Purpose

In this exercise, delegates practice working together towards a common goal; making the tallest free standing tower given simple materials. The exercise is competitive and requires creativity as well as good leadership, division of task, resource management and decision making.

Objective

• Use index cards to make a tall freestanding tower.

What You Need

• 100 index cards for each team.
• Equal supplies of tape and glue for each team.
• Prizes for the winning team.
• Measuring tape.

Setup

• Divide the delegates to team of 3 or 4.
• Provide the supplies to each group. Explain that they need to manage their supplies wisely as you cannot provide any more if they run out of anything. However, it is totally up to them if they want to negotiate resources with other groups.
• Ask groups to make the highest freestanding tower they can with their materials.
• Allocate 15 to 30 minutes for this part.
• Measure the towers and declare the highest tower as the winner.
• Give prizes to the winning team.
• Bring back everyone together and follow with a discussion.

Timing

Explaining the Exercise: 5 minutes

Activity: 15 to 30 minutes

Group Feedback: 10 minutes