Team Building

Simple List

• Line up by age without talking

• Blindfolded, line up by height

• Blindfolded with rope, form a perfect square, or equilateral triangle

• Fold a tarp while standing on it

• Group push up (feet on someone else's shoulders)

• Arrange poles in a shape and everyone uses 1 finger to lift and move the shape

• Group karaoke or chant

• Group painting

• Build a bridge/tower/flag pole, out of popsicle sticks / bamboo & twine / paper towel and tape, marshmallow and spaghetti

• Human pyramid

• Group hand stand (all at once)

• Fit on a milk carton

• Human knot

• Group skipping rope

• Egg race

• Egg drop

• Put something on top of a pole while staying 1m from the pole

• Draw out a crime scene then have the other group figure it out

• Pipeline game (use stuff to let a marble roll from one location to the next)

• verbally lead one or two blind persons through a maze, or to pick up cones

• Everyone on a log. Left and right half must switch places without falling off

• march as a group around a course, with hands on heads  while squishing yoga balls between each other

• High chalk mark on a wall, how high up a tree can you place an ornament?

• Paper airplanes

• Blind Numerical Order

a) There is no talking

b) You must keep your blindfolds on at all times

c) Each of you will have a number whispered into your ear, or a playing card

d) The goal is for the group to arrange itself in numerical order without speaking and without the use of sight.

Blindfold all the participants. Whisper a number to each of them (do not allow other participants to hear). The number should be RANDOM (not just 1-12, etc). After whispering the number, move the participant to a random location. Once every participant has a number, they should begin. 

• Pipe Cleaner Sculpture (2 per person)

• make a human stretcher and carry someone around a course

• Use the GPS watch to map out an animal using trails and roads

• Hole in Many

You’ll need to buy a tarp or use an old one. You’ll cut holes in various parts of the tarp.

Teams will grab the corners of the tarp and spread it out. A tennis ball is thrown on the tarp. The purpose is to keep the tennis ball from falling through one of the holes as long as possible. You can make it more difficult by adding more holes or balls.

• Guess Who

Write on a note, one interesting thing they’ve done. These include activities like the past winner of a food-eating competition, skydiving, etc. This note is then placed into a container that other members of the group pick from. Teammates are required to guess which colleague fits the bill of the note selected. They will give reasons why opening discussions as to why this may be correct or wrong. 

• Pass the hoop (form a circle holding hands through a hoop. Pass the hoop around the circle without breaking the links.

• Paper Chair: Using only masking tape and newspapers, work as a team to build a chair that can hold a person’s weight!

• Tarp flip (with everyone standing on it)

• Marshmellow tower:

  • tallest freestanding structure you can using only twenty sticks of spaghetti, one yard of masking tape and one yard of string. Your tower must be topped by a marshmallow

• Pringles Ring: google it!

• Human Table (start with 4 chairs, people rest on each other so you can remove the chairs)

• balance pod circle: go round

• Tell them about a task they have to do at the end of the activity. Challenge is for them to remember the details 

• Stand on balance pods and pass a medecine ball. start again if someone falls off a pod

• blindfold jousting

  • groups of 4. two are blindfolded and given pool noodles, other two must direct them to joust. 

HANDICAP OBSTACLE COURSE  (wide, in or out)

• – Materials:  deck of playing cards, winding, roped off, 4-foot wide track, a supply of blindfolds

• – Method:  Shuffle a normal 52 playing card pack. Each Scout takes a card from the pack which denotes which disability they will have:

  • • Clubs = not able to use their legs

  • • Spades = not able to use their arms

  • • Hearts = not able to speak

  • • Diamonds = not able to see

• In accordance with the handicaps they all have, each patrol is instructed to navigate the track, working together and helping one another.

HOT ISOTOPE TRANSPORT 

MOON BALL  (wide, in or out)

– Materials:  inflated beach ball for the whole troop or one beach ball for each patrol

– Method:  As a team building activity, the object is for a patrol to keep the beach ball aloft as long as possible. Scouts are not allowed to hit the ball twice in a row. This activity becomes exciting as the Scouts count out loud the number of hits and attempt to surpass their personal best.

ZULU TOSS  (small, in or out)

– Materials:  lightweight balls enough for each patrol to have one for each Scout, a presenter for each patrol who has access to the ball supply

– Method:  Team members form a circle. One Scout tosses one ball across to another Scout of their choosing who in turn tosses it to a different Scout and so on until everyone has touched the ball one time. The last Scout tosses it back to the first, thereby completing the circuit. The team tosses one ball around the circuit a few more times until everyone knows the order of who they are “receiving from” and “sending to.” The first Scout starts the 1st ball on it’s journey again and when it is midway through, their Presenter hands them a 2nd ball which they send along. There are now 2 balls being sent around the circuit. The Presenter slowly hands the first Scout more balls until a maximum number of balls are in play.

Equipment

• Milk crate, blindfolds, straps for human knot, tarp, long skipping rope, spoons and plastic eggs, deck of cards, pipe cleaners, tennis balls, tarp with holes, chalk, paper

Scouts America link

Scouts Canada Team Building Jumpstart Package (pdf)

Resource #2

Resource #3

Resource #4 - good for indoor activities and getting to know each other

More Ideas...

Icebreaker Activities

• The Label Game