I have been using Taskmaster in school for a few years now, to great effect. The following is a list of all the tasks I’ve done or heard about. They originate from the TV show, the Taskmaster book, Class Taskmaster, my brain, my colleagues and other teachers who have been enjoying Taskmaster in schools. However, most of the credit must go to the creator of Taskmaster, Alex Horne. If you have any more to add, please tweet me the suggestions and together we can create an extensive list of tasks for children (and teachers) to enjoy all over the world.
- Scavenger Hunt
- Paint a picture – blindfolded
- Take an impressive photograph
- Make something big appear small
- Make something small appear big
- Kick a rugby ball from one end of the field to the other while holding hands. If you let go, you start again
- Score a goal from the furthest distance
- Work out how long a ball of string is
- Cross the playground in the least step
- Find all of the playing card hidden around the school
- Throw a tea bag into a mug from the furthest distance
- Get an egg as high as possible, without breaking it
- What is Mr Blake-Lobb’s age in minutes/seconds?
- As a team, build the highest tower on the field. You have ten minutes starting from now.
- Memorise the Highwayman poem
- Set a task for another group
- Melt the ice – fastest wins
- Draw a flower with your weaker hand
- Draw an upside down self-portrait using crayons
- Make the most juice from these fruits
- Make the best picture, using only this toilet roll.
- Unveil a new handshake
- Make something spin for the longest period of time
- Make the best paper aeroplane. Furthest flight wins.
- Score a goal with a shopping bag, each team member must kick the bag at least twice
- CONNECTED TASK – Make the shopping bag as heavy as possible in ten minutes. It must then hang, unassisted, for one minute
- Make the most impressive throw of something, into something
- Do the most brilliant thing on a gym mat
- While holding hands, kick a rugby ball from the round house to the year 6 table
- Move the pallet as far as possible. You have 3 minutes. Go.
- Eat the best picture out of a piece of bread
- Guess the number on Mr Blake-Lobb’s left arm (the number had also been written on the cupboard door at the back of the room for 3 days).
- Vote for the team you wish to receive 5 points. If you vote for your own team and don’t win, then you will lose 2 points
- Write the lowest unique number on a whiteboard
- Stand up for 100 seconds
- Blindfolded, stack as many objects on top of each other as possible without falling (for at least five seconds)
- Bring me someone who was born on the 28th May 2011 (pick the date of birth of someone in your school)
- Surprise Mr Allen
- Impress Mr Wood
- Make Mrs Humphreys say ‘bubbles’. You cannot use the word ‘bubbles’
- Make Mrs Rowe laugh out loud. You must not touch her.
- As a team, stage a performance of a nursery rhyme
- Write and perform a song about this week
- Bring in a book to read to a younger child
- Tweet a joke to Penguins class, 1st joke wins (Bonus for best joke)
- Wear the most unusual hat to school tomorrow
- Write the best 10 word story
- Make the best Christ-Maths Tree
- Make the best flag without using a flag
- Decorate your classroom for Christmas
- Line things up height order, longest line wins
- Make the smallest piece of art
- High five the oldest and youngest person, greatest age gap wins
- Make the best domino show
- Write and perform a tune with E, A and B in it
- Create a Remembrance Day tribute
- Recreate a famous book cover
- Find all of the playing cards hidden around the school
- Make the best piece of art using one toilet roll
- Make the longest line of things that begin with the first letter of your team/class/school name
- Make the biggest circle
- Write an epic story in 280 characters or fewer
- Create a cartoon character using things found in the classroom
- Take a picture of the oldest thing in your school
- Make the best snowman
- Recreate a famous film scene
- Make the biggest splash
- Eat the most crackers in a minute
- Put the most different things beginning with H, A and T in a hat
- Show me a picture of a cow. You cannot draw a picture. You cannot use technology
- Balance the biggest thing on your head
- Eat the most watermelon
- Remove your socks without using your hands – fastest wins
- Build a den 2m x 1m x 1m. Driest wins
- Create a throne
- Fly a flag on the tallest, free-standing flagpole
- Write a haiku about a task
- Build the tallest card tower in 2 minutes
- Balance the heaviest thing on the lightest thing. Greatest difference in weight wins
- Find the biggest leaf
- Line up in age/height order
- Make the best entrance
- Disguise yourself/team. Most disguised wins
- Hide
- Touch the door, fastest wins
- Make an A4 piece of paper into the longest piece of paper possible in 2 minutes
- List the most 5 letter words as you can
- Write a verb for every letter of the alphabet
- Make the longest paperchain
- Build a kite, longest flight wins
- Get a celebrity to Tweet about the school
- Make a cool video in reverse
- Film a slo-mo stunt
- Work out how long a ball of string is without using rulers, tape measures, meter sticks, trundle wheels, or other traditional measuring devices
- Identify the items in the sock/pillowcase
- Carry a bowl of water around the track. Fastest wins. Bonus point for the most water
- Throw as many balls of scrap paper over your shoulder and into the bin as you can. You have 5 throws per team member
- Get this egg as far from the starting point as you can in 2 minutes. You may not use your hands
- Find Miss Burrows. Quickest time wins. You must stay together as a team and ALL find her. You must walk in the school. Miss Burrows is not in another classroom or behind a security door
- Throw the ball to a teammate and they must catch it. Furthest throw wins
- Using the iPads, your team must take 5 photos around the school. The Taskmaster will try and identify where the photos were taken. You will score one point for each photo the Taskmaster guesses incorrectly. Photos must not be blurry
- How much money is in the tins? Closest wins
- Knock the heaviest item off the table from the furthest distance
- Compose a tune using the pentatonic scale with at least three instruments
- Using only natural things, make a picture of the Taskmaster
- Using a strip of toilet paper stuck between two tables, balance the heaviest item
- Reveal something surprising from under a blanket
- Using two materials, design and build a device to move as much water as possible from one bucket to another
- Create a device to time exactly 20 seconds using the equipment provided
- Estimate the amount of water up to the line in the large bottle using the equipment provided
- Create the best window art using the post-it notes provided
- RELAY TASK – Choose the order you will go in. Put on the oven gloves, eat the banana, tie your laces and then pass on the oven gloves to the next person
- Identify the items in the sleeping bag
- Put as many blue M&M as you can in the other bowl, while wearing boxing gloves. 1 point for each blue M&M, negative points for each non-blue M&M.
- Decorate the cake to represent what our school means to you
- Draw the school crest from memory
- Get the potato in the hole. You cannot touch the grass inside the circle with any part of your body
- Score a basket with the ball. You may not touch the ball with your hands
- Estimate the weight of the fruit (without the bowl). You may weigh anything EXCEPT the fruit in the bowl
- Spot the missing item. Study the tray to 20 seconds. The Taskmaster will then cover the tray and removed an item. The winner is the first to spot the missing item
- Get every member of another team to say a mystery word, without using the mystery word yourself
- Find the heaviest blue, green and red items. You have 5 minutes
- Sort a pack of playing cards into suits – fastest wins
- Transfer rice from one saucer to another using chopsticks – most rice wins
- Put the cover on the duvet, while holding hands
- Transfer dried butter beans from one saucer A to saucer B, while a member of the opposing team is transferring kidney beans from saucer B to saucer A. Use straws to suck the beans to transfer them.
If you do your own Taskmaster activities in school, why not use this video from Alex Horne to introduce it? The password is schooltaskmaster. Enjoy.