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

Help me prepare and run the exercise below. First ask for my participant count, time, setting, access needs and intended result. Check these against the stated limits. Use the supplied rules and materials. Explain any proposed changes before using them, and label them as adaptations. Do not invent source claims or require personal disclosure. Give me one step at a time when I say start. I manage the people, physical activity and clock; do not claim to observe the room. Ask me what happened before choosing a next step.

Reference revision: 78504686639f72271d55b75e7fcb3cc0f05ec339bb53ff16ceeb1e978f1f530b

# Turn Over A New Leaf

A team stands entirely on a tarp or blanket and must flip it completely over so the reverse side faces up without anyone touching the surrounding floor. They coordinate weight shifts, folds, and balance to solve the physical puzzle together.

**Time:** 15 minutes. UWT facilitation plan based on the 5 to 15 minute playmeo activity.
**People:** 4 to 24. Small teams of 4 to 8 people per tarp. Groups larger than 8 split into parallel teams.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Collaboratively test and execute physical coordination and spatial problem-solving under tight spatial constraints.
**Use it when:** Use during in-person team workshops when a group needs an active, physical challenge to examine how they communicate and adapt during real-time trial and error.
**Skip it when:** Skip when group members have balance or mobility limitations, when floor space is slippery or cramped, or when close physical proximity creates discomfort.

## Materials and tools

- One durable tarp or sturdy fabric sheet (roughly 1.2m x 1.8m or 4ft x 6ft) per team of 4 to 8 participants

## Before participants arrive

1. Clear a flat, non-slip floor area large enough for each tarp with at least 1.5 meters of open space around all edges.
2. Spread each tarp flat on the floor.

## Say this to open

Your goal is simple to state: your entire team must stand on this tarp, flip it completely over so the bottom side is facing up, and finish with everyone still on it. The catch is that no part of anyone's body or clothing may touch the floor outside the tarp at any point. If anyone touches the floor, you reset to the start.

## How to run it

### 1. Form teams and position on tarp (3 minutes)

Divide participants into teams of 4 to 8. Each team stands entirely on their flat tarp. Confirm that everyone has both feet on the tarp surface before beginning. Remind participants that anyone can call a pause or step off if they feel off-balance.

### 2. Coordinate and flip the tarp (7 minutes)

Teams work simultaneously to invert their tarp while remaining on it. Typical approaches involve working a corner or edge underneath the group, shifting weight, and unrolling the new surface while standing on folded portions. If any participant touches the surrounding floor, that team resets the tarp flat and restarts. Stop when a team successfully inverts the tarp with everyone upright on the new side, or when time expires.

### 3. Reflect in small teams (3 minutes)

Have teams step off their tarps and talk in their small groups for three minutes. Ask them to address: What initial idea did you test, and how did your group adjust when space ran out?

### 4. Debrief with the full room (2 minutes)

Gather the full room. Take two brief contributions about how the group coordinated movement and communicated weight shifts under pressure.


## Debrief questions

- What was the turning point where your plan either worked or collapsed?
- How did you signal when someone needed to shift weight or move their feet?
- What did this challenge show about how your team manages trial and error in close quarters?

**Finished output:** A fully flipped tarp with all team members standing on the inverted surface, or a shared record of strategies attempted.

## Remote

This physical initiative cannot be run online without fundamentally altering the mechanic into a different game. For remote teams, run a virtual spatial puzzle such as collective tangrams on a shared digital canvas instead.

## Hybrid

Not recommended for hybrid settings. If attempted, remote members act as external observers, navigators, and strategists via a dedicated video feed, analyzing the physical team's foot space and calling out clear foot placements.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants who prefer not to balance on the tarp can take the role of navigator and spotter, monitoring floor boundaries and guiding movements from the perimeter.
- Any participant may step off the tarp at any time without explanation to reset or take a break.

## If the session gets stuck

**The tarp is too slick on a polished floor, causing slipping hazards.**

Move the tarps to carpet or outdoors on grass, or use heavy canvas drop cloths instead of plastic tarps.

**Participants bump into each other or feel uncomfortably cramped.**

Use a slightly larger sheet or reduce team size down toward 4 to 5 people to give ample footing.


## Terms used here

- Tarp flip: The maneuver of folding and pulling the underside of the ground sheet up until the entire surface is inverted without stepping off.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in playmeo under the title 'Turn Over A New Leaf', where it is attributed to Mark Collard.

Retained the core mechanic from the playmeo source: standing on a 1.2m x 1.8m tarp and turning it over without touching the surrounding floor. Added UWT structure: team sizing (4 to 8 per tarp), a 15-minute schedule, safety boundaries, non-contact/navigator access roles, and structured debrief prompts.

[Playmeo](https://www.playmeo.com/activities/team-building-problem-solving-activities/turn-over-a-new-leaf)

[Playmeo](https://www.playmeo.com/activities/team-building-problem-solving-activities/turn-over-a-new-leaf/)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/challenging-group-initiative-for-teams-turn-over-a-new-leaf/