This game is designed to build communication and team-work strategies within your classroom. It is also an excellent activity to expel some energy!
Basic Information:
- Grade Level: 2-12
- Subject: All
- Number of Participants: 8 or more people
- Relationship to Environmental Education: Opportunity to discuss pine cones; opportunity to abandon self-consciousness and learn trust and communication skills.
Materials:
- 2-3 pine cones per participants (try to choose soft pine cones);
- Blind folds for half the participants;
Instructions:
- Ask everyone in your group to go find 2-3 pine cones. If you are not near any, be sure to bring them!
- Have your group choose a partner per person. Choose one partner to be the communicator and the other partner to be blindfolded. Ask the group to form 2 circles – where the communicators are on the outside and the blindfolded on are the inside. Everyone will then throw their pine cones in the middle of the circle. The point of the game is to communicate with your partner to get the blindfolded partner to pick up pine cones and throw them at other participants who are blindfolded. If one is hit with a pine cone, that person and their partner will be eliminated.
- Begin the game by asking the communicator to put their partner in the circle (ideally close to them to be able to hear) and then spin them 7 times. At the count of 3, begin the game. The communicators will have to pay attention to how they give directions (description of distance and direction to pine cones and how and where to throw them to eliminate other blindfolded participants).
- Be sure everyone blindfolded remains in the circle.
- As the game moves along, everyone will surely be laughing and also surprised at some group’s success in communicating with one another and eliminating other teams.
- The last team standing wins.
Debrief:
- After the game, ask the participants what they noticed about the game. What techniques worked? What surprisingly didn’t work? How did you and your partner communicate? Did it work well?
- Ask the participants how such communication may relate to the class outside of this game. Hopefully, participants mention: the importance of listening to people, how difficult it may be to understand different people’s form of communicating, how difficult it may be for some people with visual or hearing impairments to participate in the class.
Critical Reflection:
Not only is this game very fun to play, but it also forces participants to communicate with one another. It may be best to pair up people together who are not familiar with one another or use this game as an ice breaker. It forces reliance on another person and we don’t always encourage that in the classroom. Independent learning has become far too popular and in reality we do not work or live independent from one another. This game could be used when you are having communication troubles in your classroom, when students need some physical activity, or even when it is simply a beautiful day and you think everyone should be outside. It is also indirectly forces students to search for something in nature, be aware of what a pine cone may be and where they come from. This knowledge cannot be taken for granted. You could even begin the game with a brief discussion of pine cones and what they do, misleading the students, and then tell them that pine cones are also good to throw at one another …. because they are soft and do not hurt! I find this game especially valuable because it is fun for all ages and it is silly. Participants can laugh at one another for good reason because the blind-folded look ridiculous as they play. Such activities that force students to abandon self-consciousness are very valuable to me.
An Educator's Toolkit 