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Description

In pairs one person has to follow the movements of another, ensuring that they do so closely enough that something held between them remains in place.
This is intended to emphasise physical flexibility while encouraging focus and concentration.
Can run for longer than 5 minutes, but things need to be kept active in that case.

Resources

Pieces of paper or similar, about playing card sized.
Other things with more or less friction can be used to change things up.

Instructions

Everyone taking part pairs off. Each pair is issued with a piece of paper.
One person places the paper on the back of their hand and the other person places the back of their hand to hold it in place (usually right-hand to right-hand, or left-to-left).
Pick one person to lead. That person moves their hand (slowly at first) and the other must keep their hand in place so that the paper does not fall.
Start slowly with side-to-side, up-down, etc. Move up to more complicated moves (turning the hand over, etc) to keep it challenging.
Importantly, this is not a challenge to make them drop the paper: both people are trying to keep it in place, while pushing themselves to move faster or in more complicated ways. The person leading must anticipate and plan how far the person following can reach in order to push their ability without overstretching them.
After either a given time or when the paper falls swap roles.
Options for making this more challenging include: blindfolding the person following (making them rely entirely on touch to work out what is happening); one, or both, cannot move their feet; high or low friction materials that are harder to keep in place or harder to twist your hand against; right-to-left hands; etc.

This was originally run as part of a series of evenings on physical and mental health, emphasising focusing and concentration on the mental side. It's also used as a warm-up/ cool-down exercise in some martial arts classes because of the emphasis on following what someone is doing.

Tags

• Concentration
• flexibility
• focus

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