or restaurants. Other topics could be hopes and dreams, fears and failures (with the right groups), or what would they do if they didn't have to work or go to school every/all day. The act of "strolling" around side-by-side together seems to help open up the mind to truthful sharing. Check out the blog post from John Dupre called Side-by-Side on this context of communication. (Thanks Linda, a FUN Follower, for sharing this thought provoking post!) 

Pick up Jim's latest book and let me know what you think. Leave a comment below. 

Have FUN out there my friends. 

Chris Cavert, Ed.D. 

From Floyd: 
With the goal to "help you understand the drama that may be playing out in your own work or home life and how to transform it into conscious, compassionate, collaboration," the authors, Nate Reiger and Jeff King introduce us to the "Drama Triangle." These two Next-Element co-founders point out that because of drama, relationships are strained, trust is absent, creativity is stifled, and costly turn over rates [in business settings] are present and rising. ​

"The Drama Triangle," they say, "is a model for how people relate to one another in distress, dysfunction, and conflict." It is comprised of the roles of the persecutor, the victim, and the rescuer, all of whom carry out roles and myths that derail progress and community wherever they operate. 

In the persecutor role, an individual falls into blaming, manipulating, controlling, and judgmental behaviors. Their myths are "I'm okay, you're not okay," and "I can make you feel bad emotionally." 

The behaviors in the Victim role are withdrawing, being needy, and complaining without doing anything. They believe, "you can make me feel good emotionally," and "you can make me feel bad emotionally." 

On the Rescuer side of the triangle we find unsolicited advice, meddling, and people who do the jobs of others. Their myth is, "I can make you feel good emotionally."

It is very easy to get caught up in this triangle, especially when circumstances or other people invite you in. The trouble is, "when you act outside the realm of your best character, you lose power over yourself." The good news is there is an alternative triangle called the "Compassion Triangle" where your concerns, and the concerns of others can be vocalized and heard in an open and meaningful way. "compassion means 'to struggle with,'" the authors state, and it is in this struggle with your community that moves you into open dialogue, problem solving, and conflict resolution. [Concepts we work on with some of our team building programs.]

In the compassion Triangle, the three roles of the Drama Triangle are invited to take on new roles that drive the community towards growth. Here the alternative of the victim is "Openness," and is characterized by "transparency, honesty, assertiveness, and the willingness to risk trusting another person." The Open person knows "my OK-ness is not dependent on another's response." 

Persistence becomes the alternative for the persecutor. They work to "preserve the dignity and respect of all parties," and are characterized by "the willingness to stick with someone or something rather than attack, abandon, or blame." 

Resourcefulness takes the place of the rescuer and is characterized by the use of problem solving and empowering others. 

In the drama triangle communities and individuals often find themselves in tunnel vision rather than seeing other perspectives, looking for justification rather than finding ways of being effective, and being delusional rather than being in touch with reality. 

In the chapter titled "Expectations: The Double Edged Sword," the authors point out that the expectations can be used in the content and the process, and that knowing the difference can keep you from derailing the motivation of yourself and others. It is by understanding the motivational needs of self and others that allows someone to create expectations that motivate people.

As a basic example, Nate tells the story of his son who decides he wants to play basketball. Nate, being motivated by conviction felt that the way to motivate his son was to practice every day and shoot certain amounts of shots from different places on the floor, and to run drills. His son, on the other hand was driven by contact. He wanted to play a sport to have fun and to interact with his peers in a sporting environment. When Nate began trying to motivate his son, the son started losing interest because it was no longer meeting his needs, but rather Nate's expectations. When Nate begins just playing basketball with his son, his sons motivation returns. In the Drama Triangle, the relationship between the two became strained, but when Nate was able to step into the compassion triangle, he was able to see the situation from a different perspective and work with his son to develop interactions that worked for them both. ​

Note From Chris: 
I hope Floyd's brief synopsis of Beyond Drama inspires some of you to pick up the book and dive in. For me it's information I can use and share with groups whose members might be showing the behaviors involved in the Drama Triangle. Of course, it will depend on the type of program you are leading, so use your new-found information with care. 

Please let us know if you dive in and how you use what you've learned. Leave us a comment below. Also, if you have knowledge of a good book that we should know about, send in a review - I love sharing!! 

All the best, 

Chris Cavert, Ed.D. 

I liked the idea of taking an assessment (included in the purchase of the book) to measure my "EQ" (emotional intelligence) and the material in the book that helped guide me towards strengthening my weaker areas - I had something specific to improve and knew I had specific strengths I could speak to when talking about EQ. The material wasn't overwhelming so it was easy to recommend to anyone interested in the topic and who doesn't like taking an assessment to see where they fall on the scales? 

Leadership 2.0 (2012) is the latest by Bradberry & Greaves (get your copy HERE). After extensive research the authors identified 22 Core and Adaptive Leadership Skills found in exceptional leaders from a large cross section of industries around the globe. And, like the Emotional Intelligence 2.0 publication, Leadership 2.0 also has a self assessment that will give you a score for each of the 22 leadership skills the authors discovered in exceptional leaders. (Note: The authors do point out the limitations of the self assessment because the results only show one perspective and not the perspective of those the assessment taker leads. There is, of course, a more comprehensive assessment, but it'll cost you!)

The authors found through their research 10 core leadership skills that are the "foundation of effective leadership" and 12 adaptive leadership skills that "represent the otherwise intangible qualities that great leaders have in common." Among these adaptive leadership skills are the emotional intelligence aspects of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management (all of which are detailed in the book Emotional Intelligence 2.0). 

How is this read helping me as an adventure educator? In a majority of the programs I facilitate, leadership development is one of the goals my groups like to work on. I'm finding the language in Leadership 2.0 fits into my program style of working on the skills and abilities of particular concepts (like leadership) with my groups. First we seek to understand what is needed in a particular area (e.g., being a leader) and then we spend some time practicing (through experiential activities) the specific skills. 

Since working through Leadership 2.0 I've been able to reference current research findings related to leadership and be more specific with my groups about some of the skills we can work on through adventure activities. Some of the core skills we can practice include planning, courage to lead, decision making, communication, risk taking and results focused skills. Some of the adaptive leadership skills we can work on together include self-awareness, self-management, relationship management, integrity, information sharing, and outcome concern. 

I have also taken the opportunity to recommend the book to a wide range of clients as a way to front load our work together. Many have used the book with their leadership teams, taken the assessment and shared their results with me so I could specifically focus the program activities that can touch on certain skill development areas they wanted to work on. 

If you are a leader within your organization and/or work with leaders from other organizations I highly recommend Leadership 2.0. It's a skill-based practical guide to effective leadership in todays ever-changing work environment.

​(Disclaimer - I have not been paid for sharing this information with you! And, I don't get any royalties for any Leadership 2.0 book sales. But then again, maybe there's a revenue stream here......?)

What are your go-to leadership development resources? Share them with us in the comments below! I'd love to hear from you. 

All the best, 

​Chris Cavert, Ed.D.

(This post was updated on March 7th, 2021)

Ever since my first workshop with Jim Cain (I have to say, "back in the day") I've been growing my collecting of ponderables for The Big Question ice breaker. I just love talking to people, asking them questions and getting to learn more about what they think. I still remember thinking how good Jim's questions were - they really got us talking.

At the time of this (original) post, Jim launched his back-pocket book, the International Edition of Teamwork & Teamplay. It includes (in it's 4.5 by 6 inch portable size), 50 "team" activities that are each briefly described in 16 different languages and then detailed out in English. Included in this collect is, The Big Question (the reason for my trip down memory lane).

Find your copy today on Amazon. In this new book Jim references his Teamwork & Teamplay Cards. With this oversized deck of cards you can run over a dozen activities - Jim's collection of 52 BIG questions are included on the faces of the cards. (And, you guessed it, you can use T&T Cards as a standard deck of playing cards. To those of you on the FUN Followers list, Box Cards from FUNdoing Fridays (April 8th) is enhanced with the oversized cards.) Find your Teamwork & Teamplay Cards here.

Below are some of Jim's questions (from his new book) and some of mine that I've used (collected) over the years. Of course, you can create your own Big Questions related to what you think your team would benefit from talking through. 

PLAY: I simply ask my participants to stand back-to-back with someone else. When everyone is paired up I ask everyone to turn around and say hello to their partner. Then, I shout out a BIG Question from my list and ask everyone to share their answers with their partners. After sufficient time I call out, "Back-to-back with someone new!" When everyone is paired up again I repeat the process. Usually six or seven questions keeps the interest going. Then it's off to the next activity...

Questions from Jim: 

• What inspires you?
• What makes you laugh? 
• What is the most interesting thing you have ever found? 
• When was the last time you were really surprised - what's the story? 
• If the day was 25 hours long, what would you do with the extra hour?
• What is the weirdest thing you have ever eaten? 
• What is something you've lost and then found again? 
• Describe a kind thing you've done for someone else. 
• Name three things for which you are thankful. 
• Describe something you have done to make the world a better place. 

Questions from Chris: 

• When you think about tomorrow, what comes to mind? 
• What do you think is the most exciting invention in your lifetime? 
• What, and where, would you plant, if you could plant, any plant? 
• When your get up and go has gone up and went, where does it go? 
• If the world goes back to the barter system, with what will you barter? 
• Why does everything slow down when you are in a hurry? 
• If you had a super-power, what would it be - what's the story? 
• If you had a magic carpet for a day, where would you go? 
• Choose any living person to have lunch with - why did you choose this person?
• Who is one of your heroes? How did this person get to be a hero to you?  

Make the Questions Mobile Take a screen capture of these questions and send it to your mobile device, then crop the questions out and have them close by for easy access.

What are your favorite questions to ask participants? Share them with us in the Comments below. 

Have FUN out there. 

Chris Cavert, Ed.D.

I ran across a recent Edutopia sponsored Social and Emotional Learning blog post from Maurice Elias (a Psychology Professor at Rutgers) entitled “How Are Social-Emotional Learning and the Common Core Connected?” The post is essentially laid out in an interview format – Dr. Elias interviewing Kristin Fink and Karen Geller co-chairs of a group of educators representing the Education Advisory Council of the Character Education Partnership. This esteemed group of people developed and authored a white paper entitled, “Integrating Common Core and Character Education: Why It Is Essential and How It Can Be Done.”

In the blog interview (referring to the White Paper), Miss Fink & Miss Geller make the effort to highlight the vital need to, “explicitly address the quality of the learning environment or the culture of respect, responsibility, and excellence that must be in place for optimal student learning.” If the demands of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are to be successful in schools they believe that “conversations [about Common Core] must include a sustained focus on character education, social-emotional learning, and positive school climate.”   

What does this have to do with adventure education? Essentially what I’m suggesting here is that, if you are working at, or with, a school aiming towards CCSS, dive into this White Paper to find supportive connects between your adventure education program and the suggested recommendations.

Here are just a few connections I found – things we tend to focus on in our adventure education programs (there are lots more!!):

We [i.e., teachers, administrators, parents] “want every child’s school to be a place where students and adults are caring and responsible, and committed to a learning community which values and supports everyone.” (p. 1)

“The Common Core…requires young people to develop the stamina to dig into challenging work.” 
(p. 3)

Three Ways to Strengthen Common Core (pp. 3-4)

• Needed: A specific Focus on Educating for Democracy
• Needed: A Specific focus on Teaching Moral and Performance Character, and Social-Emotional Skills for Students to Be College, Career and Civic Ready
• Needed: An Expectation of Intentional Planning to Develop a Safe and Caring School Culture…
  

Connections to a few of the Common Core Toolkit prosocial interdisciplinary themes (p. 8). The Toolkit is a Guide to Aligning the Common Core Standards with the Framework for 21st Century Skills:

• Collaborate with Others 
• Flexibility and Adaptability 
• Work Effectively With Diverse Teams
• Leadership and Responsibility
  

Let me know how this White Paper supports/helps your adventure education efforts!!

All the best, 

Chris Cavert

Pick up the new NO PROP ACTIVITIES book from Jim Cain - another great resource from my good friend and award winning author. Find it at the Training Wheels Online Store. (At the time of this post, the book is On Sale Now at Training Wheels.) Jim has packed "123 Powerful & Practical Activities with No Equipment Required" in a 5 by 6 inch travel size goldmine. Here are a few of my favorites so far:

The Story Of Your Name: Sit with a small group of people and share with them the origin or significance of your name - first, middle or last, or any combination of the three. I like to add that if there is no "historical" connection to a name share a story from the past related to the name. 

Longest Line: Simply put, "using only the resources currently available to the members of each small group (I create groups of 6 to 8 people), construct the longest continuous line from one location towards another." As Jim says, this activity "encourages problem solving, resource management, and team commitment." (In some cases I have actually had to limit the "commitment" in order to keep people appropriately clothed!!)