Knotted Up
Ages: 6+
Time: 20-45 minutes
Learning Objectives:
Students will learn how to use their senses to build spatial awareness and communication skills working with partners and in groups
Materials: blindfolds
This human knot game with a twist challenges individual spatial awareness and fosters group communication. For an extra challenge, blindfold the students before they even begin to “tie” their knot. Vary the difficulty by having more or fewer students in the group or by imposing a time limit for the untangling. For yet another variation, the students are not blindfolded but they cannot speak to each other.
A group of 4-6 students stand close together in a circle and extend their arms forward into the middle of the circle.
Each student grabs hold of two other students’ hands (you can’t hold both hands with just one other person). Then each member of the group is blindfolded.
The objective is for the students to get themselves as “untied” as possible without ever letting go of each other and without looking.
Reflection: How did you decide who would speak during the game? Did you use your body differently when your eyes were blindfolded vs playing with your eyes were not?