This web illustration or crowdbreaker is a great activity that can be used in (at least) three different ways. Some call it a prayer weave or prayer web, and it’s really simple to incorporate. The only supply you will need is a ball of yarn (or string would even work). The only thing that would be left to do is for students to form a circle; have one student start out holding a piece of the yarn, then toss (gently of course) the remaining ball of yarn to another student, and then this repeats until a web has been formed, going back and forth, until every student is involved. You’ll have to make sure that students don’t take the easy way out by just passing the ball of yarn to the person directly next to them, the idea of course, is to create a giant web (see pic above).
Crowdbreaker
This is a great way to get students to open up, engage in conversation, even get to know one another. For example, you could use it at the beginning of an event, where there might be several new students, to learn each other’s names, or perhaps even share an interesting, unique fact about themselves.
Illustration
You could also use this activity to illustrate the importance of the entire group being woven together, to promote unity. Additionally, it could also be used to show the value of being an “inclusive” group, instead of a bunch of holy huddles or social cliques.
Wrap Up
This particular photo was taken at the end of a message where I talked about being woven together…with each other, and with Christ. It really helped to conclude what we had just talked about, as well as including and involving everyone. I actually took the time, in between the process of throwing the ball of yarn from one student to the other, which actually took a little longer than I had expected, to highlight little known facts about our students. Just this public recognition of their various successes really helped to build confidence as well as encouraging them to keep up their good work!
If you’ve ever utilized this activity before, and have any additional ideas on how to incorporate it, please leave a comment in the comment sections below.
For additional team building, and crowdbreaker ideas, please follow my good friend @DavidTMorehead on Twitter and visit his blog www.whoopwhoopblog.com.
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