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Wind In The Willows

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Small group spotting a man with eyes closed from hitting the groun, as part of trust-building exercise called Wind In The Willows

Wind In The Willows

Powerful trust-building exercise to support small groups.

  • Exciting
  • Promotes trust & empathy
  • Develops support skills
  • Fosters collaboration
  • No props

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. Form a group of 8 to 12 people, and stand in a circle.
  2. Invite one person (the faller) to stand in the middle of the circle, with their feet together and arms crossed on their chest.
  3. The spotters position themselves with one foot in front of the other, hands-up in ready position close to the faller.
  4. Upon issuing a series of agreed ‘Are you ready?’ commands, the faller will lean or fall in any direction they choose.
  5. Initially, ask the group to support the weight of the faller all the way around the circle.
  6. Continue passing the faller in any direction, gradually increasing the distance of the falls and passes, for 15 to 30 seconds.
  7. Repeat these steps with as many volunteers who wish to participate as the faller.

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Contributor

Add your Comments...

Have you played this activity? What worked, what didn't work? What type of group? Do you have useful advice for other users? Do you know a fun variation?

Comments (4)

  1. chaim5522

    Very nice I do it from time to time.
    But I see that by groups of teens after 5-6 people the group gets unfocused, and the few last ones get less attention than the first few.

    Reply
    • Mark Collard

      I hear you, Chaim. But in my experience, the more time I invest in building the group’s relationships, the less inclined they are to disengage when it’s not their turn, because they now have a bigger investment in the outcomes of another. I’d also suggest stopping the activity when the ‘attention’ gets too low to be safe. This would be a great time to invite your group to reflect on what’s happening.

  2. David Piang-Nee

    Love this activity when you have a group that are emotionally in the right spot for it.
    This is one that can be relaxing to one individual and extremely challenging for another and needs to be build up to as recommended in the variations sections culminating into the Levitation exercise.

    Do take the time to assess the suitability of the group or work towards getting the group ready especially if your end goal is to run Levitation or any advanced Trust exercises.

    The group always enjoy the resulting connections when the session is correctly run and debriefing the activity is also highly recommended to get the most of the sequence of trust exercises.

    Reply
    • Mark Collard

      Yes, a carefully considered sequence of activities that lead up to Wind in the Willows is critical. This is actually true of all adventure programs, but when safety is at risk, especially so.

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