Outdoor cooking challenge with a twist
Duration
3
Difficulty Level
Moderate
Outdoor cooking challenge with a twist
Participants will be assigned handicaps which they have to overcome through working together and communication to learn valuable lessons about preparing food outdoors and difficulties associated living with handicaps.
Category
Outdoor Education, Creativity, Teambuilding, Culture
Environment
Outdoor
Duration (hours)
3
Difficulty Level
Moderate
Number of participants
5 per team, Up to 30
Materials needed
Camping Stove or campfire
Equipment and ingredients required to prepare a simple dish
Pencil and paper for reflections
Aims and Objectives
To promote cooperation and democratic education
Increase understanding of challenges related to disabilities
Learn about basic cooking skills in outdoor environment
Instructions
Introduction (10-15 minutes)
Start with introducing the students to the activity. Provide a brief overview of the activity and the learning goals of the session
Split the class into smaller groups of 3 and 3 and give each individual of the groups a unique handicap. (It’s fine to have more people with the same handicap, as long as they are not on the same team).
Here are some suggestions to handicaps:
- Mute
- Deaf
- Blind
- Cannot move their arms
- Thinks no means yes, yes = no
- Afraid of certain foods
- Super allergic
Tailor the disabilities to the individuals out of your knowledge of them.Do not let the participants reveal their handicaps to each other.
Preparing food (60-120 minutes)
Let each group plan and prepare their dish using the materials and ingredients you have brought on beforehand. The participants have to cooperate as a team to best prepare the food on a camping stove or campfire.
Optional:It is also possible to let the groups go to the store and buy their own ingredients, and find their own materials needed in order to finish the assignment. This requires that you as a facilitator come along and pay for ingredients and see the groups play out their disability while finding supplies at the store.
Eating together (15 minutes)
Once food is prepared, everyone sits down together and shares a lovely meal! Afterwards clean up what needs to be cleaned and sit down together to reflect.
Debriefing
Reflection (20 minutes)
While eating, or after you are done, sit down and discuss the following:
How did it feel to have a handicap while preparing a meal?
What challenges arose during the process and how did you overcome them?
Does this experience shape your impression of how it's like living with a disability?
Did you learn anything about cooperation?
What skills and qualities are important for cooperation and inclusion?
Would you do anything different if you could do this assignment again - if so; what?
Is there anything we as a society can do in order to promote inclusivity for people with disabilities?
Risks and recommendations
This activity requires the facilitator to pay close attention to the participants. As they are working with hot stoves while they potentially have loss of certain senses, like sight.
Be ready to intervene or have one group member work as a “safety person” with an overview of the entire group.
Knowledge and competence of facilitators
This activity requires the facilitator to have good knowledge of the equipment used, so that they can guide and teach the participants easily while they do the cooking.