Team-building is one of the most important aspects of creating a cohesive group, whether you are trying to create a team that will work together in your office or a positive learning environment for your students. One of the best ways to build a strong team is to take the time to help the members of your team get to know each other in a positive way. If you can afford it, you may want to book your team into a high adventure team-building retreat or look into a ropes building course offered by your local Parks and Rec program. There are also a variety of outdoor activities you can do on your own. Just making the effort to create positive interactions can often make a difference.
These activities work well for professionals, but they can also be adapted for teenagers if needed. When you plan these activities be sure that you have your staff knows to dress in comfortable clothing. You should also make sure that you have plenty of water and snacks. This can help keep your team focused and positive throughout the event.
This activity needs to take place in an area where you can thread twine through a number of different objects to create a spider web. The team needs to get through the entire obstacle without touching the thread. As you set this up, you want to create some sections that provide a challenge, but you should also keep in mind the condition of the people who are participating. A playground or wooded area should work well for this activity.
This activity is designed to challenge the team to work together to cross an area with just a few pieces of wood. The team must get across without touching the ground. Some of these activities have set pieces of wood that you lay across to form a bridge, while others use the planks like the rungs of a ladder. You can only have one person on each piece of wood at a time.
This is a team-building activity that requires patience and communication. The group should be between five to twelve people. If you have more than that, you will need to divide into two smaller groups. Have the group form a circle and have each member of the circle raise their right hand and take the hand of someone across the circle. Then have each person grab someone's left hand. They need to untangle themselves without breaking the chain. At the end of the activity, you should be standing in a circle.
As a teacher, it is your responsibility to create a positive learning environment where your students work together. Using team-building activities at the beginning of the year can make it easier to create a positive environment. You can adapt the activities listed below for all school-aged children. You can also adapt them to work with both small and large groups.
Relay races work as a good team-building activity, especially when you have a large group like a class. You can adapt the skill level for the relay to your students' skill level. Be sure to include a variety of activities in the relay that play to both intellectual and physical skills like climbing ; this will even out the competition.
In this game, you will have one half of your group blindfold themselves. You assign each blindfolded person a buddy who guides him or her through the game. The guides cannot touch the ball, and must communicate with their partners to score a goal. This is a great activity to use to encourage communication between students.
This game is best completed outside in a grassy field. You will need several blankets or towels and a large beach ball. Have the groups work as teams to play volleyball. They want to catch the volleyball on the blankets or towels and then use the blankets to throw it back over the net. If you do not have a volleyball net, you can simply mark out a line with rope that they need to work on getting the ball across. If you use towels, you will have two people on each towel or four people on each blanket.
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