On this day 8 years ago, Playworks conducted a special team building event for the moms and 6th grade students of Ateneo de Manila for their Mothers & Sons Day event! With over 800 participants in attendance, this was one of Playworks' largest team buildings up to that point. Our task was to conduct memorable activities that would enable students and moms to bond together and remind the students of the importance of being a good son as they transitioned to teenage life.
While this was no ordinary team building, Playworks was definitely up to the challenge! Before the event, there were months of planning and meetings with the Ateneo administration, who were all great people to collaborate with. Once the overall program was agreed upon and green-lit by Ateneo, Playworks went to work conducting hours of game design sessions, speech writing, materials preparation, and staff training.
The day of the event, Playworks arrived on Ateneo campus early in the morning to prep the field, the covered courts, and the stage for the activities for the day. The students and their moms arrived soon thereafter, and were first briefed by their Headmaster, Father Emerito de la Rama, on the importance of the bond between mother and son at this crucial point in their lives. This was followed up with words of wisdom from Playworks' Chief Facilitator and founder, Mr. Geoffrey Nuval, and then students were off to their experiential learning activities!
After a warmup dance activity that pumped up the energy of the crowd of 800+, students and moms split into different groups and rotated through various physical and mental team building activities throughout the day. Physical team building activities included Global Ball (a Playworks exclusive game including a 10-foot ball that looks like the Earth), Nation Ball (Playworks' version of dodgeball), Tug-of-War, 3-Legged Soccer, Ultimate Frisbee, and more. Mental team building activities included Traffic Jam (a strategic puzzle game), Communication Combat Challenge (a game that taught the students about efficient message giving), and a heartwarming letter writing session wherein students would write a special letter to their mothers.
All-in-all the event was deemed a success by Ateneo staff, the students, and most importantly the Mothers! ;) Since this event on October 22, 2016, Playworks has gone on to facilitate similar large scale team building / family bonding events for other major schools across the Philippines.
Do you have an upcoming Mother-Son, Father-Son, Mother-Daughter, Father-Daughter, or Family Day Event at 
your school and need some professional help? Playworks can help make sure your event runs smoothly so you can relax and enjoy on the day of the event. For events such as these, Playworks can handle the planning, program design, materials preparation, staff training, and facilitation on the day off. Simply fill out our contact form at https://www.playworks.ph/contact/ and one of our Event Organizers will be in touch within the day.
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