Детский тимбилдинг: упражнения на командообразование. Создание цепной реакции

Нередко частью корпоративных мероприятий или конференций становятся различные задания, направленные на повышение эффективности командной работы. Максимально заинтересовать участников и превратить обычный тренинг в увлекательное развлечение помогут деловые игры. Успешный тимбилдинг зависит от правильно выбранных методов, среди которых важное место занимают игровые формы.

Предлагаем 8 идей для организации интерактивных бизнес-игр и симуляций.

1. Бизнес-рафтинг

Тематическая командная корпоративная игра, посвященная развитию навыков управления, стратегического планирования и обслуживания клиентов.

Сравнивая суровые условия бизнеса с быстрой горной рекой, ведущий делит игроков на команды и предлагает преодолеть препятствия-пороги в виде заданий. Созданные «рафтинг-компании» должны показать эффективную командную игру, чтобы правильно спланировать действия и выполнить задания по исследованию рынка, работе с клиентами, получению прибыли и т.д.

Особую динамичность игре придает настоящий инвентарь для рафтинга, соответствующее оформление помещения и визуальное сопровождение игры.

2. Модели общения

Простая и эффективная игра, направленная на улучшение межличностного общения в коллективе. Сначала ведущий показывает несколько моделей общения (круг, квадрат, треугольник, волнистая линия) и объясняет характерные особенности общения каждой из них. Затем участники выявляют с помощью ведущего свою геометрическую фигуру и объединяются в группы с однотипными моделями. Далее следует ряд заданий, в результате которых участники учатся выявлять модель общения других людей, их особенности и использовать эти знания, чтобы лучше понимать друг друга и общаться более эффективно.

Игра также подойдет для улучшения коммуникативных навыков сотрудников службы поддержки или менеджеров, которым часто приходится общаться с клиентами и покупателями.

3. Need 4 Speed

Увлекательная командная настольная игра с простыми правилами и эффективным результатом. Выполняя разные задания по сбору машин из предоставленных деталей на скорость, участники команд учатся лучше взаимодействовать друг с другом и воспринимать себя как важного участника единого механизма компании. От четких, верных и быстрых действий каждого зависит успешный результат команды. В итоге побеждает команда, которая покажет наилучшее время и качество работы во всех конкурсах.

4. Кофейный рынок

Динамичная командная игра-симуляция, которая подойдет для корпоративных мероприятий, тренингов или конференций. Участники делятся на команды и пытаются выстроить эффективную систему продажи кофе по всему миру, учитывая всю цепь от производителя до конечного покупателя.

Игра стимулирует развитие навыков организации продаж, маркетинговых знаний, способности быстро реагировать на изменения рынка и т.д. Организатор может подбирать задания в зависимости от основной тематики мероприятия.

5. Свежие новости

Игра, которая пригодится как на корпоративных мероприятиях для повышения навыков командной работы, так и на конференциях или тренингах для закрепления представленного ранее материала.

Участников разделяют на команды и дают два часа, чтобы создать собственный выпуск газеты. Новоиспеченные сотрудники «издания» должны придумать название и интересную статью для главной страницы, нарисовать красочные рекламные блоки, добавить интервью и фотографии и другие атрибуты стандартных газет (например, тематический кроссворд или бизнес-гороскоп).

Организатор может задать тему для игры в соответствии с целями мероприятия. Это может быть газета о каком-то событии в компании или репортаж с только что завершившейся конференции, в котором должны быть освещены её итоги. Игра не только улучшает навыки командной работы, но и помогает лучше запомнить важные события и какие-либо новые данные.

6. Арабский рынок

Действие игры переносит участников в атмосферу арабских стран 19 века. Состоятельные семьи во главе с шейхами заключали договора с другими семьями, чтобы улучшить продажи и увеличить свое богатство. Торговали тогда самыми разными вещами: верблюды, рыба, специи, вода и т.д.

Команды получают необходимый тематический инвентарь и информацию для игры. Участники должны принять условия того времени и быстро построить собственную стратегию поведения на таком рынке, объединившись в «семьи» и преследуя основную цель – увеличение капитала.

Необычная и веселая интерактивная игра, которая улучшит общение внутри команды, научит формировать сеть нужных контактов, поможет понять необходимость хороших отношений между партнерами и т.д.

7. Креативный сок

Самый вкусный сок – это свежевыжатый сок, состоящий из нескольких правильно подобранных ингредиентов. Успешная компания – это компания, в команде которой объединены хорошие специалисты. Команда, в которой группа людей работает как единый механизм, способна выдавать свежие креативные решения. Эта забавная игра-симуляция направлена на улучшение коммуникации между сотрудниками и развитие маркетинговых навыков.

Умение работать с информацией и решать интеллектуальные задачи - не единственные навыки, которые нужны человеку в жизни. Различные опросы показывают, что современные работодатели ценят в сотрудниках умение действовать в команде и коммуникабельность не меньше, чем профессиональную компетентность. Возможно, это слишком рациональный довод для того, чтобы разнообразить школьные занятия командными играми. А вот довод более эмоциональный и насущный для момента «здесь и сейчас»: командные игры - это весело.

Строители

Всем известная игра, в которой командам даётся задание что-либо построить из совершенно нестандартных материалов - из спагетти, булавок, скотча, салфеток и так далее, - приобретает новый смысл, если объект строительства и условия соревнования связать с изучаемой темой. Например, можно соорудить готический собор, когда вы рассматриваете этот стиль на истории искусства. При этом условие - использовать только вертикальные элементы.

Спасти яйцо

И снова нужно что-то соорудить, на этот раз - чтобы «спасти» сырое яйцо, падающее с определённой высоты. Команда должна придумать способ не дать ему разбиться. Что это будет - «мягкая посадка» или замысловатый спуск - дети решают сами. Вы можете ограничить временные и материальные ресурсы. Такая игра удачно впишется в занятия по физике: ничто не даст представление о кинетической энергии лучше, чем азартное соревнование.

Зум-зум

Эта игра, похоже, никогда не устареет. Нужно сделать карточки на количество играющих с изображением различных предметов, мест, животных, людей - всего, что подскажет вам фантазия или необходимость. Вам и каждому ребёнку достаётся одна карточка. Вы начинаете рассказывать историю, в которой участвует изображённый на вашей карточке предмет. Историю подхватывают дети, «включая» в неё свои предметы. Никто никогда не может предугадать, чем закончится очередная коллективная сказка.

Худший сценарий

Придумайте сценарий, в котором все действующие лица оказались в затруднительном положении. Предложите ребятам вместе придумать решение проблемы, да такое, чтобы в результате никто из героев вашей истории не пострадал. Ученики могут примерить на себя предложенные роли и рассуждать о персонажах от третьего лица. В коллективном обсуждении нужно предоставить несколько вариантов решения проблемы, а затем голосованием выбрать лучший.

Уменьшающееся судно

Играя в эту игру, дети буквально становятся ближе друг к другу. Вам нужно пространство, на котором должна уместиться вся группа. Пространство это постоянно уменьшается, пока дети не «упаковываются» творчески (на самом деле - как сардины в банке). Вы можете разрешить использовать стулья или другие предметы. Главное - чтобы ребята начали думать над этим заданием стратегически. Как начать компоноваться, чтобы не сдаваться как можно дольше?

Найди предмет

Эта игра хорошо подойдёт для того, чтобы сосредоточиться и настроиться на спокойный лад. Спрячьте какой-либо предмет так, чтобы он не бросался в глаза, но всё-таки был виден при должном внимании. Разделите детей на команды. Их задача - спокойно передвигаться по помещению в хаотичном порядке, взглядом найти предмет и молча дать знать другим членам команды, где он находится, не выдав при этом информацию соперникам (высший пилотаж коллективной стратегии - ещё и запутать другую команду). Побеждает команда, в которой за определённое время большее число участников найдёт предмет. Это действительно сложно - не поддаваться радости находки и не выдавать эмоциями местонахождение вещи.

Реши это по-настоящему

Настала пора перенести навыки командной работы на решение реальных проблем. Дайте командам задание найти настоящие проблемы в окружающей их школьной жизни и найти способ их решения. В библиотеке сложно найти нужные книги? Младшеклассники бегают на переменах, не глядя по сторонам? Может, придумать для них «правила движения» с забавными «дорожными знаками»? Решение реальных проблем почти всегда требует командной работы: сложно изменить мир в одиночку. Будет здорово, если ребята, как будто играя, попробуют механизмы совместного достижения цели.

В то время как новые технологии делают процесс обучения всё более индивидуализированным, учитель должен думать о том, как его ученики могут выстраивать связи друг с другом и учатся общаться.

Feb. 16, 2016 3,578,649 views 85 comments

Update: After over 100,000 people read our original team building games post, we decided to make an updated version that’s even more epic than the original. We’ve added 8 new games-over 1,500 words of fresh ideas that you can use to build a stronger, happier team.

Team building games are a good way to get your team to connect and work together better. Finding the right exercise can be challenging; not every team is comfortable with certain types of activities. It is important to choose an activity everyone feels safe doing.

Want to save these ideas for later? Download the free ebook version of the Epic List of Great Team Building Games!

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Here are 32 team building games to choose from, and none of them involve trust falls (whew).

Click on the squares below* to learn about each game:

Game #1: What Makes You Tick

You could think of this as “what makes you ticked off”, as this is an exercise in learning about each other’s personalities and seeing what kind of personalities will clash. As a group, take a personality test together. Bring in a speaker, if time allows, to expound on the different personality traits, their strengths, their weaknesses, and a plan on how potential clashes can be alleviated.

Choose a personality test that isn’t excessively complicated. The DISC personality test is a good choice, as is the True Colors personality test . These tests simplify things and create easily remembered results. During future teamwork efforts, when conflicts arise, a team member can say “remember, I am orange” and the others will know exactly what she means.

Purpose: Knowing what motivates and what demotivates other team members is powerful. By establishing how each team member works best, and how they react in different situations, they can learn how to approach each other differently to succeed in work and personal interaction.

Game #2: Ideas As Building Blocks

Create a fictional problem that must be solved. It could be a theoretical product, a brain teaser, a riddle, a design challenge — anything that needs a solution. Assemble your team, and have them write down an idea on a large sheet of paper. They only need to write a sentence or two.

Have them pass the paper to the person on their left, and instruct them to use the new idea to build another solution upon. Continue for several rounds, and then see what the results are. You may want to choose a fictional problem that allows you to reveal one aspect of the challenge each round.

Purpose: This exercise shows the value of everyone’s ideas. As you work as a team, brainstorming sessions often sway towards the vocal and dominant personalities even though other team members have valuable ideas, too. By forcing these ideas to have equal footing, each team member’s ability to contribute is established.

Game #3: Truth And Lie

Give each team member four identical slips of paper. Instruct them to write down three truths and one lie. The lie should be believable to some extent (i.e. not “I’ve been to Mars”), and the tenor of the truths and lie should not be offensive or crude. Go around the group, one at a time, and have them read the truths and lie in random order. When they are finished, the team should discuss which they think are the truths and which are the lies.

Purpose: This exercise fits into the “get to know each other” category. Extroverts have no difficulty in making themselves known, but introverts often remain an enigma, bowled into silence. This exercise gives them equal footing to reveal facts about themselves as well as expose the assumptions others have made. Participants learn about others and also learn about themselves through the lies they thought were true.

Game #4: The Barter Puzzle

Break your team into groups of equal members. Give each team a distinctly different jigsaw puzzle of equal difficulty. Explain that they have a set amount of time to complete the puzzle as a group. Explain that some of the pieces in their puzzle belong to the other puzzles in the room.

The goal is to complete their puzzle before the other groups, and that they must come up with their own method of convincing the other teams to relinquish the pieces they need, whether through barter, exchange of team members, donating time to another team, a merger, etc. Whatever they choose to do, they must do it as a group.

Purpose: This exercise is time-consuming, but it accomplishes creative teamwork on several levels. As a team, they must build the puzzle. As a team, they must find a way to convince the other teams to help them. In other words, they must solve both the puzzle and the problem of getting their pieces back.

Game #5: Use What You Have

Divide your team into equal groups. Create a specific project with clear restrictions and a goal. For example, you might have your team create a device that involves movement without electricity, and moves a golf ball from point A to point B. The challenge is completely up to you.

Then give each team the same supplies to work from, or create a pile of available supplies in the middle of the room. Give them a specific time to complete the project, making sure to mention that they can only use what is available, though how they use it is completely up to them. The final reveal is a fun event, and a great opportunity for your team to compete.

Purpose: Problem solving as a team, with a strong mix of creativity, is exactly what this exercise accomplishes. It also brings an element of fun and maker-ism into the mix, with the added twist of learning how to solve a problem with reduced options.

Game #6: Created Economy

Game #7: Common Book

This team-building exercise takes place not in one sitting, but over time. Make a large, blank journal or scrapbook available in the break room or other common areas. The book may have prompts on each page, asking questions or suggesting things to write or draw. Or, you may have guidelines printed and displayed next to the book (i.e. no swearing, nothing offensive, no complaints, no scribbling out other’s work, etc.).

Leave pens, markers, tape, and other items that your team can use to write and draw in the book. Encourage them to write down quotes from things they are reading or from team members, to write about a fun event that happened at work, tape or glue ephemera or anything that helps record the team’s culture. When the book is full, put it on the shelf and get a new one.

Purpose: This team exercise creates a kind of living history of your business that you can keep adding to. It is somewhat similar to the Zappos culture book, but allows your team a chance to build it more directly. It encourages creativity, collaboration, and recollection. It also gives you something concrete to look at in the future to see where your team has been and how far they’ve come.

Game #8: Scavenger Hunt

Divide your team into equal sized groups, and send them out with a list of items to locate and bring back. Whether they remain in the office or are to leave the building is up to you. The ultimate goal is to get back first with the most items. You may want to set a time limit so that all groups are back in a reasonable time, whether they found all items or not. A scavenger hunt can be themed, and might involve a variety of clues or other twists that force a team to get creative and work together.

One variation is to make it a digital scavenger hunt in which they must find examples and specific information or web pages online. You may wish to restrict which search engines or methods they use to complete the challenge.

Purpose: A scavenger hunt is a fun activity that forces people to work together as a team. It spurs creativity, particularly if clues or riddles are involved.

Game #9: Geocache Adventure

Much like a scavenger hunt, a geocache adventure relies on clues but has the added level of using GPS coordinates to find an item. Each group will need to have a GPS device that will work for finding geocaches. There are several apps available to use on smartphones that would suffice. You may wish to have a set time in which all groups must return. The clues you hide in specific geographic locations could be part of a larger riddle or message that you wish the teams to have revealed to them.

A variation of this might be to use QR codes placed around the office or neighborhood, mixing GPS locations with other clues found in QR codes.

Purpose: This exercise helps team members work together to achieve a specific goal using a specific and narrow process in which close enough is not good enough. It also promotes problem solving in a creative way if riddles and puzzles are involved.

Game #10: Show And Tell

It’s unfortunate that show and tell is something that ends when you’re young. Whether your interest is in the code you’re writing or ham radio, there are things each person would like to share with the group. Set aside a regular day for “show and tell” and give the next team member on the list the opportunity to bring something in and/or present on a topic. If you do this over lunch, be sure to cater food and make it a fun time. Require team members to be present. Have a question and answer session afterwards.

Purpose: Most people are eager to let others know interesting things about themselves, but not all team members are able to make that happen. Most teams are lopsided, with some members dominating discussion. Using regular “show and tell” sessions gives all team members a chance at center stage while also becoming familiar with giving a presentation and fielding questions.

Game #11: Find The Common Thread

Before your regular staff meeting, break your team into groups. Instruct the groups to find out one commonality among themselves. It might be a hobby or an interest they all do, or having the same favorite genre of music or favorite food. Once they discover a commonality they can agree on, they create a list of what might be stereotypical qualities of such people.

Then, the groups come together to announce to the rest of the groups who they are. For example, they might be “Roller Coaster Buffs” or “Jane Austenites.” For the rest of the regular staff meeting (or the day, if you’re daring), group members must fulfill the stereotypes they listed. The Roller Coaster Buffs, for example, might periodically raise their arms and holler, or the Jane Austenites might rephrase all of their speech to co-workers as quotes from Jane Austen books. At the completion of the meeting (or day), talk about stereotypes that we assign to people. Discuss how they affect how we perceive other people’s abilities. Talk about how people managed to find a commonality, and the process it took to dig it up.

Purpose: The idea is to force your team to confront the foolish nature of stereotypes and how, if people really behaved as we casually write them off to be, the office would be much different. The game also reveals the ability of a seemingly random group of people to find a commonality.

Game #12: Mad Lib Mission Statement

Take your company’s mission statement(s) and turn them into the popular Mad Lib game. To do this, remove key nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Create a worksheet in which the removed words are shown as a blank line with instructions on what kind of word is needed.

In groups of two, have one team member ask for the correct type of word and the other team member supply the word. Or, if you do not want to break the team into groups, ask the team as a whole to supply one word at a time. Once there are enough words, read the mission statement back. It will sound silly. Now that the team knows what the goal is, ask them for the same word types. See what kinds of words they supply. Repeat the exercise until you get a mission statement that the team feels is correct.

A variation is to categorize the types of words before the first round. So, tell them you are looking for words that apply to the team without telling them you are working on a mission statement.

Purpose: Mission statements can sometimes sound great but miss the mark, particularly if your team doesn’t feel it represents them, or that they even understand it. By stripping away the jargon and stiffness and allowing the mission statement to go through several rounds of nonsense, you allow your team to help you craft a statement that is more relaxed and honest.

Game #13: Organizational Jenga

Using wooden blocks or an actual Jenga game, mark blocks according to the hierarchies present in your company. For example, you might have some blocks denoted as the IT department, and others as HR. You might have particular shaped blocks marked as “manager” and block shapes as “support staff.” The labeled blocks should reflect the composition of your office (e.g. if 10% of your staff is IT, so should 10% of the blocks).

Divide your team into groups, giving them an equal number and kind of blocks. From here, either specify the type of structure each team must build, or provide guidelines and allow them to build any structure they want. When the time limit has been reached, each team, taking turns, must begin to remove a block at a time without destroying their structure. Do not inform them ahead of time that you will be asking them to do this.

If time allows, you may ask them to repeat the exercise. See if they find a way to build a structure that can withstand removal of blocks.

Purpose: This exercise is meant to show how each department and the various managers and staff positions are necessary to complete the task, and that without everyone in place, things fall apart.The second round reveals what “blocks” the team sees as unnecessary as they conceive of a way to deconstruct their structure without destroying it.

Game #14: Blind Drawing

Divide your team into groups of two each. Have each person sit with their back to the other. One person will have a picture. The other person will have a blank sheet of paper and a pen. The team member with the picture must not show the other person the image. Instead, the are to describe the image without using words that give it away, while the other team member is to draw what is being described.

For example, the picture might be of an elephant standing on a ball. The description cannot be “draw an elephant on the ball” but instead must use other adjectives and directions. After a set time limit, the drawing time ends and both team members view the original picture and the drawing.

Purpose: This is an exercise that focuses on communication and language. While the final drawing will seldom look like the picture, it is revealing to participants to see how different the interpretation of instructions can be even when they are supposedly talking about the same thing.

Game #15: The Perfect Square

Gather your team in a circle, and have them sit down. Each team member should then put on a provided blindfold. Taking a long rope with its ends tied together, place the rope in each person’s hands so that they all have a hold of it. Leave the circle. Instruct them to form a perfect square out of the rope without removing their blindfolds. Once the team believes they have formed a square, they can remove the blindfolds and see what they’ve accomplished.

You can introduce variations into this game. For example, you might, at random, instruct a team member to not speak. One by one, members of the group are muted, making communication more challenging. Or, let the team come up with a plan before putting on the blindfold, but once they cannot see, they also cannot talk.

Purpose: This exercise deals with both communication and leadership styles. There will inevitably be team members who want to take charge, and others who want to be given direction. The team will have to work together to create the square, and find a way to communicate without being able to see. By introducing the “muting” feature, you also inject the question of trust. Since instructions can’t be vocally verified, the team member calling out instructions has to trust those who cannot talk to do as they are told.

Game #16: What’s My Name?

On name tags or similar labels, write down the name of a famous person, or write down people types (e.g. doctor, athlete, nerd, disabled, wealthy, homeless, etc.). Place these nametags on a team member’s back so that they cannot see what they are, but the rest of the group can.

For a set amount of time, the entire group should mingle, and ask and answer questions. They should treat each other according to the stereotypical way based on what kind of person they have been labeled. Each team member can use that treatment, as well as the answers to questions, to figure out what the label is. As each team member figures out who they are, they can exit the game and let the rest continue.

Purpose: By confronting stereotypes in both how people treat us and in the questions and answers used, the team can get a better sense of how we mistakenly see people as well as how it feels to be so narrowly defined. This is also a good ice-breaker activity if you have team members that do not know each other yet.

Game #17: Watch Where You Step

Using masking tape, create a large polygonal shape on the floor. It should be about 12 feet long by 6 feet wide, at least. Mark the start and stopping points. Make the shape a bit convoluted, choosing a shape that is elongated with the idea that people must make their way from one end to the other. Place a few squeaky dog toys inside the shape, and twice as many full sheets of paper with a large X on them inside the shape. The paper is the mines.

At least two at a time, each person on your team must make their way from start to finish blindfolded. They cannot step outside of the boundary, nor can they step on a mine. If they do, they are frozen. They can only be unfrozen if someone else inside the shape steps on a squeak toy. Their only guidance is the vocal commands of those outside the shape who are not blindfolded.

Purpose: This game is about communication, and trusting each other. Players learn to be observant of multiple action as well as give clear and timely advice.

Game #18: Group Timeline

On a bulletin board or other surface which accepts thumbtacks, create a blank timeline. The timeline should start as far back as the oldest member on your team was born or when the company was founded, whichever came first. Mark each year on the timeline. Then, using narrow strips of paper, write down important dates for the company (e.g. founded, merged, changed names, incorporated, new product) and pin it to the correct spot on the timeline.

Give your team members four slips of paper, and ask them to mark down four important moments in their life. Let them pin them to the timeline.

Purpose: This exercise helps show, in a visual way, the different generations and experiences of your team. It leads well into talking about cultural and generational differences and the effects that has on how people work and communicate. It is also an opportunity for team members to learn more about each other.

Game #19:What’s On Your Desk

Have each team member bring one item from their desk to the exercise. Then, tell them that this item is going to be their new product, and that they must come up with a name, logo, slogan, and marketing plan for that object. Give them a set amount of time. This could be done individually, or in small groups if desired.

Once the time is up, allow each person to present the item and give a two minute presentation on their “product” as if they were selling it. Discuss, as a group, which products were successfully sold and why.

Purpose: For marketing and design teams, this exercise presents the challenge of seeing old things in a new light. When combined with groups working together to sell a common object, you introduce teamwork and crunch-time brainstorming. It promotes creativity and problem solving, too.

Game #20: You Get One Question

Come up with several scenarios in which a person would be chosen to do something. For example, it might be a new job hire, marriage, leading an organization, or commanding an army. Ask each team member to come up with the “perfect” question — but only one! — that should be asked of a person that would determine if they were the perfect fit for the scenario. Have each team member write their question down. When all scenarios have been covered, discuss the questions as a group and see what each team member thinks would be the perfect question.

Purpose: Team members quickly learn how each other thinks differently. The perfect question that each comes up with will reflect their motives and what they think matters the most. This is an excellent way to lead into a discussion on how team members determine who is capable and who they will follow or trust.

Game #21: Classify This

Collect a variety of objects and put them in the center of a table. The broader the variety, the better (e.g. office supplies, dinnerware, jewelry, toys, game pieces, etc.), Aim for at least 20 different objects. The goal is to collect items that, at first glance, have no apparent connection.

Break the team into groups, giving each group a sheet of paper and pen. Make sure they have a clear view of all the objects. Instruct them to classify the objects into four groups, writing down the groupings on their sheet of paper. They should not let the team groups hear what they are doing. When the time is up, have a spokesperson for each group reveal how they classified the objects, and why. Reasons might vary, from the function of the object to how it looks, or the material it is made of.

Purpose: This exercise promotes teamwork and creative thinking, but it also encourages your team to rethink how they view everyday objects. They are forced to look for commonalities in otherwise unconnected objects. This leads to a discussion on how to work outside the box for solutions to problems that seem wholly unrelated.

Game #22: This Is Better Than That

Bring in four objects (or multiple sets of four objects) of the same type (e.g. four different sets of mittens, four different coffee mugs). Write up a conversational scenario for each set that outlines what the perfect item would be, in the order of preference. While none of the four objects is an exact match, each have qualities that reflect that perfect list. Read this scenario to your team, and instruct them to order the objects from best fit to worst fit. When all object sets are done, have team members explain why they ordered the objects that way.

The key to this exercise is to make the scenario complex enough that it isn’t immediately obvious which objects are best.

Purpose: This exercise helps your team break down a scenario or problem and figure out which things are the best fit. This dovetails directly into discussion on current projects or challenges facing the group, in which you can, as a group, write a scenario for an actual project you are working on and decide which solutions are the best fit.

Game #23: It’s Your Problem

Bring the team into the room, and divide evenly into groups of at least two. Tell them they have thirty minutes to come up with a group problem-solving challenge that would make use of: teamwork, creativity, communication.

When the thirty minutes is complete, the team will choose from one of the problem-solving challenges and actually do the activity.

A variation is to use all of the challenges over a period of time so that your team-building activities come directly from your team itself.

Purpose: This team building exercise puts leadership responsibilities back on your team, showing them that they have the potential to come up with solutions, too. It also gives your team a chance to challenge other team members in ways they might not otherwise find the opportunity to do so in regular workday activity.

Game #24: Active Listening

Bring your team in for what they think is just another staff meeting. Have a long document filled with mind-numbing but coherent jargon-filled speech that talks vaguely about sales and marketing goals. Sprinkled in the document are sentences which say something else entirely. These sentences should contain instructions or information that they will be quizzed on after you are finished.

Begin reading it to your team in monotone. The goal is to get them to tune you out. Do not over-emphasize the “real” sentences. When you are finished, hand out paper to each team member. Then, ask them to write down what they thought you talked about. If your real sentences contained random information, quiz them on that. Discuss who heard what, and see who was able to actively listen.

Purpose: This exercise touches on conflict resolution with the idea that many conflicts arise because team members don’t really listen. It shows the importance of listening to verbal communication, but also non-verbal communication. They can discuss why they tuned you out, and what you could have done to keep them tuned in.

Game #25: Company Concentration

Most of us played the game “concentration” as a child, where you’d have pairs of cards randomly mixed and turned over, and you’d take turns flipping over two at a time. The goal was to collect as many pairs as possible, remembering what you’d seen.

Create a card deck that has images or words related to your company or brand. It might be logos, products, photos of your team, and so on. Whatever route you go, keep the images related. For example, use all photos of your team, or all photos of your products.

Divide up into teams and see which team can match the most pairs in the least amount of time. You might set additional rules, such as requiring the name of the person to be said aloud when the card is flipped over, or some other related bit of information connected to the image on the card.

Purpose: To learn the names, information, and visuals associated with your company. This is particularly effective if you have a lot of new team members and you want everyone to learn their name and something about them.

Game #26: Company Concentration: Debate Version

The idea is the same as the “Company Concentration” format, where pairs of cards with visuals on one side are used. However, the goal here isn’t necessarily to match up cards and remember where they were, and the images on the cards will not depict team members but will instead depict discussion-worthy concepts.

Teams can get a point for matching up cards, but they can get two points if they choose to successfully debate and argue why the two cards the turned over are associated. If the majority of the room agrees with their reasoning, they receive the points. If not, they lose a point.

You might use cards illustrating user personas, products you sell, procedures you use in development, customer support problems, known issues you’re trying to solve, and so on.

Purpose: This team building game can help in brainstorming (associating two problems together, for example, that hadn’t been) as well as getting team members to think on their feet and spot connections they hadn’t before. It also forces them to decide what is worth debating or not, as well as whether or not someone has provided a good argument.

Game #27: Hello My Name Is

Create a list of adjectives that describe people’s attitudes (e.g. grumpy, happy, negative, fearful, encourager, discourager, positive, joker, etc.). Have enough adjectives for every member of your team, and write each adjective on a self-adhesive “Hello My Name Is” sticker. Place the name stickers in a container, and have each team member draw a name sticker out without being able to see the adjective. Have them stick the name tag on their shirt and wear it for a specific period of time, instructing them that all of their responses and interaction for that time must reflect the adjective on their name tag.

You can use this in several ways. Your team could wear them during a typical meeting or brainstorming session to show how good and bad attitudes affect outcomes. They could wear them for a typical work day and then discuss how they felt. Or, you could have them wear a name tag half of the day, and switch with someone for the second half.

Purpose: To show that assigning an attitude or telling someone they are “acting grumpy” can actually affect how they view themselves and how they act during the day. If they switch name tags, they will see how behavior and action often defines feeling, and not the other way around.

Game #28: Telephone, On Paper

Give each team member a piece of paper. Have them draw a simple drawing on the paper, without talking to anyone else. Each person then passes the paper to their right. Each team member looks at the drawing they now have, fold the paper in half, and write at the top what they think the picture is of. The paper is passed to the right again. Each person reads the description, folds the paper over to hide the words, and draws a picture of that.

This continues, where each pass alternates between determining what the picture was and drawing what was described. It is important that each turn only reveals the words or picture from the previous round. Separate sheets or pads of paper may be used if that is easier than one sheet of paper, but they should be passed together.

When the paper is back to the original owner, each member reveals what was written and drawn.

Purpose: This activity tends to create a lot of laughter and is an excellent ice-breaker at parties or before long meetings where you want people to be comfortable with each other. The drawings and interpretations tend to bring out discussion and jokes.

Game #29: Do The Math

Create “tasks” that are assigned different values. For example, you might have “Climb Mt. Everest” and give it a value of 35, while “Give the dog a bath” has a value of 3.

Give each member of your team three cards with the same number on them so that every team member has a set of numbers different from every other player. One person will have all 1’s, while another might have all 10’s. The goal is to accomplish the tasks in a set amount of time so that whoever is left will get a prize based on the total value of the tasks completed.

However, in order to “do” the task, they must get people together whose numbered cards add up to the value on the task. Once a card is used, it can’t be used again. And once a team member has used up all their cards, they are taken out of the game and out of the running for the prize.

Ideally, there are more tasks and values than can be fulfilled by the cards your team possesses. They must determine which tasks to do, and which cards to use up. Ultimately, not every task can be completed, and not everyone can be a winner. The goal is to get the highest total task value (for the best prize), and work together to achieve it knowing that in order to do so, some will miss out.

Purpose: This rather painful game helps your team work together, understanding both strategy and self-sacrifice. Hopefully, once the game is over you’ll see that everyone has some kind of prize or reward, but it’s best to allow the team to not know that during game play.

Game #30: Problem Family Tree

Give each team member a piece of paper. Instruct them to write down, at the top of the sheet, a problem they have at work. Make sure to tell them it shouldn’t be directed at a specific person. These should be complaints about procedure, product, or some other non-human problem they’ve observed or believe exists.

Next, have them write below that, leaving a slight space, two things they think causes that problem (again, not mentioning specific people but finding a way to focus on systems, ideology, or procedures that people use). Draw a line from the two ideas up to the main problem, much like a family tree structure. Then have them break down those two ideas further, two for each, as far as they can go. The idea is to figure out what small things have led to the big things.

The exercise could stop here, allowing the team members to simply enjoy personal discovery, or they results could be discussed as a group to see if there were small underlying problems that popped up on multiple problem family trees.

Purpose: To help team members to see the real problems they deal with, and what causes them, not as specific people who cause trouble, but as often seemingly small issues that mix with other small issues to create larger problems.

Game #31: Triangulate Your Place

Assemble all but one of your team members in the shape of a triangle. They should be facing into the triangle, standing side by side to create the outline of the shape.

Take the remaining member and place them inside the triangle. Let them choose to face whatever direction they want to, and instruct your team to remember exactly where they were in relation to the spinner. They should note who they were standing next to, and how they fit into the triangle shape based on where the spinner is facing.

The spinner should begin to slowly spin around. Without warning, the spinner should stop and stand still. At that point, the team has a set amount of time to reassemble into place so that the end result is a triangle situated correctly according to whatever direction the spinner chose to face.

Purpose: This team building activity is a great way to get the blood-pumping and to get your team to work together. They need to remember where they belong on the triangle, and help others, too, in order to finish in time.

Game #32: Penny For Your Thoughts

Gather pennies (or any other coin) so that you have one for each member of your team, and so that the year on the coin is within your team’s lifespan (i.e. you won’t have a coin dated older than the youngest on your team).

Dump the coins in a container, and have each person draw out a coin. Have each person share something significant that happened to them in that year.

Purpose: This activity is a simple way for your team to get to know each other, and it’s a quick ice-breaker to loosen up team members before a meeting.

* I want to make sure to give props to Jimmy Daly and the team at Vero for ‘inventing’ the creative Grid concept you saw and used in this post. We first saw it in their ridiculously awesome Email Marketing Best Practices guide, and we’ve seen them use it a few times since. We loved it so much that we wanted to try to create something similar that our own readers could benefit from and enjoy on this blog. We do hope you enjoy it and we hope you go check out the Vero blog. They publish amazing content all the time. to explore some of their latest posts.

Thanks for reading!

Editor’s Note: This post was co-written by Julie Neidlinger. Read other and learn more about her .

Нина Белодедова
Спортивный тимбилдинг для детей

Спортивный тимбилдинг для детей

Н. А. Белодедова, инструктор по физической культуре,

МБДОУ ЦР №:60 «Березка» г. Орел

Тимбилдинг (англ. Team building) - построение команды или командообразование – мероприятия игрового, развлекательного и творческого характера, направленные на улучшение взаимодействия между участниками, повышение сплоченности коллектива на основе осознания общих ценностей и представлений.

Командные игры это составляющая тимбилдинга , так как, это понятие более широкое и включает в себя не только командные игры спортивной направленности (футбол, эстафеты и т., а также мероприятия развлекательного характера, творческой направленности (походы, квест-игры и тд.)

Спортивный тимбилдинг – это построение команды на основе спортивных игр .

В своей профессиональной практической деятельности, отметила, что многие дети старшего дошкольного возраста при проведении спортивных игр не умеют работать в команде, договариваться, соблюдать правила при выполнении различных заданий, неточно воспринимают предложенную инструкцию. Так возникла идея внедрения элементов тимбилдинга в физкультурно-оздоровительную деятельность нашего учреждении.

Цель спортивного тимбилдинга – это формирование умения работать в команде, посредством использования элементов тимбилдинга . Упражнения и игры на командообразование позволяют в игровой форме обучить детей навыкам работы в команде, лидерству, общению, принятию решений и разрешению различных задач. Чтобы достичь успеха в командообразующих играх детям приходиться учиться взаимодействовать друг с другом, внимательно слушать других, самим изъясняться четко и понятно, мыслить творчески и нестандартно.

Задачи спортивного тимбилдинга :

1. Способствовать повышению интереса детей и взрослых к занятиям физической культурой, используя упражнения и игры на командообразование.

2. Организовать и провести ряд мероприятий с участием детей и взрослых , посредством новой формы проведения - тимбилдинг .

3. Обучить детей эффективно взаимодействовать между собой.

4. Сплотить команду, вывести «командный дух» на более высокий уровень.

Чтобы провести большую часть предлагаемых далее игр, инвентарь практически не требуется. Кроме этого, можно провести тимбилдинг на природе , в помещении, на детской площадке для большого количества детей . И конечно, проводить его нужно в развлекательной форме, используя какой-нибудь яркий сюжет.

После окончания каждой игры с детьми стоит обсудить, что каждый из них делал для достижения цели. Пусть дети сами разбираются в сути заданий, не нужно превращать игровой формат в лекционный.

А сейчас я предлагаю несколько игр и эстафет, которые я использую в своей работе.

1. Малоподвижная игра «Обруч»

Из инвентаря нужен будет только обруч. Попросите чтобы дети встали тесным кругом, при этом одна рука должна быть внутри круга, приподнята на уровень головы. Объясните детям, что нужно вытянуть один палец той руки, которая поднята. На эти пальцы сверху положите обруч.

Разъясните, что тянуть обруч и цеплять его пальцами нельзя.

Следующим заданием будет опустить обруч на пол. Дайте детям возможность разобраться, как это сделать. Они примут свое решение, не подсказывайте.

Когда игра закончится, попросите детей рассказать , с каким сложностями они столкнулись.

2. Игра «Переход через болото» (проводится в помещении)

Каждому члену команды раздают лист бумаги, это «кочка» на болоте. Каждый участник должен, наступая на свою кочку, перейти через болото. Но в болоте живет ужасный и голодный крокодил, который утягивает к себе кочки, остающиеся пустыми. Поэтому игрок всегда должен стоять на «кочке» .

Вся команда должна перейти болото по одному, соблюдая полную тишину. Казалось бы, это просто, но на практике требует больших усилий, особенно если человек в команде много. Бывает, что перейти получается только с 5 попытки, когда команда становится единым организмом.

Участникам дается три веревки (ленточки) . Их задача - не отрывая рук от веревок, сплести ровную косичку путем перемещения. В плетении принимает участие вся команда.

4. Подвижная игра «Дракон кусает свой хвост»

Играющие стоят друг за другом, держась за талию впереди стоящего. Первый ребенок - это голова дракона, последний - кончик хвоста. Под музыку первый играющий пытается схватить последнего - «дракон» ловит свой «хвост» . Остальные дети цепко держатся друг за друга. Если дракон не поймает свой хвост, то в следующий раз на роль «головы дракона» назначается другой ребенок.

5. Игра «Гигантская скакалка»

Команда прыгает через 10-ти метровую скакалку

6. Игра «Хвостики»

Каждому участнику команды крепятся верёвочные «хвостики» . В ходе игры необходимо оставить соперников «без хвоста» .

7 «Перетягивание каната»

Классическое перетягивание каната – побеждает команда, вытянувшая центр каната из обозначенной зоны.

8.«Сиамские близнецы»

Дети разбиваются на пары, становятся плечом к плечу, обнимают друг друга одной рукой за пояс, одну ногу ставят рядом. Теперь они – «сросшиеся близнецы» .

Предложите им походить по помещению, присесть, повернуться, лечь, встать, порисовать, вырезать что-нибудь из бумаги, завязать шнурки.

9.«Поводыри» (с помощью этой эстафеты дети сопереживают тем кто не видит)

Игроки разбиваются на пары.

Один стоит впереди, другой встает на расстоянии вытянутой руки с закрытыми глазами.

Первый, поводырь, сначала медленно начинает передвигаться по помещению, «слепой» следует за ним, стараясь не потеряться.

Игрокам предстоит пройти по мосту, проползти через пещеру, перепрыгнуть через речку.

Подсказывая и поддерживая партнера, игроки преодолевают все препятствия.

Затем траектория и скорость движения увеличиваются.

Взрослый следит за тем, чтобы игрок с открытыми глазами заботился о своем напарнике, аккуратно водил его между препятствиями.

10.«Пьедестал»

Дети должны уместиться все вместе на скамейке ограниченной площади или на любой другой возвышенной поверхности (например, на нескольких стульях, кубах, задача каждого участника – поддержать другого, а не устоять самому.

11.«Обруч»

Всё должны встать в круг и сцепиться за руки. Несколько обручей находятся между сцепленными руками нескольких участников. По сигналу начинают пролезать в обруч не расцепляя рук.

12.«Коршун и наседка»

Играющие становятся в затылок друг за другом и обхватывают за пояс впереди стоящих. Первый в цепи изображает «наседку» , все остальные - «цыплята» . Один из играющих - «коршун» . Он старается схватить «цыпленка» , стоящего последним в цепи, «наседка» же всячески мешает этому, преграждая «коршуну» путь разведенными в сторону руками. Все играющие помогают «наседке» , перемещаясь по площадке так, чтобы конец цепи находился как можно дальше от «коршуна» .

Если «коршуну» удается схватить «цыпленка» , игра прекращается. «Коршун» идет в начало цепи и становится наседкой, пойманный «цыпленок» становится новым «коршуном» .

13.«НОГА В НОГУ»

Участникам команды последовательно друг с другом связываются ноги. Задача – перешагнуть всем вместе через препятствия и не сбить их.

14.«Тачка»

Команды делят игроков на пары. Один из участников «пары» должен лечь на землю, а другой взять его за ноги (получается своеобразная тачка) . После этого «пары» передвигаются к старту : первый игрок на руках, а другой обычным шагом, но держа своего партнёра за ноги. «Пары» обеих команд выстраиваются перед стартовой линией шеренгой и, по сигналу судьи, бегут к финишу. Побеждает команда, которая первая собирается у финиша в полном составе.

Список литературы :

1. .Е. К. Воронова «Игры-эстафеты для детей 5-7 лет »

2. Е. К. Воронова Формирование двигательной активности детей 5-7 лет «Игры-эстафеты»

3. Дидактические игры : «Игры-эстафеты на занятиях физкультуры в детском саду» , «Командные игры на занятиях физкультуры в детском саду»

Bond and bring your employees together.

Team building games are a great way to bond and bring your employees together. But, some games can come off as boring, ineffective or plain childish. At Toggl, we’ve put together a list of some of our favorite team-building activities that are both exciting and insightful.

1. Magic Cane (Helium Stick)

The magic cane or helium stick game is a simple activity to see how teams communicate with each other and solve problems. The premise is that groups of 6 or 8 must lower a helium stick until it is lowered to the ground. Try to keep teams in even numbers. A helium stick is a thin, light-weight rod. You can easily find them on Amazon.

It sounds like a simple task, but it is deceptively challenging. The group must create two lines on each side of the stick and face each other. With the stick lying horizontally in the middle, have each person put their index finger underneath it.

Groups must start with the stick at chest level of the tallest person. Everyone must be standing on their feet when you start. (Some may try to find a loophole in the rules by starting on their knees.) At first, people will likely lift the stick or set it off balance.

Remind the groups that every person’s index finger must be in contact with the cane at all times. If it slips, they have to start from the beginning. They also can’t curl their finger around the pole. It must sit there.

Every person is needed to complete the task, so members must work together and communicate. This reinforces the idea that everyone is equally important, valuable and necessary for the team to succeed.

2. Barter Puzzle

If you want to strengthen your sales team or get team members to practice negotiating and strategizing skills, try the barter puzzle. Groups are given different jigsaw puzzles. Each puzzle has had pieces of the other puzzles mixed in at random. Members have to strategize, assign roles and barter with other teams to get pieces they need to complete their puzzle first.

Divide groups into 4 or 5. Make sure that each group has the same number of members. Give each group a puzzle with mixed pieces. Explain that other teams may have the pieces they need.

First, individuals should write down the items that they would grab from 1-10 in the order of most important. Then as a team, they have to decide and agree on which 10 are the top priorities and fill in the worksheet.

Groups should have about 30 minutes to complete the entire activity and come to a consensus. There is also a scoring sheet that they should use to rate their decisions. All Adrift helps you see that you can often make smarter decisions as a team with combined knowledge than on your own.

4. Bridge Build

To tap into your team’s creativity and communication skills, try bridge build.

Divide into two different teams. Each must build half of a bridge with the materials provided. The goal is for the two bridges to have similar or identical design and be able to fit together when finished. The challenge is that the teams must be separated so that they can’t see the other team or what they are building. But, they are allowed to communicate verbally (eg. through Slack).

You can give them anything as building materials including: dry noodles & marshmallows, straws, Legos, popsicle sticks or Jenga blocks. Depending on what you use, you may want to also supply them with tape, paper and pens.

5. Electric Fence

In this activity, you create a hypothetical electric fence. Teams must cross over without touching it. The fence can be created by tying a rope or shoe string to two chairs or other objects, as long as it is elevated to about waist-height.

Members can’t go under the fence and must be touching another member of the group with at least one hand at all times. This motivates people to brainstorm ideas, problem solve and put their proposed plans into action.

6. Blind Drawing

Similar to Charades but with a twist, Blind Drawing is a team-building activity that can be done in groups of two. All you need is pen and paper or marker, a mini whiteboard and an eraser. The two participants sit back to back. Only one person should have the drawing materials. The other is handed a picture, and must make sure that the other cannot see it.

They are given 60 seconds to describe what is in the picture, by shapes and indirect descriptions. They can’t say, “Draw a bee on a rose.” But, they can say adjectives like, “Buzz, yellow and black, spring, blooming, etc.” When the time ends, groups should compare their drawings. It can be comical to see how bad they usually turn out. The game can get people laughing and highlights how difficult giving instructions can be and how important it is to communicate clearly.

7. What’s my name?

If you have ever played the game “Heads Up”, you’ll be familiar with What’s My Name.

Create a set of names, which can be celebrities and icons like Beyonce or Mickey Mouse or types of professions like actor, hockey player or doctor. You can use Post-It notes or tape and small slips of paper.

Place the name on each person’s forehead. Make sure that they can’t see who it is. Set a timer and instruct everyone to move around the room asking different people yes or no questions until they guess correctly or time runs out. This gets people to move around the room and interact with people they may not have before. It also makes them more aware of stereotypes and categorizing others based on certain characteristics.

8. Hole Tarp

It may remind you of an activity you did in gym class, but it can be a lot of fun, even for adults. You can do Hole Tarp with a circular tarp or plastic sheet and a few tennis balls. Your team stands around holding a piece of the tarp, which should have a hole cut in the middle. Then they begin to shake the tarp so that it moves around like a wave. Once it is moving, throw in a ball.

Much like a business, everyone on your team has to keep moving to keep the ball rolling. If someone stops, the ball will drop.

9. Game of Possibilities

A great way to bring out your team’s creativity and quick thinking is Game of Possibilities. To do the activity all you need is to gather a group of random objects.

You can use anything from a basketball or plastic bag to a hula hoop or scarf. In groups, each person is given an object and must demonstrate an alternative use for it.

Other group members must guess what function they are acting out. It is a fun way to boost team creativity and innovation.

10. Lava Flow

“The floor is lava!” If that brings back happy memories of your childhood, you’ll like this team-building game.

Lava Flow, also called River Crossing, is a game in which a group must cross the river of lava by jumping and maneuvering on different objects. Limit the number of objects to two or three, so that they have to be moved and shared each time someone crosses. If you touch the floor at any point, then you will get burnt and must start over. The first team to cross the river with all members intact are the winners.

11. Group Juggle

For new groups, check out an icebreaker and memory game called Group Juggle. Participants form a large circle facing each other. If you have a large group, break the circles so there are no more than 20 people in each.

Throw in a soft ball to one person. They will throw it to someone else, but must say that person’s name first. The ball goes around the group like that until a pattern starts. Once the group seems comfortable, throw in more balls to increase the difficulty.

12. Company Concentration

Similar to “Concentration”, in which you flip over cards two at a time to try to find matching pairs, this activity focuses on learning and memory. You can create cards with photos and names of team members or with company information like products, logos, and values.

Break into teams and time which groups find all the matches the fastest. Company concentration teaches employees more about your business while playing a fun game.

13. All the News

With this team-building exercise, you can boost creativity and get an inside look at how your employees see the future of your business. To do All the News , you just need a few newspapers, whiteboards, markers, pens and paper. Each team is given a newspaper and asked to come up with different headlines that cover what the company will be doing in the future. They can create as many as they want and as far in the future as they want.

Groups share their headline ideas with the rest of the team and get feedback. All the News is useful for entrepreneurs and business owners that want to get an idea of the company’s future direction and start setting some new goals.

14. Grab Bag Skits

Acting and improv exercises can be a humorous and energizing way to bring your team together. Grab Bag Skits is a short activity in which teams of 3 to 8 select a paper bag. They don’t know what is inside, but it is stuffed with unrelated and random objects.

Each team is given 10 minutes to put together a 2 to 3 minutes skit that uses each of the items. Every person in the group must take on a speaking role. Encourage groups to be as creative as possible. For example, they can use an apple as a meteor or a paintbrush as a witch’s broom.

Although some individuals may be more introverted, Grab Bag Skits can encourage them to get out of their comfort zone and connect with colleagues.

15. Tied Up

In this activity, divide groups up into teams of 2 to 4. Form members into circles facing each other and use rope or shoe strings to tie their hands together. Then, give them a task that they must complete together with their hands tied. A few examples of tasks that you can use are:

• Make a sandwich.
• Tie a ribbon.
• Navigate through an obstacle course.
• Complete a jigsaw puzzle.

Because everyone’s hands are tied, it will require the effort of each person to complete the task. The constraints can increase their creativity and push them to think outside-of-the-box.

16. Sneak a Peek

In this game, divide into multiple groups. One person from each group is selected to view a hidden object or sculpture. They only have 10 seconds at a time to peek at the sculpture and must relay the information that they see to the rest of their group. The group must try to recreate the sculpture based on the peek person’s description.

Players must trust the team member to describe it accurately and listen to their instructions. It can help break down management barriers if you select a lower-level person as the person to view the sculpture. In a different position than they are accustomed to, it pushes them to adjust, direct a team and communicate clearly.

17. Murder Mystery Dinner

A Murder Mystery Dinner is an interactive activity that will require everyone to get involved. There are several companies that will design murder mystery dinners specifically for business groups. Actors will provide an entertaining story and set clues in place for your team to decipher.

But, you can also host your own murder mystery dinner party which may be more cost-effective and intimate. Learn more about . Either way, your group will rally around the main goal─solving the mystery and finding the culprit. It’s ideal for problem-solving and critical thinking.

18. Conducted Story

Stories are powerful. In many ways, it is your story and how you tell it that makes people connect with your business. Your team members are storytellers.

To do a Conducted Story, groups stand in a line. One person may act as the conductor, who is responsible for moving the story along. The first person starts the story with a sentence like, “Mike went to the supermarket because...” The next person continues the story, “He needed eggs to bake a cake for..” The story continues on like this until it reaches the last person in line.

The conducted story is a listening exercise that requires every team member to pay attention to what the others have said. It also stresses the importance of telling a seamless story and that unity and strong communication are needed to do that.

19. Swedish Story

This is another activity that combines storytelling and teamwork but with a twist. People work in pairs or small teams of no more than four. One person is the storyteller while the others are the word givers. The word givers start off by giving a title that the storyteller must start talking about.

Then, as they are speaking, word givers yell random words that storytellers must incorporate. The key is that the words should be unrelated to the topic to make it more challenging and interesting. For instance, in a story about, “Visiting the City,” word givers should avoid relevant words like, “taxi”, “skyscrapers”, and “subway”. Instead, they shout out unrelated words like, “coconuts”, “T-Rex”, “Big Foot”, or “lumberjacks”. You can see a combination of Swedish Story and Conducted Story here:

Storytellers will be put on the spot and have to think fast. It drives them to actively listen to the words the other members say and insert them into the storyline.

20. Group Order

Ask the group to line themselves in order based on certain criteria. Some examples are by:

• Birthday
• Height
• Shoe size
• Haircolor
• Eyecolor

Make it more challenging by setting a rule that members can’t speak to each other. You can do this as a get-to-know-you-better activity. As members move around the room to organize themselves in order, you’ll notice how they communicate to complete the task and who takes on the role of organizers or leaders.

21. PowerPoint Karaoke

If you want to test your team’s presentation skills and see how they react in fast-paced or high-pressure situations, play PowerPoint Karaoke . In it, groups are given a set of slides that they haven’t seen before and must give a presentation based on those slides.

This is a more intense version, but you can adjust it so that groups are given a few minutes to view the slides and prepare before giving the presentation. It requires groups to think quickly and work together to pull off a difficult task with a short time to plan.

22. Slideshow

Another spin on this is that one person presents a story that details an adventure or a process. This can be anything from traveling through the jungle or navigating around a city to building a house or planning a large dinner party.

The other team members must act as the slide show or visuals for the presentation. With each section that the presenter says they must demonstrate the scene. Add in random props to make it more exciting. The Slideshow activity sparks creativity and pushes members to think on their feet. It also shows how they support each other throughout the process.

23. Culture or Common Book

Some businesses may do team-building activities once for new employee orientation or once or twice a year for a company retreat. Although team-building activities help to bring your group together, you don’t have to limit them to only one time a year. Doing team-building games more often prevents your team from drifting apart over time.

Some companies like Zappos have incorporated a culture book. It is a long-running team-building activity that can be done every day. In a common area like a break room, leave a book with markers or pens. On each page, you can leave a prompt or ask a question for each day. Encourage employees to leave quotes from movies they are watching or books they have recently read.

24. Scavenger Hunts

Scavenger hunts are one of the oldest ways to get people to interact and collaborate. But, there are still one of the most effective and fun. Smartphones and apps have made it possible to do scavenger hunts anywhere. You can even add in photo or video challenges and share an album within the organization.

You can do a simple scavenger hunt and keep it in the office or take it outdoors, which can be much more exciting. Create a list of items that groups must collect or tasks that they have to complete. They can be goofy, as long as it’s possible to complete. Some examples are: “Take a selfie with someone wearing a cat shirt” or “Grab a take-out menu and a fortune cookie from a Chinese restaurant.” Set a checkpoint for people to meet when they finish.

25. Spider Web

Do you remember all those spy movies with the intricate laser security systems people had to maneuver through?

Spider Web is kind of like that. Create a maze of lines and shapes using string. Teams must cross the spider webs to reach the other side without touching the string or going in the same shapes as anyone before them.

The challenge gets harder as more people cross to the other side and requires everyone to remember and communicate with each other.

26. Balloon In Water

The balloon in water activity is a great way to see how your team solves problems together, particularly when faced with limited resources. Each group must immerse an inflated balloon in a bucket of water for a minimum of 5 seconds. They can only use the provided materials to complete the activity.

Each group gets:

• Bucket of water
• Balloon
• Brick
• 5 disposable straws
• 5 paper clips
• 3 binder clips
• 1 plastic bag
• String (20cm)
• Tape (20cm)
• Scissors
• 3 binder clips

The brick goes in the bottom of the bucket of water. Teams have a minute to strategize and flesh out their plan and only 5 minutes to do the activity.

Only the provided materials can be used during the challenge. The 3 binder clips and inflated balloon given to the team cannot be altered in any way. Before starting the activity, the team has one minute to plan and they have to plan without touching the materials.After planning, the team is given 5 minutes to execute their plan. The balloon must be fully immersed in the water before the 5 minutes is over. The balloon must remain immersed for at least 5 seconds, and the team must notify the trainer(s) when they are ready to be timed.

27. Minefield

It can be difficult for some to trust their team members or to rely on someone else to help them reach a goal. Some may think they have to do it on their own. Minefield is an activity designed to foster trust in teams. It can help members that are resistant to collaboration become more open.

You can do this inside or outside, but make sure to clear the area to avoid any accidents. Place “mines” or objects in an obstacle area. These can be anything from styrofoam cups to cones, as long as they are soft with no rough edges. The member that is going through the field, or obstacle area must be blindfolded. The other members of the team direct them through the minefield by giving them verbal instructions.

If they hit an object, they must start over. The first team with all members across the minefield wins.

28. Leaky Pipe

This game can get a little messy, so it’s recommended for outside only. Leaky Pipe is a highly interactive activity that drives groups to work faster and more efficiently together. You’ll need water, buckets, several cups, 2 pipes with holes drilled in them, and 2 ping pong balls.

To win, teams must retrieve a ping pong ball from the pipe by filling it up with water and floating the ball to the top. Participants will need to work together using the cups to carry the water from the bucket to the pipe, relay race style with cups of water to fill it.

The pipe has holes drilled in it, so they will have to plug the holes as the water gets higher. To complete the challenge, each team will receive a bucket of water (which is placed 10 metres away from the pipe) and several cups. Remember to set a countdown, so they are racing against the clock.

29. Heads Up!

You may have seen “Heads Up!” being played on the Ellen Show. It is a mobile app available for download on Android and iOS devices, in which one player puts the phone on their forehead, the rest of the players can see the word, accent, celebrity, or other category on the card, but it is hidden from the person holding it. He or she has to guess the item on the card based on clues from their team.

Although it is a fun app usually associated with parties, it can be perfect for office team-building. The best part about the game is that you can use the preloaded decks or you can create your own decks. Make a deck that relates to your company or industry and test their knowledge while having some fun.

30. Dance Party

One of the most effective and quickest ways to bring someone out of their comfort zone is to get them to dance. You can download the Dance Party app from the App Store and set it up in your office. Players mimic the dance moves that the avatar performs on the screen. Encourage members to form teams and compete.