3 Easy and Successful Team Building Exercises

This post, 3 Easy and Successful Team Building Exercises, was originally published in August 2017 and has been completely updated in November 2021.

I love team building!

I know, that might sound crazy to some of you but to some of you, it’s a love too.

Why do I love it?

In my experience, you end up laughing, a lot! It makes you have to think in different ways.

And, at least to me, team building really does create, for the time being anyway, comradery and a team between everyone involved.

And hopefully, that feeling will last into your life as you tackle other challenges.

So, whether you’re a company needing some fun team building/ice breaker activities for your employees, the family member in charge of the next reunion looking for easy but fun activities to bring your family together, a teacher or group leader of some sort hoping to find ways to bond your group, these team building activities will fit the bill.

They don’t take up much space.

And the only ‘props’ you’ll need you might already have around your home: some painter’s/masking tape and a hula hoop or some rope.

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Easy and Successful Team Building Exercises

Human Knot

Best for a group of about 4 to 8 people.

You need at least three people and if you have more than 10 or so it will just be that much harder and will take longer, so you might want to break the group in two. (I’ve done it before with a group of co-workers of probably 15 or more and it became very challenging, so much so we just ran out of time and never did get the knot undone.)

This is a physical activity and It involves lots of cooperation and patience!

Process:

The group stands in a circle.

Everyone puts their right hand in towards the middle of the circle.

Then they put their right hand out and shake it all about – no sorry, I know you started thinking of the song too 🙂

So, with their right hand in, they then take the hand of someone not next to them.

Repeat this process with the left hand.

Now all you have to do is get yourselves ‘untied’!

People will need to step over, through, under, etc.

And if it’s not obvious, the point is to do it without breaking hands.

This activity involves a lot of patience!

Options:

1. Do the activity in silence. (I think in silence is the best. Everyone can mime, mimics, wave, motion, etc. to help but no talking whatsoever.)
2. Do the activity with verbal help.

Discussion Points:

Who stepped out as the leader?

Were there several people?  

Did the group work well together?

Was there friction?

How was the friction resolved?

Hidden Maze

With the Hidden Maze, any size group will work.

It might be easiest to keep it to 10 to 15.

If you have more than that it might be best to break the larger group up into smaller groups, or maybe just let a few go through the maze while the others help.

Process:

Using painter’s tape or masking tape, tape out a 4 X 4 grid or larger. (Sorry, I know it’s hard to see in the picture below) And no, it doesn’t have/need to be done on a tiled floor, simply mark out a grid to the best of your ability.

On a piece of paper draw out the same size grid and map out your hidden maze.

The starting point and exit point will always be on the outside of the grid.  

Other than that, the maze can then turn left, right, or go straight until the exit point.

Have fun with it.

You can make it as easy or as hard as you’d like or that you think your group can handle.

For that matter, if there is time, do an easy one first so everyone can get comfortable and then do another one that is much more challenging.

The first person chooses a square on the outside of the grid and is then told whether that is the starting point or not.

Depending on the age of the group, the next person will hopefully go to the next square and step into it and will be told if it is correct or not.

If not it might be a very, very long process to find that starting square – or of course, you can suggest they go next to next rather than random picking.

The person who chooses the correct square then gets to choose again. 

As long as they get it right they can keep going.

When they don’t get it right they leave the maze and the next person starts from the beginning.

If they and /or the rest of the group has been paying attention they can help ‘guide’ the new person to where the last person got to and then they get to pick another square.

The process continues until the hidden maze is discovered and the whole group makes it through.

Options:

1. Do the activity in silence. (I think in silence is the best. Everyone can mime, mimic, wave, motion, etc. to help but no talking whatsoever.)
2. Do the activity with verbal help.

Discussion Points:

Who were the leaders?

Was there one person who was really good at remembering where the next step was?

Who found the starting point?

Hula Hoop

This great activity works well with any size group too.

It can be done as one large group or the group can be split up into say groups of 10.

And the only tool you’ll need is a hula hoop or a long enough rope (something that can be made into a ‘circle’ of a sort).

Process:

The group stands in a circle and then will hold hands.

The hula hoop will be put between any two people, with their held hands through the hula hoop.

Now, the hula hoop must go around the circle.  

It cannot be done using your hands only body movement.

Basically, you have to get yourself through the hula hoop to ‘pass’ it to the next person.

Once it has made it around the circle the activity is complete unless of course, the group wants to do it again! 🙂

Discussion Points:

Did everyone do it the same?

What seemed to be the most optimal way?

Was there a better way to do it?

Could everyone do it that way?

Options:

1. Try doing the activity faster by timing it.
2.  Try it using only one method for everyone.

There we go, 3 easy and successful team-building exercises to use within your company, family, or group.

Have you been subjected 🙂 to any of these? Do you love them or despise them? Do you have any favorite ones? Please share below. Thanks!!