The 4MAT cycle is a learning and teaching model, based on the principle that individuals learn differently.

1. T H E 4 M AT L E A R N I N G C YC L E
T
he 4 MAT model is inclusive
and flexible. Inclusive as it
takes into account the many
different ways that people
learn. With guidance from the 4MAT
model the outlines are flexible enough
that the facilitator can choose their own
way to facilitate the learning event. The
4MAT model is based around the
following beliefs about how people
learn:


People learn differently: Each
learner brings a personalized
approach to learning.
Learning is a cycle: Learning is a
cycle based on the ways people

perceive, and then process
newness.
Engaged learners perform: When
learning is delivered using a
systematic approach that appeals
to all
journey into formal learning for a very
long time. This can have its own set of
worries and concerns. Most of our
learners are already full time caregivers
and so tiredness at an evening learning
event is very common.
All of us learn in very different ways and
so it stands to reason that we need to
consciously vary our delivery techniques
to capture as many of the different styles
as we can. Our aim is to provide an
experiential learning programme that
uses a diverse range of delivery
techniques so that we may cater to as
many of our learners as possible.
Guidance for Facilitators: When this
cycle is used intentionally, learning
becomes a positive growth experience
for all learners.
Our students come from varied
backgrounds with many different values
and beliefs. Some of our learners are
highly educated whilst others may have
unpleasant memories of their learning.
For some of our students this is their first
THE FOUNDATION OF THE CYCLE
Never underestimate that a small group of thoughtful,
committed people can change the world, indeed it's the only
thing that ever has.

The cycle describes the learning act
itself.

We choose our most comfortable
places along the two continua of
perceiving and processing, and we
approach learning using that
favoured combination.

The result of those choices
determines our learning style.

If teachers understand the cycle,
they can use it to powerful
advantage.

Four major learning styles result
from our choices along the two
continua of perceiving and
processing. I call them Types One,
Two, Three, and Four.

There is no hierarchy. All four
styles are equally excellent and
legitimate.

These four styles are the result of a
composite of research from
learning theorists and brain
research.
Margaret Mead
Dalene Mactier © 2013

2. What type of learner are you?
TYPE 1: IMAGINATIVE LEARNERS
TYPE 2: ANALYTICAL LEARNERS

Seek personal meaning, clarity and integrity

Seek facts and information

Become involved in learning by listening and
sharing ideas

They need to know what the experts think


Perceive information through experience and make
sense of it through reflection
They learn by thinking through ideas and adapting
to the experts

Perceive information through and make sense of it
through reflection

More interested in ideas and concepts than people

Interested in people and culture

Divergent thinkers

Make sense of knowledge through own experiences 

Good at viewing experiences from different
perspectives

Thorough and industrious

Enjoy debating the issues

Model themselves on people they respect

They will re-examine facts if situations perplex them

Learn through social interaction

Strengths are to create theories and concepts

Ideas people

They engage intellectually with ideas

Strengths are innovating and imagining

Their favourite question is “What?”

Their favourite question is “Why?”
TYPE 3: COMMONS SENSE LEARNERS
Critique information and collect data
TYPE 4: DYNAMIC LEARNERS

Need to know how things work

Seek hidden possibilities

Seek usability and like to test theories

Adaptable to change and like to take risks.

Value strategic thinking

Function by acting and testing experience.

Skills-oriented

Need to know what is possible with ideas

Perceive information through thinking and make
sense of it through doing

Learn by trial and error and self-discovery


They need hands-on experiences
Perceive information through experience and make
sense of it by doing

Enjoy solving problems

Relish change and like variety

Resent being given answers

Excel in situations calling for flexibility

Have limited tolerance for “fuzzy” ideas


They need to know how things they learn can help
in “real life”
Often reach accurate conclusions in the absence of
logical justification

Strength is to take action and carry out plans

Strength is practical application of ideas

Goal is to make things happen

Their favourite question: “How does this work?”

Their favourite question is ‘What if?”
Dalene Mactier © 2013

3. Planning a workshop using the 4MAT cycle
QUADRANT 1: WHY?
In quadrant one, the first phase of the
learning cycle, the goal is to connect.
During this quadrant your focus as a
facilitator is on winning the attention of
your learners, and engaging their
interest in the subject. You are seeking
to help them understand the real value
(to them) of what you’re saying, and get
the learner to think about how what
you’re saying fits in with and enhances
his or her existing experience.
concept being taught.
1. Connect [Right mode]
Establish a relationship between your
group and the content connecting it to
their lives, not telling them how it
connects, but having something actually
happen in the group that will bring
them to make the connection
themselves. The experience must
encompass the heart of the content.
Learners create personal meaning,
2. Attend [Left mode]
connecting to the concept, relating their
Have your group analyse what just
personal ideas and beliefs to the
happened, have them attend to their
TEACHING INTENTIONS
 Connect students directly to the
concept in a personal way.
 Capture students’ attention by
initiating a group problem-solving
activity before delivery of
instruction.
own experience and to the perceptions
of their fellow group members; how it
went, what really happened.
LEARNING INTENTIONS
POSSIBLE STRATEGIES
Encourage students to:

Icebreakers
 Make connections based on experience

Reflecting on whakatauki and
quotes

Sharing experiences and
personal stories

Use appreciative inquiry
techniques – sharing best
practice stories
 Use storytelling to create meaning
 Engage in dialogue
 Establish relationships
 Begin with a situation that is familiar
to students and builds on what they
already know.
 Listen and share similar experiences
 Construct a learning experience that
allows diverse and personal student
responses.
 Experience camaraderie

Show and tell
 Experience the diversity of how others
see things

Journal writing and discussing

Partner work
 Facilitate the work of cooperative
teams of students.
 Gain insight

Using music to explain context
 Create high interest in the material to
come

Role playing

Cooperative learning group

Brainstorming

Continuums
 Provoke meaningful dialogue from
students.
 Speak with subjective voice
 Establish resonance
 Become aware of the value of the
learning
 Experience the discrepancies that the
learning will unravel
 Focus on present and past
understandings
 Create a sense of “I know something
about this, and I want to know more”.
Dalene Mactier © 2013

4. QUADRANT 2: WHAT?
During quadrant two, you build
learners’ knowledge, and encourage
them to find out facts for themselves. In
doing this, you help learners make
connections between what they already
know and what you are teaching. And
by finding out facts for themselves, they
learn the broader context into which
information fits. This all helps to build a
good theoretical foundation of the
subject.
The goal of learning is to inform, to
present facts in a systematic and
TEACHING INTENTIONS
 Provide a metaview, lifting students
into a wider view of the concept.
 Use another medium (not reading
or writing) to connect students’
personal knowing to the concept
(i.e. visual arts, music, movement,
etc.).
 Involve learning in reflective
production that blends the
emotional and the cognitive.
 Transform the concept yet to be
taught into an image or experience,
a “sneak preview” for the students.
 Deepen the connection between
the concept and its relationship to
the students’ lives.
 Relate what the students already
know to what the experts have
found.
organized fashion.
3. Image [Right mode]
Encourage the group to image, to
picture the concept as they understand
it, have experienced it, before you take
them to the experts.
4. Inform [Left mode]
Now they are ready for receiving and
examining the expert knowledge.
Inform them of the expert theories and
knowledge.
LEARNING INTENTIONS
Encourage students to:
 Connect fascination to facts.
 Comprehend the learning.
 Receive expert knowledge.
 Examine pertinent information with the
most salient facts.
 Establish links between subjective
experience and objective knowing.
 Seeing both the big picture and the
supporting details.
 Organizing.
 Connecting to other similar ideas.
 Classifying and comparing.
POSSIBLE STRATEGIES
 Sharing theories, research and
expert knowledge
 Brainstorming
 Looking for patterns
 Taking notes
 Structured tasks
 Examining information of experts
 Relating ideas to the big pictures
 Looking for discrepancies in
patterns
 Listening to lectures and viewing
 Information classification
questions
 Blending personal experiences with
expert knowing.
 Patterning.
 Clarifying purpose.
 Bringing out the structure and form.
 Theorizing.
 Engaging in interactive questioning.
 Focusing on current hypotheses.
 Creating knowledge that will give a
solid ground to further understanding.
Dalene Mactier © 2013

5. QUADRANT 3: HOW?
During quadrant three, you teach the
practical skills that come from the
theory, and encourage learners to test
their understanding of the material. This
is where learners confirm and refine
their understanding, and apply and
generalize the information they’ve
learned.
The goal is to help learners to test
theories and ideas and apply them in
the practical world.
5. Practice [Left mode]
TEACHING INTENTIONS
 Provide hands-on activities for
practice and mastery.
 Check for understanding of
concepts and skills by using
relevant standard materials such as
worksheets, text problems,
workbooks, teacher prepared
exercises, etc.
 Provide opportunities for students
to practice new learning, (learning
centers, games fostering skills
development, etc.).
 Use concept of mastery learning to
determine if re-teaching is
necessary and how it will be carried
out.
 Students may create additional
multi-modal practice for each
other.
Stay first with the left mode. The
group PRACTICE the learning as the
experts have found it.
6. Extend [Right mode]
This is where innovation begins.
Group know enough, have enough
skills to begin the tinkering, playing
with the content, the skills, the
materials, the ideas, the wholes and
the parts, the details, the data and the
big picture, to make something of this
learning for themselves, to be
interpretive.
LEARNING INTENTIONS
POSSIBLE STRATEGIES
Encourage students to:
 Make resources
 Learn important skills
 Practice strategies
 Practice and experiment
 Rehearse
 Use expert knowledge to get something
done
 Write reflections
 Test accuracy
 Do
 Establish the link between theory and
application
 See how things work
 Journal entries
 Collages
 Write stories
 Games
 Share strategies
 Predict
 Record the details in action, not just in
theory
 Question
 Compare results
 See how form operates
 Resolve discrepancies
 Reach conclusions
 Master skills
 Extend the learning into usefulness in
real life
Dalene Mactier © 2013

6. QUADRANT 4: WHAT IF?
Finally, during quadrant four, you
group have proposed an extension of
encourage learners to extend creatively the learning into their lives. They need
their use of the skills you’ve taught. This to evaluate that extension.
gives practice in the new skills, and
8. Perform [Right mode]
helps them reinforce and “cement”
their learning.
Lastly, have your students perform:
The goal is to apply and extend learning Here the content takes a new shape, as
in new and innovative ways, to seek
it is formed through the group. Look for
hidden possibilities and excitement and originality, relevance, new questions,
to promote self-discovery.
and connections to larger ideas, skills
that are immediately useful, values
7. Refine [Left mode]
confirmed or questioned anew.
Stay first with the left mode again. The
TEACHING INTENTIONS
 Give guidance and feedback to
student’s plans, encouraging,
refining, and helping them to be
responsible for their own learning.
 Help students analyse their use of
the learning for meaning,
relevance, and originality.
 Maintain high expectations for
completion of chosen options.
 Help mistakes to become learning
opportunities.
 Summarize by reviewing the whole,
bringing students “full circle” to the
experience with which the learning
began.
LEARNING INTENTIONS
POSSIBLE STRATEGIES
Encourage students to:
 Teaching each other
 Adapt the learning
 Self-evaluations
 Modify and rework
 Real life extensions of learning
 Verify usefulness
 Community involvement
 Summarise
 Portfolios
 Create new questions
 Expressive writing
 Break boundaries
 Share new understandings/light
bulb moments/questions
 Synthesise
 Establish future use
 Refocus
 Pose questions/problems for next
session
 Edit and refine
 Confirm conclusions
 Take a position
 Create new discrepancies
 Make new connections
 Evaluate
 Exhibit, publish
 Re-present
 Perform
 Celebrate
 Share the learning
Dalene Mactier © 2013

7. What is your facilitation style?
TYPE 1 FACILITATORS
 Are interested in facilitating individual growth and selfawareness.
 Encourage their students to be authentic.
 Believe curricula should help students know
themselves and others.
 See knowledge for the basis for achieving potential.
 Involve their students in discussions and group
projects.
 Believe reflection is a primary method for enhancing
self-awareness.
 Are informed about social issues that affect human
development.
TYPE 2 FACILITATORS








TYPE 3 FACILITATORS
 Are interested in helping their students achieve high
skills competence.
 Try to lead their students to mastery for life skills.
 Encourage the practical aspects of learning.
 Believe curricula should stress economic usefulness
and opportunity.
 See knowledge as enabling learners to make their way
in the world.
 Involve their students in problem solving, experiments,
and hands-on activities.
 Believe their students should approach problems
scientifically.
 Excel in the technical aspects of their field.
Are interested in transmitting the best knowledge.
Try to help their students become knowledgeable.
Encourage excellence.
Believe curricula should encompass significant
information with facts in service to that goal.
See knowledge as the basis for achieving goals.
Involve their students in lectures, note taking, and
readings.
Believe people should approach learning
systematically.
Are up to date on the expert knowledge in their
content areas.
TYPE 4 FACILITATORS





Are interested in enabling learners to seek possibilities.
Help their students act on their dreams.
Believe self-awareness comes from challenging oneself.
Encourage real-experience learning.
Believe curricula should be geared to individual
learners.
 See knowledge as important to bringing about change.
 Involve their students in many out-of-school activities.
 Use the community as their classroom, seeing
community needs as learning opportunities.
Small groups of aspiring adults who desire to keep their minds fresh and vigorous; who begin to
learn by confronting pertinent situations; who dig down into the reservoirs of their secondary facts;
who are led in the discussion by teachers who are also seekers after wisdom and not oracles: this
constitutes the setting for adult education, the modern quest for life's meaning.
Eduard Lindeman, The Meaning of Adult Education (1926).
Dalene Mactier © 2013

8. Group activities
Brooks-Harris and Stock-Ward (1999)
described four stages of group
facilitation used in workshops, based on
Kolb’s (19=4) theory of experiential
learning. These stages relate to the
4MAT quadrants.
 Engaging Workshop Participants in
Active Learning – emphasizes
concrete experience and reflective
observation; corresponds to the
needs of imaginative learners.
Icebreakers are brief interactive
exercises to encourage and prepare for
interpersonal learning during the
workshop. These activities may or may
not be related to the workshop topic.
Example: Participants have the names of
famous people taped on their backs so
that others can read their identity but
they cannot. They are asked to mingle
with others and ask “yes or no”
questions until they discover their own
identity.
 Informing the Group with Relevant
Knowledge – encourages reflective
observation and abstract
conceptualization; corresponds to
the needs of analytic learners.
Motivation Grabbers are short topicrelevant activities that increase
participants’ motivation to think and
learn about a new topic. Example:
Having participants share in dyads the
 Involving the Group in Interactive
answers to several sentence stems
Participation – emphasizes abstract related to the workshop topic. An
conceptualization and active
example of a sentence stem related to a
experimentation; corresponds to the workshop on self-esteem might be: “I
needs of common sense learners.
feel best about myself when...”
participants in imagining scenarios
related to the workshop topic.
Participants are asked to relax and close
their eyes, and the facilitator verbally
encourages them to imagine different
scenes and experiences. Example: In a
career decision making workshop,
participants are asked to imagine a day
 Planning for Future Application –
Stimulus Role-Plays are pre-planned role in the future. The facilitator guides
encourages active experimentation -plays structured by facilitators and
participants through different parts of
and concrete experience;
presented to workshop participants that the day related to work and personal
corresponds to the needs of dynamic are meant to stimulate thinking about a life.
learners.
topic and provide a relevant example to
reflect upon. Example: At the beginning INFORMING GROUP ACTIVITIES
ENGAGING GROUP ACTIVITIES
of a workshop about sexual orientation, The second stage of group facilitation is
The first stage of group facilitation is
facilitators role-play a discussion
to provide informationthat will help the
welcoming and inviting members into a between a gay or lesbian person and a
group achieve its goals. Informing
group. Engaging skills encourage
co-worker who asks questions about
facilitation skills manage the flow of
individuals to feel included and valued
their personal life assuming that they
information inside the group.
within the group context. Engaging skills are heterosexual.
Informing skills add knowledge to help
start by affirming what members
Gallery Exercises are used to prompt
participants expand their awareness.
already know. Engaging skills are often
reflection on a workshop topic. Pictures Informing skills can provide outside
used at the beginning of a group or
related to the workshop theme are
information in the form of theories,
when a new topic is introduced.
displayed and participants are asked to data, and facts, or can inform the group
Engaging group members in active
respond to the images. Example: In an
about itself or inform members about
learning helps members accomplish
alcohol awareness workshop, images of themselves. Informing the group with
these three learning tasks:
alcohol from the media and advertising relevant knowledge often involves
 Reflecting on personal experience.
are displayed in order to highlight how
helping members accomplish these
we are taught to think about alcohol.
three learning tasks:
 Preparing for active participation
Participants are asked to write their
and learning.
 Assimilating new information.
responses on Post-It notes next to the
 Conceptualizing one’s own
 Recognizing an appropriate group
pictures.
experience with new knowledge.
role for oneself.
Guided Fantasies are used to assist
 Teaching what you already know to
Dalene Mactier © 2013

9. support group learning.
Lecturettes are used to provide factual
content information about the
workshop topic. Example: In a stress
management workshop, the facilitator
provides factual information about the
physiological effects of anxiety.
Group Surveys are a way to provide
participants with topic relevant
information about the group itself.
Example: In a sexual assault prevention
workshop, participants’ attitudes are
surveyed using a brief instrument,
results are tallied and feedback is given
to the audience highlighting gender
differences in attitudes.Group Surveys
are a way to provide participants with
topic relevant information about the
group itself. Example: In a sexual assault
prevention workshop, participants’
attitudes are surveyed using a brief
instrument, results are tallied and
feedback is given to the audience
highlighting gender differences in
attitudes.
Questionnaires and instruments allow
participants to gain new knowledge
about themselves. Example: In a staff
development workshop, the MyersBriggs Type Indicator is used to explore
personality type and how it impacts the
work setting.
incidents involving
hazing and alcohol use
are used to promote
discussion.
Movement and sorting
exercises have people
move to different
areas of a room to
increase awareness of
individual differences
and encourage
reflection on previous
experiences related to
the workshop topic.
Example: In a multicultural workshop,
members of different oppressed groups
are asked to move to another side of
the room.
Handouts are concise, written
summaries of material related to the
workshop topic. Example: A summary of Simulations are used to present realistic
situations so that participants can
topic-relevant facts and statistics are
practice using knowledge related to the
presented during a workshop.
workshop topic. Example: In a
INVOLVING GROUP ACTIVITIES leadership workshop, participants are
asked to play the roles of members of a
The third stage of group facilitation
encourages interaction and participation selection committee and make decisions
about fictitious applicants.
that results in active learning and
productivity. Involving facilitation skills
create an opportunity for active
experimentation and allow the group to
put new knowledge to practical use.
Involving skills provide an opportunity
for group members to practice and
involve themselves in new behaviors,
skills, and knowledge. A group should
provide a safe environment to try out
new things in preparation for applying
them outside in the “real world.”
Involving skills are often paired with
Modeling role-plays are used to
informing skills so that new knowledge
demonstrate effective behaviour related can be put to practical use. Involving the
to the workshop topic. Example: In an
group in interactive participation helps
assertiveness workshop, facilitators
members accomplish these three
demonstrate assertive behavior.
learning tasks:
 Experimenting with new knowledge
Case studies are accounts of actual
and behavior
events related to workshop topics that
 Practicing skills to improve
are used to prompt exploration
performance.
discussion. Example: In a fraternity
leadership workshop, reports of
Interacting with others to support
Demonstrations allow a facilitator to
demonstrate a new behavior or skill so
that participants can learn by
observation. Example: In a cooking
workshop, the facilitator shows the
participants how to melt sugar without
burning it.
participatory learning Practice role-plays
are used to practice new behavior
related to the workshop topic. Example:
In a social skills workshop, participants
are encouraged to practice different
ways of meeting new people.
Worksheets require participants to use
knowledge in a written format. Example:
In a time management workshop,
participants complete a weekly schedule
in order to learn how to budget their
time.
Structured discussions provide an
organized way for participants to share
their ideas in an interactive manner.
Example: Participants are asked a series
of questions that progressively lead
from information to practical
application.
Art work is used to allow workshop
participants to creatively access and
express their ideas and experiences
related to a workshop topic. Example: In
a family dynamics workshop,
participants are asked to draw a picture
of their family. They can represent their
family either realistically or symbolically
including relationships and dynamics
Dalene Mactier © 2013

10. with the use of different colors and
shapes.
Scenarios are exemplary situations that
provide specific examples with stimulus
questions and are used to activate
learning in structured discussions.
Example: As a part of a sexual assault
prevention workshop, a scenario of two
college students on a date is presented.
As different stages of the date are
described, participants are asked
stimulus questions related to
communication, decision making, and
consent.
allow for “real”
practice to occur that
is not role-playing.
However, it is
possible to plan for
personal practice and
anticipate future
opportunities for
practice. Example: In
a couples’
communication
workshop, spouses
practice problem-solving with one
another using skills learned in the
workshop.
Skits are short dramatic presentations
that demonstrate or exemplify lessons
related to workshop content. Example:
In a learning styles workshop, a scene
from the Wizard of Oz is enacted to
represent the way that different
individuals have different needs.
Action plans offer participants the
opportunity to contract with each other
and the facilitators to take knowledge
gained in the workshop and apply it to
their outside lives. Example: In a time
management workshop, participants
make plans to complete a project such as
PLANNING GROUP ACTIVITIES a research paper that is actually due in
one of their classes. They use techniques
The final stage of group facilitation
learned in the workshop and set small
focuses on planning and involves
realistic goals recording these goals on a
considering multiple possibilities, making
calendar provided in workshop
good choices, and creating specific plans
handouts.
for the future. Planning ensures that a
group’s energy and impact does not
Goal setting involves stating specific,
dissolve as soon as the group adjourns.
measurable goals and dates when those
Planning skills are often used at the
conclusion of a workshop or when the
focus of the group is about to shift from
one topic to another. Planning skills
allow learners to complete a learning
cycle and “take the group with them.”
Planning for future application often
involves helping group members
accomplish these three learning tasks:
 Setting goals based on group
learning.
 Planning for specific personal action.
 Applying lessons from the group to
other contexts.
Personal practice of skills provides an
opportunity for participants to
incorporate knowledge from the
workshop into their own personal
behaviors. Most workshops will not
goals are expected to be accomplished.
This specificity increases the likelihood
that application will occur. Example: In a
job search workshop, participants will
set goals for when they will write their
resume and how many jobs they will
apply for each week.
Brainstorming solutions can be used as a
way for the group to cooperate in
identifying possible solutions to an
individual or collective difficulty.
Example: In a social skills workshop,
participants are asked to brainstorm
places where they can meet new people
and apply the skills they have learned in
the workshop.
workshop after they leave. Example:
After a relaxation workshop, participants
are asked to use techniques they have
learned when experiencing anxiety.
Adapted from Chapter five of
Workshops: Designing and Facilitating
Experiential Learning by Jeff E. BrooksHarris & Susan R. Stock-Ward (1999).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
The aim of
education
should be to
teach us rather
how to think, than what to think-rather to improve our minds,
so as to enable us to think for
ourselves, than to load the
memory with thoughts of other
men.
Bill Beattie
Homework can be used to provide
participants the opportunity to apply
knowledge they have learned from the
Dalene Mactier © 2013

11. Some icebreakers to get you started
Truths and Lies: Have participants
lowest price of an everyday commodity
share 3 things about themselves - 2 true that you can remember from childhood.
and 1 lie, others guess what the lie is.
Eg. I can remember buying iceblocks for
22 cents when I was 12 years old.
Icebreaker bingo: Have a handout
made up with the same 10 or so
Good or New: Ask each person to share
statements for each participant. The
something good or new they have
object is for learners to ask other
experienced in the last 24 hours.
participants if they fit with one of the
Getting to know each other: Questions
statements. If they do, write the
to learn more about each other –
persons name by the statement. If they
 What is your favourite time of day?
do not move onto the next person.
Statements might include: I have 3
children, I have been at Playcentre for 6
years, I enjoy yoga, I am vegetarian, I
love animals etc. The winner is the
person with the most statements
named. This is a good one for relating to
your topic.
 What are you good at?
 What would you do with a great
amount of money?
 What is your favourite food?
 What was your position in your
family? How did it effect
 you?
Burning Questions: The facilitator asks  How long did it take you to get here?
participants to answer a question
 Share an early childhood memory?
designed as a lead-in to the topic
 How did you get your name?
material or to help raise issues that will  What did you do in the last half an
need to be given priority. Examples:
hour before leaving for
 this meeting?
 What is your opinion of [the relevant
 Share two things that make you
topic]?
smile.
 What one or two “burning
 How do you peg out your washing?
questions” do you hope will be
About Playcentre: Say something that
addressed in this session [course,
you like about Playcentre.
workshop]?
Interviewing: Ask the students to pair
up and interview each other. The
students will then report on what they
discovered about each other.
Patterns: Take turns in pairs to make a
pattern on paper without speaking.
Memory Lane: Since students are so
diverse in age as well as other things,
such as ethnicity, it is good to close or
expose the generation gaps that might
exist. Ask the students to list two major
world events that they can remember.
Another idea here could be to share the
Intellectual challenge: Brain teasers
and rebus puzzles.
Introduce yourself: Introduce self and
why you are here in pairs to your
neighbour or in the groups when the
ball is thrown to you.
Coin dates: Have a small bag of coins
with a range of dates. Ask each
participant to take a coin and share
what they were doing the year of their
coin.
 Cross body touching: elbow to
opposite knee.
 Tap head and rub stomach
simultaneously, then swap
movements
 In pairs, one person moves forward
while the other taps them with the
fingertips – from the top of their
head down their back
Forming a continuum: Form a
continuum on a chosen subject.
Lining up: Get into alphabetical order
of middle name or according to date of
birth.
Getting active: Activities to get the
group moving –
 Have the group stand up and jump.
 Do star jumps.
Dalene Mactier © 2013