Materials:
– One or two bags of dry beans
– A CD case for each team to use as a pallet
From your group, form as many 2-member teams as you can.
Each team will consist of a bean counter and a bean truck. Lay out an obstacle course, with a starting point and a finish line, that the bean truck person will have to travel. Make it interesting, with lots of turns and small things to step or climb over. The bean counter will load as many dry beans onto the “pallet” (CD case) as he or she thinks the bean truck can travel with, and place it on the bean truck’s head. The bean truck will walk the obstacle course, balancing the bean pallet on his or her head. If the pallet falls off, the bean counter must retrieve all the beans and meet the bean truck back at the starting line to try again. At the finish line, the bean counter will put the successfully transported beans into a bowl, and load up another pallet.
The idea is to successfully transport as many beans as possible in a pre-determined time (2-4 minutes). You can have as many teams participate simultaneously as will fit in whatever space you’re using for a course. Determine a first place team through elimination heats, and award the first place team with a can of chili, or a bag of jelly beans.
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