Pen in a bottle

Implementation

Start the activity by dividing the group into four teams. Ask the team members to stand in the four corners of the selected space for the game.

Explain: these four teams represent North, South, East and West. This is not a competition but an exercise where everyone has to cooperate to succeed.

Place the empty bottle in the centre of the area. Request each team to select a team leader.

Give each team leader an end of one of the strings attached to the pen.

Explain: you have to cooperate by pulling the string with equal force from each corner to bring the pen into the bottle. The team leader holds the string, but it is not allowed to move from where they are standing. Team members can help by giving verbal instructions to the team leader.

When the team leaders have succeeded in bringing the pen into the bottle, request the teams to choose new team leaders and repeat the activity until as many as time permits have had the opportunity to pull the string.

Thank the participants for their collaboration and remind them that cooperation with others is critical if we are to succeed in life and overcome challenges.

Ending

Debrief the game after finishing this activity. Encourage the participants to provide feedback on the activity. What happened during this game? What was hard? What was easy? What did this game teach us? Why was it valuable to play this? Why is it important to practice team building, communication, or inclusion? How can we use what we learned in this game, outside of school? Are there skills we learned that we can use elsewhere?