Team bonding exercises are a fantastic way to bring your group together and can improve camaraderie. Finding the right activity can be challenging because not everyone is comfortable participating in certain team-building exercises; they might think games are pointless, boring, or even childish. It’s crucial to pick a game that everyone enjoys playing and that teaches your team about each member’s thought process, working style, and problem-solving abilities.
Benefits of team building puzzles
Some of the many benefits of doing team-building puzzles include:
What are team building puzzles?
A puzzle activity for team building requires the group to collaborate in order to find a solution. Team building puzzles, also known as lateral thinking exercises, can be a fun and interesting way for groups to get to know one another, break down barriers between management and staff, and promote communication through team problem solving. There are many different puzzles you can complete with your team, ranging from small outings like trivia contests and office brain teasers to bigger adventures like scavenger hunts and escape rooms. Whatever you decide to do, puzzles give your team a chance to collaborate and have fun.
10 puzzles you can play with your team
Here are some online and in-person options to choose from if you’re looking for enjoyable, team-building puzzles you can play with your group:
Two truths and a lie
The game “two truths and a lie” is excellent for team building and gives participants a fun challenge to complete while getting to know their coworkers. Ask a team member to share three things about themselves to get things going. The third fact must be a lie, and the first two must be true. To uncover the fraud, the team must collaborate with other members. If they get the answer wrong, the speaker wins. If they get the answer right, the audience wins.
Teams can work together to solve this puzzle remotely or in person, revealing previously unknown and fascinating details about their teammates. To make the puzzle more interesting, educational, and challenging, try to be creative with your answers and try to reveal information about yourself that your coworkers may not be aware of.
Dont crack the egg
Teams are challenged by the game Don’t Crack the Egg to create a cage to protect a raw egg using materials found around the office. The objective of the puzzle is to build a cage that stops your egg from breaking when dropped from a high or flat surface. You’ll need an egg, access to a drop point, and possibly helpful materials like paper, tape, and found objects from around the office to finish this puzzle.
Teams must collaborate to come up with a fun solution to the puzzle’s challenging problem. Test the teams’ creations by dropping the egg cage from a high height onto a hard surface at the conclusion. The winning team is the one whose egg survives or is the least cracked.
Mission statement fill in the blank
This puzzle in the style of a mad-lib is a clever and entertaining way to introduce your team to the mission statement of your business. Remove common parts of speech like verbs, nouns, and adjectives and begin with a core value or company mission statement. Ask team members for ideas to fill in the blanks where necessary to finish the sentence. Aim to provide amusing and unusual words that when combined, produce amusing statements.
Escape rooms
You can use escape rooms that are nearby and online, but you can also design your own. In an escape room, players are locked inside and must work together to solve a puzzle or series of puzzles in order to escape. These are an enjoyable and successful way to promote cooperation and communication. To find the answers or keys that let them leave the room, the entire team must frequently cooperate.
Scavenger hunts
Scavenger hunts can be an enjoyable way to test team members and get them cooperating. Give the team members a list of items to gather, or give them hints they can use to find the location of the ultimate prize or clue. Think about offering hints that motivate team members to cooperate and compete with other teams to win.
Fill in the map
Give your team a world map and instruct them to cooperate to fill in the names of the countries for this team-building puzzle. See how many of the 195 countries in the world they can name in about 20 minutes. Teams can use this puzzle as a fun way to collaborate on a difficult task and find potential geography experts on the team.
Fill-in-the-blank puzzles can promote discussions about travel and experience that will deepen coworkers’ understanding of one another.
Riddles
A good way to stimulate the minds of your team and exercise their problem-solving abilities is to ask them to solve a riddle. You can try the following examples of riddles with your group:
Pass-it telephone
You will need paper and pens for each member of the participating team for this exercise. Write a sentence at the top of each team member’s paper and pass it to the left. The subsequent team members’ task is to illustrate what the first team member wrote. When the drawing is complete, the student should fold the top sentence of the paper over so that only the drawing is visible. Pass their folded paper to the following team member, who should try to create a new illustration based on the sentence.
When the paper reaches its starting point, the game is over. To see the development of the initial sentence, unfold the paper.
Rope square
Using a piece of rope, four blindfolded team members must form a perfect square to complete the puzzle known as “rope square.” Ask them to each take a section of rope in their hands and slide them until each section is the same size. They can take off their blindfolds when they believe they are finished to assess their performance. Ask one team member to keep quiet for an added challenge. This can serve as an example of the value of participation and communication in achieving a goal.
Learn a dance
A lighthearted way to move, have fun, and challenge your team is to learn a dance together. You can challenge your team to learn a line dance or other straightforward choreography online. Let them collaborate to teach each other the moves.
Team Bonding Activities – The Puzzle *71
FAQ
What are the 14 indoor team building activities?
- 1) Egg Drop. …
- 2) Dog, Rice, Chicken. …
- 3) Talking in Circles. …
- 4) Two sides of a Coin. …
- 5) Blind Drawing. …
- 6) The Mine Field / Watch your step. …
- 7) Three Truths and a Lie. …
- 8) Team Birthday Line Up.
What is barter puzzle?
The objective is to finish their puzzle before the other teams, so they must devise a strategy on how to persuade the rival teams to give them the missing pieces. Possible strategies include barter, team member exchanges, time donations to rival teams, mergers, etc.
What is a fun team building activity?
Pair Up is a fun team activity that encourages staff members to inquire about names written on each other’s backs. This game is a great way to get everyone excited and break the ice at the start of your team-building activity. Great for: Communication, problem-solving, creative thinking.
