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Group games are ideal for developing critical-thinking skills.

The link between critical thinking and one’s education is obvious – you can’t learn well unless you think well.

Critical thinking is the ability to look at problems in new ways, to analyse how parts of a whole interact with one another and to interpret information and draw conclusions.

Critical thinking and problem-solving skills were once thought to be the domain of gifted people. Today, they are necessary for every individual and group who seeks to make sensible decisions about financial, health, civic, workplace and leisure activities.

The solutions to international concerns such as climate change and global warming require highly developed critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. These skills include the ability to effectively analyse and evaluate evidence, arguments, claims and beliefs.

Benefits of Developing Critical-Thinking Abilities

The ability to solve interesting and unfamiliar problems often leads to the development of other skills such as increased engagement, higher concentration levels and improved thought processing.

Here are a few examples of experiences that occur in many programs which may provide you with an opportunity to focus on problem-solving skills:

• Forming a project team to solve an existing, yet complex problem.
• Thinking of a new campaign slogan to broadcast a difficult, yet important message.
• Adopting a rational, analytical and evidence-based approach to investigate a conflict.
• Challenging one of your group’s long-held beliefs or practices.

Naturally, one of the most powerful (not to mention, enjoyable) ways to develop and strengthen your group’s problem-solving skills is to employ the use of fun group games.

Group Activities Which Develop Critical-Thinking Skills

The images below provide links to a sample of simple group activities which may help you develop the critical thinking and problem-solving abilities of your group, drawn from playmeo’s ever-expanding activity database .

Enjoy browsing to your heart’s content.

If you’re not yet a playmeo subscriber, join today to unlock hundreds more group games and activities just like these.

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Why BrainGymmer?

Turning science into fun.

Together with neuroscientists, our team transforms science based exercises into fun and challenging games for the brain!

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Ten minutes a day is all it takes to keep your brain in shape, just like sports strengthens your body!

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Your brain has an enormous range of abilities, which can be divided in five major cognitive skills. Our brain games challenge you to exercise these skills

All brain games are based on trusted psychological tasks and tests. So use our free brain games to improve your memory, attention, thinking speed, perception and logical reasoning!

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What others say about us

Nice probably the best free brain games that i've tried, i really noticed the difference since i started doing online brain training, i wanted to find games to improve concentration and found them in braingymmer, fair amount of brain games for adults that work on my phone as well, pretty good brain games for adults, 'i like the brain training exercises, it is becoming easier for me to remember names and places etc.', what people often ask us, what is brain training.

Brain training, is the usage of digital exercises, also called brain games. Those exercises are used to stimulate mental activities with the purpose of improving your cognitive abilities.

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Critical Thinking Puzzles Online

Discover the world of critical thinking puzzles online, where each challenge is an opportunity to sharpen your intellect and enhance your problem-solving skills. KenKen Puzzles offers an extensive array of free KenKen puzzles designed to foster critical thinking and logical analysis. These puzzles, ranging from logic puzzle games to complex reasoning games, are perfect for anyone looking to boost their cognitive abilities and engage in mentally stimulating activities. Critical thinking puzzles like the KenKen are more than just games; they are online tools for mental growth.

KENKEN for your Mobile

Fun, addicting, yet educational. The KenKen iOS and Android apps are perfect for the whole family!

Why You Should Play our Critical Thinking Puzzles Online

Find Critical Thinking Puzzles Online

Will Shortz, NY Times Crossword Puzzle Editor and NPR Puzzle Master Loves KenKen! Find out why

Rules For Playing KenKen®

The numbers you use in a KenKen puzzle depend on the size of the grid you choose. A 3 x 3 grid (3 squares across, 3 squares down) means you use the numbers 1, 2, and 3. In a 4 x 4 grid, use numbers 1 to 4. A 5x5 grid requires you use the numbers 1 to 5, and so on.

The numbers in each heavily outlined set of squares, called cages, must combine (in any order) to produce the target number in the top corner using the mathematic operation indicated (+, -, ×, ÷).

Here's how you play:

• Use each number only once per row, once per column.
• Cages with just one square should be filled in with the target number in the top corner.
• A number can be repeated within a cage as long as it is not in the same row or column.
• To start, click on any square. A "number ring" appears with that grid's possible numbers. These numbers will also show up on the left side above the grid as the "Notes" box.
• Ready to fill a number in that square? Just click the one you want in the number ring. It will then appear in the middle of the square.

• If you'd like to repeat a note (notes) in another square, simply drag the number from the original square to the new one. Click here to see the video of how it works.
• When you've ruled out one of your notes, click on it again in the Notes box. The number will disappear from the square.
• When you fill in a number in a square (by selecting from the number ring), any notes in that square will disappear.
• Changed your mind about a number? In the number ring, click the red eraser icon to clear the square.
• To hide the number ring, click the red "X."
• How to Use the Keyboard: You can enter numbers and notes by using the keyboard. Once you’ve selected a square, you can press shift and a number key to enter (or delete) that number as a note. Or, to just enter a number in a square, press that number on the keyboard (no shift). To delete a number or note, press C.

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Games for Building Critical-Thinking Skills

Students love opportunities to sink their teeth into problems that don't have clear answers, or to tackle tough challenges that test their deduction skills and knowledge. It's often out of this challenging murkiness that new perspectives and ideas emerge. Treat your students to these terrific, fun critical thinking games and watch how they develop thinking skills and more complex understandings of the world. On this list are puzzle games that help students solve problems and think ahead, story-based games that help students understand and unpack local and global issues, and strategy games that get students to manage time and resources.

Minecraft: Education Edition

Stellar collaboration tools, controls make Minecraft classroom-ready

Bottom Line : An excellent tool to engage students in learning, collaboration, and critical thinking is now more accessible than ever to teachers.

Kahoot! DragonBox Learn Chess

Gentle chess puzzle game ideal for young newbies

Bottom Line : For kids who are new to chess but want to learn how to play, this fun intro to the game provides a well-done tutorial combined with a light overarching storyline.

Crayon Physics Deluxe

Influential physics game is still a draw

Bottom Line : Instantly engaging and super accessible to learners of many ages and abilities, Crayon Physics Deluxe fuses conceptual science learning with a brand of playful problem solving that demands creativity.

Contraption Maker

Solve problems, puzzles, brain teasers while creating wacky machines

Bottom Line : Hands-on problem-solving leads to great fun and independent learning with the right curricular wraparound to connect what kids are doing with what they need to know.

Classic logic puzzler gets a beautiful new look

Bottom Line : Promote powerful thinking skills, resilience, and decision-making through purely fun gameplay that will keep students begging for more.

Spiraling sandbox of adventure and creation gets kids to dig deep

Bottom Line : An irresistible and seemingly limitless incubator for 21st century skills that, with a little guidance, can chart new courses for learning.

WordWhile: Casual Literary Fun

Clever fill-in-the-blank game playfully promotes literature

Bottom Line : A different spin on reading the classics can engage students in the short term, but teachers should find ways to extend learning.

Little Alchemy 2

Flex alchemical muscles in amusing, discovery-based puzzler

Bottom Line : This amusing puzzle game encourages creativity, perseverance, and systems thinking, and with creative integration it can build interest in math, science, history, and literature.

Addicting gameplay jazzes up geography

Bottom Line : Game-based platform can get kids interested in world geography and expose them to different cultures on a surface level.

Slick ethics game teaches students to make tough decisions

Bottom Line : This versatile game that can teach ethics, argumentation, and civics is light on interactivity but will come alive through discussion.

Scribblenauts Remix

Vocab-building word puzzles inspire creative problem-solving

Bottom Line : Wide-open problem solving builds creativity, vocabulary, and spelling skills, but controls can be tricky.

Tyto Online

Ambitious science role-playing game has bright future

Bottom Line : Diverse characters, immersive experiences, and useful teacher tools make this life science RPG worth checking out.

Beats Empire

Music producing game balances fun with critical thinking and planning

Bottom Line : Students will have a blast with the music production and band-managing theme that carries with it some useful lessons in 21st century skills.

Refinement of strategy game formula supports historical exploration

Bottom Line : Like any consumer-oriented game, this experience will absorb and delight students far more than "educational" games, but it'll require open-minded and creative teaching.

An avant-garde journey of group dynamics sparks discussion

Bottom Line : An unusual app that will confuse and entertain classrooms, generating discussion on a number of societal and philosophical topics.

Mars Horizon

Authentic space agency sim focuses on logistics, planning

Bottom Line : This sim is backed by major space agencies, so it's a neat and trustworthy way to learn about the challenges of past and future space exploration.

NewsFeed Defenders

Social media simulation builds news literacy skills

Bottom Line : This is a great tool to kick off critical discussions about news and social media.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Brilliant, charming puzzler challenges kids' ELA and math skills

Bottom Line : It's on Nintendo DS so it's not easy to weave into a classroom, but it's worth it, bridging ELA and math in complex puzzles guaranteed to absorb students.

The Pack - NYSCI

Deceptively gentle coding game really packs a problem-solving punch

Bottom Line : This gorgeous, immersive programming game encourages novel solutions.

Think Like Churchill

Stunning visuals, thoughtful feedback bring critical decision points to life

Bottom Line : An excellent tool for studying the events and ethics that guide pivotal moments in history.

7 Billion Humans

Amusing puzzler challenges kids, teaches programming principles

Bottom Line : This high-quality puzzle game is a fun way for students to learn effective and efficient programming skills.

BBC iReporter

Spot real stories, dodge fake news in cheeky media literacy sim

Bottom Line : A refreshingly modern way for students to explore how to filter and interpret info and media during breaking news events.

Modern, minimalist fake news game has players be the villains

Bottom Line : Quick, fun, and to the point, this game gets at the social mechanics behind viral falsehoods.

Radio General

WWII game has layers of learning, novel voice-based controls

Bottom Line : This is a refreshingly new approach to a WWII game that offers students a more accurate simulation of battlefield chaos.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI

Best entry in classic strategy series might not be best for classrooms

Bottom Line : As with all games in this series, Civilization VI is a great learning experience with the right support, but older, cheaper versions may be more practical for classrooms.

Provocative, first-person look at poverty builds empathy

Bottom Line : It'll need some scaffolding, but for students ready for the subject matter it's a great -- if sobering -- way to illustrate to students the daily realities and struggles of poverty in America.

Surviving Mars

Colonizing Mars is in our future, but why wait?

Bottom Line : Lots of potential and perhaps much better in a year or so of updates; use this in a class about space exploration and the harsh realities of colonization.

Political Animals

Charming political campaign sim mixes data analysis and civics

Bottom Line : It's a highly entertaining and surprisingly deep way to help students see the strategy -- as well as ethical choices -- involved in elections.

Papers, Please

Mature immigration game forces tough ethical choices

Bottom Line : It's a provocative simulation about ethics and immigration that could spark debate but might be tough to implement.

Parable of the Polygons

Dynamic interactive helps classrooms explore topics of bias, diversity

Bottom Line : A fascinating way to address how communities become segregated due to individual bias.

The Republia Times

Unassuming editorial sim elegantly exposes the business of bias

Bottom Line : What this game lacks in pizzazz it makes up for in smarts, and it's certain to get students thinking and talking about bias and media politics.

This War of Mine

Strategy game offers superb, mature take on war and civilian survival

Bottom Line : A stark portrayal of civilian life in a war-torn city that requires strategic thinking and invites repeated plays.

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Logic & Thinking Games for Kids

Elevate your child's problem-solving abilities with our fun logic & thinking games for kids. They will learn to analyze, strategize, and think critically while having fun. Explore our collection now and provide them with endless opportunities to learn and grow. Start playing for free now!

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What are Logic and Thinking games?

Logic and thinking-themed games are interactive activities designed to challenge young minds by requiring them to use critical thinking, problem-solving, and strategic reasoning. These games involve creative challenges that stimulate cognitive development, enhance decision-making skills, and foster a love for learning in children. They provide an enjoyable way for kids to develop essential life skills while having fun.

What are the Types of Logic and Thinking Games Online?

These games come in various engaging forms, each offering a unique cognitive challenge. Here are some popular types:

• Shape Matching: Arty Crafty Game : In this game, young minds exercise their visual perception and spatial reasoning skills by matching shapes and patterns. It encourages creativity and helps improve attention to detail.
• Match Up!: Puzzles Game : Match Up! puzzles provide a mental workout, requiring players to find pairs or connections among objects, images, or symbols. This type of game enhances memory, concentration, and pattern recognition.
• Shape Building: Arty Crafty Games : Shape building games stimulate creativity and problem-solving as kids construct objects or scenes by fitting together various shapes. It fosters spatial awareness and encourages imagination.

What are the Benefits of Playing Logic and Thinking Games for Kids?

Engaging in these games offers numerous advantages for young minds:

• Enhanced Problem-Solving : Interactive Logic and thinking games to play encourage kids to tackle challenges, fostering strong problem-solving skills.
• Improved Critical Thinking : Playing promotes analytical thinking, helping children make reasoned decisions.
• Boosted Creativity : Logic games often involve creative solutions, nurturing imaginative thinking.
• Sharper Memory : Memory-based games enhance recall and concentration.

What are the Best Logic and Thinking Games?

Kids can enjoy these engaging these games on mobiles and tablets, combining fun and learning:

• Cooking Rush Game
• Arty Crafty Game
• Get-Set-Quiz Game
• Jumble Mania Game

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Educationise

11 Activities That Promote Critical Thinking In The Class

Ignite your child’s curiosity with our exclusive “Learning Adventures Activity Workbook for Kids” a perfect blend of education and adventure!

Critical thinking activities encourage individuals to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information to develop informed opinions and make reasoned decisions. Engaging in such exercises cultivates intellectual agility, fostering a deeper understanding of complex issues and honing problem-solving skills for navigating an increasingly intricate world.

Through critical thinking, individuals empower themselves to challenge assumptions, uncover biases, and constructively contribute to discourse, thereby enriching both personal growth and societal progress.

Critical thinking serves as the cornerstone of effective problem-solving, enabling individuals to dissect challenges, explore diverse perspectives, and devise innovative solutions grounded in logic and evidence. For engaging problem solving activities, read our article problem solving activities that enhance student’s interest.

52 Critical Thinking Flashcards for Problem Solving

What is Critical Thinking?

Critical thinking is a 21st-century skill that enables a person to think rationally and logically in order to reach a plausible conclusion. A critical thinker assesses facts and figures and data objectively and determines what to believe and what not to believe. Critical thinking skills empower a person to decipher complex problems and make impartial and better decisions based on effective information.

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Importance of Acquiring Critical Thinking Skills

Critical thinking skills cultivate habits of mind such as strategic thinking, skepticism, discerning fallacy from the facts, asking good questions and probing deep into the issues to find the truth. Acquiring critical thinking skills was never as valuable as it is today because of the prevalence of the modern knowledge economy.

Today, information and technology are the driving forces behind the global economy. To keep pace with ever-changing technology and new inventions, one has to be flexible enough to embrace changes swiftly.

Today critical thinking skills are one of the most sought-after skills by the companies. In fact, critical thinking skills are paramount not only for active learning and academic achievement but also for the professional career of the students.

The lack of critical thinking skills catalyzes memorization of the topics without a deeper insight, egocentrism, closed-mindedness, reduced student interest in the classroom and not being able to make timely and better decisions.

Incorporating critical thinking lessons into the curriculum equips students with the tools they need to navigate the complexities of the modern world, fostering a mindset that is adaptable, inquisitive, and capable of discerning truth from misinformation.

Benefits of Critical Thinking for Students

Certain strategies are more eloquent than others in teaching students how to think critically. Encouraging critical thinking in the classroom is indispensable for the learning and growth of the students. In this way, we can raise a generation of innovators and thinkers rather than followers. Some of the benefits offered by thinking critically in the classroom are given below:

• It allows a student to decipher problems and think through the situations in a disciplined and systematic manner
• Through a critical thinking ability, a student can comprehend the logical correlation between distinct ideas
• The student is able to rethink and re-justify his beliefs and ideas based on facts and figures
• Critical thinking skills make the students curious about things around them
• A student who is a critical thinker is creative and always strives to come up with out of the box solutions to intricate problems

Read our article: How to Foster Critical Thinking Skills in Students? Creative Strategies and Real-World Examples

• Critical thinking skills assist in the enhanced student learning experience in the classroom and prepares the students for lifelong learning and success
• The critical thinking process is the foundation of new discoveries and inventions in the world of science and technology
• The ability to think critically allows the students to think intellectually and enhances their presentation skills, hence they can convey their ideas and thoughts in a logical and convincing manner
• Critical thinking skills make students a terrific communicator because they have logical reasons behind their ideas

Critical Thinking Lessons and Activities

11 Activities that Promote Critical Thinking in the Class

We have compiled a list of 11 critical thinking activities for students that will facilitate you to promote critical thinking abilities in the students. By incorporating these activities, educators can introduce real-world examples of critical thinking in the classroom, empowering students to apply these skills in everyday situations.

We have also covered problem solving activities that enhance student’s interest in our another article. Click here to read it.

1. Worst Case Scenario

Divide students into teams and introduce each team with a hypothetical challenging scenario. Allocate minimum resources and time to each team and ask them to reach a viable conclusion using those resources.

The scenarios can include situations like stranded on an island or stuck in a forest. Students will come up with creative solutions to come out from the imaginary problematic situation they are encountering. Besides encouraging students to think critically, this activity will enhance teamwork, communication and problem-solving skills of the students.

This critical thinking activity not only pushes students to devise innovative solutions in challenging scenarios but also strengthens their teamwork, communication, and problem-solving abilities, making it an engaging and educational experience.

Read our article: 10 Innovative Strategies for Promoting Critical Thinking in the Classroom

2. If You Build It

It is a very flexible game that allows students to think creatively. To start this activity, divide students into groups. Give each group a limited amount of resources such as pipe cleaners, blocks, and marshmallows etc.

Every group is supposed to use these resources and construct a certain item such as building, tower or a bridge in a limited time. You can use a variety of materials in the classroom to challenge the students. This activity is helpful in promoting teamwork and creative skills among the students.

Incorporating critical thinking games like this into your classroom not only promotes teamwork and creativity but also challenges students to think outside the box as they work together to build their structures.

It is also one of the classics which can be used in the classroom to encourage critical thinking. Print pictures of objects, animals or concepts and start by telling a unique story about the printed picture. The next student is supposed to continue the story and pass the picture to the other student and so on.

This engaging exercise is one of the most effective critical thinking activities for kids, as it encourages them to use their creativity and problem-solving skills while working together to construct innovative structures with limited resources.

4. Keeping it Real

In this activity, you can ask students to identify a real-world problem in their schools, community or city. After the problem is recognized, students should work in teams to come up with the best possible outcome of that problem.

5. Save the Egg

Make groups of three or four in the class. Ask them to drop an egg from a certain height and think of creative ideas to save the egg from breaking. Students can come up with diverse ideas to conserve the egg like a soft-landing material or any other device. Remember that this activity can get chaotic, so select the area in the school that can be cleaned easily afterward and where there are no chances of damaging the school property.

6. Start a Debate

In this activity, the teacher can act as a facilitator and spark an interesting conversation in the class on any given topic. Give a small introductory speech on an open-ended topic. The topic can be related to current affairs, technological development or a new discovery in the field of science. Encourage students to participate in the debate by expressing their views and ideas on the topic. Conclude the debate with a viable solution or fresh ideas generated during the activity through brainstorming.

7. Create and Invent

This project-based learning activity is best for teaching in the engineering class. Divide students into groups. Present a problem to the students and ask them to build a model or simulate a product using computer animations or graphics that will solve the problem. After students are done with building models, each group is supposed to explain their proposed product to the rest of the class. The primary objective of this activity is to promote creative thinking and problem-solving skills among the students.

8. Select from Alternatives

This activity can be used in computer science, engineering or any of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) classes. Introduce a variety of alternatives such as different formulas for solving the same problem, different computer codes, product designs or distinct explanations of the same topic.

Form groups in the class and ask them to select the best alternative. Each group will then explain its chosen alternative to the rest of the class with reasonable justification of its preference. During the process, the rest of the class can participate by asking questions from the group. This activity is very helpful in nurturing logical thinking and analytical skills among the students.

9. Reading and Critiquing

Present an article from a journal related to any topic that you are teaching. Ask the students to read the article critically and evaluate strengths and weaknesses in the article. Students can write about what they think about the article, any misleading statement or biases of the author and critique it by using their own judgments.

In this way, students can challenge the fallacies and rationality of judgments in the article. Hence, they can use their own thinking to come up with novel ideas pertaining to the topic.

10. Think Pair Share

In this activity, students will come up with their own questions. Make pairs or groups in the class and ask the students to discuss the questions together. The activity will be useful if the teacher gives students a topic on which the question should be based.

For example, if the teacher is teaching biology, the questions of the students can be based on reverse osmosis, human heart, respiratory system and so on. This activity drives student engagement and supports higher-order thinking skills among students.

11. Big Paper – Silent Conversation

Silence is a great way to slow down thinking and promote deep reflection on any subject. Present a driving question to the students and divide them into groups. The students will discuss the question with their teammates and brainstorm their ideas on a big paper.

After reflection and discussion, students can write their findings in silence. This is a great learning activity for students who are introverts and love to ruminate silently rather than thinking aloud.

Incorporating critical thinking activities for high school students, like silent reflection and group brainstorming, encourages deep thought and collaboration, making it an effective strategy for engaging both introverted and extroverted learners.

Finally, for students with critical thinking, you can go to GS-JJ.co m to customize exclusive rewards, which not only enlivens the classroom, but also promotes the development and training of students for critical thinking.

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Thanks for the great article! Especially with the post-pandemic learning gap, these critical thinking skills are essential! It’s also important to teach them a growth mindset. If you are interested in that, please check out The Teachers’ Blog!

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10 Team-Building Games That Promote Critical Thinking

Begin a story that incorporates whatever happens to be on your assigned photo. The next student continues the story, incorporating their photo, and so on.

What Are The Best Team-Building Games For Promoting Critical Thinking?

by TeachThought Staff

One of education’s primary goals is to groom the next generation of little humans to succeed in the ‘real world.’

Yes, there are mounds of curricula they must master in a wide breadth of subjects, but education does not begin and end with a textbook or test.

Other skills must be honed, too, not the least of which is how to get along with their peers and work well with others. This is not something that can be cultivated through rote memorization or with strategically placed posters.

Students must be engaged and cooperation must be practiced, and often. The following team-building games can promote cooperation and communication, help establish a positive classroom environment and — most importantly — provide a fun, much-needed reprieve from routine.

See also Team-Building Games For The First Day Of School

10 Team-Building Games That Promote Collaborative Critical Thinking

You can purchase a classroom-ready version of team-building games that promote critical thinking here .

1. If You Build it…

This team-building game is flexible. First, divide students into teams and give them equal amounts of a certain material, like pipe cleaners, blocks, or even dried spaghetti and marshmallows.

Then, give them something to construct. The challenge can be variable (think: Which team can build the tallest, structurally-sound castle? Which team can build a castle the fastest?). You can recycle this activity throughout the year by adapting the challenge or materials to specific content areas.

Skills: Communication; problem-solving

2.  Save the Egg

This activity can get messy and may be suitable for older children who can follow safety guidelines when working with raw eggs. Teams must work together to find a way to ‘save’ the egg (Humpty Dumpty for elementary school students?) — in this case, an egg dropped from a specific height. That could involve finding the perfect soft landing, or creating a device that guides the egg safely to the ground.

Let their creativity work here.

Skills: Problem-solving, creative collaboration

Zoom is a classic classroom cooperative game that never seems to go out of style. Simply form students into a circle and give each a unique picture of an object, animal, or whatever else suits your fancy. You begin a story that incorporates whatever happens to be on your assigned photo. The next student continues the story, incorporating their photo, and so on.

Skills: Communication; creative collaboration

4. Minefield

Another classic team-building game. Arrange some sort of obstacle course and divide students into teams. Students take turns navigating the ‘minefield’ while blindfolded, with only their teammates to guide them. You can also require students to only use certain words or clues to make it challenging or content-area specific.

Skills: Communication; trust

See also 10 Team-Building Games For A Friendlier Classroom

5. The Worst-Case Scenario

Fabricate a scenario in which students would need to work together and solve problems to succeed, like being stranded on a deserted island or getting lost at sea. Ask them to work together to concoct a solution that ensures everyone arrives safely. You might ask them to come up with a list of 10 must-have items that would help them most, or a creative passage to safety. Encourage them to vote — everyone must agree to the final solution.

Skills: Communication, problem-solving

6. A Shrinking Vessel

This game requires a good deal of strategy in addition to teamwork. Its rules are deceptively simple: The entire group must find a way to occupy a space that shrinks over time until they are packed creatively like sardines. You can form the boundary with a rope, a tarp or blanket being folded over, or small traffic cones. (Skills: Problem-solving; teamwork)

7. Go for Gold

This game is similar to the ‘If you build it’ game: Teams have a common objective but instead of each one having the same materials, they have access to a whole cache of materials. For instance, the goal might be to create a contraption with pipes, rubber tubing, and pieces of cardboard that can carry a marble from point A to point B in a certain number of steps, using only gravity.

Creative collaboration; communication; problem-solving

8. It’s a Mystery

Many children (and grown-ups) enjoy a good mystery, so why not design one that must be solved cooperatively? Give each student a numbered clue. In order to solve the mystery — say, the case of the missing mascot — children must work together to solve the clues in order. The ‘case’ might require them to move from one area of the room to the next, uncovering more clues.

Skills: Problem-solving, communication

9.  4-Way Tug-of-War 

That playground classic is still a hit — not to mention inexpensive and simple to execute. For a unique variation, set up a multi-directional game by tying ropes in such a way that three or four teams tug at once. Some teams might choose to work together to eliminate the other groups before going head-to-head.

Skills: Teamwork; sportsmanship

10. Keep it Real

This open-ended concept is simple and serves as an excellent segue into problem-based learning. Challenge students to identify and cooperatively solve a real problem in their schools or communities. You may set the parameters, including a time limit, materials, and physical boundaries.

Skills: Problem-solving; communication

While education technology is a basic and crucial component of the 21st-century classroom, educators must still ensure that students are engaging with each other in meaningful ways. Team-building exercises are a great way to do this, and because of this, they will never go out of style.

Aimee Hosler is a writer and mother of two living in Virginia. She specializes in a number of topics, but is particularly passionate about education and workplace news and trends. She holds a B.S. in Journalism from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and is a contributor to several websites including OnlineSchools.com; 10 Team-Building Games For Kids, Teenagers, or Adults

TeachThought is an organization dedicated to innovation in education through the growth of outstanding teachers.

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15 Fantastic Logic and Critical Thinking Games

Games are wonderful additions to any homeschool. In fact, we typically play at least one game a day – sometimes even gameschooling for an entire day!

Not only do games bring joy and lightheartedness to the school day, they can help teach new concepts and practice old ones.

One of the most important reasons I include games in our homeschool frequently is because they are amazing for building logic and critical thinking skills!

This post includes affiliate links.

If you’ve read any of my blog posts about brain training , you’ll know that I place a lot of value on building logical thinking skills in kids. Luckily, games are one of the best ways to do that – and they don’t even require much effort on our part!

While almost every game has logic and critical thinking value, some games are made specifically to give those skills a workout. I’ve included 15 of my favorites here for you!

Logic and Critical Thinking Games

Invasion of the Cow Snatchers – A creative, single player game that uses magnetic playing pieces as you maneuver a flying saucer around obstacles on a farm to beam up all the cattle.

Domino Maze – In this hands-on, single player game, you create fun domino mazes with a critical thinking twist as you set out to build based on challenge cards.

Thinking Putty Puzzle – This is another hands-on, single player game that “stretches” your thinking skills as you complete mazes with Thinking Putty.

Qwirkle – A family favorite, this game is kind of like Scrabble with shapes & colors. Your goal is to rack up as many points as possible as you work to complete symbol combinations.

Battleship – Coordinate graphing and logical thinking are required to sink all your opponent’s ships in this classic game for two players.

Mastermind – Another classic game for two players, Mastermind is truly a top pick for practicing logical thinking skills as you deduce a hidden code.

ZooLogic – This is such a cute single player game. You must figure out how to organize dogs, cats, and mice on puzzle cards so that no fights ensue between the animals.

Guess Who? – This is the perfect game to teach beginning critical thinking skills as you ask pertinent questions to figure out your opponent’s mystery character.

SET – Get ready to work logic skills faster than your opponents as everyone races to put together the next combination of cards based on shape, color, shading, and number.

Clue – A good, old-fashioned game of Clue is perfect for sharpening logic and critical thinking skills since the goal is to use deductive reasoning to solve the mystery before anyone else.

Cat Crimes – In this hands-on, single player logic puzzle, you place cat characters on the board based on clues you are given in order to determine which one is to blame for an oopsie that has occurred.

Codenames – While this game can be played with as few as four people, it’s great for a crowd, too. Spymasters use word clues to help their teams logically consider which cards on the table will locate friendly spy agents instead of foes.

Rover Control – This creative, single player coding game teaches basic programming skills through critical thinking puzzles in which a rover must go through various start to finish challenges.

Rush Hour – A classic, single player game, Rush Hour utilizes logical thinking as you work to get an ice cream truck out of a rush hour traffic jam.

Rook – This four player card game is another family favorite that is won by logic and critical thinking between teammates (as well as a little luck.)

Gameschooling

There are so many wonderful games available these days! I’ve written about favorites for other subjects plenty of times. Feel free to click on any of the images below to see a different list of games.

P.S. Games make great gifts for any holiday or birthday. They also make great family gifts or for people who are hospital or homebound. Games are one the most frequent things we give when a gift is in order!

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10 Team-Building Games That Promote Critical Thinking

Students may improve their capabilities in critical thinking and other skills that will help them be successful in the contemporary job by participating in Team-building games for critical thinking. Students who value collaboration (and who will go on to become employers!) have higher levels of motivation and creativity.

It is common knowledge that kids like collaborating in groups very lot. Why don’t we make it into a game instead? Games are often a better option than brain training activities for helping children develop lateral thinking. However, brain training activities may be employed. Implementing these strategies in your classes can help students become more critical thinkers and more successful collaborators.

Here are 10 Team-Building Games That Promote Critical Thinking;

1. minefield.

Minefield Team-building games for critical thinking is a time-honored exercise that has been shown to foster better communication and a sense of trust among participants of all ages. It requires the construction of an obstacle course as well as the grouping of the students into different teams. Students take turns navigating the “minefield” while wearing blindfolds and relying only on the support of their classmates to find their way. You might also encourage kids to use certain terms or hints in order to make it more challenging for them or to utilize information that is related to the topic in order to make it more interesting to them.

2. If You Build it

This exercise in establishing teams may easily be adapted to fit your needs. To get started, separate the children into teams and give each group an equal quantity of a certain substance. Some examples of this material are pipe cleaners, bricks, dried spaghetti, and marshmallows.

After that, you should assign them a project to work on. The challenge may take on a variety of forms, such as “which team can build the biggest castle that is also structurally sound?” Which side has the capacity to build the greatest number of castles in the least period of time? You may recycle this exercise throughout the year by modifying the challenge or the resources to correspond to other subject areas in the curriculum.

3. It’s a Mystery

Since many children, especially younger ones, like a good mystery, why not challenge them to solve it in a way that encourages them to collaborate with one another? It would be helpful to offer each child a numbered clue. The youngsters need to cooperate in order to find the answers to the clues in order to allow themselves enough time to solve the mystery, such as the case of the missing mascot. It’s possible that in order to solve the “case,” they’ll need to go about the room and look in other areas for additional clues.

Zoom team-building games for critical thinking is an old standby when it comes to games for constructing teams, and the many advantages that come with playing the game make it even more interesting. The children are seated in a circle, and one child gives each child an image of an item from Zoom.

The game begins with one child relating a story based on the image that they are holding, and the next student continues the story from where the previous student left off. The game helps youngsters improve their creativity, critical thinking, and communication abilities by compelling them to create the tales on the spot and challenging them to think critically about what they’ve written.

5. Save the Egg

During this team-building games for critical thinking, each team of three or four persons will have the opportunity to drop their egg from a certain height. They need to devise strategies that will prevent the egg from cracking while it is in the air. They are free to use whatever items or apparatus of their choosing to effect a soft landing for the egg or to guarantee that it settles in an unharmed state.

Because this one has the potential to get ugly, it is essential to choose a site that is risk-free and where no one will be worried about hurting valuable school property.

6. marshmallows-game

7. Go for Gold

The teams compete to achieve the same objective in this Team-building games for critical thinking, which is similar to the game “If you create it,” but rather than having the same resources, the teams have access to a huge quantity. For instance, the objective may be to construct, consisting of pipes, rubber tubing, and cardboard, a machine that, with the only assistance of gravity, can move a marble from point A to point B in a certain number of stages.

Although learning through textbooks is essential, teachers also have a responsibility to ensure that pupils can interact effectively with one another. Exercises that focus on fostering a sense of teamwork are an effective way to do this, and there is no sign that this fad will ever die out.

8. Keep it Real

Because it is founded on a straightforward concept that encourages conversation and problem-solving, this open-ended model functions as an efficient examination tool for students. Give the students the mission to identify and address a genuine issue that exists in their own schools or communities. For the purpose of assisting youngsters in defining their own boundaries, some restrictions, such as time limits, material limits, and physical limitations, might be put on them.

9. Shrinking Vessel

Critical thinking may be tough to understand after undergoing brain training, but after participating in exciting Team-building games for critical thinking like the shrinking vessel, it quickly becomes second nature. The participants will first be split up into smaller groups to begin the exercise. Every group is going to have to coordinate their efforts so that they can fit into a smaller and smaller area until there is no more room. Cones or a rope might be used to define the perimeter of the area. Playing this game will teach you how to collaborate with others to find solutions to challenges.

10. The Worst-Case Scenario

Students are split up into two or more groups, and each of those groups is given a tough scenario to solve. Some examples of these scenarios include being abandoned on a barren island or becoming lost at sea. They are then given the instruction to collaborate with one another within their teams in order to find a solution to the challenge and ultimately emerge triumphant. The children have to come up with a strategy in order to guarantee that everyone will live through the worst-case scenario.

In this particular situation, the students may be quizzed about the things that they will need in order to do the task, in addition to any other passages that they may come across. The fact that youngsters are required to cooperate with one another helps in the development of their ability to solve problems and teaches them the importance of working together as a team through Team-building games for critical thinking.

Bottom line

To achieve the highest productivity at work, Team-building games for critical thinking are conducted in distinct corporate games. However, these games can boost efficiency in the study if undertaken in a classroom atmosphere. They help students to break the monotony in the learning environment. We hope our blog helped you to get new ideas regarding Team-building games for critical thinking. You can implement them in your next session within the classroom.

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Lightly Frayed

- Correct Less, Connect More

7 Critical Thinking Games Kids Will Beg to Keep Playing

September 3, 2020 by Karen at Lightly Frayed 3 Comments

Inside: Here are the best critical thinking games for kids. Screen-free fun to build problem solving skills.

If my family was stranded on a desert island, with only these thinking games, I suspect we could engineer our way home faster than Gilligan did.

A key way to stay connected as a family is to play games together. Plus, games lead to fabulous conversations like this one, when I challenged our five-year-old son to play Othello.

Me: Hey buddy – do you want to play Othello with me? Landon: Sure. Me: Which colour do you want to be – black or white? Landon: I want to be the colour that wins.

And while Snakes & Ladders had its place, it is refreshing to move onto deeper games that encourage logic and problem solving. Games that even adults will enjoy.

What is the value of critical thinking games?

Logic games are like pushups for our brains – minus the sweaty brow, aching muscles and awkward face plants.

Parenting Science agrees games are “a powerful learning tool…and problem-solving ability is like a muscle : it can be strengthened with practice and learning.”

See? Brain pushups.

Games help develop abstract skills in a fun way. Children learn to:

• strategize, rather than focusing only on their next move
• rely on logic to succeed
• persevere as challenges become more complex

Standing in the toy aisle or scrolling through 18 pages of options on Amazon is overwhelming . Plus you don’t want to waste money on a game that will disappoint.

These critical thinking games get two thumbs-up from our family.

So I’ve done the work for you. As a Math teacher, former homeschooling mom and a parent of kids from 6-16, I’ve have had years of experience sifting through mediocre games to find true gold.

Here are our favorites. The ones kids will keep reaching for. The ones you’ll pull out when you hear, “I’m bored…”

Pro Parenting Tip: Always keep a game in plain sight. Casually place it on a table and walk away. Suddenly one child will ask another one if they want to play (especially if it’s during chore time).

There are many versions of the Rush Hour game. In Rush Hour Jr., kids have to free the ice cream truck from a traffic jam. What child doesn’t want to be an ice cream truck hero?

Each version of Rush Hour comes with 40 activity cards with various levels of difficulty. To make this game more competitive, create a family chart to see who can solve the most challenges within a week.

Purchase Rush Hour  here .

This game is irresistibly three-dimensional. Kids place blue, green and yellow crates according to the layout of each challenge card. I love how setting up the challenges increases spatial awareness for little ones.

Players need to tip over the crates and get the figure to safety on the red crate.

Purchase Tipover here .

Blue Orange Gobblet

The object of Gobblet is to line up four of your pieces in a row, before your opponent does, making it similar to Connect Four.

The clever twist is that a larger piece can “gobble” smaller pieces. So a medium-sized piece can cover a small-sized piece and so on. The trick is to remember which pieces are covered, and to strategize to complete the task. Bonus points that the game pieces are quirky little characters.

Purchase Gobblet here .

Hoppers Solitaire

Keep a few solitaire games on hand for when only one child is feeling game-ish. Hoppers solitaire works well.

Frogs are placed to match the challenge cards. Like peg solitaire, frogs jump over one another (onto lily pads) until only one frog is left. And the cards tuck nicely into the game board.

Purchase Hoppers Solitaire here

We just acquired Codenames and we are slightly addicted . Each player gives a single word clue and the field operatives have to guess which cards the clue relates to. Play with young children who can operate at an abstract level. 

Your child will learn how to make connections between many different items. My son gave me the clue “ sparkly ” to refer to cards containing diamond , water and teeth .

Purchase Codenames here .

This game is highly recommended for critical thinking skills. Unlike many of the other games listed, the whole family can jump in. It takes about an hour to play with 2-6 players.

The aim of  Power Grid  is to supply power to the most cities. You need to mark preexisting routes between cities for connection, and then bid against each other to purchase the power plants. Players need raw materials to power these plants. Real life applications abound – watch out for problems that come from expanding too quickly.

Expansion pack cards are also available, which adds to the longevity of this game.

Purchase Power Grid here .

Laser Maze Logic Game

Thinkfun produces many of our favourite, award-winning games. And this game is brilliant .

Kids need to figure out how to make the “laser beam” ricochet correctly to light up the target. They use mirrored pieces, beam splitters and logic. Perfect game for improving STEM skills. Purchase Laser Maze here .

When you are rushing between appointments and activities, family games are one of the best ways to slow down and reconnect. Whether your child plays something on their own, or gathers a few siblings, there are countless benefits including developing critical thinking skills.

Especially if they find themselves stranded on an island one day.

Any favorites I missed here? Add to the comments and I’ll keep updating the list. In the meantime, enjoy these too:

Hey, there! I'm Karen. I believe small parenting pivots have profound results. Like relaxed shoulders and more tender moments with your kids - yep, even the teen kind. Sign up for weekly. faith-filled emails to do this together, and I'll send you a free copy of my 6 Simple Ways to Keep Calm cheat sheet. Come on over »

December 9, 2017 at 9:04 am

Thank you Karen! I will order Codenames and Hoppers Solitaire! Merry Christmas to you and your family! God Bless!

December 9, 2017 at 1:37 pm

Merry Christmas to you too, Farida. Excellent choice on the games!

July 16, 2020 at 6:43 am

Wonderful ideas, Karen! I need to check out Power Grid and Codenames… You can’t underestimate the power of these games in cause and effect and creating hypotheses.

I’m a STEM blogger for kids and I’ve got some more critical thinking games and ideas here – https://kidpillar.com/games-kids-think-critically-critical-thinking/

Thanks! Shreiya

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Critical Thinking Games

Prosocial video games supporting critical thinking . Presented by the Gaming Against Violence program from Jennifer Ann's Group ®, a nonprofit charity.

★ Congratulations to MushWhom? and Figure It Sprout for winning 2023 Silv-E Awards! Corporation, Inc. (KSU Narrative Game Lab) Figure It Sprout (David Li, Quang Nguyen, Gaby Sanchez, Kitty Huang, Isaac Orozco) Mushwhom? (Collin Lang, Knitwit Studios) Critical Thinking Games Press Release for more details. -->

• About Critical Thinking
• Critical Thinking Game Design Contest

What is critical thinking?

Here are some definitions about critical thinking to give you an idea of what is meant by "critical thinking." Although there is a general consensus regarding its meaning, these definitions offer a variety of perspectives to better understand critical thinking.

"Critical thinking refers to the ability to analyze information objectively and make a reasoned judgment. It involves the evaluation of sources, such as data, facts, observable phenomena, and research findings."

~ ThoughtCo

"Critical thinking is a kind of thinking in which you question, analyse, interpret, evaluate and make a judgement about what you read, hear, say, or write."

~ Monash University

"[...] careful thinking directed to a goal."

~ The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

"The process of thinking carefully about a subject or idea, without allowing feelings or opinions to affect you."

~ Cambridge Dictionary

"Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action."

~ University of Louisville

"Thinking critically is a skill that is taught at school and university BUT its main purpose is to better equip you to understand the world, to make more sense of the vast amount of information that is available to us and to avoid, being manipulated. It is a life skill."

~ University of Greenwich

• Critical Thinking Resources

Critical Thinking Articles & Resources

These resources and articles about critical thinking are helpful in designing critical thinking games .

• ► A Guide to Costa's Levels of Questioning [The Edvocate] "Like Bloom’s taxonomy, the questions in Costa’s lower levels encourage students to use their more fundamental cognitive processes. [...] A sizable body of research backs up Dr. Costa’s schema. Following a constructivist theory of education, Newmann (1993) discovered that higher-order thinking forces students to 'manipulate information and ideas in ways that modify their meaning' and 'expects students to solve issues and build meaning for themselves.'"
• ► 5 Tips for Critical Thinking [Psychology Today] "[Critical Thinking] is necessary when you care about your decisions or when the consequence of a decision is impactful. According to Jean Paul Sartre, every time an individual acts, they are making a choice to commit that act as opposed to not acting, or acting in an alternative manner. With that in mind, if we were to think critically about every single decision we make, we would be mentally exhausted before we even got to work."
• ► 60 Critical Thinking Strategies for Learning [teach thought] "A critical thinking strategy is simply a ‘way’ to encourage or facilitate the cognitive act of thinking critically. "Critical thinking is the ongoing application of unbiased, accurate, and ‘good-faith’ analysis, interpretation, contextualizing, and synthesizing multiple data sources and cognitive perspectives in pursuit of understanding. "What are the 7 critical thinking strategies? Someone emailed me recently asking that question and I immediately wondered how many more than seven there were. 27? 77?"
• ► Critical Thinking [Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy] "Critical thinking is a widely accepted educational goal. Its definition is contested, but the competing definitions can be understood as differing conceptions of the same basic concept: careful thinking directed to a goal."
• ► Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving [The University of Tennessee, Chattanooga] "In essence, critical thinking is a disciplined manner of thought that a person uses to assess the validity of something (statements, news stories, arguments, research, etc.)."
• ► Critical Thinking Definition, Skills, and Examples [ThoughtCo.] "Good critical thinkers can draw reasonable conclusions from a set of information, and discriminate between useful and less useful details to solve problems or make decisions."
• ► Critical Thinking: Why Is It So Hard to Teach? [AdLit: All About Adolescent Literacy] "Learning critical thinking skills can only take a student so far. Critical thinking depends on knowing relevant content very well and thinking about it, repeatedly. Here are five strategies, consistent with the research, to help bring critical thinking into the everyday classroom."
• ► CRITHINKEDU Impact Report - A journey on critical thinking in European higher education [CRITHINKEDU] "Funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ Programme, the ‘Critical Thinking Across the European Higher Education Curricula – CRITHINKEDU’ project arises from the background and experience of European Higher Education Institutions, business corporations and Non-Governmental Organisations, and their ongoing concern to improve the quality of learning in universities and across different sectors, which converge in a common need on how to better support the development of Critical Thinking (CT) according to labour market needs and social challenges."
• ► Defining Critical Thinking [The Foundation for Critical Thinking] "Critical thinking is a rich concept that has been developing throughout the past 2,500 years. The term 'critical thinking' has its roots in the mid-late 20th century. [In this article, we] offer overlapping definitions which together form a substantive and trans-disciplinary conception of critical thinking."
• ► How To Teach Critical Thinking in K-12 [Forbes] "What’s needed is not necessarily new courses, but a critical thinking focus throughout the curriculum. Some of these changes can happen quickly with tweaks to existing curricula and the incorporation of deeper and more creative thinking exercises."
• ► Logical Fallacies: Examples and Pitfalls in Research and Media [Research.com] "In public discourse, research and academic writing, logical fallacies should always be avoided because they invalidate conclusions and arguments. Unfortunately, it is easy to commit such logical fallacies ourselves. "A recent analysis of medical fallacies can be found in a paper titled, 'Fallacies in medical practice: Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibition and COVID-19 as a Paradigm' in the Hellenic Journal of Cardiology. "It states that 'In emergency situations, such as during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, medical community looks for quick answers and guidance. Under these circumstances, experts instead of admitting ignorance, feel obliged to give an answer, often pressurized by political or other authorities, even when such an answer is unavailable. Under these circumstances, publications based on fallacious reasoning are virtually unavoidable. (Triposkiadi, Dean Boudoulas, Xanthopoulos, and Harisios, 2020).'”
• ► The Critical Thinking Consortium [TC2] A collection of resources for educators and parents supporting "critical, creative, and collaborative thinking as an educational goal and as a method of teaching and learning." Many of these resources require payment but the website also includes several excellent free online collections and published lessons.
• ► What is critical thinking? [Monash University] "People who apply critical thinking consistently are said to have a critical thinking mindset, but no one is born this way. These are attributes which are learnt and improved through practice and application. "In the academic context, critical thinking is most commonly associated with arguments. You might be asked to think critically about other people's arguments or create your own. To become a better critical thinker, you therefore need to learn how to: clarify your thinking purpose and context; question your sources of information; identify arguments; analyse sources and arguments; evaluate the arguments of others; and create or synthesise your own arguments."

Critical Thinking Game Design Challenge

Note: the critical thinking game design challenge has ended. Here is the press release announcing the award-winning critical thinking games . The following information is for reference and will be archived soon.

Background: About the Critical Thinking Games Contest

Since 2008, Gaming Against Violence , an award-winning program from the nonprofit charity Jennifer Ann's Group , has produced prosocial games in an effort to improve the lives of young people around the world. Every year a new game design challenge is issued for game designers and developers to create compelling games about that year's topic. Previous game challenges have focused on a variety of topics and themes including consent , culture , gaslighting , healthy relationships , and resilience . This year the game design challenge theme is critical thinking .

Critical Thinking Game Overview

The Critical Thinking Game Design Challenge consisted of two rounds. For Round One , contestants submitted a game pitch using the theme of critical thinking. For Round Two , Finalists were selected based on their submitted game pitch. These Finalists will then design and develop their critical thinking video games based on their game pitches. They will have three months to develop their games.

Each Finalist who submitted an eligible game was guaranteed a prize of at least $100 (USD). The Winning Game was guaranteed a prize of at least $3,000 (USD). The total prize pool awarded to the group of Finalists was $10,000 (USD). All Finalists also receive critiques of their submitted games from experts in game design and/or critical thinking.

The critical thinking game design contest was open to everybody age 13 and older (minors will need a parent or guardian to sign the prize acceptance agreement in the event they are selected as a Finalist). The critical thinking games should be designed to be generally appropriate for ages 11 and up. Your entry should be a video game that has never been published before. And, as has been the case since 2008: the games cannot contain any depictions of violence .

Critical Thinking Game Timeline

Round One consisted of submitting a proposed game pitch. This entails answering six questions and providing other registration data.

Round Two was limited to Finalists who will be selected from the Round One proposed game pitch submissions. You do not need to be a game developer or game designer in order to become a Finalist - you just need to have a clever idea that you believe would translate well into a compelling video game that supports critical thinking!

• Round One: Game pitches were submitted by March 19, 2023.
• Finalists were selected and notified by March 30, 2023.
• Round Two: Finalists had until June 30, 2023 to submit their completed critical thinking game.
• Judging and critiquing of the critical thinking games during July 2023.
• The winning critical thinking games will be announced after Labor Day Weekend 2023.

Critical Thinking Game Prizes

A total of $10,000 (USD) awarded in prize money to the Finalists. Distribution of prize money will be announced when the Winning games are announced. At least one Winning game will receive at least $3,000 (USD). Each Finalist will receive at least $100 (USD). Additional Winning Games might be selected from among the Finalists.

In addition to the prize money:

• All qualifying Finalists will have their games judged and critiqued by industry and subject matter experts.
• All qualifying Finalists will be granted a license to use the FINALIST graphic.
• The Winning game(s) will be granted a license to use the WINNER graphic.
• The Finalist and Winning game(s) will be promoted on Jennifer Ann's Group websites and on their profile pages at game marketplaces.
• The Winning game(s) will be published by Life Love Publishing once they are ready to be published.
• All Finalists will receive critiques about their game entry from the critical thinking game contest judges.
• More details available in the Critical Thinking Game Design Challenge Rules below.

► Jennifer Ann's Group is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and relies on donations, sponsorships, and grants to fund our violence prevention work. Like what we're doing? Donate online to support our innovative violence prevention work .

Judges: critical thinking games design challenge, susan bonner.

Susan Bonner (she/her) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Information at Michigan State University teaching in the Serious Games Certificate and the Games and Interactive Media program. Educational games she produced through The EPIC Project have won Serious Play and Meaningful Play Awards. She is the creator of The Road Crew Social Emotional Health Game , which aims to teach young children coping skills for anger, loneliness, and anxiety through an AR experience. Accessible, universal, and inclusive design is at the heart of her teaching, art, design, and the work she produces. Susan actively participates on panels for the National Science Foundation, specifically focusing on Small Business Innovative Research in VR, AR, AI, and Learning Cognition. Susan holds an MFA from the University of Cincinnati and a BFA from Columbus College of Art and Design. Find out more at SusanBonner.com

Dr. Nick Bowman

Nick Bowman is an Associate Professor of Emerging Media in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. He is a media and communication scholar with an extensive research career focused on the uses and effects of video games. He has published more than 140 peer-reviewed academic manuscripts , with recent studies focused on the functional role of video games in daily life, from video game nostalgia to use of gaming for mood management. He works with other scholars and game developers to advance the study and design of video games for prosocial purposes, including violence reduction and perspective-taking. He is the editor of the Journal of Media Psychology , and was recently the Fulbright Taiwan Wu Jing-Jyi Arts & Culture Fellow at the National Chengchi University in Taipei. He has taught courses on video games and media psychology in Belgium, Germany, Mexico, and Taiwan.

Dr. Mark Danger Chen

Mark Danger Chen is an independent games scholar and part-time professor of interaction design, qualitative research, and games studies at the University of Washington Bothell. They oversee Esoteric Gaming , an alternative publication outlet that celebrates gaming diversity through detailed accounts of arcane and marginal gaming practices. Mark also wrote Leet Noobs: The Life and Death of an Expert Player Group in World of Warcraft , an ethnographic account of how a new team learned to excel through the use of game mods and then died in a fiery meltdown catalyzed by the same mods. In a previous life, Mark was a webmaster and game designer for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Mark wants a die-cast 1st generation Soundwave for Christmas. You can reach Mark at @mcdanger .

Drew Crecente, JD

Drew Crecente (he/him) is founder and executive director of Jennifer Ann's Group , a nonprofit charity preventing teen dating violence. He also runs the Gaming Against Violence program for Jennifer Ann's Group. Drew is a teen dating violence lead at Emory's Injury Prevention Research Center (IPRCE) and a published researcher on violence prevention through video games . Drew speaks at conferences about the use of video games as a solution for violence prevention. His speaking engagements include GDC, Games for Change, Games for Health, Meaningful Play, PAX Unplugged, and Youth at Risk conferences. Drew's game production credits include ADRIFT , a consent game featured at the future-focused museum MOD in Australia; Rispek Danis , a game about healthy dating relationships designed for ni-Vanuatu youth and 2019 Games for Change Awards Finalist in the category of Most Significant Impact ; and the media literacy game Culture Overlord , a 2021 Finalist for the GEE! Learning Games Award and 2022 Games for Change Awards Finalist in the category of Best Learning Game .

Sabrina Culyba

Sabrina Culyba (she/her) is a Pittsburgh-based game designer and founder of Ludoliminal . Her professional work has spanned online games, VR, mobile apps, location-based entertainment, and board games across a variety of industries from healthcare to education. She is the author of The Transformational Framework (ETC Press, 2018) and has spoken on game design and the transformational power of games at a number of conferences including the Games for Change festival, Serious Play, Meaningful Play, and Dataviz+Cancer. Sabrina serves on the Board for Global Game Jam and Broke the Game . She also co-hosts the yearly XR Brain Jam at the Games for Change Festival.

Dr. Ruud Jacobs

Ruud Jacobs is an assistant professor at the Department of Communication Science of the University of Twente . His research is mediapsychological, mostly focusing on the impacts of persuasive games and the ways in which they work to change attitudes. In 2017 he defended his dissertation, titled Playing to Win Over , as part of the Persuasive Gaming in Context joint research effort. Ruud lectures in technological aspects of communication science, and talks about games whenever he can.

Dr. Krista-Lee Meghan Malone

Dr. Krista-Lee M. Malone is a faculty associate with the Department of Curriculum & Instruction’s Game Design Certificate at UW-Madison and Director of the UW Game Lab. Her past research includes studies on raiding guilds in World of Warcraft, the making of educational games in Taiwan (where she concurrently worked as a designer and consultant) and using game design to teach in the social sciences. Dr. Malone is currently working on designing engaging educational games as well as examining gender issues and educational uses of Twitch.tv and Discord. She is also a board member of MKEsports , an alliance aimed at positively growing the culture and connectivity of regional esports groups, gamers, businesses, and community partners. If you want to geek out with her, she can can be found experimenting with teaching at twitch.tv/profgameranthro and experimenting with everything else at twitch.tv/gameranthro .

Dr. Amy Mueller

Amy Mueller is an assistant professor of learning technologies at the University of Oklahoma in the Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum program . She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on educational and instructional technologies to pre-service and practicing educators. Prior to her arrival at the University of Oklahoma she taught 4K for Head Start and worked as a K-5 Technology Teacher at a dual language immersion program in a diverse, public, urban title-1 school. Her research interests include: culturally and linguistic responsive and sustaining education, Indigenous education, liberatory education, elementary education, games-based learning, maker education, STEM education, digital literacy, multiliteracies, design based research, and codesign & community action research. In her limited free time, she likes to play video games with her kids.

Dr. Brooke Morrill

Dr. Brooke Morrill serves as the Senior Director of Education at Schell Games . Morrill uses her expertise in behavioral science, psychology, and research to increase the impact of and engagement in the company’s educational and transformational games. She identifies and secures extramural project funding in both the federal and private sectors in order to create and iteratively develop innovative, interactive experiences. In addition, she collaborates with universities and research institutions for product development and evaluation. She also maintains an active Board Certified Behavior Analyst-Doctoral credential from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. Morrill serves on the XR Education and Training Advisory Group for the Academy of International Extended Reality (AIXR), a membership network of industry leaders that helps to enable growth, nurture talent, and develop standards while working to bring wider public awareness and understanding to virtual and augmented reality. She is also a Principal Member of grant review panels for the Institute of Education Sciences at the US Department of Education.

Dr. Andy Phelps

Bio coming soon.

Dr. Elizabeth L. Richeson

Dr. Elizabeth L. Richeson is a Psychologist in El Paso, Texas , the head of the Advisory Board for Jennifer Ann's Group , and former president of the Texas Psychological Foundation. She was recognized as the 2018 Psychologist of the Year by the Texas Psychological Association; is an expert on teen dating violence; appears regularly on news and talk shows; and lectures nationwide on a variety of issues related to teenagers, young adults, and healthy relationships. She lived and worked in a variety of settings in Japan, Micronesia, South Korea, and Thailand and wrote her doctoral dissertation on Adaptation to Geographic Relocation at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Her clinical and administrative positions have included Program Director of Adult Psychiatric Units, Adjunct Professor at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center and University of Maryland International, and maintaining a full-time clinical practice for more than 30 years. She is considered the area authority on eating disorders for the Air Force and Army for outpatient and inpatient treatment.

Jo Sharpen is a specialist in violence against women and girls, child development and the impacts of trauma. She has a special interest in how the online space can be used to support and empower survivors of abuse. Jo is now a freelance consultant after previously being the director of policy at AVA, a national UK charity.

Dr. Sarah Stang

Dr. Sarah Stang (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Game Studies in Brock University’s Centre for Digital Humanities . She is also the Secretary for the International Communication Association’s Game Studies Division and an At-Large Representative for the Canadian Game Studies Association . She received her PhD from the Communication & Culture program at York University and her research primarily focuses on gender representation in both digital and analog games. Her published work has analysed topics such as female monstrosity, androgyny, parenthood, interactivity, and feminist media studies, and can be found in journals such as Games and Culture , Game Studies , Critical Studies in Media Communication , Human Technology , and Loading , as well as several edited collections.

Dr. Moses Wolfenstein

Moses Wolfenstein is a professor at El Camino College in Torrance, CA where he serves as Distance Education Faculty Coordinator and is leading the development of the new Games and Playable Media Department. Moses has been working in and around game design since 2006 as a designer, research, and teacher. His doctoral research with the Games+Learning+Society research group at UW–Madison focused on the intersection of games, learning, and leadership in MMO's.

Critical Thinking Game Pitch Submission

( Note: game pitches were due by March 19, 2023 )

You are pitching an idea for a non-violent prosocial video game intended to encourage and support critical thinking and the use of critical thinking tools and strategies by the players of your game.

If you can envision a video game that will help the player use and apply critical thinking then we want to learn about your game idea. We hope you will submit your idea to the critical thinking game challenge.

An important note about the critical thinking game design challenge:

Although our organization's primary focus is on the prevention of teen dating violence, your game does not have to be about dating relationships. There are several reasons for this, but the most important reason is that we want to help all young people (ages 11-22) learn this important information in order that they are more likely to understand the value of critical thinking and are better equipped to apply critical thinking skills. The past few years have been especially challenging. This is true for nearly everybody and in many aspects. We believe some, if not all, of those challenges would have been easier to navigate were we all better equipped to use and apply critical thinking. We believe that intentionally designed video games are an ideal approach to helping young people appreciate and understand how to use critical thinking skills. Our hope is that these critical thinking games will be used by: educators in classrooms; by parents and trusted adults at home; and directly by young people themselves. If we were to limit the critical thinking game design challenge to narrowly focus on the topic of healthy dating relationships then that might limit the reach and use of these critical thinking games. With that said, you are welcome to incorporate themes about healthy relationships into your critical thinking video game should you choose to do so.

Round One: game pitches were due by March 19th, 2023

These questions were answered by those submitting a game pitch.

Critical Thinking Game Pitch Questions

• (Q1) What is the title of your critical thinking game?
• (Q2) Write a short description of your critical thinking game. After reading this description players should want to play your game. (100-150 words)
• (Q3) How will your critical thinking game use visual and auditory elements to engage and inform players about critical thinking and how best to use it? (100-150 words)
• (Q4) How will your critical thinking game effectively use game mechanics , storytelling , and/or rhetoric to engage and inform players about critical thinking and its importance? (Please realize that this means that your game does not have to be story-based; it may use other design strategies or it may be story-based, as you prefer.) (100-150 words)
• (Q5) How will your critical thinking game effectively use persuasion to engage and inform players about critical thinking and its importance? (100-150 words)
• (Q6) How will your game help players identify critical thinking skills and learn how to strengthen those skills in order to help them become better able to use critical thinking in their lives? (100-150 words)

Round Two: were due by end of June 2023

Finalists were notified by March 30, 2023 if their proposed game pitch was selected to move on to Round Two of the contest. For Round Two, Finalists were given until June 30, 2023 to design, develop, and complete their critical thinking game. The finished critical thinking games will then be reviewed and scored to determine the winner.

• No VR or AR games . We want to reach as many people as possible with these critical thinking games and we feel that VR and AR technologies are currently too limiting.
• No subscription-based services . We cannot afford to pay for recurring subscriptions.
• Ideally you will use Unity to develop your game . Due to its large user base it is easier for us to get support if needed and the majority of the games we have published in the past were developed using Unity. Also, it is generally easier for us to export Unity games to a variety of platforms. Importantly, Unity supports exporting to HTML5 . Browser-based games are often more accessible because they can be played, for example, in public libraries and at schools. We strive to publish games that are accessible.
• Some suggested game design engines: Godot , Unity , and Unreal Engine . If you are wondering about a particular engine or technology please contact us.

Critical Thinking Games: FAQs

About this contest.

What is the Life.Love. Game Design Challenge?

The Life.Love. Game Design Challenge is an annual game design contest focused on violence prevention. The contest is open to game designers and game developers around the world. Entries have been received from six continents. Designers and developers are invited to create their own prosocial games intended to engage, educate, and empower game players. This contest is from the award-winning Gaming Against Violence program presented by the nonprofit charity Jennifer Ann's Group. The games are published, localized, and maintained by Life Love Publishing.

Why is Jennifer Ann's Group running this contest?

Violence is a public health issue and games are an effective approach at engaging young people about serious and complex issues. Jennifer Ann's Group is a non-profit organization working to prevent violence since 2006 in memory of Jennifer Ann Crecente.

Although traditional outreach programs about violence prevention are available, many schools lack the funding to implement these programs and so Jennifer Ann's Group considered how to leverage technology to reach and help young people at no cost. Given the popularity of video games -- especially among young people -- Jennifer Ann's Group launched the first annual Life.Love. Game Design Challenge in 2008, challenging video game designers to create prosocial games intended to prevent dating violence. In 2023, for the 16th annual Life.Love. Game Design Challenge, the focus is on supporting the use of critical thinking skills by young people to help them be better informed and self-sufficient. These skills will lead to better outcomes for themselves and for those around them. This will help them to lead happier, healthier lives.

In the years since launching the contest it has become increasingly clear that games are fantastic tools for engaging players in uniquely compelling ways. As compared to traditional methods: players more easily understand complex, nuanced issues; they become invested and engaged in the success of the game's outcome; and they can safely explore and experience difficult situations in context.

Every year since 2008 Jennifer Ann's Group has presented an annual game design competition encouraging developers to create games about selected themes intended to help young people in the short term and benefit society in the long term. Prosocial games help engage, educate, and empower young people around the world.

What else can you tell me about the games that have come from this program?

Entry Information

How do I get started?

Game pitches for the Critical Thinking Game Design Challenge were due by March 19, 2023. However, the 2024 game design challenge is coming February 2024 with the topic of connectedness . Visit the website for the connectedness video games for the latest info.

Who is allowed to enter?

Anybody age 13+ at the time of entry is eligible to enter (except in countries or regions where prohibited). Officers, employees, and immediate family members of Jennifer Ann's Group and Life Love Publishing are prohibited from entering the game design challenge.

Can I enter more than once?

Sorry, but no. Make sure and enter your best game because you only get one chance to enter each year!

What are the technical requirements?

Round One of the contest only requires submitting the text of your proposed game narrative. If you are selected as a Finalist you will receive all necessary information for Round Two, including any technical requirements for your final game entry. There are some notes in the Critical Thinking Game Pitch Submission section, including some technical suggestions and limitations. Our intention is to be as flexible and supportive of as many different formats as possible but we do need to be able to reliably judge the games and, in the event that it is a winning game, be able to: modify the game; make the game available through various channels; possibly translate the game into other languages; and also to provide support for game players. If you have any specific questions feel free to ask us.

What are the content requirements?

As with all of our game design challenges no violent content is permitted in the game entries. Games should be age-appropriate for those ages 11 and up.

How long do I have to enter?

Registration was from March 7, 2023 through March 19, 2023. The Finalists were notified by March 30, 2023 and had until June 30, 2023 to submit their finished game.

Do you accept group entries?

Yes - please just identify a primary contact person when you submit your game pitch on the Round One submission form.

Where can I learn more about critical thinking?

Visit the About Critical Thinking section for information and resources about critical thinking.

How can I keep up to date about the contest info?

Register for our newsletter to be notified about our next game design challenge. You can also follow the Critical Thinking Mastodon account at: games.ngo/@CriticalThinkingGames . Finalists will be invited to join our Discord server.

Judging and Selection Process

What criteria will be used for judging?

Round One of the contest will be judged based on the creativity of your proposed game pitch and the potential for that idea to be developed into a compelling video game which will help players: be more aware of the importance of critical thinking; be better informed about critical thinking skills; have strategies to strengthen skills associated with critical thinking; and as a result, be generally better at making informed decisions and become more self sufficient.

Judging details and scoring rubric for Round Two were distributed to all Finalists at the time that they were notified of their Finalist status.

Information about the judges, including their bios, will be added to the contest website June 2023.

Critical Thinking Games: Official Rules

No purchase necessary to enter or win. Void where prohibited. Entry in this contest constitutes your acceptance of these official rules.

The 2023 Life.Love. Game Design Challenge (the " Contest ") is designed to encourage participants (" Entrant(s) " or " You ") to use their creativity to create their own video game that helps players of the game: be more aware of the importance of critical thinking; be better informed about skills supporting the use of critical thinking; have strategies to strengthen skills associated with critical thinking; and feel more empowered through the use of critical thinking, especially for those players in the approximate age range of 11 - 22 years of age (the " Target Age Group "). Life Love Publishing and/or its representatives will select Finalists (" Finalists ") from those eligible entries submitted in Round One. Finalists will be eligible to participate in Round Two and will submit completed games. Judges will choose the winning entries from the Round Two eligible Finalist submissions and prizes will be awarded in accordance with these Official Rules (these " Rules ").

• BINDING AGREEMENT : In order to enter the Contest, you must agree to the Rules. Therefore, please read these Rules prior to entry to ensure you understand and agree. You agree that submission of an entry in the Contest constitutes agreement to these Rules and that you may not submit an entry to the Contest and are not eligible to receive the prizes described in these Rules unless you agree to these Rules. These Rules form a binding legal agreement between you, Jennifer Ann's Group, and Life Love Publishing with respect to the Contest.
• ELIGIBILITY : To be eligible to enter the Contest, an Entrant must: (a) be 13 years of age (or older) at time of entry; and (b) have obtained a parent's or legal guardian's prior permission if under the age of majority (" Minors ") in their jurisdiction. Minors who enter must have the written consent of a parent or legal guardian in order to be eligible to receive any prizes, as described in Section 8 of these Rules. Contest is void where prohibited by law. Employees, interns, contractors, and official office-holders of Jennifer Ann's Group, Life Love Publishing, and any affiliates, and their respective directors, officers, employees, advertising and promotion agencies, representatives, and agents (" Contest Entities ") are ineligible to participate in this Contest.
• SPONSOR : The Contest is sponsored by the Jennifer Ann Crecente Memorial Group, Inc. d/b/a Jennifer Ann's Group(" Jennifer Ann's Group " or " Sponsor "), a Georgia non-profit corporation (501 c(3)) with principal place of business at 2554 Drew Valley Rd NE, Atlanta, GA, 30319, USA. (EIN: 20-4618499) .
• CONTEST PERIOD : The contest period is from March 7, 2023 through August, 2023. Round One of the Contest begins on March 7, 2023 and ends on March 19, 2023 at 11:59pm Eastern Time (ET) Zone (GMT-4) (" Round One Contest Period "). Round Two of the Contest begins on March 30, 2023 and ends on June 30, 2023 at 11:59pm Eastern Time (ET) Zone (GMT-4) (" Round Two Contest Period "). All dates are subject to change. Winning Games will be announced in August or September, 2023.
• HOW TO ENTER : NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. To enter the Contest, visit the Contest website located at https://CriticalThinker.games (" Contest Site ") during the Contest Period and follow the instructions that appear in the "Critical Thinking Game Submission" section. You will be requested to complete an official entry form (" Entry Form ") with all requested information, including your responses, or "game pitch", to the questions about your proposed critical thinking game (" Game Narrative "). Entry Forms can only be submitted by Entrants. Those Entrants notified by Jennifer Ann's Group that they have been selected to proceed to Round Two of the Contest (" Finalists ") shall participate in Round Two of the Contest by submitting their completed game entry (" Completed Game "). LIMIT ONE (1) GAME NARRATIVE PER ENTRANT IN ROUND ONE. Subsequent entries will replace, and be treated as, the initial entry. Any submission not meeting the aforementioned criteria will be disqualified. Jennifer Ann's Group and Life Love Publishing accepts no responsibility for submissions lost, delayed, damaged, defaced, or mislaid, howsoever caused. All entries will be deemed made by the Entrant submitted at the time of entry. LIMIT ONE (1) COMPLETED GAME PER FINALIST IN ROUND TWO. Subsequent entries will replace, and be treated as, the initial entry. Any submission not meeting the aforementioned criteria will be disqualified. Jennifer Ann's Group and Life Love Publishing accepts no responsibility for submissions lost, delayed, damaged, defaced, or mislaid, howsoever caused. All entries will be deemed made by the Entrant submitted at the time of entry.
• They must not contain any depictions of violence.
• They must not be derogatory, offensive, threatening, defamatory, disparaging, libellous or contain any content that is tortuous, slanderous, discriminatory in any way, or that promotes hatred or harm against any group or person, or otherwise does not comply with the theme and spirit of the Contest.
• They must be unique creations that have not been previously published and will remain unpublished until after the contest has ended.
• They must not contain content, material or any element that is unlawful, or otherwise in violation of, or contrary to, any applicable federal, state, or local laws and regulations including the laws or regulations in any jurisdiction where the entry is created.
• They must not contain any content, material, or element that displays any third party advertising, slogan, logo, trademark, or otherwise indicates a sponsorship or endorsement by a third party or commercial entity. For Round Two Finalists, text acknowledgements are acceptable in the Completed Game entries; additionally, Jennifer Ann's Group will supply a graphic image identifying Jennifer Ann's Group as the game's sponsor; the image will be placed at an appropriate location as part of the Finalist's Completed Game entry.
• They must only contain text, graphics, audio, designs, and game mechanics that entrants have proper rights to use (e.g. works in the public domain; original creations by the entrant; third-party works with rights granted by rights owner).
• They cannot contain any content, element, or material that violates a third party's publicity, privacy, or intellectual property rights.
• During the Contest Period, the Sponsor, its agents and/or the Judges will be evaluating the Entries to ensure they meet the Entry Requirements. The Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any Entrant who submits an entry that does not meet the Entry Requirements. Incomplete entries or entries not complying with these Rules are subject to disqualification.
• potential educational value of the proposed game to discuss, demonstrate, or otherwise engage players about critical thinking and its importance, especially for those in the Target Age Group
• potential entertainment or otherwise compelling value of the proposed game
• potential of the proposed game to increase awareness about critical thinking and its importance
• potential of the proposed game to encourage discourse about critical thinking and its importance
• potential of the proposed game to persuade game players about critical thinking and its importance
• potential of the proposed game to help players identify critical thinking skills and learn how to strengthen those skills in order to help the player become more adept at using critical thinking
• game elements of the proposed game
• adherence to the Game Narrative , Entry Requirements , and these Rules .
• educational value of the game to discuss, demonstrate, or otherwise engage players about critical thinking and its importance, especially for those players in the Target Age Group
• entertainment or otherwise compelling value of the game
• potential of the game to increase awareness about critical thinking and its importance
• potential of the game to encourage discourse about critical thinking and its importance
• potential of the game to persuade game players about critical thinking and its importance
• potential of the game to help players identify critical thinking skills and learn how to strengthen those skills in order to help the player become more adept at using critical thinking
• game elements
• adherence to the Game , Entry Requirements , and these Rules .
• Round One Finalists Finalists will be notified on or before March 30, 2023 by email.
• Potential Winners Potential winners will be notified August 2023 by email.
• Decisions of the judges are final and binding. In the event there are not enough eligible entries, not all prizes will be awarded. If a potential winner is unable for whatever reason to accept their prize, then Life Love Publishing reserves the right to award the prize to another entrant.
• Notification of Potential Finalists / Winning Game(s) : Becoming a Finalist / Winning Game is subject to validation and verification of eligibility and compliance with all the terms and conditions set forth in these Rules. If a potential Finalist is disqualified for any reason, a replacement Game Narrative Entry entrant might be chosen as a potential Finalist. If a potential Winning Game is disqualified for any reason, the Completed Game that received the next highest total score will be chosen as the potential Winning Game. The potential Finalist(s) / Winning Game(s) will be selected and notified by email.
• If a potential Finalist does not respond to the notification attempt within three (3) days from the first notification attempt, then such potential Finalist may be disqualified and an alternate potential Finalist might be selected from among all eligible Game Narrative entries received based on the judging Criteria described herein.
• If the Entrant of a potential Winning Game does not respond to the notification attempt within three (3) days from the first notification attempt, then such potential Winning Game may be disqualified and an alternate potential Winning Game will be selected from among all eligible entries received based on the judging Criteria described herein.
• Except where prohibited by law, all Prize Winners will be required to sign and return an Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability and Publicity Release and provide any additional information that may be required by Sponsor. If required, Prize Winners must return all such required documents via fax (or as otherwise instructed) within forty-eight (48) hours following attempted notification or such potential Prize Winners will be deemed to have forfeited the prize and another potential Prize Winner may be selected based on the judging Criteria described herein.
• In the event the potential Prize Winner is a minor, their parent or legal guardian must sign the documents and return them as described herein. All notification requirements, as well as other requirements within these Rules, will be strictly enforced. Determinations of Judges are final and binding. All Prize Winners, including any parent representatives, agree to keep the Completed Game strictly confidential between time of submission and the Completed Game's final launch by Life Love Publishing.
• PRIZES : The entrant of the Winning Game will be eligible to receive a minimum of $3,000 (USD) prize money. An announcement about the Winning Game(s) will be displayed on Jennifer Ann's Group's game portal JAGga.me website and itch.io page for the remainder of 2023. All Non-Winning Finalists will be eligible to receive a minimum of $100 (USD) prize money upon submitting their completed game in accordance with these rules. Some Non-Winning Finalists may also have their games published on the JAGga.me website and/or itch.io page. A total of $10,000 (USD) in prize money will be distributed among all Winners and Finalists, subject to the minimum prize monies described above. Distribution of prize money will be announced when the Winning Games are announced. Additional Winning Games might be selected from among the Finalists. Further details regarding prize distribution will be provided to winners in the prize acceptance documents but will be approximately four (4) to six (6) weeks after Sponsor's receipt of prize acceptance documents from winners. All entrants receiving prize money are considered prize winners (" Prize Winners ") for purposes of these Rules.
• TAXES : Prize Winners are responsible for any federal, state, and local tax consequences and for compliance with all governmental reporting and payment requirements. Winning funds will be sent in U.S. Dollars via cashier's check through Postal Mail or via PayPal (at the option of the winners).
• GENERAL CONDITIONS : At the time of submitting a Completed Game all Round Two Finalists will also electronically provide to Life Love Publishing all source files and components necessary to re-create the Completed Game ("Source Files"). Life Love Publishing and/or Jennifer Ann's Group may use these Source Files to publish the Completed Game to marketplaces; provide language translations; update content; develop derivative works; and / or to localize such game for other countries at Life Love Publishing and/or Jennifer Ann's Group's sole discretion.
• INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS : All Prize Winners give Jennifer Ann's Group and Life Love Publishing the right to the Entrant's name, voice, picture, portrait, and likeness for advertising and promotion purposes without further compensation, where permitted by law. All Prize Winners also give their consent to Jennifer Ann's Group and Life Love Publishing and to those whom they may authorize, to photograph, film, videotape, and/or to use a photographic / digital reproduction of their entry with or without their name, to identify them by name, and/or to quote or record statements made by them, for any editorial, promotional, marketing, or other purpose broadly related to the mission of Jennifer Ann's Group ("violence prevention"). This consent does not extend to the purposes of endorsement of product or service advertising for any unrelated third parties. As a condition of receiving their prize, Prize Winners must grant Jennifer Ann's Group and Life Love Publishing the non-exclusive, royalty-free, licensable, assignable rights to all: completed, object, and source files; necessary media files; and associated intellectual property rights of their entry for purposes of publishing, promotion, marketing, research, creation of derivative works, and internal use.
• WARRANTY AND INDEMNITY : Entrants warrant that their entries are their own original work and, as such, they are the sole and exclusive owner and rights holder of the submitted Game Narrative / Completed Game and that they have the right to submit the Game Narrative / Completed Game to the Contest and to grant all required licenses. Each Entrant agrees not to submit any Game Narrative / Completed Game that: (a) infringes any third party proprietary rights, intellectual property rights, industrial property rights, personal or moral rights or any other rights, including without limitation, copyright, trademark, trade names, industrial designs, patent, trade secret, privacy, publicity or confidentiality obligations; or (b) otherwise violates applicable international, state, federal, or local law. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Entrant indemnifies and agrees to keep indemnified Sponsor and its agents and subsidiaries at all times from and against any liability, claims, demands, losses, damages, costs, and expenses resulting from any act, default, or omission of the Entrant and/or a breach of any warranty set forth herein. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Entrant agrees to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Sponsor and its agents and subsidiaries from and against any and all claims, actions, suits, or proceedings, as well as any and all losses, liabilities, damages, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys fees) arising out of or accruing from: (i) any Game Narrative / Completed Game or other material uploaded or otherwise provided by Entrant that infringes any copyright, trademark, trade secret, trade dress, patent, or other intellectual property right of any person or defames any person or violates their rights of publicity or privacy; (ii) any misrepresentation made by Entrant in connection with the Contest; (iii) any non-compliance by Entrant with these Rules; (iv) claims brought by persons or entities other than the parties to these Rules arising from or related to Entrant's involvement with the Contest; (v) acceptance, possession, misuse, or use of any prize or participation in any Contest-related activity or participation in the Contest; (vi) any malfunction or other problem with the Contest Site in relation to the entry and participation in the Contest by Entrant; (vii) any error in the collection, processing, or retention of entry or voting information in relation to the entry and participation in the Contest by Entrant and in the voting process; or (viii) any typographical or other error in the printing, offering, or announcement of any prize or winners in relation to the entry and participation in the Contest by Entrant.
• ELIMINATION : Any false information provided within the context of the Contest by Entrant concerning identity, mailing address, email address, ownership of right, or non-compliance with these Rules or the like may result in the immediate elimination of the entrant from the Contest.
• INTERNET AND DISCLAIMER : Jennifer Ann's Group and Life Love Publishing are not responsible for any malfunction of the entire Contest Site or any late, lost, damaged, misdirected, incomplete, illegible, undeliverable, or destroyed entries due to system errors, failed, incomplete or garbled computer or other telecommunication transmission malfunctions, hardware or software failures of any kind, lost or unavailable network connections, typographical, or system/human errors and failures, technical malfunction(s) of any telephone network or lines, cable connections, satellite transmissions, servers or providers, or computer equipment, traffic congestion on the Internet or at the Contest Site, or any combination thereof, including other telecommunication, cable, digital, or satellite malfunctions which may limit Entrant's ability to participate. Jennifer Ann's Group is not responsible for the policies, actions, or inactions of others which might prevent Entrant from entering, participating, and/or claiming a prize in this Contest. Sponsor's failure to enforce any term of these Rules will not constitute a waiver of that or any other provision. Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify Entrants who violate the rules or interfere with this Contest in any manner. If an Entrant is disqualified, Sponsor reserves the right to terminate that Entrant's eligibility to participate in the Contest.
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Growth Tactics

50 Transformative Team Building Games for Students

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In a world that increasingly values collaboration, emotional intelligence, and creative problem-solving, fostering these skills in students has never been more important. Team building games serve as powerful tools to develop leadership, personal growth, and essential problem-solving skills.

Drawing from the rich experiences of Air Force leadership and applying a purpose-driven approach, this guide provides educators with detailed instructions and insights to help their students thrive.

Let’s talk team building. These exercises are not just about fun; they’re about cultivating the leaders of tomorrow and reinforcing the fabric of teamwork, communication, and leadership.

Here are 50 team-building activities designed to sharpen skills, foster unity, and highlight the individual strengths within your student groups.

1. Human Knot

Objective : Untangle to form a circle without letting go of hands.

How to Play :

• Gather all participants in a close circle.
• Each person reaches across the circle and grabs two different people’s hands. Make sure everyone is holding hands with two different people.
• The group must now work together to untangle into a single circle without ever breaking the hand-hold.

Leadership Insight : This exercise teaches patience and strategic communication. Leaders must learn to listen and value each team member’s input. In times of complexity, clear and calm communication often reveals the best path forward.

2. Minefield

Objective : Navigate a ‘minefield’ with verbal guidance.

• Set up an area with various obstacles scattered throughout.
• Pair participants, blindfold one person and have the other serve as the guide.
• The guide directs the blindfolded partner through the minefield using verbal instructions only.

Leadership Insight : This activity builds trust and clarity in communication. Effective leaders develop trust within their teams, ensuring each member feels confident in following their direction.

3. Tower of Cards

Objective : Build the tallest card tower in a limited time.

• Divide the participants into small teams.
• Provide each team with a deck of cards.
• Set a time limit and challenge teams to build the tallest tower possible.

Leadership Insight : Encourages creative problem-solving and teamwork. Leaders must inspire innovation and mutual effort to reach a collective goal, understanding that creativity often leads to the most effective solutions.

4. Escape Room Challenge

Objective : Solve puzzles to ‘escape’ within a time limit.

• Set up an escape room with various puzzles and challenges.
• Divide participants into teams.
• Teams work together to solve each puzzle and find the key to escape before time runs out.

Leadership Insight : Promotes critical thinking and collaboration. Leaders must foster environments where critical thinking thrives and team members feel empowered to contribute their unique perspectives to solve complex problems.

5. Pass the Hoop

Objective : Move a hula hoop around a circle without breaking the chain of hands.

• Form a circle and have participants hold hands.
• Place a hula hoop over one person’s arm.
• The group must pass the hoop all the way around the circle without letting go of each other’s hands.

Leadership Insight : Focuses on coordination and teamwork. True leadership ensures every individual’s contribution is seamless within the team framework, moving collectively towards success without breaking the chain of cooperation.

6. Blindfold Pictionary

Objective : Draw a designated object while blindfolded with team guidance.

• Split participants into teams.
• Blindfold one member of each team and provide them with drawing materials.
• The blindfolded person must draw an object based on their team’s verbal description alone.

Leadership Insight : Enhances communication and adaptability. Leaders learn to give clear instructions and adapt to miscommunications in real-time, ensuring their team can pivot effectively in any situation.

7. Trust Fall

Objective : Fall backward into the arms of your team.

• Line up participants in pairs or small groups.
• One person stands with their back to their team and falls backward, trusting the team to catch them.

Leadership Insight : Cultivates trust and unity. Leadership is about creating a foundation of strong alliances where team members feel secure and confident in each other’s support.

8. Two Truths and a Lie

Objective : Guess which statement is false.

• Have each participant share three statements about themselves – two truths and one lie.
• The other participants must guess which statement is the lie.

Leadership Insight : Encourages honesty and understanding within the team. Leaders must create environments that value transparency and personal connection to foster strong, authentic teams.

9. Balloon Pyramid

Objective : Create a pyramid using balloons.

• Provide each team with balloons and tape.
• Set a time limit and challenge teams to construct the tallest pyramid using balloons.

Leadership Insight : Highlights innovation and group effort. Leaders must harness the collective creativity of their team, nurturing an environment where each member’s innovative ideas contribute to achieving common goals.

10. Island Hopping

Objective : Cross an ‘island’ using limited stepping stones.

• Mark two points in an area to represent the start and finish.
• Provide a limited number of stepping stones (pieces of paper or mats) fewer than the participants.
• Teams must navigate from one point to the other using these stepping stones, ensuring no one touches the ground.

Leadership Insight : Strategic planning and resource management . Leaders must meticulously plan and manage resources, balancing risk and foresight to navigate their team through challenges effectively.

11. The Perfect Square

Objective: Form a perfect square while blindfolded.

How to Play:

• Have all team members stand in a circle, holding a piece of rope.
• Blindfold all participants.
• Instruct them to work together to form a perfect square with the rope while still blindfolded.
• Allow them to communicate freely, but they must not remove the blindfolds.

Leadership Insight: This exercise sharpens listening skills and underscores the importance of collaborative effort. In a task where sight is not an option, leaders must rely on clear communication and trust, reminiscent of coordinating complex operations in the Air Force.

12. Scavenger Hunt

Objective: Find all items on the list within a set time.

• Create a list of items to be found in the surrounding area.
• Divide participants into teams and distribute the lists.
• Set a time limit for completing the hunt.
• Each team must strategically divide tasks and communicate effectively to find all items on the list.

Leadership Insight: Effective teamwork and strategic division of tasks are essential. Just as in mission planning, the ability to execute a well-thought-out strategy ensures success.

13. Spider Web

Objective: Navigate a ‘spider web’ without touching the web.

• Create a ‘spider web’ using ropes tied between two fixed points.
• The web should have multiple openings of varying sizes.
• Team members must pass through the openings without touching the ropes.
• Each opening can be used only once.

Leadership Insight: This activity encourages innovative problem-solving and seamless teamwork, pivotal skills in overcoming unforeseen challenges in operations.

14. Balloon Tower

Objective: Build the tallest tower with balloons and tape.

• Provide each team with a set number of balloons and a roll of tape.
• Set a time limit for constructing the tower.
• Encourage teams to experiment with different designs to build the tallest and most stable structure possible.

Leadership Insight: Innovation and group cooperation are key. Just as in developmental projects, creativity combined with teamwork can lead to remarkable outcomes.

15. Puzzle Relay

Objective: Complete a puzzle as a team.

• Provide each team with a puzzle.
• Each team member must take turns running to a designated spot, adding a piece to the puzzle, and running back.
• Continue until the puzzle is complete.

Leadership Insight: Efficiently dividing tasks based on individual strengths greatly improves overall performance. This activity mirrors the importance of strategic delegation in successful mission execution.

16. Egg Drop Challenge

Objective: Create a structure to protect an egg from breaking when dropped.

• Give each team materials such as straws, tape, and paper.
• Teams must construct a protective casing for an egg.
• Drop the eggs from a predetermined height.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of each design based on whether the egg remains intact.

Leadership Insight: Encourages innovative thinking and teamwork, essential for overcoming constraints and achieving mission success under pressure.

17. Role Reversal

Objective: Switch roles within the team and tackle a given task.

• Assign a task that the team must complete.
• Before starting, have team members switch roles or responsibilities.
• Complete the task with the new role allocations.

Leadership Insight: Promotes empathy and understanding of the challenges associated with different roles, fostering a more cohesive and supportive team environment.

18. Team Skits

Objective: Create and perform a short skit that conveys a message.

• Provide a theme or message for the skits.
• Allow time for planning and rehearsing.
• Each team performs their skit in front of the group.

Leadership Insight: Fosters creativity and collaborative storytelling, crucial for effective communication and morale-building.

19. Marble Run

Objective: Build a track to get a marble from start to finish.

• Provide materials such as paper tubes, tape, and cardboard.
• Teams must design and build a functional track.
• Test the track by releasing a marble from the start to see if it reaches the end.

Leadership Insight: Encourages engineering skills and teamwork, emulating the careful planning and collaboration needed in tactical operations.

20. Chain Reaction

Objective: Design a series of actions that lead to a final event.

• Provide a variety of materials for creating moving parts (dominos, balls, strings, etc.).
• Teams must design and set up a chain reaction that leads to a specific end goal.
• Test the chain reaction to ensure all parts work together seamlessly.

Leadership Insight: Emphasizes the importance of understanding cause and effect in team efforts, parallel to the intricate planning and execution required in mission scenarios.

21. Team Charades

Objective: Guess the word or phrase acted out by a team member. Leadership Insight: Promotes quick thinking and non-verbal communication.

• Divide the group into teams.
• Each team selects a member to act out a word or phrase.
• The chosen actor is given the word or phrase (without speaking).
• Team members must guess the word or phrase within a set timeframe.
• Rotate actors per round until everyone has had a turn.

22. Balloon Bop

Objective: Keep the balloon in the air for the longest time. Leadership Insight: Encourages group coordination and focus.

• Form small teams or pairs.
• Each team is given a balloon.
• The goal is to keep the balloon in the air using only one tap per person.
• If the balloon touches the ground, that team is out.
• The team that keeps the balloon in play the longest wins.

23. Lava Flow

Objective: Cross a designated area using limited resources without touching the ground. Leadership Insight: Strategic planning and teamwork.

• Define the “lava” area using ropes or cones.
• Provide “stepping stones” (pieces of paper, cardboard) for each team.
• Teams strategically place and move the stones to cross the “lava.”
• Any team member touching the ground has to start over.
• The first team to successfully cross wins.

24. Silent Line-Up

Objective: Line up by a particular criterion (age, height) without speaking. Leadership Insight: Enhances non-verbal communication and teamwork.

• Communicate the criterion (age, height, etc.) to the group.
• Participants must use gestures to line up in the correct order.
• No speaking or verbal cues are allowed.
• Once in line, the order is checked for accuracy.

25. Reverse Scavenger Hunt

Objective: Find objects that represent a certain theme or concept. Leadership Insight: Promotes creativity and team synergy.

• Assign a theme or concept to each team.
• Teams search for objects that symbolize their assigned theme.
• Each team presents their findings and explains the connection.
• Creativity and relevance are evaluated for a winner.

26. Paper Plane Contest

Objective: Design and fly the best paper plane. Leadership Insight: Innovation and iterative problem-solving.

• Provide paper and basic materials for plane construction.
• Each participant designs and folds their plane.
• Planes are tested for distance and design effectiveness.
• The plane that flies the farthest or exhibits unique design wins.

27. Balloon Stomp

Objective: Pop the balloons tied to opponents’ ankles. Leadership Insight: Strategic movement and quick thinking.

• Tie balloons to each participant’s ankle.
• Participants try to pop others’ balloons while protecting their own.
• The last person with an intact balloon wins.

28. Capture the Flag

Objective: Capture the opposing team’s flag while protecting your own. Leadership Insight: Strategic planning and competitive teamwork.

• Divide the area into two zones and teams.
• Place a flag in each team’s zone.
• Teams attempt to capture the opposing flag while defending their own.
• The game ends when a flag is captured and brought back to the team’s home base.

29. Minefield with a Partner

Objective: Guide a blindfolded partner through a minefield. Leadership Insight: Enhances trust and precise communication.

• Set up a “minefield” with obstacles.
• One partner is blindfolded; the other provides verbal guidance.
• The blindfolded partner must navigate through the “minefield” without touching any obstacles.
• Trust and clear communication are critical for success.

30. Alphabet Game

Objective: Form letters of the alphabet using team members’ bodies. Leadership Insight: Promotes group coordination and creative problem-solving.

• Divide players into small teams.
• Assign letters of the alphabet to each team.
• Teams use their bodies to form the assigned letters.
• Creativity and accuracy are judged to determine the winners.

31. Word Search Race

Objective: Create and solve word searches as a team.

• Divide participants into small teams.
• Each team creates a word search puzzle for another team to solve, using an online word search generator or pen and paper.
• Exchange puzzles and race to see which team can solve the other’s word search the fastest.

Leadership Insight: This activity emphasizes critical thinking and teamwork. It’s not just about solving puzzles, but about listening to each other and dividing the problem into manageable parts, ensuring every team member’s strengths are leveraged.

32. Balloon Pop Relay

Objective: Pop balloons through various challenges in a relay format.

• Set up a relay course with different stations, each having a unique challenge (e.g., popping a balloon by sitting on it, using a dart, or stomping).
• Divide the group into teams and let each team member tackle one station at a time, passing a baton to the next member upon completion.

Leadership Insight: This encourages strategic task division and collaboration. Just like in the Air Force, knowing your team’s strengths and delegating tasks effectively is crucial.

33. Jigsaw Puzzle Race

Objective: Complete a jigsaw puzzle faster than the other team.

• Split into two or more teams and provide each with identical jigsaw puzzles.
• Start the timer and see which team can complete their puzzle first.

Leadership Insight: Success in this activity mirrors effective division of labor and problem-solving—keys to mission success in high-pressure environments.

34. Blind Obstacle Course

Objective: Navigate an obstacle course while blindfolded with team guidance.

• Set up an obstacle course.
• One team member is blindfolded and must navigate the course solely using the verbal instructions from their teammates.
• Rotate so every team member gets a turn either guiding or being guided.

Leadership Insight: Trust and communication are foundational in any mission. This activity builds both, simulating the reliance we place on one another in demanding situations.

35. Paper Tower Challenge

Objective: Build the tallest tower using only paper and tape.

• Provide teams with equal amounts of paper and tape.
• Set a time limit and let them build the tallest freestanding structure they can.

Leadership Insight: Creativity and innovative engineering are at the heart of problem-solving. This task encourages thinking outside the box and collaborative effort.

36. Pictionary Telephone

Objective: Pass a message down a line through drawings.

• Form teams and have individuals stand in a line.
• The first person is given a phrase to draw in a set amount of time.
• The drawing is passed down the line, with each subsequent person only drawing what they see.
• The last person in line guesses the original phrase.

Leadership Insight: Clarity in communication is vital. This exercise highlights how easily information can be misinterpreted, reinforcing the need for clear, concise communication.

37. Life Raft

Objective: Teams decide who to save using ethical debates.

• Present a scenario where the team must decide who gets a spot on a life raft with limited space.
• Each team member assumes a character with a backstory.
• Teams debate and decide which characters to save within a time limit.

Leadership Insight: Ethical decision-making and critical thinking are pivotal in leadership roles. This activity forces deep analysis and values-based decision-making.

38. Human Letters

Objective: Spell out words using only team members’ bodies.

• Give teams a list of words.
• Teams must spell out the words by arranging their bodies on the ground.
• Set a time limit for each word.

Leadership Insight: Coordination, creativity, and flexibility are crucial. This activity fosters innovative problem-solving and physical teamwork.

39. Water Balloon Toss

Objective: Toss a water balloon back and forth without breaking it.

• Pair up team members.
• Start close together and toss the water balloon gently.
• With each successful toss, take a step back.
• Continue until only one pair remains with their balloon intact.

Leadership Insight: Trust and careful coordination are key. This activity demands precise communication and careful execution, mirroring real-world scenarios where precision is critical.

40. Team Cooking

Objective: Prepare a simple dish together.

• Divide into teams and provide a set of ingredients.
• Each team must plan, prepare, and cook a dish within a certain timeframe.
• Dish presentations and tasting follow.

Leadership Insight: Leadership and task delegation based on individual strengths come to the forefront here. This is about blending skills and working harmoniously, akin to how a mission is executed.

41. Marshmallow Tower

Objective: Build the tallest tower using spaghetti and marshmallows.

• Start by dividing into small teams.
• Each team will receive uncooked spaghetti and marshmallows.
• The goal is simple yet challenging: construct the tallest freestanding tower within 15-20 minutes.

Leadership Insight: This exercise isn’t just child’s play; it’s a fundamental test of strategic planning and collaboration. It highlights how every individual’s input can impact the mission’s success, much like an Air Force operation where each role, no matter how small, is vital.

42. Obstacle Relay

Objective: Complete an obstacle course relay.

• Set up a series of obstacles.
• Split participants into teams and have them complete the course in a relay format, where each member tackles different obstacles.

Leadership Insight: This activity brings to life the essence of teamwork and physical coordination. It serves as a practical reminder that, in any mission, the collective effort and support for one another often dictate the outcome.

43. Mandala Making

Objective: Create a mandala pattern using natural elements.

• Provide an array of natural elements such as leaves, flowers, stones, and sticks.
• Teams will then collaboratively design and build symmetrical mandala patterns on the ground.

Leadership Insight: Creativity and respect for diverse ideas take center stage here. This is a brilliant opportunity to see how individual creativity can weave into a cohesive, beautiful vision, echoing the spirit of collective creativity seen in mission planning.

44. Story Chain

Objective: Craft a story with each team member contributing one line.

• Arrange participants in a circle.
• One person starts with a line of a story, and the next adds to it, progressing until the narrative feels complete.

Leadership Insight: The Story Chain fosters creativity and showcases the power of collaboration. It’s a testament to how each person’s contribution can build a narrative richer than any single voice.

45. Mystery Drawing

Objective: Draw an object without looking at the paper.

• Provide participants with paper and pencils
• Then challenge them to draw a familiar object without looking or lifting their pencil.

Leadership Insight: This activity embraces creativity and the beauty of imperfection, teaching that even flawed attempts can lead to insightful results. It’s a hands-on lesson in resilience and adaptability—traits essential for any leader.

46. Bucket Brigade

Objective: Transfer water from one bucket to another using cups.

• Set up two buckets per team, one filled with water and the other empty, some distance apart.
• Teams use cups to transfer the water, aiming to fill the empty bucket as quickly as possible.

Leadership Insight: This exercise enhances systematic teamwork and coordination, demonstrating the power of organized effort. Each team member’s role and efficiency are crucial, reinforcing the significance of every task in a mission’s success.

47. Bridge Building

Objective: Construct a bridge that can hold weight using limited materials.

• Provide materials like straws, tape, and paper clips.
• Challenge teams to build a bridge that can support a specified weight, such as a small book.

Leadership Insight: This task sharpens engineering skills and fosters innovative thinking. It illustrates how resourcefulness and teamwork can overcome constraints, yielding practical and efficient solutions.

48. Inclined Plane

Objective: Move an object using a series of inclined planes.

• Supply materials for constructing inclined planes, like cardboard or wooden pieces.
• Teams must design a series of planes that move an object, such as a marble, from start to finish.

Leadership Insight: This activity teaches principles of physics coupled with teamwork, mirroring how combining technical knowledge with collaborative effort can address complex challenges effectively.

49. Lifeline

Objective: Draw and share a ‘lifeline’ of significant personal events.

• Each participant draws a timeline illustrating key moments in their lives.
• They then share their ‘lifeline’ with the group.

Leadership Insight: This activity deepens understanding and empathy among team members. It highlights the importance of acknowledging and valuing each other’s personal journeys, fostering a stronger sense of team unity.

50. Reflective Circle

Objective: Reflect on and share personal strengths in a group setting.

• Form a circle.
• Each participant shares a personal strength and provides an example of its impact.

Leadership Insight: This simple yet profound exercise promotes self-awareness and group affirmation. Understanding and celebrating individual strengths within a team can drive extraordinary collective success.

Each activity is designed with a purpose, just like the roles each student plays in your classroom. Remember, the essence of team building is to not only tackle the immediate challenges but to instill lasting lessons about collaboration, trust, and personal contribution.

Every game is a flight drill, preparing your students for the bigger missions in life. Encourage them to lead with purpose and to value every member’s unique contribution. In the end, it’s the strong connections and understanding of each other’s strengths that create an unstoppable team.

Lead with heart and purpose.

Each of these team building activities offers a unique opportunity to develop the leadership, personal growth, and problem-solving skills that are indispensable in today’s world. They bring out the individuality in each student while teaching the value of teamwork and collective effort.

As you implement these activities, remember the importance of adapting them to fit your unique group dynamics and fostering a purpose-driven attitude in your students.

By equipping our future leaders with these essential skills, we not only prepare them for academic success but also empower them to take on the challenges of life with confidence and resilience.

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Playing technology games and making science fun helps young kids solve visual problems and grasp ideas better

Lecturer, North-West University

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Dr Moleboheng Ramulumo is affiliated with the North West University, School of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education

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As I watched my sons, Wavhudi and Rivhavhudi, play games on my phone before bedtime, I was captivated by their enthusiasm and how deeply they were engaged – especially when the games involved maths or science. Both boys experienced speech delays and I hoped the games would help them develop their language skills. It worked.

What I saw at home has been repeatedly underscored by research: early engagement with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) concepts through interactive tools can profoundly enhance children’s visual literacy (reading, writing and creating images) and conceptual understanding (grasping ideas).

For my Master’s degree, I’d examined how molecular biology students’ lack of visual literacy made it harder for them to grasp complex scientific concepts. This academic foundation, combined with the newfound spark in my boys, inspired my PhD research : investigating the effects of early STEM education on young children’s visual literacy and ability to grasp scientific concepts.

In a recent, related study , I explored how different types of preschool education influence children’s understanding of science and their ability to interpret visual information. The study involved children aged 4 or 5 years who were in Grade R (the year of schooling before Grade 1) from various private schools in Bloemfontein, South Africa. I observed that those exposed to STEM education were better at spatial visualisation than their peers. These children excelled in tasks that required them to recall and manipulate visual details, such as accurately reproducing elements from images, while their non-STEM counterparts often struggled.

Some people may question why all children should be exposed to STEM concepts, given that not everyone will go on to further study or careers in science, technology, engineering or mathematics fields.

But teaching these skills at a young age is not just about preparing children for specific fields. My findings underscore the profound effects of early STEM education on cognitive development, such as fostering critical thinking, problem-solving skills, creativity, innovation, logical reasoning and adaptability. These qualities are beneficial in many facets of our lives, no matter our career paths.

Testing children’s skills

In South Africa, private schools often have more flexibility than government-run (public) schools to incorporate specialised STEM curricula and innovative teaching methods tailored to early childhood education. This might include hands-on experiments like mixing colours or observing plant growth, problem-solving tasks and interactive learning through, for example, counting games and shape recognition.

Public schools, meanwhile, follow a national curriculum set by the Department of Basic Education. While this includes foundational STEM concepts, not all schools have the necessary resources, so the extent and depth of STEM instruction can vary significantly from school to school.

Though they were private institutions, the non-STEM schools in my study followed the national Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement set by the Department of Basic Education for Grade R. This does not explicitly emphasise STEM subjects. The STEM schools involved in this study, which were also private institutions, had developed their own curricula that emphasised scientific and related learning.

Drawing from study methods used elsewhere in the world , I created a special test with two main parts to measure my participants’ skills.

One tested their content knowledge. This part assessed how well the children understood basic science concepts, such as distinguishing between living and non-living things. The second evaluated the children’s ability to interpret visual information, including understanding spatial relationships and solving visual problems.

The differences between those who were STEM-educated and those who weren’t were immediately clear.

For example, I showed the children a picture of some blocks and asked them how many blocks they saw. One STEM-educated child said there were nine blocks “because some are hiding behind the others in the picture”. A non-STEM child saw “six blocks because I counted them.”

The child with STEM knowledge used advanced thinking skills to imagine where the hidden blocks might be, while their peer only counted the blocks they could see directly.

In another exercise I showed the children a picture with a dog, ball, tree, desk, boy, school bag, book and chicken and asked them to identify which ones were living things.

STEM child: “The boy, the dog and the chicken are living because they can breathe and need water to grow.” The child understood what makes something alive, using ideas like breathing and needing water.

Non-STEM child: “Only the boy is living because the dog and chicken can’t talk.”

This is a more basic, less accurate concept of what constitutes a living thing.

Game-changing learning

Based on my findings, I encourage educators to integrate STEM activities into early childhood curricula to cultivate spatial thinking, visual literacy and scientific understanding. Digital educational games and interactive learning experiences can be incorporated into lessons.

Policymakers should prioritise early STEM education, recognising its long-term benefits in preparing children for academic and professional success. This involves investing in resources, training educators, and developing curricula that embed STEM principles from the start of formal education.

My PhD research was born out of my personal experience with my sons. This journey of love, learning and relentless determination reflects my deepest aspiration: to ignite the same passion and curiosity in others that I have witnessed in my own children.

• Mathematics
• Engineering
• STEM education
• Critical thinking
• Problem solving
• Digital games

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