The paper plane challenge
The paper plane challenge is an activity where teams build paper airplanes with the goal of building the one that flies farthest or has the longest hang time. This is designed to give a structured learning experience in team-based design and production that can be incorporated into a lecture on teams and teambuilding.
Find an open space inside or outside. Give each team a piece of paper to construct a paper plane within a time limit.
You can show them a variety of designs, or let them do research online. This latter option is interesting, because there are a lot of designs available, with super complex ones that can take some time to fold and are easier to mess up but promise better flight time.
They’ll have to find the balance between performance and complexity.
The winner can be the team that flies their plane furthest or has the longest hang time.
Moment of Reflection
- key lessons learned
- team member interactions (balanced, did one person dominate, etc.)
- did everyone contribute?
- were there any phases observed in team formation?
- what could have been done better in the team?
The topics of this publication: creativity, teamwork, imagination, strategy, collaboration, leadership
