The Blind Maze Challenge

Blind Maze is a small group problem solving exercise that promotes collaboration and the development of teamwork skills.

You’ll need to set aside some time in advance to design and create your maze. Grab a bunch of long ropes and head to your local wooded area populated with many trees (ideally) close to one another.

Tie a series of short ropes between multiple trees to represent a path out of a wooded area. Create one entry and one exit for the path, allowing for one or more gaps (between trees) in the path as well as dead-ends where possible.

At a minimum, you’ll need:

• An entry point – a gap between two trees- where your group will start
• An exit point – again, a gap between two trees – representing the finish line
• One or more gaps in the pathway – where no rope exists
• One or more dead-ends where the path leads nowhere and/or back onto itself.

Out of sight of the maze, ask your group to put on their blindfolds. Standing in a straight line with hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them, lead your group carefully to the start of the maze.

Place the hands of the person at the front of the line on the tree and/or rope connected to the maze entry. Challenge your group to work together and embark on a journey to find their way out of the maze.

Announce that all members of the group must be connected to the rest of the group at all times. At least one member of the group must be touching or holding a rope at all times.

No one is permitted to open their eyes (remove blindfolds) until the whole group has exited the maze. All members of the group may communicate at any time.

Allow your group at least 30 minutes or more to solve the problem.

Your primary role is to monitor the safety and comfort of the group. Make mental notes of how the group makes decisions, communicates and generally looks after one another during their experience. This is a wonderfully dynamic group exercise, so be sure to allow time at the end to invite your group to reflect on their experience.

Moment of Reflection

• What sorts of sensations did you experience as your group moved its way forward into the maze?
• What was most challenging? Why?
• In what ways did your group work together to be successful?
• What senses were heightened during the activity? How did they help?
• If you were to do this again, what would you do differently?
• On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being great,) how would you rate your group’s communication?
• Did you develop any insights into effective leadership during this exercise?
• How might this exercise reflect your group at times?

The topics of this publication: interactions, active listening, cooperation, leadership, collaboration, teamwork, adaptability skills, strategy, integration, foster relationships, adaptation