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Block Party
By Joe Bouchard
Published: 06/25/2018

Prison cells The following is an installment in "Icebreakers 101 - Volume IX: UNDAMMING THE ICE", a series featuring "Ice Breaker's" designed to promote training awareness and capabilities in the corrections industry.

Behold the simplicity of a wooden block! It has six sides and is of simple construction. Most of us played with these as children. With letters and numbers on the side, they are figuratively and literally a fundamental of early childhood education.

And some of these shapes follow us into adulthood, though in a modified form. Dice, a gift from Near East civilizations, are a cube of sorts. So, too, are the rectangular Jenga from the Hasbro company.

Here is some information from Jenga.com accessed on September 12, 2017:

“Jenga is a game of physical and mental skill. Built on the simple premise of stacking blocks, Jenga engages players of all ages, across all cultures. Jenga's success rests on its solid play value. Players take turns to remove a block from a tower and balance it on top, creating a taller and increasingly unstable structure as the game progresses."

There are 54 blocks that are rectangular in shape. The blocks are a few inches wide and made of wood. In playing this game, I have found that a spirit of friendly competition comes to the fore. More spirited games in which I have participated feature all parties playfully heckling others to topple the tower.

(Please note that this is not a commercial. Still, to give credit where credit is due, the game Jenga is a useful tool in training when employed the following way.)

Another element of competition comes in the form of answering questions. This is where the blocks come in.
  1. Have 54 questions related to the training on hand.
  2. Number the blocks 1 – 54.
  3. Mix them up.
  4. Stack the blocks in three to a row with the widest part of the block in a horizontal orientation.
  5. Next, stack the next three more on top of those perpendicularly. In other words, they must be staggered.
  6. Continue staggering the rows and stack in this fashion until you run out of blocks. If you did this correctly, you should have a tower of blocks with 18 rows and three to a row.
  7. Have someone from the first team draw a block from the tower and read the number on the block.
  8. Have that person place it on top to the tower and answer the question corresponding with the number on the block selected. Remember that the number on the block corresponds to the question in the list.
  9. If the question is answered correctly, the other team must draw a block and repeat steps 7 – 8.
  10. Points can be assigned in whatever way the facilitator sees fit. One way is to assign a point for each correct answer. A wrong answer (or no answer) subtracts 2 points from the team.
  11. The first team to gain 10 points wins.
  12. A toppled tower is the ultimate game stopper, despite the points earned prior.
“Block Party” has it all: tactile tests, stand and deliver quizzes, competition, and the possibility of a tower falling apart. Let this serve as the building blocks to your curriculum.

Visit the Joe Bouchard page

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