Purpose: To make players interdependent.
Materials/Playing Space: Open space
Description: One player enters the playing area and becomes part of a large object or organism (animal, vegetable, or mineral). Examples include a machine, clockworks, abstract mechanisms, animals, natural elements. As soon as the nature of the object becomes clear to another player, he or she joins as part of the whole. Play continues until all are participating and working together to form the complete object. Players may assume any movement, sound, or position to help complete the whole.
Possible Variations: Create machines with themes (school, etc.). Try taking out a piece of machine & observe the affect (a nice metaphor for interdependence).
Notes/Sidecoaching: This game is useful as a warm-up or as a close to a session, as it generates spontaneity and energy. Players often stray from the original “idea” of the first player, resulting in fanciful abstraction.
The teacher should use side coaching to help single players join in, those who fear they may be guessing wrong about the object that is forming, or those who rush to join in without awareness of the whole.
Debrief: How would you describe our machine? How did each player add to it? What does this machine say about our theme?
Integration Ideas: Cooperation, interdependence, inventions