Puzzle Swap: Another Team Has Your Pieces

Four teams each assemble a puzzle, but their pieces are mixed into the other teams' hoops and you may only carry pieces of another color. Nobody finishes without helping others: the class wins when all four puzzles are done.

How to play

1. Four teams at their bases. Each team has a 12-piece puzzle with a colored back; pieces are spread among the other bases' hoops (3 min).
2. Round 1 relay: one runner at a time takes a piece that isn't their color from their own hoop and delivers it to its owner's base. Teams assemble their puzzle as pieces arrive (6 min).
3. Analysis: how can the class go faster? Deals between teams (3 min).
4. Round 2 with reshuffled puzzles and a new way to move: dribbling a ball, zigzagging, or in pairs holding hands (6 min).
5. Cleanup: each team puts its puzzle back in its envelope (2 min).

Rules

• Carry one piece per trip.
• You can't assemble another team's puzzle; only deliver its pieces.
• Follow the marked traffic direction to avoid collisions at the bases.
• The time belongs to the class, not one team.

Variations

Adaptations

• Wheelchair users: act as the "central dispatcher" in the middle, receiving and handing off pieces to shorten trips.
• Visual impairment: large pieces with a raised or tactile mark per team; runs with a guide.
• Lower-body injury: stays to assemble the team's puzzle and calls out missing pieces.

Learning goals

• Understand that your own success depends on helping others.
• Run relays with purpose.
• Negotiate agreements between groups.

Equipment for a class of 25

• poster board puzzles: 4
• hoops: 4
• cones: 8

Teacher tip

Print four images on 11x17 poster board, paint the back a different color per team, and cut them up. Laminated, they last for years.

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