Creating community among classmates is an important way to start the year. Team-building activities promote naturally developing appreciation for fairness and individual differences. Team-building lessons are also useful tools at midyear as a reminder of the importance of teamwork and acceptance. Debrief the participants after each activity to discuss what went well, what students can improve upon, and what they learned from the experience.
Human Knot
Split a large group into smaller groups of eight to ten. Each small group forms a circle. Each student reaches across the circle with one hand and takes the hand of another student. Then each student reaches across with the other hand to take the hand of a different student. This creates the human knot. The goal is to untangle the knot so everyone is back in a circle without unclasping hands. Be sure to have someone carefully supervising this to ensure that no one is injured when climbing over or under someone else.
Detective
This activity works with a group of 10 to 50. The group stands in a circle and everyone closes their eyes. The teacher chooses three to 10 people to be the detectives and one person to be the leader. The leader leads the group by making movements, and the group copies as soon as they notice the change. Movements can be obvious like jumping jacks, or subtle like tapping toes. The detectives' task is to figure out who the leader is by identifying the first person who changes the group's movement. The leader needs to change at least every 10 seconds.
Marble Motion
This game works well for groups of five to 30. You need an 8-to-10-inch piece of PVC pipe halved lengthwise for each participant and three marbles for the group. The goal is for the group to get the marble from one point to another using only their pipes. The pipes cannot overlap, and if the marble falls, the group has to start again. Time the group, and once they succeed, challenge them to do it faster.
Tags: reaches across, student reaches, student reaches across