How to Teambuild a Tree

Trees need teamwork

Are you overlooking the forest for the trees or the trees for the forest? Based on author/naturalist Joseph Cornell's "Build-a-Tree" game, this educational game doubles as a powerful team-building activity. Add it to party, seminar, retreat or lesson plans and share your success stories in the comments section!

Things You'll Need

• At least a dozen participants
• About 20 square feet of space
• Green pom-pons
• Chalk of any color

Instructions

1. 

   Call upon the tallest person of the group. This is "Heartwood." The heartwood is the oldest part of the tree and stands at the core, holding the trunk and branches upright so leaves can get their essential sunlight.

2. 

   Ask another participant to sit down with his or her back to Heartwood's legs. This is "Taproot." The taproot serves as an anchor, growing deep beneath the soil through rock and clay. It hold the tree upright and tight against the threat of storm and flood.

3. 

   Select two to four other participants with longer hair. Ask them to lie down on their backs with their feet pointed toward Heartwood and Taproot, the center of the "Tree." These are "Lateral Roots." These roots resemble branches and stretch out horizontally as far as they can to slurp up water and nutrients from the soil. Their root hairs allow them to stretch even farther like tiny straws slurping as they stretch through minute nooks and crannies.

4. 

   Round up a couple more volunteers, hand them pom-pons and call them "Xylem." Tell them to walk in a circle around Lateral Roots, Taproot and Heartwood, pumping and shaking their pom-pons up in raise-the-roof fashion. The xylem layer draws water up through fibers sucking up moisture delivered through the root system and hydrating the tree.

5. 

   Pass out some more pom-pons out to another couple of volunteers and ask them to do-si-do (counter-clockwise) around Xylem, Lateral Roots, Taproot and Heartwood, while fluttering their pom-pons down in a wave-like motion. Introduce them as the "Phloem." The leaves absorb energy from the sun and manufacture food (This is what scientists and 4th graders call "photosynthesis."). The phloem layer distributes nutrients from this food to the rest the tree.

6. 

   Hand another participant a piece of chalk. Introduce him or her as "Cambium." Note that at the end of each growth period, the cambium layer forms a new ring around the tree's core. Ask Cambium to draw a circle around the interior of the Tree.

7. 

   Ask remaining participants to join hands and encircle the rest of the Tree. This is "Bark." The outermost layer of the tree, the bark protects the wood and fibers from moisture, insects and contaminants and holds the tree's contents in place, like skin.

8. 

   Raise your voice and cheer for each part of the Tree, instructing them to do their job(s). "Heartwood, show the love, stay strong! Taproot, anchor away! Lateral Roots, let's hear you slurp! Xylem, pump it up! Phloem, bring it down! Cambium, draw some more rings! Bark, let's hear you bark and scare away those bugs!"

9. 

   Laughter ensues. Quiz the collective Tree about their respective roles and applaud them for their brave feat. Remind them to keep their day jobs.

Tips & Warnings

• I've created several mini sandwich-board style signs for each role and distributed accordingly. You can also hand out scripts to each actor. Just change the pronouns from You to We or I.

• I'm a big fan of props, but I really hate using paper from the trees for whom I speak. Instead, I repurpose pieces of boxes and junk mail.

• For your own make-shift pom-pons, run newspaper through a shredder and tie the strips together in the center with a piece of twine.

• By all means, improvise to fit your own personality and purposes!

Resources

• Books by naturalist Joseph Cornell
• Buy Pom-pons and props
• Make Your Own Green Pom-Pons
• Tips for leading your own outdoor programs
• Sharing Nature Foundation