The Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower

Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower is a fantastic group activity for team building and collaborative problem solving. Collaboration is the factor that generates motivation to contribute to the achievement of the objectives and the good performance of the group.

This problem-solving exercise pushes the group to think on the spot while developing communication and leadership skills. A positive environment will encourage people to actively participate, build relationships and accept challenges.

The goal of this activity is to see which team can use the materials provided to build the tallest tower in a 30-minute time period. The team must build the tower so that it can stand on its own, without any support!

In advance, prepare one kit containing the following items for each small group: 20 sticks of spaghetti, 1 metre (3′) of string, 1 metre (3′) of masking tape and 1 x marshmallow.

Gather your group and divide them into small teams of approx 4 to 8 people. Distribute one kit to each small group. Instruct the groups to use (only) the contents of the kits to build the tallest free-standing structure, and to place the marshmallow on top (highest peak of structure.)

Explain that every group has exactly 20 minutes to complete the task. Groups are permitted to use as little or all of their resources and break the spaghetti, string and tape as they choose.

The team with the tallest (free-standing) structure supporting the highest marshmallow at the end of the time, wins.

The topics of this publication: interactions, strategy, collaboration, leadership, teamwork