Free Team Building Activities - Virak

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Free team building activities ideas

Free ideas for team exercises and activities - for team-building, training, employee motivation, learning and development, recruitment, and other group activities

Here are lots of free and team building games, activities and exercises ideas for team development, employee motivation, personal development, ice-breakers, energizers, learning and fun.

These activities extend the first section of team building games and activities on this website, which also serves as a full listing for all exercises on both pages.

The way you run group activities is crucial for their effectiveness. So please read the tips for planning and running team building activities.

Also helpful are the tips on planning and running workshops.

Use and adapt these group games and exercises ideas to suit your situation. These free team building activities, games and exercises are great ice breakers for training sessions, recruitment group selections, meetings, workshops, seminars, conferences, organisational development, teaching and lecturing for young people and students.

Team building games and activities are useful also in serious business project meetings, where games and activities help delegates to see things differently and use different thinking styles.

Games and exercises help with stimulating the brain, improving retention of ideas, and increasing fun and enjoyment.

Many activities and games can be used or adapted for children's development and education, or even for kids party games.

We cannot accept responsibility for any liability which arises from the use of any of these free team building exercises ideas or games - please see the disclaimer notice below. Always ensure that you have proper insurance in place for all team building games activities, and take extra care when working with younger people, children and if organising children's party games.

See the team building games and activities page 1, which is a full listing of the activities on both pages.

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team building games - are the exercises or games appropriate?

Before you decide to use any team building games with a group of people, think about whether the activities are appropriate for the team members and the situation. See the notes on checking that games or team activities are appropriate for your situation.

The subjects on this website increasingly feature ideas for developing the whole person.

Think beyond providing traditional work skills development. Explore everything, and show your people that you have a broader view about development - they'll have lots of ideas of their own if you let them see it's okay to think that way. Team building games are just a part of a very wide mix of learning and and development experiences that you can explore and facilitate for your people - try anything. If it helps your people to feel good and be good, then it will help your organisation be good too.

See the guidelines and tips for planning and running team building activities and the free tips on running team building workshops.

Ensure that team-building activities comply with equality policy and law in respect of gender, race, disability, age, etc. Notably, (because the legislation is relatively new) teambuilding facilitators should be familiar with the Employment Equality Age Regulations, effective 1st October 2006, (UK and Europe). For example, a demanding physical activity might be great fun for fit young men, but if one of the team members is old enough to be a grandfather then think again, because it wouldn't be fair, and it might even be unlawful. The same applies to any activities that discriminate against people on grounds of gender, race, disability, etc.

Team-building games and activities have to agreeable and acceptable to team members, and the exercises have to be fair.

free team building games (2)

free team building games - warm-ups, quick games and exercises, icebreakers, exercises and activities

These free team building games and exercises generally last less than one hour, and can be adjusted to create longer team building activities, depending on the sort of team building, ice-breakers, training development activities required. Review and discussion are often useful and helpful after exercises which have raised relationship issues, or changed people's perceptions. Plan and practise all unknown aspects of the activities before using them. Logistics, facilitation and especially how you split the group into the

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numbers of team members per team are factors which have a big effect on how the exercises work and the experience for all. See the team building activities guidelines for tips and techniques.

See also the activities and exercises on the team building ideas page 1 on this website, and the quizballs quizzes, especially the management and business quiz for aspiring managers and trainers, and anyone interested in managing people and organisations.

free games, exercises and activities (2) (1 - more activities and exercises here)

truth and lies introductions game (ice-breaker, johari mutual awareness, interaction, amusement and fun)

As featured on Armstrong and Miller's TV comedy show in October 2009, this is an amusing variation of the usual around-the-table introductions at the start of courses and other gatherings.

Instruction to group:

Introduce yourself in turn by stating your name (and role if relevant) plus:

one true statement about yourself, and one false statement about yourself

so as to make it difficult for the group to determine which is the true fact and which is the lie.

You have 30 seconds to think of your statements, after which (according to the order decided by the facilitator) each person makes their statements, pausing after each truth and lie for the group to decide which is which.

While producing some amusement, the exercise can reveal surprising and impressive information about people (hidden talents and claims to fame, etc). The activity can therefore be useful for team-building from a Johari awareness viewpoint, and it also stimulates creative thinking and group interaction. The exercise also requires group analysis and decision-making in deciding which are the true statements and which are the lies.

Gardner's Multiple Intelligences model is a useful reference if using the exercise to illustrate the nature of individual natural or hidden capabilities.

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(Ask a friend if you want to know the comedy twist used by Armstrong and Miller, or email.)

egg balance game (concentration, positive thinking, discovery, breaking down barriers, wonderment and fascination)

For groups of any size. Each person must have an egg and a table-top surface.

According to myth, due to planetary gravitational effects or similar nonsense, it is possible to stand an egg on its end during the vernal (Spring) equinox, which is on or close to 21 March, when night and day are equal.

In fact it is possible with a little patience and a steady hand to balance an egg on its end on a flat level surface, any time. The big end is much easier.

Here's one on my kitchen table. This interesting feat of manual dexterity and myth-busting provides the basis for an enjoyable and fascinating group exercise. The temptation to pun is almost irresistible.

A raw egg is perhaps easier to balance than a hard-boiled egg because the weight sinks to the bottom and creates a sort of 'googly-man' effect. The science is not especially clear about this and if there are any professors of egg balancing out there I'd welcome your input.

You can use this activity in various ways, to demonstrate or emphasise patience, discovery, positive thinking, questioning assumptions, breaking barriers, stress avoidance; and for team contests.

Incidentally you can tell the difference between a hard-boiled egg and a raw egg by spinning the egg. A raw egg spins slowly and speeds up, and continues spinning after you stop it; a hard egg spins faster and stays stopped. These differences are due to the independent motion of the liquid in the raw egg, whereas a hard egg behaves as a single mass.

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An additional point of interest is that a few grains

of

salt enables a very quick balancing 'trick', which is of course cheating.

Facilitators are recommended to practice the task before asking others to try it. The balancing is easier on slightly textured surfaces and a lot more difficult on very smooth surfaces. Eggs with slightly pimply shells are much easier to balance than eggs with very smooth shells. Some eggs are easier to balance than others so have a few spare for any that simply will not balance.

A mop and bucket is recommended if using this exercise with children.

(Thanks to N Mehdi for the suggestion.)

fancy dress exercise (ice-breaker, self-expression, mutual awareness)

A very quick and easy ice-breaker, requiring no equipment or preparation.

The game can be used to make introductions a little more interesting than usual, or as a separate ice-breaker activity.

For groups of any size. Split large groups into teams small enough to review answers among themselves.

Instruction to group:

You are invited to a fancy dress party which requires that your costume says something about you.

What costume would you wear and why? Take two minutes to think of your answer.

Review:

Simply by asking people to explain their answers briefly to the group/team.

The exercise can be varied and expanded for groups in which people know each other:

Ask people to write their answers on a slip of paper (in handwriting that cannot easily be identified), and to fold the slips and put them in the middle of the table.

In turn group members must each pick a slip of paper from the pile and read the answer aloud.

On hearing all the answers, group members must then try to match the answers to the people present.

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