Exercise: 1-2-3-4

Useful for:Loosening-up, concentration, laughter, team work.

Time: 15 to 20 minutes

Group size: 10 to 15 participants

Materials: None

Guide: This exercise is a repetition of 4 movements:

1. Touch your head with both hands
2. Touch your shoulders with both hands
3. Touch your hips with both hands
4. Slap your right foot with your right hand

Participants would need to repeat this 10 times, in the following way:

• First, participants would need to say ‘1,2,3,4’ (with no movements). Participants repeat this rhythm twice.
• Second, participants touch their head on 1 but do not say 1 and say ‘2,3,4’. Participants repeat this rhythm twice.
• Third, participants touch their head on 1, touch their shoulders on 2, but do not say 1 or 2 and say ‘3,4’. Participants repeat this rhythm twice.
• Fourth, participants touch their head on 1, touch their shoulders on 2, touch their hips on 3 but do not say 1,2,3 and say ‘4’. Participants repeat this rhythm twice.
• Fifth, participants touch their head on 1, touch their shoulders on 2, touch their hips on 3 and slap their right foot with their right hand on 4 but do not say anything. Participants repeat this rhythm twice.

On completion of the last step, participants start all over again by saying ‘1,2,3,4’ twice and increase the tempo of the exercise.

Exercise: Ali Baba and the 40 Robbers

Useful for:Fun, laughter, concentration, team work.

Time: 10 to 15 minutes

Group size: 10 to 15 participants

Materials: None

Guide: Ask participants to form a circle and inform them that you would all be establishing a rhythm by saying all together ‘Ali Baba and the 40 Robbers’. Keep repeating this. One participant in the circle starts making a gesture to this rhythm, example, tapping his/her head to the left hand. When the sentence is repeated, the next participant on the left takes over this gesture, while the first participant starts a completely different and new gesture. The third time the sentence is repeated, the third participant does the first gesture, the second participant does the second gesture and the first participant invents a new one again. The game continues to cover all participants in the circle and stops with the first participant copying the last participants gesture.

Remember, this is also a concentration game and the trick is that one has to watch the previous participant and take over the gesture every time the sentence is repeated. But if you watch what everyone else is doing then you would get lost. If participants get confused they would have to start the exercise all over again.

Exercise: Alien, Tiger, Cow

Useful for:Laughter, energizing, team-work.

Time: 10 to 15 minutes

Group size: 10 to 15 participants

Materials: None

Guide: Ask participants to form a circle. There are 3 things a participant can be:

• An alien: the participant would need to hold up both index fingers to his/her head, as little antenna’s and say ‘Bleeb bleeb’, bending inwards into the circle
• A cow: the participant would need to bend forward, hold his/her right hand on the tummy and go ‘Moooo’
• A tiger: the participant would need to push his/her right hand forward, imitating a claw and ‘roar’.

On your sign every participant decides to become one of the three things. The idea is for everyone to become the same thing. The group would re-do this until everyone is in sync.

Remember, everyone may not get it in one go, so keep redoing the exercise till everyone is in sync. You could add variations to the exercise by inventing your own animals or things. Keep changing the things if everyone gets it in one go. Play majority wins, while the minority drops out and so on. Do not tell the participants that the trick is for everyone to do the same think. If the exercise stretches, add variations to end the exercise or give hints to the participants.

Exercise: The blindfold

Useful for:Fun, laughter, energizing, team work, leadership.

Time: 5 to 10 minutes

Group size: 10 to 15 participants (or more)

Materials: Blindfolds (10 to 15, i.e., one per participant), Mobile phones/ bags/ keys/ shoes/ sandals (any one of the same category of things can be volunteered from the participants)

Guide: Each participant puts on a blindfold and gives his/her Mobile (or any other object that all participants have in common) to the facilitator. The facilitator then keeps the same objects on the table and then jumbles them all and shouts ‘GO!’. The blindfolded participants would need to try and locate their own object. The first participant to find his/her object by touch will be announced as the winner.

Remember request participants if they would be comfortable with wearing a blind fold. Participants who remove the blind fold on locating an object, however only to find that it is not their object would need to place the object back on the table and step out of the exercise to watch and cheer other participants on.

Exercise: The circle of confusion

Useful for:Team work, fun, physical exercise, leadership, supervision.

Time: 10 to 15 minutes

Group size: 10 to 15 participants (for very large group sizes divide the participants into two groups)

Materials: None

Guide: Ask participants to stand in any direction next to another participant while crossing their arms in front of them or behind them. Ask participants to hold the participant’s hand next to them on either side to ultimately form a circle. The idea is for the participants to untangle the knots so that everyone’s arms are no longer crossed.

Remember, this is a lot of fun and you could motivate the participants as they do this. The idea is for the group to work as a team to undo the knots and reflect on this process post the exercise. There are no winners or losers whether the knots are undone or not, it is all about how the team works together.

Exercise: Laces

Useful for:Team work, communication, helping.

Time: 5 to 10 minutes

Group size: Any group size preferably even numbers

Materials: Participants own shoes with laces or shoe laces equal to the number of participants

Guide: Divide all participants into pairs of two. Provide participants with shoe laces to tie once around their ankle. Ask each participant to keep one hand behind their back and one of the shoe laces untied. The pairs have to complete tying each of their shoe laces.

Remember tying a shoe lace may be a simple task but it’s hard and takes a lot of communicating between the two participants to tie a shoe lace together. You could add variations to the communication medium used to make it more fun or even repeat the exercise by repairing participants and changing the rules.

Exercise: Tangles and untangles

Useful for:Team work, communication, supervision, team-roles, team-bonding.

Time:15 minutes

Group size: 10 to 15 participants (if you find the group size very large then split them into two groups)

Materials: A cotton rope of 10 to 20 meters

Guide: Take a long tangled up rope and toss it in the middle of the room. Ask participants to stand around the tangled rope in a circle. Have each of the participants to grab a spot on the rope and pick it up. As a group the participants would need to work together to untangle the rope without letting go of it. Any participant forced to let go of the tangled rope is out of the group, and can help direct the others.

Remember to tangle the rope enough before placing it in the midst of the participants. This requires good team work and gets participants loosened up and laughing and is a good bonding exercise. You could add variations to the communication medium to make it more interesting.

Exercise: Balloon Tower

Useful for:Team building, fun, leadership.

Time:10 to 15 minutes (or less)

Group size: For large group sizes 15 to 30 or more

Materials: 20 deflated balloons per person and plenty of clear tape, thread, scissors, stopwatch, and tape measure

Guide: Separate players into, preferably 3 or more teams of about 3-10 participants each. Provide each team a pile of uninflated balloons and a few rolls of clear tape. Instruct the teams that they are to build the largest free-standing balloon tower possible in a certain amount of time. Give no further restrictions on the game. Start the clock, and everyone begins building the towers. When time is called, look at the towers (measure if necessary) and declare whose tower is tallest.

Remember, this is a great exercise both for teambuilding and just for fun. If at a leadership retreat, you can go on in detail about what went well and what didn't, and shock (and slightly annoy) the players by suggesting that it would not have been against the rules to combine resources with each other to make a much taller tower. Note on location: Be advised that carpet works quite well, but surfaces like concrete tend to pop the balloons. Experiment ahead of time to make sure the surface is satisfactory.

Exercise: Story whispers

Useful for:Communication mediums, laughter.

Time:10 to 15 minutes

Group size: 10 to 15 participants

Materials: A sheet of paper and writing material

Guide: On a piece of paper have one participant from the group go outside the room and write a story of about one paragraph of 3-4 sentences (this can be done before the meeting with the group). Be sure that the paragraph has at least 3 different topics and 3 different names involved, example, a Hollywood star, something in local news and something in world news. Once the story is written take the participant who is sitting directly next to the participant who has written the story and have that participant read the story to him/herself. Next ask that participant to retell the story to another participant without letting it reach anyone else’s ears or eyes. The story thus passes around the table until it reaches the last participant. The last participant must then recite what they have heard to the entire group. Then the first participant who had written the story has to read the story that they wrote originally.

Remember, this is sure to get everyone laughing and sure to make it clear how important direct communication methods are

Exercise: We’ve got some of our senses

Useful for:Communication, team-work, team-bonding, leadership and follower importance.

Time:15 to 20 minutes

Group size: 10 to 15 participants

Materials: A blind fold, a stopwatch, a whistle and an object

Guide: Divide participants into groups. Ask the groups to nominate two participants. Inform the pairs that one participant is to volunteer to be blindfolded while the other participant is to volunteer to direct the blindfolded participant to an object placed in the room. The catch is that the participant directing the blind folded participant is not allowed to use any form of normal verbal communication such as known languages and no group is allowed to copy another group’s chosen mode of communication. Teams are also not allowed to discuss strategies beforehand.

Blindfold one participant, place the second participant behind the blind folded participant, ask them if they are ready and blow the whistle and place the object somewhere in the room. Time each group for 2 minutes using the stopwatch. When the time is up blow the whistle. Let each group do the task, all other team members act as onlookers. Discuss their understanding of the exercise at the end.

Remember, it is a fast paced exercise which is a lot of fun. Keep the nominated two participants from each group in separate locations to avoid preplanning before their turn. Teams can help directing or distract the two players on their turn, but do not share this, hint it if you feel the need to let the participants get the idea. During the discussion irritate the team members for not thinking of a way to help their team mates when they were performing.

Exercise: Paper art jigsaw

Useful for: Communication, team-building, supervision.

Time: 20 to 30 minutes

Group size: 14 to 21

Materials: 2 sheets of paper (per participant), scissors (one per participant), facilitator instructions (one per group) and a stopwatch

Guide: Divide the participants into groups of 7 each (preferably a minimum of 3 groups with a minimum of 4 participants and a maximum of 7 participants in each group). And, ask them to nominate one member of their group for facilitation. Guide groups to separate corners of the room (preferably provide each group with a table and 7 chairs around the table) where they sit around in silence. Provide each member of the group 2 sheets of paper and a pair of scissors, excluding the group facilitators.

Provide the facilitators with the instructions to be shared with the groups and ask them to read it before sharing it with their respective group members. Then the facilitators instruct their respective groups to cut the papers into three or four or more pieces as creatively as possible. Provide the groups 2 minutes on the stopwatch to complete this task. As the groups perform the activity the facilitators role is only to be a silent observer. After the task is completed, the facilitators take the pieces of paper from each member of the group and shuffle up the pieces really well. The facilitator then randomly distributes the cut pieces of paper among each of the group members. The facilitators then instruct the group members that they are to put the pieces of papers into full squares or rectangles depending on the shape of the original paper provided to the participants without verbal or non-verbal communication amongst them. The facilitator is free to monitor and correct group members in case any verbal or non-verbal communication takes place. Provide the groups with 15 minutes on the stopwatch to complete this task (you could extend or shorten this time in case you wish). Once the time is up, see how many of the groups have completed their task and how many haven’t. Discuss the outcomes with the participants.

Remember, the key to this activity is that participants cannot communicate verbally or non-verbally, but let the participants figure out that they can take the initiative to help another group member or take another piece from another member for them to successfully complete the task as an individual and as a team. This exercise can be used both for communication and team building.

Exercise: Circle of balls

Useful for: Communication, team-building.

Time: 15 minutes

Group size: 20 or more participants

Materials: 10 rubber balls and facilitators instructions

Guide:Divide the participants into two equal groups. Ask each group to nominate a facilitator for each of their groups. Provide the two facilitators with the instructions. The facilitators of the group introduce a rubber ball to the group. The task of the group members is to pass the ball before which they have to call out the names of the group member. This process is continued till each member has a chance to catch and throw the ball and all participants are familiar with the task. Once the members are familiar with the task the facilitator introduces a second ball and continues the same process. After which the facilitator introduces a third ball and continues the process. (If you wish you could ask the facilitators to introduce a fourth and fifth ball and even increase the pace to make it more exciting and confusing with every ball introduced into the circle). Once the third ball is introduced and the process is done, the facilitators ask their respective groups to reverse the order of the three balls and complete the same process. Once the process is complete, have a group discussion to see what the participants reactions were.

Remember, the participants are supposed to remember the order in which they are throwing the ball. This exercise is done well when group members know each others’ names. This exercise can be used for both communication and team building.

Exercise: A lot like dumb charades

Useful for: Verbal and non-verbal communication.

Time: 20 minutes

Group size: 15 participants or more

Materials: 1Facilitator instructions

Guide:Divide the participants into groups 3 equal groups to represent verbal communication, non-verbal communication, and verbal and non-verbal communication, respectively. Ask the groups to nominate a facilitator for each of their groups, respectively. Provide the facilitators with the facilitation instructions.

Ask each of the groups to go to different locations of the room so that they are not audible to each other. Then each of the respective group facilitators have to take their groups through 3 rounds of a game.

The task is for each of the groups is to find out the names of the 3 movies that their facilitator has in mind. The facilitator for the verbal communication group provides clues to the three movies using verbal communication, the facilitator for the non-verbal communication group provides clues to the three movies using non-verbal communication, and the facilitator for the verbal and non-verbal communication group provides clues to the three movies using both verbal and non-verbal communication. Time the three groups to see who takes the most time and discuss the outcomes.

Examples of the types of cues provided for each of the groups is given below:

• The verbal communication group is given only verbal cues. For the movie ‘Price of Tides’ the verbal cues given can be royalty, waves etc.
• The non-verbal communication group is given only non-verbal cues. For the movie ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ the facilitator enacts sounds or actions like, cuckoo, bird flying etc.
• The verbal and non-verbal communication is given a combination of both verbal and non-verbal cues. For the movie ‘You’ve Got Mail’ the verbal cue given can be computer and the non-verbal cue given can be typing.

Remember, if you are giving the same three movies to each of the groups to work on then the groups should not be in hearing distance of each other. Alternatively provide each of the groups three different movies to work on but remember to keep the difficulty level the same.