Top 5 Team Building Activities For Small Groups
Whether you’re looking for a simple team building activity or an energizing way to break the ice, there are plenty of small group options.
One low-prep icebreaker that’s great in person or over Skype is show and tell. This involves asking your participants to share a picture or random object related to their life or interests.
1. Pictionary
Pictionary is a fun and easy team building activity for small groups. It combines the fun of charades with the creativity of drawing, and has been around for over 30 years. It’s perfect for a quick, lighthearted team building session and is suitable for both adults and kids.
There are several versions of the game, including a board game and a self-hosted version of the game. The board game requires even-numbered teams to roll a die and choose cards from a stack that corresponds to a category of words. The drawing player has a minute to guess the word or phrase and then must draw a picture that matches it.
The self-hosted version of Pictionary is a great way to get everyone in the office to work together as a team. This online version of the game has a host and curated gameplay, taking the pressure off your team to try to remember all the categories.
Partner Pictionary is a fun version of the game where each person is paired with one other. The two players switch off who draws the item and who guesses it each turn, making it a less competitive and more fun game than traditional Pictionary.
Recreate a Famous Artwork is another fun, collaborative game that focuses on famous paintings and artworks. This team building activity is a great way to get people talking about the arts and how much they enjoy them.
Lastly, the movie-centric online Pictionary game is a great option for movie buffs to bond over their love for movies. It also has a trivia aspect, so your coworkers can show off their knowledge of popular movies.
If you want to play an offline version of Pictionary, you can buy the boxed game that comes with the game board, dice, 4 category cards and 496 keyword cards. The game is available for just $20, and it’s a great option for those who aren’t interested in the virtual version of the game.
2. Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger hunts are a fun and challenging way to bring employees together and build teamwork. They can be adapted to different age groups, skill levels, and interests.
They can also be incorporated into many types of team building activities small groups, such as team outings and parties. They’re easy to set up and are great for all ages, whether you’re looking to motivate or relax your staff.
In a Scavenger Hunt, participants travel from location to location in search of objects. The items are often hidden, and the instructions for finding them come in the form of clues that require participants to decipher.
One of the best things about this type of scavenger hunt is that it encourages participants to get creative. You can include anything from historical knowledge to pop culture trivia and even use QR codes.
Another benefit of a Scavenger Hunt is that it helps to facilitate communication between employees. A study shows that communication barriers in the workplace can cost companies tens of millions of dollars in lost productivity.
A scavenger hunt is a great way to get employees talking, especially those who may be shy. It can help break the ice and make new employees feel more comfortable in their workplace.
It can also help to create new leaders in the workplace. Employees who take part in a scavenger hunt can learn new leadership skills and be able to apply them at the workplace.
It’s a good idea to assign a team leader for the scavenger hunt, though you should avoid picking obvious leaders. This will ensure that everyone feels included and has a chance to step up and lead a team during the hunt.
3. Egg Drop
Team building activities for small groups are a great way to foster communication and bonding between team members. These fun, fast-paced activities can also be used to improve teamwork skills.
One of the most popular team building activities for small groups is Egg Drop. This activity requires creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork. It involves designing a structure that can protect a raw egg from breaking when dropped from a certain height.
This is a great activity for teams of any size, and can be used in a variety of environments. The best part is that it is very inexpensive and quick to put together!
Start by dividing the group into equal teams. Give each team an egg, a limited supply of materials (e.g. straws, masking tape, scotch tape, and newspaper), and a time limit.
The groups then have 15 minutes to build a structure that can protect the egg from breakage when it hits the ground. Once their structures are complete, they have to present them to the rest of the group and explain what they did to make their egg drop structure unique.
They may use their own creative ideas or draw inspiration from scientific theories. They can choose to increase air resistance, create a cushion, transfer energy from the egg into something else, or even try to make the eggs jump higher than they would if they were dropped directly from the ground.
This is an excellent team building activity for a group of any size, and can be fun for children as well. It’s also a great way to teach science concepts to kids.
4. Jigsaw Puzzles
Jigsaw puzzles are a popular team building activity for small groups, as they can help teams to develop problem-solving skills. They also provide a chance to have fun together and learn something new.
You can even use this team-building activity as a training session for employees or managers, to give them a fresh perspective on the way they work. This can help them to become more productive and efficient in their jobs.
Besides being an effective team-building activity, jigsaw puzzles can also be a great way for families to bond. Children can get to know each other better when they solve a puzzle, and this will help them strengthen their friendships.
For younger children, jigsaw puzzles are an excellent way to develop spatial awareness. This means they will have a better understanding of their surroundings and how they fit in with the rest of the world.
Another team-building activity that uses jigsaw puzzles is called “Swap-it.” It involves splitting your team into different groups and giving each group a unique jigsaw puzzle of similar difficulty levels. Then, you remove a certain number of pieces from each puzzle, and your teams must find ways to “swap” those pieces with the other teams’ puzzles.
The resulting “swap-it” activity is a fun and engaging way to build teamwork and trust among your employees. It requires creativity, negotiation and problem-solving.
One study looked at completion times for three jigsaw puzzle types—normal, shape-cue and picture-cue. It found that the normal jigsaw puzzle took longer without a guide than the shape-cue and picture-cue puzzles, but the difference was not significant for the other two. In addition, the presence of a guide was effective for all age groups, and the time it took children to complete the jigsaw puzzle was faster with a guide than without.
5. Bucket List
A bucket list is a collection of things that you want to accomplish in your life. They may be goals that are wildly ambitious, or they may be more realistic and achievable. Whatever they are, they can be a great way to get a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction from life.
The bucket list can be a fun way to clarify what you really want out of life, and it can also help motivate you to live a more fulfilling life. It’s not a rule that you should write everything on your bucket list, but it can be helpful to focus on what is most important for you.
Travel is often a top priority on people’s bucket lists, with many people wanting to visit every continent. This can include the likes of visiting Antarctica, and it’s a great opportunity to see some incredible sights and experience the wonder of nature.
Another popular bucket list goal is skydiving, with many people wishing to take their first jump out of a plane. This can be a fearful activity for some, but it’s also something that can be incredibly exciting and rewarding.
This team building activity is a great way to get to know your employees. It helps you understand how well your team members interact and identify weak spots in the workplace.
A scavenger hunt is a classic team building activity that can be organized indoors or outdoors around your office. It’s a great way for your team to bond and engage in problem-solving. It can also be a great way to encourage employees to be creative and think on their feet. In addition, a scavenger hunt can be an engaging way to break up the day and make the most of your time together.