Fun Team Building Activities

Team spirit is a great quality that helps people work better in groups. There are many fun team building activities which can help inculcate team spirit in kids as well as adults.

Team building is not just a quality that helps kids during school, or sportsmen in their game, or employees at their workplace; it is all about developing a healthy attitude to face the hardships in life. People who have the ability to work in large groups, who are able to coordinate with others around them, and work towards a common goal, are obviously more successful than those who look down upon others, prefer to work alone, and frown at other people's success. Team building is an important quality that should be inculcated in children from a young age, so that they grow up to be responsible and sensitive adults of the future.

Team Building Activities for Children

Schools should make it a point to introduce children to team building activities from a young age. There are many activities that children will surely enjoy.

Sports

The best and perhaps the simplest way to inculcate team spirit or a team building tendency in children is to encourage them to play group sports. Soccer, volleyball, cricket, or any other games that they can enjoy together as a team tend to instill a sense of team spirit in them.

Tug of War

A simple game like tug-of-war can help in developing team spirit. Children find it a great source of entertainment, so that's a bonus as well. To make this simple game more interesting, you can modify it by making it a multi-way tug-of-war instead of the conventional two-way-tug-of-war.

Team Drawing

Provide the children with a huge blank canvas, and drawing and painting material. Ask them to make a single picture, which should be painted collaboratively. You can also make multiple groups of students and make it a competition, which would encourage them to do better.

Cooking Tasks

Give a cooking task to a team of children. For younger kids, keep the task simple, like making sandwiches or decorating cookies. For children who are old enough to use an oven, assign difficult tasks. Ask them to cook up a complete meal, starting with the appetizers, followed by the main course, side dishes, and desserts. This way, they'll even learn to work under pressure.

Treasure Hunt

Most of us have played this game as kids. It is a fun game where every team gets clues that lead to the next destination, where the next clue is hidden. The hunt for the treasure continues till a team finds all the clues and the final treasure as well. Requiring good team coordination and collective movement, this is a simple and fun game that instills team building spirit among the children.

Team Building Activities for Adults

As responsible adults, we often need to work in groups, or at least coordinate with a group of people and function as a team, no matter which profession we are in. These activities instill team spirit, as well as act as an icebreaker.

Share it All

This is a very simple team building activity, which can help develop team spirit in the corporate atmosphere. Divide everyone in groups of four or more as per the team strength. Make sure that the groups formed do not have people who are always seen together. People who generally do not interact much with each other should be put in one group.

Ask every team member to share his three most impressive moments in the company, and also to try to find common experiences with others as they share their experiences. Once all the small groups have finished sharing their experiences within themselves, ask for an inter-group interaction. This is a great activity, which will help bring colleagues closer and result in a better work atmosphere as well.

Corporate Olympics

Sports are synonymous to team spirit. Allowing your employees to participate in sports competitions is perhaps the best way to inculcate team spirit in them. Also, there are inter-company tournaments which encourage the employees to work cohesively as a team while aiming to succeed. Group games are the best way to inculcate team spirit amongst adults.

Team Outings

Having fun together is a great way to strengthen the team building process. Instead of just having corporate dinners and brunches, try to go out for an outing as a team. For example, on a hike or a full-day picnic together. People tend to open up and mingle with each other on such trips. Outings are an informal, effective, and fun way to help the process of team building.

Drama and Arts

Conduct small drama or dance workshops for the employees. Choreographing a group dance will definitely serve as a great team building activity, and will be fun too. In case you are not sure about the dancing activity, you can also conduct a drama workshop and let the employees direct and organize a short play on their own. Indulging in dance and drama will definitely be a stress buster, as well as a fun team building activity.

In case there is a good movie which highlights the importance of team spirit, you can organize a special screening of it for your team. However, make sure you let them know the reason for which they will be watching the movie.

Many such activities can be conducted to convey the importance of team spirit to one and all. So, use whatever you think will appeal to the group that you intent to teach to work as a team, and see the results. They might work slow, but they'll definitely do the job!