Chuck Race | Playworks

To develop cooperation, teamwork, non-verbal communication, strategic thinking, and planning

Equipment Needed: 1 rubber chicken

Children should be standing behind their desks with their chair pushed in.
Explain that during this activity, they will not be able to talk.
The group’s goal is to beat the clock. They want to accomplish the task as quickly as possible.

When the adult says the magic word, s/he will start a stopwatch and pass Chuck (the chicken) to one player.
That player will walk to another player, hand over Chuck to that player and sit in that player’s chair.
Play continues. Each time a student gets the chicken, s/he walks to another student, hands over the chicken, and sits in the other student’s seat.
Play continues until all of the players are sitting. The last player to be standing must bring Chuck to the leader, at which point the time is stopped and announced.

Alternate Names:

This is a variation of Ball Toss Race. It can, however, be done in a classroom with no extra space for a circle. It doesn’t involve throwing, so it can work almost anywhere.
With older players or for an additional challenge, have each player only pass to someone not in their section of the room etc. (Without this rule, strategic groups may discover they can just pass Chuck to someone next to them in order to pass him faster.)
Set a realistic time goal and debrief what worked and what the group wants to change to make it go faster. (Work together, come up with a plan, etc.)
Give a five second penalty for any noise.