Community

( A wonderful group I used to work with)

So I just got back from an amazing experience at the annual National Challenge Course Practitioners Symposium (NCCPS) the "Un-conference" in Boulder, CO. It is a gathering each year of between 150-190 experiential educators for 3 days. It gets called the "Un-conference" because the entire conference is done in Open Space. It is an amazing process that is truly an organic experience. Tom Leahy who sponsors the event always says that the right people are here and the people who are not there are where they need to be.


The years when I can make it out to Boulder for this event, 4-5 times now, I always come away with a wonderful sense of community. Now, I make it to several conferences and gathering of educators each year, but there is something special about this group of folks. I am sure a large part of it is that we as a group create the entire conference. The only things that are scheduled are the pre and post-conference workshops, and the closing on Saturday afternoon. The entire process of creating an event with 150+ people is a fantastic example of people coming together to create learning in a community.


So, my question to you is, "Do your programs have that feeling?" If yes, why? And if no, why? What do you do for your groups that help create a sense of learning and community. Do your participants leave with a sense of being a better community, and do they feel that they accomplished something? In addition to the groups you work with, how is the community you live and work with? I am asking these questions because on my flight home I spent time reflecting on the groups I have been a part of over the past couple of decades. Some of those groups were a pleasure to be with and I am still in touch with many of the members I connected with. Other groups were not as rewarding to be a part of. I encourage you to examine the groups you are part of, and how do you help the groups that come to you for a program.


Here are a couple of activities for you to work with. Enjoy!


Cycle Tag:

                                                               Original Inspiration:

 Clam Free- New Games Foundation

Overview:

            This icebreaker tag game is played to get participants moving around and playing together. And it presents a very basic example of the food cycle.

Resources:

       You will need an open area where the players can move around easily such as an open field or a gym. You will also need some objects to mark off the boundaries of your playing area.

Outline:

            Gather the group together in a square with no corners in the area you will be playing in. Show them the boundaries that they will be playing in. Then get a volunteer, a participant or another staff, who will be the first Consumer. The Consumer’s task is to try and gently tag the other players who are a rare species of Producer-“running grass” (autotrophus mobilusquickus). If the Consumer tags a Producer, that Producer is frozen in place and has been transformed into Scat!

            Now this Producer/Scat is not out of the game! They can raise a stink by waving their hands and shouting, “Scat! Scat! Scat!” To be able to run around again, two non-frozen Producers must join hands around the Scat and say loudly “ Decompose and break it down!” Then the player is recycled into a new Producer and may continuing playing. If the Consumer manages to tag all the Producers, then the game is over. You can also have multiple Consumers if you have a large group.

Safety:  Make sure people are tagging safely, and that your area is free of obstacles.

Energy Tag                              

                                                 Original Inspiration:

                                                                        Evolution- Karl Rohnke

                                                                        Rock-Paper-Scissors- Universal

Overview:

            This icebreaker tag game is played to get participants moving around and playing together. And it presents a very basic example of the food cycle.

Resources:

       You will need an open area where the players can move around easily such as an open field or a gym. You might also need some objects to mark off the boundaries of your playing area.

Outline:

            Get your group together and tell them they are going to get a chance to move through the food chain in a couple of stages. Everyone starts out as Producers-Grass. As grass, players can either move around on their hands and knees as short prairie grass, or walking around as tall prairie grass. When two “grasses” meet they rock/ paper/ paper/ scissors (RPS) while saying “Grow, grow, grow”. You decide when the players should throw rock/ paper/ or scissors. There is always confusion on when to throw, on three or after three. You choose, or let the group choose.

            Anyway, the winning grass person, then goes up the food chain and becomes a primary consumer, an herbivore. The grass that lost, stays as grass. Then the new herbivore begins moving around as the herbivore of their choice looking for another herbivore. When two herbivores meet they RPS while saying “Munch, munch, munch”.  The winner of the herbivore shoot-out moves up to being a Carnivore/ Omnivore. The loosing herbivore then moves back down to being grass.

            The new carnivore then moves around as any carnivore they wish to be looking for another carnivore. When two carnivores meet, they RPS while saying “Rawr, rawr, rawr! While showing their fierce claws! The winning carnivore then becomes a decomposer. The loosing carnivore slides back down to being an herbivore. The new decomposer moves around as a kind of invertebrate, wiggling and wobbling around.

            When two decomposers meet they play RPS while chanting “Dirt, dirt, dirt!” The winning decomposer then gets to move onto being the Sun. As the Sun, players move around with arms outstretched sending beams of energy to the people who are still Grass. Let the game progress for several minutes then bring the group together and see who is still at each level.

Variation:

       You can change the activity a little by having people all start out as the Sun. When two Suns meet, they play RPS while saying “Energy, energy, energy!” Then the winning Sun moves up to a producer, and the loosing Sun remains a Sun. You can also have players continue playing even when they become a Sun after winning as a decomposer. They continue playing RPS, and then the winning Sun would then become a producer again, starting the whole cycle again.

Safety:

            Make sure that your area is free of obstacles.

Tarp Maze:

I learned this activity from Jim Cain at NCCPS this year.

                                                

Overview:

          A simple activity that uses a tarp with several holes cut in it and the group has to move a ball around the tarp without letting the ball go through the holes.

Resources:

      A golf ball, and a tarp about 9'x9' in size. You can use a bigger tarp if you want to.

Outline:

        Have the group stand around the tarp and grab hold of the edges. The taro should have holes cut in it so it looks like the number 5 on a dice face, almost an "x" shape. Let the group practice a little bit with moving the ball around the tarp for a minute or so. Then provide them with a challenge to move the ball around each hole in the tarp without the ball falling through. The center hole should be small enough to allow the ball to rest in the middle  without falling through. Depending on the group and the level of challenge you want to provide them with, you can make the center hole bigger, and you could also challenge them to get the ball around all five holes in succession. If the ball falls off or through the tarp, they would have to start over.   

Variation:

       Once the group has accomplished the above task, challenge them to see if they can launch the ball into the air and then flip the tarp without dropping the ball. This is really fun!

Website to visit:

http://www.emilysgame.com/ This is a website by one of the participant's at NCCPS this year. Emily is a high school student who is involved in an adventure program in her high school.

If you have any thoughts or questions, please leave a comment here or email me at:

asinglefootstep@gmail.com