Tapestry of Faith: Love Connects Us: A Program on Living in Unitarian Universalist Covenant for Grades 4-5

Alternate Activity 1: Ropes Course

Materials for Activity

  • Permission forms for all participants, as needed

Preparation for Activity

  • Arrange with your religious educator and/or congregational leadership to take the group on a field trip to a ropes course or climbing wall.
  • Determine the cost of the activity and transportation. Plan how families can participate if they cannot afford the cost.
  • Create, distribute, and gather (signed) field trip permission slips for all participants who will come on the trip.

Description of Activity

Ropes courses are engineered structures built for humans to engage our climbing instincts and practice self-challenge and cooperative skills. They typically involve small groups of participants over an intense period of hours or days. Activities which increase in difficulty challenge participants' physical, emotional, social, and intellectual capabilities. Ropes courses inherently offer obstacles for participants to overcome and thus build participants' confidence. Likewise, the success of a group in meeting the challenge of a low ropes course depends on individuals' ability to work together and support one another, underscoring how working together helps us accomplish great things.

Including All Participants

While not every camp can meet every inclusion need, many low ropes course elements can be adapted to accommodate many different abilities by using additional spotters, making minor adjustments to the ropes structure, or using special equipment. Before booking a ropes course event, find out what accommodations they can provide for any participants with mobility or other limitations who might be part of your group.

Fear of heights is a very common phobia. A low ropes course, which relies primarily on group cooperation to achieve success, may be preferable to a more physically demanding, more challenging, and more individually thrilling high ropes course for a group experience safe and accessible for all.