Theme

Teamwork

Age Range

7-18

Type

Games

Number of Participants

4+

Timescale

5-10 minutes

Quick overview

Testing their teamwork, the young people must all balance on a gradually shrinking piece of land.

Game type

Focuser/Trust builder

Participants

6-12

Supplies you’ll need

Large A2 piece of paper or something of similar size and foldability e.g. a curtain, blanket or bed sheet.

Game run-through

This game has many variations; here is one such variation.

Lay the sheet on the floor out flat and explain that it is in fact a magic island upon which they all live. Everything else around the ‘island’ is water so to succeed in the challenge they have to all be touching the island while not touching the floor for at least three seconds.

The challenge comes because this island has the unnatural tendency for parts of it to disappear. Depending on size of group and size of the participants, the first round should be rather easy as there should be ample space. If you have a smaller group, you may decide to have folded the sheet in half once already as if there is too much space it takes the challenge out the game.

Once the young people complete a round, congratulate them and instruct them to get off the island.

Next, explain that while they’ve done well, disaster has struck the island and half the island has disappeared; to represent this, fold the sheet in half, leaving only half the space. They must now attempt to repeat the challenge again but this time with only half the space.

Variation

To make the game a challenge, you can give them a time limit to have completed a certain amount of rounds.