Picking Teams
Are you tired of picking teams by the
1–2–1–2 method, or using squads?
Try these ideas if you are looking for something new.
APPLES/PEACHES/PEARS AND PLUMS
Have the students get into groups of 4. In the groups of 4 decide who is an
apple, peach, pear and plum (or you can use Colours)
SHOE LACES
Divide students according to whether they have flat laces or round laces in
their running shoes.
CROSSED ARMS
Have students cross their arms. Divide the class according to whether they
have their right arm or left arm on top.
PARTNERS
Students get into partners (usually their best friend) then split the partners
(one on each team). Once you think they know your trick, form teams by not
splitting the partners. Keep the students guessing!
MINGLE MINGLE
Students walk around mingling among each other. Quickly call out a number.
Students must quickly get in group sizes according to the number called. Do a
few practice runs. Then split the class into the required number of teams, ie.,
if you have 28 students, you would call out 7 if you want 4 teams.
FIRST STUDENTS IN
Using a circle on the floor, endwall or yourself, divide the class into teams by
using the first students to reach the area or yourself as one team, ie., if I had a
class of 28, the first 14 students to touch the foul shooting line are team one.
CHAIN REACTION
Designate one student to start. You ask the selected student who they would
like to wear a “pinnie”. The student chosen to wear the pinnie, puts a pinnie
on, then she/he would select someone to wear a pinnie and so on until you
have your required team size. By the way, the selected student at the start
usually gets picked to wear a pinnie through revenge!
PSYCHIC HANDSHAKE
Students think of a number in their head (1,2,3,4). Using only handshakes
students try to find other students who have the same number. In the end,
you usually end up with almost equal groups of students.
LETTERS IN YOUR NAME
Select a student to start. The selected student choose a letter in their name, ie.,
selected student Ann—Ann can choose Nancy but not Kelly. Continue until
you have the required number of students for a team.
BIRTHDATES
Divide students according to the month they were born in. You may have to
balance a bit.
Source: Jennifer Jacques—The Woodlands School