Indoor Games for Team Building

Indoor games for team building are gaining popularity and are being adopted at schools, colleges, workplaces, camps, etc. Indoor group games prove to be beneficial in breaking the ice, spearheading communication, building relationships and also enhancing creativity.

Such activities help people to interact and gel with one another, and work in co-ordination to achieve a common goal. A specific event or day or place is not required to conduct team building games. With indoor group games, you can carry out team building activities in just a small room.

Woolly Ends

Requirement: balls of wool (4 different colors), pack of UNO cards, scissors and a table.

Prior Preparation: Take the 4 balls of wool (red, yellow, blue and red color) and cut them into pieces of different sizes. Some pieces large, some pieces small and mix all the colored pieces together. Place this mixed mass of colored wool onto a table in the center of the room.

Sorting the teams: Since UNO cards are of colors yellow, green, blue and red, they are very helpful for sorting. Take equal number of colored cards and ask the players to pick one UNO card each. They cannot show their card to anyone and are also not allowed to talk. Without talking and without showing their card, they have to sort themselves. All the yellows in one team, greens in one team and so on. They can point out to colors in the room, indicating the color of their card, etc but no talking and no showing the card. This ensures silent and fun sorting. Now you have four teams. Allot four corners of the room to each team, and ask each team to pick their own team leader.

How to Play: On the table in the center of the room is the heap of entangled pieces of the four colors of wool. Each team has to pick up wool pieces corresponding to their team color; red, yellow, blue or green. Some members of the team will run to the center table and collect the wool pieces, while the others will stay at the corners ready to tie the wool pieces together.

The rule to be remembered is that only one piece of wool can be carried to the corner at a time, and only after the person (whose tying) has tied the piece, can the runner go back for the next one. Make sure this rule is followed. The teams are to join the ends of the wool pieces to make a long thread. At the end only one long thread is expected, no two sets of the same color are allowed. Give the teams exactly 7 minutes to play. Once the seven minutes are up, compare the four threads. The team with the longer thread wins. However, while cutting the wool make sure you cut small sizes of wool strands, because if you cut bigger pieces, the final line will be too long for you to measure.

Learning: It's a very simple game, however, don't get fooled by it's simplicity. Lots of aspects like co-ordination, time management, leadership roles, communication, working in a team, etc evolve through this activity. Since the pieces are cut into different sizes, the players running to bring the pieces have to choose the longer ones from the wool heap. The people tying have to be quick and have to work in co-ordination with the others. Since only one long thread is allowed, it's necessary for the team to stay together. Final win belongs to the team and not individuals.

Newspaper Bridges

Requirement: Newspapers (Lots), tear easy tape, one jug

Sorting the teams: To get the group sorted you can use the animal sound game. On chits of paper write: duck, dog, cat and cow. Equal number of the four animal chits must be present. Ask each person to come and collect one chit each and not show anybody their chit. The ducks, dogs, cows and cats are to form their groups by making the respective animal sounds. So the room's going to be filled with quacks, bow wow's, moo's and meaow's. At the end you will have four groups.

How to Play: To each team, provide equal amount of newspaper and sticking tape. Give them 30 minutes to build a bridge which would withstand the weight of a water jug. The rule to be remembered is that the bridge should have only two pillars to support itself. At the end of the building time, the team which builds the strongest bridge, sustaining the weight of the water jug is the winner.

Learning: This activity deals more with strategic management and optimum utilization of resources. Each team has to conduct a brainstorming session amongst themselves, so as to come up with the best technique to build the strongest bridge.

Straw Eiffel Tower

Requirement: straw (lots) and sticking tape

Sorting the teams: Write down the names of famous nursery rhymes on chits of paper: baba black sheep, twinkle twinkle little star, humpty dumpty sat on a wall and Jack and Jill went up the hill. Once each person gets a chit, they are to sing the lines of their respective nursery rhyme and get sorted. The four teams are ready to play.

How to Play: Provide each team with the same quantity of straw and sticking tape. The teams are to build the tallest tower using straw and tape to win the game. The rule to be remembered is that no objects are to be used to support the straw tower. The tower strictly has to be in vertical position to qualify. No horizontal towers allowed. The towers must stand and if they fall, that leads to disqualification.

Learning: Like the paper bridge activity, this activity is also based on developing the best strategy which would ensure the firm standing of the straw tower. Team work, co-ordination, listening and guiding abilities also come into the picture.

Salad Creations

Requirement: Various types of vegetables (tomatoes, onions, scallions, peppers, cucumber, beetroot, cilantro, corn, chillies, carrots, etc), knives, trays, plates, chopping boards, tooth picks, work tables - 4 (with enough working space), waste baskets, hand towels or paper napkins, aprons ( if possible).

Sorting the teams: On chits of paper, write down names of articles belonging to a particular category, such as under utensils: knives, spoons, forks, ladles, pots, pans, etc. Under vegetables: carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, chillies, etc. Under spices: cloves, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, basil, etc and under fruits: apple, mango, banana, grapes, etc. Don't tell the players the categories. Here they are allowed to show their chits to each other. They have to find out on what basis they all are characterized and find their groups. You will have the team sorted out and ready to play.

How to Play: Provide each team with one work table. On the work table, place equal amount of the same assortment of vegetables, knives, spoons, trays, chopping boards, toothpicks, etc. Each team has to use it's creativity and come up with some salad creation. The judging parameters of the final creation would be based on the creative talent, presentation skill, cleanliness and optimum utilization of the given resources. Give the teams an hour for this activity.

Learning: The participants will have to chalk out an initial plan of action. This involves brainstorming and team consensus of the plan. Delegation of authority and responsibilities also comes into play because each person will have to take up a part of the salad project. The participants will work individually for a common goal. This activity also focuses on creativity and optimum utilization of given resources (most of the given vegetables should be used). The less wastage, the higher the marks. Since the teams are competing with teams who have same resources, they have to aim to come up with something better than the others.

Snap Hunt Game

Requirement: Paper sheets, One camera (digital or cellphone) for each team.

Sorting the teams: Take calender pages and cut off the dates part. You only need the picture. Now cut the picture into 6-7 pieces (make sure the pieces are not too small). Do the same for 4-5 other calender pictures depending on the number of teams you plan to have. Mix the pieces of calender pictures together. Place it in a box and ask the participants to pick up one each. Now, the game is to finish the puzzle. People who are part of the same picture are to find each other. You will have the teams sorted out. However, don't divide the picture more than 6 pieces, or else the assembling becomes complicated.

Prior Preparation: Write down the feats, which the teams are expected to achieve on pieces of paper. All the four teams are to receive the same set of feats to accomplish. Examples of feats are:

• Click a picture consisting of ten different pairs of footwear
• Click a picture of two bald men
• Click a picture of 8 people drinking water at the same time
• Click a picture of five men seated on chairs
• Click a picture of two hands painted with red nail polish
• Click a picture of a black handbag with a white scarf coming out of it
• Click a picture of 11 hands placed one above the other
• Click a picture of three women in white clothes, etc.

You can alter the feats as per your liking and the available resources. Keep some easy, moderate and difficult feats.

How to Play: Give the participants one hour to accomplish the tasks. The time of the activity can be altered as per the level of difficulty. The teams are required to click pictures of the asked items in the way told on the paper. The one who submits all the pictures in the shortest possible time is the winner.

Learning: This activity involves team work, co-ordination, communication and delegation of work. The teams must allot feats to team members and must find quicker and intelligent ways to accomplish the feat before the other teams. Marketing and convincing skills also come into play because the participants will have to convince people to lend them their belongings to take the necessary pictures.

These team building games can be altered as per your group size and time available. Explain the rules and the game clearly in the beginning and don't forget to keep a watch on those breaking rules. Keep encouraging all the participants during the game and also intimate them periodically on the amount of time left for the timer to go off. If you wish you could award the winning team with a special prize, especially in case of the salad dressing activity and snap hunt. Games involving longer durations require a lot of planning and hard work. So awarding the participants for their efforts is most appropriate.