Upset the Stagecoach

Martha McCormick on August 11, 2009

This is a great game I learned when I first started working in Urban 4-H with Rick Hofmaster. It is hilarious and has a sneaky way of helping people become comfortable speaking in front of a group, even if all they say is “The stagecoach upset!” You can adapt it to holidays or themes like “Santa Claus is Upset,” “The Rocket Crashed,” “The Fruit Basket is Upset.” You get the idea.

  • Players sit in chairs placed randomly around the room. Make sure each person can stand up and run around her chair at the same time everyone else is running around their chairs.
  • Have your group generate a list of stagecoach parts, equipment, and passengers. For Example–Driver, Suitcase, Shotgun, Brake, Horses, Bank roll, Wheels, Whip, Robbers, Bumps in the road, Wheels, Harness, Seat, Luggage
  • Have each player choose an item from the list. The same name may be given to more than one player if the circle is very large.
  • Start out as the storyteller and make up a story about the passengers, parts and equipment.  As the storyteller mentions a part or passenger, the player who represents that part stands quickly, runs around her chair once, and sits down. Make sure to use all the items on the list so people really have to listen and run around their chairs a lot.
  • Each time the storyteller says “The stagecoach upset,” all the players have to change seats and the storyteller tries to get one of the places. The storyteller can actually try to steal a chair any time one is open. This makes the running around the chairs more suspenseful. The player left without a chair continues the story.

Teach an Easy Card Game

Martha McCormick on August 11, 2009

I’ve taught and played Speed for about a million years now, with literally generations of kids. I still love it but unfortunately my daughter can almost always beat me. I usually have to play until I catch her off guard though, just because.

Speed is a great game that also teaches math skills and reading readiness through patterns. I found this Internet version when I was searching for the directions and I kind of got hooked. Some of your girls may already know how to play the game; it would be a great opportunity to set up mentor pairs and have them teach their peers.

Prairie Meadows Race Track and Casino will donate gently used playing cards on request. Email Kay Alcantar or call her at 515-967-1311 or 800-325-9015 x1311 and she will collect them and have them at the front desk for you.

Build a Team with Keys

Martha McCormick on August 11, 2009

I had the neighbors talking the day I cleaned and took apart 12 old computer keyboards for the Chrysalis After-School Kits out on my front deck last fall. Each CAS kit has a set of these keys. Eric Martin and I developed these teambuilding activities and I’m sure you can come up with some more. We started with the International Association of Teamwork Facilitators by Tom Heck.

We used the keys at CAS Facilitator Training 2008 for introductions. Each person got a key and used the character on that key to tell something about herself. Then each facilitator took a letter key and the group formed as many words at they could in a set amount of time. As a group got together to form a word, the leader made a tally mark on a flip chart or white board.

Download the Keyboard Team Building Activity for more ideas–Keyboard Team Building.

Touch Someone Who…

Martha McCormick on August 11, 2009

Yesterday at CAS training we worked on compliments, one aspect of giving and receiving honest feedback. Compliments are difficult to receive, especially for women it seems to me.The Chrysalis After-School mentors and facilitators discussed the kinds of compliments we like to get–about our work, being on time, and those we are not so fond of–our looks, the back-handed kind, those that draw unwanted attention.

This processing activity, adapted from Michelle Cummings at Training Wheels, is a nice way to show appreciation to others, even though it is done silently and anonymously. It’s a very moving closing activity and should be done in complete silence.

Materials Needed: Deck of Playing Cards

Directions:

  • Divide the group into 3 or 4 smaller groups by having them choose a playing card (heart, diamond, club, spade). They should look at their cards but not show it to anyone else. Make sure you have equal numbers of each suit to pass out.
  • Have the group sit comfortably around the room, either on the floor or on chairs, so there is space for to walk around.
  • Ask everyone to close her eyes. They should keep their eyes (and mouths) closed for the whole activity. Explain the activity while everyone is sitting with their eyes closed.
  • Let them know that you will ask each group at a different time to open their eyes and stand. Then you will read a statement, beginning with “Touch someone who…” The standing group will then quietly walk around and gently touch the arm or shoulder of someone for whom the statement applies. Again, there should be no talking. This is a silent and anonymous activity.
  • Give enough time for the standing group to touch a number of others before reading the next statement. Come up with at least 3-6 unique statements for each group. After each group finishes its last statement, ask them to return to their seats and close their eyes. Wait for them to settle before you ask the next group to open their eyes and stand. Repeat with all the small groups. Allow a minute or two of quiet reflection after the last group returns to their seats.

Examples of Statements:  Touch Someone Who…

  • you’d like to get to know better
  • you think is a good leader
  • inspires you
  • you appreciate
  • you look up to
  • you admire
  • you trust
  • you wish you knew more about
  • makes you laugh
  • communicates well
  • is a positive influence
  • works well with others
  • you have learned from
  • you enjoy being around

Divide Your Group

Martha McCormick on August 9, 2009

As I facilitate experiential education or group discussions, I like to divide any group that is larger than seven people into smaller groups. This makes it easier for quieter people to be heard. If I’m with a group for more than an hour or so, I mix the groups up so everyone gets to know each other better. I’ve experimented with some different ways to divide large groups lately; here are some of the methods I use.

At customer service training I am doing for the Iowa Community Action Association, I’ve been using the Chinese Zodiac. I made up nametags with the pictures of the twelve Zodiac animals–

Brody Girls at HerStory 2007

Brody Girls at HerStory 2007

  • Rat
  • Ox
  • Tiger
  • Rabbit
  • Dragon
  • Snake
  • Horse
  • Lamb
  • Monkey
  • Rooster
  • Dog
  • Pig

Then I made pages with the corresponding pictures, descriptions and years of birth for each sign. I put these on the tables, automatically dividing the group as they arrive. I have small groups form by combining different signs. Here is a Web site that tells you which signs go together best; you could base another grouping on those recommendations.

Here are some other quick ideas for forming small groups randomly–

  • Have the girls line up by one of these methods; then divide the line into the size or number of groups you want– (Shoe size, Height, Birthday)
  • Divide by eye color, kinds of shoes or shirt color
  • Divide by month of birth or season of birth–
    (Winter = December, January, February, Spring = March, April, May, Summer = June, July, August, Fall = September, October, November)
  • Play the game Mingle Mingle, ending with the number you want in your small groups.

Michelle Cummings of Training Wheels has published a book–Playing With a Full Deck–that has lots of ideas for activities for groups that only use card games. Download Dividing a Group for a taste.

Mingle Mingle!

Martha McCormick on August 9, 2009

This is a really fun way to mix a group up and then divide up cliques without anyone being the wiser. Here’s a video that is worth 10,000 words of explanation for a game I’ve used for years.

Web the Group’s Words

Martha McCormick on July 19, 2009

This planning technique is a group version of mind mapping; I use this system of visual note taking all the time to capture memories and ideas. Tony Buzan developed mind mapping in Britain a number of years ago; it’s used a lot more in Europe, but a good friend of mine used it in graduate school for everything from  notetaking to planning for her thesis.

Word Webbing, described on page 20 in the “Planning and Reflection” book from HIGH/SCOPE, gives the whole group a chance to participate in a giant mind map. The group has a giant sheet of butcher paper and markers. Begin the web or map by putting the central idea or activity in the center as a picture or a word in a frame. As the group brainstorms ideas, write broad categories, and then more specific item in branches off the central idea. As you go, connect the ideas that are related. When done, you have a picture of their discussion and can see how items are connected.

Create a Treasure Box

Martha McCormick on July 19, 2009

One of my favorite ways to process learning is to use my treasure box. I usually save it for groups with whom I’ve spent at least a day. I’ve found that middle school girls love this way of processing what they have gained from their time together. A bonus is that they get to keep something to remind them of what they learned or gained.

I’ve collected a boxful of small, free (mostly) or inexpensive items–buttons, shells, stones, old pins, pennies, Barbie shoes–in a small box that my daughter decorated. At the end of a program, I open the treasure box and spread the contents out on the floor or on a table. Then I ask each person to choose one and tell how it is related to what they learned or did and how it will help them remember something from the time we spent together. They get to keep the “treasures.”

Have Fun Generating Ideas

Martha McCormick on July 18, 2009

Here is a site that gives a clear description of brainstorming, with a process for narrowing ideas after the initial discussion.
These eight rules provide some background for refining your brainstorming techniques for the best results in your groups.
And this site for teachers has some free stuff and other ideas to take off from brainstorming like–
1.
oBrainstorming Web
2.
oCoat of Arms
3.
oPicture the Order

Brainstorming is an old technique for gathering ideas from a group, but if it’s done with attention to ALL the rules, including no judging, it’s really effective. If groups are not allowed to put down wacky ideas, it defeats the purpose.

These eight rules to “Brilliant Brainstorming” give a good explanation of the skill and mindset that is needed for success at this method for facilitating brainstorming. You need more than a flip chart and markers to do it well. I use timing, taking turns, a Tack-E-Wall, to manage the brainstorming, but that’s another post.

This Web site from Studio 1151 provides a clear description of brainstorming, and includes a process for narrowing ideas after the initial discussion.

Idea Bombardment

Martha McCormick on July 17, 2009

This activity will help your group generate ideas for achieving personal and group goals. It provides a way for the group to “bombard” one or a small group of people with ideas for accomplishing their goals.

Start with the whole group in a large circle, then spend about five minutes talking about how to set goals–making them realistic, short-term so they can see progress, and about things they really want. The group may set personal goals for things like fitness, doing better in school, having more fun or learning a new skill. Or they may set goals for the group to accomplish something like a service project or a trip. Don’t get hung up on the writing part. The more often you do activities like this, the better people will get at setting goals. Just remember to give people opportunities to talk about how their goals are going and what they may need to do differently.

Now have each person write a goal on an index card.

Go around the group and have everyone share their goal, listening for others in the group that have similar goals.

Now, group members with similar goals take them into the center of the large group and form a smaller circle.

The group in the outside circle “bombards” the inner circle with ideas for accomplishing their goals. Those being bombarded may want to take notes about their favorite ideas. Rotate different small groups into the inner circle, giving the bombardment five minutes or less for each small group.