Project Adventure Warm-up Activities
Source: CayugaNatureCenter Facilitator Training Manual
Salute To The Sun
This is a simple stretching activity, and is a good way tostart off a program. The premise is that if the activity isdone correctly, the sun will stay or come out for theprogram.
The activity is a variation of a Yoga stretch. It starts outby all group participants standing on their right foot, withtheir left foot held up off the ground. The participants then hold their hands, palms together, in front oftheirchest. While balanced on one leg, they are to reach up tothe sky as high over their heads as possible keeping theirpalms together. After completing the task on the right foot,challenge the participants to repeat the performance ontheir left foot, but also with their eyes closed. Tell them toconcentrate on their balance.
Back To Back
Have the participants get together with a partner. Havethem sit down on the ground with their backs to eachother. Have them lock their elbows together, pull theirknees up to their chest, and pushing against each other -stand up.
Repeat the procedure in groups of four, then groups of sixor eight, eventually leading up to the entire group standing up. Two lines of back to back people works best.Variation: Front to Front Stand Up, feet together andholding hands.
Everybody's It Tag
For this new version of tag, mark off your playing area -large enough for everyone to run around, but small enoughto keep people from getting exhausted! Explain that thepremise of the game is the title, "Everybody is it!"Everybody tries to tag everybody! When a player is tagged,they crouch down and wait out the game. If there are anydisputes, both people are out. The game goes very quickly,so you may want to play it more than once.
A popular variation of this game is called "Hospital Tag".In this game, when a player is tagged, they must place a"Band Aid" (hand) on their "wound" (place where theywere tagged). If they are tagged again, they must placetheir other hand on the new wound. Now they can onlytag another player by gently bumping them with a hip. Ifthey are tagged one more time, they are out.
Yet another variation is a game called ASTEROIDS, it issimply "everybody is it", dodge ball. This game often goeseven quicker than the tag. A way to extend it is to allowsomeone to reenter the game if they can pickup a ballwithout moving from their "out" position.
Mirrors
This is a quick one on one, get to know each otheractivity. One person plays the role of a "mirror" and copiesthe movements that the other person "looking into themirror" makes. After a short period the partners switchroles. It loosens up the whole group at the start of aprogram.
Blob Tag
This is another fun version of the basic tag game. Havethe group spread out within boundaries, and select avolunteer to be “it". The game starts as does regular tag:the person who is “it" has to tag someone. But in thisgame, when a person is tagged, they become a part of "theblob" by joining hands with their tagger. Only the ends ofthe blob can tag people! This continues until the blobconsists of six people, at which point it is large enough toreproduce! The blob then splits into two. This goes onuntil everyone has been tagged. To keep this game fromgetting frustrating for a couple of tired blobs, stressteamwork, and be sure not to make the area too large.
Walk Tag
This tag game is a partner tag game. Set up some verysmall boundaries for the group. No running is allowed!Have the partners decide which of them will be the “it"person. The it person then gives the "not it" person a headstart by spinning around a couple of times or counting to5, or any method you choose. The "not it" person walksaway and dodges in and out of all the other people tryingto keep away from their partner. If they catch each other,they switch roles, again the "it" person gives their partner alead. It goes on until you feel they've had enough. Itshould get everyone laughing; they'll be surprised at how
hard they are breathing too!
Hog Call
For this game, the group should form two lines side byside, taking, if possible, a partner who they do not knowvery well. When everyone has a partner, ask each pair tocome up with a phrase, two-part word, or two words thatgo together (we like to use natural words such as: Honey& Bee, Stream & Fish),and have them assign one word orpart of a word to each person in the pair. Go down theline and have each pair call out their words, therebyensuring that there is no repetition within the group. Thelines should then turn and go to opposite ends of the field,switching order within the row as they go. Before they turnaround again they should close their eyes. On the word"go", everyone is to try and find their partner by movingforward and shouting their word or half-word as loudly aspossible. When walking toward their partner, they mustwalk slowly and hold their hands out in front of them.
Birthday Line-up
Inform the group that in this challenge no one is allowedto make noise for the entire activity. Their challenge isto line up, without speaking, according to their birthdays,
running from January 1 to December 31. They can use anymethod of communication except sound. You could alsohave the line up according to middle name (if they don't
have a middle name, they can use their first name or makeup a name). Pull the resulting line around into a circle andrun through the order of birthday dates to see if they are
consecutive!There are several other variations, birthdate (month,dayand year!), lineup blind folded, pick an animal and line upalphabetically, etc.
Lap Sit
This activity is a subtle start to introducing trust into yourgroup. Everybody should stand in a tight circle, turn totheir right, and face the back of the person in front ofthem. Make the circle tighter again and make sure that itis circular. Everybody should put their hands on theshoulders of the person in front of them, and on the countof three, sit down gently on the lap of the person behindthem. Knees should be kept together to avoid disaster! Ifeveryone sits at the same time, no one should fall! If thisis accomplished easily, have the group try to walk in acircle while in the lap sit position. To get out of the lapsit, have everybody stand up together at the count ofthree!
Nerf Ball Name Game
Have the group form a circle. Toss a ball to one person inthe group, saying your name and their name before youthrow. The ball should travel to everyone in the circle,with all their names being called, before a second ball isintroduced. Challenge the group to keep 3 or 4 balls goingat once, to get everyone's name correct, and to catch allthe balls thrown to them.
Group Juggling
Form a circle. Pass a ball back and forth across the circleuntil everyone has had the ball once only. Everyone mustremember who they caught the ball from, and who theythrew it to next. As each person gets the ball the firsttime, have them raise their hand so they don't get it again.Once everyone has received the ball, throw it around againin the same order, but faster. Every couple of seconds addanother ball!
Impulse
Stand in a circle holding hands. (This may be difficult withchildren who are at the age when boys and girls don'twant to touch each other, but it is worth persevering tobreak down those barriers at the start of the program.) Putyourself in the group. Explain that the idea is simple: whenyou feel your hand get squeezed, pass the squeeze on.Start the impulses by squeezing the hand of the personnext to you, and wait for the impulse to come back to youon the other side. Try to do this faster. Try sending animpulse in both directions - they will cross on the otherside of the circle. Try sending lots of impulses in bothdirections until everyone is confused! You can also sendverbal impulses: send an "Mm" one way and an "Ah" theother way. Have fun listening to it!
Bug Tug
If you have a group that you think can handle somethingsilly, try this unusual version of tug-of-war! Split the groupin half, and have the two groups line up standing back toback. Then have one group stand still while the othergroup takes one step to the side, so that the people arealternating. Everyone should bend over and reach betweentheir legs, cross their arms, and grab a wrist of each ofthe two people behind them. On your signal, each teamtries to pull the other team over the imaginary linebetween them. This game rarely has a definite winner, soyou needn't try to decide who is victorious!
Pass The Hoop
Gather the group in a circle, and have everybody joinhands. Then put a hula-hoop over your arm, and startpassing the hoop around the circle. The goal is to pass thehoop person to person without letting go of each othershands. Once finished try with two hoops going in oppositedirections.
Yurt Circle
To further develop trust within a group, this activity encourages people to have confidence innext to them. Have the group stand in circle and hold hands. Everybody should-step back until their arms arestraight. Have the participants count off 1-2-1-2 ... Theremust be an even number of people in the group, so youmay have to stand out on this one. Explain that on thecount of three, the "ones" should lean gently forward and
the "twos" lean gently back. Ideally, the opposing weightsshould be equalized and everyone be supported. Thisactivity may take a couple of attempts!
Butter Churn
Stand in a tight circle with one person in the center.Everybody in the circle puts their palms out in front ofthem at shoulder height, forming a smooth wall of hands.The circle must be braced with one foot behind and mustbe alert. The person in the center should cross their armsover their chest, close their eyes, and fall slowly in anydirection, keeping their body stiff and their feet planted inthe center of the circle. The group gently passes the personaround the circle for a few minutes.This activity is ideal for determining whether the group iscapable of doing the Trust Fall. If the group fools aroundon this activity, and people fall or almost fall, don't riskthe Trust Fall!
Moon Ball
This game/initiative requires a beach ball or nerf ball. Gather the group around you and give one of the group members the ball. Tell the group that their goal is to hit the ball as many times as possible without the ball hittingthe ground. Count the number of hits (try to haveeveryone in the group counting aloud.) After a couple ofinitial attempts, have the group set a realistic goal, and
have the group continue until they reach the goal. Avariation is to have the group try to do their hits in a setsequence.
Warp Speed
This initiative requires 4 tennis balls, and a watch witheither a stop watch or at least a second hand. Form thegroup into a circle, and give one person all 4 balls. Thegroups goal is to transfer the balls from one person toanother in sequence. (ie. all balls must follow the samesequence).This is a timed event so have who ever has the bailsinitially yell "go" when he/she starts the process, and havewho ever gets the balls last yell "stop" when he/she getsthe last ball.The first time is likely to take 15 to 20 seconds, encouragethe group to do it faster. Keep encouraging them on, theirgoal is to get the process done in under 1 second. Don'ttell them this initially, wait till they have tried severalmethods and have improved their time greatly. A hint youcan give is: "gravity." The best solution is to drop the ballsthrough a funnel of hands.A variation is that the balls start and stop with the sameperson, set sequence and see how fast it can be done.