--- title: "I Pass This Shoe" description: "Participants sit in a circle and pass shoes to their left on the beat of a rhyming chant. The group practices keeping a single shoe in front of each person while introducing a hold variation." last_updated: "2026-09-07" canonical: "https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/rhythmic-passing-game-for-group-coordination-i-pass-this-shoe/" --- # I Pass This Shoe Participants sit in a circle and pass shoes to their left on the beat of a rhyming chant. The group practices keeping a single shoe in front of each person while introducing a hold variation. **Time:** 10 minutes. UWT suggested 10 minutes to allow chant learning, basic passing, the pause variation, and a short debrief. **People:** 4 to 20. Single circle seated on the floor or around a clear table ## Choose this exercise **Purpose:** Coordinate physical timing and attention across a circle using a shared rhythmic chant. **Use it when:** Use during an in-person meeting warm-up or after a period of sitting to re-engage physical focus and group tempo. **Skip it when:** Skip when participants cannot sit close enough to pass objects easily, when removing footwear is culturally inappropriate, or in fully virtual meetings. ## Materials and tools - One shoe per participant (or one clean token such as a beanbag or small block per person) ## Before participants arrive 1. Arrange chairs closely around a clear table or form a tight seated circle on the floor. 2. Ensure each seat has enough clear surface or floor space directly in front to place an item. ## Say this to open We are going to coordinate our movements using a simple chant. Place one shoe or beanbag directly in front of you. We will speak the rhyme together and slide the item to the person on our left on each strong beat. ## How to run it ### 1. Learn the chant (2 minutes) Recite the rhyme line by line with the group: 'I pass this shoe from me to you. I pass like this and I never, never miss.' Have the circle speak the rhyme aloud twice without moving any objects, clapping on each stressed syllable. ### 2. Practice basic passing (3 minutes) Have everyone pick up the item in front of them with their right hand. On each beat of the chant, place the item in front of the neighbor to the left, then pick up the new item arrived from the right. Run two complete stanzas slowly. Aim to keep exactly one item in front of every person at all times. ### 3. Introduce the pause variation (3 minutes) Explain the variation: when chanting the words 'and I', everyone holds the shoe in hand for two full beats while continuing the passing motion in the air before setting it down on 'never, never miss'. Practice this pattern until the group completes three clean stanzas without a pileup. ### 4. Debrief (2 minutes) Stop the movement and ask two participants to share what helped them recover when the rhythm slipped. Conclude the round. ## Debrief questions - What helped you stay in sync with the group when the rhythm sped up or slowed down? - Where did your attention go when an item piled up in front of you? **Finished output:** Completion of three consecutive stanzas of the chant and passing sequence without an object pileup. ## Remote This physical passing game requires physical proximity and cannot be run identically online. For a remote alternative with identical group-timing mechanics, use a call-and-response vocal beat: the facilitator taps a steady beat on their desk, and participants take turns saying one word of the rhyme in a preset clockwise order on video without breaking the pulse. ## Hybrid Hybrid delivery is not recommended because remote attendees cannot pass objects with physical participants. If required, have remote attendees keep the vocal rhythm and speak the rhyme aloud on microphone while in-person participants execute the physical passing. ## Access and participation choices - Offer clean beanbags, soft foam balls, or small notebooks for anyone who prefers not to remove or handle footwear. - Participants may sit in chairs at a table rather than on the floor to avoid mobility constraints. - Anyone may opt out of passing and act as the group metronome by clapping or tapping the tempo. ## If the session gets stuck **Shoes pile up in front of one person while another has none.** Pause the chant. Reset one shoe in front of each participant, slow the chant tempo down by half, and resume. **Participants hesitate to touch shoes.** Distribute clean beanbags, small wooden blocks, or whiteboard erasers to the entire group instead. ## Terms used here - Pileup: A situation where two or more passed objects accumulate in front of one participant due to mismatched timing. ## Sources and adaptation Observed in Playmeo documentation, where the activity is attributed to Mark Collard. Retained the chant, shoe-passing mechanic, hold pattern on 'and I', and group circle structure from Playmeo. Added explicit step timing, structured debrief questions, access accommodations including alternative objects to shoes, and remote/hybrid boundary guidance. [Playmeo](https://www.playmeo.com/activities/fun-large-group-games/i-pass-this-shoe) [Playmeo](https://www.playmeo.com/activities/fun-large-group-games/i-pass-this-shoe/) Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/rhythmic-passing-game-for-group-coordination-i-pass-this-shoe/