subject: 10 Best Team Games [print this page] Planning a corporate offsite for your team? You will probably need a lot of team building games that you can play to keep your colleagues entertained and motivated. Have a look at our list of the 10 best team games:
1. Guess Who?
You need to break the ice before you get down to serious fun; and this is the perfect game to do that. This will create better understanding between team members and help them appreciate their interests.
Each member needs to list down their most basic attributes, like likes; dislikes; fears; favourite song, movie, etc. The team leader will then read out these attributes and everyone has to guess who that person is. This should set the ball rolling for more interesting and involving games.
2. Water Fall Not!
Now that the ice has been broken, its time to play games that involve a little more physical movement! The team needs to be divided into two. Each team will be given two bottles; one empty and one full. These bottles will be placed parallel to each other at a distance. Team members have to pass water from one bottle to another using nothing but hands! The team that transfers the most amount of water within a stipulated time-frame wins.
3. Draw Something!
This is a very creative game which needs to be played in pairs. Divide the team into pairs and give each pair two canvases each. Both partners will stand back against each other and draw something on the canvas. After about 30 secs a buzzer will go off and the pair will rotate. Both members now face the canvases of their partner. When the buzzer goes off again, they will continue drawing what their partner started. This will continue for a predetermined period of time. The end result will be two paintings made by the collective genius of each pair. This helps people trust their partners with the work they do; and also makes them understand how to add value with their contribution.
4. I Am Falling For You!
This is a very interesting game. Divide the team into two and make them stand face to face. Blindfold one team. The blindfolded team will fall forward, toward the other team, which will catch them. The teams are supposed to maintain pin drop silence so that no one can make out whether they have someone in front of them to catch them, or not. This will help people learn to trust their teammates and also respect them.
5. Weaving A Story!
This game lets you weave a story, literally! For this, sit the team down in a circle. The first person will say an opening line to a story. This person will hold a string of rope in his hands. The person sitting across him will continue the story by adding a line to it. He/She holds the other end of the rope their hands. Then another person continues the story by adding another line to it and then holding the rope. This continues till everyone in the circle holds a rope in his/her hands. Once this net of rope has been weaved, toss in a balloon and ask the group to stand up and move about without letting the balloon fall. This will take some serious teamwork and coordination to succeed.
6. Liar! Liar! Pants on Fire!
This is a fun game aimed at improving office communication and also to improve the understanding between co-workers. Have people write down 3 truths and 1 lie about themselves on a piece of paper. Then give the group 15 minutes to chat and enquire about the questions they have just answered. After the chitter-chatter, ask people to identify which of the 4 questions are true and which is a lie. This will help people better understand their colleagues and hence help them work better with each other.
7. Dumb Cherades!
This is a classic! Divide the team into two and make people act out different things while their group members try to figure out what. This develops coordination and communication skills in a team.
8. Look Me in the Eye!
This is a game that everyone must have played in their childhood. The game is very simple - look each other in the eye till one of them blinks. many people have problem making eye contact with their teammates because of trust issues or underconfidence. This game will help reduce all those issues and make a team a better coordinated and a more trusting one.
9. What Are You Looking At?
This game is an interesting one. Divide the team in pairs, with each partner sitting against the back of the other. One partner is given an object that they need to describe to the other, who, in turn will draw what his partner describes. After the completion of the drawing, the drawing partner needs to tell what the describing partner was looking at. This helps build better coordination between team members and also enables people to trust each other with information.
10. Relay Race!
The epitome of team building, the relay race makes sure that each and every member contributes to the success of the whole. It requires planning as who who would start the race and who would finish it; it promotes interdependence between members - no one person alone can steer the team to victory; and it helps burn off those calories that the team might have accumulated working all those hours. A relay race will be the perfect way ensure a healthy and coordinating team.
