Purposes of these exercises:
Although some of the exercises that will appear in this section could be seen as "Silly".
They do help to improve laterial thinking abilities whilst also being good fun as well!

Exercise 1 - The Wally Test
Exercise 2 - Rescue Me!
Exercise 3 - FIRE
Exercise 4 - The flames get higher!


Exercise 1 - The Wally Test
Purpose of exercise -
Laterial Thinking Exercise

Preperation -
All cadets seated. Although they can answer individually, it is normally best done in small teams.

Exercise -

The Wally Test Questions
1. If a ton of coal costs $30 and a ton of coke costs $25, what will a ton of firewood come to?
2. Removing an appendix is called an appendectomy, removing tonsils is called a tonsillectomy. What is it called when they remove a growth from your head?
3. Why are U.S. soldiers forbidden to carry rifles any longer?
4. What three things that you can eat can never have for breakfast?
5. If a farmer raises wheat in dry weather, what does he raise in wet weather?
6. What would you call a person who did not have all his fingers on one hand?
7. Which is greater: six dozen dozen or half a dozen dozen?
8. What is the best way to get down from a camel?
9. How could a man be severely injured being hit by some tomatoes?
10. Why do Chinese men eat more rice than Japanese men?


Wally Test Answers
1. Ashes.
2. A haircut.
3. The rifles are long enough already.
4. Lunch, dinner and supper.
5. An umbrella.
6. Normal.
7. Six dozen dozen is 12 times as much as half a dozen dozen.
8. You cannot get down from a camel. You get down from a duck. (duck! Feathers = Down, as in a Down filled pillow - nobody said these weren't cheesy)
9. They were tinned tomatoes.
10. There are more of them.


Rate your score on the following scale:
8 to 10 - Wally Whiz
6 to 7 - Smart Alec
3 to 5 - Wally
Less than 3 - Ultra Wally

For Staff -
Just run like a standard quiz.
You can give them the first question and then give them the answer to get them in the right frame of mind.
If they're doing really badly, drop hints.

When finished -
Read answers out, and hear them groan..
Then Give them their Wally grade (you don't have to do this bit if you think it may offend)
Back to Exercise Index


Exercise 2 - Rescue Me!

Purpose of exercise -
Mental Challenge. Teaches that in some situations there is not always just 1 right answer

Preperation -
All cadets seated. Split into groups, as large or as small as you want.
All Teams get given a copy of the Equipment list {shown below in bold italics} a pen/pencil and some scrap paper.

Exercise -
Give each team a copy of the below.

The RAF aeroplane you were travelling in aquired engine problem and has made a forced landeding in the sea by a remote tropical island.

Only you and the 2 pilots are left alive.

You have made it to the island - but the plane is currently still floating on the edge of a reef but once the tide comes in it will be washed off and into the sea where you will not be able to get to it.

You estimate that you have 30 mins until the tide swamps the plane.
You and the 2 pilots can swim out to the plane and back twice in that time but you only have the ability to rescue 1 item (no matter what size!) per person per trip.

So you must quickly decide what 6 items you want to save, in what order and why!

1. An unused parachute
2. A Torch
3. A large multipack of cigarettes
4. ½ a Bottle of whiskey
5. Spot - your faithfull pet dog
6. A Map
7. 1 Zippo Lighter - full of fuel
8. A pack of 6 Emergency flares
9. A Swiss army pen knife
10. A Shotgun with 2 cartridges
11. An Emergency 10 person Life raft
12. An airline trolly with 2 uneaten meals
13. 1 mobile phone with a full battery
14. 2 Wet books - (Basic map reading & The complete guide to south african swallows)
15. 2 fur lined leather flying jackets
16. A large camouflage net
17. A pair of night vision binoculars
18. A 10-man 1st aid kit
19. A handheld GPS (Global Positioning System)
20. 2 Aircraft life jackets - unopened

Tell them that they have 30 minutes to discuss and make their selections.

For Staff -
How this one goes depends on you!

BEWARE - sometimes you need a good imagination to pull this one off successfully!

You can make this as serious or as light hearted as you want.
e.g. One team rescued the dog as in case there wasn't any food on the island they could BBQ it! - - not nice, but a good bit of laterial thinking.

When finished -
Get each team to read out their selections and justify them
Feel free to question them and play devils advocate as giving a reason why they 'shouldn't' have chosen that sometimes makes them think more about their choices.

Back to Exercise Index

Back to Main Page


Exercise - FIRE.

Purpose of exercise -
A good open ended thought provoker, very good for teaching lateral thinking and immaginative thinking

Preperation -
Split cadets into pairs
Give each pair a pen and paper

Exercise -

Situation: You and your friend wake up in the middle of the night and find your house is on fire.
Also in the house are:
Your mum and dad,
your 2 year old sister,
Your 18 year old brother,
Your cat Tiddles,
Your sisters 2 Hampsters - bubble & squeek

Tasks: What would you do?
And in what order?
You have 5 minutes to decide!

For Staff -
Read out the above and watch the panic.
If you have a lot of seniors, or just want to challenge them, reduce the time to 3 minutes.

When finished -
Get them to read out their plans and get the other teams and staff to review.
There are really easy solutions and really complicated ones to this.

I find if you run this as a third or fourth exercise on the day you get completely different results to if you run it first.

Back to Exercise Index

Back to Main Page


Exercise 4 - The flames get higher!

Purpose of exercise -
Another open ended thought provoker, but this time the needs of others also must be taken into account.

Preperation -
Split into teams of 4
Either display on a board a large copy of the below picture, or give each team a copy.


Exercise -
Situation: A Forest fire is approaching your street, you and your neighbours must decide what is the best course of action for you all to try and survive it as far as possible.

Each member of the group is representing your own family and lives in your street in a different house as shown on the map. The price of your house is also shown

You must each choose a house from the 4 shown

You are Tasked with:
For Staff -
You may want to allocate houses to each team mate.

This exercise can be as fun for the staff to monitor as for the group to do as it can be amazing how possessive some become about their house!


When finished -
Get each group to read out thier solution and justify it.
Discuss their options with the other groups after all have been read out and then try and choose the best parts from each to make an "ideal" solution

Remember! there is no 1 ideal solution and this can be an important lesson in itself for the groups to learn.

Back to Exercise Index


Exercise

Purpose of exercise -

Preperation -

Exercise -

For Staff -

When finished -
Back to Exercise Index