The Balloon Battle is a great energizer to get everyone moving while creating a situation to introduce some concepts like team strategy, team work, collaboration, partnership and win-win situations.
Running the activity:
- Instruct everyone to tie a balloon to their left foot (you will need balloons and strings for all participants).
- Divide the large group into several smaller groups (for example, groups of three or four people).
- Instruct everyone about the team’s mission and the game’s duration:
“All teams have the same goal: to protect the team balloons. The game lasts one minute. At the end we will count and announce the team with the highest number of full balloons.”
- Say GO! and count down.
Typically, participants will have lots of fun. Many people might run around and attack other people’s balloons.
At the end of the game you can have conversations about teamwork, team strategy, perception of responsibility, and our favorite: the competitive human nature, which at times works against a win-win situation.
For instance, if no one moves and attacks other people’s balloons, every team accomplishes the goal of protecting the team’s balloons and ends up with the highest number of full balloons. Interesting enough, we have never seen or heard about this outcome.