Activity Notebook 1
Running Head: ACITIVTY NOTEBOOK
Activity Notebook
Ropes Course 421
Mallorie Parsons
Activity Notebook 2
Contents
Table of Contents Games and Initiatives .................................................................................................................................... 3
Challenge by Choice ...................................................................................................................................... 8
Experiential Learning Cycle ........................................................................................................................... 9
Debriefing...................................................................................................................................................... 9
Full Value Contract ...................................................................................................................................... 10
Goal Setting ................................................................................................................................................. 11
Group Briefing ............................................................................................................................................. 11
Notes ........................................................................................................................................................... 11
Activity Notebook 3
Games and Initiatives
Game Type Description
Name Games: 1. Thumpidee- thump-thump Create a circle and have one person stand in
the middle. The participant in the middle will
point to anyone in the circle. Whoever is
being pointed at must say the name of the
person to their right before the participant in
the middle can say “thumpidee-thump-
thump.” If the person in the middle says the
phrase before the person says their name then
they are it.
2. How do you like your neighbor? Create a circle with one participant in the
middle. They can go to anyone in the circle
and tell them to name their neighbors (the
people to their left and right). Then ask that
participant if their neighbors are “all right”,
“all wrong”, or “all mixed up”. If the
participant says “all right” everyone moves on
step to the right. If the participant says “all
wrong” everyone moves to the left. If they say
“all mixed up” everyone has to switch
locations. Last person to get a spot is it.
3. All my friends who… Create and circle with one participant in the
middle. They will say their name and then
state “all my friends who ____” in the blank
they say one of their favorite things. Anyone
who agrees has to move to a new square. For
example, if the participant said “all my
friends who like to rock climb.” Then
whoever rock climbs will move. The last
person without a square is it.
4. Do you know everyone’s name? The facilitator can simply ask if they all know
each-others names and then have them try to
say all of them.
5. Ring toss The rings can be used for several different
games. One use of them is the name game.
You throw one color ring to someone but
must say their name first. Then a different
colored ring is added to the mix but it must be
thrown backwards, back to the person who
threw you the first ring. Multiple rings can be
added to make the game more exciting.
6. Tag Games:
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7. Caught green handed One participant is it and must stand on one
end of the field of gym not facing the rest of
the group. Everyone else will line up on the
opposite side of the person who is it. The
objective of the game is to get the green hand
that is laying behind the person who is it.
Everyone can approach the green hand while
the person who is it counts to 3. Once he/she
turns around everyone must freeze, if they
move they must start over. Once the green
hand has been grabbed the group must get the
hand back over to their side without getting
caught. The person who is it will count to
three and then can turn around and choose
one person that they think has the hand. If
they do then the game starts again.
8. Toilet Tag Create a boundary that students should stay
within. If someone is tagged then they must
kneel down with one arm up. In order to get
untagged someone else must hoover/gentle sit
on the person’s leg and pull their arm down,
to “flush the toilet.”
9. Bandana tag Everyone gets a bandana and they must tuck a
little part into the side of their pant loop (do
not tie). The object of the game is to grab the
other participant’s bandanas. If your bandana
is taken you must sit down. However, while
seated you can try to grab other people’s
bandanas. If you get another bandana you are
back in the game.
10. Alligator bandana tag The rules are the same as the game above,
however there are at least two people to a
group. One person is the alligator’s head
while the other is the alligator’s tail. The head
must try to get other alligators bandanas while
the tail needs to try to protect their bandana.
11. Cheetos Tag In this game one person is the Cheetos. If they
tag you, you must freeze and wipe your hands
back and forth like you are trying to get the
Cheetos powder off. Two other participants
are the soap and water and if they tag
someone that is frozen then they are back in
the game.
12. Ameba tag Two people start off as being it but must hold
hands. Every time they tag someone they are
Activity Notebook 5
added to the big glob. Play until everyone is
captured by the ameba.
Miscellaneous
13. Big group check in Just see how the group is doing. Can do it by
asking just a simple question.
14. Transition activity When walking you can have people partner
up and then have them all ask certain
questions while heading to the next activity.
15. Moon ball This game is similar to volleyball. The ball
cannot touch the floor. You can be creative
with the rules, making everyone touch the ball
at least once, or having a set goal of how
many times the ball should be hit.
16. Captain’s coming Have everyone in the group on one side of the
gym/field. There are 6 commands in this
game that the facilitator will say.
1. To the ship: everyone moves to the
right
2. To the shore: everyone moves to the
left
3. Captains coming: everyone stands tall
and salutes, they cannot move from
that position until the facilitator says
adzes. If they move they are out. This
part is very similar to Simon says.
4. Man overboard: requires 2 people.
One on their knee and both looking
for the man overboard
5. Crow’s nest: get in groups of three
and stand with backs against each-
other
6. Captain’s table: get in groups of 4 and
pretend you are eating at the captain’s
table for dinner
Anyone who doesn’t get in a group for any of
the commands is out.
17. Elephant ball Participants will stand with their legs a good
distance apart and then bend over with one
arm hanging and the other behind their back
(to look like you have an elephant trunk).
Then a ball will be added and the goal is to
get the ball through other participant’s legs.
18. Yee-Haw Have everyone stand in a circle. There are
four commands
1. Yee-Haw. Goes left or right
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2. Down diggidy dog. Point to anyone in
the circle
3. Hoedown. Do a little dance.
4. 4 shifter gear box. Pump your arm
back and forth four times
The goal of the game is get other people out
by messing them up with the different
commands.
19. Lifeguards This game requires the parachute. There is
one lifeguard and one shark to start off the
game. The shark goes under the parachute and
the lifeguard stands up. The rest of the group
sits down holding the parachute and moving it
to create “waves”. The shark will come and
grab your feet and pull you under. The
lifeguard needs to try and save you.
20. Power of 10 Count to 10 consecutively. Anyone can say
two numbers in one turn. Whoever ends up
being number 10 is out.
21. Ninja Everyone stands in a circle and when the
leader counts to three everyone gets in their
best ninja pose. You are have one swift
movement each turn and the goal is to hit
other people on the hand. If your hand is it
that hand is out. Once both hands have been
hit you are out completely.
22. Dragon It is a game of rock paper scissors. Everyone
starts playing each-other and whoever loses
becomes part of the winner’s dragon tail.
23. Circle of doom When participants get down to the last two
participants in certain games you can create
the circle of doom. This keeps the participants
that are out interested and involved in the
game.
24. 4 corners Group is split up into four groups and stands
in different corners. The facilitator will tell
them which corner to run to.
25. I’m going to the moon… Two ways of going to the moon. Double
letters or the 1st letter of your name.
Relay Games
26. Partner relay ring toss This game is like an egg toss game but rings
are used instead. Toss the ring to your partner
and then both take a step back. If the ring is
dropped start over.
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27. Team relay toss Split the group into different team. Make is a
relay to see who can get the ring to the last
person first when tossing the ring. If the ring
falls start again at the beginning =.
28. Shoe relay Split the group up into two groups. Have
everyone take off their shoes and place them
in a hula-hoop. It is a relay to see who can get
their shoes on the fastest.
29. Ultimate Frisbee with rings Played just like ultimate Frisbee but with the
rings instead. There are two teams and if you
have the ring you can only take one step
before having to throw the ring. Try to get it
to the other side.
Stretch Games
30. Old lady Grady Everyone stands in a circle and the first
person starts by asking the person on their left
“did you hear about old lady Grady? The
person will respond saying “no what
happened?” Person 1 says “well she died”.
Person 2 says “no way how’d that happen?”
and then person 1 does a stretch saying that
how she died. Go around the circle until
everyone has led a stretch
31. Peanut butter jar Tell the participants that they just jumped into
this huge peanut butter jar that is almost
empty but they need to reach up and get all
the little bits of peanut butter that is still there.
They need to do the same with their feet and
hips to get all the peanut butter out of the jar.
32. Snoopy and red barren Have everyone get in groups of two. One
person is snoopy the other is the red barren.
Face each-other with your hands up and then
the red barren tries to follow Snoopy’s
movements.
33. Stork stretch Get in groups of three. Each person places
their left leg on the other person’s thigh. Then
switch legs.
34. Yurt circle Hold hands or rope and lean in, lean back, or
alternate. Great arm and shoulder stretch.
35. Back to back Put people in groups of two have them back
to back with their arms linked. They need to
sit down and then try to stand up.
Trust Games
36. Trust lean This is a good way for participants to practice
staying tight when falling. It always promotes
trusting the other participants. In this trust
Activity Notebook 8
lean have two people assume the proper
spotting stance and then have one person lean
back into their hands.
37. Wind in the willow Create a tight circle of people in the proper
spotting stance and then have one person in
the middle constantly falling from one person
to the next.
38. Trust run Split the group into two and have them all
face each other in a line. Everyone places one
arm out in front of them. One person will then
go to the front and face the two lines and then
run through the arms. Participants must move
their arm before the runner gets to them.
39. Trust lift Find a relatively high location on a tree for
example and have people try to get to the
highest point by lifting group members.
40. Big rope circle Leaning forwards or backwards or alternating
is a good trust exercise. The big rope circle is
also very good for debriefs and using a knot.
Also can be used for stretching.
Initiative Games (problem solving)
41. Circle the circle The group stands in a circle holding hands.
The objective of the game is to get a hula
hoop all around the circle without letting go
of each other.
42. Pipeline The group must work together using half pipe
poles to get a marble from one location all the
way to the bucket on the other side. The pipes
can’t touch each other and the ball cannot
stop or move backwards or fall. If it does then
the group must start over.
43. Save the baby Create a large circle with some rope, place a
small cone in the middle and then place the
“baby” (or whatever item needs to be saved)
on top of the cone. Split people up into groups
and then tell them to save the baby using rope
and a helmet. Participants cannot cross over
the rope.
Challenge by Choice 1. A simple way of explaining challenge by choice to the group is simply by telling them.
Let them all know that they are not required to do anything that they do not feel
comfortable doing. Let them know this is a safe non-judgment zone and that if they don’t
want to participate in a certain thing they will not be punished or forced to do something
they don’t want to do. Pros of this technique are that it is quick and simple and straight to
Activity Notebook 9
the point. Cons of this technique are that it isn’t very creative and might not keep the
attention of the participants.
2. Having each individual create a circle on the ground. This circle represents their comfort
zone. You want everyone to stand in the circle (their comfort zone) and then create
another circle outside of that one. This circle represents stepping just slightly outside their
comfort zone; it’s the growth or challenge zone. Then have them create one last circle
that represents definitely being outside their comfort zone where participants could
experience panic and a sense of danger. Have students stand where it is they want to be at
the end of the program. This method is good because it can be used by all ages. However,
it does have a negative aspect because it could single out some people that really are not
comfortable with getting out of their comfort zone at all.
3. A good way to introduce challenge by choice to young kids is saying to them “try my
broccoli?” In most cases kids will say no, you can then use this to follow up by saying
you should at least try a bite. This correlates to ropes courses because we would like
everyone to try the activities but we won’t force anyone to try something that they do not
feel comfortable doing. This method is relatable to young children, however, it’s not a
good method for older participants.
Experiential Learning Cycle
Debriefing 1. Pass the “bandana in the rope” is a good debriefing tool. In this method you can tie two
or three bandanas in the rope and have everyone stand in a circle. Start passing the rope
Experience
•Complete the game or activity
Reflection
•What did you do?
Analyze
•So what does that mean to us?
Apply
•Now what?
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along and then randomly tell everyone to stop. Whoever has a bandana will say
something. The blue bandana could represent something positive that the group did. A
red one could represent something that the group should try to improve one next time.
Another bandana, for example, a green one could represent something that you thought
someone else did well and congratulate them.
2. Using the bag of body parts that Fred has (that sounds creepy) is a good debriefing
technique, especially for nursing groups. For this debrief lay out all of the parts of the
body on the ground and then have the participants silently choose a body part that they
thought correlated with something they did well. Then have everyone go around the
circle and discuss what they chose. For example, if someone chose an ear that could
represent good listening as a group.
3. After an activity you could use the spectrum technique. With this one state two different
feelings, for example, one could be accomplished on one end and on the other end could
be discouraged. Then have everyone stand or place something at where they feel they fall
on the spectrum.
4. A similar concept is using emotion cards. With this you can lay them all down and have
each person choose a picture that relates closely to how they are currently feeling and
then say why they are feeling that particular emotion.
5. Partner debrief is a simple on that you can have the group do. Have everyone pair off and
discuss what went well or what needed improvement. Then bring the group back together
to discuss everyone’s thoughts.
Full Value Contract 1. A fun little way to introduce the full value contract is the hand method. Have all
participants hold up a hand and tell them what each finger means.
a. Pinky: promise. Promise to be positive throughout the day and kind to everyone
here
b. Ring: commitment. Be committed to trying new things and step at least a little out
of your comfort zone.
c. Middle: represents negativity. We do not want to see any negative actions or
words
d. Pointer: this is correlated with judging so don’t use it unless it is followed with
thumbs up and a high five.
This method is interactive so that is a very good pro. It also helps people to remember
what is in a full value contract because it associates thoughts and behaviors with a
finger. A con is that is technique isn’t as geared to older age groups as it is for
younger ones.
2. Before starting anything the facilitator could simply go over three parts of the full value
contract that participants should keep in mind throughout the day. They would be:
a. Be safe
b. Try your best
c. Have fun
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This is a very quick way to go over how participants should act and it is very straight
forwards and even though it isn’t very long is covers everything that is needed. A con for
this method is that it isn’t creative and doesn’t keep everyone very involved.
3. A fun to introduce the full value contract is to have everyone stand in a circle and have
the facilitator ask questions or make a statement. Such as who wants to have fun today?
The participants will respond by all taking a jump into the circle. Facilitators could also
say something like “let’s all be safe today and have no injuries”. Then once again
everyone will jump closer together. When everyone is close have all the participants put a
hand in the middle like a huddle and then say a chant and have everyone lift their arms up
(like at basketball games). Pros are that this way is interactive and allows the facilitator to
go over everything that the participants need to know. Cons are that it might not be very
appropriate for older age groups or very large groups.
Goal Setting The purpose of establishing goals is to determine if the group completed the tasks they
set for themselves as a whole. This enables the group to strive to achieve that goal during the
program. After the completion of the program the group can go back to those goals and discuss
what they did well on or what needed to be improved on in order to achieve all the goals. A way
to determine what the goals are for the group can be through different activities. For example,
you could get out a large piece of paper and have everyone outline their hand and then write one
goal in the hand that they want to see accomplished by the end of the program.
Group Briefing When the group arrives there are certain things that must be covered right from the
beginning. Foremost, introduce yourself and all the other facilitators and leads. Second, make
sure that everyone is ready for the day. Double check that everyone is wearing closed toe shoes,
and then have everyone get together their personal belongings such as wallets, keys, cell phones,
earrings, necklaces, and anything else on their person and place them somewhere safe and out of
the way. After that continue with what RU ABLE is about and what they do. This then leads into
the full value contract and the challenge by choice philosophy. Once all of those are completed
go over safety with the group and then begin the program
Notes DDADA:
o Describe, Demonstrate, Ask for questions, Do it, Adapt
Framing
o Start something that helps the group and gets their focus where it needs to be.
o Three types of framing
Recreational
Educational
Therapeutic
Commands: make sure that everyone is ready and paying attention to what is happening.
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o EX:
Ready?
Ready!
Falling.
Fall!
Spotting techniques
o Spoons not forks or knifes
o Sturdy footing
o Protect the head, neck, and spine
What did you learn?
o Throughout the 5 day training course I learned a considerable amount of new
information. One of the most exciting things that I learned was how to set up and take
the high ropes course. I really enjoyed using the cable grab and lobster claws and it was
really awesome getting to be up in the air for most of the weekend I also learned a
bunch of new games and when to use certain ones based on the group you have.
What does it mean to be a challenge course facilitator?
o Being a challenge course facilitator means that you get to be a part of helping others
step out of their comfort zones, help new groups get to know each other better, create
scenarios that will focus the group on a goal, help them to reflect on something that
they had learned and how they could then apply that to their lives. Facilitators can make
or break a program so they are extremely important in making the program successful.
What are risk management issues to consider?
o People can get hurt anywhere and people do get hurt often. Even if it’s just a simple
little cut it still is considered a risk management issue. When playing games or being on
the low ropes or the high ropes breaking or spraining something could definitely
happen. Going over safety before each activity and setting a good example is very
important.
Issues related to inspections
o All of the low and high ropes need to be inspected before participants get to the
program. When the program is outside the area needs to be checked for bees or snakes
and anything that may have fallen on the course. The bolts and cables should be
checked as well to ensure that everything is still intact and properly working.
Leadership thoughts and ensuring a positive experience.
o I am honestly a little nervous about my leadership abilities but I know how important it
is to create a positive experience for the participants. Showing confidence and
enthusiasm are two very important qualities that I think I’m going to have to show
during the programs. I’m confident in my abilities to work on the ropes but not so much
in my ability to speak in front of the groups.