My all-time favorite team building activities

With the start of the school year fast approaching my research on the latest and greatest team building activities is gearing up. Last year I found the following activities to be extremely helpful when starting out a unit. They are also fun ice breakers, especially for my new students joining our classrooms.

Note card Activity I give each of my students a note card and tell them to write down three interesting facts (characteristics, significant events, accomplishments, etc) about themselves. I remind them to not write their names on the cards, and collect them all. Students randomly choose one of the cards and have the group guess who's card it is based on the facts.

Magic Carpet Start with a small tarp or rug that allows all of the group members be able to stand on. Tell the group that they are now on a magic carpet and cannot step off. (soft music is sometimes fun to play during this activity). The group must work as a team to flip the tarp or rug over without having anyone step off. If a group member falls off the carpet, the team must start over. If the group is struggling I will allow them to have one foot on the ground to make it easier.

Human Knot Have the group make a large circle (This game also works well as a race between several circles in a larger group). I instruct everyone to put their left hand in the middle, and hold hands with someone in the circle, not directly next to them. Repeat with the right hand, and be sure to hold hands with a different person, who is not directly next to them. You can use 1-foot “buddy ropes” to reduce arm twisting if you like. Then the group must use teamwork to unravel themselves into a circle again without coming disconnected. This is a fan favorite!

Transformation-Egg, Chicken, Dinosaur (Rock, paper, scissors) Everyone starts out as an egg by squatting down low and waddling like an egg. “Eggs” find another egg and play a game of rock-paper-scissors. The winners turn into a chicken, the losers stay an egg. Chickens move on to find other chickens, and eggs continue to play against other eggs. The losers of each round go down one level (chickens go back to being eggs, Dinosaurs go back to chickens, ultimate being go back to being dinosaurs). Each time a player wins a rock-paper-scissors bout, they transform into the next stage. The game can continue for as long as you like it to. Transformations and actions are: -Egg: squatting down low near ground -Chicken: putting thumbs under armpits and flapping elbows -Dinosaur: arms out and walking like a raptor -Ultimate Being: arms up in the air like you just won a race

Two truths and a lie

This is also a fan favorite! Have the students take turns going around and telling the group two truths and one lie about themselves. These can be anything from "i broke my arm" to "my favorite color is blue" I love to use this activity because I can learn so much from each student before the school year begins.

Let's have a picnic Students sit in a circle. One starts by saying their name and a food that starts with the same letter as their first name that they would bring on a picnic (Emily would bring Emu). Each person next in the circle must say their name and picnic item, and the name and picnic item of each person before them. This is an activity for groups with a lot of new students, it helps bring about lots of giggles.

Human Scavenger Hunt Students are looking for others with various traits, all the while learning a bit about their classmates and getting out of their comfort zones a little. Tell the students they have 10 minutes to find someone who fits the following categories and each person can only sign your paper once. They cannot sign their own sheet. *NOTE: you have to create a sheet with different topics/questions/categories beforehand.