Summer Youth Camp - Helium Stick

Summer Youth
Camp - Helium
Stick
www.CreativeYouthIdeas.com
www.CreativeScavengerHunts.com

Group Size: 10 to 30
Time: 20-60 minutes
Applications: Trust,
Communication, Frustration,
Blame, Focus, Shared Vision,
Problem-solving,
Commitment/Effort,
Compensating for Differences
Materials
The filled stick (Really, just an
ordinary 8 foot long light tent
pole.)

Summary
The stick is very common team
building game but one which proves
difficult even if one or more
participants have done it before. The
stick seems to defy the laws of
gravity and takes an incredible
amount of well-coordinated
teamwork to be successful. The basic
idea is incredibly simple – lower a
slim, wooden dowel to the ground all
together as a team, but just as
incredibly difficult to achieve. The
stick rises into the air instead of
getting lowered to the ground. How
can that be? The team must work it
out and find the solution.

Objective
Lower a thin stick to the
ground as a group while
everyone mains contact with
their index fingers

Instructions
1. “Form two lines facing each
other and standing shoulder to
shoulder.” (The lines must be
close to each other –
approximately 12 – 18 inches
apart). 2. “Put your hands into a
representation of a gun and
down at your side.”
3. “On the count of 3– Quick
draw like a gunslinger from the
American West!”
4. “1, 2, 3, DRAW”

5. “Good thing this isn’t the real
west… I think you would have all
killed each other!”
6. “Put both index fingers out
zipper style (interlacing with your
neighbor).”
7. Place the Stick – on top of the
outstretched fingers. THIS PART IS
IMPORTANT – when you place the
tent pole on their fingers, do so
from behind and in the middle of
one of the lines ALWAYS KEEPING
YOUR HAND ON TOP OF THE POLE
to prevent the group from raising
the pole in the air. Apply enough
pressure on top of the pole to
prevent the group from rising up.

8. While still holding it and putting a
slight unnoticeable downward
pressure, ask participants to “Please
adjust your index fingers to roughly
chest height so that all are touching
the stick.”
9. “Your challenge is to lower the
Stick to the ground. While doing so,
each persons fingers must be in
contact with the stick at all times.”
10. “No one may lose contact with
the pole. If anyone loses contact with
the stick the entire group must start
again.”
11. “The starting position is with the
pole at waist level.”

12. “You may not drop the pole”
13. “You must keep the sides of your
index fingers touching at all times.
Not the back, not your palms, and
not hooking the pole with your
finger. You cannot put your fingers
on top of the stick. If one person’s
finger comes off at any time, you
start over.”
14. Release your pressure on the
stick. Typically, the Stick will
immediately start floating off!
15. Act surprised and ask them why
they are raising the Stick instead of
lowering it!

Facilitator Notes
1. When you place the stick on the
group’s fingers, be sure to apply a
slight downward pressure before
letting them begin. This helps
create the initial upward pressure
that creates the ” stick.”
2. The Stick will continue to
mysteriously have a habit of
floating upwards rather than
coming down. Often the more a
group tries, the more it floats (as
people get nervous their fingers
jitter the Stick upwards).
Participants may be confused
initially about the paradoxical
behavior of the Stick.

3. Its likely to take several
attempts to just keep the tent
pole steady (not lowering or
raising).
4. Some groups or individuals
(most often larger size groups)
after 5 to 10 minutes of trying
may be inclined to give up,
believing it to be impossible.
Suggest the group stop and
discuss their strategy.

5. Eventually the group needs to
calm down and very slowly,
patiently lower the Stick.
6. If they get really frustrated,
you can suggest they might want
to stop and discuss what’s
happening. You can either allow
them to keep trying until they get
it, or stop them when they’ve
had enough. It’s a judgement call.

Safety Warning
The ends of the tent pole can be
dangerous if the pole starts
moving quickly
and hits someone in the face.
Take precautions to prevent
injury.

Variations
1. Add a washer to each end of the
pole. Don’t drop the washer.
2. Have people pair up and supply
each pair with a very short tent pole
(18 inches). Have each pair lower
their own pole to the ground so
they can experience success. Then
have people form groups of 4 and
then provide them with a tent pole
just long enough for 4 people. Have
the groups of 4 work together to
lower the pole. Continue making
bigger groups until you have
everyone working together on one
tent pole.

Debrief
General Debrief
• “What happened?”
• “Why?”
• “What changed?”
• “So What?”
• “Now What?”
“What happened?”
1. What happened?
The results were initially the
opposite of what was desired.

“Why?”
2. What factors limited your
success?
(frustration, blame, gave up, lack
of focus, lack of understanding
the real problem, need for instant
results, Failure to adjust to
differences, Too many leaders,)
3. Did everyone understood the
objective and the rules?
4. Was anyone intentionally trying
to sabotage the group’s objective
by lifting the stick?
5. Did everyone believe the task
was achievable?
6. Did everyone sincerely want to
accomplish the objective?

7. If everyone understood the
Objective, and was committed to
succeeding, why did the group get
so far off track right away? (didn’t
plan well, over compensated,
thought we were doing our part,
etc)
8. What factors contributed to your
eventual success?
(concentration, focus, patience,
gentleness, adjusting to differences
in height, strength, etc, unity – not
trying to outdo others,
communication, encouragement,
perseverance, being able to deal
with frustration, effective
leadership)

“What Changed?”
9. What did you do to make your
objective a reality?
(someone must take charge,
discussion of strategy, more
attentive to our position and
differences and similarities related
to those around us, clear
communication, patience, keeping
focused on the task, following the
leader, manage frustration, play to
group member strengths and
compensate for weaknesses, share
insights, cooperation, etc.)

“So What?”
10. Share some examples of groups
that they have participated in “the
real world” that seemed to be
comprised of committed people,
but were not achieving the results
that everyone wanted? What
insights might this game shed on
those situations?
11. What are the possible
applications of the lessons learned
from this activity to business,
personal development, spiritual
life, and relationships?

KEY APPLICATION: When the best plans
go awry.
Business
This activity mirrors the business
dynamic of projects starting out well,
but quickly going awry. Why is that?
Sometimes the best laid plans just don’t
work out. Having a clear vision is one
thing but making it a reality is often
another. The fact that everyone
understood and was committed to the
vision isn’t enough. It immediately went
in the OPPOSITE direction from where
you were trying to go – UP! Have you
experienced any parallels to real life
while doing this activity. What you do as
a team when plans go awry has
everything to do with team work, trust
and communication

Personal
Did you establish a plan early or
simply react? Reacting without a
plan can make the situation worse.
What are some character attributes
you would like to develop in your
life? What are some bad traits that
you would like to put down and
suppress? Sometimes in trying to
suppress things in our life we achieve
the opposite effect. The key is to find
balance and calm to deal with those
things that lead us away from our
goals. What are some frustrations
that you have in life? How do you put
aside the frustrations so that you can
have the perseverance and calm to
achieve your goals?

Spiritual
Sometimes when we spiritually strive
to achieve spiritual fruit in our lives,
we seem to get further away from
where we want to be. The key is to
rest and relax in the strength of God
rather than trying to do things in our
own strength. What are some areas
of your life that you need to simply
turn over to God and let him work
them out? What are some areas
where you are struggling and dealing
with frustration and about to give up?
How can you put them into God’s
hands? Scripture is filled with
paradoxes: The poor in Spirit shall be
Rich. The weak are strong. What are
some spiritual paradoxes in your life?

Relationships
Do the results in your relationships
sometimes seem to be opposite of
what you desire? Do you have a
tendency to take responsibility to
work together to reduce the tension
and work things back to a level of
calm, or do you blame and do things
that create more tension in
relationships? What is your typical
response when you feel others are to
blame for the relationship not going
the way you desire? Does this
response help or hinder the
relationship? If you are blamed, have
fingers pointing at you, how do you
feel?

What is your typical response? (In
the game, any tiny movement or
even nervousness by one person
causes jitters that eases the pole
up, achieving the opposite result
of what was wanted.) How can
you bring calm and focus to your
relationships? What feelings and
emotions tend to rise up, even
when you are trying to put them
down? Are there times you feel
like giving up? What is it that
keeps you focused and committed
in the relationship to see it
through?

For success in the game you had to
compensate for individual
differences (suck as height,
strength, etc). How important is
compensating for differences to
success in relationships? How
important is awareness of others?
Are there times that you over
compensate? If we know that
everyone is committed to the
objective, does it make it easier to
handle things that seem to act
contrary to our desire?

Now What?
12. What will you do differently
as a result of this activity?

Bible Studies based on the book of Jonah
Only. This youth camp curriculum was
designed to teach the basic truths
of obedience in addition to evangelism in the
context of a Biblical character. The advantage
of going through a book and looking at one
man's story is that we see not only the
teaching but the example. It becomes much
more real!
Camp Curriculum - Whale of a Tale
-> Tell me about “Whale of a Tale”
www.creativeyouthideas.com/resources/order5.html

Creative Youth Ideas
Camp Bible Study Series
“Who Do You Say that I AM?”
www.creativeyouthideas.com/resources/whodoyousay.html
-> Tell me about “Who Do You Say that I AM?”
Jesus asked the disciples, "Who do others
say that I am?" It was easy to answer
because it required no conviction, no
commitment, and no risk. But then he
follows that question with another, "Who
do YOU say that I am?"

Live the Fruitful, Abundant Life
Jesus Promised. Great for youth camps or
weekly Youth Bible Study. There are 7
Primary Bible study Sessions in the series.
www.creativeyouthideas.com/resources/fruitofthespirit.html
-> Tell me about “Fruit Of the Spirit”
Creative Youth Ideas
Youth Camp Bible Study Series
“Fruit Of the Spirit”

"The Great Adventure" is western
themed Bible study series loosely based
around the song of the same name by
Steven Curtis Chapman. It was initially
written for a large Texas Church to use for
their Summer Youth Camp but has since
then proven popular around the world.
Camp Curriculum - The Great Adventure
www.creativeyouthideas.com/resources/order12.html
-> Tell me about “The Great Adventure”

Summer Youth Camp - Helium Stick

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