Bikes For Tykes

Who bought the Tissues?

The Program: Each team’s ultimate goal is to build a bicycle from scratch. Each team must successfully complete a series of tasks and challenges in order to earn the pieces of their bike. At the end of each successful task they are awarded one of the components they need to rebuild the bike (eg. A wheel, a seat, a frame etc).

Once an activity has been completed, teams can choose to begin building their bike, or they may choose to move straight into the next task. This is the decision of each team, as they strive to complete tasks in order to earn the bike pieces and build the bike all at the same time. Once all pieces have been collected, the final stages of building the bike can be completed. With the bike fully built, each team must bring their bike to a qualified mechanic who will give the bike the “once over” and report on any defects to the judges.

The team to do this first (have their bike built and pass the test 100%) will be crowned champions for the day. Up until this point the delegates still think that this is just an exercise in team dynamics. Later, a presentation ceremony will be held to announce the winning team, as we call upon children from a local charity group to come and present the medals to the winning team.

With medals presented, the kids will all make their way to each team to receive the bikes from the delegates. What results is a frantic re-checking and adjusting of the bikes to suit the kids and to make them safe. It is this dramatic change from a fun team - building exercise into a very real scenario that gives the program its power. The change in the delegates now that the outcome is “real” is often quite staggering.