Leadership Inspirations Activities
Thinking Game
A quick brain teaser to inspire creative thinking
Duration
10 minutes
Team Stage
Storming, Norming, Performing
Type Of Activity
Game
Materials
None
SUMMARY
A quick brain teaser to warm the group up for creative thinking and problem solving.
SET UP
- If you would like, you can prepare the riddle on a whiteboard or poster paper before leading the activity.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Give this riddle to the whole group:
- In a basement, there are three light bulbs. At the top the stairs are three light switches, one for each bulb. You can only go upstairs and back down one time. You cannot see the light bulbs from the light switches. How do you determine which switch goes to which bulb?
- If some participants already know the answer ask them to let others try to understand first.
- Give them 5-10 minutes to think and talk through it before giving them the answer.
- Solution: Turn on two switches. Wait about 5 minutes, then turn off one switch. Go downstairs. The bulb that is on is the one whose switch is still on. The warm off bulb is the switch you just turned off. The cold off bulb is the switch that has never been turned on.
VARIATIONS
- Try this activity in smaller groups or pairs to increase participation from group members.
- Try another logic puzzle like the Baseball Thinking Game!
SAMPLE DEBRIEFING QUESTIONS
What?
- What was the goal of this activity?
- Did your group do well? What could have improved?
- How did your group make decisions? Was it effective or ineffective?
- How did your group manage conflict that arose?
So What?
Alignment
- Are we the only ones that define our purpose? What or who influences our purpose?
- How do we communicate our purpose to new members or people outside of our group?
- Why is it important that we all understand the purpose of our group/activity/etc.?
Meeting Skills
- What are some of our effective and ineffective meeting habits?
- When are you most engaged in meetings? When are you least engaged?
- What are the roles that people play in meetings? Why are these roles important?
Project Planning
- What has worked in other projects you have done? How have you dealt with setbacks?
- How do you connect with the process of planning? Do you like it/not like it? How does this impact you/your group?
- How do we manage our time? How does that affect our ability to complete our projects?
Now What?
- What does this activity tell you about the strengths of your group? The areas for improvement?
- What’s one commitment each person can make?
- What are three lessons the group has learned that they can continue to work on?
- How can we implement these lessons in our school/organization?
- What can you do differently moving forward?
