Hats Off! How a Simple (Relevant) Prop Can Engage Participants

Back in early June the Global Learning Partners team had our semi-annual retreat and I facilitated one of the sessions. During the session I wanted to make a point about how everyone in the group wears two decidedly different hats in their work with GLP. It was important to the conversation we were having that each person be aware of which hat they were wearing as they were addressing each subject. So I handed out baseball hats for each participant! On the front was a label with Role #1, on the back a label with Role #2. I’ll be honest. I thought it might be too hokey, that the idea would fall flat and the hats would get set aside. Far from it! They were immediately donned, put on forwards or backwards (even sideways) and not only were they used for the rest of the session, they were used for the rest of the two-day retreat. These props worked because they were: 1. relevant 2. fun  3. engaging and 4. appealed to both visual and kinesthetic learners. What props have you successfully employed?