Helium Stick Instructions Line up team in two rows which face each other. Introduce the Helium Stick - a long, thin, light rod. Ask participants to point their index fingers and hold their arms out. Lay the Helium Stick down on their fingers. Before you let go, get the group to adjust their finger heights until the Helium Stick is horizontal and everyone's index fingers are touching the stick. Explain that the challenge is to lower the Helium Stick to the ground. The catch: Each person's fingers must be in contact with the Helium Stick at all times. Pinching or grabbing the pole in not allowed - it must rest on top of fingers. Reiterate to the group that if anyone's finger is caught not touching the Helium Stick, the task will be restarted. Let the task begin.... Warning: Particularly in the early stages, the Helium Stick has a habit of mysteriously floating up rather than coming down, causing much laughter. A bit of clever humoring can help - e.g., act surprised and ask what are they doing raising the Helium Stick instead of lowering it! Often times the Helium Stick rises first For added drama, jump up and pull it down! Participants may be confused initially about the paradoxical behavior of the Helium Stick. The secret (keep it to yourself) is that the collective upwards pressure tends to be greater than the weight of the stick. Often the more a group tries, the more it floats. Some groups or individuals (most often larger size groups) after 5 to 10 minutes of trying may be inclined to give up, believing it not to be possible or that it is too hard. The facilitator can offer direct suggestions or suggest the group stops the task, discusses their strategy, and then has another go. Less often, a group may appear to be succeeding too fast. In response, be particularly vigilant about fingers not touching the pole. Also make sure participants lower the pole all the way onto the ground. You can add further difficulty by adding a large washer to each end of the stick and explain that the washers should not fall off during the exercise, otherwise its a restart. Eventually the group needs to calm down, concentrate, and very slowly, patiently lower the Helium Stick - easier said than done. Hole in Many Another simple, fun game that gets the entire team involved in something physical. Essentially, the team has to balance a tennis ball on a tarpaulin with holes cut into it randomly. Being good at this game requires the entire team to coordinate and work together. Number of participants: 8-24 people Duration: 30 minutes Objective: Learn teamwork How to play 1. Grab a piece of tarpaulin and a few tennis balls. Cut a hole randomly into the tarp. 2. Divide the group into equally sized teams of 4-8 people. 3. Ask each team to hold the tarp stretched out between them. 4. Drop a ball onto the tarp. The team has to hold the tarp as long as possible without the tennis falling through the hole. 5. The team that holds the tarp for the longest time wins. 6. If a single hole is too easy, cut more holes into the tarp. You can also grab additional tarps and get all teams to do this activity at the same time, timing their performance along the way. Strategy While there is something to learn from this team building activity - physical and verbal cooperation - it's best suited for getting people involved at the start of an event. It's fun for everyone and simple enough that anyone can play it, regardless of age or fitness level. Sneak-a-Peak In this building-focused game, teams have to create a copy of a pre-built structure based on a "sneak peak". Teams will have to value teamwork, communication and problem solving to succeed. Plus, it involves Legos. And who doesn't love Legos? Number of participants: 4-20 people divided into two teams. Duration: 30 minutes Objective: Focus on teamwork and communication How to play 1. Use Lego pieces to create a structure - something that is complex yet possible to replicate. Make sure that you have enough remaining Lego pieces to make two similar copies of the structure. Also make sure that no one can see the structure (ideally, place it in a separate room). 2. Divide the players into two teams. 3. One player from each team can look at the structure for 10 seconds. After this, the player has to return to his/her team and instruct them on how to build the structure for 25 seconds. 4. Each team takes 1 minute to build the structure as per the instructions. After a minute, another player can take a "sneak peak" at the structure for 10 seconds and relay the instructions for 25 seconds. 5. This process continues until everyone in the team has had a chance to look at the structure. 6. The team that builds the structure first, wins. Strategy To be successful at this team building activity, teams have to communicate really well. Each player who looks at the structure has to relay instructions clearly to his teammates. Teams also have to have some standards for consistency in instructions for a successful build. Without a clear Strategy and sound communication, teams will struggle at this game.