Creative Team Building Activities
If you’re looking to give your team experiences they can use in their everyday life and foster bonds they can take back to the workplace, a team building event is just what you need. Here at A Company Picnic, we’ve coordinated our fair share of amazing team building days. So, we’d like to give you some ideas on creative and fun team building activities for your next team building day. Let’s get into it!
What is Team Building About?
Team building is an important strategy in every workplace. The purpose of team building activities is to promote teamwork and strengthen bonds between your staff. It’s important for teams to be close and be able to communicate effectively. In turn, this boosts productivity, since your team is able to collaborate more effectively. A team building event is centered around team challenges — structured activities promoting teamwork and communication. Team building days are employee-only events with these activities as their meat and potatoes. Not only are they incredibly beneficial for your workplace environment, but they’re also loads of fun, too! If you’re looking for ideas on creative team building activities, you’ve come to the right place. We’d like to present some activities centered around specific types of team building that are unique as well as fun.
What are the Types of Team Building Activities?
Team building activities, while at their core, are centered around teamwork, there’s additional benefits each one promotes. The basic types are as follows:
- Communication-based games
- Activities that promote creative thinking
- Games centered around problem-solving
- Activities that promote team bonding
Utilizing Games to Promote Team Building
Each type of game has its own benefits, and your team building day can incorporate elements from all of them. All these benefits are essential for your team to develop and utilize in their everyday lives. Games, by nature, are a great way to learn. This applies to adults the same way it does children, as learning through games gets the players more engaged and boosts their motivation as well. Besides, activities like those listed below are simply fun! Let’s get into some of our favorite team building games.
Benefits of Team Building
- Builds trust between coworkers
- Improves communication
- Fosters a collaborative environment which boosts productivity
- Sparks creativity and innovation
Creative Team Building Activity Ideas
Sandcastle Contest
Communication, Creative Thinking, Team Bonding
In this challenge, teams compete to see who builds the best sandcastle. If you’re planning a team building day at the beach, this is the perfect summer game to play. This game promotes creativity, communication, and teamwork, and is loads of fun while doing so.
Scavenger Hunt
Teamwork, Team Bonding, Communication, Problem-Solving
Scavenger hunts are an amazing way to promote communication and teamwork. Divide your team into groups and set them out to solve puzzles to gain clues to the hidden object. The first team to find the item wins! This is a great way of boosting your team’s problem-solving skills through puzzling things out together. Doing a scavenger hunt at a nature preserve can take the activity to new heights. Connect with nature and bond with your team. A good picnic spot in Anaheim for this is Oak Canyon Nature Center.
Escape Room
Communication, Problem-Solving, Creative Thinking
Escape rooms are a classic way to come together as a team and solve problems. It’s even better to divide your staff into teams and time them to see who escapes first! Not only is it beneficial for problem-solving and communication skills, it’s exciting as well.
Skydiving Relay Race
Team Bonding, Teamwork
A skydiving relay race is an exceptionally exciting way to promote teamwork. Functioning like a typical relay race but with the elements of skydiving, your team will love this unique game. It serves as a great bonding experience for your staff to enjoy, while also boosting skills they can use in their everyday lives. See more relay race ideas for adults.
Murder Mystery Game
Problem-Solving, Team Bonding
Who doesn’t love a good murder mystery game? Following clues and solving the puzzle is an amazing way to hone your team’s problem-solving skills, and the collaborative effort fosters a sense of bonding and teamwork while they play.
Bike Building for Charity
Team Bonding, Communication
If you want your team building exercise to benefit not only your staff, but others, building bikes for charity is an amazing way to go! During the process of assembling bikes, your team can sharpen their communication skills and improve their functionality as a unit.
Pictionary
Creative Thinking, Communication
Pictionary is a game night classic. Its guidelines for communicating an idea wordlessly are an amazing way to boost your team’s communication skills as well as their ability to think outside the box. This is a great example of a passive activity, and when paired with more active team building games, can perfectly balance your next team building day.
VR Game Competition
Creative Thinking, Communication
Video game sessions can incorporate many styles of team building, depending on the game. Certain games promote teamwork, while other games promote problem-solving skills. All, however, promote creative ways of thinking and communication, while also fostering bonds among your staff and allowing them to have fun while they do it.
Group Bike Ride
Team Bonding, Communication
If you’re looking for an activity centered around physical exercise, a group bike ride might be just what you need. By incorporating challenge elements, such as teams racing to meet up at a certain location, it’s also perfect for a team building day. A bike ride challenge is a great way to promote teamwork as well as communication and adds a nice exercise element to your team building day. To our event planners, Brea park Carbon Canyon and its redwood forest trails are perfect for this. Whittier Narrows Picnic Area reservations also offer a BMX track onsite, perfect for this activity!
Deserted Island Challenge
Creative Thinking, Problem-Solving, Team Bonding
In the deserted island challenge, your team members must list the three items they would bring with them to a deserted island. Once the items have been shared, the group needs to work together to combine their objects and use them for survival. While that’s often where the game ends, you can split your group into teams and reward those using the most creative thinking. This game is a classic icebreaker and a great way to kick off your team building event.
Paper Plane Contest
Problem-Solving, Creative Thinking, Communication
For a fun team building challenge, divide your team into groups and challenge them to see who can design the furthest-flying paper airplane. This activity can get your staff’s gears working, strengthening communication, creativity, and problem-solving abilities while they’re having fun.
Timed Obstacle Course
Problem-Solving, Team Bonding
Obstacle courses are loads of fun, and an amazing way to challenge your team. By dividing them into teams and turning it into a relay or setting another rule, you can promote both teamwork and problem-solving. Obstacle courses are a great way to pump your team up at an event and get them going. A park with open space, like Charles Wilson Park as recommended by our Torrance event planners, is ideal for this activity.
Limited Ingredients Cocktail Challenge
Creative Thinking, Communication, Teamwork
Like many cooking shows demonstrate, it’s exciting to think outside of the box to create a dish. Divide your team into small groups and give them unusual or only a few ingredients and challenge them to mix a drink (alcoholic or non-alcoholic!) and have a judge score them. The best drink wins! This game promotes communication, creative thinking, and, of course, teamwork.
Volunteering as a Team
Communication, Teamwork, Team Bonding
Team volunteer work is a great way to strengthen bonds between coworkers as well as give back to your community. There’s no shortage of great ways to do so, be it cleaning up a local highway or volunteering at a soup kitchen. Your team will be rewarded not only by doing good, but through the bonds they develop with each other as well.
Egg Drop
Creative Thinking, Communication, Problem-Solving, Teamwork
The classic science game of egg drop is a winner for so many reasons. It promotes thinking outside of the box, problem-solving, communication, and team effort, and it’s no wonder it’s a hit with kids and adults alike. To play, teams must devise a way to protect an egg from breaking when being dropped from high up. Whichever team’s egg remains unbroken wins! Perfect for indoor or outdoor events, like some of our top locations for Costa Mesa team building, this event is classic and fun for all.
Blind Retriever
Communication, Problem-Solving, Team Bonding
In the game of blind retriever, a group is divided into teams and one member from each blindfolded. From there, other members in each team guide the blindfolded one to retrieve an object. This game is amazing at fostering communication, developing bonds between team members, and promoting their problem-solving skills through coming together to achieve a common goal.
White Water Rafting
Communication, Teamwork, Team Bonding
White water rafting during a team building day or company excursion is a great way to promote teamwork and communication. If you’d like to host a team-building excursion, we have lots of great ideas here. This sort of event will not only promote team bonding but give your staff an amazing experience to reminisce about!
Off-Roading Race
Communication, Team Bonding, Teamwork
Another great company excursion idea for team building would be an off-roading race. Teams come together to find their way to the finish line, facing off and working together. This sort of activity is great at boosting communication and bringing your team together as a whole.
Board Game Tournament
Problem-Solving, Communication
For another laidback, non-strenuous activity, board game tournaments are an amazing way to promote team building. Board games can develop communication and problem-solving skills, and there’s a game for just about everyone!
Paintless Paintball Battle
Teamwork, Team Bonding
Who doesn’t love a good round of paintball? Paintball can easily be turned into a team building challenge by dividing a team into groups and having them battle it out. The last group standing wins! A challenge like this is great at promoting teamwork and bonding, by a team working together to ensure their teammates stay in the game.
Here’s to Your Next Team Building Day!
Team building is key to developing a strong company. Each of the styles of team building listed above are also crucial in growing your team both individually and as a whole. Team building outings are loads of fun, and the activities are an important part of that. We hope these creative team building activities have sparked your imagination for your next team building day. If you’re looking for more ideas, check out this blog on summer team building games. Here’s to teamwork!
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