The Peanut Butter Jelly Challenge is designed to

make a simple task, making a peanut butter and

jelly sandwich, difficult. One person, the Instructor,
writes down a list of steps necessary for making a
PBJ sandwich. The second person, the Maker, must
then follow the instructions as literally as possible in
making the sandwich. The Maker does not read into
the instructions any meaning that is not explicitly
stated. For example, if the first instruction is to put
peanut butter on the bread, but the Instructor did
not first tell the Maker to take bread out of the bag
or open the jar of peanut butter and scoop out
peanut butter with the knife, the Maker may simply
place the jar of peanut butter on top of the bag of
bread. In only following directions that are
specifically listed, the Instructor learns to
communicate more efficiently through specifics. It is
advised that the Maker complete all steps in the
Instructor’s directions before the Instructor is
allowed to alter or rewrite the directions, thus
ensuring that the Instructor has an opportunity to
witness all of the potential gaps in their instructions.
This also becomes an exercise in frustration
tolerance for the Instructor, as they must cope with
the annoyance of being continually misunderstood.
Breaks for deep breathing, movement, and
distractions to clear the mind are encouraged to
allow the Instructor to refocus on the task at hand.

The Maker must be creative in interpreting the

Instructor’s directions, but to get you started here are
some more examples of literal interpretations of
simple directions:

• Place knife in jar = put knife in upside down

because direction was not specified

• Scoop out a little bit of peanut butter with knife =

just a thumbtack sized drop of peanut butter
scooped out because “a little bit” is too vague

• Spread jelly on the top of the bread = hold the

bread upright as it would be in a loaf and spread
jelly on the upper crust, as “top” can mean multiple
different things

• Put the slices of bread together to make a sandwich

= place the two pieces of bread together with the
peanut butter and jelly on the outside, because the
direction of the bread was not specified

Materials:

• Bread

• Knife

• Plate

• Peanut Butter

• Jelly

• Paper

• Pen/pencil

• Two people

Processing Questions:

• What was difficult about this activity?

• What was easy?

• What made making the sandwich easier?

• What did you learn from making this sandwich?

• When is it useful to give as many details as

possible?
• Talk about a time when sharing more information

with others would have made things easier for you

• How frustrated did you get when the Maker

didn’t understand your directions?

• What did you do to stay focused on the task?

• What would have helped you be less frustrated?

• What could YOU do to remain focused?

Peanut Butter Jelly Challenge

Reflection

I felt ________ when giving instructions to the Maker

because ____________________________________________
____________________________________________________

This challenge taught me _____________________________

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

I can be SPECIFIC with my words when ________________

____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________

When I get frustrated because things don’t go the way I

thought they would, I can feel better by _________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

BONUS:

My favorite flavor of jelly is

________________________

ROLE

NAME
MAKER

TAGS

INSTRUCTOR