Defend the Egg (also known as the Great Egg Drop) is a teambuilding activity that involves collaboration, problem solving, and creative teamwork. Groups build a structure out of ordinary materials and try to protect a raw egg from breaking when dropped from a high elevation.
This exercise in teambuilding can be messy, so choose an appropriate setting where making a mess is acceptable. The recommended group size is: teams of four or five people. Several materials are needed: raw eggs, several plastic straws, masking tape, newspaper, and other materials of your choice. This activity is for people ages 14 and up.
Setup for Defend the Egg
This game works well with teams that are not too large. A good team size is four or five people. Pass out one egg and a limited supply of materials (e.g. four straws, a three foot strip of tape, one section of a newspaper, etc.) This activity is more challenging with less materials provided, so decide how challenging you wish to make it.
Gameplay for Defend the Egg
Explain the rules: the mission is to protect the egg from cracking using teamwork, creativity, and a good design. You will drop each structure at least fifteen feet, and so the goal is for each structure to be able to withstand such a fall. Each team will only be given limited resources, and so they must be wise with what they have. They may not use any other resources other than what is given to them. Optionally, you can have other critera for judging including:
* most creative design
* most stylish/visually appealing
* (any other awards you wish)
Decide on an appropriate amount of time (e.g. 20-25 minutes) and then instruct them to begin! Tell them to place their egg inside their structure.
Be sure to supervise each team as they build their structure.
When time is up, collect all the structures. Now is dramatic finale in which the structures are dropped (or thrown!) from at least 15 feet in elevation and then carefully inspected to see if the eggs survived. The winners are the groups that successfully protected the egg. If you chose to have other awards, announce those winners also.
This activity is useful to illustrate the importance of teamwork. Ask everyone to reflect on how their group accomplished the task, what worked, what was challenging, etc.
Variation
A much more challenging variation of this activity is to provide no materials (other than the egg) and ask the participants to find materials from outdoors.
http://www.icebreakers.ws/medium-group/defend-the-egg.html
Friday, February 6, 2009
Saturday, December 13, 2008
च्रिस्त्मस पुज्ज्ले card
Jennifer Khan sent me a Christmas card in the form of a puzzle. Found it so cute. Here 's the link if anyone is interested.
To view the card of the month try this
To view the card of the month try this
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
तेर्रोरिस्ट्स इन Mumbai
It's been a stressful night. There have been a whole series of bomb blasts. And this time they targetted two 5 star hotels, the Taj Mahal hotel just opp. the Gateway of India and the Trident, formerly the Oberois. Since our office is close to the Taj we could actually hear some of the blasts. Over 100 people have died. Some of the dead include staff of the two hotels and police personnel, including the Anti-Terrorist Squad chief, Hemant Karkera. Another famous 'encounter' specialist, Vijay Salaskar also died. It's 9am now in India and there are still hostages in the hotels.
The terrorists are supposed to have come in by boats (rubberised dinghy boats). There have been blasts in other parts of the city too but this time there have been more in South Mumbai. There has never been anything like this, on such a large scale, in Mumbai. These terrorists are foreigners I think, and not Indians. Some of the terrorists also holed up in a building, Nariman House, in Colaba.
My brother-in-law Vinod Shekhar, who is a Municipal Corporator and mother-in-law, MLA, Annie Shekhar went on rounds last night after some of the blasts. We didn't want him to go especially since it's been just two months since he had a major heart surgery but he said that since it's his constituency it was his responsibility to do so. He also went to the hospitals later. I don't think he slept for even 2 hours cos early in the morning, before 5 am he was called to the Chief Minister's house for a meeting. They are either there or at Mantralaya.
There are Rapid Action Force personnel, commandos and the military has been callled in but so far there's been no solution to the problem.
The terrorists are supposed to have come in by boats (rubberised dinghy boats). There have been blasts in other parts of the city too but this time there have been more in South Mumbai. There has never been anything like this, on such a large scale, in Mumbai. These terrorists are foreigners I think, and not Indians. Some of the terrorists also holed up in a building, Nariman House, in Colaba.
My brother-in-law Vinod Shekhar, who is a Municipal Corporator and mother-in-law, MLA, Annie Shekhar went on rounds last night after some of the blasts. We didn't want him to go especially since it's been just two months since he had a major heart surgery but he said that since it's his constituency it was his responsibility to do so. He also went to the hospitals later. I don't think he slept for even 2 hours cos early in the morning, before 5 am he was called to the Chief Minister's house for a meeting. They are either there or at Mantralaya.
There are Rapid Action Force personnel, commandos and the military has been callled in but so far there's been no solution to the problem.
Monday, November 3, 2008
I feel so bad about what's been happening in the state of Maharashtra. So the following piece that someone forwarded to me is quite appropriate I feel. Here it is:
...SUPPORTING RAJ THACKEREY...
...I GOT THIS AS A FORWARD...(...SO TRUE...)
Dear All,
We all should support Raj Thackeray and take his initiative ahead by
doing more....
We should teach our kids that if he is second in class, don't study
harder.. just beat up the student coming first and throw him out of
the school
Parliament should have only Delhiites as it is located in Delhi
Prime-minister, president and all other leaders should only be from Delhi
No Hindi movie should be made in Bombay .
Only Marathi At every state border, buses, trains, flights should be stopped and
staff changed to local men.
All Maharashtrians working abroad or in other states should be sent
back as they are SNATCHING employment from Locals.
Lord Shiv, Ganesha and Parvati should not be worshiped in our state as
they belong to north ( Himalayas )
Visits to Taj Mahal should be restricted to people from UP only.
Relief for farmers in Maharashtra should not come from centre because
that is the money collected as Tax from whole of India , so why should
it be given to someone in Maharashtra ?
Let's support Kashmiri Militants because they are right in killing and
injuring innocent people for the benefit of their state and
community..
Let's throw all MNCs out of Maharashtra , why should they earn from
us? We will open our own Maharashtra Microsoft, MH Pepsi and MH
Marutis of the world.
Let's stop using cellphones, emails, TV, foreign Movies and dramas.
James Bond should speak Marathi
We should be ready to die hungry or buy food at 10 times higher price
but should not accept imports from other states.
We should not allow any industry to be setup in Maharashtra because
all machinery comes from outside
We should STOP using local trains... Trains are not manufactured by
Marathi manoos and Railway Minister is a Bihari
Ensure that all our children are born, grow, live and die without ever
stepping out of Maharashtra , then they will become true Marathi's
...SUPPORTING RAJ THACKEREY...
...I GOT THIS AS A FORWARD...(...SO TRUE...)
Dear All,
We all should support Raj Thackeray and take his initiative ahead by
doing more....
We should teach our kids that if he is second in class, don't study
harder.. just beat up the student coming first and throw him out of
the school
Parliament should have only Delhiites as it is located in Delhi
Prime-minister, president and all other leaders should only be from Delhi
No Hindi movie should be made in Bombay .
Only Marathi At every state border, buses, trains, flights should be stopped and
staff changed to local men.
All Maharashtrians working abroad or in other states should be sent
back as they are SNATCHING employment from Locals.
Lord Shiv, Ganesha and Parvati should not be worshiped in our state as
they belong to north ( Himalayas )
Visits to Taj Mahal should be restricted to people from UP only.
Relief for farmers in Maharashtra should not come from centre because
that is the money collected as Tax from whole of India , so why should
it be given to someone in Maharashtra ?
Let's support Kashmiri Militants because they are right in killing and
injuring innocent people for the benefit of their state and
community..
Let's throw all MNCs out of Maharashtra , why should they earn from
us? We will open our own Maharashtra Microsoft, MH Pepsi and MH
Marutis of the world.
Let's stop using cellphones, emails, TV, foreign Movies and dramas.
James Bond should speak Marathi
We should be ready to die hungry or buy food at 10 times higher price
but should not accept imports from other states.
We should not allow any industry to be setup in Maharashtra because
all machinery comes from outside
We should STOP using local trains... Trains are not manufactured by
Marathi manoos and Railway Minister is a Bihari
Ensure that all our children are born, grow, live and die without ever
stepping out of Maharashtra , then they will become true Marathi's
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
ओं सोलर energy
India is the land of sunshine. In most parts of the country we get at least 300 days of sunshine, if not more. Then why don't we use the power of the sun to fulfil our energy needs? Why are we so dependent on conventional sources of energy?
We have a Ministry of New and Renewable Energy but the common man doesn't seem to know or want to do anything to harness this energy. I just came across this magazine called AKSHAY URJA that is devoted to alternate sources of energy. Pretty interesting and informative.
Do you know that solar energy can be used not just to heat water but also to distill water and purify it. With the help of the sun we can cook our food using solar cookers. You can dry your agricultural and food products using solar-powered dryers. We can light up our houses and heat water using solar power.
The government should step in by settting an example. It should insist that all government buildings and institutions adopt solar energy and use eco-friendly products. At the same time they should also insist on using eco-friendly cars like the Bangalore-based REVA which runs on electricity. This could possibly lead to a decrease in the price of the little electric car and that in turn will give RATAN TATA's a run for his money and a no no to his NANO.
We have a Ministry of New and Renewable Energy but the common man doesn't seem to know or want to do anything to harness this energy. I just came across this magazine called AKSHAY URJA that is devoted to alternate sources of energy. Pretty interesting and informative.
Do you know that solar energy can be used not just to heat water but also to distill water and purify it. With the help of the sun we can cook our food using solar cookers. You can dry your agricultural and food products using solar-powered dryers. We can light up our houses and heat water using solar power.
The government should step in by settting an example. It should insist that all government buildings and institutions adopt solar energy and use eco-friendly products. At the same time they should also insist on using eco-friendly cars like the Bangalore-based REVA which runs on electricity. This could possibly lead to a decrease in the price of the little electric car and that in turn will give RATAN TATA's a run for his money and a no no to his NANO.
Monday, January 21, 2008
spoke to Meera Uberoi
Finally contacted Meera Uberoi through Amina Ali who sent me her phone no. Chatted with her for about 40 mts. She's very ill, some pancreatic something or the other. The amazing thing is that she has been through at least three major surgeries and even the doctors and her friends didn't expect her to survive but she did. She told me that her gall bladder was removed, and also part of her intestine and part of her stomach too. She can't digest carbohydrates and fats but she's told to have a lot of proteins. She lives in Delhi because she's under treatment and her doctors are there. With all her problems though she seems quite cheerful and at times a little sardonic.
I asked her about marriage and she said that she's been married more times than she cared to remember. She didn't say exactly how many times but I presume it was three. She said that each time she walked out of marriage without taking anything. That's really rare nowadays cos most of the time people keep fighting over possessions and custody of children etc. Meera doesn't have any children though. At first she said she felt bitter about it but then came to terms with it.
Do you know Meera is an author and has written quite a few books? She's written books for children, books on health and a comprehensive tome on gardening too. In fact she says that she would have loved to be a gardener because she has a green thumb and loves plants. She wrote she says, because that was the one talent she had. She has even ventured into painting just by chance, without any training. Meera said she would love to hear from friends but she is not computer savvy at all. If any of you would like to get in touch with her then I'll give you her phone no. It was fascinating talking to Meera and I think a book should be written on her now.
I asked her about marriage and she said that she's been married more times than she cared to remember. She didn't say exactly how many times but I presume it was three. She said that each time she walked out of marriage without taking anything. That's really rare nowadays cos most of the time people keep fighting over possessions and custody of children etc. Meera doesn't have any children though. At first she said she felt bitter about it but then came to terms with it.
Do you know Meera is an author and has written quite a few books? She's written books for children, books on health and a comprehensive tome on gardening too. In fact she says that she would have loved to be a gardener because she has a green thumb and loves plants. She wrote she says, because that was the one talent she had. She has even ventured into painting just by chance, without any training. Meera said she would love to hear from friends but she is not computer savvy at all. If any of you would like to get in touch with her then I'll give you her phone no. It was fascinating talking to Meera and I think a book should be written on her now.
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