Author: David Priestley

The team is presented with the challenge of organising a stack of tyres in a set order but on a different post. There are a total of three posts and five tyres, moving just one tyre at a time, transfer the tyres from the post they are currently on to another set post. The group cannot put a larger tyre on a smaller tyre and they stack of tyres must look the same as they do to begin with. Equipment Required: 3 posts and five tyres (you can use alternatives if you which to deliver indoors and on a smaller scale).…

Divide your group into two teams who sit on opposite sides of the room; each team member is numbered. At each end of the room there is a goal (can be two chairs and a table). In the centre is a balloon and two hockey sticks made up of rolled-up newspaper. The leader shouts a number and that numbered player from each side runs up, picks up a stick and tries to propel the balloon through the opponents goal. After a goal, or at any time during play, the leader can shout another number; the current players immediately drop their sticks…

Two chairs are placed opposite each other and about five metres apart in the middle of the circle of viewers. Two people are chosen from the group to be JOCKEYS  and they sit on the chairs. Both are blindfolded. Six or seven shoes are placed around the floor near the chairs. When told to begin, the jockeys must hunt for the ‘horse shoes’ and put them on the legs of their ‘horses’ (the chairs). The jockey to to have shoes on all four legs is declared the winner. Only one shoe can be carried at a time Either player may…

Organise the group into two or three separate teams (depending on the size of the group – the larger the better!) and get them to sit in a line facing forwards. In front of them place a pile of clothes  (make these as wacky as possible). The object of the game is that each person must dress up in the clothes and then run to the post or cone, then hop back, undress and tag the next person in to do the same. The team that has all team members complete this and sits down, wins the challenge.

Get the participants to stand in a spaced circle facing inwards, all except one person who is ‘on’. The ‘on’ player walks around the outside of the circle, at any time they can touch another person on the back – once they do the race is on and they have to run around the circle in opposite directions to return to the gap left. The participant that fails to reach the gap first becomes the ‘on’.

Get your group to sit in a circle. In the middle of the circle there is: a Mars bar (or any other chocolate bar), knife, fork, hat, scarf, coat, shirt and trousers. You will also need a large dice. Each person in the group has a turn at rolling the dice. Every time someone in the group rolls a six, they must run into the middle, put on all the clothes, pick up the knife and fork and cut open the Mars bar – they continue to eat it  (each piece being no longer than 1cm) until someone else in…

Select a volunteer to be blindfolded and sit them on a chair in the middle of a circle with an item located under the chair. The objective of the game is for someone in the group to capture the treasure from the blindfolded participant without them noticing. Get the group running around in a circle to begin with and then point to someone in the group to move as silently as possible and try to capture the treasure – if the blindfolded participant points in their direction, they are then out of the game. If they retrieve the treasure they switch…

Similar to wink murder but the chosen person starts an action which everyone in the circle must copy. They could change this action regularly. The detective has three guesses to identify who is leading the action.

A fun and energetic game for younger children. The leader shouts commands in which the group have to action as quickly as possible – the last person to complete the action is out of the game. To play the game, name four sides of the room bow (front of the room), stern (back of the room), starboard (right side) and port (left side). The leader shouts these commands out in any order and the group have to run to side called out. If you say, “man the lifeboats”, everyone must sit on the floor. Other commands that can be used…

This game is aimed at young children and involves a lot of cooperation and group togetherness. Divide the group into three smaller teams. Explain that they are going to create a rainstorm by making four simple sounds in a round. The sounds are as follows: Drizzle – gently rub your palms together to produce a whispering noise Light rain – move your hands up and down in opposite directions, with the palms brushing against each other, as if you are brushing sand off the palms. Heavy rain – clap your hands together. Hail – cup your palms and clap them against your…

This activity will help to set the ground rules for the rest of the learning. It will give participants the chance to consider the conditions they and others need to learn effectively. Organise the group into smaller sub-groups. Ask each group to spend five to ten minutes collecting as many ideas as possible for the sort of ground rules they would like to have in order to be successful with their learning. At this point do not reject any ideas or judge them, just collect them. Now spend five minutes sorting through the ideas, putting similar ones together, and selecting your top five. You may…

This activity is a cross between photo scavenger hunt and orienteering. Teams are given a selection of photos of different items/places located in the area. Working as team, they must work together to locate these items and write down where they found them. Once they have found all the photos, they return back to the instructor to confirm whether they are right. The team with the most correct locations wins the challenge. A simple yet fun way to promote teamwork and bonding. If working in a large area use a map with coordinates. Equipment Required: Photo sets of different items…