3 Great Do-It-Yourself Team Building Activities

Successful leaders know the power of strong company culture and morale. Many managers make it a priority by setting aside time every month for team bonding and team-building activities. If you don’t have much time or space, but you want to do something with your group to build up morale and communication, here are 3 activities from our bag o’ tricks that you can do in-house:

#1 – Hula Hoop Pass

Have your group stand in a circle holding hands and pass a hula hoop around the circle while you time them. They cannot let go of each other's hands, and cannot use their fingers to help pass it along. They should encourage each other and help each other while they are passing the hoop around!

See if they can improve their time each round. This initiative helps groups with goal setting and time management and gives your team a break with some shared laughter. 

#2 – Biggest Fan

Have your group get into pairs and play rock-paper scissors with their partner. The loser becomes the winner’s ‘Biggest Fan’, and follows the winner around cheering them on while facing off with a new opponent. Each time there is a face-off, the loser and their fans join the winner’s line of fans!

Eventually, there are only two people left and one becomes the overall winner. After they are done celebrating, ask your group how it felt to lose the face-off, how it felt to cheer on the winner, and how it felt to be cheered on by the group.

#3 – Helium Stick

With a hula hoop or a lightweight stick (a tent pole works great), have your group line up in two rows facing each other or around the hoop. Ask the group to point both index fingers (like guns) and hold their arms out. Lay the Helium Stick down on their fingers so everyone’s index fingers are touching the stick. The challenge is to lower the Helium Stick to the ground while every person’s fingers are in contact at all times.

Pinching or grabbing the pole is not allowed – it must rest on top of fingers. As the team lowers the stick, emphasize that the stick (or hoop) must stay level and that all index fingers must stay in contact. If a finger comes off or grabs the stick, give a 5-10 second penalty. The secret (keep it to yourself) is that the collective upwards pressure created by everyone’s fingers tends to be greater than the weight of the stick. As a result, the more a group tries, the more the stick tends to ‘float’ upwards. Eventually, the group needs to calm down, concentrate, and very slowly, patiently lower the Helium Stick – easier said than done!

Sometimes the simplest activities can reveal the most about your group, the strengths of the group, along with areas for improvement.

Looking for more team-building ideas? Check out our article on 8 Ridiculously Fun and Easy Team Building Activities for more!

About Onyx Offsite and Trainings:
Created by the team behind Positive Adventures, a leader in experiential education, Onyx brings more than 20 years of proven expertise in outdoor education, training and development. The Positive Adventures team has a large corporate client portfolio currently being serviced, which will transition to Onyx. Their experience includes supporting Fortune 500 companies and top brands across the country and around the world.

Learn more about the new corporate division of Positive Adventures - Onyx Offsite and Trainings via the intro letter from the CEO: Introducing Onyx Offsites and Trainings.