HT Games
Skills Relay
Divide a group of participants into teams with an equal number of teammates per team. Arrange several skill stations with the supplies necessary to complete a relevant survival task. For example, one station may include sections of tarp, duct tape and sticks necessary to build a shelter while another station includes a stack of dry sticks, moss and flint to start a fire. Each station should have enough supplies for each team to complete the task at the same time. One member from each team races to the first station to complete the first task; when the task is successfully completed, the next team member is alerted to proceed to the next station. For more complex tasks, two team members may work together to complete the task. The first team to successfully complete each station wins the game; appropriate prizes include first aid kits or compasses.
Survivor Personality Game
Cooperation and effective interpersonal communication can prove essential in a group survival situation. Engage participants in a role playing game that evaluates the roles of personality and relationships in wilderness survival situations. Create personality profile cards for each participant that describe a character the participant will play; include relevant biographical information like age and gender, personality traits such as aggressive or lazy, and skill sets such as boy scout training or construction experience. Each character also brings a single item such as a pocket knife, fishing net or flashlight. Give participants ten minutes to study her card and get into character. Bring the group into a simulated survival environment such as the woods or a deserted beach. The group has three hours to build shelter, find food and make plans for future survival. However, every thirty minutes, the group must elect to vote off one member after a ten minute debate session. The member with the most votes must leave and watch the rest of the simulation; the voted off member also takes his item away from the group. At the end of the simulation, the voted off members decide which of the remaining members is most likely to survive the situation; the winner receives a prize. A leader should guide a follow-up discussion about who got voted off and why and how personalities can impact survival situations.
Survival Kits
Host a survival kit race in which team member must think quickly to select survival items. Create a game board made by covering a large eisel with a piece of felt. Print and cut out two copies of images of survival items that would be placed in a kit specific to a survival setting; for example, a tropical survival kit might include sunscreen while a cold climate survival kit might include heat packs. Glue the images to pieces of cardboard and back the cardboard with felt so that they will stick to the board. Tape a line down the center of the board and place one set of items on each side of the line.
Have a representative from each of two teams approaches the board for a round. The leader calls out a survival scenario, such as stranded on a tropical island. The team representatives have five seconds to select three items from the available options to include in a survival kit. The player who selects the correct three items scores a point; if both teams correctly choose the items, the team who finishes first wins the point. A new representative is then sent to the board for another round. The team with the most points wins.