Team Building: Activities and Art

Here’s a set of team-building activities that combine a “team-building day out” with short team-building activities and brain teasers that follow.

First, plan a team-building day out with your group. While this may take some time, the investment is worth it to relieve stress and build camaraderie. Examples may include:

• Volunteer together at a food pantry, community center or other social services center
• Attend a sports event, music concert, play or movie together
• Take a day trip to a local park (nature recreation park or amusement park)

Once you return, for short team-building activities, try the following:

• Provide markers, crayons, colored pencils and paper, and ask each team member to draw a picture representing one detail from the day out. For the brain teaser part of the exercise, have other team members guess what detail was represented in the other team members’ picture. This should create positive memories of the day and remind the team of how different peoples’ experiences really are.
• In an informal debriefing conversation, ask team members to share how they experienced the other team members in ways that were both similar and different to their day-to-day experiences. What roles or habits stayed with the team and what was different?
• For another art activity, ask each team member to “draw the team.” Post the pictures in a common area, and in a short group session, reflect on the patterns in the pictures – what they have in common, and what differs between them? Do the pictures focus more on people or action? Are they more symbolic or tangible? Processing the pictures helps elevate the creativity of each team member, while also celebrating the team as a unit.

 The benefits of team-building are realized both when individuals and the team as a unit are honored. Time together, followed by creative activities to capture the moment, can foster both.