In the spring of 2006, the Center debuted an exciting new program: a traveling version of our Field Game, ASE, and Teams Course programs. We can work with an en entire school at once, in a “field day” atmosphere, or else take over physical education (or another) class for a day. We supply all the equipment and expertise, and the site just needs to have a large enough space (gymnasium, blacktop, or field).

Typically, student groups will circulate around the space to instructors manning specific stations with a variety of activities, each stop emphasizing a different aspect of teamwork, including communication, cooperation, and advance planning. The “human knot” is a fine example of a pursuit that involves all three. “Giants, Wizards, Elves” on the other hand, an outsized tag-meets-rock-paper-scissors, is just for fun.

Towards the beginning of the school year, the “get-to-know-you” station can be the most important. “Peak-a-who,” has the students lining up in two facing lines on opposite sides of a blanket, then racing to see who can name the person is front of the other line first. “Never have I ever” works on the musical chairs principle, but students need only find a new seat if they’ve done something that the caller has not.

Our mobile Teams Course includes the three most popular of elements from the stationary one. One of these, the Triangle of Twine, starts with all the students within the string with no way to escape except a small plank. They must all get outside without touching the string, passing under it, or even hitting too hard on the ground outside.

To complete this challenge, the group must get across four rows of bricks without setting a foot in the sewer, lava, moat, or whatever other discouragement the instructor can think of. The challenge comes from that these planks, for some reason, can only be placed at right angles to one another, and that the entire team must cross simultaneously.

In this classic team-building activity, the team must get from one platform to another to another using only two boards that are just not long enough to bridge the gaps. Set a foot in the grass and you have to go back to the first platform, and your team will dispatch its finest board walker to fetch you before they can proceed.