Jimmy Good Toad's Hobbies page

	Boys and Girls Clubs
	of Greater Nashua

2008 Fall Session - Survivor Class

Click here to return to the 2008 Fall Session photo album

I have been running the Survivor class for about 2 years now. What we do is split the class up into 2-4 tribes (depending on how many kids we have - usually 3-4 kids per tribe) and spend 6 weeks (in this session) meeting challenges to earn their tribe more and more points.

What I try to do is provide them with challenges that will explore many of the disciplines that they follow in school. We will have challenges on history, geography, math, physical fitness, critical thinking and more. Our first week was defining the tribes and selecting a tribe name and tribe symbol. We had 3 tribes this session but by the 2nd week we had 2 of 3 from one tribe stop attending as they had schedule conflicts so we moved that lone person into one of the other tribes and moved on. This first week also had them name all of the states and their capitals on a US map. Both tribes did very well.

The photo album here starts with week 2 and the physical challenge.

Week 2 - Physical Challenge

During Physical Challenge Day we had several races and shooting hoops for points. Here two of the tribes are running the 4-legged sprint as other tribe members look on.

The last race of the day was an Inverted 4-Legged race which proved a real challenge to some...

Everyone from the tribes ran up the stairs to the stage while I calculated the winners for the day. ONE tribe member decided it would be quicker to run up to the front of the stage and LEAP up onto the stage... ...SPLAT...

Didn't work but it made a very interesting sound in that empty gym...

But he did finally make it in time for the beauty shot :)

Week 3 - Puzzles and Brain Teaser Challenge

Brain Teaser Day with Survivor - They learn that they need to work quietly as they make a comment about one of the puzzles only to have a member of the other tribe comment "They're right! Look, if you do this, then that, ..." and helped them get another answer right...

This is also the day we combined two tribes bringing our total number of tribees from 3 to 2. These girls did NOT want any candid shots taken of them...

So I just had to be a bit sneakier :)

Week 4 - Food Challenge

Food Challenge Day. Oh, Ick! They have 10 liquids including Pepsi, milk, hot sauce, catsup, marinade, salad dressing, etc... They have to select 8 of the 10 items and then the order they want to mix them. After mixing the first two ingredients they EACH take one teaspoon of the concoction and taste it then add a third ingredient and continue...

It was hard to watch, but hey THEY wanted this challenge... Each Survivor class I explain the details of the food challenge and they vote on if they want it or not... It was at this time that my camera batteries died so no more pix. Everyone got through it and no one "tossed" but a few were a little worse for wear :)

Week 5 - NO CLASS THIS WEEK

Week 6 - Coordination Challenge
Each tribe will be put through a series of coordination tests (like filling a glass with water using a tablespoon, balancing items, etc). Details to follow. Will have 4 challenges worth 25 points each (10 points for 2^nd place)

The first coordination challenge is to fill a cup (to a specific point) with water using just a tablespoon. This is a relay race so timing and speed is critical!

A close up of the cups shows the winner of this challenge the K team, but JUST a hair!

Next was the Egg-Relay race! Balance an egg on a tablespoon and run a course, pass the egg on and continue!

I was actually amazed that no eggs were dropped!

Handoff was always the toughest, but they got through it.

Next up is going to be the "Balance Challenge" where they have to balance a yard stick on one finger, with their other hand behind their back, and run the course.

Everyone said "oh! That's easy!" until they actually had to DO it... Not so easy any more!

Starting was easy. Running, not so much. Turning the corner at the end toughest of all!

If they dropped their yard stick they had to stop, rebalance it THEN continue. This means time lost!

Sometimes, getting RE-started was hardest of all.

Next up was the "3-legged Race!". The tribes would each select two tribe members to be duct-taped together...

The team on the right had the best technique.

Even though it didn't always work...

That was followed by the "One Legged Race" where one selected tribe member from each tribe had their feet tapped together and had to hop the course

This lead to one of the best photo's ever during a Survivor challenge! All he needs now is some bunny ears and an Easter basket!

Resting after all that hoping and running.

But not yet done! The kids INSISTED on a FOUR LEGGED RACE! This involved 3 members from each tribe, tapped together such that they effectively had only 4 legs.

This was more fun to watch than a cat in a box full of ping pong balls!

Neither team could get very far before falling flat, but they were having fun!

How much fun? Well, just check out the look on THIS exhausted face! Now THAT'S a good time!

In the end, this team discovered it was easier to have the middle person crawl.... Not allowed, but certainly creative...

Week 7 - Treasure Hunt Challenge

Each tribe will receive a different treasure map that leads to the same treasure. The tribe who locates the treasure first wins the treasure and 300 points. Remaining tribes will receive points based on how many clues they have solved. The clues will cover things like math, science, critical thinking, geography and more.

After a 4-part treasure hunt where each tribe searched for their own unique treasure, each tribe sat down to finish the last part of the puzzle. Solving the riddle page. The 4 clues that lead to finding this riddle page included math, spelling and decoding efforts as well as the ability to read maps and the 4 compass points. Great work by all! Here, team "Killers" works the puzzle. Only two of the tribe members showed up for today's activities.

Here we have the "Clinton Supporters" (their name, I didn't pick it... :) ) working the puzzle. This is the team that won overall with 338 points earned over the past 5 weeks; Killers scored 313 points. It was close all the way through!

Stumped on a part of the riddles, they discuss possible solutions.

A close up of the page gives you an idea of what this last section was like. See if YOU can solve for any of these!

This concludes the Survivor class for Fall of 2008!
Many thanks to all the kids. I hope you had as much fun as I did!