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Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Lemonade - A great activity by Mark Collard

Kristen Okura, coordinator for PA's Master's Degree Cohort in Southern CA and Don Juan Avila Middle School Physical Educator, sent a request for this activity. I'm thinking this is a great way to break back into the blog world after a long holiday break!

Hope you enjoy it. This activity and others like it can be found in No Props book by Mark Collard and available from PA.
Lemonade
It’s charades with a chasey twist.

At a glance
One team faces another team miming an occupation. As soon as the first team correctly guesses their trade, they will chase the second team back to their safe area.

What you need
A large, flat and open space, with boundaries
Minimum of 12 trades-people
10 – 15 minutes

What to do
Mark two “safe” areas approximately 30 metres (approximately 98 feet) apart, and a line which represents the mid-point between the two areas. Then divide your group in half.

Ask the members of each team to stand side-by-side, and face the other team about three metres (nine-ten feet) apart. One team moves forward one step and calls out “It’s as easy as Lemonade” (there’s a beat to it). The other team responds by marching forward one step “Show us your trade if you’re not afraid.” Okay, we’re now through with the preliminaries.

Upon this taunt, the “lemonade” team will immediately start to mime or “charade” a pre-determined occupation or trade. This has been agreed to earlier in the game when you asked this team to huddle and discuss which one occupation they would all like to “be” for the first round. Trades such as carpenters, hair-dressers, nurses, judges, lumberjacks, etc are all good examples.

The observing team is now charged with a responsibility of guessing what the chosen occupation is. Anyone can guess at any time, so long as the guesses are loud and clear. As soon as the trades-people hear a correct answer, they will turn around and retreat to their safe area. Naturally, the guessers will spring into action and attempt to tag as many of the trades-people as possible. All successful tags oblige that trades-person to switch teams.

Note, lepidoptery is a fine occupation, but to be fair, no one is ever going to guess this. So in the interests of time, I suggest you coach your group to exercise a modicum of fair play. Otherwise, you’ll be there forever trying to guess what the heck people who work with winged-insects are called.

Also, you may ask why “lemonade.” I don’t have an answer – it just is!

Variations
Same deal, but each team charades a trade at the same time. First correct answer to identify the trade of an opposing team will spark the chase.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am very happy to see the PA is posting with greater regularity. This Acitvity is a great variation and is fun!
Lepidoptery - could be guessed it all depends on who you are facilitating. Perhaps a group of entomologist?
any proccessing suggestions?

Beth said...

I will ask Mark to respond! Thanks for your comment and support.

Prof William R Foster, MBA said...

Hey Michael - thanx for the question! Generrally speaking, I tend to use Lemonade as a FUNN activity, so debriefing has not been a priority, but like all good "team-based" activities, Lemonade would be good for processing how well a team made decisions and the types of leadership and communication skills that were demonstrated by people. Questions like, "How easy was it to decide on a particular occupation?" and "What strategies did you employ to invite suggestions for occupations?"

But als always, have FUNN! For more great ideas like these, grab a copy of my latest activity book, 'Count Me In: Large Group Activities That Work' - available at PA Inc.

cya, Mark