Coloring contest with a learning goal

This team building activity asks students to color while having access to one color at a time and sometimes using their nondominant hand.

Quill and Scroll Guiding Principles:

Leadership, Loyalty, Friendship

Materials: 

  • Coloring book
  • Enough crayons so everyone has one

Set up:

Put out book and crayons

Step-by-step instructions:

  1. Student leaders should be on the lookout for those on the periphery. It’s important to include all.
  2. Have students select a page from the coloring book and carefully remove it.
  3. Ask students to grab a crayon.
  4. Have students sit in a circle and tell them not to do anything yet.
  5. After all are seated and ready, let the students know they will only have this crayon for a small bit of time. Tell them to put the crayon in their dominant hand.
  6. Let them know that you will be telling them when to pass the crayon (to the right) and which hand to use. (Yes, dominant vs. nondominant.) Let them know they will have 10 minutes to color.
  7. Ask for any clarifying questions.
  8. Let them start. At random times announce the switch and what hand to use. 
  9. When finished, put the coloring book pages up in the room. You could have a contest on whose is best.
  10. While this is a fun activity, it also can teach students that some things that seem automatic to them, might not be as easy as they think. (Like coloring with the nondominant hand.)
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