Step-by-Step Instructions
- Stand in front of your group, and get their attention.
- Explain that every time your hands cross in front of you, you want the group to clap loudly once.
- Test your group’s reaction by crossing your hands in front of you once, and expect a loud clap.
- Continue to cross your hands in front of you several times, slowly at first, and then gradually faster.
- Trick your group by making it look like your hands are about to cross, but stop just short.
- Continue with a varied series of arm-crossing moves.
- Continue for up to a minute, reach a crescendo, and move on.
How To Play Narrative
All you need is one person to stand in front of your group. Maybe that’s you?
Explain that you want everyone to watch carefully as you move your hands back and forth in a particular pattern. Perhaps alternating left and right, or up and down, it doesn’t matter much. Just make sure that at some point your hands cross during the journey.
The fun part is that you ask your group to clap every time they see your hands cross. It’s at this point, I rediscover how much I love this game, energiser, diversion, call it what you like. The intense focus and concentration on people’s faces is priceless.
So you start passing, slow at first, then in rapid succession.
And then, I suggest, you get tricky. Make out like your hands are about to cross, but you suddenly stop short of passing. Guaranteed, money in the bank, this lark will cause your group to clap, and then quickly realising their mistake, laugh out loud.
You need only present this Clapping game for a minute or so, and it will produce the desired effect. Your group will now be bubbling with more energy, and there will be smiles and laughter aplenty. Job done.
Practical Leadership Tips
You may not even need an introduction to kick-off this exercise. I often just enter the space in front of my group (or audience sometimes,) position my body, arms and hands to get everyone’s attention, and begin.
The key to the success of the clapping is to encourage your group to clap at the precise moment your hands cross one another. It should occur as one very loud clap. Do not progress into the funner parts of the exercise until your group has grasped this basic concept.
Social-Emotional Learning
You could integrate the Clapping Game as part of a well-designed SEL program to promote and maintain healthy and supportive relationships.
Specifically, this activity offers opportunities to explore and practice the following social & interpersonal skills:
Self-Awareness
- Demonstrating Self-Confidence, Honesty & Integrity
- Experiencing Self-Efficacy
Self-Management
- Demonstrating Self-Discipline & Self-Motivation
Relationship Skills
- Communicate & Listen Effectively
- Build Positive Relationships
- Work Collaboratively
Responsible Decision-Making
- Making Reasoned Judgements
- Anticipating & Evaluating the Consequences of One’s Actions
- Promoting Personal & Collective Well-Being
You can learn more about SEL and how it can support character education here.
Health & Wellness Programming
Behavioural Norms
It is possible to speak to many metaphorical connections between this quick energiser and the development of healthy and respectful group norms.
For example, you could invite your group to connect the feeling they got when everyone was clapping in sync to the possible results when the group is working together effectively. The processes to achieve the latter may be more complex than performing a series of claps, but the impact is the same. Or, focus on the impact of your leadership and how it helped your group achieve success, ie your sequence of progressively more difficult beats helped them be successful.
Another programmatic application could be to invite each person to reflect on their ability to regulate their own impulses to respond to each clapping pattern exactly as delivered, ie to keep in rhythm with the rest of the group or to be accountable. When one or more people do their own thing, the group and the results are out of balance. To this end, you could raise the question, in the context of the group’s overall effectiveness, what does it look like when the group is not (metaphorically speaking) clapping simultaneously?
Popular Variations
- Elimination Clapping Game: Structured as an elimination game, same rules apply. If someone makes a ‘mistake,’ for example, a person claps when they shouldn’t, or is late, etc, they are asked to step aside, sit down or whatever and enjoy the continuing action. Keep going until one person remains, and give them a round of applause!
- Open the Virtual Adaptation tab to learn how to present this activity online.
Virtual Adaptation
- First, instruct your group to switch to presenter view so that you appear as the primary screen on their device. Then, with everyone glued to their screens, play the Clapping Game as described above. Tip: play with sound enabled to get a sense of how well in sync your group is with your clapping.
- For a bit of fun, advise your group that whenever they hear a particular word or phrase or sound, they should respond with a single clap as quickly as possible (or other response, such as typing something into the chat room facility.) Not only does this build engagement with what you’re presenting but it’s also a LOT of fun.
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Useful Framing Ideas
For the perfect opener, don’t speak. Simply get your group’s attention, and mime what you would like your groups to do. That is, indicate by way of demonstration that every time you cross your hands, you (point to your group) clap your hands.
Can everyone see my hands? [wave them around a bit…] There’s nothing special about my hands, but it’s important that you watch them. Because, in a few moments, I can guarantee that most of you will not be watching my hands at all, and get sucked up in the moment…
Reflection Tips & Strategies
Coupled with one or more reflection strategies, here are some sample questions you could use to process your group’s experience after playing this infectious energiser:
- What makes you laugh in this exercise? Why?
- Where else in our lives do we laugh like this? What’s an example?
- What other types of laughter do we experience in our lives? What do these mean?
- Metaphorically speaking, what is the impact when our group is not clapping together? Give me an example.
- How can we work together more effectively?
Source
Use this often times in between activities/filler game to refocus the group and get attention before leading the group into the next activity.. lots of fun.
For our variant, we aim to get the group to get to five individual claps in a row. The idea is for participants to clap almost in sync with the presenter. If they get it right, it counts as 1 and the game continues. If they get it right a second time, thats 2 and so on.
If the presenter tricks the group into clapping, the whole sequence starts again. Can be played again and again once the group know the game.
Hi all,
Recently, I’ve been using (and loving) a short sequence of two activities – (1) One Clap immediately followed by (2) the Clapping Game.
To play, invite the group to clap simultaneously, making the sound of one crisp clap, on the count of three – 1,2,3…clap! Many groups may get this on the first go, while others may need a bit more practice. Regardless, give it a go two or three times, then transition to the Clapping Game.
The Clapping Game is played by inviting the group to clap when you, the facilitator, fluidly cross your arms in front of you as if you you were going to clap, yet miss and pass by. Playfully practice this a few times testing the group’s reaction time and building attunement.
Just when the groups seems to be grooving, fake. That is, gesturing as if you are going to cross your arms, then stopping just short. The group should not clap because you did not cross your arms, although inevitably many individuals, if not all, will clap (making a mistake), then react. Reactions typically present as a burst of laughter and awareness. Notice the reactions, engage in some likely banter, and play on.
Continue crossing your arms or not (faking) allowing the the individuals and group to react and respond as they do. Culminate with a crescendo of clapping by crossing your arms slowly at first, then progressively faster and faster offering no fakes until the end. Typically this leads to an increase in energy, laughter, and preparedness to move forward.
Why have I been using these particular activities to start learning engagements and meetings? One Clap helps bring the group present. The Clapping Game invites, in an introductory way, awareness to personal reactions and the reactions of others. Furthermore, it invites the notion of choosing how we respond after making a mistake (or not) and as mistakes are made in our presence. Yes, this is a light touch on Social Emotional Learning, Emotional Intelligence, and other related topics as well. Ultimately, I’ve been using both of these activities because they are simple, engaging, and relevant. Some might even say they’re fun!
Enjoy,
Nate
Thanks Nate. I’m going to try it.
Note to all users – check out Nate leading Copy Claps (referred to above) – it’s an absolute delight to be a part of and enjoy.
So useful, Nate! Using with a group of 150 tomorrow 🙂