Innovative Activity #2: Minefield

An activity that came to mind when doing this research is from a binder I put together for another class.  The activity is called Minefield and is a group initiative activity.  I really enjoyed this activity, and found that there were several therapeutic benefits to it.  When doing group initiative activities there is a certain leadership style to follow.  Usually the activities have a lot of meaning behind them and facilitators want to front load and debrief appropriately to get the maximum effect out of the activity.  An initiative is a problem that is presented to a group that must be solved using the physical and/or intellectual resources of the entire group.  When introducing the activity you always want to present the group initiatives ahead of time.  You don’t want to front load so much though that you give the meaning of the activity away, but making sure that there are some goals mentioned without giving “hints” is appropriate.  I feel that this is an awesome activity to do with corrections and especially at-risk youth.  During the activity you are supposed to think of life’s obstacles or certain stressors that are getting in the way of your productivity, so using this for people who have gotten into trouble and are struggling will make them confront the issues.  The confrontation and sharing is usually done after the activity is over during the debrief portion.  Also, during debrief there can be discussion of how to move forward and overcome these obstacles.  Teamwork is a major aspect that is used in “Minefield” because you are blindfolded so you need to trust the person who is guiding you; of course this isn’t a real minefield but only a pretend one you make up.  It addresses all four domains and you can reach goals in each section.  This activity involves a lot of physical movement and the need to be on your hand and knees crawling with good listening skills.   You could adapt this activity to being in a wheelchair or using a walker to dodge the objects.  This wouldn’t be appropriate for geriatrics or people with low functioning skills.  It’s very cost effective because you can use random objects that you have lying around; you don’t need to buy specific ones and can be thrown together easily.  The only thing you would need to worry about is having blindfolds for the participants.  The website that I found it on is located under the reference section of the activity description.               

Minefield

Activity Type:  Group Initiative/Non-Competitive Game

Activity Description:  An entertaining activity that helps a group to build better trust with each other.

Purpose/Goals:

1.   To build trust in between group members.

2.   To learn how to successfully work together to complete a task.

3.   To have fun while working with other group members.

Activity Level:  Moderate to High

Appropriate Audience: School aged children to adults with 2-30 participants.

Physical Setting:  This activity can take place indoors or outdoors in an open area large enough to accommodate the participants and the “minefield.”

Equipment and Materials:

-          Many different objects to be used as the “mines”

-          Blindfolds (optional)

-          Markers to indicate the boundaries

Instructions/Facilitation:

1.   Have the group get into groups of two (or the leader can assign partners).

2.   Inform the group that one partner will be blindfolded, and the other will be directing the partner through the “minefield” from one side to the other.

3.   Explain that they must stay within the boundaries and cannot touch any of the mines, and if they do, they will get a penalty (i.e. starting over, freezing for 5 seconds, etc.)

4.   Have the one partner put on their blindfold (or close their eyes), and have them begin.

5.   Once everyone has made it to the other side safely, the partners switch roles and go through the “minefield” again.

Physical and Emotional Safety Precautions:

Inform the group of Challenge by Choice, but encourage everyone to participate.  Also, stress to be very cautious of the blindfolded people not bumping into objects or other participants.  Tell the group that everyone should be encouraging and supportive of other group members.

Variations:

1.   Have one of the partners not be able to talk.

2.   Have the blindfolded people have to go into the “minefield” to “rescue” an object and take it to safety, which is outside of the boundaries.

3.   Make the minefield even more challenging by hanging “mines” from above.

Special Notes: Make sure that all participants keep a positive attitude throughout the activity.

Discussion Questions/Processing: 

1.   How much did you trust your partner (out of 10) at the beginning of this activity?

2.   How much did you trust your partner (out of 10) at the end of this activity?

3.   What did your partner do to help you feel safe and secure?

4.   What could your partner have done to help make you feel more safe and secure?

5.   What communication strategies worked best?

Reference:
Minefield. (2009). Retrieved March 29, 2011 from http://wilderdom.com/​games/​descriptions/​minefield.html

Innovative Activity #1: You, Me, Left, Right

The activity I chose is an Icebreaker activity called, “You, Me, Left, Right”.  It’s a fun way to learn everyone’s names, but with more of a challenge than just sitting in a circle or line and introducing yourself to a group.  This activity would be appropriate for a younger audience; children and adults.  I don’t think it would be very appropriate for let’s say a geriatrics population because there is a lot of movement.  With some adaptations, people with physical disabilities would be able to use this, there would just need to be more space and the activity would take a little bit more time.  Potentially, I can see this activity really working well in a correction type setting or working with at-risk youth.  The therapeutic potential for this activity is enormous.  The induction of anxiety is caused by many social situations, including introducing yourself.  This activity is a way of introducing yourself and making a game out of it, where anyone can be put on the spot and has an equal amount of challenge.  It’s also a way to get everyone’s adrenaline going and excitement for other activities that you have planned for the day!  There aren’t any resources needed, just a big enough space for the amount of people you have participating, so it’s very cost effective and can be run indoors or outdoors.  The best leadership style is that you need to front load the activity and then it’s mainly the participation of the group that runs the activity.  There might need to be debriefing and a couple discussion questions are listed at the end of the activity description.  I found this activity on a website I was introduced to through another recreation class called “Ultimate Camp Resource”.  This website has various activities for a range of populations and programs that you might be putting on.  You can go to this website to find more information on this activity along with others relating to it.              

You, Me, Left, Right

Activity Type:  Icebreaker/Mixer

Activity Description: A fun, simple game to help learn the names of the members in the group.

Purpose/Goals:

1.           To learn the names of members in the group.

2.           To provide a fun activity to get participants excited for the rest of the day.

Activity Level:  Sedentary to Moderate

Appropriate Audience:  Groups of any size with participants being school-aged children to adults.

Physical Setting:  This activity can take place indoors or outdoors with sufficient space to accommodate for all the members of the group.

Equipment and Materials: None, just the members of the group.

Instructions/Facilitation:

1.           Have the group form a circle and the facilitator explains the rules.

2.           The facilitator explains that whoever is in the middle of the circle, called the caller, will walk up to someone standing in the circle and say either, “You,” “Me,” “Left,” or “Right.” Then they count to 3. (For example, 1 banana, 2 banana, 3 banana or some other counting form).

·         "You" is the person being questioned.

·         "Me" is the caller.

·         "Left" is the person to the left of the one being questioned.

·         "Right" is the person to the right of the one being questioned.

3.           The person that is being questioned has to the count of 3 to give the right response. 

4.           If their response is correct the caller continues on to another participant in the circle.

5.           If their response is incorrect or not within the count of 3, then that person becomes the new caller.

6.           The facilitator then starts off the game by being the first caller.

Physical and Emotional Safety Precautions: Make sure to tell the members that if they choose to move quickly around the circle that they be careful not to slip and fall.  Inform the participants of Challenge by Choice; they do not have to participate if they do not feel comfortable, but also encourage them to try it first.  All members should be encouraging and not putting down any of the participants.

Variations:

1.           You can choose to have more than one circle if you have a big group.

2.           You can choose to have more than one person in the middle of the circle being the caller.

3.           The amount of time the participant has to respond can be changed depending on the age of the group members or how well the members know each other.

Special Notes: None

Discussion Questions/Processing:

1.           How was this game helpful in learning people’s names?

2.           Does anyone think they know everyone else’s name in the group?  (Have the participant name everyone in the group.)

3.           What was the most challenging part of this game?

Reference:

• Camp Whitcomb/Mason
• Ultimate Camp Resource. (2010). Retrieved March 28, 2011, from http://www.ultimatecampresource.com/site/camp-activity/you-me-left-right.html

Stephen Wk. 2: Tape Art! :D

This week in class, we did an all class activity on tape art.  There is so much that you could do with a couple rolls or tape, saran wrap, and scissors.  We watched a couple awesome tutorial videos to see how we create our sculpture and then watched a short youtube video that showed how tape art had been placed in different places in public.  We didn't have a theme or any guidelines, we just went with the flow.  We were allowed to bring in objects to tape or use for our creation.  Creativity was a huge aspect this week because you had to be able to use the tape to make your imagination come true.  We were in our groups so we also needed to work as a team and make sure we incorporated all of our ideas.  I feel like that was the biggest challenge because everyone went a different way with what we wanted to create.  We did a good job though listening to each other, using everyone's thoughts and ideas and putting them into one.  I brought a flamingo to class and we used that as our basis of inspiration and taped one of our group member's legs and then another girls hands.  Together, we created a human twist on the flamingo. 

We also worked on 2-D art which you can see on the wall, the hot air balloon.  That wasn't our groups creation but we had one of our group members do a handstand and then taped the outline of her body.  Tape art can be used for specific populations and can potentially address a lot of goals and objectives from the four domains.  We talked about it after we were done with all our projects and came to the conclusion that tape art wouldn't be good for geriatrics or people with fine/gross motor skills.  It would be a good activity for troubled adolescence because it really stresses social comfortability and boundaries and working together as a team. 

First week in Dr. Stephen's section

I really enjoyed myself during the first week after the switch into Stephen's section.  We did ice breaker influenced activities in a sense that he wanted to get to know us and where we are at as far as facilitating activities and group work.  We were given a couple different scenarios, props, and limitations where we needed to come up with activities that addressed two of the domains (physical, emotional, cognitive, or social) and have goals specific to our creation.  There was one group that was given paper, tape, Dixie cups, and balloons and had to incorporate every prop in their activity.  We had shower caps, tape, medical gloves, a Halloween bucket and saran wrap.  We came up with a "medical play" activity where the participants would have to dress their partner, who was immobile, as a doctor in "scrubs" and walk them to the middle of the room and grab the "patient" or skull Halloween bucket for surgery.  I really tried my hardest during these activities to see how creative I could be and how quickly I could think.  I felt that the exercises were really good because as TRS's we need to ALWAYS be thinking on our toes and be accepting to new challenges.  There might be times where we need to quick put together an activity, and the job in itself we don't usually get a lot of funding for our programs so we need to be resourceful.  Everyone came up with really good activities that could be facilitated with a lot of different populations, and of course we had a lot of good laughs! 

I am thoroughly looking forward to this weeks class because we are doing tape art which is something i've never done before.  I'm interested to see the process it takes to get a finished product after watching the video in class on it.  I am also looking foward to more group presentations on different topics and the innovations!   

Article Review Assignment: Adaptive Devices/Technology

Article Review Assignment:  Adaptive devices/equipment

Name of article:  “Factors Affecting Older Adults’ Use of Adaptive Equipment: Review of the Literature”

Name of journal:  American Journal of Occupational Therapy

Name of author(s):  Laura Hastings Kraskowsky and Marcia Finlayson

I found this article through Goggle Scholar.  I originally found it on the Therapeutic Recreation Directory website but they didn’t have the full text article, just the citation.  After typing it on Goggle I found the full text version; I couldn’t even find it on the American Journal of Occupational Therapy website.  I found it on November 2^nd, 2011.

                I chose this article to review because it not only deals with the population that I am most interested in (geriatrics) but it also has to deal with occupational therapy.   After getting my TR degree I am thinking of going onto school for OT.  This article addresses the main issues that there are with adaptive equipment and uses of it by the elderly.  Something to keep in consideration is the level of mobility and functioning the clients have.  If the client has a very little range of motion or doesn’t participate in high skilled and enduring activities, then some adaptive devices might not be appropriate.  There are many things to take into consideration when prescribing an adaptive device; client’s personal factors, training with the device, client’s environment, client’s economic status, etc.  It is very important to, as a therapist, become knowledgeable about all the devices that you plan on using with clients and prescribing for them.  If you do not know how to use the device it will be very hard to try to facilitate the use of the device with others. 

                I think this is an important article because it gives you a checklist of things that you need to consider when using adaptive devices.  It’s always important to be aware of the population and their levels of ability.  This article might pertain more to people who are thinking of going to work with geriatrics or as an occupational therapist.  It weighs out the positives and negatives concerning adaptive equipment.  I would definitely recommend this article to other therapeutic recreation students.    

Article Review Assignment: Therapeutic benefits of a specific activity

Article Review Assignment:  Therapeutic benefits of a specific activity 

Name of article:  “Community Gardening in a Senior Center: A Therapeutic Intervention to Improve the Health of Older Adults”

Name of journal:  Therapeutic Recreation Journal

Name of author(s):  Elizabeth N. Austin, Yvonne A. M. Johnston, and Lindsay Lake Morgan

I found this article off of the Therapeutic Recreation Directory website and typed it into Google scholar to find the full text PDF.  It can also be found in the Therapeutic Recreation Journal.  I found this on November 2^nd, 2011. 

                The reason I chose this article is because I don’t know a whole lot about using gardening as a recreation tool, so I wanted to gain more insight.  This article also had to deal with the older population and the therapeutic benefits that gardening had on their improvement of health.  Knowing the benefits of physical exercise, elderly still do not always engage and that sort of activity, which leads to deterioration of health.  Spaces for gardening need to almost always be private if you are seriously trying to use it as a therapeutic tool; actually nursing a plant to maximum growth, keeping animals and other species away from the plants, and controlling the weather (sunlight or water).  This can get very expensive so a research study was done on the benefits of gardening, to back up the cost.  This article states that gardening has been proven to:  give opportunity for exercise, provide nutritional and economic benefits, improve physical and mental well-being, and give a place for social interactions.  As TR Specialists, we are qualified to plan, teach, and give leadership if necessary to help seniors with their gardens.  I think gardening is a good way to provide recreation because it’s not only calm but the clients are benefitting from the activity almost immediately without even realizing it. 

                I would really recommend TR students reading this article because it uses the leisure ability model in detail and an outline for the research so we can really relate to the purpose.  It also gives a lot of insight on the aspects of gardening that can be utilized for therapy.  For example, if a TRS was trying to start up a community garden, because they are so expensive, they could use this article as a means of persuasion by showing administrative board members the benefits and how they outweigh the negative (if any) impacts of gardening with seniors.  Sometimes as TRS’s we will need to fight for funding money and really prove ourselves that we are just important, if not more important, than everyone else.   

Article Review Assignment: Leadership

Article Review Assignment:  Leadership

Name of article:  “Creative leadership:  a challenge of our times”

Name of journal:  School Leadership and Management Vol. 29, No. 1

Name of author(s):  Louise Stoll and Julie Temperley

I located the article in EBSCO HOST on their database on November 2^nd, 2011. 

I thought this was a very good, thorough article on creative leadership.  The title is what got my attention, because I think that creativity is a big issue today and most people resort to “Just show me how to do this”.  I took a different approach with the assignment for this part of the academic article reviews, and did it from a standpoint of a teacher; who is either teaching our types of classes about Therapeutic Recreation, or how we can apply the leadership techniques when we teach others during facilitation of activities.  The article focuses on education and outlines criteria needed to keep creativity going in the classroom.  According to the article, creative leadership is defined as “...an imaginative and thought-through response to opportunities and to challenging issues that inhibit learning at all levels.” (pg. 2)  This directly related to TR because we always need to be thinking on our toes and not every activity or lesson is going to go as planned so we need to be ready to accept challenges or issues that go along with it.  Another aspect of the article that could be applied to my future in TR is that it mentions promoting the creativity of your colleagues.  Depending on what kind of environment and population you are working with, it is always important to make sure that creativity juices are flowing amongst everyone to make it a successful environment.     

I would definitely recommend this article to everyone going into the field!  There is a lot of good information and key points that can not only help you, but spark interests in other aspects.  In this article there authors outline a lot of useful applications such as how to promote creativity of colleagues and goes into great detail.  It was an easy read, because the topic was so interesting so I didn’t lose focus.  The length of the article isn’t bad either; it’s only 15 pages with adequate spacing.  After reading this article I have a lot more insight on creativity.