What Others Are Saying
Problem Solving Workshop Participant
Minefields (or "Cow Patties" - see "non-violent script," below)
What: A blindfolded partner exercise emphasizing clear communication and trust.
Group Size: Up to 20 for one "minefield" or "Cow Pasture." Variations can allow for more at one time.
Time: 30 Minutes
Props Required: one 50' boundary rope, one blindfold per participant, and lots of balls, bean bags, mouse traps, and miscellaneous "other" props (see "Setup" below). At a minimum, can be facilitated with four cones and a sack full of sheets of crumpled paper.
Setup: prepare your minefield by making a 10' X 15' rectangle on the floor with your boundary rope. Spread out your plethora of props within the boundary rope so that someone could walk from one end to the other without touching any of the props, but not easily (i.e., there are no obvious clear paths). If you have mouse (NOT rat) traps, set these within the field as well.
Distribute blindfolds to the group.
Activity Instructions:
- Ask your group members to find a partner for this exercise.
- Explain that the goal for each pair of partners is for one of them to successfully cross the minefield lengthwise, while blindfolded, without touching any of the props. The sighted member of each pair will coach the blindfolded "walker." Stipulations include
- Only the walker may be inside of the minefield.
- The coach may only provide verbal assistance, i.e., no touching the walker or otherwise assisting physically.
- Have them determine between themselves who will first function as coach and who as walker and arrange themselves to begin travel.
- Once the pair completes the journey, roles are switched (walker becomes coach, coach becomes walker) so that both members get to experience the minefield.
Facilitator Notes:
- Whenever you have blindfolded participants, you as facilitator must be extra conscious of safety. Before doing this exercise, review with the group your use of the "s-word," i.e., STOP. Should the group ever hear you say this, they are to freeze in their tracks - you have seen a potential safety issue (e.g, a participant about to walk into another participant) that you will need to correct and you will tell the group when to begin again.
- Having said the above, safety issues are less likely in minefields than they are in other blindfolded activities. And you should still be very conscious of the environment.
- Depending upon your numbers and time frame, you may have the entire group working in the minefield at once. The space given here will accommodate more than 10 walkers / coach teams, or 20 total. This will increase the overall volume of noise, which only intensifies the experience (and provides a fruitful debriefing topic in and of itself - isn't one of the issues with good communication learning how to effectively screen out background noise and focus on the speaker?).
- Variations include
- Several smaller minefields - when you have a small space in which to work, set out 5'X10' squares, make the spaces between the objects smaller, and have some teams working lengthwise across the field and some working widthwise. Additional stipulation is that walkers may not make contact with any other walker.
- Objects to retrieve - in addition to all the props that walkers are supposed to avoid, randomly place within the field a stuffed animal for every walker. A team goal is added - for the group to make sure that all of the stuffed animals are rescued. Depending upon how this is framed, the variation can provide great material for debriefing on individual vs. team roles and performance; how we overcome the "silo" mentality; behaviors to avoid vs. behaviors to assume, etc.
Non-Violent Variation Script
In today's troubled world, having a group envision a "minefield" may be too much like reality for some. When I present this activity, I now present it as "Cow Patties." I avoid the unpleasant association and actually have more fun using the following script:
"You and your brother Darrel live out in the country where it's nice and peaceful-like [NOTE for those not from the Deep South in the USA: I present this with what we in the US know as a southern "twang" and really play it up. Some of my script reflects that -- "peaceful-like" = "peaceful" for us]. You raise cattle, have a nice big spread, and life is good. Best of all, there is a pretty gal named Missy-Lou and you've been wanting to get to know her better. Only her Daddy doesn't really like you much.
You get this great idea that, tonight being a moonless night, you're going to cross the cow pasture that separates your house from hers and pay her a visit. You're wearing your finest attire, including your brand new cowboy boots. Now you can't see real well, and you don't own a flashlight, and you're going to need to cross this pasture without getting your boots dirty. Because this is a cow pasture. That has cows. That leave behind ... cow patties.
Your brother Darrel can see really good at night, and he has agreed to help you. He's not going to get in the pasture with you, but he'll coach you from outside of the fence. Let's hope you make it across and still look good to impress Missy Lou."
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