Foo - Help, Team building games ideas...

I've been nominated to set up games for my office's team buidling/bbq picnic in a couple of months. (That's what happens when they send you out for training and don't include you in the meeting! CRAP!)

Does anyone have any good suggestions for games and team building exercises aside from the usual volleyball, sack races, balloon toss, etc...??? Maybe you recently had a team building session yourself... what games did you like or dislike?

I work for the Federal Gov't so nothing too strenuous please as the average age here is close to retiring age... so these peeps aren't too active anymore.

Thanks for the help!
Gary

That would be cool but we have a budget of about $0.00 (remember we're guv'ment workers) and I don't think using my real guns would go over well. :D

Board Walk Races:

Two teams of about 3 or more people each.

Each team has two boards (maybe something like 2x6 or 2x8 with rope attached to sides) that they use to try to hold ropes and walk as a team.

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You can do something like Team trivia competitions (and even steal questions from a trivial pursuit game if your lazy).

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Timed walk.

Teams of walkers have to do a walk of a known route. They guess how long the walk will take and try to walk it. Team who cumulatively is closest to their guessed times, wins. Helps if you enforce no watches or time pieces....that way they can't guess a long time and "make" it come close to that time.

Organize a wife-swapping party...

EDIT: Oh wait, didn't see the part about this being old-geezers... Uh... no idea what people enjoy at that age. Get them free breakfast at IHOP???

There's got to be a site with information. I know a bunch of activities, but it takes too long to describe them.

A very large bottle of Jack. Studies show that employees who get tanked together work better with each other at the office.



Thats a lie. I made that up.

Hm. I likes me that Jack idea. asherlighn, maybe I'll drop in on you when I make my New England VegaVixen Tour. Heh. :D (urm...you are at least 21, right?)

Seriously, Gee3, is this the meeting you slept through? :eek: :D

We used to set up a golf course within the office, with 18 holes. Nine were played before lunch (in about an hour), nine after (in about an hour). Was really quite fun, as the courses were designed by engineers, and we were, in some years, using PVC pipe for putters! :lol:

There's always the good ol' "Trust Fall" thing, and the "How Do You Get The Entire Team Standing On a Round Log Of A Certain Length Without Teamwork" thing....

Also, don't discount the "teambuilding" and "bonding" that goes with playing "team" volleyball while under the influence of suds. :D I participated with my friend's DOE colleagues in St. Louis one year, and they all wanted me to come to work with them! :lol:

Water Balloon Volleyball. Can be played with or without a net.

Two teams. Each one is given a sturdy bedsheet. Flip for serve. Everybody holds part of the sheet. Serving team starts with the water balloon (use a regular party balloon, not those little bitty ones). Working together, they have to use the sheet to launch the balloon to the other team. Teams have to learn to work in unison both to launch the balloon, to position their sheet to catch it, and to cushion the landing. You can keep track of balloons broken for a winner, but it's just as much fun without.

Soup Spoon Relays are another one that has gone over well with youth campers. Divide people into groups. The lead person in each group is given a soup spoon and the team is given a cup. An appropriate distance away is a bucket of water. The lead runner sprints to the bucket of water, fills his spoon, and runs back to dump it in the cup. Hand the spoon off to the next runner and cycle through the group. First group to fill their cup wins.

Yet another one is relay pictionary. The organizer has a list of say 10 items/ideas related to work. The groups all circle up with paper and pens. The organizer wanders around the park (sometimes being a little stealthy). First runner goes and gets the first word, runs back, draws it. As soon as someone guesses the answer, the next runner goes and finds the organizer, tells him the word, and if it is correct they are given the next word.

Other ideas (my engineering bias may show a bit):

* Egg drop competition with limited amounts of specified materials
* Pipe cleaner tower (tallest self supporting tower with a set number of pipe cleaners)
* Strongest paper tower (today's newspaper, 6 inches of duct tape; whose tower can support the most employee orientation manuals (or some other standard weight) 12 inches off the ground)
* Team scavenger hunt (can be relay style or free range)
* Pumpkin carving contest (out of season at the moment)

Put a bomb in the office with 2 timers, on either side of the room. They'll have to work together to stop it before everyone gets blown away.

Drop them all off in the woods w/ a canteen, a coconut shell and a needle. Hilarity ensues.

Tie a grenade to the middle of a rope, then have them play tug of war. The winning team must successfully push the rope and grenade towards the other team before it explodes. Guts will bust from the fun.

Dwarf Tossing! That's self explanatory.

Paint Ball.

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*edit*

I work for the Federal Gov't so nothing too strenuous please as the average age here is close to retiring age... so these peeps aren't too active anymore.

Hmm...

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