Circle the Circle was one of the first team building activities I learned way back in the day. The basic idea: The group circles up and holds hands. I Hula-Hoop (or two) is placed over the top of a pair of hands (after you ask the two to let go of each other for a moment, and then re-grasp). Then, the (timed or not) challenge is to move the Hoop around the circle without any of the hand links coming apart. Sometimes I change this activity up by using webbing circles (of a variety of sizes) instead of Hoops. And, how about moving a small PVC Cube around a group of hand-holding participants!!
Recently one of my Adventure Education Curriculum Design students (that's him in the picture) spontaneously came up with this variation when he discovered his group of fourth graders were struggling to stay focused with this one. He tied a hoop into a circle of webbing. Then he asked all his fourth graders to grab hold of the webbing. "Without letting go of the webbing," he said, "let's see if we can get this hoop all the way around the circle back to the beginning." Awesome! He said there was 100% turn-around in engagement!
Of course after I saw this my mind went to "what else!!" I'm thinking about tying in a bunch of other things into the webbing - maybe something between each pair (e.g., webbing circles, screaming monkeys, deck rings, a bucket of water!!). Some things will have to travel in one direction. Other things have to go the other way. In the end, everything has to travel 360 degrees (around or not??) the webbing.
Let me know what you come up with!! Potential!!??
All the best,
Chris Cavert
Recently one of my Adventure Education Curriculum Design students (that's him in the picture) spontaneously came up with this variation when he discovered his group of fourth graders were struggling to stay focused with this one. He tied a hoop into a circle of webbing. Then he asked all his fourth graders to grab hold of the webbing. "Without letting go of the webbing," he said, "let's see if we can get this hoop all the way around the circle back to the beginning." Awesome! He said there was 100% turn-around in engagement!
Of course after I saw this my mind went to "what else!!" I'm thinking about tying in a bunch of other things into the webbing - maybe something between each pair (e.g., webbing circles, screaming monkeys, deck rings, a bucket of water!!). Some things will have to travel in one direction. Other things have to go the other way. In the end, everything has to travel 360 degrees (around or not??) the webbing.
Let me know what you come up with!! Potential!!??
All the best,
Chris Cavert
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