Build a wall together before the timer rings
Hand out jobs, set the timer and stack boxes or couch cushions. Nobody climbs, and the finish is a soft-ball siege to see if the wall holds.
- Time
- 45 min
- Cost
- $0
- Ages
- 4 to 10
- Where
- Living-room floor
What you need
- Empty cardboard boxes, or every couch cushion and pillow in the house
- Packing tape for the boxes
- Paper and a marker for three job cards
- A kitchen timer or phone
- Soft balls or rolled-up socks for the siege
Before you start
- Nobody climbs the wall. Not to test it, not to see over it. Stacks are for building, not standing.
- Heavy at the bottom, light on top, and no taller than the shortest builder's shoulders.
- Build in the open, not against dressers, bookcases or the TV. Anchor tall furniture to the wall if it isn't already.
- Soft things only for the siege, thrown below the shoulders.
Steps
- Hand out the jobs. Make three job cards (builder, carrier, guard) and deal them out. Swap halfway if there are only two of you.
- Draw the plan. Sketch the wall with its length, height and a gate, and agree on what done looks like.
- Set the timer and build. Set twenty minutes. Heaviest pieces on the bottom row, tape the seams, and the Guard calls the time.
- Fix the weak spots. When the Guard calls a wobble, everyone stops and fixes it before building more.
- Swap jobs at halftime. At ten minutes, pass job cards to the left and keep building until the timer rings.
- Hold the siege. One side defends, the other throws soft balls for two minutes. Switch sides, then name what made the team work.
If it stalls
- If someone wants every job, remind them the cards rotate. Everyone gets to be Builder before the siege.
- If the wall keeps falling, make the bottom row wider, not the top taller.
Minutes to build · pieces still standing
Signed off: can do this.Signed by Date