Hanging Teeter Totter

Taken from: Cowstails and Cobras by Karl Rohnke

Category: Active Initiatives

Materials Needed: board (4" x 4" x 8'), circle of rope (10' in diameter).

Instructions: Object: to balance the group, using the available board and rope dangling from a limb or wire above a circular 'electric field', so that everyone on the board is at least 12" above the ground for ten seconds.
1. Participants may not touch the ground (the outlined electric field) with any part of their body at any time or they must start over. If anyone, having inadvertently touched the electric field, touches anyone else, everyone in contact is zapped and must start over outside the circle.
2. The board is made of "ironwood" and will conduct electricity.
3. No knots are allowed in the rope Climbing the rope is OK but the supporting overhead wire or limb is electrified.
4. The board should be about 4" x 4" x 8' and the circle 10' in diameter. Considerations: Outline the electric field with an appropriate length of rope. The circular configuration of the rope will need adjusting occasionally... If a tree limb is used as the anchor point for the rope, the limb should be supported by means of an attached guy wire cable between limb and tree trunk. The weight of a combined group of students (15) would probably exceed 2,500 pounds; more poundage than a limb (hardwood, please) should be expected to support. (Refer to book for construction).