This team-building game is flexible. Simply divide students into teams and give them equal amounts of a certain material, like pipe cleaners, blocks, or even dried spaghetti and marshmallows.

Then, give them something to construct. The challenge can be variable (think: Which team can build the tallest, structurally-sound castle? Which team can build a castle the fastest?).

You can recycle this activity throughout the year by adapting the challenge or materials to specific content areas.

This activity can get messy and may be suitable for older children who can follow safety guidelines when working with raw eggs. Teams must work together to find a way to “save” the egg (Humpty Dumpty for elementary school students?) — in this case an egg dropped from a specific height. That could involve finding the perfect soft landing, or creating a device that guides the egg safely to the ground. Let their creativity work here.
 
3. Go for Gold

This game is similar to the “If you build it” game: Teams have a common objective, but instead of each one having the same materials, they have access to a whole cache of materials. For instance, the goal might be to create a contraption with pipes, rubber tubing and pieces of cardboard that can carry a marble from point A to point B in a certain number of steps, using only gravity.

Energetic initiative to challenge critical-thinking skills

Benefits: Challenging, Highly interactive & energetic Promotes collaboration Fosters critical-thinking, Ideal for small spaces 

Time 15 - 20 min 

Long length of rope (7 metres) Numbered spot markers, one per person Stop-watch 

People Mini 1 – 7 

1. In advance, lay a long rope on the floor/ground to form a large circle.
2. Collect and number as many spot markers as you have people in your group. 3. 3. Randomly distribute the numbered spot markers inside the circle.
4. Ask each person to stand on top of one of the spot markers. 
5. When ready, instruct each individual to move to and touch every other spot in the ascending order of the numbers.
6. For example, the person standing on spot #8 will move to 9, 10, 11 and 12 (presuming there are 12 people in the group,) before moving to 1, 2, 3 through to  7. As soon as an individual has touched all of the spot-markers and returns to their own, they will exit the circle. 
8. Challenge your group to perform this task as accurately and as fast as possible. 
8. Furthermore, challenge your group to solve this problem without stepping outside of the (roped) 
9. circle or touching any other person in the process (touching elsewhere within the circle is permitted.) 
10. Encourage your group to make as many attempts as possible within a specified time period,  aiming to improve their performance with each attempt. 
12. Allow ample time for planning and problem-solving. 

Target Practice: Ask your group to set a target time at the beginning of each attempt. The implication here is that you want your group to do more than continuously improve, but aspire to higher ambitions.

All Together: Everyone jumps or steps onto their next spot at the same time. To help your group manage this extremely difficult task, permit them to jump/step anywhere inside the (roped) circle that is not a spot directly before they jump onto their next spot. In effect, each person lands on a spot with every second jump. Challenge your group to complete this task with every member of the group landing on their spot at the same time. 

Metronome: As for above option, but every move, jump or step is timed to match a beat, ie every member of the group lands on their spot (or elsewhere within the circle) at exactly the same time. Introduce an actual metronome to keep the beat, or simply clap your hands, roughly every 2 seconds. 

Take a look at Key Punch to explore the classic group initiative on which this exercise was based.