The Rubbish Collectors’ Run

How to play

We divide the participants into teams of 5–10 people. We line each team up in a row and tie the hands of those standing next to each other. In each team, there is one person at the front and one at the back of the row with one hand untied.

We assign one supervisor (a leader or an adult) to each team. Their task is to ensure that participants do not pull or tug too hard on weaker or younger team-mates, and that the team follows the rules of the game. This person does not assist the team in any way.

Each team is given the same list of items which they must find, collect and carry with them until the end of the game. When a team has collected all the items on the list, they go to the person running the game, who records the team’s arrival time and checks that they have all the items.

The team that is the first to collect all the items and hand them over to the organiser wins.

PLEASE NOTE!

• teams do not have to collect the items in the order listed
• items that have been collected must not be set aside or stored anywhere; items not on the list must not be used to carry them (if, for example, a rucksack is on the list, then all other items may be placed inside it); all items must be carried with you until they are handed over to the organiser

Sample list of items

• pencil case
• toothpaste
• pine cone
• notebook
• leaf
• ant
• thread
• a handful of sand
• an autograph from a leader or supervisor (before signing, they might set the team a task to complete)
• a bouquet of flowers
• a shoelace
• a teddy bear
• a pen
• a spider
• five needles from a tree
• three straight sticks
• mobile phone charger

Guidelines for the facilitator

• The list may only contain items that the children will be able to find
• The order of the items on the list can be arranged so that consecutive items are not close to one another; for example, if we put ‘an empty pencil case’ at the start of the list, then we should only put “a pen” at the very end; this will make the task more challenging and force the children to think before they start running to the right places. It may also turn out that the team that thinks better wins, rather than the one that runs faster.
• Smaller or weaker players are best placed in a row alongside stronger ones, so that they aren’t ‘dragged along at the back’
• For failing to follow the rules of the game, you can give the team ‘penalty minutes’, i.e. make them sit down for a while, or add the appropriate number of minutes to the final score.
• When checking items off the list, let’s be open to the children’s creativity: if the list includes ‘Colgate toothpaste’ but they don’t have any, yet they write ‘Colgate’ on another tube of toothpaste, let’s count the point as completed :-)

Source

• cover image: DamaPL