Whenever students, whether they are high school students or middle school students get together for the first time things can be awkward. Team building activities for students are designed to not only break that awkwardness, but to help students become comfortable with each other so they will be able to work together in the future. One great way to do this is to engage in a little activity I like to call positive spin.

 

What is positive spin?
Positive spin is a game designed to help people put value into others so that they can feel comfortable. It works best when the two people engaging in it are not familiar with each other or look like they would not talk to each other otherwise.

 

How does it work?
It works quite simple; students will get together in small groups of four or five. Each group will select a team leader to select which students are going to go up in front of both groups of students. After this the student that has been chosen will tell what their first name is. The leader of the group that chose that student will select a member from the other group to come up and face the other student.

 

Each student is going to take turns coming up with positive words and descriptions that start with the first letter of the other students’ first name. If they fail to do this then a default person will be chosen by the dispelled student. The challenge to this game is to go for as long as possible, meaning first and last name. Once that has been done students from each group can contribute to the other person in order to keep things going.

 

An example
This team building activity for students is designed to establish trust and break the ice, what better way to do that then by giving each other compliments. Let’s say we have our two chosen students and the first students name is Robin. What the other student from the other group will do is come up with a positive word for each letter (Resilient, Observant, Brilliant, Intelligent, and Nice).

 

See how this works? Then the other student will do it, once this has been completed things are made tougher by going to the last name before starting over. When things start over both groups can now join in because doing it again with one student can be tough. Now you have everyone or at least multiple people giving compliments to one student. This team building activity makes everyone feel good and accepted.

 

I know games like this might sound weird at first, but they are a good way to get students comfortable. There are other team building activities for students you can try, but this one works really well because most students want to feel accepted by their peers. This activity is one of the best ways to do it.

 
Team building activities for kids are important, because they will help your kids to form friendships and bonds with other kids that they would have a hard time forming otherwise. I do not know if you have ever observed kids who were strangers to each other interacting. Most of the time kids will be shy and untrusting around new kids. The two team building activities for kids I am about to tell you will help to change that.

 
The getting to know you game
When kids have to get in groups they will try to gravitate towards the few kids in the group they are comfortable with. I have seen the best way to get around this is to use a game that makes them interact with each other. One good game is the getting to know you game; this is a game where kids will write down several facts about themselves on paper.

 
Kids will also write down something that is not true. In this game the purpose is to use a facilitator to make ask the other kids what is true and what is not true. This game is a real ice breaker, kids are able to learn a lot about each other and they are able to even laugh about some things.

 
The compliment game
Kids have a strong urge to feel accepted by their peers, and when they are in a team this is even truer. The compliment game is one of those team building activities for kids that will serve this purpose. All you have to do is put one kid in the middle of a circle that the other kids will form around them. You will then have each kid say one thing they like about the kid.
 
This game may seem tricky, but it actually works quite well. It is a form of acceptance that will melt any discomfort kids might have towards others. Even if some kids in the group are reluctant to participate, when they do it is going to be tough for them to not have at least a neutral attitude towards someone they might not have liked just a few minutes ago.
 
These two team building activities for kids are meant to get kids talking to each other and feeling comfortable with each other. When doing something that will require team work the number one thing that will bring down the team is a lack of communication. This lack of communication happens because people are not comfortable talking to each other or they are afraid of not being accepted by a particular person in the group.
 
So you need a way to get everyone feeling comfortable, and these activities are a good way to do it. There are other things you can try as well, such as tug of war and obstacle course games that will help build trust, establish unity, and make everyone feel included.

Team building activities for adults are needed, because even though adults are supposed to be able to work with different people we all know problems come up. Most jobs require some form of team work, and those without the skill to work well with others will suffer in many different areas of their career.

Not to worry, whether you are dealing with new employees, old employees, an organization, a sports team, or whatever, these team building activities for adults will help to break the ice and establish trust.

 

Creating an obstacle course
This can be done either indoors or outdoors, what you want is for everyone to split themselves into two teams. It is better if you break them up, because if you don’t people will go to those they are naturally comfortable with. The goal is to get people who would otherwise not talk to each other or who might have a tough time talking to each other to open up. Once you have split people into two different groups you want to create obstacles they have to go around.
 
The key to making this method work is you have to create activities that require help from others. This will create trust and build unity; you also want to create obstacles that will require people to shout out instructions in order to guide their team members along. You can do this easily by simply blindfolding a particular person and asking them to navigate the obstacle course.
 
Creating a scenario
Team building activities for adults should incorporate everyone, and this one definitely does. In this activity what you want is for one person to start off telling a story of their choosing, but you will tell them to stop. At this point you will go to each person and ask them to pick up where the other person left off so that the story moves along.
 
You will keep on doing this until everyone has had a turn. You can adjust this in order to make it more fitting to a particular environment. An example would be if you are in a professional environment, request that the story be related to a work related problem that might come up. 
These team building activities for adults are designed to get people communicating with each other, whether they want to or not. As an adult it is hard to hide ourselves from those people we may not get along with. This is especially true in a working environment; the last thing you want is for a problem to happen because of lack of communication.
 
Team building activities for adults help people from different backgrounds interact in a non threatening fashion with each other. Through these types of games trust is built and people are able to drop their defenses. All of this is going to work out well down the line should certain people ever have to work together to accomplish a common goal.