Activities

Virtual Team Building Events

Activity Description

Electric Fence Team Building Activity

The purpose of this exercise is for the whole group to pass over the fence without making contact with the fence wire. There are two variants to this exercise such as: There is the fundamental and also the more difficult variant. Both of these two variants are excellent for perfecting working together and relying on each other.

Required Resources:

Pintent portable team building equipment (best option)

OR

Basic: Rope, shoelaces or any type of pole

Advanced: 2 x ropes, 2 x plastic drums, 4 x plastic fencing stakes and a ladder.

Total Time: 40 minutes

  • 5 minutes to brief and setup
  • 30 minutes to complete the challenge
  • 5 minutes to review and debrief

Setup of Electric Fence Experiential Group Team Building Activity 

Before you start the activity, tie a rope 5-10ft in length between two trees. This will be your electric fence line. You can also use a pole and balance it between two objects such as tables or chairs (just make sure you weigh it down to prevent it from rolling off when knocked).

The rope should be tied tightly. The height should be the same as the tallest participant in your group. The higher the rope, the harder the challenge, so adapt the height to suit the age and ability of your group.

Running the Electric Fence Team Building Activity Activity

  • Get the group to stand on one side of the rope.
  • Introduce the electric fence and explain that all team members are required to cross the fence without touching it. If they do touch the fence, the entire team will restart the  challenge and return back to the start point.
  • They must also remain connected as a team throughout the challenge (regardless of which side of the fence they are on), if anyone breaks the connection, they will again have to restart the challenge. 

Rules of Electric Fence Experiential and Interactive Team Building Activity 

  • Players in a team are only allowed to go over the fence, teams may be disqualified if they attempt to go under or around.
  • Fast movement like jumping or diving underneath is not allowed.
  • Those attempting to cross the fence must not touch it, if somebody does touch the fence, the whole team must start over again.
  • Once a team member is over the fence, they are not allowed to cross back over again.

Safety for Electric Fence Experiential and Interactive Group Team Building Activity 

Each member of the group must be informed that they are not permitted to toss or wave the bamboo. All the members of the team must be instructed to help by guiding the other member safely across the fence. There needs to always be someone there to help guide the first and last members of the team over the fence. For the duration of the exercise all the team members are responsible to safely guide each other over the fence.

There are a number of important safety factors the team members need to know:

  • Everybody must help each other over the fence.
  • When crossing over the fence, only one member of the team is allowed to go at a time.
  • Members of the group assisting, should always be there while the active member is crossing over. They should remain vigilant until the active member has completely crossed over.
  • Those active members crossing over, should remain upright, with heads and shoulder always above the feet. Those assisting must always make sure the head and shoulders are protected.

Suggested Learning Outcomes of Electric Fence Group Team Building Activity 

  • The activity is excellent for improving communication
  • Encouraging Team Work and trust
  • Building leadership skills
  • Improving problem solving

Variations of  Electric Fence Experiential Team Building Activity 

Get the whole group to be coupled together by using a longer rope of around 6 M long, which will also serve as a safety measure. All the members of the group are required to remain connected to each other with the rope until the exercise is complete.

Another variation, is to divide the team into two and they must both commence the exercise on the opposing side of the fence. They need to use a lot of teamwork in order for both groups to finish on the other side of the fence.

Advanced version of the Electric Fence Activity 

For the advanced variation of this exercise you need to make the space between the fences bigger, and is therefore recommended to be done outside. This advanced variation is a great deal more taxing on the body and it is suggested that it should only be done by adults or older children.

You don’t need to have trees to set up your electric fence, but can make use of your own wooden poles. Set the first 2 poles with the fence up and then set the second fence up about 1 meter apart. Now the group needs to go over the two electric fences together with all their equipment.

In this variation the group is not required to be joined together like the basic version requires.

The equipment the teams are provided with can be 2 plastic containers, a number of smaller crates and even a ladder or pieces of wooden planks.

Here is something to be advised on when using this variation:

  • Beware if you use wooden planks or ladders that they don’t spring back and knock someone in the head or face.
  • None of the members or the equipment should touch the fence at any time. If someonoe does touch the fence, the whole team must start over. Everybody in the team and all the equipment must successfully cross over the fence to complete the challenge.
  • You could also give teams more time to complete the challenge. Instead of 30 minutes you could go up to 50 minutes. Try not to make it too long.

Activity Guidance and Notes for Electric Fence Experiential Interactive Group Team Building Activity 

To increase the difficulty of the challenge, you could make the fence higher or easier by lowering the electric fence. Another way to make it more challenging, is to blindfold participants or to not allow members to speak to each other during the challenge.

A great way to know for sure when somebody has touched the fence, place some small bells onto the rope or fence.

Debrief and Review of Electric Fence Experiential Interactive Group Team Building

Here are some questions to ask the group, which helps the group process their whole experience:

  • In your mind what do you think was the most crucial factor of this exercise?
  • How did you handle the setback?
  • Was organizing vital? How did you go about your organisation?
  • Did everyone in the group consent to the plan? If not was the problem debated with the rest of the group?
  • Did you experience anything that was extremely difficult?
  • Was anyone chosen as the leader of the group for the exercise?
  • Was there sufficient assistance for each other during the exercise?
  • Did you all handle the safety efficiently?
  • Did you find reliability vital?
  • Considering the whole experience do you feel that the exercise taught you something?

Electric Fence Team Building Activity

Basic Details
Property Type : Team Building
Listing Type : Placeholder
Activity Type : Team Building
Focus On : Build Trust, Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, Goal Setting, Having Fun, Leadership
Outcome Based : Yes
Facilities : Indoor, Outdoor
Duration : 6 - 15 minutes
Exertion Level : Medium
Group Size : 1 - 8, 9 - 16, 17 - 30
Age : Youth, Adults