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Exercises/Relationship Mapping/Helicopter
Relationship Mapping

Helicopter

The leader begins slowly turning the rope in a helicopter fashion over his/her head and says “Helicopter, helicopter over my head, I choose a color and the color is… (insert color).” Play stops when a players stops the rope with his/her feet or ankle.

5 to 15 minutesTIME
Medium group (9-25)GROUP SIZE
ActiveENERGY
In personSETTING
Low cognitive loadCOGNITIVE LOAD
Strengthens Network Design This relationship mapping exercise strengthens Network Design, one of the eight Gathering Effectiveness pillars.

How to run it

  1. Everyone stands on an X on the edge of the circle.
  2. The leader begins slowly turning the rope in a helicopter fashion over his/her head and says “Helicopter, helicopter over my head, I choose a color and the color is… (insert color).”
  3. Play stops when a players stops the rope with his/her feet or ankle.
  4. The leader then begins again with a new color.
  5. The leader begins slowly turning the rope in a helicopter fashion over his/her head and says “Helicopter, helicopter over my head, I choose a color and the color is… (insert color).” Play stops when a players stops the rope with his/her feet or ankle.
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 +

The leader begins slowly turning the rope in a helicopter fashion over his/her head and says “Helicopter, helicopter over my head, I choose a color and the color is… (insert color).”

Play stops when a players stops the rope with his/her feet or ankle.

The leader begins slowly turning the rope in a helicopter fashion over his/her head and says “Helicopter, helicopter over my head, I choose a color and the color is… (insert color).” Play stops when a players stops the rope with his/her feet or ankle.

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: Helicopter. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: The leader begins slowly turning the rope in a helicopter fashion over his/her head and says “Helicopter, helicopter over my head, I choose a color and the color is… (insert color).”; Play stops when a players stops the rope with his/her feet or ankle.; The leader begins slowly turning the rope in a helicopter fashion over his/her head and says “Helicopter, helicopter over my head, I choose a color and the color is… (insert color).” Play stops when a players stops the rope with his/her feet or ankle.. 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 does and does not claim: we track where an exercise has been seen in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, how popular it is, or that it works. See methodology and trust boundary.
  • Corrections welcome: if you have evidence of an earlier or more accurate source, tell us.

Pairs well with