Touch It, Not Me Activity

This Activity is meant for Scouts BSA.

An even number of scouts from 10 to 100.
Any unbreakable object about the size of a stuffed animal - maybe even a stuffed animal!

Teamwork activity to show that assumptions may restrict potential.
Be careful about inadvertantly teaching that it is ok to bend or break rules to win. There were specific rules to follow in this task.

Place the animal in the middle of the play area.
Tell everyone this is an activity for the entire group to work on together. So, everyone find a partner from a different patrol.
Tell everyone to circle up around the animal.

Objective: Everyone on the team touches the animal and says a key phrase in the fastest possible time.

Rules:

• Each scout must touch the animal.
• Each scout must NOT touch anyone else.
• Each scout must repeat the phrase 'Touch It, Not Me!'
• Each scout must switch places with their partner.

Whenever someone wants you to repeat the rules or has a question about the objective - just repeat them exactly as you said them the first time.

When the team is ready, give the 'GO' signal and time them.
After their first attempt, ask them if they'd like to try again. Repeat as often as necessary. As long as they keep their same process, they will have incremental improvements.

Hopefully, someone will question the rules. Something like, "Do we have to stay in a circle?", "Can the animal be picked up?", ... and each time you should just re-iterate the rules so they discover that there is no rule against doing many things.

Once this happens, and it may happen even before they make an attempt, then huge revolutionary improvements may occur rather than smaller evolutionary ones.

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Reflect:
Who led the team?
How were ideas considered and discussed?
Were any incorrect assumptions made? What ones?
How much improvement was there from the first try to the best try?
When did the most improvement occur?