“Line it Up!” is a great team-building activity that allows the group to focus on nonverbal communication, concentration, and accepting mistakes.
Time: 2-5 minutes
Preparation: I like to use a timer for this and usually have it set up on a screen.
Here’s how it works:
- Students quietly stand up and, without speaking, arrange themselves in some particular order. Examples include alphabetical order of names, birth month, birthday, number of pets, etc.
- Indicate a starting spot for the first person. Explain that the next person will stand to their left and so on until a line is formed.
- Students are not allowed to say anything verbally! If they do, we’ve failed for this challenge. It’s OK if that happens but our goal is to see how many tries (over time) it takes us to be 100% successful in arranging!
- It is OK, and expected, for students to communicate with their hands! It’s up to you if you want to permit students to be able to lip sync. I usually avoided this because it was more fun to see if we could do it without!
Once the timer is up, or everyone gives the thumbs-up that they think they have it, go from beginning to end listing each person’s answer (birthday, initial, etc.) to see if they were successful. There are usually mistakes the first few times you attempt this and that’s what makes it a challenge!
-Edtomorrow Team