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Exercises/Closure and Transfer/Animals in Action
Circle Dialogue · Closure and Transfer

Animals in Action

Animals in Action is a circle dialogue exercise for closure and transfer: it helps participants close the session and carry learning into the next action.

5 to 15 minutesTIME
Medium group (9-25), PairsGROUP SIZE
ActiveENERGY
In personSETTING
Low cognitive loadCOGNITIVE LOAD
Strengthens Follow Through This closure and transfer exercise strengthens Follow Through, one of the eight Gathering Effectiveness pillars.

How to run it

  1. One person in the middle will close his/her eyes and spin slowly with the yardstick. Everyone in the circle must move in a clockwise motion to a beat from one or more players.
  2. The player in the middle will gently tap the yardstick on the ground three times to let the circle know it’s time to stop moving. The player in the middle will then, with her/his eyes still closed, extend the yardstick to someone in the circle.
  3. The player in the middle gets one guess to name which player is making the animal sound.
  4. Players who make the sound become the new person in the middle.
  5. The player in the middle will gently tap the yardstick on the ground three times to let the circle know it’s time to stop moving.
Live facilitator

Run this exercise live

The facilitator console stays in this browser. Its QR handoff is a short-lived participant snapshot containing only public exercise instructions, phase, prompt, and timer state.

Prompts to use +

One person in the middle will close his/her eyes and spin slowly with the yardstick. Everyone in the circle must move in a clockwise motion to a beat from one or more players.

The player in the middle will gently tap the yardstick on the ground three times to let the circle know it’s time to stop moving. The player in the middle will then, with her/his eyes still closed, extend the yardstick to someone in the circle.

The player in the middle gets one guess to name which player is making the animal sound.

The player in the middle will gently tap the yardstick on the ground three times to let the circle know it’s time to stop moving.

Run this with your AI assistant +

Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Adapt this exercise for my exact room. Exercise: Animals in Action. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: One person in the middle will close his/her eyes and spin slowly with the yardstick. Everyone in the circle must move in a clockwise motion to a beat from one or more players.; The player in the middle will gently tap the yardstick on the ground three times to let the circle know it’s time to stop moving. The player in the middle will then, with her/his eyes still closed, extend the yardstick to someone in the circle.; The player in the middle gets one guess to name which player is making the animal sound.; The player in the middle will gently tap the yardstick on the ground three times to let the circle know it’s time to stop moving.. Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.

Origin unverified

  • Where we observed it: The strongest current observations come from Playworks; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (1 source observed, including Playworks.)
  • What that means: we track where an exercise has been observed in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, or how popular it is.
  • No efficacy claims: appearing in this library is not a claim that the exercise is proven effective. Facilitator judgment and context decide whether it works for a given room.
  • Corrections: if you have evidence of an earlier or more accurate source, read our methodology and trust boundary and tell us.

Pairs well with