Caterpillar Challenge
The Caterpillar challenge is a physical game that teaches your team time management, communication, and strategy skills.
One team lines up and places a round object such as a balloon or a ball between every two people standing next to each other. The goal is to move together forward without using hands to hold balloons in place.
Start your caterpillar with three team members and make them get from one end of the room to another and come back. If they didn’t drop the ball across all the way, they can add another person to their caterpillar.
With each team member added, your caterpillar will get bigger, becoming harder to move and turn. That’s where your teammates should start strategizing and communicating on how to add new teammates, how to sync turns, and how to complete their goals.
Once the challenge is completed, encourage the team to move from one side of the room to the other in the shortest time possible and without dropping any balloons.
Moment of Reflection
- How was your group challenged in this exercise? Why?
- Did your group get stuck at any time? Why? What were the obstacles?
- Describe your ideation process.
How did your group make decisions during the activity? Was this effective? - Do you feel that the group took short-cuts, or bent the rules? Which ones?
- How do you feel about the interpretation your group took on ‘passing’ and ‘in sequence?’
The topics of this publication: integration, interactions, disinhibition, strategy, energize, collaboration, teamwork, cooperation, adaptability skills, adaptation, planning, foster relationships, communication
