Team Building Activities
Team Building Activities
3. A Shrinking Vessel
For: Creative Problem Solving
What you'll need: A rope, blanket, or tape to mark a space on the floor
Instructions: Make a space on the floor and have your whole group (or a set
of smaller teams) stand in that space. Then gradually shrink the space, so the
team will have to think fast and work together to keep everyone within the
shrinking boundaries.
. 4. Back-to-Back Drawing
For: Communication Skills
What you'll need: Paper, pens/markers, printouts of simple line drawings or
basic shapes.
Instructions: Split your group into pairs and have each pair sit back to back.
One person gets a picture of a shape or simple image, and the other gets a
piece of paper and pen. The person holding the picture gives verbal
instructions to their partner on how to draw the shape or image they've been
given (without simply telling them what the shape or image is). After a set
amount of time, have each set of partners compare their images and see
which team drew the most accurate replica.
. 5. Office Trivia
For: Team Bonding
What you'll need: 20-25 trivia questions about your workplace
Instructions: Looking for a quick and easy team building activity that is also
suitable for remote cultures? Come up with a series of questions specific to
your workplace and test your team's knowledge. "What color are the kitchen
tiles?" "How many people are in the IT department?" "How many windows
are there in the entire office?" "What brand are the computer monitors?"
"What month of the year is most common for birthdays among our
employees?" This is a quick team building activity that tests how observant
your team is, and can be done in both a conference room and over Zoom.
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7. Community Service
For: Team Bonding & Icebreakers
What you'll need: A few hours out of the workday
Instructions: Participate in Adopt-a-Family programs during the holidays,
organize a beach clean up, take on a community beautification project — find
an activity that appeals to your team or reflects your company values, get out
of the office, and do some good for your community and your team.
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9. Masterpiece Murals
For: Team Bonding & Icebreakers
What you'll need: Pre-drawn canvases, paints and brushes, a drop cloth or
tarp
Instructions: Give each member of your team a canvas and brush, and let
everyone create a colorful masterpiece on their canvas. Once they're dry,
they can be put together and displayed in your office as a mural, or placed
throughout your workspace.
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14. Frostbite
For: Creative Problem Solving & Collaboration Exercise
What you'll need: 1 packet of construction materials (like card stock,
toothpicks, rubber bands, and sticky notes) for each team, an electric fan
Instructions: Your teams of 4-5 are no longer sitting in your office, they're
Arctic explorers trekking across the frozen tundra! Have each team elect a
leader to guide their expedition. When a sudden storm hits, the team must
erect an emergency shelter to survive. However, both of the team leader's
hands have frostbite, so s/he can't physically help construct the shelter, and
the rest of the team has snow blindness and is unable to see. Give each team
a set of construction materials and start the timer. When time runs out, turn
on the electric fan's arctic winds and see who successfully built a shelter that
will keep them safe. Adjust the difficulty with sturdier construction materials
(provide popsicle sticks instead of toothpicks, etc.), by changing the fan's
settings, or by having the fan running while the team constructs their
shelters.
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15. Minefield
For: Creative Problem Solving & Collaboration Exercise
What you'll need: An empty room or hallway, and a collection of common
office items
Instructions: Use boxes, office chairs, water bottles, etc. to create an
obstacle course of "mines" within your empty space. Divide the group into
pairs, where one partner is blindfolded. The other must guide that person
from one end of the course to another without setting off any mines. The
person guiding their partner cannot enter the course and must only use
verbal instructions to get their partner through. Depending on the number of
people you have and how difficult you want this activity to be, you can vary
the number of pairs trying to complete the course at the same time so that
pairs have to work harder to listen to each other and communicate clearly.
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17. Scavenger Hunt
For: Collaboration Skills & Team Bonding
What you’ll need: Pen and paper
Instructions: Classic team bonding game that we did ourselves! Split
everyone into groups and make a list of fun things to find or do outside your
office. Make it each team's mission to find and photograph everything on
that list within a certain time limit. The first team to complete each item on
the list, wins!
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Team building activities are not just for staff in the office. Check out
these virtual team building games that can be played by staff working
remotely.
With the time we spend with our co-workers, the benefits of investing
time and money in teambuilding cannot be overemphasized.
People Bingo
This is a low-stakes way to learn about new people or find out more about those
you already know. Create a bingo card like the one shown here (or buy this one
from iCelebrateEVERYTHING on Etsy). Each player’s goal is to find someone
who meets the criteria for each square. The trick? You can’t use the same person
twice! Play like traditional bingo and try to get a row across, down, or diagonally,
or give a prize to the first person who fills in their whole sheet.
Fact Bag
Pass out notecards or scrap paper, then ask your staff to each write down
something about themselves they think no one in the room knows. Be sure they
put their name on the card. Then, deposit all the cards in a bag. Mix them up,
draw one, and read the fact aloud. Let the group try to reason out who they think
matches the card. You can do all the cards at once or save the bag and draw a few
at each staff meeting throughout the year.
Group Timeline
Before the meeting, draw a basic timeline on a whiteboard or long piece of paper.
Include the date your school was built or your district was founded and add in
other important local and global events, too. At the meeting, pass out pads of
sticky notes. Have each person write down their name and the date they started
teaching (or working at a school) on one color, and add it to the timeline. On
another color of sticky notes, have them add career changes (moving from first
grade to fifth grade, for instance). Add other events if you like (graduating from
high school or college, when they knew they wanted to be a teacher, etc.). Then,
let the group review the timeline. It’s likely to launch a fascinating conversation
about generational perception and how that shapes the experience of teaching
students at your school.
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Common Thread
Divide staff into groups of four. Give each group two minutes to chat among
themselves and find something they all have in common (extend the time if
needed). It could be that they all have kids, or they hate recess duty, or they love
watching football. Whatever the common thread, the conversation will help them
get to know one another better. Have each group share their common thread
with the whole room. Then, mix the groups up, and repeat as many times as you
like.
Here’s a good way to help new staff acquaint themselves with the school or
encourage long-term staff to explore places they might not normally go. Write up
a list of items that can be found around the school, trying to choose things that
will send folks to various spaces. Think art supplies, gym equipment, lunch trays,
and so on. The longer the list, the better. Have groups work in teams, and be sure
to pair new staff with old-timers. Give teams 15 minutes (or whatever time you
choose) to gather as many items as they can. They can all go together or send
people out in pairs. Award a prize to the winning team. Pro tip: Want to save time
on returning things after the hunt is over? Have folks take pictures on their phone
instead.
Teachers may already be familiar with this game since it’s a popular team building
activity for kids, too. The premise is simple: attach four lengths of string to a
rubber band. Then, four people each grab one piece of string and use that to
manipulate the rubber band around the plastic cups, building a pyramid. Give
teams five minutes to see how many cups they can stack or find out who can
stack 10 cups the fastest. For an extra grown-up challenge, try doing this activity
without allowing people to talk! (via Mrs. Sepp’s Counselor Corner)
Perfect Square
You’ll need one fairly long piece of rope or string for each group of four to six for
this game. You can blindfold participants or ask them to keep their eyes closed
throughout. The goal of the game is to use the piece of rope to form a perfect
square, which is much harder than it sounds when you can’t see what you’re
doing! Give them five minutes to complete the activity, then reveal the results.
Communication is key with this one.
Ask for a volunteer guesser and have them leave the room. While they’re gone,
choose a leader and have the group stand in a circle. The leader begins a
movement, which the rest of the group must mimic. (For instance, the leader
might jump up and down or wave their arms over their head.) Invite the guesser
back in to stand in the middle of the circle as the movements continue. Every so
often, the leader changes the movement, and the rest of the group follows. The
guesser must try to determine who the leader is by watching the group’s actions
closely. This is a good one for sharpening a teacher’s sense of finding the
ringleader!
Head outside on a sunny day for this game. Break your group into equal teams
and tell them the goal is to arrange themselves in such a way that they cast the
longest unbroken shadow. (For an extra challenge, require them to do this in
silence!) During the debrief, encourage staff to use shadows as a metaphor to talk
about the impacts individuals and teams have on a larger organization.
Team Jigsaw
You’ll need two very different jigsaw puzzles for this (keep them small, 100 pieces
or less). Take a dozen or so pieces from each puzzle and add them to the other
puzzle box. At your meeting, divide the group in two, and give each team a puzzle.
At first, they’ll think they’re simply competing to complete their puzzle first, but
eventually, they’ll realize that neither team can complete their puzzle without the
help of the other. Allow them to exchange pieces as needed and help each other
if they wish.
Sneak a Peak
Grab some building blocks or LEGO bricks and build a structure, but keep it
hidden from the group. Divide into teams, and provide sets of the same materials
used for the structure to each. Allow one member of each team to come view the
structure for 10 seconds, then return to their team and provide instructions based
on what they remember. After one minute, allow a second person from each time
to come view the structure for 10 seconds, then return and continue to help with
the building. Repeat until everyone on the team has had a chance to see the
original, or one team manages to duplicate it exactly.
Team Juggling
You’ll need a good amount of space for this activity. Grab three balls or stuffed
animals (anything you can toss around). Then have everyone sit or stand in a
circle. One player starts by saying their own name, then throws a ball to another
player, saying their name. Continue until each person has received the ball once.
Then, repeat the process in the same order. But this time, after the item has been
tossed a few times, add a second item into the mix, and then a third. Don’t be
surprised when it turns into crazy chaos and gets everyone laughing!
Blind Drawing
Choose a picture of an item (a bicycle works well for this activity) and make
enough copies for half your staff. At the meeting, have people pair up and sit back
to back. Give one player the picture and the other a piece of paper and a pencil.
The player holding the drawing gives directions to the other, trying to get them to
replicate the picture, but without saying specifically what it is. The results are
often hilarious and highlight how difficult it can be to give clear directions to other
team members.
Team Pen
Your team needs to write a word, but you’ve only got one pen! Tie multiple
strings to a single pen or marker and give each member one end of a string. They
must work together to write a single word (TEAM is a good one). You can make
things even harder by blindfolding some of the team members. Watch a video of
this activity here.
Deserted Island
Ask each person to decide what one item they would bring with them if they
were stranded on a deserted island. They should not tell anyone which item they
chose. Once everyone has decided, divide the group into teams of three or four.
The teams should then work together to figure out how to survive and escape the
island with only the items they decided to bring. Next, have each group share out
with the whole group. You can give prizes for the most creative, the most likely to
work, etc., or just debrief at the end.
Would You Rather is one of those hilarious games everyone has played at least
once. Use our free Teacher Would You Rather questions to start
conversations. You can also challenge your staff to come up with their own
Would You Rather scenarios to share!
Problem Solving
Teachers are no strangers to creative problem solving, so they’ll love this team
building game! Pick four or more different objects, such as a chair, a potato peeler,
a knit hat, and a chocolate bar. Divide staff into teams and present them with a
crazy problem they must solve using only those items. For instance, they might
have to figure out how to get a school bus out of a snowbank or fend off a herd of
wild monkeys attacking their students. Then, have each team share their solution
with the group and vote on everyone’s favorite.
Five Words
Give each player five notecards and a pen. On each card, have them write one
word that they think describes the school culture. Put people together in pairs to
discuss their words. After five minutes, each pair narrows their ten cards down to
the five they both like best. Now, turn the pairs into groups of four, and repeat.
Continue until you’ve brought the entire group back together and collectively
chosen the five words you all agree best represent your school.
Before the meeting, have each teacher submit a photo of a space in their
classroom (without students). They might choose a reading center, a current
bulletin board display, or even their own desk. Assemble these photos into a
slideshow. At the meeting, show the photos one by one and ask teachers to guess
whose classroom they’re looking at. This is a great way to encourage teachers to
go out and visit each other’s classrooms more often, learning more about how
others use their space.
Dream Budget
Break the group into smaller teams and give each team a budget of $10,000. Tell
them they’ve been given a new classroom, but it’s completely empty—no desks,
no whiteboards, nothing at all. They have one hour to “shop” online and create
their dream classroom from scratch. The only rule is that they have to stay within
their budget. When they’re done, have each group present their proposal. It’s
interesting to learn about what each teacher prioritizes in their classroom and
maybe even discover something the school should budget for in the future.
Escape Room
Escape rooms have become all the rage in recent years, but you don’t need to
shell out big bucks to take your whole staff to one. Instead, look into escape room
board games. You’ll find lots of them out there, and they make perfect team
building games for adults. Feeling ambitious? Use our guide and create your
own escape room adventure for your team.
Life Hacks
Every teacher has their own favorite tip or trick to make teacher life a little easier.
Break the group into pairs or small teams and give them a piece of poster board or
chart paper. Have them decide collectively on their favorite teacher life
hack and make a poster to illustrate it. Then share them to the whole group and
vote on your favorites!
Future Antiques
Any teacher who’s been around for a while can you tell you about lots of items
that used to be classroom staples but are rare sights nowadays. (TV/VCR carts,
mimeographs, and even chalkboards come to mind! ) In this game, your teams
will guess which of today’s classroom must-haves will become “antiques” in fifty
years. Have small groups choose an item and imagine it’s been discovered in a
school time capsule fifty years in the future. First, have them explain how the item
was used in the “good old days,” then have them describe the invention that’s
replaced it. This one will make teachers laugh and remind them that things are
always changing, often for the better.
Memory Wall
Try this one at your last staff meeting of the year. Give each member of the group
paper and markers and ask them to write or draw (or both) their favorite memory
from the school year. (Depending on the group size, you can have them each do
more than one.) As they finish, invite them to add their paper to a large wall or
bulletin board. When everyone is done, give them time to look at the wall
together, reflecting on those memories. This is a sweet way to look back at the
team’s successes.
What team building games for adults has your school used successfully?
Come share your experiences in the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on
Facebook.