Gospel Living

Activity: Problem-Solving Games

23 Oct 2019 | 1 min read

Practice logic and problem-solving skills to assess a problem and come up with possible solutions. These qualities will help you be more self-reliant, a stronger leader, and better able to serve the Lord without needing to be “compelled in all things” (Doctrine and Covenants 58:26).

Play group problem-solving games. You can choose from the games listed below or come up with your own.

Find an outdoor area with two trees about 10 to 15 feet apart. Tie a rope around each tree to form a horizontal line about four feet above the ground. Instruct the youth that, as a group, they must do the following:

Everyone must get over the rope in under five minutes.
Nobody can touch the rope.
Nobody can speak while the clock is ticking.

The youth can try to do it multiple times! Give them time before each attempt to plan. When planning, encourage youth to analyze and learn from past efforts. Instruct the youth that they should work together and use problem-solving techniques, such as trial and error. Youth may experiment with using found objects (such as a log that might be lying on the ground) to help them get over the rope. Encourage them to be creative in their solutions!

Please adapt activities as necessary to ensure all individuals are able to participate, belong, and contribute.

Provide paper and invite each participant to make a paper airplane. Hold a contest and give awards for the plane that flies the farthest, stays in the air the longest, lands closest to a target, and so on. Then provide additional supplies (such as paper clips, tape, crepe paper, and craft sticks) for additional rounds of contests, using observations from the first round to guide revisions to the airplanes’ design.
Provide basic supplies that can be used for building, such as disposable plastic cups, toothpicks, dry spaghetti, and marshmallows. Divide your group into teams and hold a series of contests that require creativity and experimentation. Which team can build the tallest structure? The structure that can support the most weight? The largest structure with a small object as the base? Remember that the goal is to experiment and learn, not to build a perfect structure. You can learn from failure as well as from success.
Try to get the entire group from one end of the room to the other in a given amount of time without touching the ground. Give participants a small amount of time to plan before starting the clock; if the plan doesn’t work, let them meet and revise their plan before starting the next round. Make sure you provide sturdy chairs, tables, or other objects for participants to use.

Encourage youth to talk about how what they are learning can help them and others grow closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Discussions can take place before, during, or after the activity and should last just a few minutes. You could ask questions like the following:

Why do you think it is important to learn logic and problem-solving skills?
What can you do when you’re having trouble solving a problem on your own?
What do the stories of Oliver Cowdery (Doctrine and Covenants 9) and the brother of Jared (Ether 2:16–25; 3:1–14) teach us about how the Lord wants us to solve problems?