Drinking Straw Tower

Gather your group into teams of about six people.

Give each group a pen and paper, and several packs of drinking straws. The ones with a flexible end are best.
Now ask each team to "design" the tallest possible free-standing tower they can. They have five minutes.

Once this is complete, they must each present their design to everyone. They then have 10-15 minutes to build the tallest possible tower. You decide how long. The tower must be free standing, and only made from straws. No other equipment is allowed.

When the time is up, judge the tallest tower. You can also award merit for the best design etc.

A good workshop game to get people going before the serious work begins.