Workshop Games
Creating board games, BINGO or word puzzles allows for kinesthetic learning of key concepts. Games add variety and make learning fun!
Longer workshops provide an opportunity for learning to take the form of playing a game. Creating a game that can be reused every time the workshop is presented can be a real time saver. It also helps to rejuvenate tired participants, especially in all-day workshops.
Board Games
A board game can be created where participants gather pieces of what they need as they go around a board by the roll of a die. The person to gather all their pieces first, wins. Make it challenging by having spaces that force them to answer knowledge questions in order to receive their piece. Create road blocks, for example, squares that make them go back 3 spaces or give up a piece to the person to their left. There are many variations - use your imagination and make it fun!
BINGO
You can create BINGO cards that have information that the player has to gather in order to completely black out their card. The information can be something they must ask other participants for, find in a manual (and quote the page number on the BINGO card) or gather in some other means. For example, a great ice-breaking exercise is to ask participants ahead of time to give one piece of juicy information that others in the group would not know about them. Fill the squares with a short snip-it of this information. Players must go around the room and ask questions to discover whose story belongs to whom and write the name in each square. The player who finds all the names, wins.
Puzzles
Crossword puzzles, word searches and the like offer kinesthetic learners a way to learn through hands-on activity. If the subject matter involves learning new vocabulary then word puzzles or crosswords are ideal.
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If you liked this blog entry, try the articles Keeping Workshops Practical or Focused Workshop Design
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