Kindergarten kids are better at building towers

Well okay, in reality architects and engineers are thankfully, the most successful at building towers but in the Marshmallow Challenge, it is actually graduates of kindergarten who seem to perform better at designing and building towers made from simple, everyday household objects.

Recent graduates of Kindergarten

So what is the Marshmallow Challenge?

In eighteen minutes teams must build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one metre of tape, one metre of string, and one marshmallow. The marshmallow needs to be on top and in tact (no taste testing). It is a fun exercise that encourages teams to work together. It provides lessons in collaboration, innovation and creativity. These lessons are the ones that teams will often face in workplaces, on the sporting field or in social situations.

Check out what Tom Wujec has to say about the Marshmallow Challenge

In his video titled, "Build a tower, build a team", Tom Wujec explains why certain groups of people do better at this exercise than others, including an explanation as to why kindergarten kids are better at building towers.

I took part in the Marshmallow Challenge today and these points below are what I learned from the experience.

• There is no one right way to conduct this exercise
• Sticky tape that has sufficient adhesive would have been handy
• All team members are valuable and should be heard
• Prototyping helps promote creativity and encourages active problem solving
• We often make assumptions when problem solving
• Teams work well when they have a facilitator
• Specialised skills should not be overlooked 
• We can't do everything ourselves all the time
• Leading a team is not about having power over a team, it's about working with your team
• Marshmallows are yummy.

Want to give this challenge a go with your own team, check out the instructions on the Marshmallow Challenge website.