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Description

Improve your teamwork skills with this fun space themed game.

Courtesy of the Scout Association: https://www.scouts.org.uk/activities/mission-lightyear/

Resources

- Something to mark lines (for example, chalk, masking tape, or rope)
- Blindfolds
- Different coloured cones

Instructions

# Before you begin

Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Additional help to carry out your risk assessment, including examples can be found here. Don’t forget to make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.

To set up the game, mark a line on the ground. On one side of the line, spread out your plastic cones. You can increase the challenge of this game by placing the cones further apart.


# Split into teams

To start, you can play this mini game to make this more fun and to encourage members to work with someone they may not usually join a team with.
The person leading the activity should split everyone into groups of three.

When the leader calls ‘zero gravity’, everyone should pretend to float around in space by moving around their meeting room.

When the leader calls ‘black hole’, everyone should quickly join up with the two people closest to them to create a group of three.

Repeat steps 2 and 3 until everyone has warmed up and joined up into different groups a few times.

# Play the game

1. The person leading the activity should start by setting the scene: You’ve all crash landed on a distant, faraway planet, and you need to get home. However, you’ve been marooned, and your spaceship was damaged during the crash. Now, you must work together in small teams to gather all the parts to fix your spaceship.

2. In their teams of three, they must each choose a role. They can either be the Commander, Pilot or Engineer.

- The Commander can speak, but not see the cones or the Engineer.
- The Pilot can see, but not speak.
- The Engineer can move, but not see.

3. Everyone needs to get into the right position for their chosen role.

- The Commander must stand behind the line with their back to the cones so they cannot see them.
- The Pilot must stand in front of the Commander facing the cones, so the Commander can see them.
- The Engineer must be blindfolded and stood on the other side of the line facing the cones, with their back to the Commander and Pilot.

4. The person leading the activity should explain the rules. They must work as a team to collect one cone in each of the colour’s to fix their ship.

5. The Pilot will see where the Engineer needs to go, and they will sign this using body movements for the Commander to say.

6. The Commander will see the Pilots movements, and they will be able to speak to verbally direct the Engineer.

7. The blindfolded Engineer needs to listen out for their Commander to direct them to the cones.

8. The person leading the activity should set a timer for three minutes and count everyone in to start the game.

9. When the three minutes is up, let each team discuss what went well and what could be improved.

10. Play the game again and switch up the roles, so everyone gets a chance to be the Commander, Pilot and Engineer.


# Reflection

This activity needed everyone to communicate and work as a team. Which of the Commander’s and Pilot’s instructions were the easiest to follow, and why? Each team should think together, and then share their ideas with everyone else.

If you were blindfolded during this activity, you had to use all your senses, including your sense of balance and awareness of your own body. Did you find this part of the activity easy or difficult? What was it like to not have your sense of sight? How did you feel?

In this game, different people had different roles, even though they were on the same team. Can anyone think of another example where people have different roles in a team? People may think about sports, such as football, where players have different positions, or even a film set, where some people are actors, some directors and some are set or costume designers, among lots of other roles.

This activity gave everyone a chance to think about what makes a great leader , and gave some people the chance to give it a go. The Commanders and Pilots needed to give the Engineers clear instructions, so everyone reached their goal. It’s important for them to be trustworthy. What was it like to guide someone who couldn’t see? Was it a lot of responsibility?


# Safety

All activities must be safely managed. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Do a risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Always get approval for the activity and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

## Active games
The game area should be free of hazards. Explain the rules of the game clearly and have a clear way to communicate that the game must stop when needed.


# Change the level of challenge

Some people could be 'aliens’, and they could call out incorrect instructions to try and confuse the blindfolded player, the Engineer.


# Make it accessible

People can move at their own pace, so you don’t need to make it competitive unless it works for everyone.

No-one has to be blindfolded if they don’t want to be. They could just close their eyes, or they could choose someone else to have their turn.

If it’s too noisy and anyone doesn’t like the noise, the person leading the activity can remind everyone to be quieter.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Tags

• teams
• teamwork

Badge Links

• Teamwork - Challenge