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Freeze frame game

Work as a team and test observation skills with a frozen scene game.

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Before you begin

  • Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Additional help to carry out your risk assessment, including examples can be found here.  Don’t forget to make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
  • Make sure you’ll have enough helpers for each team to have one. You may need some parents and carers to help out if you’re short on helpers.

Play the game

  1. Everyone should and sit in a circle.
  1. The person leading the activity should tell everyone to choose a position and hold it still.
  1. One player, the spotter, should leave the circle for a short time.
  2. Once the spotter can’t see what’s happening, the rest of the circle should change or move something. The aim is to work together to make tiny changes the spotter can’t pinpoint. To give the spotter a fair chance, people shouldn’t make too many changes at once.
  1. The spotter should then return to the group. They should try to work out the differences between the group before they left and now, as quickly as possible.
  1. Repeat until everyone has had a chance to test their freeze frame abilities and their observational skills.

Reflection

When everyone was part of the circle, they needed to work as team to change their positions or actions subtly. How did they decide what changes to make? Did they take it in turns to make suggestions, or did certain people take the lead and direct everyone else?

When they were the volunteer, they tested their observational skills to figure out what had changed in the circle. How did they go about identifying the changes? Did they study each person individually to spot differences, or view the entire circle as a whole to get a sense of what had shifted?

Everyone should feel like they’ve got to know other people in their section better. At the end of the game, they should close their eyes and see if they can remember the faces and names of as many people as possible.

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Make it easier by encouraging people in the circle to make more noticeable changes, for example they could all lie down or raise their arms. Conversely, the smaller the changes – like one person crossing their fingers or another closing their eyes – the more challenging the game will be.

Make it accessible

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Beavers My Skills Challenge Award
Cubs Our Skills Challenge Award

This game is a great way to get to know each other. Afterwards, people could share facts about themselves, like their favourite sport, type of music, or book.

It’s up to the circle of players to decide which the changes they make.