Experiential Learning - Animal Sounds

  • Group Size: 10 to 50+ (must have a minimum of 10)
  • Time Needed: 15 minutes
  • Goal: To increase trust and risk-taking within the group while having fun
  • Audience: Couples, Parents, Singles, Teens, Children
  • Special Considerations: This activity may not be appropriate for people who have experienced trauma as the blindfolds may frighten them. If anyone is uncomfortable being blindfolded they can sit out and watch. This activity can become very chaotic and loud. Be sure to consider possible cultural issues (within your group’s participants). For example, an animal may be considered sacred or offensive. Please give your class the option to sit out if they feel uncomfortable.
  • Resources Needed: Blindfolds

Step-by-Step Instructions

1

Have the group form a circle.

2

Hand out blindfolds and have participants put them on.

3

Explain that the facilitator will go around the circle and whisper the name of an animal in each participant’s ear.

4

Depending on the size of the group, limit the number of different animals. If you have a small group, maybe have just 3 animals or a larger group can have 4 to 6 animals.

5

Tell the group to spin 3 times and then begin making the noise of their animal in order to find their animal group. However, they cannot talk – they can only make the sound of the animal.

6

There will be a lot of chaos at first while people are trying to move around and find their group but eventually will become orderly. Once the groups are all together, the exercise is complete.

Tips for Discussion and Processing

This is a fun exercise to build trust within the group and for individuals to experience risk taking. Questions for discussion may include asking participants how it felt to 1) be blindfolded and not know what was going to happen and 2) how they felt when they finally found the animal group they belonged to.

Resources

Note: These activities can be modified to reflect a variety of skills.

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