The Cup Stack Challenge

The cup stack is a fun, yet challenging team building activity that promotes the collaboration and efficient communication.

You will need some cups, string and rubber bands. The premise is simple: attach four lengths of string to a rubber band.

Then, four people each grab one piece of string and use that to manipulate the rubber band around the plastic cups. Each person holds onto one of the strings that are attached to the rubber band and they use this device to pick up the cups and place them on top of each other (by pulling the rubber band apart and then bringing it back together over the cups).

The challenge is for the group to build a pyramid out of the paper cups (3 on the bottom, 2 in the middle, 1 on the top – can be adjusted for more cups). Group members cannot touch the cups with their hands or any other part of their bodies, even if a cup falls over or on the floor.

Give teams five minutes to see how many cups they can stack or find out who can stack 10 cups the fastest.

Some groups can complete the task very quickly, while other groups must keep trying and trying to complete the task successfully. It’s hard not to give up when things get frustrating, and this is a valuable exercise in working on patience and frustration.

The topics of this publication: interactions, strategy, collaboration, leadership, teamwork, cooperation, integration, adaptability skills