west
The Hyper Island Toolbox
Human Machine
Time Frame
5-30 min
Group size
10-40
Facilitation lvl
beginner
Comfort zone
medium
This fast and physical group activity gets participants moving and working together in a way that generates energy and promotes collaboration. One at a time, members of the group become parts of the “machine”, each one making a distinct physical motion and a sound, until the whole group is working together in motion, as one human machine.
Materials
None
Step 1
Stand in a large circle. Explain to the group that their task is to build a human machine. Each individual will become one moving-part of the machine.
Step 2
One person enters the circle and begins making a repeating sound and a physical movement (eg. a “whoop whoop whoop” sound while flapping one arm.) After a 5 seconds, another person enters the circle and connects to the first person, also making a sound and a movement.
Continue building the machine until everyone is connected, everyone making their movements and sounds throughout. If the group is smaller than 20, you can also deconstruct the machine one person at a time.