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Water in the Gap

Goal:

  • To bring together smaller groups that will build deeper relationships between them and learn how to cooperate

Materials:

  • 1 empty bucket/bowl and 1 bucket filled with water
  • 2m long twine/ lace
  • Plastic cup
  • Stronger rubber band
  • Clean paper
  • 3 skewers
  • A rope
day6-33
day6-32

Introduction:

”You are in a hot desert and your whole team has run out of water. If the team fails to find any source of drinking water as soon as possible, it will mean certain death for you. However, there is some good news. Our research team has discovered a possible source of water. The only problem is that the water is in the middle of a deep abyss. The goal of the team is to use the means provided to obtain water from the source and to make a supply of drinking water for the whole team without anyone falling into the abyss.”

Instructions:

Create a square of 3×3 meters with a rope, which will represent the abyss. A bucket filled with water will be placed in the middle. Another empty bucket will be located at least 5 meters from the abyss (created square). Each team will receive an empty plastic cup, a solid rubber band, twine according to the number of team members, skewers, and clean paper. Then they have to figure out a way how to get the water from the source to their empty bucket, without falling into the abyss and without spilling and thus wasting the water.

 

Solution:

Each team member ties their twine to the rubber band. By pulling the twine, they enlarge the rubber band and place it on the cup. Once released, they can carry the cup to get water from the middle of the abyss. When the team has water in the glass, it has to transfer it to an empty bucket with the help of an elastic band and twine, where it can be poured out by hand. The team must return to the water as many times as there are members in the group. Other tools (paper, skewers) do not need to be used, the goal is to mix the team with extra tools.

Reflection:

• Was it hard to figure out how to get water out of the abyss?
• Have you used all the tools? What was your final strategy?
• Did you succeed for the first time or did you even spill water from a glass?
• In this activity, you also had tools that you did not need to complete the task and may have delayed you in finding the right solution. Do you remember a situation in life where you looked at one of your problems from several different perspectives and tried to find the right solution? Did anyone help you with that? What was the result?

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