Human Knot Game

This is an icebreaker in which a group must work together to “untie” themselves from a knot. This is a cooperative rather than competitive game.

This works best with ten or fewer people in the group. If you have more people than that, make multiple groups

It makes a good team building game for Scouts BSA or Venturers.

The Cub Scout core value for the month of September is Cooperation. This is game would also make a fun activity at a Pack meeting. Just make sure each group has two or three older kids or adults who understand how it should work  to help guide this activity if you do it with Cubs.

Materials:

None

Directions

1. Have the group stand in the circle.
2. Everyone must reach in with both of their hands and grab somebody else’s hand. They must be holding hands with two different people. This creates the “human knot”.
3. Now, everyone must work together to untie the knot without letting go of any hands. They will need to step over or duck under each other.
4. In the end they will be untied into on large circle or sometimes two small circles.

Notes

Occasionally you get a combination which makes it impossible to completely untie the knot. In this case, the group leader can direct the knot to break at one point, untangle a little, and then reconnect.