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active challenge:

secret handshake

Suggested Ages: K – 5th Grades

Work with a partner or group to create the longest and most fun secret handshake you can!

Team up to create an epic secret handshake! Whether your buddies are in person or online, here’s a secret…by being COLLABORATIVE and building on the ideas of others, you’re sure design series of seriously fun moves that’ll make your greeting the greatest.

Active Challenge: Fun, movement-oriented games and activities to spark innovation and creativity

This is no ordinary DIY activity for kids: It’s a step toward becoming an innovator.

 

Every Galileo Active Challenge gets kids moving and teaches the same mindsets that professional designers, engineers, artists and athletes use in their work. With skills like these, we believe you can change the world.

Get Involved—For Grown Ups

Materials list:

Help your child find these materials or a close substitute: 

 

  • You don’t need any physical materials for this activity. Just a friend, your imagination, and your powers of collaboration.

 

Activity Steps:

Use these to keep your innovator on track as they create: 

 

    1. Think about a friend or family member with whom you’d like to make a secret handshake. If the person is not in your house, get permission to call them and confirm they can create with you.
    2. When you’re ready to start. Choose someone go first and share an action  to start off the handshake.
    3. After practicing the first move, the next person will share the second move.
    4. Perform the first and second moves together.
    5. Be collaborative by taking turns turns and adding moves. Practice the whole handshake as you go.
    6. Try to create the longest and most fun secret handshake you can!

 

Guiding Questions:

If your child is stuck, try asking these questions to help them keep on innovating: 

 

  • If it’s hard to remember the order of your handshake actions, try creating a chant to remember the moves (Example. Left clap, right clap, toe, elbows, spin, wiggle, woo!)
  • What kind of move haven’t you tried adding yet? (Ex: singing, dancing, silly sounds, whole body movement, etc.) Is there a way you can combine two or more actions into one move?

 

More Ideas:

Every project presents opportunities to add your own twists or extensions. Here are some ideas to get you started: 

 

  • Find fun times and places to use your secret handshake.
  • Step it Up! Try adding part of your favorite song or dance or playing a round of your favorite hand clapping game in the middle of your handshake!.What unique or challenging moves can you include your next handshake that no one has thought of?
  • Innovate(and collaborate) On! Build on the ideas of others by considering the moves you already have and trying to add something that’s super different. Or maybe try to connect the moves with a unifying theme.

 

Wrap Up Questions:

Lock in the learning by asking your child these questions about the activity and how they practiced the featured Innovator’s Mindset element: 

 

  • Did any of your partner’s moves surprise or delight you? Which ones?
  • What do you think it might be like to create a handshake on your own? How did collaborating help you make a great handshake?

SHARE!

The last step in the Gallieo Innovator’s Process is SHARE. Great learning can come from sharing successes and failures—to solidify your own experience as an innovator and to inspire others.

 

Share with Galileo

 

Take a video of your child’s secret handshake and share it with the Camp Galileo Anywhere Facebook Community.

 

SHARE WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS

 

Your innovation doesn’t stop with you. Inspire someone else by sharing your active challenge—maybe they’ll try it themselves or maybe your experience will give them a new idea.

 

  • Who: someone in your house, a family member, a friend
  • How: in person, on the phone, online
  • When: anytime, starting now!