Creative Team Building Activities

Building teamwork among coworkers is a constant need in every company, large and small. Often times, however, budgets for such activities aren't high enough to cover the costs of outside facilitation. This often discourages the entire activity, sacrificing all of the benefits that a fun and creative team building can bring. We offer an ever increasing selection of themed treasure hunts that are perfect for corporate team buildings. Even though each hunt is of tremendous quality, we've priced each to make sure that no company would have to pass up the great experience of a team building treasure hunt due to a current low budget. Read some of our current articles and get inspired as so many of our repeat customers have over the years.

"Just wanted to say thanks for the Wild West Treasure Hunt. It was great! I work for **** Chartered Accountants and we used the treasure hunt as part of our annual team bonding day. It was a great success. We were able to use a large sporting stadium for the treasure hunt so we were able to hide our clues really well. At the end, it was great to see two teams scrambling for the treasure! We all really enjoyed ourselves." Amanda M.

Creative Ways to form Teams

Whether for party games, corporate teambuildings or just small focused discussions, a host/facilitator is presented with the task of putting people into groups. Depending on the participants involved and the activity in mind, this task can fall between overly simple and extremely daunting. The following illustrates some ideas from the simple to the fun and creative on breaking your larger groups into smaller ones.

Simple options
1. Allow the participants to form their own groups. Make sure you inform the participants ahead of time the minimum/maximum member group size you'll allow for the activity.
2. A simple count off. Decide ahead of time on the number of groups that you'll need for the activity. Then count down the participants (1, 2….), starting over with 1 when you've reached the amount equal to the number of groups you'd like to set up. This way will ensure that the groups will have (as close as the possible) the same number of team members. The numbers themselves can be given in a couple of different ways.
a. A simple verbal countdown in front of everyone (for smaller groups.)
b. At the time of sign in/registration, assign each person a number…then recall this number during the time of the activity set up.
3. Similar to #2 above, provide each person with a color. These colors can then be repeated in materials for activity and other parts of the event.

Some more creative solutions to forming smaller groups:
1. Play farmyard animals (for the more outgoing groups…) Give every participant a farm animal (similar to the numbers and colors above - the number of different farm yard animals being equal to the number of groups you'd like to be formed and participate in your activity.) When you say 'Go!' the participants will make an attempt to find their fellow team members…however, they are not allowed to speak! They can only make the sound of their animal. For example, everyone with a 'cow' written on their piece of paper will begin mooing until they all find each other. Sound overly simple? Well, it won't be when simultaneously the ducks are quacking, the dogs are barking, the cats are meowing, the pigs are snorting, the horses are neighing and the chicks are peeping! This can be especially effective for activities involving a competition (such as a treasure hunt, etc.) because the teams will be formed in a staggered formation. Each team will begin the activity/hunt only when all their team members are present. The facilitator could then release the beginning treasure hunt materials to a team only when all members are present and accounted for.
2. Something that take a little more preparation (but can be worth it) is to give every participant a unique item written on a piece of paper. If you know ahead of time that you'll need groups of four, come up with different categories for each team. For example, if you have 15 participants and you want them to break up into three teams of five you might choose three categories such as planets, body parts and musical instruments. Then, on separate pieces of paper write five different planets, body parts, etc. Mix the papers up and randomly hand the papers out to the participants and explain that they must form themselves into like groups. In this scenario, it isn't hard to see that the participants would quickly and easily form their groups. The activity quickly complicates when the number of participants increases (likewise the number of categories.) To control the level of complication (and overall time required to form the groups) you can either choose categories that are more similar (states, countries, cities, continents, etc.) or by opting to tell/not tell the participants the categories to choose from.
3. A variation on the above is to instruct the participants that each team must be formed from ONE of each element of a given group. For example, give everyone in the room a piece of paper with a day of the week on it. You could either group all the Mondays together…or instruct the participants to form a 'complete week' - one member from each day. This works very well…just be careful when dealing with 'left overs' (perhaps there aren't enough Fridays in the room to complete the final week group.) This can be compensated for by instructing the participants to form groups of five (for example) and every team member must be from a different day of the week, etc.

Here are some other categories that you might choose if using options 2 or 3 above: states, cartoon characters, countries, languages, dogs, trees, vegetables, fruits, cookies, continents, modes of transportation, presidents, authors, artists/painters, cities, movies, letters of the alphabet, numbers, songs, phobias, occupations, holidays, months of the year, fast food chains, candy, actors, directions (North, South, East, West), titles (Queen, King, Duke, Prince, Lord, Countess, etc.), illnesses, forms of world currency (yen, dollars, pounds, francs, etc.) and universities.

Focused suggestions for corporate teambuildings:

1. Grouping individuals that normally work together can bring with it two different dynamics. On one hand it can be quite functional, enabling the team members to 'practice' working together in ways that perhaps they might not normally. This can bring about a 'freshness' to their working relationships - which might have drifted into staleness over the preceding months or even years. However, depending on the activity, it could also easily slip into an 'auto-pilot' group interaction where each individual plays the same or similar role that they play day to day (i.e. the leader will lead, the follower will follow, etc.) By mixing up members from different departments, individuals might get to experience an opportunity to play a different role than perhaps they see available in their own current department dynamics. This can be a great way to recognize leadership skills in individuals who might not be currently in a leadership role.

2. A suggestion that can have interesting results is to make sure that each team has a representative from every department (as much as possible.) This is especially effective when there consistent conflicts between certain departments (i.e. sales and accounting, loan officers and closing departments, etc.) It can bridge gaps and understanding between misunderstood departments when the individuals understand that each personality type can contribute something unique and essential to the overall success of the team.

Setting Up A Creative Treasure Hunt

Treasure Hunt activities are double edge swords. On one hand they can leave room for an abundance of creativity and fun for the planner. On the flip side, the more creative the planner gets, the quicker the process gets more complicated, causing an escalating feeling of being overwhelmed and a desire to quit. Creating one of kind, themed treasure hunts is my passion and I hope that the suggestions provided in this article will assist you as you plan a fun treasure hunt activity for your friends, family and co-workers.

WHY PLAN A TREASURE HUNT?

Treasure hunts are great because of their wide appeal. Their flexibility enables the maximum amount of participation no matter what group is involved. Young can participate as well as old. Those less cerebral can enjoy it as much as someone who works crossword puzzles in their sleep. They can utilize a wide range of skill sets from problem solving opportunities to physical agility to interpersonal dynamics. The shy and bold. The tall and short. The poor and wealthy. EVERYONE can enjoy the activity!

Treasure hunts are also great because of their versatility. They can be adapted to any location or locations and surroundings. They can be created to fit any duration of time needed from several minutes to several days! They can even work around any theme or special occasion you might be planning around.

WHAT KINDS OF FORMATS/OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE

Over the years, I've explored literally hundreds of varieties of formats. There are a few basic formats to begin with. Enjoy creating hybrids of the ones detailed below, or have fun creating your own!

· At a single location - This is where the treasure hunt itself is at a fixed location and all activities, clues, maps, etc. revolve around this single location (i.e. inside your home, at a church, inside a baseball stadium, etc.) Participants travel by foot typically (although there is a lot of room for creativity here…)

· Car Rally - This is where the participants are grouped by carload and progress through the treasure hunt as a team, driving from one location to the other. The options for varying locales are much greater, but deep consideration must be kept so that your participants aren't spending the bulk of their time driving only.
CREATIVE TIP - In order to ensure maximum safety with this type of format (to limit the speeding for example, as the teams will be tempted to do in their cars while they race throughout the city) try this: Group each team together. Tell EVERY participant to remove their driver's licenses from their wallets/purses and hold them in the air. Provide each designated, team driver with an envelope. Instruct each participant to put their driver's license in their driver's envelope. Make sure every envelope is sealed. Now instruct the drivers to put this sealed envelope into the glove compartment of the vehicle they will be driving. When teams return, they must present a sealed envelope. You see, should they get pulled over by a police officer, the officer will ask for the driver's license. At that time, the team will need to tear open their envelope - thus disqualifying themselves from the race.

· Progressive Dinner - This is a fun variation wherein the participants will partake in a full course meal at different locations. Each course (i.e. salad, soup, main course, dessert, etc.) will be served separately at different, previously undisclosed locations throughout the city. The team's job will be to use the clues provided at the beginning to get to their first course/location. Once there and they've enjoyed the course, they will be given instructions/clues that will lead them to a new location, wherein the next course will be served. This can be a lot of fun, especially if the food/meal is themed to the theme of the treasure hunt (i.e. seafood with a pirate theme, etc.)

CREATIVE IDEAS AND NEW TWISTS

· Give your treasure hunt an overall theme. It's more difficult to make sense of the activity without cohesiveness. An overall theme (no matter what it is) does the job nicely. The theme could either be already built in based on the gathering itself (Christmas party, St. Patrick's Day festival) or purely imagined by you. The following is a healthy list of themes to get your creative juices flowing: Pirates, Indiana Jones/Tomb Raider, Spy/CIA/Mission Impossible, Wild West, any of the Disney movies would work for children (and adults…), Medieval, American Revolution, Civil War, Roaring 20s/Mobsters, Arabian Nights.

· Give your treasure hunt a storyline if possible. By storyline I am referring to some 'goal' the teams will be attempting to accomplish. In this way, you'll be transforming a treasure hunt into an adventure. Why connect random locations around the city when you could have the participants continue their search for a specific treasure, recover an ancient Aztec idol or rescue a French aristocrat from the guillotine during the French Revolution! Since we began offering treasure hunt downloads revolving around different themes, our customers have reported that they have observed a much higher level of fun on behalf of those participating.

· Utilize volunteers whenever possible. It's fun to show up at a location to get a clue…however it's a LOT more fun to show up and find someone waiting to interact with! This is especially effective if you've chosen to incorporate a theme to your treasure hunt. Then, you could have volunteers dressed in costume, ready to bring to life the adventure you've created! Volunteers can be recruited from friends, family, schoolmates, children, co-workers, children's friends, co-workers' children's friends…you get the idea. It's not unusual for the volunteers to enjoy themselves more than those actually going through the treasure hunt itself.

· If the teams haven't been grouped by the participants themselves, have fun dividing up the group. This can be done in a variety of ways (you can also see our Article 'Grouping' for specific ideas) including grouping by drivers license numbers, drawing names from hats, passing out 'like' objects written on pieces of paper (those with similar objects are in a group.) In this way, you'll also be providing a creative solution to the 'how do I keep everyone from running out at the same time?' problem. You see, only allow a team to head out once all the members of their team are found and assembled. In this way, the teams being released will be staggered, making it more difficult for teams to follow each other.

· Depending on the reason for the hunt, you might opt to spread the treasure hunt over several days, releasing a little fun each day. This can be especially fun if the treasure hunt is for a single person. They can enjoy the treasure hunt over a prolonged period of time. Each day would present a new surprise on their journey. This can be accomplished by providing the clues needed to lead someone to a new location, but instructing the participant that they must wait until the following day at X time before the next clue will be available. This is also great for the workplace because it will only pull the workers away from their duties for a few minutes a day (depending on how elaborate you've designed the clues and puzzles for a single location.)

· Launch it with a bang! If you've chosen a theme for your treasure hunt, have someone dressed up in character to see the teams off. Be excited and enthusiastic.

· Do your best to have a bang of an ending. Your participants will have rushed, sweat and pushed their brains all in an effort to get to the 'end' of the treasure hunt. Reward them with a great ending by providing snacks and drinks, possibly even entertainment. When possible, give closure to the adventure by providing a visual representation of their goal (i.e. set up a treasure chest if they were looking for pirate treasure, have someone dressed up as a thief if they were trying to catch one, etc.)

Great Games For Large Groups

When it comes to games, it's definitely true 'the more the merrier.' The synergy that comes from the group as they enjoy the experience collectively creates memories and can bond the group like few other experiences can. However, facilitating larger group games can be challenging.

Here are some helpful hints to keep in mind when choosing the game and preparing for it.

· Probably the single most important question to ask of any game for larger groups is 'How many people will ACTUALLY participate?' Participation is the key and if you've limited half of the group's activity to ONLY watching, you've lost a lot of that synergy. Go for games where everyone participates equally and as a group. Even simple games like Name That Tune can be converted to a large group game by leaving it open to the crowd, allowing anyone to quickly stand when they think they know the tune (this works great for TV show tunes, movie soundtracks and pop songs.) Other activities, such as our all new Movie Adventures (where groups of people watch a popular movie while solving clues simultaneously) work great because everyone watches, everyone contributes…everyone has fun!

· For facilitation ease purposes, divide the larger group into two or more teams (depending on the number of people participating.) This can help introduce other games that you might not have been able to incorporate otherwise. Give each team a name (or allow them to choose their own.) When a group has a name, an incredible unity is instantly formed. Additionally, if possible, make sure that each group is physically united as well (they move their chairs or simply stand together in large clumps of people, etc.)

· Do your best to choose games that are over very quickly, but can be repeated over and over. In this way, you'll provide plenty of opportunities to change the game should interest begin to waver. Remember, you want to leave them wanting more rather than wondering 'When is this game gonna end?'

· Finally, make sure that you have a great sound system - or someone that can speak loud enough for everyone to hear. This might seem obvious, but many a game got off to a lousy start because no one could hear the directions the first time, subsequently forcing the facilitator to repeat it several times. Practice how you will explain the rules (making them simple and talking with a lot of energy.) When large groups of people get together (especially if they all know each other) it can be difficult to get everyone's attention at once. Therefore, once you Do get their attention - take advantage of it! Make the most of every second before you lose them.

Suggestions for Team Sizes

I have planned quests for crowds and individuals over the years. I have experimented with many ways of grouping people together. Although sometimes the number of teams might already be dictated for us, here are some things I've observed over the past 20 years of professionally designing treasure hunts and themed adventures:

A single participant - If he were the only one participating in the quest, I would still advise having someone going along with him, even if that means you. Funny things happen. Exciting things happen. It can be disappointing for someone to laugh and/or get scared all alone.

Teams of two - This can potentially work very well for smaller groups. I have found, though, when a disagreement occurs about what to do or where to go and there is no one to 'break the tie' the pair may return a bit on edge.

Teams of three - Not ideal at all. It definitely breaks the ties, but it also creates the 'third wheel' effect in a most powerful way. Two people end up getting more excited than the third, leaving the third out of several, if not all decisions. When all is said and done, your participation ratio will drop from 100% to 66%.

Teams of four - The best for groups of 15 or more. The dynamic of four seems to solve all problems. Although there is an even number of votes when deciding on certain actions, the individuals tend to be more open minded to possibilities when there are more people involved. No one is left out, for if two members are speaking to each other, two others are able to engage in a conversation of their own.

Teams of five and larger - Enter the 'committee' effect. The A types take over while others who feel comfortable hanging in the rear will do so all too easily.