Engaging kids in team building activities help to shape their subconscious mind. Subconscious brain is hugely effective during the early years of life. That is why kids are likely to react impulsively during their years of mischief and slowly blend towards a mature, non violent social humans as their conscious brain starts to develop.
Making kids aware on the valuable life skills at early age is a good idea to make their brains sharper and more functional. Team activities play huge part in helping children the ways of lives and it’s different virtues.
There are tons of cool team activities for the juniors and the best part is they are always ready to be involved in these activities. Among them here are our best picks.
Explore 15+ coolest team building activities to engage kids in
Tug Of War
This game is perhaps the simplest and the most effective team building activity for people of all ages. Kids will have whole lot of fun and also bond with each other while participating in a tug of war.
If the children find Tug of War rather inane, then spice up things with a 4-Way tug of war.
Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger Hunt is very much similar to treasure hunt, the 
basic difference is that Scavenger Hunt is about completing tasks pre-written on a list, for example: buy gummy candy from a nearest wall mart or take a selfie in front of Eiffel tower while treasure hunt is about solving cryptic clues. Like if you are in New York, the clue would be like go where Men have their hats on (Manhattan–Man Hat On)
Divide the participants into teams and provide each team with set of things (treasures) they should collect to earn a point. Set a time limit and the team with most number of points wins the game. Alternatively, the team to collect all the treasures first wins the game.
Read Here for detailed instructions on how to play Scavenger Hunt
A Team Picnic
A team picnic is a great opportunity for kids to be involved in team building. Not only kids enjoy a good picnic, they rejoice the moments and even build memories which lasts a lifetime . While on picnic, try to involve kids in every activity and encourage them to do stuffs on their own.
Picnics help children bond with each other and develop a connection. This increases the feeling of being a part of something which makes the socialization process more natural. Picnics also helps for shy kids to open up and share a thing or two about themselves.
Circle Seats
Arrange the kids to form a circle. Now ask the kids to make a 90° turn clockwise so they face the backs of the person ahead of them. Ask the children to gradually move closer to each other so as to reduce the size of the circle.
For detailed information on game-play of circle seats, Read Here
The Human Knot
The human knot is a pretty renowned team building game for people of all ages but it is specifically more effective for children as they are more likely to be genuinely curious about this game.
Ask the kids to stand in a circle and shake hands with random person, with each hand connected to a different person creating a network of entangled human bodies known as a “knot”. Now watch the kids make an attempt to get their bodies out of the network of hands but in doing so they must not let go of their hands.
Read Here for detailed instructions on game play and rules of the Human Knot.
Line Up
Line Up is an extremely simple and surprisingly fun filled team activity for kids. It’s all about asking kids to form a line on the basis of instructions passed off by the leader.
Anoint a random player as a leader and tell him to form his line any way he wants. Ask him to be creative while instructing his team. Stop the game when everybody has taken their turn being the leader.
Read Here for detailed instructions on rules and game play of Line Up.
Electric Pulse
Electric Pulse is an exciting Team Building Activity for Kids. On it’s full flow, kids often immerse themselves completely in the game as this game demands full attention. Have Two teams compete against each other ( 0r time for that matter) to produce a wave of hand movements (mimicking the flow of electrons) to get the handkerchief faster.
The facilitator tosses the coin and shows it to the closest two person (one from each team) while the rest of the team remain blindfolded. If its a heads, they must simultaneously squeeze adjoining player’s hands until he can reach to handkerchief. The faster team wins. In case a team goes for handkerchief if the facilitator flips tails, the other team gets the point.
Read Here for detailed instructions on how to play Electric Pulse.
Toilet Paper Mummy
Let kids run their imagination wild. The facilitator divides kids into two groups and they both are supplied with same equipment ( 5 rolls of masking tape and 5 rolls of toilet paper) and same time (say 10 minutes). Select a volunteer from both teams and ask the teams to do their best while wrapping the mommy. After the teams are done, award the best looking mummy.
Hot Potato
A hot potato is probably one of the oldest team building game known to mankind. It’s very simple to play and has been played a gazillion times throughout the evolution of our civilization but that does not make it any less effective.
Arrange the kids in a circle and provide them with a small, spherical object (preferably a ball). Play the music and ask the players to pass the ball without giving much thought. Now stop the music, the player who is holding the ball right at the moment the music stops gets eliminated.
Continuing the same process for elimination, the last person standing wins the game. You can also add some more rules for fun, like any player dropping the ‘hot potato’ is also out of the game.
Fantastic Flags
In addition to being a great team building activity for kids, fantastic flag also helps kids explore their artistic potential and encourages children to pursue knowledge about geography. This is a great classroom activity and icebreaker for children.
Provide each player with a pen, paper and ask them all to draw a flag that best represents the team. Set a time limit for the players. After the time is up, shuffle the papers for anonymity and take turns rating the flag out of 10. The flag with highest point wins.
Read Here for detailed instructions on how to play Fantastic Flags.
Are We any Different?
Kids love these sort of activities. This game is incredibl
y simple to play and yet is hugely effective to help kids bond. Divide the players into two teams and make them take turns being ‘fooler’ and ‘spotter’.
The ‘fooler‘ team disguise themselves with the help of props (like ties, socks, colored gummy candies etc) while the spotter tries to spot what has actually changed. For every correct guess, award one team to the ‘spotter’ team and for every incorrect guess, the fooling team is awarded point. The team with maximum points takes the prize home.
Read Here for detailed instructions on how to play Are We any Different.
Musical Chair
Musical Chair is perhaps one of the oldest and most popular team building activity for children but instead of losing its mojo, it has sort of developed a vintage status and is a go-to team activity practiced all around the world.
Arrange chairs (One less than the total number of players) and a music system. Make the kids stand and walk around the chairs when the beat starts playing and find a chair to sit when the music stops playing. Since the chairs are insufficient, one player will not find his shelter and s/he will be eliminated. Repeat the process until one person is left standing. S/he is the winner.
Three Legged Race
Three legged race is a very simple team building activity which can be practiced anywhere. It does not require any special preparations; just ropes to tie the feet and an obstacle free course. It helps to induce unity in the competing pairs and a sense of teamwork in kids.
Divide the players into teams of two and tie one of their feet together with a rope so it essentially becomes a single leg. Set start and finish points and have the teams compete against each other to reach the finish line quickest. The fastest team to reach finish line wins the game.
Find the Missing Piece
In addition to being a great rhetorical team building activity, find the missing piece also serves as an excellent icebreaker for kids.
The facilitator prepares pieces of paper according to group size so that it is sufficiently enough for everybody in the group. The papers contains some common words which are split into two fragments.
For example: Pine Stop
Watch Apple
Now each player grabs a paper and looks for a partner which complements the fragment of the word.Once they have found their partner, ask them to introduce themselves to the group and encourage them to bond with each other.
Read Here for detailed instructions on how to play The missing piece.
Fireman’s Relay
Fireman’s Relay is like a hybrid between Scavenger Hunt and Relay Race. Teams have to transfer a group of items (treasures) from one place to other but in a relay like manner ( i.e one participant follows the other).
Spread things like books, pens, cushions etc. across the course. For each team, spread out items evenly across the course and a bucket at the end. Now each of the team should transport items from the start to finish.
The first person takes the first item to the bucket while ignoring all the remaining others, after placing the item to the bucket, he comes back to starting place and tags his partner. The second runner does the same and the process continues until no item is left on the race track. After everything has been put into bucket, the teams should carry the bucket and run to start. The team which brings the loaded bucket first wins the race.
Read Here for detailed information on how to play Fireman’s Relay?
Sack Race
Sack Race, is an extremely fun team building activity for kids. The beauty of this game is it’s simplicity. Apart from a sack, nothing is required to play this game.
Set a start point and a finish point. Ask the kids to insert both of their legs inside the sack and have them compete against each other to the finish line. This game bolsters the competitive spirit in kids and is a joy to behold, both for participants and audience.
Have you tried any of these games as a part of team building activities for kids? Do you have other games you want to add to our list? Let us know in the comments below.
