Are Marshmallow Challenges Really Useful for Long-Term Change?

Do games like the Marshmallow Challenge truly contribute to meaningful, lasting improvements in your team? This isn't just about being deliberately contentious; it's about understanding the purpose and utility of the activity.

What is the Marshmallow Challenge?

The Marshmallow Challenge is a popular team-building activity where participants build the tallest free-standing structure using only spaghetti, tape, string, and marshmallows. It encourages creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving. However, is it effective for promoting lasting behavioral change?

Understanding the Utility of Marshmallow Challenges

While the Marshmallow Challenge can serve as a fun icebreaker or a basic exercise to promote creativity or innovation, its effectiveness in delivering lasting behavioral change is limited. Here’s why:

The Marshmallow Challenge as a Fun Activity:

It’s engaging and entertaining. It challenges participants’ assumptions and problem-solving skills. It provides immediate feedback on group dynamics and strategies.

Where Does the Marshmallow Challenge Fall Short?

For experiential learning, which is essential for lasting behavioral change, the Marshmallow Challenge has several limitations:

The activity is often completed in a single session, with winners determined and the task then set aside without further reflection or refinement. Learners don’t have the opportunity to deeply analyze and refine their approach, reflect on their role in the team, or consider alternative solutions.

Strategies to Enhance the Marshmallow Challenge

To make the Marshmallow Challenge more beneficial for experiential learning and long-term change, consider the following strategies:

1. Provide Fewer Instructions at the Beginning

Offer fewer initial instructions, allowing participants to approach the challenge with an unbiased perspective. This fosters creativity and encourages participants to think outside the box before being constrained by specific guidelines.

2. Facilitate Individual and Group Reviews

After the initial challenge, provide opportunities for individual and group reviews. Encourage learners to complete review sheets reflecting on their experience and discussing the following with their peers:

What happened during the challenge? What could have been done differently? What went well?

3. Repeat the Challenge

Repeat the challenge, allowing participants to apply the insights and strategies they gathered from the first attempt. This repetition is crucial for reinforcing learning and promoting consistent improvement.

Conclusion

The Marshmallow Challenge can be a valuable, fun, and engaging activity for team-building and creativity. However, if your objective is to achieve significant and lasting behavioral change, it's important to recognize its limitations. For more complex and ambiguous team development challenges, consider experiential learning kits designed to facilitate meaningful, long-term change. These kits often include detailed review materials and structured activities to support continuous learning and improvement.

Resources for Experiential Learning:

Explore our website for a variety of experiential learning activities and resources. Visit our website for more information and select the perfect experience for your team.