Team building activities have a bad rap for being monotonous and a huge time suck. No one wants to participate and it feels like a chore, but that doesn’t have to be the case this year! There are plenty of unusual team building activities out there that will get everyone excited to join in on the fun.
Why do you need team building activities? Well, by taking the time to plan interesting activities, the benefits for employees can be endless. It’s proven that team building activities can promote productivity, collaboration, communication, creativity, and more.
Here’s a list of 10 unusual team building activities for you to try.
1 – Collaborate on Your Own Company Song
At Kidbilly Music, our favorite team building activity is bringing people together through song. During our team building programs we spend time learning about your company culture, as well as the team members. Once we’ve all introduced ourselves, there are options to split off into groups and write multiple songs or write one song as a large group. You’d be surprised at how many great songs can be made within a couple of hours and a few brains working together. This is a wonderful way to get your team’s creative juices flowing!
2 – Cardboard Boat Racing
Another out of the box team building activity to help flex that creative muscle is to have a cardboard boat racing contest! Have your group break off into smaller teams to design their own cardboard boat. Make it more challenging and have them only use supplies from the office. I’m sure there are some boxes laying around. Plan a day at a local park to have a picnic during the race. There can even be prizes offered for the different placements. What makes this so fun is that everyone’s families can also be involved.
3 – Blindfolded Food Tasting
There is nothing more thrilling or daunting than being blindfolded and not knowing what food you’re about to taste! Food-tasting games can be a great quick team building activity. Break up into teams and see which team can guess the most foods correctly. You can have as many different foods as you like. Make a theme or find exotic foods. Just make sure you’re taking allergies and dietary restrictions into consideration when planning!
4 – Camping
A fun activity to get your team to bond is a weekend camping trip. This will require a lot of planning in advance but will be worth it when you get everyone outdoors. Camping is a great opportunity to get people out of their comfort zones and apply basic survival skills. You can make a retreat and hire a survival guide to teach your team how to survive in the woods. Check out these essential tips when planning a camping trip!
5 – Dune Surfing
Do you enjoy surfing, or are you an avid snowboarder? If you haven’t heard of sand surfing, it is the next best unusual team building activity to try! Recently, it has been becoming more popular amongst extreme athletes, but don’t let that deter you. Even if you’re an inexperienced border, there are plenty of guides that you can reach out to plan a group tour. It’s a great way to enjoy the outdoors while bonding over a mouth full of sand and wipeouts with your teammates.
6 – Paintball
If you haven’t played paintball, odds are your kids have. While paintball is very popular, it’s not often thought of for team building. But you’ll have great competition and get a little messy in a good way. If you have a sales team who is highly competitive this is worth considering!
7 – Silent Disco
What’s the best way to bring people together? Have a party! Silent disco’s are a different type of activity to build your team’s morale. All you have to do is find a space, put up some decorations, and maybe include some refreshments. Each partygoer brings their headphones and they have the chance to listen to their choice of music. What’s so great about a silent disco is that everyone can have the chance to live in their own moment together. This creates a safe space to let your guard down, so sing until your lungs give out! You can share your music tastes with your co-workers. Dance the night away together, even if it’s to your own tunes.
8 – Laser Tag
Another different team building activity is laser tag! No one has ever said that they didn’t have fun after playing laser tag. Find a Dave and Busters or your nearest laser tag parlor, split up into two teams, and fight until the last team stands. These types of games are great for working together as a team to reach a common goal. Like with any combat style of game, winning requires the team to have a strategy. This helps enhance creative thinking, as well as build trust between co-workers.
9 – Guided Meditation
If you’re looking for something not as fast-paced or stress-inducing, another option is a guided meditation session. Maybe your team has been working long hours and wants some much-needed downtime. Meditation has been proven to help clear the mind and reduce stress. It is also known to improve self-awareness, as well as awareness of our surroundings. You can make this a regular occurrence during your Monday meetings. Spend the first 10-15 minutes for mindfulness to start the workday. You can even find a mindfulness teacher to guide you. Take a look at what the Mayo Clinic says about mindfulness exercises.
10 – Solve a Murder Mystery
My last suggestion requires a twist on a classic “who done it.” Do you remember the game Clue? Nowadays, there are a plethora of subscription boxes out there for murder mystery games. You can easily put together a small team of people to catch a killer. There are quite a few different styles of murder mystery games. The most common being everyone is a detective working together to decipher clues that ultimately lead them to the killer that the game has created. Most often, these types of mystery games include puzzles to force you to think creatively to find the killer.
Another style is similar to Clue, where one person is the killer and everyone else is working separately to figure out who the killer is. Simultaneously, they are trying to prove they aren’t the killer. Any way you decide to play your murder mystery game, your team will have a fun time bonding over figuring out who committed the crime.
Make 2023 An Unusual Team Building Year!
Now that you know there are alternatives to the same old same old, give them a try! There is no reason that you shouldn’t be able to keep things exciting in 2023 by spicing up your team building activities.
If you’re in need of some guidance, reach out and we’ll be happy to help give your team the bonding experience that they deserve.