Do It Yourself Teambuilding- Frozen Bean Bag

Activity Name: Frozen Beanbag

Materials: 1 Beanbag per participant

Setup: Give each player a beanbag to place on their shoulder, and have them choose a spot to stand

Goal: For all players to circulate around the room without dropping his or her own beanbag

How to play:
Players keep the beanbag on their shoulder and circulate around the room. If a player drops the beanbag they need to freeze. This player remains frozen until another player unfreezes them by picking up the beanbag and placing it back on their shoulder. Younger groups can hold their beanbag as they pick up another player’s beanbag. Older groups have to unfreeze a player without holding their own beanbag. Modify the movement to increase difficulty during the game (instruct players to job, dance, hop, etc.)

The rules:
· Players cannot touch their own beanbags.
· Younger groups can only touch their own beanbag when helping another player pick up a beanbag.

Suggestions for discussion questions:
· How did you communicate during this game?
· Did you ever get frustrated? Why?
· What was your strategy for picking up beanbags?

We would love to hear how this game went for you! Share with us in comments or on Facebook!

Do It Yourself Teambuilding - Chuck The Chicken!

Activity Name: Chuck the chicken

Materials: Rubber chicken

Goal: To get as many points for your team.

How to play:
Split your group into two teams with designated starting spots. Give team A the chicken. Team A launches the chicken as far as they can. Team B runs to the chicken and makes a straight line in front of it. The first player in Team B’s line picks up the chicken and passes it down the line backwards and overhead. The next person does the same, but passes it under their legs. This continues –over, under, over, under, and so on- until the chicken reaches the last person. The last person will throw the chicken as far away from the other team as possible and shout “Chuck the Chicken” to let them know the chicken is air-born. While Team B is passing the chicken, Team A makes a circle and the person who originally launched the chicken runs around the circle as many times as possible until the other team is done passing down the chicken. The team gets one point each time the chicken launcher runs around the circle. When Team A hears Chuck the Chicken, the game repeats with reverse roles for each team. Continue this game play for as many rounds as you would like!

The rules:
- Cannot block the person running around the circle
- The person who launches the chicken has to run around the circle.
- Have to have a different person both launch the chicken and run around the circle each round
- Each person has to get the chicken when passing it down

Suggestions for discussion questions:
- Did everyone have fun?
-What was your team’s strategy?
-How did you use teamwork in that activity?
-How does it feel to depend on your other teammates for your success?

Do It Yourself Teambuilding- Follow The Leader!

Activity Name: Follow the Leader

Materials:  No materials needed

Goal: To have all participants follow their chosen leader.

How to play:
You can play this game anywhere -at home or in the classroom. Have your group stand in a circle. Everyone comes up with an action in their mind. This action has to be simple and easy to copy (like jumping up and down). Next, each person will pick a personal leader from the group and keep it a secret. On go, everyone will do their own action. The game leader will then call out ‘Follow your Leader’, and everyone will copy the actions of the personal leader chosen at the beginning of the game. The outcome will be different each time, so be sure to finish with a meaningful discussion about leadership, teamwork and non-verbal communication.

The rules:
-The action has to be a simple one that everyone can do
- Cannot change the leader you are following

Suggestions for discussion questions:
-Did you have fun?
-How did it feel to be a leader?
-How did it feel to be a follower?
-What are character traits of good leaders?

Do It Yourself Teambuilding - Double Trouble!

Activity Name: Double Trouble

Materials: Foam dodge balls, Pinnies (optional)

Setup: Have everyone stand in a big circle.

Goal: First team to pass the ball around the circle to each of their teammates back to the first person.

How to play:Make a big circle with everyone. Make two teams in the circle. (Every other person in the circle is one team) pass a ball to the first person in each team. On Go, one team passes the ball to the next player on their team one way and the other team passes the ball the other way. Take a step back after each round.

The rules:
-Cannot block the other team’s ball
-Must pass the ball to each person in the team
-Cannot switch directions

Discussions:
-What was your strategy?
-Talk about you can’t always win and how to deal with it.
-Talk about frustration and how to deal with it
-Why was it important to follow the rules?
-Did you want to intercept the other team’s ball? Why?

Do it yourself teambuilding: Lily Pads

Activity Name: Lily Pads

Materials: Hula Hoops (1 per person)

Setup: Start by scattering 1 hula hoop per person around your entire playing area.  A 25’ by 25’ room is great, but this game can be played in different sized spaces.

Goal: To get everyone safely on a Lily Pad (in a hula hoop), even as Lily Pads disappear!

How to play:
Call out different ways for the group to move about the open space (e.g. walking, skipping, marching, running, chicken dance, etc.).  When you call “Jump on a Lily Pad!” everyone must run to a hula hoop and jump into it.  More than one player can share a hoop. After each round, you can take one (or several) hula hoop away.  As you eliminate more hoops it will require your group to cooperate by sharing hoops and including others.

Discussion:
- Did the activity get easier or harder as Lily Pads were removed?
- What did you do to overcome that challenge?
- What does it mean to include someone? How was that important in this activity?
- Where else could we try to do a better job of including others?

Do It Yourself Teambuilding - Hippo

Activity Name: Hippo

Materials: Up to 10 soccer balls, 1 Hula Hoop per team

Setup: Spread the Hula Hoops out around your playing field as much as your space allows.  Set one Hula Hoop up for each team.  Start with players standing around their team's hoop with everyone in their team in a circle  holding hands.

Goal: To get as many soccer balls as you can in your team's hoop

How to play:
Teams start at their designated hula hoop.  As a team, they must travel while connected to each other in a circle.  Using only their feet, they must try to bring as many soccer balls back to their team's hoop as they can.

The rules:
- Players must hold hands with their teammates the entire time
- Teams can only take one ball at a time
- Players cannot steal a ball from another team
- Players cannot touch the balls with their hands

Discussion:
- Was the activity hard or easy? Why?
- Was it hard not to be able to use your hands?
- How did you use teamwork to get the balls to your hoop?
- How can we use a better strategy to get more balls next time?

Game of the Month Holiday Edition - Solemn and Silent

Game of the Month: Solemn and Silent

Purpose: The purpose of this game is to integrate group members and work on self control skills.

Materials: Just the participants.

Description:

• Members pair back to back. 
• On the count of three, everyone must face their partner, look each other in the eyes, and then try to remain solemn and serious.  No speaking! 
• The first to smile or laugh must sit down.
• All who remain standing then take a new partner and the activity continues until only one person has not smiled or laughed.  (Second round of playing can involve two teams competing to outlast each other.)
• If you get a pair at the end, who are both keeping a straight face, the rest of the group can act as hecklers to disrupt them.

Discussion/Reflection:

Good activity for breaking into activity groups.

At the end of the activity ask the group the following questions

• Why do you think we did this activity?
• What strategy did you have to complete this activity?
• How did you COMMUNICATE with the group?

November Game of the Month: The Machine

Purpose: This activity brings out strong communication and cooperation skills.

Materials: Just a group of participants.

Description:

• The object of this game is to create a machine out of a group of people (i.e. ceiling fan, hot air balloon, watch, etc.). 
• You might want to split your group into two or three smaller groups.  
• Each person is required to be accountable for one noise and one motion of the machine.  The group members should then put their motions and sounds together to create the machine.  
• Give each group about 5 minutes to work together and prepare, and then have the groups present to everyone. 
• Ask the other groups to guess what machine the group is.

Discussion/Reflection:

• At the end of the activity ask groups some of the following questions
• Why do you think we did this activity?
• Why did you choose the machine you did?
• If we were to do this challenge again what if anything would you do differently?

October Game of the Month: Back-to-back

Purpose: This activity brings out communication, cooperation, and trust.

Materials: Just a group of participants.

Description:

• Every group member must find a partner of approximately equal height and weight, if possible.  
• The partners will lock arms with their backs to one another. 
•  With arms remaining locked at all times, the partners will sit down on the ground, kick their legs out straight, and try to stand back up. 
•  Then groups of four will try the same thing.  Then groups of eight, sixteen, and eventually, the entire group together. 

Discussion/Reflection:

This is the perfect activity for building trust.

At the end of the activity ask groups some of the following questions

• Why do you think we did this activity?
• Were you comfortable during this activity or did you feel a little uncomfortable?
• Did you trust your partner/ partners? Why/Why Not?

Game of the Month: Name Tag Grab

Purpose: This game is often used as an ice-breaker, but can also be a great way to talk about competition vs. collaboration.

Materials: 1 name tag per participant (with his/her name on it!)

Description:

• Have the participants stand in a circle. 
• Place a name tag on each participant's back.  Do not let them know what name they have on their backs, also, be sure that no one has his/her own name on his/her back.
• On "Go!" the group is to scatter and to try and find their respective name tags. 
• When the find the person who has their name tag, they should introduce themselves, or do a funny handshake, and then take their name tag and put it on their chest.
• Once a player has both found his/her name tag AND no longer has a name tag on his / her back, he/she is to return to the original circle.
• The game ends when everyone has returned to the circle.
• Time the group's performance to see how quickly they can complete the challenge.

Things to Note:

• How long did it take the group to complete the task
• Were they competitive in their approach, trying to be the first to complete the task?
• Were they collaborative in their approach, not worrying about only themselves but rather how they can help everyone complete the challenge faster? 

HAVE FUN!!

Bonus Game of the Month: Mystery Count

Purpose: To develop group cohesion, concentration and patience.

Materials: none!

Description:

• The goal of the game is as a group to count as high as possible.
• Have the group sit in a circle with heads down/ eyes closed. 
• There is no predetermined order, anyone may say a number at any time, as long as they follow the following rules:

• Only 1 voice may say a number
• The group must count in order without skipping any numbers

• Not an easy feat for any group, but it's amazing to see when the group slows down, is patient and begins getting a feel for each other how high you can count

Game of the Month: Tail Pull

Purpose: Illustrate the point of working towards a common goal

Materials: 1 "tail" per participant, evenly distribute tails of 5 different colours. (tail can be made of ribbon, socks, etc.)

Description:

• Sit everyone in a circle and evenly distribute 1 of 5 different colour tails to to the group 
• Have the participants tuck the end of the tail into the band of their pants leaving the rest hang down
• Tell players, "you each have a coloured tail" the game ends when there is exactly 1 person of every color left standing. 
• The group must try and pull out other peoples tails. Once your tail is pulled, you must sit out and can no longer pull out tails

Discussion / Reflection: 
As much as you may feel the need, do not help the group come up with a strategy to successfully finish this task. What you will likely see happen is a very chaotic every man for himself approach. However, without proper planning and teamwork, this challenge will be very difficult to accomplish.  This makes the debrief even more powerful when you ask questions like:

• Why did YOU want to be the one left standing?
• What prevented your group of thinking to get together with the people of the same color and everyone pulling your own tail out except for 1 person? 
• Why don't we think of working together? 
• What got in the way of our group achieving our common goal?

Game of the Month: Are you my leader?

In the spirit of Halloween, we decided to post an activity that could be 'scary' for some!  This one requires total trust in your group!

Materials: Blindfolds for half of your group

Goal: To put your trust in your group as you are lead through a trust walk, without knowing who is leading you!

Description:

- Divide your group in half and blindfold half of the group.
- Have the blindfolded participants stand in a line side by side.
- The other half of the group will now choose partners by forming a line facing the blindfolded players and standing in front of the partner they have chosen.
- The leaders now guide their blindfolded partner on a trust walk by allowing them to hold their arm.
- Only the blindfolded player may talk - the leader/guide must remain silent the entire time.
- Encourage the leaders to try and guide their partners around different objects.
- After a few minutes, call "FREEZE!" and then ask the leaders to guide their players back to the start line.
- The leaders should then form their line, but this time they should mix up the order of their line so that they are NOT standing in front of their partner.
- The blindfolded players can then remove their blindfolds.
- Now have the blindfolded players try to guess who their respective leaders were.  It is always interesting to ask them how they figured it out, or why they made the guess they made.
- Repeat this process for the other half of the class.

Game of the Month: Fear Field

Talk to your kids/class about enacting courage.  Here's a great game to get you started...

Materials: One small piece of paper per participant, One blindfold

Goal: To have players make their way through all the fears in "The Fear Zone", discussing them as we encounter them.

Set-up:

• You will need an open space of approximately 10' x 15'
• Split your group into smaller groups of approximately 4-6 participants per group
• Have each participant sit separately to write a different fear on each of their three pieces of paper (the fears can be anything they fear in life, at school, etc.)
• Crumple each piece of paper into a ball and randomly spread them out in the 10' by 15' space

Description:

• Pick one group to start this challenge, from that group you will pick 1 player to be blindfolded and the other players to stand around the perimeter of the open space (aka "The Fear Zone")
• The blindfolded player must walk through The Fear Zone, attempting to avoid all of the fear balls of paper.  His/her teammates will give verbal directions from their positions around the perimeter of The Fear Zone.
• If the blindfolded player steps on one of the fear balls, that player must stop, take off his/her blindfold, pick up the ball that he/she stepped on and read it out loud.
• The parent/teacher should now lead a discussion about that particular fear, survey the group to see if others share this fear, and be sure to compliment those for having the courage to share their fears.
• Pick another group to repeat the process.
• Continue with this for as long as you see fit.

Discussion Tips:

Here are some suggested points/questions for your discussion:

• Just talking openly about fears is courageous
• When did those first experience the fear they wrote down?
• What are different ways to begin to face your fear?
• Are we born with courage or can we learn it?

This activity has been adapted from the Dynamix Family Challenge seen in Character Is The Key by Sara Dimerman.

Game of the month: Reset!

It's hard to believe, but the first day of school is just around the corner. Here's a great ice-breaker to help you get a jump start on building your classroom community.
(of course there are many other great applications for this game too!)

Materials:

1 index card per player

(or you can make it a bit harder for older participants by using a deck of cards)

Goal:

To get to know the other players, to have fun, and maybe even to win a round or two!

Set-up:

If you are using the index cards, you will need each player to write his or her name on a blank index card before the game can begin. If you have multiple players with the same first name, be sure to instruct them to include their last name initial or their complete last name.

If you are using a deck of cards, you simply need to distribute one random card to each player.

Description:

• Everyone starts with his/her card
• On "Go!" players are to mingle around and pair off
• Once in a pair, players should share something specific. (You might have the group share their favourite food, or the most exciting thing they did over the summer, etc. Be creative and switch up each round)
• After players have shared information, they are to trade cards
• Players continue to mingle sharing and trading as they go
• After about a minute you should call "RESET!"
• Players must now try to get his/her original card back
• Play continues in the same manner, sharing and trading, but now if a player get his/her original card back, they quickly make their way to the front of the class and give you a high five!
• That player is declared the winner of this round
• Get everyone to quickly give the card they are holding to the person it belongs to and play another round, this time you can have the winner of the previous round pick the topic of discussion for the round

HAVE FUN!!

Game of the month: Musical Pools

Is the heat getting to you? Here's a way to cool down that is sure to be a great time and provide tons of laughs!

Materials:
Music,
Water Source,
Kiddie Pools
(Quantity will vary based on the size of your group. I would suggest a ratio of 1 pool for every 5 participants)

Goal: To be the last player remaining!

Set-up: Line your Kiddie Pools up side-by-side, and fill each one with water.

Description:

Just like classic Musical Chairs, this is a game where you want to be the last player remaining. Players start by standing around the Kiddie Pools. As the music plays, they must circulate around the Kiddie Pools -dancing is encouraged! When the music stops, everyone must get into one of the Kiddie Pools (safety tip: don't allow more than 5 people per pool). The last player to get into the water is eliminated. Continue like this until one (very wet) player remains.

Have fun!!

Game of the month: 52 Pick Up!

A deck of cards, a stopwatch and a group that's ready for the challenge, that's all you need for this one!

Materials: 1 Complete Deck of Cards, 1 Stopwatch

Goal: Arrange each suit of a deck of cards in order from Ace to King, as quickly as possible!

Description:

• Have your group start by standing in a large square (all facing the inside)
• Scatter the deck of cards, randomly and face down on the floor, on the inside of the square
• On "Go!" the group must attempt to collect all the cards and stand in a square formation.  At each line of the square, participants should be lined up holding the cards of a particular suit in the correct order (ace to king).
• If you have a smaller group, you can advise the players to line the cards up on the floor instead of holding them up in their hands.
• Time the group's performance and challenge them to try and beat their time!

Tip!

Between rounds, check in with the group and ask them questions to get them thinking about their process and how it might be improved for the next round.

Game of the month: Jump Ball

Play a very active and fun game, with only 1 ball!

Materials: 1 Volleyball

Goal: To keep passing the ball for as long as possible, without breaking any of the rules

Description:
Have the group stand in a circle. (If you are in a classroom or any confined space, have a few kids play at a time.) The goal is to continually pass the ball to other participants in the circle. The catch is that you can never be touching the ball and the ground at the same time. When the ball is thrown to you, you must jump and catch it and throw it before landing.

There are a couple of ways you can play this game:


World-Record Style; Count how many passes your group can do, then try to beat your record. For larger groups, split the group into two separate circles. See which team can make the most passes.

Elimination Style; If you touch the ball and the ground at the same time, you must sit out and wait until the next game.


HAVE FUN!!

Game of the month: Group Juggle

Group Juggle is an oldy, but a goody!!

Materials:
5-8 soft, tossable objects (e.g. koosh balls, tennis balls, scrunched up paper, rubber chickens, etc)

Goal: To juggle as many objects as possible as a group.

Description:
1. Have everyone stand in a circle. They will be throwing and catching, so it is advised that you make sure everyone is about one arm’s length apart from their neighbors.


2. The first player throws an object to someone on the other side of the circle, calling out his/her name. That person then throws the object to a third person, and so on. This continues until the object makes its way to everyone once and returns to the first player. In order to establish a sequence that will work, it is important that each player only receive the object once, and that players remember to who they threw the object to. This sequence/pattern must stay in tact for the remainder of the activity.


3. Now, with the pattern set, the leader throws the first object. As the groups masters the pattern, another object is added, then a third, then a fourth, etc.

See how many objects your groups can successfully juggle without any mistakes or drops!



Be sure to look for Teachable Moments

How does your group react to a mistake?
What are they doing to help their peers?
Are they throwing to receivers when they are not ready to receive?
Is the group blaming each other for mistakes?
Is the group looking for ways to improve?

Game of the Month: Bandage Tag

This unique twist on tag will have your group running and laughing, simultaneously!

Materials: You don't need anything special, just an open space.

Description:
Great ready for a unique twist on tag, suitable for participants of all ages.

- Select one player to be IT
- If you get tagged by IT, you have to use your hand as a bandage and run holding the spot that was tagged. (i.e. if you get tagged on the leg, you now run holding your leg)
- Each player is equipped with 2 bandages (their hands), which means you get 2 chances to remain in the game
- (Optional Rule) To keep the game going, you can assign a “paramedic” who has to run around making a siren noise to save eliminated players, by tagging them back in the. Of course if the ‘paramedic’ is tagged by the IT, he/she has to apply his/her bandages as well.
- When enough participants are eliminated, call everyone back in and select a new IT.
HAVE FUN!