Ball Sliding is a participatory activity designed to foster teamwork, communication, and problem-solving. Participants must collaborate to move a ball through an improvised course using channels or tubes, ensuring the ball does not fall. This activity promotes skills such as coordination, creativity, and group trust.
Preparation
- Define the purpose:
- Encourage cohesion and teamwork.
- Develop effective communication skills.
- Solve problems in a playful and challenging context.
- Prepare the materials:
- Tubes, gutters, or halved paper rolls to create channels.
- Small balls, such as marbles, ping-pong balls, or foam balls.
- A container to serve as the endpoint for the ball (e.g., a bucket, a box).
- Set up the space:
- Choose a spacious and open area.
- Design a course with optional obstacles to increase the challenge.
- In a virtual setting, the activity can be adapted into a collaborative challenge that simulates ball sliding using digital platforms. Instead of handling physical objects, participants will work together to guide a ball through a virtual course or complete tasks related to coordination and teamwork.
Step-by-step instructions
- Introduction to the purpose
- Explain that the objective of the activity is to move a ball from a starting point to an endpoint using the channels, without touching the ball directly and without letting it fall to the ground.
- Team organization
- Divide participants into teams of 4 to 6 people.
- Give each team their set of channels and a ball.
- Initial planning
- Allow time for teams to design their strategy, discuss how to coordinate, and practice if necessary.
- Activity execution
- Teams start moving the ball from the starting point, passing it from one channel to another without letting it touch the ground.
- Each participant can only move their channel once the ball has left it, promoting coordination.
- Increasing the challenge (optional)
- Introduce variations such as:
- Changing the course midway through the game.
- Timing the activity to add a competitive element.
- Adding curves or obstacles to the course.
- Introduce variations such as:
- Completing the course
- Once the teams complete the course, bring the group together for reflection.
- Group reflection
- Facilitate an open discussion about:
- What strategies worked best?
- What challenges did they face, and how did they overcome them?
- What did they learn about teamwork and communication?
- Facilitate an open discussion about:
