Follow my Claps Fun Group Game

A group clapping activity where the challenge is to follow a sequence of different movements increasing in difficulty as you progress.  

Benefits of Follow my Claps

• Very interactive
• Encourages cohesion
• Improves co-ordination
• Inspires healthy competition
• No props

How to Play Follow My Clap

To start, have your group for into pairs, then select someone as a volunteer and ask the whole group to gather around, so you can teach them all the moves.  

At this stage it is advisable to arrange the moves into smaller sections. In other words, you can start with the first move and then add more. The moves involve clapping once, then twice and then three times, and then clapping down again, 3-2-1. After which you start all over again.

Explain and perform the movements a number of times, and in-between allow the group to practice. Once everybody understands, try putting all the moves together.  

Let the group, as a whole, try the basic moves out with no time penalties. When you are fairly confident that most of the group have mastered the process of “Clap-Trap”, you can begin the challenge.

Members must now select somebody in the group and form a pair. The person they select should be somebody who they think can perform the “clap-trap” movements for the longest time possible, without making a mistake.

You can let all the pairs commence the activity simultaneously or they can perform individually. You can also time their performance if you want.

Contextual Framing Ideas for Follow My Clap

In order to make the activity easier to understand, an example would be, the old clapping game that school children used to perform during their break times. Whether you are old or young, it does not matter, all that is required now is to team up with a partner, and together learn the basic movements. 

Step-by-Step Instructions to run Follow my Clap

• Get the group to break up into pairs.
• Select a volunteer and get the whole group to stand around you, then perform the basic moves.
• It is advisable to break the whole procedure into smaller sections. Start with increasing the clapping, 1-2-3, and then with decreasing the clapping, 3-2-1. Then start again at the beginning.
• Perform only one section of the routine at a time, and then get all the other pairs to try it out.
• As soon as you can see all members grasping the routine, try the complete routine all at once.
• Permit all the pairs to practice the routine in their own time.
• Now put a challenge to the group, each member must choose somebody from the group. They must choose a person who they think can perform the routine for as long as possible, all without making a mistake.

Facilitators and Leadership Tips

As soon as you begin with this activity, you might get impressions from your early school days, when we all played this game. This activity will require a high degree of co-ordination, but the only objective is not about doing it correctly. You will discover other benefits, such as fun, enjoyment, as well as cooperation and friendly competition. 

You can strategically place a game like this within a program, creating a fun, interactive problem-solving problem for groups.

Debriefing and Reflection Tips and Strategies     

Here are some questions to ask a group, which will help them to process their experience of the game ‘Clap Trap’

• What did you think when you first heard of this activity? Why?
• Was it difficult to master all the moves successfully with your partner?
• What was the most challenging part for you?
• Do you think there is something you can learn from this activity, as a single person, as well as a team?

Variations of Follow My Clap 

• Whole Group: Once the group has mastered the routine as pairs, challenge them to try the same routine, but standing in two straight lines facing each other. First, get everyone to stretch out their left hand and touch the left hand of the person directly opposite them and then stretch your right hand out to touch the right hand of the person opposite to you.
• Circle Trap: The same routine as above, but now each person has a partner to the right and left of them instead of in front, with whom to clap hands with.