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25 Outdoor Team Building Activities for Group Bonding
By Lorna P. categories: People & Society February 26, 2023, 10:12 AM
Outdoor team-building activities give groups a chance to bond while solving problems together and getting to know each other. Check out our activities for the whole team.
Outdoor team-building activities give colleagues from the same or different departments the chance to interact with those they may not usually work with, improving communication and working relationships, while having fun and getting some fresh air. There are a huge array of team-building activities that can be done outdoors ranging from problem-solving, treasure hunting, team sports, and environmental or community activities. These activities can be done in the park, on a sports field, or somewhere further from the office like a forest or outward-bound area.
Outdoor team building aims to be inclusive for all team members, so the physical abilities of each participant should be taken into account, with adaptations made to the activities where necessary. After outdoor team-building activities are completed it is fun to wind down together as a team by having a more informal activity together such as a picnic or barbecue.
We’ll outline 25 outdoor team-building activities for group bonding , which can be adapted to suit any team or ability level.
Outdoor Problem Solving Activities
These short problem-solving activities can be set up anywhere, only require some simple equipment, and go well together. The activities can be adapted to suit all abilities.
- Nightline : This activity involves setting up an obstacle course that has a continuous rope running through it. All participants are blindfolded and hold the rope with their right hand and the shoulder of the person in front of them with their left. The aim of the task is for the team member in front to feel their way along the course and give guidance to those behind about what is coming up for them to step over, crawl through, etc. The assault course can be made up of planks of wood to walk over, some old tires to step through or even a kids climbing frame to step over. There needs to be one team member or course leader who is not blindfolded to ensure the safety of the team.
- Tower building : Give each team an equal amount of old newspapers and a roll of biodegradable packing tape (available on Amazon** ) and some scissors. Each team has to try to build the tallest freestanding tower in a specified period (for example ten minutes), for an added challenge, an item can be placed on the top of the tower such as a ping pong ball or something heavier and the winning team is the one who can hold the item for the longest.
- Cardboard boat building : This activity needs to be done near a body of water such as a pond or lake. Each team is given an equal amount of old cardboard boxes, already broken down, and a roll of biodegradable packing tape. They have to construct a functional boat that will float across the water, perhaps with an item in it such as a doll. Depending on risk assessments and safety, the challenge could be to build a cardboard boat that is strong enough to hold a team member, there could then be a race to the other side of the water. Just be aware that wet cardboard can’t be recycled.
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- Time bomb : An item (the bomb) is placed inside a cordoned-off area, for example, an old water bottle filled with sand, placed in a circle of rope (around six feet in diameter) on the floor. Each team is given some long lengths of rope and a specified length of time to try to pick up the bomb and take it out of the circle, without any team member entering the circle.
- Shelter building : In a forested area, find a large tree and place large fallen branches against it to form an upside-down “v” shape. Depending on the season, you could cover the outside with dried leaves or add features using rocks. An extra challenge could be to waterproof the shelter, and test it with the team members inside! Make sure shelters are taken down when finished.
- Volcano eruption : Give each team a few large pieces of old cardboard. Pretend a volcano is erupting and the floor is lava, each team has to get to the other side of the outdoor area by using the card as stepping stones and not falling into the lava. A referee can make things more difficult by removing some pieces of card so there is not one per person and team members have to support each other to not fall into the lava.
- Mine field : “Mines” such as sports balls are placed randomly on the ground. Team members pair up and one of them is blindfolded. They have to be guided through the minefield using verbal commands only from their partner, who stands on the side until they get to the other side. If they touch a mine they don’t win a point. This activity should be done in flat areas such as parks or playgrounds.
Creative Outdoor Team Building Activities
These activities are more creative than problem-solving focused but could be combined with the above problem-solving activities for a blend of group bonding opportunities.
- Party games: Some classic party games are good for team building, such as charades, where one team member has to act out a word such as the name of a movie or an item in the home, they cannot speak, and the rest of their team has to guess the word. A more laid-back version is where a team member draws a representation of the word on a whiteboard and the team members guess the word from their drawing. Both of these games provide lots of laughter at the team’s acting and drawing skills!
- Environmental art: This is especially fun in the autumn when the leaves on the ground are colorful. Use fallen leaves, rocks, or dried grass to make an outdoor collage. Make a frame on the ground using twigs and create a picture or pattern inside it. To stay as environmentally neutral as possible, don’t pull any living leaves from trees! You could also try making a rock sculpture by creatively stacking differently-shaped stones onto one another.
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- Campfire cooking: Cooking is a fun way to bring people together. To make this into an outdoor activity the cooking could be carried out on a campfire, in a safely prepared area. All you need are some bricks to make a fire pit and some dry wood. Make sure you follow safety procedures and know how to put out a fire safely . Different team members could be responsible for different things such as starting the fire, chopping the vegetables, collecting wood, etc. Follow our campfire pizza recipe for something simple, vegan, and tasty, and check out these 15 easy vegetarian camping meals .
- Outdoor crafts: Nature can be used to make outdoor arts and crafts, these could be done on a large scale as teams and would work well in areas with trees and fallen leaves on the ground. For example, making sculptures using natural clay, painting on trees with dirt, making a leaf mobile, or drawing with charcoal, check out these 10 camping crafts for adults .
Outdoor Team Building for the Community
Outdoor team building can be beneficial to the community as well as the team itself, groups can bond whilst doing something to improve their neighborhood or help others.
- Tree planting: This activity enables the group to do something for the environment, as well as improve communication skills between team members. It needs to be organized, with trees being planted in an area where they’re needed — there are reforestation organizations, such as One Tree Planted that can assist in giving guidance about where trees need to be planted in your local area. Learn more about reforestation .
- Beach clean up: Participants can split into teams and collect trash along different parts of the beach, recycling anything that can be and disposing of other waste correctly. This could even be turned into an art from trash project, with teams using what they’ve found to make some recycled art.
- Donate to a food bank: Team members can each donate necessities such as canned food, diapers, and hygiene products. These can be collected and sorted by teams into care packages which can be donated to a local food bank or shelter.
- Practical conservation: Join a local environmental organization, such as American conservation experience to assist in invasive species removal using hand tools like bow saws and slashers, this could be along a local river, or in a small woodland to encourage wildflower growth.
- Neighborhood clean up: Bring the team to the local park or play area and clean up litter, remove graffiti, and repair damaged benches or park equipment. This could be done with permission from the local government or council and could even involve tree or flower planting.
- Build a bird box or bug hotel: Give birds a helping hand by providing them with a comfortable, warm bird box where they can build their nests and safely raise their young. Teams can work on the best decoration, with the winning team getting a prize. The finished bird boxes could be placed on the company grounds or even donated to a local school. For sizes and measurements, check out how to make a bird box with customizations or our guide on bug hotels .
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Energetic Outdoor Team Building Activities
These activities are more active and energetic and may not be suitable for all participants, however, those less physically able may be able to take part by being a referee, time, or point keeper.
- Scavenger hunt : Go on a scavenger hunt around the park, forest or even across the city. Prepare a list of natural things to find, such as a brown leaf, a weed, a smooth rock, a cloud, a feather, a seed, three sticks, or a blade of grass. Each team has to check the items off their list, and the first to collect them all wins.
- Volleyball : This can be played on the beach or a grassy area, bring a net or make your own using some poles and a piece of long material. It may be wise to choose a softer ball than a real volleyball, even an inflatable beach ball which is lightweight. Winning teams can play each other until a final winner is declared.
- Orienteering : Teams can hike a local trail together and use a map and compass to find their way to a final destination point. Teams start at different locations and the team to get to the destination first is the winner. This activity will encourage problem-solving and leadership skills as well as morale-building between team members.
- Sports day : Teams take part in a range of fun, short races such as an egg and spoon race, sack race, long jump, relay race, and boot toss. The activities can be set up as a circuit in a park or on a sports field.
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- Dodgeball : Another game that can be adapted to suit all levels by using a softer ball or a beach ball. There are three or more players on each team and the aim is to throw the ball at an opponent and if they get hit, you get a point. A player sits out if they get hit by the ball.
- Capture the flag : Each team has a flag located in their area, the opposing team has to try to catch the opposing team’s flag without getting tagged by the opposition. If someone gets caught they have to go to “jail”.
- Frisbee golf : Similar to how regular golf is played, the only equipment is a frisbee per team. Players take turns throwing the frisbee toward a target, (such as a flag or piece of material on the ground). The number of throws is recorded, with the lower number the better. This could be played on the beach, on a sports field, or at the park.
- Wildlife safari : Go to a local forest, lake, pond, or park and see what wildlife and evidence of wildlife you can find. Start small, with the bees and butterflies — notice what plants they’re attracted to, they are the pollinators of the world. Next, take the time to be silent and listen to the birds — you could even download an app to identify individual species, or make some homemade suet bird food and put it on a bird table or press it into a pine cone and hang it from a tree and count how many different birds come to it. By the way, bread is bad for birds and there are better options on what to feed them. If there is a pond or water feature you may be able to notice dragonflies hovering above it, or see some frogs or frogspawn, depending on the time of year. Teams could also go on safari and look for evidence of large mammals such as footprints, droppings, and fur.
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17 Unbeatable Team Building Problem Solving Activities
Problem-solving is a critical skill for professionals and with team building problem-solving activities, you can sharpen your skills while having fun at the same time.
Updated on August 31, 2021
In the professional world, one thing is for sure: problem-solving is a vital skill if you want to survive and thrive. It’s a universal job skill that organizations seek in new potential employees and that managers look for when considering candidates for promotions.
But there’s a problem. According to Payscale , 60% of managers feel that new grads entering the workforce lack problem-solving abilities – making it the most commonly lacked soft skill.
Problem-solving skill needs to be practiced and perfected on an ongoing basis in order to be applied effectively when the time comes. And while there are tons of traditional approaches to becoming a better problem-solver, there’s another (much more interesting) option: team building problem solving activities.
The good news? This means learning and having fun don’t have to be mutually exclusive. And you can create a stronger team at the same time.
11 In-Person Team Building Problem Solving Activities for Your Work Group
1. cardboard boat building challenge, 2. egg drop , 3. clue murder mystery, 4. marshmallow spaghetti tower , 5. corporate escape room, 6. wild goose chase, 7. lost at sea , 8. domino effect challenge, 9. reverse pyramid , 10. ci: the crime investigators, 11. team pursuit, 5 virtual team building problem solving activities for your work group , 1. virtual escape room: mummy’s curse, 2. virtual clue murder mystery, 3. virtual escape room: jewel heist, 4. virtual code break , 5. virtual trivia time machine.
- 6. Virtual Jeoparty Social
There are a ton of incredible team building problem solving activities available. We’ve hand-picked 11 of our favorites that we think your corporate group will love too.
Split into teams and create a cardboard boat made out of just the materials provided: cardboard and tape. Team members will have to work together to engineer a functional boat that will float and sail across water without sinking. Once teams have finished making their boats, they will create a presentation to explain why their boat is the best, before putting their boats to the test. The final challenge will have teams racing their boats to test their durability! Nothing says problem-solving like having to make sure you don’t sink into the water!
Every day at work, you’re forced to make countless decisions – whether they’re massively important or so small you barely think about them.
But your ability to effectively make decisions is critical in solving problems quickly and effectively.
With a classic team building problem solving activity like the Egg Drop, that’s exactly what your team will learn to do.
For this activity, you’ll need some eggs, construction materials, and a place you wouldn’t mind smashing getting dirty with eggshells and yolks.
The goal of this activity is to create a contraption that will encase an egg and protect it from a fall – whether it’s from standing height or the top of a building. But the challenge is that you and your team will only have a short amount of time to build it before it’s time to test it out, so you’ll have to think quickly!
To make it even more challenging, you’ll have to build the casing using only simple materials like:
- Newspapers
- Plastic wrap
- Rubber bands
- Popsicle sticks
- Cotton balls
Feel free to have some fun in picking the materials. Use whatever you think would be helpful without making things too easy!
Give your group 15 minutes to construct their egg casing before each team drops their eggs. If multiple eggs survive, increase the height gradually to see whose created the sturdiest contraption.
If you’re not comfortable with the idea of using eggs for this activity, consider using another breakable alternative, such as lightbulbs for a vegan Egg Drop experience.
With Clue Murder Mystery, your team will need to solve the murder of a man named Neil Davidson by figuring out who had the means, motive, and opportunity to commit the crime.
But it won’t be easy! You’ll need to exercise your best problem-solving skills and channel your inner detectives if you want to keep this case from going cold and to get justice for the victim.
Collaboration is critical to problem solving.
Why? Because, as the old saying goes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This expression reflects the fact that people are capable of achieving greater things when they work together to do so.
If you’re looking for a team building problem solving activity that helps boost collaboration, you’ll love Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower.
This game involves working in teams to build the tallest possible freestanding tower using only marshmallows, uncooked spaghetti, tape, and string.
The kicker? This all has to be done within an allotted timeframe. We recommend about thirty minutes.
For an added dimension of challenge, try adding a marshmallow to the top of the tower to make it a little more top heavy.
Whichever team has the highest tower when time runs out is the winner!
If you’ve never participated in an escape room, your team is missing out! It’s one of the most effective team building problem solving activities out there because it puts you and your colleagues in a scenario where the only way out is collaboratively solving puzzles and deciphering clues.
The principle is simple: lock your group in a room, hide the key somewhere in that room, and have them work through challenges within a set time frame. Each challenge will lead them one step closer to finding the key and, ultimately, their escape.
At Outback, we offer “done-for-you” escape rooms where we’ll transform your office or meeting room so you don’t have to worry about:
- Seeking transportation for your team
- Capacity of the escape rooms
- High costs
- Excessive planning
That way, you and your team can simply step inside and get to work collaborating, using creative problem solving, and thinking outside the box.
In this smartphone-based scavenger hunt team building activity , your group will split into teams and complete fun challenges by taking photos and videos around the city. Some examples of challenges you can do in this activity are:
- Parkour: Take a picture of three team members jumping over an object that’s at least waist-high.
- Beautiful Mind: Snap a photo of a team member proving a well-known mathematical theorem on a chalkboard.
- Puppy Love: Take a photo of all of your team members petting a stranger’s dog at the same time.
It takes a ton of critical thinking and problem-solving to be crowned the Wild Goose Chase Champions!
Can you imagine a higher-pressure situation than being stranded at sea in a lifeboat with your colleagues?
With this team building problem solving activity, that’s exactly the situation you and your group will put yourselves. But by the time the activity is over, you’ll have gained more experience with the idea of having to solve problems under pressure – a common but difficult thing to do.
Here’s how it works.
Each team member will get a six-columned chart where:
- The first column lists the survival items each team has on hand (see the list below)
- The second column is empty so that each team member can rank the items in order of importance for survival
- The third column is for group rankings
- The fourth column is for the “correct” rankings, which are revealed at the end of the activity
- The fifth and sixth columns are for the team to enter thee difference between their individual and correct scores and the team and correct rankings
Within this activity, each team will be equipped with the following “survival items,” listed below in order of importance, as well as a pack of matches:
- A shaving mirror (this can be used to signal passing ships using the sun)
- A can of gas (could be used for signaling as it could be put in the water and lit with the pack of matches)
- A water container (for collecting water to re-hydrate)
- Emergency food rations (critical survival food)
- One plastic sheet (can be helpful for shelter or to collect rainwater)
- Chocolate bars (another food supply)
- Fishing rods (helpful, but no guarantee of catching food)
- Rope (can be handy, but not necessarily essential for survival)
- A floating seat cushion (usable as a life preserver)
- Shark repellant (could be important when in the water)
- A bottle of rum (could be useful for cleaning wounds)
- A radio (could be very helpful but there’s a good chance you’re out of range)
- A sea chart (this is worthless without navigation equipment)
- A mosquito net (unless you’ve been shipwrecked somewhere with a ton of mosquitos, this isn’t very useful)
To get the activity underway, divide your group into teams of five and ask each team member to take ten minutes on their own to rank the items in order of importance in the respective column. Then, give the full team ten minutes as a group to discuss their individual rankings together and take group rankings, listed in that respective column. Ask each group to compare their individual rankings with those of the group as a whole.
Finally, read out the correct order according to the US Coast Guard, listed above.
The goal of this activity is for everyone to be heard and to come to a decision together about what they need most to survive.
If your team works remotely, you can also do this activity online. Using a video conferencing tool like Zoom , you can bring your group together and separate teams into “break-out rooms” where they’ll take their time individually and then regroup together. At the end, you can bring them back to the full video conference to go through the answers together.
Many problems are intricately complex and involve a ton of moving parts. And in order to solve this type of problem, you need to be able to examine it systematically, one piece at a time.
Especially in the business world, many problems or challenges involve multiple different teams or departments working through their respective portions of a problem before coming together in the end to create a holistic solution.
As you can imagine, this is often easier said than done. And that’s why it’s so important to practice this ability.
With a collaborative team building problem solving activity like Domino Effect Challenge, that’s exactly what you’ll need to do as you and your group work to create a massive, fully functional chain reaction machine.
Here’s how it goes.
Your group will break up into teams, with each team working to complete their own section of a massive “Rube Goldberg” machine. Then, all teams will regroup and assemble the entire machine together. You’ll need to exercise communication, collaboration, and on-the-fly problem solving in order to make your chain reaction machine go off without a hitch from start to finish.
Being a great problem-solver means being adaptable and creative. And if you’re looking for a quick and easy team building problem solving activity, you’ll love the reverse pyramid.
The idea here is simple: break your group out into small teams and then stand in the form of a pyramid.
Your challenge is to flip the base and the peak of the pyramid – but you can only move three people in order to do so.
Alternatively, rather than doing this activity with people as the pyramid, you can do another version – the Pyramid Build – using plastic cups instead.
This version is a little bit different. Rather than flipping the base of a pyramid to the top, you’ll need to build the pyramid instead–but in reverse, starting from the top cup and working down.
With this version, you’ll need 36 cups and one table per group. We recommend groups of five to seven people. Give your group 20 to 30 minutes to complete the activity.
To get started, place one cup face down. Then, lift that cup and place the subsequent two cups underneath it.
The real challenge here? You can only lift your pyramid by the bottom row in order to put a new row underneath – and only one person at a time can do the lifting. The remaining group members will need to act quickly and work together in order to add the next row so that it will balance the rest of the pyramid.
If any part of your pyramid falls, you’ll need to start over. Whichever team has the most complete pyramid when time runs out will be the winner!
The value of being able to approach problems analytically can’t be overstated. Because when problems arise, the best way to solve them is by examining the facts and making a decision based on what you know.
With CI: The Crime Investigators, this is exactly what your team will be called upon to do as you put your detective’s hats on and work to solve a deadly crime.
You’ll be presented with evidence and need to uncover and decipher clues. And using only the information at your disposal, you’ll need to examine the facts in order to crack the case.
Like many of our team building problem solving activities, CI: The Crime Investigators is available in a hosted format, which can take place at your office or an outside venue, as well as a virtually-hosted format that uses video conferencing tools, or a self-hosted version that you can run entirely on your own.
Each member of your team has their own unique strengths and skills. And by learning to combine those skills, you can overcome any challenge and solve any problem. With Team Pursuit, you and your team together to tackle challenges as you learn new things about one another, discover your hidden talents, and learn to rely on each other.
This team building problem solving activity is perfect for high-energy groups that love to put their heads together and work strategically to solve problems as a group.
If you and your team are working remotely, don’t worry. You still have a ton of great virtual team building problem solving options at your disposal.
In this virtual escape room experience, your team will be transported into a pyramid cursed by a restless mummy. You’ll have to work together to uncover clues and solve complex challenges to lift the ancient curse.
You’ve probably never heard of a man named Neil Davidson. But your group will need to come together to solve the mystery of his murder by analyzing clues, resolving challenges, and figuring out who had the means, motive, and opportunity to commit a deadly crime.
This activity will challenge you and your group to approach problems analytically, read between the lines, and use critical thinking in order to identify a suspect and deliver justice.
If you and your team like brainteasers, then Virtual Escape Room: Jewel Heist will be a big hit.
Here’s the backstory.
There’s been a robbery. Someone has masterminded a heist to steal a priceless collection of precious jewels, and it’s up to you and your team to recover them before time runs out.
Together, you’ll need to uncover hidden clues and solve a series of brain-boggling challenges that require collaboration, creative problem-solving, and outside-the-box thinking. But be quick! The clock is ticking before the stolen score is gone forever.
With Virtual Code Break, you and your team can learn to be adaptive and dynamic in your thinking in order to tackle any new challenges that come your way. In this activity, your group will connect on a video conferencing platform where your event host will split you out into teams. Together, you’ll have to adapt your problem-solving skills as you race against the clock to tackle a variety of mixed brainteaser challenges ranging from Sudoku to puzzles, a game of Cranium, riddles, and even trivia.
Curious to see how a virtual team building activity works? Check out this video on a Virtual Clue Murder Mystery in action.
Step into the Outback Time Machine and take a trip through time, from pre-pandemic 21st century through the decades all the way to the 60’s.
This exciting, fast-paced virtual trivia game, packed with nostalgia and good vibes, is guaranteed to produce big laughs, friendly competition, and maybe even some chair-dancing.
Your virtual game show host will warm up guests with a couple of “table hopper rounds” (breakout room mixers) and split you out into teams. Within minutes, your home office will be transformed into a game show stage with your very own game show buzzers!
And if your team loves trivia, check out our list of the most incredible virtual trivia games for work teams for even more ideas.
6. Virtual Jeoparty Social
If your remote team is eager to socialize, have some fun as a group, and channel their competitive spirit, we’ve got just the thing for you! With Virtual Jeoparty Social, you and your colleagues will step into your very own virtual Jeopardy-style game show—equipped with a buzzer button, a professional actor as your host, and an immersive game show platform! Best of all, this game has been infused with an ultra-social twist: players will take part in a unique social mixer challenge between each round.
With the right team building problem solving activities, you can help your team sharpen their core skills to ensure they’re prepared when they inevitably face a challenge at work. And best of all, you can have fun in the process.
Do you have any favorite team building activities for building problem-solving skills? If so, tell us about them in the comments section below!
Learn More About Team Building Problem Solving Activities
For more information about how your group can take part in a virtual team building, training, or coaching solution, reach out to our Employee Engagement Consultants.
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Hot jobs on the muse.
“Team building” is a term you probably first encountered years ago. Maybe when you were in elementary school and your class had to work together to solve a puzzle. Or at camp when your bunk was tasked with completing a group scavenger hunt or catching each other in trust falls.
And yes, you’ve probably done team-building activities (and maybe played some icebreaker games ) in the workplace, too. While they tend to get a bad rap—picture some mandatory HR event where everyone looks miserable and no one wants to go along for the ride—the right kinds of team-building exercises can bring people closer together, help teams work more effectively, and identify gaps and strengths in individual members.
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Want to skip right to the good stuff? Here are our suggestions for:
Team-Building Activities to Do During a Meeting
Team-building activities to do during the workday, team-building activities to do outside the office.
Read More: 100+ Icebreaker Questions—So You’ll Never Have to Think of a “Fun” Fact Again
Why Team-Building Activities Are Important
Besides offering up a fun and creative alternative to bonding over happy hour (which can make people who don’t drink feel left out), team-building activities provide companies and employees with plenty of added benefits.
At the base level, team building allows people to get to know each other—their interests, their strengths and weaknesses, and how they communicate, among other things. “Just like any professional sports team works and practices with one another to be at their best, teams at work can and should do the same thing,” says Muse career coach Al Dea . And just like you can’t jump onto the field with a team that has zero clue who’s playing what position, who’s passing the ball to whom, and who’s the best at handling XYZ situation, you can’t achieve anything if your team members don’t understand one another.
Team-building activities also build camaraderie and trust—one of the most important aspects of a successful team. “Building a sense of trust amongst teammates [allows] people [to] bring the full power of their skills, personalities, and who they are to work,” says Dea. “When people don’t have trust to do that, they hold back, thus sometimes limiting their abilities to be at their best.”
Finally, team-building activities can help remind people that work is never just about them—it’s about the entire group. When you’re encouraged to do something together, rather than solo, it brings to life the idea that the group’s success (and ultimately the company’s) should be a priority. This can be a particularly useful learning experience for teams that struggle with teamwork, are overly competitive, or lack unity and confidence as a result of a bad manager or hard times.
So what do these exercises look like? Check out some of our favorites.
Team building doesn’t have to be an all-day affair. In fact, taking 20 minutes out of the first half of your next group meeting can be enough to spark innovation and teamwork.
1. Solve a Puzzle
This can be a literal puzzle, like a 500 piece set (if you’re down to spend a few dollars on Amazon), or a brain teaser that requires thinking and brainstorming out loud. Toss one out to your team and, if you’re feeling overly ambitious, give them a time limit to complete the task. The key is that everyone has to contribute to the success of the project.
Once they’re done or time runs out, take a moment to reflect on the experience. Ask your team: What was your strategy to solve it? Who did what? Why did you make the decisions you did? Allowing everyone to think through their process might highlight unique perspectives or strengths in each individual—or at least lead to an eye-opening conversation.
2. Count to 20
This one’s super simple and great if you want to take a couple of minutes to bond.
Have everyone sit in a circle. Anyone can start the count off or say a number at any time, the goal being to count from one to 20. However, if two people jump in at the same time to say a number, the count starts over. This game requires team members not only to be cognizant of the group dynamic, but to work together—with limited communication—to get to the end.
3. Try a Compliment Circle
There are different variations you can take on this to encourage your team to express appreciation for one another. One option is you can simply spend five minutes having individuals compliment one another, whatever pops into their mind (if you’re the manager, you should start to get the ball rolling!). This can be as easy as saying, “I wanted to tell Gina I loved her proposal this week” or “Big shoutout to Danny for bringing in donuts last week when we were all heads-down to meet a big deadline.” Or you can go around and have each person address the coworker to their right, so that everyone gets a chance to shine.
4. Host a Brainstorming Session
Team building can absolutely be work focused, and oftentimes that’s the best kind. The key is to make these brainstorming sessions less about day-to-day accomplishments and more about bigger team goals. Maybe you want to outline your KPIs for the rest of the quarter. Maybe you want to hash out some new ideas for an upcoming campaign. Maybe your team’s strategy feels stale and you’re looking for ways to refresh it.
Whatever your goal, try organizing your conversation using one of these suggestions:
- An idea board: The simplest form of brainstorming. Give everyone an agenda ahead of time, and have them come to the meeting with three to five ideas. Talk through them, and have people contribute additional thoughts, questions, or concerns.
- Fist to five : Have everyone brainstorm solutions to a problem, then go through them one by one by holding up a fist or a number of fingers up to five. A fist means you’re not on board and five fingers up means you think it’s a great idea. Then, have everyone state their case as to why they chose the fingers they did.
- Went well, went OK, could have done better: At The Muse, we use this process for quarterly retrospectives and project post-mortems. Have everyone jot down on Post-it notes things they thought went well, things they thought went OK, and things that didn’t go well or could have been done better, and sort the Post-its into their respective categories. Once all the ideas are on the table talk through them and come up with potential solutions to the problem areas.
5. Have a “Show and Tell”
This can be a great way to get your team to brag a bit about their accomplishments, and to encourage them to stay updated on what everyone else is working on.
One great example of this at The Muse is something we call “Sip it and Ship it.” One Friday of the month, our engineering team hosts an open meeting where anyone at the company has the option to take a look at and test out our latest “shipped” or completed products—while “sipping” on alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverages.
You can do this on a small scale, too. If you’re a team of two or three, spend a few minutes a week or once a month getting together and highlighting something each member is working on, and allow people to ask questions, give suggestions, and offer up positive feedback.
These activities are great for longer meetings, or if you want to spend an afternoon or a few hours away from your desk.
6. Share Your Personality
Have everyone on your team fill out a personality test (here are some of our favorites ), then get together and discuss. What you decide to do with this is really up to you—the key is to have each employee understand their colleagues’ strengths, weaknesses, and ticks. Maybe you group similar personalities together and have them chat about how their traits come out in the workplace, or have them complete an assignment like designing their “ideal” office based on their personality type and sharing it with the group.
Another option? Have everyone fill out this “user manual” and share their findings with the team.
7. Play Team or Board Games
You don’t need me to tell you that board games bring people together (just read this article on the benefits of networking over games). And there are some many great, office-friendly options out there!
There’s Apples to Apples (a SFW version of Cards Against Humanity), Code Names , Pandemic , and Jenga—all games that require teamwork. There are also non-tabletop games like Celebrity or Heads Up (available on iOS and Android ) that require nothing but a phone or a pen and paper.
It may feel silly to pull out some games in the middle of the office, but you may be surprised to find that doing so loosens your team up and forces them to work together in different and creative ways.
8. Create a Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger hunts can be great for new hires to get to know the landscape and their team—requiring them to identify things around the office and ask seasoned employees questions during their first week such as “When was [Company] started?” or “Who was our first client?” or “How many people work on the marketing team?”
But they’re just as effective with veteran teams. Maybe you set one up for employees to uncover X number of facts or artifacts by the end of the day together. Or divide the group into multiple teams and see who finishes first. However you choose to do it and whatever you choose for them to find, this will definitely encourage team members to work together on something far removed from their usual work and team of people.
9. Untangle a “Human Knot”
This is a camp favorite, but also a fun way to have team members come together to solve a problem. Have everyone squish together in a circle and grab hands with people not directly next to them. The goal, once everyone’s hands are interlocked, is to untangle yourselves without breaking the chain. You can make it even more challenging by not allowing people to talk or putting a time limit on it. It requires a bit of leg room to crawl over each other (not to mention an office culture where people feel comfortable holding hands—tread carefully with this one), but if you feel up to it it can make for a fun puzzle.
10. Give Out Blind Directions
Pair team members up and have one put on a blindfold—it’s then the other person’s job to direct them in making moves as best they can, whether that’s getting them to the other side of the office or having them complete a task like moving an object or drawing a picture. Have individuals who normally don’t work as closely together do this exercise, and it’ll help them practice communication and build trust.
11. Do a Silent Line-Up
Set a timer, and have people line up in various orders say, by height, birthday, or company tenure—without saying a word. Your team will learn a bit about each other while overcoming an unusual challenge.
12. Host a Lunch and Learn
Your team is probably full of unspoken talent—use those strengths as a way to bring everyone together. Maybe someone’s a great knitter, or speaks another language, or is a pro at using Excel. Have them host a “lunch and learn” where they teach the rest of the crew a new skill over your midday break. Your employee will practice mentoring and giving presentations, and your team will learn something new and exciting about their peers.
13. Have a Hack Day
Hack days are big in the tech and engineering sphere, but they can be beneficial for just about any team.
The idea is simple: Have everyone drop what they’re working on and spend the day completing a special project that benefits the team or company. If you can, have multiple departments (if not the whole company) participate and require employees to work with people on different teams. The point is to have people think outside the box by creating something that requires a new set of skills or way of thinking.
Maybe you spend the day rethinking your onboarding document for new hires, or brainstorming a new sales pitch, or building a new feature into a product—whatever it is, it should cost $0 to create and be something you can make (or conceptualize) in a workday.
14. Put on a Contest
For example, you could host a department desk decorating face-off (this is a big hit in The Muse office on Halloween), or plan a cookie or guacamole-making contest, where employees bring in their best recipes and the team judges their favorites (plus, who doesn’t like food during the workday?). It creates a bit of healthy competition, while encouraging employees to spend time together and bond over a common hobby.
It’s certainly trickier to have people hang out outside of work, but if you can get everyone together (or can take the afternoon to go on an adventure), these can be great activities for team building.
15. Complete an Escape-the-Room Challenge
Everyone’s doing them these days, and it’s no wonder why: Trying to escape when you’re “trapped” in a room with people (in a set time period) is a team effort. If you live in a city that offers them (some options here and here ), you can find an assortment of escape-the-room challenges, including a submarine, jail cell, or even an office (how ironic!). Per person it may cost you around $30, the same price of say, taking your team bowling or paying for a few drinks at happy hour.
16. Take a Cooking Class
Cooking classes are a great way to help teams bond because they’re not just an individual activity—often what you’re making requires multiple sets of hands. CourseHorse and Groupon are great places to find these kinds of opportunities, for cheap.
17. Take an Improv Class
A lot more interactive than cooking classes, improv classes can teach you a lot of valuable skills for the workplace—including how to communicate with others and overcome various challenges as a team. Plus, they force you to get out of your comfort zone and have a laugh with your colleagues. You can check out sites like CourseHorse for options, or do a quick Google search to find the best comedy cellars near your office.
18. Sign Up for Trivia
Who doesn’t love trivia? Besides the fact that it allows employees to flex their history and pop culture muscles, it’s also incredibly team-oriented. Go together to a local spot’s trivia night, or bring in a host to your office and split the department into teams to battle for the winning title.
19. Volunteer
If your team is passionate about a certain cause or initiative, consider taking the day to do some community service. Not only will you bond, but you’ll come out feeling great and making a positive impact on your community. Here’s how to bring volunteer opportunities to your office , and some tips on various volunteering activities you can do, depending on your level of commitment.
20. Start a Book Club
Grab a book related to your field and have everyone read it over a few weeks. Then, set aside some time to sit and chat about it (over snacks!). You’ll spark interesting conversation, encourage colleagues to share ideas, stories, and input, and help everyone learn a bit more about their role within the team.
Check out our best reads if you need inspiration.
21. Tackle a Ropes Course
This is a bit more ambitious, but it’s a great day trip or retreat activity to get your team outdoors and still working together. Ropes courses require teamwork in so many ways, whether you’re encouraging a teammate to overcome an especially challenging part or trying to get through a maze as a group. Just make sure everyone on your team is on board with this before moving forward (for example, ensuring no one’s afraid of heights or has mobility issues)—if they’re hesitant you may have more success trying something else out.
22. Form an Intramural League
If your team is full of athletes, this could be the perfect option for bonding outside the office.
It doesn’t have to be a tiring sport, either! Plenty of cities offer opportunities to play things like skeeball, bocce, or cornhole. If you want your efforts to go toward a cause, consider signing up to run (or walk) a 5K for charity together.
- Climbing Trees
- Crate Stack
- Jacob’s Ladder
- Leap of Faith
- Tyrolean Traversing
- Mega Zip Line
- Super Zip Line
Problem Solving
Description
What is problem solving.
A range of problem solving challenges, some physical and some more cognitive all involving team work. Sessions can be themed and problems solved rewarded with points or items of equipment for a further mission; or money (special OE currency!) awarded that can be used to buy equipment for an end task.
This session is great for bringing new groups together or to explore team dynamics within existing groups.
Learning Outcomes of Problem Solving
Team work, communication, leadership, self awareness, reviewing, encouragement and support, mutual respect, listening skills, carrying out instructions, risk awareness, awareness and consideration of others, work ethic, personal preparation, self esteem, problem solving and analytical skills, responsibility, shared experience, willingness to try, new skills, personal development, sense of achievement.
Outdoor Elements has an outdoor activity centre set within a 7-acre woodland. Problem Solving is one of the activities available. Additionally, problem solving can be delivered:
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- at your school
- inside or out
- conference facilities
- woodland settings
- based on your requirements, we can offer various venues across the north-west
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Problem Solving Activities and Skills
June 13, 2018 Rob Sayers Team Building Activities , Training Courses 0
Problem solving is a very valuable skill to have, and each of us possess it to some degree. To teach problem solving skills, you need to set a few challenges or puzzles for the team to solve.
There are several things you need to consider when approaching or creating problem solving activities. One of the first questions that needs to be answered is what is the point of this exercise?
What are you trying to Achieve?
This is the most obvious question to ask, yet often overlooked. You need to ask what it is that you are being asked to do. This leads onto other questions such as “What does success look like?” of “What effect are you trying to have?”
If you are creating problem solving activities, I find that making the outcome obvious a good way to engage the team. However, you have to make the method require some considerable thinking and experimentation. This is the key to setting problem solving activities. It is not a challenge if the solution is easy.
Another important thing to consider when setting problems is to make the solution appear achievable. Unless your team is full of some strong characters, you may find that everyone gives up. This most often happens with teenagers who aren’t always engaged with team building and would rather be somewhere else. Maintain attention by a bit of storytelling. You are just trying to get a box out of a tree, you are rescuing a stranded pilot, or stealing food store from a group of bandits.
Understand the Situation
Do you understand the circumstances in which you have to work and solve the problem? Do you understand the following:
- Rules and constraints of the problem
- Assumptions – don’t take anything for granted. You may be able to find clever ways to circumvent or innovate
- What is important? – It cost the key factor, or time, or how much resource you use?
- What are the dependencies – How to different parts of the system interact or relate? If you change one area, what is the impact on the overall situation?
- Time critical responses – what needs to be done and when, or doesn’t it matter?
- Will circumstances change during the task? – Will external factors change the rules by which you have to play by?
Learning system skills is another way of approaching problem solving activities. Thinking strategically is an extremely important skill, especially for leaders.
Problem Solving Activities
So, here are a few ideas to get you started. Some are physical, others can be done in the classroom or office. All of them require the team to think strategically and for there to be good leadership.
Water Barrel Swap
Tie a pulley to a tree branch and pass a rope through it. Tie a barrel to each end of the rope. Fill one barrel with water. Then fence off an area around the barrels. The challenge is to swap positions of the barrels without anyone touching the floor inside the fenced off area, or touch the barrels.
Swamp Crossing
Create a swamp, and then the teams have to cross it without going in it. They can be provided with a variety of useful and unuseful equipment. Planks and bricks are commonly used. You can also get the teams to make a bridge.
Get Container from Fenced Area
Place a container inside a fenced off area. The teams are then given a range of equipment to reach and remove the container with it or the equipment touching the ground. Poles and ropes are the main bits of kit. If the canister is light, then the use of an elastic band and four pieces of string are a quick extraction solution.
Film Canister Retrieval from Tube Using Water
Mount a length of plastic drainpipe vertically. Seal off the bottom. Drop in a plastic film canister. The team then has to use their initiative to get the canister out. It will of course be too narrow to get your hand in, and the use of a stick will not work. The solution is to pour in water to make the canister float to the top of the drainpipe.
Carry Bucket of Water Along Rope Over Obstacle course
Make an obstacle course and string a rope along it. Then put the rope through the handle of a bucket of water. The team then has to work together to get the bucket along the length of rope over the obstacles without spilling any water.
As a team, get over a ten foot wall.
Get the Team Through a Sheet of Paper
Using a sheet of A4 or letter sized paper and a pair of scissors, you have to cut the sheet of paper so that it forms a hole big enough to fit the entire team through.
HINT You cut the paper in a zig zag pattern…
Measuring Without Markings – Water Decanter
Give the team two jugs. One jug holds 5 litres, the other jug holds 3 litres. The team has to measure t exactly 4 litres using the jugs. They have an unlimited amount of water to experiment with. The answer lies in pouring water from one jug into the other and back.
For a more advanced problem to solve, give the team an eight litre container full of water and two empty containers, one that holds 5 litres and the other 3 litres. The team must divide the eight litres into two of the containers, each with exactly four litres in each.
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Fun outdoor team building activities – 17 ideas, benefits for your team, & how to plan.
What if there was a way to make team building activities even better? Well, there is. Try doing them outside! Planning fun, outdoor team building activities is one of the best methods you can try for engaging your team and fostering camaraderie. A healthy dose of sun and serotonin helps maximize the power of team building as your group solves problems, practices communication skills, and builds trust. Keep reading to learn more about the benefits of outdoor team building. We also share 16 fun ideas and walk you through how to plan your next event step by step.
Table of Contents
What are outdoor team building activities.
How Do Outdoor Team Building Activities Improve Team Building Skills?
17 Fun Outdoor Team Building Activities To Try
Charitable Team Building Activities
Physical Team Building Activities
Laid Back Team Building Activities
How To Plan for Outdoor Team Building Activities
Outdoor team building activities are the things and games you do with your people while outside to build a strong team and improve the way they work with one another. These activities might involve conversations, parties, workshops — and especially — games.
There are truly thousands of different team building activities to do with your team. But no matter which you choose, outdoor team building is a great way to change the pace and instantly boost your employee engagement levels.
How Do Outdoor Activities Improve Team Building Skills?
When you’re outside with your team, you intensify all the benefits of team building activities by capitalizing on the mood- and health-boosting effects of being in the sun.
The benefits of team building are similar to the benefits of getting your daily dose of Vitamin D. Here are some things we know about being outside in the sun regularly:
Boosts Mood
Sun exposure increases serotonin, the bodily-produced chemical responsible for satisfaction, happiness, optimism, sleep, digestion, and more. So many of us spend more than seven hours inside looking at a screen each day. Studies show that little sun exposure can lead to more mental health distress.
When outside, people experience a mood boost and are more likely to be active and engaged participants in your team building activity and in the workplace.
Improves Physical and Mental Health
It’s long been known that outside activity is good for you! And research suggests that experiences in nature are associated with psychological well-being.
The better your people feel, the more likely you are to get their best effort. It’s well worth the investment to encourage people to get outside and provide opportunities for them to do so.
Reduces Stress
The outdoors also helps your body regulate melatonin — a key factor for reducing stress levels and getting quality sleep. Getting your team outside can be a quick and efficient way to help lower stress levels and increase overall job satisfaction.
Getting outside opens the door (literally) to a wide variety of activity options that virtual team building can be limited by. The advantage of the open space and being in person creates the perfect storm for some serious excitement! Virtual team building is great for teams and comes with its own host of benefits , but keep reading for some fun outdoor activities you can try with your team.
Charitable Outdoor Team Building Activities
1. plan a 5k run or walk.
Combining exercise with a communal effort to raise money for a cause is a great way to get active with your team! Your team can plan a philanthropic 5K run/walk or find one of the hundreds of races that support everything from breast cancer awareness and children’s hospitals to military veterans and people with disabilities.
Encourage your team to help raise money by donating to the cause and tapping into their social networks for additional donations. You can even make it a competition! Split your team into groups, encourage them to pick a group name, and see who raises the most for the cause.
2. Plant Some Trees
Enjoying the trees while in nature is part of what makes outdoor team building activities enjoyable. Why not gather your team and give a gift to the next generation by planting trees? Your team can find a local organization like MillionTreesNYC , for example, and support the effort to create more green spaces in local parks, communities, and near schools.
Your team will connect over the shared satisfaction that their tree-planting efforts are helping to:
- Reduce climate change
- Purify and clean the air
- Provide a habitat for local wildlife
- Fight soil erosion
- Provide cooling shade
3. Organize a Local Neighborhood or Beach Clean-Up
Littering, or improper disposal of waste products is a pervasive issue in many communities and on beaches. Studies show littering harms local wildlife, negatively impacts the environment, lowers property values, and makes enjoying nature much more difficult.
Team building activities give your team a chance to work together and cooperate towards a common goal. Giving back to a community by organizing a clean-up is a great way to rally your team to work together to help mitigate this environmental concern that impacts everyone.
4. Volunteer at a Soup Kitchen
Millions of people go hungry every day. Soup kitchens aim to help with that problem by providing hot meals to people without housing. Helping those in need produces the kind of team satisfaction that money can’t buy. Your entire team will bond over making a meaningful difference in people’s lives.
5. Do Random Acts of Kindness
Looking for a team building activity that is socially conscious, and available to do anywhere, at any time, for a group of any size? Try doing a random act of kindness challenge!
How it works:
- Split your team into smaller groups
- Compete as you complete a series of tasks designed to make strangers in your community smile
The team that completes the most random acts of kindness within the given time frame wins! Your team challenge might include acts for strangers like:
- Give a compliment
- Buy someone a cup of coffee
- Pick up 10 pieces of litter
- Hold the door open for someone
- Help a senior citizen carry groceries to the car
- Buy an ice cream cone for a child
You can make this an hour-long event or even a week-long initiative! Encourage groups within your team to snap a photo of the random act. At the end of the activity, have folks share the reactions they got and how the experience impacted them.
Physical Outdoor Team Building Activities
6. go on a scavenger hunt.
Scavenger hunts are an excellent outdoor team building activity to get your people excited and engaged. When you take them outdoors with your team, the possibilities are endless!
Here are a couple ideas:
- Make it nature themed: Split your team into groups and have them race to snap a photo of various items found outdoors like pinecones, dandelions, local trees, plants, and wildlife.
- Make it historical: Every town, neighborhood, and city has a history. Encourage your team to bond as they race to snap photos of local landmarks, buildings, and historical sites. You can also try a museum scavenger hunt !
Apps like GooseChase make planning this outdoor team building activity super easy! As the host, you’ll be able to see real-time game action with a live leaderboard and activity feed. Your team members will also enjoy the fun, user-friendly app.
You can also consider virtual scavenger hunts for any team building moments that might need to occur virtually.
7. Practice Archery
Improve focus and have fun while playing a round of archery with your team! Most adults sit all day. Archery will help improve upper back strength, hand-eye coordination, and balance, all while participating in this entertaining outdoor activity.
Arranging archery for your team is as easy as finding a local archery club and scheduling a group event.
8. Try an Escape Room
While not technically outdoors, escape rooms are incredible team building activities that happen out of the office. As a team, you’ll work to solve problems in an immersive, challenging, and fun group setting. Your team will practice communication skills, build trust, and bond over an exciting shared adventure.
9. Throw Some Axes
Axe throwing is exactly what it sounds like — throwing an axe at a board made of wood! The goal is to hit the bullseye with your axe to score points. Your team will remember axe throwing for years to come because this out-of-the-box activity is a blast and sure to earn laughs. You can sweeten the deal by offering the winning team a prize.
10. Play Hide and Go Seek
Adults can enjoy a game of hide and seek too! Split into teams and have one team close their eyes as others run and find a spot to hide. This game is simple to explain, and most people already know the rules. To increase the pressure, you can set a time limit for teams to find the other group.
This childhood classic is a great way to bring some nostalgia as teams hunt for their opponents. Sometimes, team building activities are just about having fun and sharing laughs to foster deeper connections. Hide and seek is the perfect, quickstart game to get folks excited about the outdoor team building activities you have planned.
11. Try Geocaching
Have you heard about geocaching? It’s the world’s largest treasure hunt. Geocaching is an outdoor adventure that encourages your team to use the geocaching app or a GPS device to find hidden containers called geocaches.
Today, there are more than three million geocaches just waiting to be found. Have your teams race to find geocaches and share their experience hunting them down! Geocaches can truly be anything , so what your teams find will run the gamut. Common geocache content includes foreign currency, disposable cameras, keychains, ornamental buttons, and books.
12. Play a Round of Mini Golf
Let’s face it, playing 18 holes of real golf is time consuming. But mini golf allows you and your team to have a fun outing that won’t take all day. Mini golf courses are everywhere, so you shouldn’t have trouble finding one. Courses are often themed like glow in the dark, monsters, outer space, and even shipwrecks!
You can encourage your people to partner together and bond with coworkers they don’t always spend time with. However, your team will experience all the team building effects from mini golf no matter what.
13. Play Freeze Tag
Freeze tag is another classic children’s game that’s sure to remind your people of simpler times. Freeze tag is different from traditional tag in that once someone gets tagged or touched, they can’t move unless another player helps them.
Here’s how to play:
- Select some team members to be “it”
- Set a time limit for these players to chase everyone else
- Make sure they yell “FREEZE!” when they tap other players
- Players who are not yet frozen can work together to tap frozen players to unfreeze them
- End the game when all players are frozen, or the time limit is up
14. Take a Hike
Explore nature by walking a trail with your team. Hiking is excellent for health and overall well-being. Hiking will help your team connect as they lower the risk of heart disease, build strength and improve blood sugar all by walking in nature.
Here’s an idea:
Mix, match, and combine your team building activities by pairing a hike with a scavenger hunt. Before starting your journey, make a list for your team that includes the things and animals one might expect to encounter. See who can find everything first!
To make this activity more collaborative, you can make players work in teams of two and three to spot and identify checklist items.
15. Host a Field Day
Hosting a Field Day is the perfect way to get some exercise, encourage wellness, promote health, and have fun while playing various sporting activities with your team.
Split your team into small groups and keep score after every activity. Announce the winning group at the end! You can make it extra special by hosting an official award ceremony, complete with first, second, and third place trophies or medals.
Try these games at your next Field Day:
- Sack race: Race to the finish line while hopping one-by-one in a potato sack.
- Three-legged race: Two people tie themselves together at the ankles and race to the finish line against other three-legged opponents.
- Tug of war: Two groups of people do a test of strength by trying to pull the other team to your side.
- Blindfolded obstacle course: Can your people navigate a course blind? Foster trust and build communication skills by having your employees take turns directing their blindfolded partners.
- Egg and spoon race: Race to the finish line while balancing an egg on a spoon. Don’t let it fall!
- Face the cookie: A hands-free activity that asks players to use nothing beyond facial muscles to move a cookie from the forehead to the mouth.
Laid Back Outdoor Team Building Activities
16. Plan a Beach Day
Give your team a chance to kick it at the beach for a great outdoor event, sure to lower stress and promote happiness and well-being. Teams can lounge in the sun while using fun icebreakers to spark conversation that build connections and trust.
Bring a volleyball so people can play a game or two on the beach. You can also pack a game of Kan Jam . Kan Jam is a fun beach-friendly activity that asks players to throw flying discs to hit or enter a goal for points.
Consider bringing sandwiches, snacks, and drinks to ensure your team is well fed and hydrated while relaxing.
17. Have a Barbeque
Fire up the grills and spend the day sharing and connecting through food. You can make it a potluck and invite your team members to bring a dish to the party! Give everyone a chance to share why they selected their dishes and what it means to them.
Try these conversational games at your barbeque:
- This or That: Take turns presenting two, confliction options and have players guess which you’d prefer or identify with.
- 20 Questions: Guess what object, person, place, thing or animal your opponent is thinking of by asking only yes or no questions.
- Two Truths and Lie: Can you spot the lie when players share two facts about their lives and a lie?
Don’t forget to make a playlist and bring speakers!
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How to Plan for Outdoor Team Building Activities
Outdoor events are super fun but can sometimes be overwhelming, especially when you want everything to go according to plan. But don’t fret; below are 16 steps to plan your next outdoor team building extravaganza.
- Pick Your Activities
Selecting activities is the fun part. It can be helpful to first decide how you envision the day unfolding. What activities in the list above sound like a good fit for your team? Once you make a shortlist of your proposed activities, see what folks are interested in!
Considerations:
- Send a short survey and gauge interest in various team building activities. What you select can (and should) be heavily influenced by your peoples’ preferences.
- Your more introverted team members might appreciate a mix of high energy and low energy activities. Your itinerary should also include regularly scheduled breaks throughout the day.
- Location, Location, Location
Once you know what activities you want to include, it’s time to pick the place! If you’re doing activities that are contained to one location, like sports and games, you might pick a park or open field. But make sure your location is walkable if your activities encourage folks to explore the neighborhood, like a scavenger hunt or random acts of kindness challenge.
Considerations:
- Be sure to investigate the need to obtain any permits or permissions for use of any public property.
- You may want to rent an outdoor tent to provide a backup option in case it rains. If it doesn’t, your tent can provide some much-needed shade under the hot afternoon sun.
- Safety is paramount. Pick walkable areas that have lots of sidewalks and traffic lights for pedestrian crossing.
- Picking places close to your office or selecting an employee’s local community might be a good way to engage team members.
- Choose a Date and Time
When you have a location, your next task is picking a date and time. Getting on everyone’s calendars is tricky but tools like Doodle make the process a bit easier.
- Local parks or fields might be extra crowded on holidays like Memorial Day or Labor Day.
- Think through what times of year are busiest for your team and avoid those days, weeks, or months.
- Remember Food and Drinks
Whether team members are lounging on the beach or having a full Field Day, food is a great way to keep energy levels high.
You can explore a range of food options including:
- Hiring a caterer
- Ordering food from a delivery service like DoorDash or Uber
- Asking team members to each bring a dish
- Cooking together on-site via grill or outdoor kitchen
- Be sure to take note of any allergies on the team. To make things easier, do a quick survey of attendees to learn what they like, dislike, or can’t eat.
- Check that your location allows you to bring food.
- Not every park includes grills to cook food. If you intend on preparing food at the location, make sure you have the items necessary to cook and serve food.
- Have a lot of water on hand to help prevent dehydration from being outdoors and active.
- Inevitably, a lot of waste comes with food and drink. Remind your people not to feed wildlife and to clean up after themselves to promote a healthy environment.
- Invite Your Guests
When inviting your team, try to provide as much information as possible so they can plan and dress accordingly. Include a note that helps the team get excited for what’s ahead!
- Share the event location
- Include an overview of the activities
- Ask for volunteers to be team captain for any group competitions. You can even communicate what the groups will be ahead of time to allow them to pick a name and develop some team pride before the event.
Team building activities are a must for every team. But outdoor team building activities are one of the best ways to improve how your team works together and relates to one another. The good news is that outdoor team building activities are incredibly fun and your team will love it. But it’s not just more fun. Being outdoors provides a whole host of health and mood-boosting benefits that make your team building activities even more effective.
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Outdoor Learning and Advanced Problem-Solving
By Leslie Morrison, CTD Summer Leapfrog Coordinator
“There is no such thing as bad weather—only inappropriate clothing.”
-Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Alfred Wainwright
School curriculum and daily lessons are typically anchored in rooms with walls, and play is often associated with the outdoors. And yet just the words “outdoor learning” seem to open new and exciting possibilities for students. Outdoor learning offers challenging problem-solving opportunities as well as a chance for students to learn from failures and rediscover their strengths.
How might an outdoor classroom enhance learning for younger students? In outdoor learning environments, students can experience hands-on opportunities for learning, and engage in authentic problem-solving in ways that could not be experienced with the same depth in an indoor classroom. For example, in one study , a small group of children wanted to create a rope swing in an outdoor area. The teacher provided the rope and modeled how to tie knots, and then the students took charge at that point. The students figured out that there were important steps they needed to take to create a functioning swing, from deciding that a large stick would be used for the seat to measuring out the length of the rope. This was a collaborative, higher-order problem-solving activity that was also highly motivating for students. Additionally, rich conversations developed as they worked towards completion of their unique swing.
Mistakes and Persistence
Outdoor learning experiences allow students of all ages to experience risk and adventure at a developmentally appropriate pace. Risk-taking is critical to advancing children’s learning. But in some instances, and often for gifted and talented children, students can become risk-averse. Because some GT students are perfectionists, they may not want to risk failure in unfamiliar tasks. Their motivation can waver, and they may not want to try, or try more than once. When students “play it safe” in their learning, their creativity and higher-order problem-solving can be stifled, leaving messier but fruitful learning experiences to the side.
With outdoor learning, such as a wilderness challenge, students work collaboratively on projects. They can quickly identify mistakes and make modifications, since the learning experiences are so immediate and concrete. Students often draw on skills that they likely don’t exhibit in a traditional classroom, which builds confidence and excitement for learning. Outdoor learning offers students a new way of discovering how failures can lead to new understandings. They can figure out how to make a lean-to shelter that doesn’t fall down, or propose new ways to make a working solar oven, or just keep trying until they make a swing that actually works.
This summer, CTD is offering a class on outdoor learning for grades 2-3. In Wilderness Challenge , students will hone survival skills while putting STEM concepts into practice. These immediate, concrete learning experiences make math and science a lot of fun!
Forest Schools: Fires, Trees, and Mud Pies
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/dec/09/the-school-in-the-woods-outdoor-education-modern-britain
Self-esteem and Successful Interaction as Part of the Forest School Project
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.0268-2141.2004.00337.x/epdf
The Effect of Environment-Based Education on Students’ Achievement Motivation
http://www.seer.org/pages/research/AthmanandMonroeJIR2004.pdf
Preschool without Walls
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/31/fashion/outdoor-preschool-in-nature.html
Back to School, Back Outdoors: Executive Summary
https://www.nwf.org/pdf/Be%20Out%20There/Back%20to%20School%20full%20report.pdf
5 Benefits of Outdoor Education
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/5-benefits-of-outdoor-education-michael-becker
Early Childhood Education Takes to the Outdoors
https://www.edutopia.org/early-childhood-outdoor-education-waldkindergarten
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Fun Team-Building Problem-Solving Activities
Teamwork is what allows organizations to overcome their biggest obstacles and thrive in a crowded global marketplace. As Andrew Carnegie said generations ago, teamwork is what enables “people to attain uncommon results.” When teams work together effectively, they can give their employers a competitive edge and increase their individual and collective levels of success. Even teams that sometimes seem like they’ll work seamlessly on paper fail to meet, let alone exceed, the mark, whatever that goal might be. As a manager, it’s your job to help the team you oversee succeed. One way you can do that is by engaging your team in some fun team-building problem-solving activities.
It’s important to note that the point of those activities isn’t to ensure everyone likes one another. While it would be great if your entire team consisted of friends, the odds are better than not that some team members may simply not like others—and that’s okay! A team doesn’t have to consist of BFFs to be effective and goal-oriented. In fact, the differences that exist between the members of your team will give everyone a chance to learn, gain alternative points of view, and achieve greater effectiveness.
Creative Problem-Solving Activities from Let’s Roam
The experts at Let’s Roam have carefully constructed a series of team-building activities that will help you to build stronger connections, increase productivity, and improve morale. These exercises can be used in the office, or virtually for remote teams, and focus on problem-solving, communication, collaboration, and more. Our planners will work with you to ensure that your next event is a worthwhile endeavor for your staff, so don’t hesitate. Get started today!
The Two Cs: Communication and Collaboration
For the members of a team to work well together, they must know how to communicate and collaborate. Those two critical skills will be the basis for your team’s ultimate success. Luckily, some team-building activities are designed to enhance employee communication and collaboration abilities.
The Best Team-Building Problem-Solving Activities
Can you tell what i changed.
“Can You Tell What I Changed?” is a communication activity that doesn’t take too long. To get started, divide your team into two groups and have each one form a line that faces the other. Give the members in each line the opportunity to observe the individual standing across from them for a minute or two.
Instruct one line to turn around and have the members of the other make five changes to their appearance. Those changes can be as simple as letting their hair out of a ponytail, removing a pair of glasses, and/or taking off a tie. After the members of the second line are done making changes, have the people in the first line turn back around. Ask the members of the first line to identify the changes they recognize.
This activity is a great icebreaker for teams that were only recently put together. It’s also an innovative way to enhance people’s observation skills and to get them to pay attention to things they may overlook otherwise.
Let’s Create a Story for the Ages
Creativity is an important skill that’s often necessary for problem-solving. “Let’s Create a Story for the Ages” is an effective team-building exercise that will enhance your team’s ability to communicate and think creatively.
To prepare for this activity, gather a series of sequential pictures that are big enough for everyone to see. Hang those pictures in the front of the room and have your team sit down where they can see them.
Ask one team member to start a story by coming up with one line about the first picture. Once that person shares the story’s opening line, have another person repeat what was just said and come up with the next sentence. Continue in this manner until your team has told a complete tale that covers all the pictures on display.
A variant of the activity just described is to divide your group into small teams, each consisting of four or five people. Give each of the new teams a piece of paper, pen, and 15–20 minutes to write its own story about the pictures. When the time limit expires, have each team present its story to the rest of the group. After each team has read its tale, allow your whole team to discuss the different interpretations of the pictures.
We Stand Together
“We Stand Together” is a fun, at times guffaw-inducing activity that requires employees to communicate and collaborate to succeed. Divide your team into pairs and have each pair sit back-to-back with their arms linked. The goal of each pair is to then stand up as one without unlinking their arms. Once a duo accomplishes this task, you can assign another pair to the first so that all four can attempt to achieve the same goal together.
Whether they’re working in a pair or foursome, participants will have to communicate and collaborate to stand as one. If anyone is ticklish, be prepared for your whole team to enjoy a few moments of shared laughter, which can truly go a long way in uniting your team.
Activities to Improve Team-Building and Problem-Solving Skills
When you’re confident your team has developed the collaboration and communication skills to succeed as one, it’s time to move on to activities that will help them develop the team-building and problem-solving abilities they’ll need to succeed as a unit. Be sure to pick activities that will help everyone develop the critical talents they’ll need to succeed.
For example, problem-solving requires team members to brainstorm, flex their logical and lateral thinking muscles, actively listen, engage their creativity, and adopt a “what if” mentality. Whereas communication and collaboration are the basis for successful team-building and problem-solving, these other abilities are what your team needs to build on top of that foundation, so to speak.
Build a Campsite
While taking your team on an outdoor retreat may help members develop some team-building and problem-solving skills, that’s not what’s being suggested here. Instead, you can move the furniture in a conference to the side and gather the following items: a small tent, some tennis balls or softballs, and enough chairs and blindfolds for every member of your team.
Divide your team into groups of five or six. Pick one group to kick things off, instructing them to bring their chairs closer to the tent and balls while having the others move their chairs back. The chosen group members should then put on their blindfolds and attempt to make a campsite.
The goal is for them to put up the tent, construct a ring for a campfire using the balls, and position their chairs around the fire ring all while blindfolded. To accomplish this feat, the group will have to work together and solve problems along the way. This activity is fantastic for developing adaptability to challenging conditions.
The Lego Challenge
If you have young kids, then you know that stepping on a Lego without a shoe on isn’t a fun experience. Now, you have reason to go around, collect all those pain-inducing building blocks, and put them to use without feeling guilty. Just be sure you collect enough Legos!
Divide your team into groups under ten. Give each group a set of Lego blocks. Instruct each group to build a structure using their playthings, but only share scant details about what the final structures should look like or what their purpose should be. Give the groups an hour or more to finish their projects depending on how many Legos they have to work with. When the designated amount of time expires, let each group show off its creation and explain what it is. Then, allow your whole team to discuss the various structures, the motivations behind each one, and how improvements might be made.
The goals of this team-building activity are to refine problem-solving techniques improve communication between team members.
Untying the Knot
“Untying the Knot” is a really fun activity to engage your team with. Depending on the size of your team, the whole team can do this as one, or you may have to parcel out members into several groups of ten or less. Assuming your team is small enough to do this together, have everyone stand shoulder-to-shoulder in a circle facing each other. Each person should extend their right hand and take ahold of someone else’s.
Everyone should then do the same with their left hands, making sure they don’t grab the two hands of the same individual who’s across from them. The result will be a hand-holding human knot, which your team members must work together to untangle without letting go of anyone’s hands.
Although this activity may seem simple enough, it will challenge your employees to engage in teamwork before they’re “free.” It will also require some creative thinking and innovative problem solving for the activity to come to an end.
Red Rover Variant
You might remember dashing across the street while trying to avoid being tagged as a kid when you played “Red Rover,” but this variant of the childhood game is comparatively tame and less physically tiring. At least, it’s meant to be tamer and less physically taxing.
Your entire team can do this activity together, or you can break the large group into smaller teams. If you’re dividing your staff into groups, have each one pick a person who’ll act as the “farmer.” The remaining members of each group will assume the role of villagers.
The farmer in each group is responsible for transporting three things to the other side of a figurative river using a boat. A dog, some rice, and a chicken are the things the farmer must get to the other bank. The farmer’s dilemma is as follows:
- The farmer can only transport one thing on the boat
- Leaving the chicken and the dog on the same shore without supervision isn’t feasible because the dog might eat the chicken
- Similarly, the chicken can’t be left unsupervised with the rice because the animal may consume the grain
How will the farmers and their respective villagers complete the task of getting all three items to the other shore with those constraints? After the game, allow some time to come together to assess their approaches and discuss the different outcomes.
If you want to enhance your team’s problem-solving skills with “Egg Drop,” it’s best to warn your employees to dress down a few days in advance of this team-building activity, as things have the potential to get messy. As you may have inferred from the name of this game, you’ll also need to get some eggs to play, as well as a few other supplies.
You’ll divide your team into two or more groups. Each group will be charged with creating some sort of protective packaging for its eggs. The goal is for each group to fashion packaging that will protect the eggs from breaking when they’re dropped from a pre-determined height.
To incentivize your team, designate a reward that the winning group will get to enjoy and tell everyone what the prize is before the competition begins. The team that designs the packaging that keeps the most eggs wins.
If you’re on a tight budget, don’t worry! You can still come up with a prize that won’t cost much, or perhaps won’t cost anything at all. For example, you can let each member of the winning team park in your parking spot for a day. Alternatively, you can let the winning group enjoy an extra day of causal dress the following week.
What Would You Do
While there will be some instances when your team will have a lot of time to solve a problem, it’s likely your employees will have to make decisions fast at other times. To give your team members the chance to practice their quick decision-making abilities, you may want to set aside time for them to engage in an activity called “What Would You Do.”
In this activity, each team member will be given the opportunity to pretend to be the famous person of their choice. Once in that role, the famous individual will be presented with a problem. First, the person must decide if the problem is even worth solving. If it is, the individual must come up with potential solutions in a set period of time. After those solutions are divulged, the team can discuss them and look for possible improvements to each suggested resolution.
Puzzling (AKA “The Barter Puzzle”)
Your employees might find themselves puzzled when they play “Puzzling.” For this activity, you will need to divide your team into smaller groups and come prepared with a different jigsaw puzzle for each group. Before giving each its puzzle, mix a few pieces into the boxes that will be given to other groups.
As each group labors to be the first team to finish its puzzle, its members will eventually realize some key pieces are missing. When the other groups come to the same realization, they’ll need to identify which group or groups have the pieces they need and figure out a way to get them.
The ensuing inter-group bartering may include things like loaning a member to another group. It may also include bribes like buying lunch. Whatever tactics are used, your employees are sure to have a good, collective laugh as they engage their powers of persuasion, teamwork, and problem solving—and there’s nothing puzzling about that, is there?
Escape Room
In recent years, escape rooms have become pretty common and readily accessible in many locations. Even if one isn’t located close to your business, you can create one in your building with just a bit of effort.
The point of an escape room is to challenge the people in the room to work together to find the key and get out of the locked space. Themed escape rooms give you the chance to challenge your team in different ways that are in keeping with various subjects.
For your team to get out of the room, your employees will have to uncover and decipher a series of clues. Every clue will point them in the direction of another hint they’ll need to act upon until they find the final clue that will identify the key’s hiding spot.
Scavenger Hunt
You can involve your team in an indoor or outdoor company scavenger hunt , but this type of activity is even more engaging when you plan it across multiple locations. The goal of a scavenger hunt is for your employees to find sundry items that are either widely accessible or hidden in different places. With each successive discovery, your employees will find a clue that indicates where the next item on their list of things to recover is located.
You can add an element of competition to a scavenger hunt by dividing your team into small groups that will compete to see which group will find all the things on their list first. Heightening that spirit of competition is easy. All you have to do is announce an enticing prize that will be given to the winning group before the hunt begins.
Can You Build It
“Can You Build It” is a game that requires participants to make careful observations, communicate clearly, solve problems, and work as a team. For this game, you’ll need to break out the Legos once again or pick up different materials that can be used to create a structure that you’ll build in advance of your employees engaging in this activity.
To start, hide the structure you built so that no one can see it. Give your team the materials they’ll need to recreate what you made. Allow one person to see your structure. That individual will then describe the structure to the rest of the team and the team will work together to try to recreate it.
If your team fails to make a facsimile of your structure, let someone else take a peek at your creation. Your team will then try to recreate the structure again. The activity will continue in a similar manner until your team successfully and accurately replicates your structure.
This activity engages many of the talents that are necessary for effective team building and problem solving. It requires teammates to trust each other and brainstorm, for example. Communication, observing, and coming up with clever solutions are also required in “Can You Build It.”
That’s One Way to Hula
All you need for “That’s One Way to Hula” is a hula-hoop and some good-spirited employees. For this activity, have your team stand in a circle holding hands. Break the circle by separating two of those joined hands and slip a hula-hoop onto the arm of one of the participants before rejoining their hands. The challenge then becomes for each participant to pass the hula-hoop to a coworker without letting go of the hands the person is holding.
If your team is large, consider separating it into groups. By doing this, you can create a competition to see which group can get the hula-hoop around the entire ring of participants the fastest.
Plan a Fundraiser
While encouraging your team to volunteer is certainly laudable, the problem with doing so is that your team’s success isn’t in the capable hands of its members. If, for example, your team volunteers at an animal rescue, your employees will be told what to do and how and when to do their assigned tasks.
Although volunteering is undeniably worthwhile, rewarding, and necessary for many non-profits, having your team plan a fundraiser may be a better way to give back to others. By planning a fundraiser, your team will have to work together to choose the type of event you’ll host. Your employees will then need to develop a plan to achieve their common objective.
From picking a venue to choosing how to market the fundraiser, deciding who’ll be invited to the event, identifying a realistic fundraising goal, and much more—your team will have plenty to decide and a lot of tasks to execute to pull off a successful event. As is the case with a lot of functions, even ones for great causes, obstacles will probably arise, which your employees will need to come together to overcome.
Social responsibility is one of the key drivers behind employee engagement across industries. Engaging your team with a fundraiser is a great way to improve their team-working and problem-solving abilities while helping them feel more satisfied with their jobs.
As a bonus, putting together a fundraiser can help your business generate some goodwill and increase customer loyalty. Increasingly, consumers are seeking out businesses that share their values. By having your team plan a fundraiser, you can demonstrate that your organization cares about the same things that your ideal customers do.
Team-building and problem-solving activities are a win-win for your team, your business, and your target audience. In addition to facilitating the development of professional skills, these exercises can help you to come away with a clear indication of which team members have the greatest potential to evolve into future team leaders.
Have you utilized team bonding activities? Use the comment section below to let us know which problem-solving activities you have tried and whether or not you experienced positive results.
If you want to start team-building with your employees, don’t hesitate to contact Let’s Roam to help you to plan and customize company events . Whether your group is in an office, remote, or a combination of stationary and virtual teams , our professional guides will help you every step of the way!
Frequently Asked Questions
The expert event guides at Let’s Roam have documented several effective problem-solving exercises . They also offer team-building activities including scavenger hunts , custom trivia , and more.
In addition to facilitating the development of skills such as communication, collaboration, and adaptability, problem-solving exercises can help business managers to identify future team leaders.
You can help your team with a series of problem-solving activities . Plan team-building events that will challenge employees’ collaborative skills, problem-solving techniques, and leadership abilities.
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Outdoor Problem Solving Activities KS2- Learning Maths
Outdoor Problem Solving Activities KS2 – Learning Maths Outdoors
These are some ideas for outdoor problem solving activities for KS2 to help children with learning maths outdoors. One of the most critical aspects of teaching and learning maths is to be able to solve problems. While teaching maths in school, I found that it can become easy to get overly focused on teaching the rules and procedures for doing maths. These are essential tools that everyone needs, but the actual point is to be able to apply those skills in real life. Therefore, children must be given opportunities to practice problem-solving and make it purposeful.
I hope you find these outdoor problem solving activities for KS2 useful, and perhaps they will also inspire you to try other ideas. If you would like some other ways to take learning maths outdoors, you may also want to see my post, Outdoor Maths Activities KS2 .
Nim is a mathematical strategy game where two players take turns removing objects from a pile. Each player must take at least one object per turn. The goal is to either take or avoid taking the last item from the stack. Children can play nim with a pile of sticks or rocks.
Ordering natural objects by different features
Children can place in order objects such as rocks or pinecones based on the characteristic(s) they decide upon. It might be longest to shortest, least to the greatest circumference or smallest to greatest volume.
Observing the sun & moon
Children can explore and investigate the sun and moon, including changes that take place over time. They can try to figure out some of the following questions, and ask some of their own questions as well.
- What time does the sun set and rise? Does this ever change? How do you know?
- Where on the horizon do you first/last see the sun or the moon? Does this change? How do you know?
- Can you observe the phases of the moon- how does it change? Are there any patterns that you notice?
Measuring circles
Children can measure circles (such as flower pots, tree stumps or other circular objects found outside). They can measure the circumference, radius and diameter and then investigate the relationship between radius/diameter and circumference. What do children notice? Is there a pattern? They may even be able to ‘discover’ pi.
How tall is a tree?
Measure / calculate the height of a tree with the shadow & calculation method, triangle method and/or clinometer method. If children try more than one method, do they get the same results? Which method might be more accurate?
(ex. Estimating by height, clinometer method, looking through legs method, pencil method, meter stick method)
Different ways children can help with planning in a garden
Children can figure out how much space is available in the garden and how many different types of plants can be planted. Can they figure out how many of one kind of plant will fit into one planter box? Can they figure out how many different sized plants fit into the same planter box? Children would need to use their measuring skills to calculate the surface area of the garden. Then they would need to find out how much space each plant requires (e.g. from seed packets) and then determine how many and which of the plants can be used.
If a new planter box is purchased, children can help work out how many bags of compost would be needed to fill it. (They would need to measure, calculate the size, etc.) Will there be any leftover soil from one of the bags? How do you know?
If children grow crops such as pumpkins, they can do things like ordering them from heaviest to lightest. This way they might see which is the ‘prize-winning pumpkin’ in a harvest festival.
They might also consider how much each pumpkin could be sold for. This would involve calculating each pumpkin’s cost, based on a price of £1.00 per kilo, £2.00 per kilo (or whatever reasonable price is determined). They might also try to figure out if larger pumpkins (or other crops like corn) always weigh more than smaller ones? *The children will have to define what is the larger, longer, or wider circumference.
Children could get involved with selling the crops they grow. This will give them plenty of opportunities to use mathematical skills and handle money in real-life contexts. They will also need to plan the pricing of different vegetables based on weight, the number of vegetables, or selling them in combinations. Children could even try to figure out the appropriate amount to charge for each crop based on the cost of the seeds, the growing time, grocery store costs or any other factors.
If they do sell some of what they grow after school or possibly at a market, then the children can apply their maths skills to figure out how much each customer will need to pay when buying any particular fruit or vegetable.
Monitoring Plant Growth
See if children can figure out how quickly different plants grow. Can they determine the rate of growth (e.g. mm per week)? Which seedlings / plants grow fastest? Is it a steady rate of growth, or does it change?
*To take this further, children might also conduct an experiment to compare different groups. They might compare the growth or the growth rate of plants whose seeds have been frozen vs those that have not, or something else.
Making Shapes
How many shapes can you make (including shapes within shapes) using a set number of sticks (ex. 6 large sticks and 6 small sticks)? Is there a way to make more or fewer shapes using the same number of sticks?
Planning and holding a bake sale
(Some parts of this activity take place inside and some outside. This activity can be linked further to learning maths outdoors if children use some ingredients grown from a school garden).
Baking for a bake sale is a great way to give children hands-on practice solving problems in real contexts. For a baking project they will need to follow recipes and accurately use measuring cups and weighing scales. They might also want to make larger quantities and scale up recipes by doubling, tripling, or quadrupling them. The children will need to plan ahead and calculate how much of each ingredient they need to buy to make a set number of cookies, cupcakes, etc. They must also determine how many batches would be needed to make 200 cupcakes if the recipe makes 2 dozen.
Then when they hold an actual sale they will be using their maths skills to calculate how much to charge people. They must also learn how to give people the proper change (just like selling vegetables above). They can setup a stall outside of school and sell them after school one day.
Organizing and running a track & field event
Children can get involved in organizing a sports day or track and field event. They can first decide which events to include and then figure out how much space is needed for each activity (e.g. measuring the appropriate length and width required). The children can then help measure and set up the activities.
Once races are held, that data can be used to make calculations. For example – for a jumping event, children can measure how far people jump, and after several tries, figure out if there is improvement and how much (finding the difference). Children can time how far it takes them to run certain distances, e.g. 500 meters versus ½ a mile. They can figure out how fast they are running. They might then calculate how fast they ran different races (e.g. miles per hour) and then figure out when they ran faster or slower.
Finding ways to approximate measurements
See if children can find different ways to measure the approximate distance between two far points with a meter stick and string. This might be the length of the playground or the distance between two trees, etc. Children might compare different ways of measuring the approximate distance such as measuring the length it takes them to take one step and then counting the number of steps between two points. They might also use the string to go between the two points and measure the string’s length. See if they can find any other ways to find the approximate distances.
I hope that you find these outdoor problem solving activities for KS2 helpful and it helps you take teaching and learning maths outdoors!
Arithmetic , Gardening , Geometry , Maths , Measurement , Number & Place Value , School Age , Sticks
hands-on learning , Learning Outdoors , learning outside , outdoor learning , Sticks
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17 Team Building Problem Solving Activities & Exercises
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Whether you work in an office or online, it is important to establish a strong foundation as a team. Good communication and collaboration skills are essential for any successful team, but problem-solving skills are what will help you through the tough times.
Life is unpredictable, which is why problem solving skills are critical to learn , starting at a young age. They help us deal with the curveballs that will inevitably be thrown our way from time to time… without spiraling off course into a panic .
Table of Contents
What Are Problem Solving Skills?
Problem-solving skills are the ability to identify and solve problems creatively and effectively . They involve analyzing a situation, coming up with a plan of action, and then following through with that plan. These types of skills are important in both personal and professional life.
In your personal life, you will no longer have the same constant helping hand or be able to make excuses as you could in childhood . When something happens, you will need to be able to figure out a way to fix it yourself. In your professional life, being able to solve problems quickly and efficiently will make you an invaluable asset to any team.
Why Problem Solving Activities Are Important In the Workplace
There are many benefits to having strong problem solving skills in the workplace. For one, it can help improve morale among team members. When everyone is working together to solve a problem, it can create a sense of camaraderie and teamwork .
It can also help hold team members accountable for their actions. If a problem arises, everyone will need to work together to solve it instead of placing the blame on one person. This will help create a more cohesive team that is better able to handle difficult situations.
Finally, problem solving skills can help improve productivity in the workplace. When problems are solved quickly and efficiently, it allows the team to move on to other tasks more quickly.
17 Problem Solving Activities
Activity #1. brainstorming.
This is a great activity for getting the creative juices flowing. Get your team together and have them come up with as many ideas as possible for solving the problem at hand. The more ideas, the better!
One way to start may be to ask everyone to write down their ideas individually, then have each person share their idea with the group. Once all the ideas are on the table, you can start to narrow down which ones are the most feasible.
Activity #2. Role-Playing
If you are ready to get the team members to think outside the box, have them take on different roles and come up with solutions from those perspectives. The roles can be anything from a customer to a company CEO.
Write down roles on a piece of paper and put them in a hat or bowl. Have each team member draw a role and then have them work on coming up with solutions from that perspective.
Activity #3. Logic Puzzles
These types of puzzles are great for testing your team’s critical thinking skills. There are a variety of different logic puzzles available online or in puzzle books .
Logic puzzles can be a great team-building activity as they require everyone to work together to find the solution.
Activity #4. Word Association
This is a simple but effective way to get ideas flowing. Write down a list of words or phrases related to the problem and then have your team come up with solutions based on those words.
Let's take the word “online safety” for example. Some potential solutions could be creating strong passwords, using two-factor authentication, or avoiding phishing scams or unnecessary social media use at work .
Activity #5. Debate
This activity will help get the team thinking about the issue from different angles . Have each team member take a side of the debate and then have them argue their points.
After everyone has had a chance to speak, have the team come to a consensus on the best solution.
Activity #6. Process Mapping
This activity is great for visual learners. Get a whiteboard or large piece of paper and map out the steps that need to be taken to solve the problem. This will help the team see the issue as a whole and spot any potential roadblocks.
Activity #7. Mind Mapping
This is similar to process mapping but is more focused on coming up with ideas. Write down the main issue in the center of the paper and then have team members come up with ideas that branch off from that.
Activity #8. Fishbone Diagram
If you are looking for another visual activity that can help a team see the different factors that contribute to a problem, try the fishbone diagram. Draw a large fish skeleton on a whiteboard or piece of paper and then have team members add in the different factors that contribute to the problem.
Activity #9. 5 Whys
Have the team start with the main issue and then each person takes turns asking “why” until you get to the root cause of the problem. Five times is usually sufficient to solve most problems. This is very effective for uncovering hidden problems.
One example may involve sales:
The problem is that our sales are down:
- Why? Because we’re not getting enough foot traffic in the store.
- Why? We’re not advertising enough.
- Why? We don’t have the budget for it.
- Why? There is too much inventory loss/theft.
- Why? High employee turnover.
Activity #10. Scenario Planning
Think ahead and prepare for potential problems in the future. Have the team come up with different scenarios that could happen and then brainstorm solutions for each one. A perfect example may be different ways to escape the building in the event of an emergency.
One approach can involve escape routes, another can focus on the steps needed to shelter in place, and the last can highlight who is responsible for what during an evacuation.
Activity #11. SWOT Analysis
Before coming up with solutions, it is important to understand the different factors that could impact them.
The SWOT analysis activity will help the team identify the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats associated with the problem. This will help them come up with more informed solutions and deeper thinking.
Activity #12. Reverse Brainstorming
To prevent boredom, do what you can to get the team to think outside the box. Instead of brainstorming ways to solve the problem, have them come up with ways to make it worse. It may sound counter-productive but it can help the team see the issue from a different perspective and come up with more creative solutions.
Reverse brainstorming works by having the team come up with as many bad ideas as possible. Once they have exhausted all the ways to make the problem worse, they can then start thinking of ways to fix it.
Activity #13. Problem Solving Workshop
This is a more structured way of approaching problem solving as a team. It involves breaking the team into small groups and having each group come up with solutions to various specific problems.
Once all the groups have had a chance to share their ideas, the team can then vote on the best solution. You may want to start with a problem not directly related to the job and have the teams solve it. Next, ask them how the same approach can be used at the job. An example of this may include the team solving a Rubik’s Cube and then asking them how they can apply that same level of critical thinking to their work.
Now let's think about how to do team building and problem solving for the increasing number of people working remotely. Team building remotely may have its unique challenges but it is not impossible.
Remote Problem Solving Activities
Activity #14. coffee chat.
This is a great way to get everyone on the team introduced to each other, especially if you have new members coming on board. Set up a time for everyone to jump on a video call and chat over coffee (or tea!). This can be done weekly or monthly, depending on the size of the team. It is a great way to informally chat about issues and concerns and can get the ball rolling on real solutions.
During the early days of the pandemic, my writing group set aside the writing topic for a session and decided to do an online happy hour with great success. We got to chat about other issues not directly related to writing and we all got useful insights.
Activity #15. Show and Tell
Who says team building problem solving activities can't be fun? This is a nice way for everyone to get to know each other on a personal level. Have each team member choose an item from their home that has special meaning to them and do a “show and tell”. Ask if each person can find an object related to helping them do their job or something completely unrelated. This is a great way to build rapport, get to know each other on a personal level, and of course – solve certain problems.
For example, someone may demonstrate hand exercises or stretching techniques to help with issues that stem from sitting at a desk or typing all day.
Maybe people in the group struggle to use a certain design program or add attachments to emails. Someone can use screen share to show an easier way to do something that has stumbled their colleagues.
Activity #16. Virtual Office Tour
Another way to get everyone acquainted with each other and the idea of working from home is to do a virtual office tour. This can be done by having each team member give a quick tour of their home office (or workspace). This is also a great way to get everyone comfortable with using video conferencing if they are not already. The reality is, everyone is not accustomed to working from home yet and a virtual tour from someone more experienced may help ease anxiety and provide peer-to-peer teaching. I
Activity #17. Scavenger Hunt
A scavenger hunt can either be done in person or online. If you are doing it remotely, you can use a program like Zoom to break everyone into small groups. Give each group a list of items they need to find and set a time limit. The first team to find all the items (or the team with the most items) wins.
You can make the scavenger hunt related to work or you can make it more general. If you want to make it work-related, you can have teams find things like “a picture of someone wearing a hard hat” or “an item that starts with the letter E”. If you want to make it more general, you can have teams find items like “a picture of a pet” or “an item that is green”.
Final Thoughts about Problem Solving Activities
There are many benefits in the workplace to executing problem solving activities, whether in person or remotely. You can even conduct team building activities outdoors for a nice change of pace.
Team building exercises like these can help build rapport, provide peer-to-peer teaching opportunities, and help with critical thinking skills .
The most important thing is to find something that works for your team and that everyone is comfortable with. And with a little creativity, you can find ways to build your team no matter where they are located. You don’t need to be in close proximity to grow closer .
If you have children, you may want to check out 11 Fun Problem Solving Activities for Kids and 21 Fun Team Building Activities for Kids , as it’s never too young to teach this valuable skill.
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Challenge Team Building
Looking for a unique team building experience build your own session from these 38 team challenges or add them to another event..
Try your hand at axe throwing, laser shooting and falconry… solve word puzzles, brain teasers and treasure hunts… or compete in team sports, games and physical challenges. The choice is yours!
Because you build this event yourself, you can opt for a high impact 1 hour session or an entire day of fun. Adapt your choices to build the skills you need into your workforce. And have jolly good fun while you’re at it!
How to Use Team Challenge Games
Our Team Challenges are highly adaptable. You can:
- Put 6-8 together with one of our grande finales to create a unique team building day
- Embed 1-2 challenges in another event, e.g. conference ice breaker or refresher
- Add 3-4 extra challenges to your indoor or outd oor team building event
We can deliver these challenges anywhere – from a conference room to a football pitch – and adjust the tone to suit senior management or client hospitality. If your team is remote, you might also want to check out our virtual team challenge option.
Looking for help with event design, venue hire , and on-site management? Check out our event management service to see how we could help.
38 Corporate Team Challenge Games
These tried and tested games are all exceptional fun and build a variety of skills into your workforce. All delivered by our lively facilitators.
Use a network of poles to bag footballs… blindfolded! Requiring steady hands and succinct instructions, this is a great option for developing communication and trust.
Wacky Races
Work together to build and race a miniature Mean Machine. It’s dastardly good fun! Also available on a grander scale as an indoor team building event.
Great for problem solving and teamwork, in this game you’ll be retrieving 10 items from an 8 foot tall tower. Without getting near it or tipping it up!
Around the World
Quick-fire physical, artistic and general knowledge challenges inspired by countries around the world. Also available as a virtual team building quiz.
Solve a challenging brain teaser against the clock by sharing clues with your team. Great for communication and problem solving. Also available as a virtual team challenge.
Chasm Crossing
Can you get your team across the lava-filled chasm using wooden supports? An excellent choice for developing project planning capabilities.
Lego Architect
Plan and build an intricate Lego house to our complex design brief. A more in-depth version is available as an indoor team building activity.
Recover artefacts with an intricate rope and pulley system. A fun and challenging activity to improve team communication. Unique to EML.
Sheep Dog Duck Herding
Join Bob the Farmer to herd ducks around an obstacle course using a real life border collie. As fun and hilarious as it sounds! Your team will be roaring with laughter.
Link words of increasing difficulty together according to our brain teasing rules. One for the Scrabble fanatics! Also part of our virtual team challenge.
How far can you place the hacky sack up our inflatable track… before the bungee cord flings you back?! Great fun and a fabulous group memory.
Treasure Hunt
In this treasure hunt around your venue, teams complete fun tasks to win points and be crowned champions. Also available as an outdoor team building exercise.
Can you guide your entire team through a perilous minefield? You’ll have to be a fabulous communicator…! Also part of Army Bootcamp team building exercise.
Plumber's Nightmare
Connect a series of tubes, supported with bamboo canes, to create your own marble run. A great one for idea generation and project planning.
Triangulate
Create as many triangles as you can using poles and connectors. Excellent for problem solving, communication and planning. Unique to EML.
Nuclear Hazard
Can you safely dispose of hazardous nuclear waste, without entering the danger zone? Fabulous for improving time management and problem solving.
Fit geometric shapes together in a manner resembling Tetris! Based on the ancient pentomino puzzle, it’s great for problem solving and teamwork.
Match everyone’s symbols cards according to specific rules to solve the puzzle! Amazing for communication and problem solving. Unique to EML.
Domino Rally
Use dominoes to depict a process, then set them off in the final knock down! Great for improving teamwork and communication.
Share information with your team to build a series of complex cubes. A highly engaging remote communication exercise that’ll get brains working hard!
Colour-blind
Teams must match complex shapes together while blindfolded. Great communication is a must in this teamworking game found only at EML.
Race our pedal Go Karts against the clock in a time trial! The perfect team bonding experience and hilariously good fun.
Work together to create one huge piece of art or individual masterpieces. Wonderful for idea generation, planning and delegation.
Get up close and personal with 10-14 amazing birds of prey. Handle and fly the birds as you learn more about them. An amazing group memory.
Axe Throwing
Grab an axe and throw it at our targets to score points. The better you are, the higher you'll score for your team. Exciting and highly competitive!
Laser Clay Pigeon Shooting
Shoot flying clay targets with our laser guns. Are you a crackshot? Let’s find out! Superb fun and a novel experience that bonds your team together.
Human Table Football
Get strapped to giant poles to play a game of human table football! This never ending fun for your whole team is fabulous for team bonding.
Archery & Crossbows
Shoot bows and arrows at our targets with the help of our expert instructors. Finish with a shoot off at the end of the day! A fun team bonding experience.
Always a hit! Learn to drive these vehicles and compete against the clock in a time trial. A brilliant option for a novel and fun team experience.
Climbing Walls
Climbing walls make a great addition to any event. Fun and physically challenging, they’re marvellous for building motivation.
Shoot each other with laser guns in a game of pretend war. It’s paintball without the paint or the pain! Also available with Army Bootcamp outdoor team building.
Circus Skills
Juggling, plate spinning and unicycle riding with professional trainers… be the office clown with this fun team bonding experience!
Balloon Modelling
Learn how to turn balloons into swords, sausage dogs and pirates’ hats with our balloon modelling challenge. Fabulous creative fun that'll get your team laughing!
Learn how to drive a hovercraft! You’ll be amazed at the speed and power of these amazing machines. A novel team bonding experience.
Compete in a fun volleyball contest with your team. A fabulous bonding experience that can be adapted to indoors or outdoors. Winners stay on!
Quad Biking
Thrilling quad bike driving experience complete with time trial. Only allowed at certain venues - get in touch and we’ll find you one for free!
Get fun target practice in with our high-powered rifles. Can you hit the bullseye? Also available as part of Army Bootcamp outdoor team building.
Human Sheep Dog Trials
Blindfolded team mates act as sheep while you communicate with hooters and whistles. Hilarious fun meets planning and communication!
3 Grande Finale Team Activities
Complete your Team Challenge day or team building activity with an unforgettable grande finale!
1. The Crystal Dome
Grab as many gold tickets as you can in our Crystal Dome finale. Tickets whizz past you, courtesy of our powerful wind machines! Can you grab enough before the clock runs out?! A spectacular ending to any event. Book a smaller version for indoor events or treat your team to a full Crystal Maze team building experience .
A team challenge day ends with a marvellous Crystal Dome grande finale!
2. Water Balloon Catapult
Go head to head to shoot water balloons from your catapult and earn points for your team. Whoever hits the most valuable targets, in the least time, wins! Hilarious and fun, the Catapult is a great way to end any session.
3. Sports Day Relay Races
How long has it been since you ran the egg and spoon, sack race and three-legged race? Too long! Compete in a series of relay races straight out of a school sports day. A high energy finale that’ll take you back to the good old days.
Get in touch now for a fast, tailored, team building activity proposal.
Problem solving, team working, time management, communication, project planning, participants.
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Veronica Southerton | Head Of Talent | ecco
Professional, knowledgeable and friendly team to work with from beginning to end. Thank you for making our day a great success!
You actually listened to the criteria i asked and followed up with a call to discuss options, out of 4 contacted no other company did that., really enjoyed working with jon, ruth and the team, exceptional customer service and support, would definitely work with you again., great day had a wonderful time thank you to all the team for making it such a successful event with many happy memories., very professional and engaging company to work with. great ideas and energy on the day resulted in some excellent staff feedback., just a big thank you again for a brilliant date. so well organised from start to finish and the team on the day were all amazing. everyone had a great time and the feedback has been brilliant., we have had lots of positive feedback from many members of staff. they really enjoyed all the activities and felt that it allowed them to have fun and to get to know colleagues better. thank you, brilliant facilitation, really understood our needs and worked with us to create something amazing. feedback from staff has been really positive. they were engaged, and it really did support us in our messaging. thank you, many thanks to neil and ruth for leading our virtual team building exercise... many laughs were had while scrambling to collect the twenty items... the murder mystery was my favourite and my team winning was the icing on the cake. the haka showed how uncoordinated we are but the laughs ...just proves what an enjoyable experience we all had., our team really enjoyed the event - they are already asking when we can do another, eml delivered a great virtual training afternoon for our new graduates, undergraduates & apprentices. everyone found it to be a fun and engaging afternoon., thanks for organising and facilitating our online christmas social. i've had some great feedback from the participants and it was lovely to do something together even though we couldn't meet face to face., great fun had by all. both inclusive and engaging. we will be looking to use eml again next year..
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Ideas, Inspiration, and Giveaways for Teachers
We Are Teachers
38 Awesome Team-Building Games and Activities for Kids
Fun activities to help you build community in your classroom.
Looking for great ways to help students learn to work together, listen carefully, communicate clearly, and think creatively? Try some of these team-building games and activities. They’re a super way to give your students the chance to get to know one another, build trust as a community, and, best of all, have fun! Below we’ve gathered 38 team-building games and activities for the classroom. And if you’re looking for online team-building activities , we have those too!
Watch the video below to see three of our favorite in-person team-building games in action, then read on for more ideas.
1. Seeing spots
For this activity, you’ll place a colored sticker dot (blue, red, green, or yellow) on each student’s forehead without them knowing what color it is. When the game begins, each “team” of students (with the same color) must find each other— without speaking. This is a wonderful team-building activity because it encourages non-verbal communication and cooperation.
2. Common thread
Divide students into groups of four and have them sit together in these small groups. Give each group five minutes to chat among themselves and find something they all have in common. It could be that they all play soccer, or pizza is their favorite dinner, or they each have a kitten. Whatever the common thread, the conversation will help them get to know one another better. Check in with the groups after five minutes to see if they need more time. After each group has come up with their common element, have them work together to create a flag that represents it.
3. Four-way tug-of-war
Source: School Specialty
This classic outdoor activity is double the fun of the traditional tug-of-war. Tie two long jump ropes together at their center points, creating an X shape. Tie a bandanna around the center point. Next, use cones to form a circle that fits around the X. Form four equal teams, and have each team stand at one of the four ends of the ropes. At your signal, each team begins pulling. The objective is to be the first team to pull the others in their direction far enough for the bandanna to cross to the outside of the circle of cones. Students who feel nervous about participating can serve as referees who make sure everyone is safe.
4. Classification
For this activity, prepare a tray with 20 unrelated items—for instance, a spool of thread, an eraser, a juice box, etc. Alternatively, create a document with 20 images of items to put up on the screen. Divide your class into even groups. Set a timer and have each group divide the 20 items into four categories that make sense to them. For example, they may put an earring, a glove, a headset, a sock, and a smile into the category “things you wear.” Have groups work quietly so that their ideas are kept secret. When each group is finished, give each one time to present their categories and their rationale behind each category.
5. Railroad tracks
Lay out two long ropes parallel to each other and have students line up in the middle. Call out a set of opposites like sweet or sour, day or night, cat or dog. Students will jump over the left rope if they prefer the first one or over the right rope if they prefer the second one. Give them a minute to look around, then have everyone return to the middle. This activity is a good way to get to know classmates better and to see who they have preferences in common with.
6. Balloon walking
Have your students pair up side-by-side and hold hands. Then place a balloon in between the shoulders of each pair. The object of the activity is for the entire class to walk in a line without any of the balloons popping or falling to the ground. It’s heaps of fun!
7. Hot seat
This fun game is a lot like the game show Password . Split your class into two teams and have them sit together in teams facing the whiteboard or chalkboard. Then take an empty chair—one for each team—and put it at the front of the class, facing the team members. These chairs are the “hot seats.” Choose one volunteer from each team to come up and sit in the “hot seat,” facing their teammates with their back to the board.
Prepare a list of vocabulary words to use for the game. Choose one and write it clearly on the board. Each team will take turns trying to get their teammate in the hot seat to guess the word, using synonyms, antonyms, definitions, etc. Make sure team members work together so that each member has a chance to provide clues.
The student in the hot seat listens to their teammates and tries to guess the word. The first hot seat student to say the word wins a point for their team. Once the word is successfully guessed, a new student from each team sits in the hot seat, and a new round begins with a different word.
Source: Ellen Senisi
Did you know there are team-building games and activities that can help teach students how to line up? It may take 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the age of your students, so plan accordingly. The objective is to have students line up in order of their birthdays—January 1 through December 31. To do this, they will need to know the order in which the months fall as well as their own birthday. They will also need to talk with one another in order to figure out who goes in front of whom. To make it super challenging, tell them they must do it without speaking at all, only using hand signals. Other ways to line up include by height, alphabetically, or by foot size.
9. The perfect square
This activity requires strong verbal communication and cooperation. All you need is a long rope with the ends tied together and something to serve as blindfolds for students, such as bandannas or fabric strips. Have students stand in a circle holding the rope in front of them. Signal them to put their blindfolds on and set the rope on the ground in front of them. Ask students to turn and walk a short distance away from the circle. Assign a partner to any students who may need help. Finally, have everyone come back to the rope and try to form a perfect square with their blindfolds on. Set a time limit to make it more challenging.
10. Rock, paper, scissors tag
Source: Playworks
You’ll need some space for this activity. Divide students into two teams. Before you begin, stake out the boundaries and position a home base at either end for each team. For each round, each team must confer and decide whether they will be rock, paper, or scissors. Have the two teams line up facing each other, and on your signal, have all players flash rock, paper, scissors, shoot! The kids on the losing team must run back to their base before they are tagged by one of the kids on the winning team.
Or try this fun, kid-created version filmed by Coach Leach .
11. Flip-the-sheet challenge
Looking for creative-thinking team-building games and activities? Divide students into two teams. One team will do the challenge first while the other team watches, then they will switch places. Have all members of the team stand on a flat bedsheet, tarp, or blanket (kids should fill up all but about a quarter of the space). Challenge the team to flip over the sheet/tarp so that they are standing on the other side of the sheet/tarp without stepping off or touching the ground.
12. “Get to know you” balloons
Source: Darlington Schools
Give each student an empty balloon and a slip of paper. Ask them to write a get-to-know-you question on their paper, such as How many brothers and sisters do you have? Do you have any pets? What’s one fun thing you did this summer? Next, have them put their question inside the balloon, blow it up, and tie the end.
When everyone is ready, have them gather on the rug and, on your signal, toss their balloon up in the air. Give them a couple of minutes to bat the balloons around, then call stop . Have each student grab one balloon and come sit in a circle. Go around the circle and, one at a time, have students pop their balloon, read the question inside, and answer the question. This is one of those team-building activities students will always remember.
13. Marshmallow-and-toothpick challenge
Source: Jady A.
Divide students into groups of equal numbers. Pass out an equal number of marshmallows and wooden toothpicks to each group. Challenge the groups to create the tallest, largest, or most creative structure in a set amount of time, each member taking turns doing the actual building. Afterward, have each group describe what they made.
14. Sneak peek
Need team-building games and activities that focus on problem-solving? This activity will help students learn to communicate effectively. Before the game begins, build a small sculpture with LEGO bricks or building blocks and keep it covered in an area that is of equal distance from all the groups. Divide your students into teams of four or five, and give each team enough blocks to duplicate the structure.
To begin the game, reveal the structure, and one member from each team is allowed to come up to look at it closely for 10 seconds, trying to memorize it before returning to their team. Once they return to their team, they have 25 seconds to instruct the group on how to build a replica of the structure. After one minute of trying to re-create it, another member from each team can come up for a sneak peek before returning to their team and trying again. The game continues until one of the teams successfully re-creates the original structure.
15. Art reproduction puzzle
Divide students into groups of six or eight (or larger if you want to make the task more difficult). Provide each team with an image and blank pieces of white card stock, one per team member. First, each team must cut up the image into the same number of pieces as there are group members. Then, each player will take one of the pieces of the image and reproduce it onto their blank piece of card stock with pencils, colored pencils, or markers. (If the team cuts the image into irregularly shaped pieces, each team member must then cut their blank paper into the same shape.) When every team has created the pieces of their puzzle, they will switch pieces with another team. The team will work together to solve the puzzle.
16. Hula-Hoop pass
Source: Parma Preschool
This activity helps kids work on listening, coordinating, and strategizing skills. It works best with smaller students. Have your students stand in a big circle. Place a Hula-Hoop on one student’s arm and have them join hands with the student next to them. Ask all the other students to join hands to close up the circle. The objective of the game is to pass the Hula-Hoop all the way around the circle without unclasping hands. Students will have to figure out how to maneuver their bodies all the way through the hoop to pass it on.
17. Eye contact
Are you looking for team-building games and activities to support nonverbal communication skills? Choose ten students to participate in the first round. The others can gather around the edges and watch. Designate a player one. To begin, player one makes eye contact (no words or hand motions) with another player (player two) and gives them a signal that means go. When player two says go, player one starts moving slowly toward them to take their place in the circle. Player two then makes eye contact with another player (player three) and gives them a signal meaning go, and starts moving toward them. The objective of the game is to time each player’s command so that each player makes space for the others in time. After the first round, switch out the teams until everyone has had a chance to play.
18. Fingertip Hula-Hoop
In this game, your students stand in a circle and raise their arms with only their index fingers extended. Place a Hula-Hoop so that it rests on the tips of the children’s fingers. Tell the students they must maintain a fingertip on the Hula-Hoop at all times, but they are not allowed to hook their finger around it or otherwise hold the hoop; the hoop must simply rest on the tips of their fingers. The challenge is for the children to lower the hoop to the ground without dropping it. To make this more challenging, you can place communication constraints on the children—no talking or limited talking, for example. Watch the video for a demonstration.
19. Mingle, mingle group
This activity is good for encouraging kids to mix it up. Students mill about the room saying, in a quiet voice, “Mingle, mingle, mingle.” Then, you call out a group size, for example, groups of three. Students must break into groups of that size. The goal is to form different groups of individuals every time. If a person tries to join a group with whom they have already partnered, they must find a different group. After a few rounds, the process may take a bit of rearranging.
20. Bumpity-ump-bump-bump
This is a fun name game that requires quick thinking! Students stand in a large circle. One student comes to the middle. That student walks around the inside of the circle, stops in front of one person, and gives them a direction. There are four choices: Left = say the name of the person to the left; right = say the name of the person on the right; it = say the name of the person who is it; or self = say one’s own name. After you give the student the direction, the designated person says “bumpity-ump-bump-bump!” out loud. The student who was given the direction races to say the name of the correct person before the student finishes the phrase. If they can’t, they’re the next person on the inside of the circle.
21. Group hop
This activity requires coordination and communication. Divide students into groups of four to six people. Have the students in each group stand in a straight line with their right hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them and their left leg forward so that the person in front of them can hold their ankle. The group then sees how far they can hop along together without toppling over. Once groups get the hang of hopping, you can hold a competition to see who can hop the farthest or longest.
22. No-hands cup-stacking challenge
Source: Nick Cornwell
If you’re looking for hands-on team-building games and activities that work for groups, try this challenge. It’s an exercise in patience and perseverance, not to mention a total blast! Decide how many students you want in each group and tie that number of strings to a single rubber band, making one for each group. Each person in the group holds on to one of the strings attached to the rubber band, and, as a group, they use this device to pick up the cups (by expanding and contracting the rubber band) and place them on top of each other in order to build a pyramid. See detailed instructions here .
23. Tick tock
This activity helps students negotiate and work together toward a common goal. Make a list of tasks on chart paper, assigning a point value for each job. For example: Do 25 jumping jacks (5 points); make up a nickname for each member of the class (5 points); get every person in the class to sign a piece of paper (15 points); form a conga line and conga from one end of the room to the other (5 points, 10 bonus points if anyone joins you); etc. Make sure you list enough tasks to take up more than 10 minutes. Divide your students into groups of five or six and give them 10 minutes to collect as many points as they can by deciding which tasks from the list to perform.
24. Body parts
Looking for team-building games and activities where students mingle around the classroom? In this game, they move around the room calling out a body part and a number, for instance, “four knees!” Students have to form a group of four students closest to them (finding new partners each time) and join together one knee each or a group of two with both knees together. Anyone who isn’t part of a group gets to call the next round.
25. Human alphabet
If you have a large open space for your team-building games and activities, try this idea. Have students spread out and guide them through a few rounds of forming letters with their bodies. For instance, “Use your body to make a T … now make an O!”
Next, call out a simple short word, such as “so” or “dog.” Students will have to team up to form the word, with each student using their body to form one of the letters. Start with two-letter words, then three, then four. If students want a challenge, come up with a phrase that will take the whole class to complete.
26. Applause, please
Form groups of three to five students. One person from each group (the finder) steps out of the classroom. The rest of the group picks an object (for instance, the pencil sharpener) in the classroom for the finder to find. When the finder comes back in, they begin walking around the classroom in search of the object. The others cannot say anything, but they can give hints by using applause to lead the finder in the right direction. If the finder is far away from the object, the group will clap slowly and softly. When the finder gets close, the group will applaud faster and more loudly until the finder picks the correct object.
27. Caterpillar
Divide students into groups of four. Lay out four Hula-Hoops per group and have one student stand in the center of each one to form teams of “caterpillars.” Line all of the teams up at the end of a field or large open space. Set out four or five objects in front of the lines, such as cones, foam blocks, or balls.
The goal of the game is to collect as many objects as possible by moving the caterpillar forward. To move forward, the last player in line steps into the hoop with the player in front of them, picks up their empty hoop, and passes it overhead to the front of the line. The front player then places the hoop on the ground in front of them and steps into it. Every player then shifts forward, moving the caterpillar. Only the front player may pick up objects, but it is the team’s job to carry the collected objects throughout the game. The game ends when there are no more objects on the ground. Find more detailed instructions here .
28. Golf ball trampoline
Divide the class into teams of six or eight. Provide each team with a large bedsheet or tarp that has several slits cut into it, and have students hold on to the edges and spread the sheet out so that it is tight. Place a golf ball in the center of the sheet. Students must work together to maneuver the ball around the sheet without having it fall through one of the slits. When a team’s ball falls through, they are out and must sit until there is only one team left. Mix up teams and start over again.
29. Shrinking lifeboat
For this activity, you will need a few jump ropes. Divide students into groups of six or eight. Have each group make a circle with their jump rope (their “lifeboat”) on the ground so that the ends are touching. Now have all the members of each group get into their lifeboat. This should be easy the first time. Then have all players get out and reduce the size of their circle by one foot. Again, all players need to get into the boat. Repeat this process, making the lifeboat smaller and smaller while you watch your students come up with creative solutions for making sure that everyone fits safely inside their boat.
30. Pretzel, unpretzel
Source: Icebreaker Ideas
Divide your class in half and have each group choose one pretzel maker and two unpretzelers. Direct the unpretzelers to turn their backs. Have the rest of the students in each group form a circle and hold hands. Now, have the pretzel maker direct the students (with words only) to twist around, step over, and duck under one another’s arms to form a human pretzel. Once they are sufficiently twisted, call the unpretzelers over and have them try to direct the students (with words only) in order to untangle them. Students cannot drop their hands at any time. The first team that successfully unpretzels their group wins.
31. Creative solutions
This activity encourages creative problem-solving. Pick four or more different objects, such as a coffee can, a potato peeler, a knit hat, and a book. Split students into even teams. Now present a situation where each team has to solve a problem using only those objects. These scenarios can be anything from students who are stranded on a desert island and must find a way to get off or survive to students must save the world from Godzilla . Give the teams five minutes to figure out an original solution to the scenario, including ranking each object based on its usefulness. When the five minutes are up, have each team present their solution along with their reasoning to the class. (Tip: Don’t make the scenarios so easy that it is obvious which objects will be most useful.)
32. Zip, zap, zop
Here’s an option for team-building games and activities about focus and energy. As students pass the energy across the circle (in the form of a zip, a zap, or a zop), they make eye contact with the person they send the energy to and work together to keep the rhythm going. To pass the energy, have students put their hands together in a teepee in front of their chest. Player one moves their hands away from their chest, makes eye contact with and points at a classmate, and says “zip.” Then that student repeats the process with another student and says “zap.” That player repeats with a “zop,” then it starts all over with “zip.” Make sure students are making eye contact when they pass the energy. To make sure everyone is picked, students can put their hands down at their sides after their turn.
33. Spider web
Source: Fabulous Fabris
This team-building game will teach your students that even though they may be different in many ways, they are still connected to one another. Gather in a circle, standing or sitting. The game begins when the first person, holding a large ball of twine, tells the group a funny or embarrassing story about themselves. Once they finish, they will hold on to the end of the twine and throw the ball to someone else in the circle. That person grabs hold and tells a funny or embarrassing story about themselves and then passes it on to another student. Play continues until the twine has been passed to each person. The end result will produce a “spider web” out of the twine, connecting each student to all of the others.
34. Newspaper fashion show
Source: Mommy Lessons 101
This is a great way to incorporate upcycling into your team-building games and activities. Divide students into groups of five or six, then give them a stack of newspapers, tape, and scissors. Set a timer and ask them to create the most fashionable outfit using only the supplies given. When time is up, have each group designate a model for the outfit, and have the group share information about the outfit. Once everyone shares, put on some rocking music and have a mini fashion show.
35. Back-to-back drawing
Need team-building games and activities that build communication skills? Ask students to pair up and sit back-to-back with their partner. Give one student a blank piece of paper and a pen or a marker. Give the other student a piece of paper with a simple drawing on it. The kid who receives the illustration will verbally describe the drawing to their partner. The other kid must draw the illustration by listening to the verbal instructions alone.
36. Changing tableau
Ask for five or six volunteers to come up to the front of the class. Divide the rest of the students into two teams and have them sit together. Have the students up front arrange themselves into a tableau. Give the two teams a short time to observe the tableau, trying to memorize their physical arrangement. After a couple of minutes, ask every person on both teams to face away from the team up front. The tableau team will decide on one thing to change about the tableau. When they are rearranged, the teams can turn around and try to figure out what changed. The first team to spot the difference gets a point. Continue play until one team receives ten points.
37. Straw challenge
Source: Guide, Inc.
If you’re looking for team-building games and activities that require coordination and cooperation, try this one. Have your students form a large circle and give each one a plastic straw. Holding their straw in their right hand, have them cross their arms in front of them so their right hand is near their left shoulder and their left hand is near their right shoulder. The objective of the challenge is to balance each straw between one person’s right pointer finger with the left pointer finger of the person next to them. Try making some movements such as rotating the circle to the left or right, raising one foot, etc. The challenge is to keep the connection of straws intact.
38. Group Juggle
Have students circle up and have a supply of small plastic balls at the ready. Start by tossing one ball from person to person in the circle. After a minute, add in another ball. Instruct students to mindfully toss the ball, avoiding a collision. After another minute, add in another ball. Continue adding balls in each minute to see how many balls your students can successfully juggle.
Do you have a few favorite go-to team-building activity in the classroom? Come share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook .
For ways to connect with your students virtually, check out 20 fun zoom games for kids ..
Elizabeth Mulvahill is a Contributing Editor with WeAreTeachers. She has taught elementary, literacy and small group intervention. She currently resides outside of Boulder, Colorado and loves learning new things, hearing people's stories and traveling the globe.
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Outdoor team building activities are games, events and exercises for groups that take place outside. Example activities include scavenger hunts, field days, and walking tours. The purpose of these exercises is to get fresh air and sunshine while building camaraderie, trust, and community with groups of teammates.
There are a huge array of team-building activities that can be done outdoors ranging from problem-solving, treasure hunting, team sports, and environmental or community activities. These activities can be done in the park, on a sports field, or somewhere further from the office like a forest or outward-bound area.
Here are examples of team-building activities that you can do outdoors with your team: 1. Scavenger hunting in nature Planning an outdoor scavenger hunt where your team gets to interact with nature can encourage collaboration and communication within the group.
22 Physical Outdoor Team Building Activities 1. City Chase 2. Beach Volleyball 3. The Amazing Chase 4. Hiking 5. Corporate Castaways 6. Sports Day 7. Archery Tag 8. Squirt Gun Fight 9. Blind Retriever 10. Ziplining 11. Running Club 12. Paintball 13. California Kickball 14. Water Balloon Toss 15. Wild Goose Chase 16. Capture the Flag 17.
Taking part in outdoor team building activities and working as part of a team helps you to develop personal skills, leadership skills, team skills, communication skills and problem solving skills. Part of the team building challenge is to actually get on and work out how to solve the problem given to you.
Team problem solving activities Team bonding and trust building activities Team purpose and alignment activities Team get to know you activities Starting the team building process can be difficult, especially if you're working with a new team who don't yet know each other well.
11 In-Person Team Building Problem Solving Activities for Your Work Group 1. Cardboard Boat Building Challenge 2. Egg Drop 3. Clue Murder Mystery 4. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower 5. Corporate Escape Room 6. Wild Goose Chase 7. Lost at Sea 8. Domino Effect Challenge 9. Reverse Pyramid 10. CI: The Crime Investigators 11. Team Pursuit
In fact, taking 20 minutes out of the first half of your next group meeting can be enough to spark innovation and teamwork. 1. Solve a Puzzle This can be a literal puzzle, like a 500 piece set (if you're down to spend a few dollars on Amazon), or a brain teaser that requires thinking and brainstorming out loud.
The skills could include juggling, play the drums, ride a unicycle, hold their breath for one minute etc. This should be printed in advance. The group is then given ten minutes to find someone in the room who can do one skill from each box and write their name in the box.
Outdoor Elements has an outdoor activity centre set within a 7-acre woodland. Problem Solving is one of the activities available. Additionally, problem solving can be delivered: at your place of work at your school inside or out hotels conference facilities woodland settings
This is a great game for team bonding because teams need to collaborate and pool knowledge to succeed. Here is a list of the best trivia questions, and a list of work-appropriate team names. 3. Guess the Baby. Guess the Baby is a charming game that asks team members to deduce whose baby picture is whose.
For a more advanced problem to solve, give the team an eight litre container full of water and two empty containers, one that holds 5 litres and the other 3 litres. The team must divide the eight litres into two of the containers, each with exactly four litres in each. Recommended Reading 10 Characteristics of Effective Team Building Next
Laid Back Outdoor Team Building Activities. 16. Plan a Beach Day. Give your team a chance to kick it at the beach for a great outdoor event, sure to lower stress and promote happiness and well-being. Teams can lounge in the sun while using fun icebreakers to spark conversation that build connections and trust.
In outdoor learning environments, students can experience hands-on opportunities for learning, and engage in authentic problem-solving in ways that could not be experienced with the same depth in an indoor classroom. For example, in one study, a small group of children wanted to create a rope swing in an outdoor area. The teacher provided the ...
Creative Problem-Solving Activities from Let's Roam. The experts at Let's Roam have carefully constructed a series of team-building activities that will help you to build stronger connections, increase productivity, and improve morale. These exercises can be used in the office, or virtually for remote teams, and focus on problem-solving, communication, collaboration, and more.
Nim is a mathematical strategy game where two players take turns removing objects from a pile. Each player must take at least one object per turn. The goal is to either take or avoid taking the last item from the stack. Children can play nim with a pile of sticks or rocks. Ordering natural objects by different features
Activity #5. Debate. This activity will help get the team thinking about the issue from different angles. Have each team member take a side of the debate and then have them argue their points. After everyone has had a chance to speak, have the team come to a consensus on the best solution. Activity #6.
You can: Put 6-8 together with one of our grande finales to create a unique team building day. Embed 1-2 challenges in another event, e.g. conference ice breaker or refresher. Add 3-4 extra challenges to your indoor or outdoor team building event. We can deliver these challenges anywhere - from a conference room to a football pitch - and ...
Most outdoor team building activities bring participants into a whole new setting, away from the stressful environment. They will be asked to use limited resources to finish tasks during the event. This will trigger their creativity which will also help them in becoming more productive in their working environment. The Process of Group Development
It's worthwhile to try one or a combination of these activities to improve problem-solving among colleagues. Below are several team-building, problem-solving activities to try out with employees or colleagues: 1. Blind formations. Blind formations is a great game to improve participants' coordination and teamwork.
Problem-solving and decision-making team-building activities . Hotel employees need to feel empowered to make independent decisions effectively and with confidence. They should be able to provide excellent service and impress hotel guests while mitigating risks for the business at the same time. Incorporate team-building activities for hotel ...
15. Art reproduction puzzle. Divide students into groups of six or eight (or larger if you want to make the task more difficult). Provide each team with an image and blank pieces of white card stock, one per team member. First, each team must cut up the image into the same number of pieces as there are group members.