Team building activities are essential to have strongly bounded teams. Those activities can be in variety. Here are some fun examples to spice up the workplace with fun team-building activities.
The Perfect Square
Range of team size: 4-12
Duration: 15-30 minutes
To play, split your team into smaller groups of four to six members and have them each form a circle. Then have everyone shut their eyes or put on blindfolds, and hand a rope to a single individual. Each team must pass the rope around itself in a blind fashion until every member of the square has exactly one end. When everyone in a group is satisfied that their square is flawless, they may put the rope on the ground and take off their blindfolds (or open their eyes) to view the outcome.
The benefits of this activity are twofold: first, it encourages participants to listen and talk to one another, and second, it’s a lot of fun to make imperfect geometric forms. Attempting to construct a square out of string without being able to see what they’re doing requires effective communication among team members. It’s also entertaining to see the imperfect squares generated.
The Memorial Wall
Team Size: 5-10
Duration: 15-30 Minutes
A blackboard and some sticky cards are all you need to play this game. Work-related issues, such as “first day of work,” “team party,” and “vacation,” should be written on the board. Give each colleague sticky cards and ask them to write down their favorite memories or milestones associated with one or more of these themes. Invite everyone to share them with the group to take a trip down memory lane and stick the sticky notes on the board as you go.
Advantages of this exercise: This is a nice way to end a week, a long day, or a workshop because positive experiences are shared that will leave colleagues in the team in a good mood. If you’re at the end of a business trip or multi-day workshop, you can also try a scaled-down version, asking everyone to share their favorite memory or biggest milestone from the last few days.
Team Building Through The Past
Size of a team: 5-10
Duration: 20-30 minutes
How to Play: This team-building exercise works best if everyone sits in a circle in a quiet environment. Ask team members to think of a particular memory from their life. You can give them a few minutes to reflect. Then, ask everyone to share the one memory they would like to relive if they could go back in time.
Not everyone may be willing to open up at first, so make sure you lead by example and that everyone in the room feels comfortable sharing their memory.
Benefits of this exercise: This activity is a great way to help your team members remember their priorities and build deeper bonds. In a loose or stressed team, sharing personal moments that aren’t work-related can help create a sense of unity. While the exercise doesn’t take too long, it’s best to do it towards the end of the day so that the team has a chance to reflect on what has been said.
Team Building Paper Planes
Team size: 6-12 people
Duration: 20-30 minutes
How to play: Divide the team into groups of two to four and distribute sheets of paper. Give each group 10-15 minutes to design the best long-range paper plane (they can do research on their phones or computers) and come up with a name for their airline.
When the paper planes are ready, have a race in a long corridor or in the open to see which plane flies the furthest.
Benefits of this exercise: This game requires team members to collaborate on a project with tight deadlines. It is a great activity for practicing communication, delegation, and time management skills. By so team building objective will be shot just from the center.
Build A Tower
Team size: 8-16 people
Duration: 20-30 minutes
How to play: Divide the team into groups of four or five and give them 20 raw noodles, a meter of duct tape, a meter of twine, and a marshmallow. Each group will have to build the tallest tower possible using only the materials provided. When finished, the tower will have to support the marshmallow placed on top. Set the stopwatch to 20 minutes and ask everyone to walk away from their masterpiece when time runs out so you can crown a winner.
Benefits of this exercise: This challenge is a great way to improve problem-solving skills and communication within your team. Your team members will need to design, build and present the tower in a short amount of time, which can be stressful. The better they work together, the more likely they are to be successful.