Teamwork Exercise: Paper Bridge

Teamwork Exercise: Paper Bridge


Purpose

The aim of this fun exercise is to encourage team work and creative thinking.

Objective

Each team has to build a self-supporting paper bridge using the materials provided.

Things You Need

  • A stack of newspapers
  • One roll of sticky tapes for each team
  • A measuring tape

Setup

  • Split the group into teams of three people.
  • Each team has access to unlimited amount of newspapers and one sticky tape.
  • Each team has 10 minutes to build a bridge.
  • Facilitator can measure the length of each bridge using measuring tape.
  • The team which makes the longer bridge in the allocated time is the winner.

Rules of the game

  • Delegates cannot use the sticky tape to attach the bridge to the ground or table.
  • Sticky tape can only be used in the structure of the bridge.
  • The bridge can have a maximum of two support columns.

Timing

Explaining the Test: 5 minutes.

Activity: 10 minutes

Group Feedback: 20 minutes.

Discussion

Discuss with the group the key elements of team work noticeable during this exercise. Encourage discussions on the effect of communication, leadership and feedback systems involved during this activity.

Variations

As a variation you can remove the sticky tape and get the delegates to only use newspaper. In this case, set two chairs two meters apart from each other. The two chairs form the bases of the bridge at the two ends. Teams can only use paper to bridge the gap between the two chairs. The most elegant looking bridge with the least number of columns in the middle will win.

 

 


Comments

fusi

By fusi @ Wednesday, June 12, 2013 5:31 AM



The exercises are are easily performed and they make training enjoyable even effective


Syed Feroz Ali

By Syed Feroz Ali @ Saturday, October 12, 2013 12:56 AM



Excellent Job toward the Skill development


Leave a comment

All comments are moderated before being published.

This site is protected by hCaptcha and the hCaptcha Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.



The Most Similar Exercises & Articles to this in Order of Similarity Are:

Team Building Exercise: Iterative Collaboration
The 5-Minute Branding Challenge
The House of Ropes Team Building Exercise
Team Building Exercise: Leaky Pipes
Convergent vs Divergent Thinking Exercise
Caterpillar Traverse

Training Resources for You

Course Design Strategy

Course Design Strategy

Available as paperback and ebook

Training Resources

Free Training Resources

Download a free comprehensive training package including training guidelines, soft skills training activities, assessment forms and useful training resources that you can use to enhance your courses.

Body Language Guide

Our Comprehensive Guide to Body Language

Train the Trainer Guides

Train the Trainer Resources

Get Insights - Read Guides and Books - Attend Courses

Training Materials

Get downloadable training materials on: Management Training, Personal Development, Interpersonal Development, Human Resources, and Sales & Marketing

Browse Full Product Catalogue About Training Materials