If you are looking for some quick fun and easy team building activities for small groups, you’ve come to the right page. In this day and age, no one seems to have enough time. We are walking fast, eating fast, breathing fast, thinking fast… and still, many of us don’t seem to have even 5 minutes daily just for ourselves, for something we like. To relax. Hence, many people look only for quick team building games and that is what this article is about. It includes even a 5 minute team building activities, and if you can’t spare 5 minutes to help your employees work easier together, then you don’t deserve a good working environment. What you give is what you get, it is that simple.
And, speaking of simplicity, today we‘ve focused only on simple team building activities, as we’ve already covered many company team building activities indoor and event ideas, including best simple fun indoor team building problem solving activities for adults. Actually, we already had an article named Quick and Easy Team Building Activities for Small Groups, but that was way back in 2015. Today we offer some new team building exercises for small groups. But if you need a plenty team bonding activities for a small number of participants you can check that article as well.
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For all those kindergarten teachers, we recommend some team building exercises for kids, as they can learn about friendship and collaboration more easily than adults. Hence, it is great when they get the chance to play this type of games while still being very young. Who knows, maybe future generations, those who grow up playing these games, won’t have the need to practice these activities as adults too. Any team building game for children we recommend? There are many, but for today, we’ve picked one very simple, free, easy, and quick. It is called: Don’t wake up the dragon! Kids should imagine that they live in a beautiful place, but near a sleeping dragon. They need to line up in order of height, but without talking to each other (not to wake up the dragon). Once they are lined up correctly, they should yell ‘Boo’ together to scare the dragon, and save their village. Fun, isn’t it?
Back on the main topic. We didn’t want to repeat ourselves, hence for this article we’ve picked 15 quick fun and easy team building activities for small groups that we haven’t covered in upper mentioned articles. A plenty of sources helped us create this list, such as Huddle, RefreshLeadership, and LiveStrong, to name a few.
Precise time each game requires depends on the number of participants, but we’ve provided rounded time as a reference. Most of the activities on our list are indoor team building activities, although they can be played outdoors as well if you prefer. What is more important is that these are free team building activities, as for most of them you will only need basic office material, such as pen and paper for example. There are even a few that don’t require any material at all. If you still need more ideas don’t worry, we got you covered with Best Simple Fun Corporate Team Building Games.
Without the further ado, let’s check out our newest picks that will help you create a great working environment! These are 15 quick fun and easy team building activities for small groups that we recommend.
15. The Perfect Square
Time: 15 – 30 minutes
Number of participants: at least 5
We start our list of 15 quick fun and easy team building activities for small groups with a fun game many of us familiar with. It is very simple. All you need is a piece of rope and blindfolds for your employees. You should put the rope on the ground and ask blindfolded employees to try to form a perfect square. You can create variations, ask them to form a perfect triangle or ask some of them to stay silent to make it more of a challenge.
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14. Crazy Job Interview
Time: 15 – 30 minutes
Number of participants: at least 4
We are continuing our list of quick fun and easy team building activities for small groups with one of the indoor team building games for employees which is going straight to the ‘fun’ category. The idea is for each employee to convince another that they are the right person for a hypothetical job. What is fun about that? Well, they have to discuss the attributes and job positions given by other players. Our example: Someone may have to explain why being ‘Masculine’ and ‘Nervous’ makes them a great ‘President’.
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13. What I Would Have Done
Time: 15 minutes
Number of participants: at least 2
To engage in What I Would Have Done team building activity all you need is a box, a few pieces of paper and a pen. You should write a few things all participants can relate to, something like career choice, sports, etc. Then, participants should pull a paper out of the box, and, if, for example, they have picked career choice, they should first talk about what really happened, and then what they would do differently from this perspective, if they would choose another career path.
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12. Idea Building Blocks
Time: 20 minutes
Number of participants: at least 5
Your employees must solve a hypothetical problem posed by you. They should write their idea on a piece of paper. Then, the paper should go from person to person, with each of them developing a new solution to the problem using the original idea.
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11. Find the Common Thread
Time: 15 minutes
Number of participants: at least 6
Number 11 on our list of 15 quick fun and easy team building activities for small groups is called Find the Common Thread and as the name suggests it is about finding something common your employees have. First, you should form groups, and each group should then talk and find out their common thread. Then, they should write a list of characteristics, which people who share that trait usually have. Those characteristics are, of course, just stereotypes, and groups should talk about them, which will bring them all closer together.
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10. Antique Can
Time: 10 minutes
Number of participants: at least 5
All you need is a can and another small object that can fit into it. Something like a rock, or a paper clip for example. Tell a story that explains that the object inside the can is extremely valuable. Then, ask them to form a circle, and have a can go from one to another until it passes the entire circle. Where’s the fun in that? It is in the restraints you will set – for example, forbid participant to use arms, or legs, or to look. If the can or the object drops at any time, they must try again, from the first person. You can play with restraints, making the game harder or easier.
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9. Poker Tower
Time: 15 minutes
Number of participants: at least 4
Divide your employees into two or more groups. Give each group scissors and a deck of cards, and have them compete who will create the tallest tower with limited time.
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8. Classify This
Time: 15 minutes
Number of participants: at least 6
Ask your employees to form a few groups and then place some various objects in front of them. Each group should create categories for the items. Then they should explain why they’ve grouped some items together if there isn’t an apparent connection between them.
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7. Sneak a Peek Game
Time: 10 minutes
Number of participants: at least 8
Number 7 among 15 quick fun and easy team building activities for small groups is a problem-solving activity. And all you need to play this fun game is a few sets of building blocks for kids. Use one set to create an interesting object, and then give each group their own set. Only one member of each group can come and take a look at the object for 10 seconds, after which they should do their best describing the object to their group; they have half a minute to try to explain the group how to create the same object. Then, after maybe a minute or two (depending on the complexity of the object) another member of each team can “sneak a peek” at the object, and guide them further. This repeats until one group has succeeded in recreating the object.
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6. Trust Walk
Time: 10 minutes
Number of participants: at least 4
Do you trust me? Then let me take you around, guiding you by my voice, while you are blindfolded. That is all this game is about.
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And now, let’s see the top five quick fun and easy team building activities for small groups.
5. Life Timeline
Time: 15 minutes
Number of participants: at least 4
Your employees should try to remember some of their dearest memories. Then you should ask them to pick only one memory they would like to experience again if they only had one minute to live. Then, they should share that precious memory with the group. Now, that is some real team bonding.
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4. Take What You Need
Time:
Number of participants: at least 5
All you need are pennies. Depending on the number of people you will need a lot, or not. How much exactly, you will know after you learn how the game is played. Just ask your employees to sit in a circle, and place pennies in front of them. Tell them that everyone should take as much as they need, without explaining what they will need the pennies for. To prevent someone taking everything, set some limit. Then, each participant should reveal something about themselves (that no one there knows) for each penny they took.
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3. Turning Over a New Leaf
Time: 10 minutes
Number of participants: at least 4
Another fun and simple activity on our list of 15 quick fun and easy team building activities for small groups is creatively called Turning Over a New Leaf, but don’t worry, it has nothing to with starting a new page of your life. It is a simple game for your employees that will help them bond and learn to work as a team. Just place a sheet on the floor, and tell all the participants to step on it. Then, they should turn the sheet over, without anyone stepping off of it, or carrying another person.
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2. Road Map Game
Time: 30 minutes
Number of participants: at least 6
Boy, do we love this game?! If you like the creativity you will enjoy it as well. Divide your employees into two groups with the same number of members. Give each group papers, pens and a map (of a city, state, country, it doesn’t matter), and ask them to plan a perfect vacation trip, but set the important parameters such as money, car, the price of gas, etc. Have them plan the perfect, most fun trip with what they have. If, for example, one group doesn’t calculate good, and it plans something that can’t be done with the money you have set, and the other group does it correctly you easily have a winner. If no group makes this type of mistake, the winner can be a group that has planed most fun trip, with the most sightseeing.
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1. Eye Contact
Time: 5 minutes
Number of participants: at least 2
It can’t be simpler than this. You don’t require any material, and you can have only two employees you want to bond. Just ask them to stare into each other’s eyes for at least one minute. Watch out, there might be some laughter! In any case, with prolonged eye contact, coworkers may become more friendly to each other.
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This was our list of 15 quick fun and easy team building activities for small groups. Have you tried one already? Please, tell us your experience in the comments below.
