Summer is a great time to “let down your hair” a bit and do some enjoyable team building activities. Everyone loves these types of events, right? Ok, ok we understand this can conjure up memories of some not-so-great times at work.
If you’re in charge of planning a team event this summer, take heart not all team building activities are drudgery! We spent some time scouring the Internet for some truly fun ideas to help you build a stronger team. These activities could be a great addition to upcoming training events or ice breakers.
Here’s what we think is good. Let us know if you try any of these activities. We’d love to hear your feedback.
The Human Knot
Time: 15 – 30 minutes
Number of Participants: 8 – 20 people
Tools Needed: None
Rules: Have everyone stand in a circle facing each other, shoulder to shoulder. Instruct everyone to put their right hand out and grab a random hand of someone across from them. Then, tell them to put their left hand out and grab another random hand from a different person across the circle. Within a set time limit, the group needs to untangle the knot of arms without releasing their hands. If the group is too large, make multiple smaller circles and have the separate groups compete.
Objective: This game for team building relies heavily on good communication and teamwork. It
also results in a lot of great stories for the water cooler chat in the workplace.
The Mine Field
Time: 15 – 30 minutes
Number of Participants: 4 – 10 people (even numbers)
Tools Needed: Various handheld objects, several blindfolds
Rules: Find an open space such as an empty parking lot or a park. Place the objects (cones, balls, bottles, etc.) sporadically across the open space. Have everyone pair up, and make one person on from each pair put on the blindfold. The other person must lead their teammate from one side of the open space to the other without stepping on the objects – using only the verbal instructions. The blindfolded person cannot speak at all. To make it more difficult, create specific routes the blindfolded team members must walk.
Objective: This game focuses on trust, communication, and effective listening. This activity
makes a great team building beach game as well.
The Egg Drop
Time: 1 – 2 hours
Number of Participants: Two or more small groups
Tools Needed: Assorted office supplies
Rules: Split everyone off into groups of three to five people and give each group an uncooked egg. Put all the office supplies in a pile. They have 15 to 30 minutes to use the supplies to build a contraption around the egg that will keep the egg from breaking when dropped. Some suggestions for supplies are: tape, pencils, straws, plastic utensils, packing material, newspapers, rubber bands. Once time is up, drop each egg contraption from the second or third floor of your building and see which eggs survive the Eggpocalypse.
Objective: This classic team building game is an engaging (and messy) exercise. It uses teamwork and problem solving to bond team members. The more people the better, so this makes for an “eggcellent” corporate team building game! Make sure you have an extra supply of eggs in case some break (ew!) during the construction process.
Game of Possibilities
Time: 5-6 minutes
Number of Participants: One or multiple small groups
Tools Needed: Any random objects
Rules: This is a great 5-minute team building game. Give an object to one person in each group. One at a time, someone has to go up in front of the group and demonstrate a use for that object. The rest of the team must guess what the player is demonstrating. The demonstrator cannot speak, and demonstrations must be original, possibly wacky, ideas.
Objective: This team building exercise inspires creativity and individual innovation. Did you know Great River Office Products can help you purchase logo items for your office? We can! What better way for your newly re-charged team to show their spirit than by giving them something awesome with the company logo on it? We have everything from t-shirts to coffee mugs. Can’t think of a good idea? Give us a call and we’ll put our creative juices to work and find the perfect item for you.
Our game ideas came from this great blog. https://www.wrike.com/blog/team-building-games/.