If you couldn’t already tell, we love games! Especially group games that let everyone join in on the fun. What I really love about games is that they are an interactive and amusing way to strengthen teaming amongst coworkers. We’ve already talked about ice-breaker games and other awesome team building activities in our past blogs, but why stop there? Let’s do PART TWO!
Have fun and promote team growth with 3 more team building activities:
1. Tower of Cups
Duration: 5 minutes
Benefits: Promotes team communication and collaboration.
Tools: (PER GROUP) 6 plastic cups (the 18 oz heavy duty ones work best), 4-5 pieces of string cut to 2 feet, 1 rubberband
- Divide your group into teams of 4-5 people.
- There is one rule: You can only touch your piece of string, nothing else.
- Teams will work together to maneuver their rubberband contraption, stretching it around the cup and guiding it to their tower. First team to complete their tower wins!
- Depending on the difficulty level you want your group to play at, either have the teams build an easier cup pyramid or a more challenging one column cup tower.
Watch this video to see how much fun this class had playing Tower of Cups! (Side note: I like that this teacher throws the cups on the ground if he catches anyone cheating. Ha!) https://www.youtube.com/embed/teJbh-dxHTQ
2. Who Am I?
Duration: Varies depending on group size
Benefits: Promotes team communication and challenges puzzle-solving skills.
Tools: DIY “Who Am I?” cards and timer OR use the Hedbanz game set
(DIY “Who Am I?” cards are easy to make! Option 1: Find images online of the Who’s and What’s you want to use in your game and resize them to playing card size. Write what it is over the picture, print the cards and cut them out. Option 2: Write the Who’s and What’s on index cards. The DIY route allows you to customize the theme of your game however you would like! I’ve played this game with themes like the 1920s for a Gatsby party and Christmas-themed for my family Christmas gathering.)
- If you have a large group, divide them into smaller teams of about 5-8 people.
- Each player draws a card from the center pile and without looking at their own card holds it in front of their forehead on view for the other players. Be careful that the room you play in doesn’t have any mirrors or large reflective objects. No cheating! (You can opt out of holding your cards by purchasing stretchy headbands in the hair accessory aisle to hold the cards to your head!)
- Take 60 second turns to ask CLOSE-ENDED questions. Your teammates can only answer “yes” or “no.” Use the answers you get to figure out who or what you are!
- Once you figure out who or what you are, take another card from the pile.
I first learned about “Who Am I?” from this Tarantino film: https://www.youtube.com/embed/uIBDomdpK7Y
3. Salt and Pepper
(This game is a variation of “Who Am I?” for pairs!)
Duration: Varies depending on group size
Benefits: Promotes team communication and challenges puzzle-solving skills.
Also helps the team get to know each other!
Tools: Paper, pen, and tape
- Come up with famous pairings such as salt and pepper, Salt-N-Pepa, peanut butter and jelly, Batman and Robin, Lennon-McCartney, etc. Write each half of the pairs on their own piece of paper.
- Without your players seeing who or what they are, tape one paper on each person’s back.
- Have players walk around asking CLOSE-ENDED questions to figure out who or what they are.
- Once they figure out what their paper says, they’ll need to find the other half of their pairing. The two will sit down and learn three to five interesting facts about one another.
The benefits of team building games are endless! Just like the benefits of playing escape rooms are endless! A critical thinking boost, a strong and collaborative team, and creativity are just three benefits of many. Whether you’re playing at Red Door with your group for a teaming event or playing one of these games in your office, remember to make work engaging and interactive and to facilitate a culture of teamwork!
