Skip to main content

Volunteering at Scouts is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing at Scouts. Read more

Discover what this means
Supported by Disney

Try a Marvel Black Widow inspired agility test

Navigate lasers like a Marvel Avenger in this agility team game
Plan a session with this activity

Back to Activities

You’ll need

  • Red crepe paper or red wool
  • Tape
  • Spacious room or outdoor area
  • Various objects to create obstacles
  • Timer (optional)
  • Blindfold (optional)

Before you begin

  • Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There's also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.   
  • Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely. 
  • Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help 

Planning and setting up this activity

  • Choose a spacious room or outdoor space and set up an obstacle course. You could use hoops, tunnels, small hurdles to step over, tables to go under, a limbo, stepping stones using old cereal boxes and so on. Make sure the obstacle course is secure, and objects will not fall if touched.
  • Next, use red crepe paper strips or red wool and stretch it across the obstacle course to create a web-like pattern. These will be the laser beams. They should be at various heights and angles, and they can be avoided without touching while doing the obstacles. Make sure that there are no choking, strangulation or tripping hazards. You may wish to add bells if you're using wool, so if people knock them, it can be heard. 
  • You may wish to just have the ‘laser beams’ across a space without the obstacles.
  • Only use tape to secure the crepe paper or red wool on surfaces where it won’t leave marks or will come off easily.
  • You may wish to show a clip in this activity. You can find a variety of clips that can be shown without licences on the Marvel HQ YouTube page. Use our movie licensing guidance to find out more and ask parent and carer permission before watching any clips. 
Marvel logoBlack Widow

Running this activity

  1. Gather everyone around and explain that they’re going to practice their agility. 
  2. Explain that Marvel's Black Widow often finds herself in difficult situations, where agility and quick thinking are very important. She’s a trained spy and an expert in many forms of martial arts. She is also a skilled gymnast and possesses superhuman strength, speed, agility, and endurance.  
  3. Tell everyone that their mission today is to navigate through a laser obstacle course, but they can’t break or touch any of the laser beams. They’ll need to move slowly and carefully around the course. 
  4. If they break or touch the laser beams, they'll need to start from the beginning, or they could have 10 seconds added to their time.
  5. You may wish to demonstrate the course before people start, adding any safety tips. 
  6. Now, let the first person go and time how long it takes them to get round.  If they touch or break the ‘laser beam’ they must go back to the start and begin again, or they could have 10 seconds added to their time for each touch. 
  7. Now, continue and let everyone else go round one by one and see who can navigate the course the quickest.
  8. You could make it more challenging by: 
  • Blindfold challenge: One person is blindfolded, while someone else guides them. The guide must verbally direct their partner through the course. 
  • Team challenge: Divide everyone into two or three teams. Each person then does the course and the team with the fastest overall time, when the times are added together, wins. The fewest number of touches could also win. 
  • Team challenge: The team must travel through the course together and the fastest time wins. They could be holding hands to join them together or all always holding onto a piece of string. If someone lets go, there’s a time penalty.
  • Infinity Stone challenge: There are six infinity stones, which the Avengers try to collect to defeat Thanos. Cut out six stone shapes from different coloured card and place them throughout the course. Each person needs to try to collect as many as they can. Each one could reduce their time.

©2024 MARVEL 

Reflection

This activity was all about being agile, being aware of your surroundings, problem-solving and having lots of patience. What was it like doing the course? Did you have any favourite obstacles and why? What was the most challenging bit? What strategies did you use to get through the course? How did you feel when you broke a beam and had to start over again? 

You may have tried one of the further challenges, such as a team challenge. You had to use teamwork and communication to complete the task. How did you find the challenge? What was it like working as a team? What worked well? What could you have done better? What does it make you think about how the Avengers worked as a team? Would they have found it difficult? The Avengers all had to use their skills to work together. How did you each bring individual skills to the team? 

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.

Outdoor activities

You must have permission to use the location. Always check the weather forecast, and inform parents and carers of any change in venue.

Active games

The game area should be free of hazards. Explain the rules of the game clearly and have a clear way to communicate that the game must stop when needed. Take a look at our guidance on running active games safely.

Dark

Provide some light, so the environment isn’t completely dark. Everyone must be able to see others and move around the area safely.

Trips, choking and strangulation hazard

  • To make this activity easier, you can also make the obstacle course without the laser beams.
  • To make this activity harder, you could bring in more Avengers, such as a Frisbee throw for Captain America’s Shield or soft archery challenge for Hawkeye.  
  • Take a look at our guidance on active games to see ways you can adapt wide games to make them more accessible and inclusive. 

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Scouts Teamwork Challenge Award

If you enjoyed this activity, why not try some other MARVEL inspired activities!