Group dynamic building games

Simple premise and can be worked out really fast by the team but always provides a laugh or two. A classic group task like this allows each member of the team to step forward and find their role. It also allows a great opportunity to see the group dynamics come to the forefront - who are the loud ones, who are the quiet ones etc.

For a simple and effective team building game, you can't go past Team Architect! Youth Group Games. Video Call. View all. Small Groups. Large Groups. No Prep. Team Building. Brain Breaks. Brain Breaks for Home-schooling.

New games. Car Games for Kids. Games for Virtual Youth Groups. Video Call Board Games. Family Activity Guide. Video Call Games. Backyard Games for Kids. Indoor Games for Kids. Easter Games.

Social Distancing Youth Group Games. Top 10 Lists. Top Feature Games. Submit a Game. Game Randomiser. Search Games. Each person votes for the options they think are the strongest, and that information is used to inform a decision. So you opened your workshop with large group games that were fun and inclusive, and then included group activities that got the group talking and make important decisions.

How then, should you finish the day? What group activities help a team reflect and come away from a workshop with a sense of accomplishment?

The below facilitation techniques will help to effectively close a large group session. They are simple, time-bound and allow every group member to share their opinion and find the key takeaways after a workshop or event.

Remember that you should close a session with the same attention and enthusiasm you started with. Group activities such as those below help ensure the energy and success of the session are carried forward and followed up upon. Have you ever met this situation? Someone is asked to present back after a group session and it gets unfocused. This group activity helps to maintain attention and forces everyone to stay concise during a closing round with a natural limit: You are only allowed to share your opinion with just one breath — that is usually no longer for 30 seconds for most people.

In case you have a large group, it works most effectively if you split up the group to circles of participants, in order to keep the feedback round under five minutes. Remember that group activities that are timeboxed in this manner can help keep the energy up and ensure you cover everything you need to in time.

One breath feedback closing feedback action. Feedback Mingle is a great closing group activity to generate positive energy in the group. At the end of the session, group members are invited to give feedback to every other member of the group via post-it notes.

After people finished writing a post-it note to everyone else in the group, invite them to mingle and deliver the feedback to each other. The feedback should always happen one-on-one, shared verbally. If you have larger groups, create smaller groups of people who worked together on group activities during the event. Feedback Mingle hyperisland skills feedback.

The Feedback Mingle is an exercise in which every member in a group gives feedback to every other member in the group. Often used as a closing activity, it aims to facilitate feedback, generate positive energy and create a sense of team.

You can use this group activity at the end of a workshop or training program to inspire future action. Participants write and send a letter to their future self, in relation to how they will apply the insights and learning they got during the course.

You can define the timeframe with the group. Since participants reflect individually in this activity, there is no limitation to scale this exercise in larger groups. Letter to Myself hyperisland action remote-friendly. Often done at the end of a workshop or program, the purpose of this exercise is to support participants in applying their insights and learnings, by writing a letter and sending it to their future selves.

They can define key actions that they would like their future self to take, and express their reasons why change needs to happen. I hope you have found some useful tips for large group games and workshop activities above.

What are your favorite facilitation techniques and large group games that work well in workshops, meetings or training sessions? Have you tried any of the methods or group activities above? Let us know about your experiences in the comments. Im trying to look for some workshop games for energizer in some of my trainings. I found this. Thanks for this website. This blog post is so awesome!

Many of these activities are perfect for my team and department—Thanks!! Thank you for the suggestion, Alisha! It sounds like and interesting one! Can you tell us a bit more about how to run this exercise? Thank you for the question, Veda.

Hi Sanjay. Are you looking for opener activities to kick-off meetings and workshops? Rob, thanks for these awesome tips. I will surely try some of them. Keep sharing such in-depth guides. Your email address will not be published. Try it for Free. Are you facilitating workshops, meetings, or training sessions regularly? Do you sometimes feel that the good old pen and paper or the MS Office toolkit combined with email leaves you struggling to stay on top of managing your workshop preparations and delivery?

Fortunately, there are plenty of online tools to make your life easier when…. Working in a great team can make all the difference when it comes to job satisfaction and organizational success. Team building activities can prove to be the missing link that…. Remote working is often touted as the future of work. Studies show that remote workers are happier and more productive than their office working counterparts and the benefits for companies moving to distributed workforces are great too!

As teams and organizations begin to transition to working online, the need for well-designed and effectively facilitated remote…. Delivery Matters. Taking your group workshops online? Get started for free! It can be played with adults of all levels as well as kids and it always works!

Bang hyperisland energiser Bang is a group game, played in a circle, where participants must react quickly or face elimination. Coat of Arms teambuilding opening ice breaker team get-to-know thiagi Coat of Arms exercise provides a way for participants to introduce themselves and their colleagues, particularly for groups who think they already know each other very well.

Almost invariably participants discover something about their colleagues of which they previously had no idea. Because this activity forces people to use drawings rather than words, it is particularly useful as a dual-purpose introductory exercise in training sessions that deal with such topics as innovation, creativity, and problem-solving.

Marshmallow challenge with debriefing teamwork team leadership collaboration In eighteen minutes, teams must build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. Helium Stick teampedia team teamwork ice breaker energiser A great and simple activity for fostering teamwork and problem solving with no setup beforehand.

Open Space Technology idea generation liberating structures problem solving When people must tackle a common complex challenge, you can release their inherent creativity and leadership as well as their capacity to self-organize. Sitting in a circle with a simple set of agreements and a talking object, small groups will engage in rounds of dialogue with little or no unproductive conflict.

The challenge gets harder as more people cross to the other side and requires everyone to remember and communicate with each other. Goal: Submerge a ballon in a bucket of water using only the supplies given. Balloon in water is a great way to see how your team solves problems together, particularly when faced with limited resources. Each group must immerse an inflated balloon in a bucket of water for a minimum of 5 seconds.

They can only use the provided materials to complete the activity. The brick goes in the bottom of the bucket of water. Teams have a minute to strategize and flesh out their plan and only 5 minutes to do the activity. Only the provided materials can be used during the challenge. The 3 binder clips and inflated balloon given to the team cannot be altered in any way. Before starting the activity, the team has one minute to plan and they have to plan without touching the materials.

After planning, the team is given 5 minutes to execute their plan. The balloon must be fully immersed in the water before the 5 minutes is over. The balloon must remain immersed for at least 5 seconds, and the team must notify the trainer s when they are ready to be timed.

Goal: Teams must retrieve a ping pong ball from the pipe by filling it up with water and floating the ball to the top. This game can get a little messy, so it's recommended for outside. Leaky Pipe is a highly interactive activity that requires groups to work fast and efficiently together. You'll need water, buckets, several cups, 2 pipes with holes drilled in them, and 2 ping pong balls. To win, teams must retrieve a ping pong ball from the pipe by filling it up with water and floating the ball to the top.

Participants will need to work together using the cups to carry the water from the bucket to the pipe, relay race style with cups of water to fill it. The pipe has holes drilled in it, so they will have to plug the holes as the water gets higher. To complete the challenge, each team will receive a bucket of water which is placed 10 metres away from the pipe and several cups.

Remember to set a countdown, so they are racing against the clock. Items Needed: Ball Goal: Have every participant say their name. For new groups, check out an icebreaker and memory game called Group Juggle. Participants form a large circle facing each other.

If you have a large group, break into groups so there are no more than 20 people in each. Throw a ball to one person. They will throw it to someone else, but must say that person's name first. The ball goes around the group like that until a pattern starts. Once the group seems comfortable, throw in more balls to increase the difficulty.

Time: 50 Minutes. Items Needed: Bags, Random objects. Goal: Create a 10 minute skit based on random items in a bag. Acting and improv exercises can be a humorous and energizing way to bring your team together. Grab Bag Skits is a short activity in which teams will get out of their comfort zones by creating fun skits.

Split the group into teams of 3 to 8 and have each team choose a bag. They don't know what is inside, but it is stuffed with unrelated and random objects. Each team is given 10 minutes to put together a 2 to 3 minutes skit that uses each of the items.

Every person in the group must take on a speaking role. Encourage groups to be as creative as possible. For example, they can use an apple as a meteor or a paintbrush as a witch's broom. Each team will preform their skit for the group. Although some individuals may be more introverted, Grab Bag Skits can encourage them to get out of their comfort zone and connect with colleagues.

Goal: Have the team correctly line up in order of a specific criteria. Ask the group to line themselves in order based on certain criteria.

Make it more challenging by setting a rule that members can't speak to each other. You can do this as a get-to-know-you-better activity. Some examples are by:. As members move around the room to organize themselves in order, you'll notice how they communicate to complete the task and who takes on the role of organizers or leaders.

Follow Up Questions. Time: 25 minutes to an hour. Items Needed: Smart phone one per each participant. Goal: To make others laugh while collecting 7 cards to win the game. Evil Apples is a mobile app inspired by the party game, Cards Against Humanity. Other players submit cards anonymously to fill in the blank.

The person with the game card chooses the best, and often the funniest response. Players will bond over laughs and may appreciate the creativity of other group members. You will need to be cautious how you use it some cards can be considered inappropriate or offensive which for many is the fun of the game. However, you can download different decks that are more work-appropriate or use other card apps to create your own decks.

Number of Participants: Players. Items Needed: Smart phone or tablet, Jackbox games , video calling software. Goal: Every player will make a drawing based on a prompt. Players then submit a title for these drawings and try to pick out the real title from the fake ones. Drawful is the perfect solution for remote teams. It can easily be played over Zoom or other video calling software, as well as in person.

In Drawful, each player receives an unusual prompt they need to try and draw on their phone in a limited amount time. After someone finishes and submits their drawing, everyone else submits a title anonymously that could fit the other player's drawing.

These titles can be humorous or serious, it's up to each player. The goal is to find the correct drawing prompt while fooling others into selecting decoy answer. Bonus points are awarded to the decoys that are particularly clever or funny.

Create a video meeting with team members and share your screen. Start the game! Every player uses their phone or tablet as a controller, so it's important that everyone has access to a device. The game will run everyone through the instructions before playing so everyone viewing the screen share will get the gist. Items Needed: Each participant needs a mobile device. Goal: Work together to save the world from a growing pandemic. Based on the cooperative board game, the Pandemic mobile app centres around teams working together to fight and cure deadly diseases.

Each player has a specific role that they must fill in order to succeed. Roles can be anything from an engineer building satellites so the CDC can communicate to a scientist collecting data and samples to test for a cure. The premise for the game is the perfect setup to teach risk management and foster teamwork. It shows that every role is needed to reach the long-term and tough goals.

Goal: Score the highest number of points while laying tiles. Another board game turned mobile app, Carcassonne focuses on laying tile to strategically gain control of map's cities, fields and other terrain with the end goal of earning the most points. The game is best played in groups of four players and as a pass-and-play for teams.

Everyone can also play together or remotely on their own device. With each new tile that is laid, individuals must adjust their strategy. It can get people thinking about how to formulate strategies and use logic to reach long-term goals. Goal: To complete all tasks before being killed by the imposter. Among Us is a multiplayer game that combines strategy with sci-fi. Individuals are assigned roles: either as one of the crew members on a spaceship whose goal is to complete their assigned tasks or an imposter who poses as a crew member and whose goal is to kill the majority of the crew members while sabotage the mission.

Similar to games like Mafia and Werewolf, the crew will gather after a dead body is fond to discuss who everyone believes may be the imposter.

At the end of these gatherings, someone will be voted off the spaceship. Players will find there's a strategy to sticking together with other crew members and collaboration is necessary to complete all tasks and find the imposter.

Communication is also key to winning the game. Number of Participants: 2-Unlimited. Goal: Team up and go on quests. It can be download on Android or iOS devices. People can communicate, barter, form alliances and show what they are capable of when they work as a team. Playing a fantasy multiplayer RPG game may seem like an unconventional way to build your business team, but it can foster real-world teamwork.

It also taps into the imagination of your members and their ability to communicate. Team building games and activities for teams with more time available.

All activities should take between minutes of participants time. Items Needed: Anything they could use to build a bridge. Some suggestions: tape, paper, marshmallows, straws, Legos, popsicle sticks or Jenga blocks. Goal: Have two groups independently build bridge halves that must fit together.

To tap into your team's creativity and communication skills, try bridge build. Divide into two different teams. Each must build half of a bridge with the materials provided. The goal is for the two bridges to have similar or identical design and be able to fit together when finished. The challenge is that the teams must be separated so that they can't see the other team or what they are building.

But, they are allowed to communicate verbally or through chat e. Depending on what you use, you may want to also supply them with tape, paper and pens. This exercise is good for developing communication, creative thinking, and leaderships skills. What was the hardest part of this challenge?

How did you overcome that? Did you miscommunicate at any point? How did you fix miscommunications and get back on track?

Time: 40 minutes. Items Needed: cue cards, post-its or scraps of paper, pens. Goal: Participants must guess the name on their forehead using only yes or no questions. Create a set of names, which can be celebrities and icons like Beyonce or Mickey Mouse or types of professions like actor, football player or doctor. You can use Post-It notes or tape and small slips of paper. Have each person place a name on their forehead. Make sure that they can't see who it is. Set a timer and instruct everyone to move around the room asking different people yes or no questions until they guess correctly or time runs out.

This gets people to move around the room and interact with people they may not spoken with before. It also makes them more aware of stereotypes and categorizing others based on certain characteristics.

Number of Participants: Unlimited. Items Needed: Cue or index cards. Goal: Find pairs. Similar to "Concentration", in which you flip over cards two at a time to try to find matching pairs, this activity focuses on learning and memory.

You can create cards with photos and names of team members or with company information like products, logos, and values. Face these cards down on a table and then break into teams. Each team must find the pairs in the cards while only facing 2 cards up at a time. Time each group and whichever finds all the matches the fastest is declared the winner. Company concentration teaches employees more about your business while playing a fun game. Items Needed: Flip cart or white board, Markers.

Goal: Come up with newspaper headlines that describe company or department achievements in the future. With this team-building exercise, you can boost creativity and get an inside look at how your employees see the future of your business. To do All the News, you just need a few newspapers, whiteboards, markers, pens and paper. Each team is given a newspaper and asked to come up with different headlines that cover what the company or department will be doing in the near future.

They can create as many as they want and as far in the future as they want. Groups share their headline ideas with the rest of the team and get feedback. All the News is useful for entrepreneurs and business owners that want to get an idea of the company's future direction and start setting some new goals. Toggl Track is the time tracker that can slot into any team's workflow.

Get crystal-clear insights into what your team members do with their time and see which team members are overworked, and which ones can take on more. Items Needed: Character descriptions, Clues, Dinner. Goal: Work together to find who the murderer was. A Murder Mystery Dinner is an interactive activity that will require everyone to get involved. There are several companies that will design murder mystery dinners specifically for business groups.

Actors will provide an entertaining story and set clues in place for your team to decipher. But, you can also host your own murder mystery dinner party which may be more cost-effective and intimate. Learn more about Murder Mystery Dinners here. It's ideal for problem-solving and critical thinking. Items Needed: Powerpoint karaoke slides, projector or screen. Goal: Create a presentation on the spot from slides participants have never seen. If you want to test your team's presentation skills and see how they react in fast-paced or high-pressure situations, play PowerPoint Karaoke also called Powerpoint Roulette or Battledecks.

Groups are given a set of slides that they haven't seen before and must give a presentation based on those slides. This is a more intense version, but you can adjust it so that groups are given a few minutes to view the slides and prepare before giving the presentation.

It requires groups to think quickly and work together to pull off a difficult task with a short time to plan. Was this more difficult than a regular presentation? Why or why not? Goal: Act out a impromptu slideshow. Similar to Power Point Karaoke, slide show is a improv game which involves a group presentation.

One person in a team will tell a story of an adventure or process. This could be anything from traveling through the jungle or navigating around a city to building a house or planning a large dinner party.

The other team members must act as the slideshow or visuals for the presentation. With each section that the presenter says they must demonstrate the scene. Add in random props to make it more exciting. Slideshow sparks creativity and pushes members to think on their feet. It also shows how they support each other throughout the process. Time: Long Term. Items Needed: Notebook, Pens. Goal: Get to know employees over a long term period of time. Some businesses may do team-building activities once for new employee orientation or once or twice a year for a company retreat.

Although team-building activities help to bring your group together, you don't have to limit them to only one time a year. Doing team-building games more often prevents your team from drifting apart over time.

Companies like Zappos have incorporated a culture book. It is a long-running team-building activity that can be done every day. In a common area like a break room, leave a book with markers or pens. On each page, you can leave a prompt or ask a question for each day. Encourage employees to leave quotes from movies they are watching or books they have recently read. This can also be done virtually in work chat apps like Slack by using Geekbot's Pizza Toppings preset, which brings up a fun question for your team to answer once a week.