Can you use childhood activities to augment your training session?

When one is designing games to meet the learning objectives of the session, one doesn’t always need to think: Complicated!

Simple childhood activities or games played at home or elsewhere can be creatively modified to create fun and enthusiasm in a training room in a very easy yet impactful way

Some childhood activities/games which I have used extensively in my training programs are mentioned here.

Do share games or activities which you think can be used in training programs

MCQs

Who hasn’t answered MCQs, or the Multiple Choice Questions? Whether it was the ‘True or False’ in History lesson Class VII or ‘Choose among the following alternatives’ in the “Engineering/Management entrance exam”, we have all solved MCQs sometime in our life!

The same ubiquitous MCQs can be used either as questionnaires or more engagingly, as a group activity.

Find the odd man out :  A Powerpoint of MCQs

If MCQs are asked as a team activity, the class is divided into teams and the facilitator moderates the question-answer Quiz round. Questions can be asked openly or through a PowerPoint presentation. They can cover myriad topics, from the simple learnings to models discussed to clarifications on important topics learnt during the session

The key in this seemingly simple process is to prepare questions well in advance, so that the audience is sufficiently challenged and tested. The answers can be debated and re-emphasized for deeper clarity. Also unlike in childhood, the question can be chosen carefully keeping the learning objectives of the session, reinforcement strategy etc. in mind!

This cleverly veiled Quiz Show can hold the audience engaged without their even realizing it!

Arrange the following in a sequence/ Highest-lowest

Like MCQs, this activity can be very competitive and fun if time element is introduced viz :

• Arrange the top 5 territories in the western region in terms of volumes sold in an ascending order within the next thirty seconds.
• What are the four sequential steps to complete a coaching engagement?
• What are the 7 important documents required for completion of Insurance process? Arrange them in order of priority…etc.
  

The advantage of rearranging data this way is that vital information which needs to be memorized by the participants will be learnt in a FUN way. The trainer gets better assessment of the understanding of his participants

For What is the highest/lowest category again some simple questions from the content of the workshop viz:

• Which team sold the maximum number of refrigerators in the Central Zone of our company ? What were these?
  
• Which customer service telecaller clocked in the lowest Turnaround Time?
• Which is fastest growing category of internet users among the urban population?
  

Images can be creatively used to further enhance the learning and make the process more visually appealing!

Treasure Hunt

This popular game of hunting for clues can be modified in innumerable ways

• This can be a wonderful icebreaker where the clues placed across the room introduce the session to the participants
• The clues can be hidden across the room for added suspense.
• Clues can be the important topics, clarifications, important features which need to be memorised
• They can be in the form of questions or statements or words
  
• The entire treasure hunt can be carried out alone , in pairs or as a team, indoors or outdoors.
• Clues can be linked to each other to derive a bigger picture

The point I am trying to make is simple, use what is available easily….but make it FUN and engaging!

Participants will not even realise when and how learning has happened!

A to Z Game of review

This simple game from childhood makes a very good game of review or a recap.

It can also be used as an assessment test of gauging how much have the participants learnt and understood from the session.

Time required for this activity is a minimum of ten to about thirty minutes.

Number of participants can vary from ten to hundred.

A to Z is played with paper and pen, preferably with some music played in the background.

Game instructions

The game can be played as a team game where the participants are divided into teams with equal members, or individually.

Instructions are simple! When the music starts , the participants need to write the letters of Alphabet from A to Z on paper.

Against each letter then, one writes in some concept which one has learnt in the training session. For e.g. In an introductory session of ID what someone could write would be:

A: Affective Domain, Activity Learning, Adult learning theory

B: Bloom’s taxonomy…..

…..

K: Kirkpatrick’s Model,

L: Learning Domain…..etc

The list needs to be as exhaustive as possible with as many numbers against each letter.

Light music in the background can make the game lively.

When the music stops the participants stop writing and exchange papers. The one with the maximum number of words written, wins!

Debrief :

After the winner is declared, the trainer reviews all the words together with the class, writing them together on a flip-chart or the board, if required. Then the concepts which are not clear to some, are explained and reinforced again.

There could be discussion and elaboration of the same depending on the time available.

This simple game helps one remember and recollect all that has been learnt. It also gives an idea to the trainer how much has been learnt.

Collective knowledge received from the adults is used as a material for review and reinforcement!