09.03.2020
Team building activities
Stefan, Ed, Ho, Liam, Leo, Haron, Manuel and I were responsible for the last Monday with the Norwegian’s. We had the task to organise group building activities for the entire course. We started by collecting different game ideas in our WhatsApp group. We know a lot of games because we already played some in one of our normal lectures. After we had enough ideas together, Ed created a timetable:
- 9:15 Meeting at Spicheren and walk to the meadow next to it
- 9:30 Warm up games
- 9:45 1 Round main games, split into groups (even number of Norwegians/Internationals)
- 10:45 Break
- 11:15 2 Round main games
- 12:15 Break
- 12:30 Big group game
- 13:00 Meeting / reflection
Since we were enough organizers, it was possible for us to make multiple stations. We decided that we split up the course in groups of approximately 5-10 people to make it easier to play the games. We wanted to split all students in four groups, so every group plays a game for 15 minutes.
The games we decided to play were:
1 Round
- Stepping stones
- High rope
- Spider web
- Shrinking Island
2 Round
- 3 Monkeys
- Bomb
- Helium stick
- Human knot
After we played snake as a warmup game, we simply divided the groups by letting the students count to four.
Haron and I were the supervisors for the games stepping stones and 3 monkeys. The material we needed was only plastic bags, they were easy to organise.
In the first round we played stepping stones which is a simple game were the entire group has to start at point A and needs to go to point B by stepping on plastic bags (or other materials) without touching the ground. We stopped their time of the first run, then we challenged them to think about what they can do better and try to beat their time. We also changed some rules for example we made it more difficult by taking away one plastic bag. If the group was fast and made every challenge we played a game called Ninja to fill the time until the other groups were finished playing their games. After the groups rotated four times and they played every game we had a break.
The second round was basically the same, but this time with a different game. We played 3 Monkeys on our station. The game works best with six people. Haron and me prepared a playing field and spread out the plastic bags. Only one of the group members can see the playing field, he must give hand signals without speaking to the second member. The second member must direct the third member, who has his eyes blindfolded, by shouting, to the plastic bags. We let the groups play 3 against 3, the team that collects the most bags wins. We switched the roles of the group members after every round.
This round, the games took more time than before, so we cancelled the last big game that we had planned as a buffer if we were to quick.
We ended the Monday by having a quick reflection. The feedback was mostly positive, according to some students a few games were a bit boring but all in all it was a good session.