Team building activities are a great way to skip some of the initial warm-up period when a group of people come together, whether it’s a sports team, a classroom, co-workers, or any other group. These team building exercises for teenagers are a perfect way to bring people together, to have people’s personalities start to shine through, and to help folks come out of their shell.
Some teenagers are very outgoing and have no problem immediately connecting with a group, but others have a little more trouble, they’re a little more reserved, so having a formal team building activity can help a lot.
Sometimes, team building can feel a little cheesy, or even borderline cringey, but that’s just part of it – you’ve got to embrace that aspect of it, realize that everyone is in the same boat, and just recognize that there’s a purpose to it.
So, with that out of the way, here are some team building activities for teens that will help when you’re bringing together a group of people.
Team Building Games for Teens
The best part about team building games for teens is that the very best ones are simply just games that you can play together as a group, it doesn’t have to be some “corporate” nonsense. Grab a board game, hit up a field and play a sport, etc. It’s important to ensure that the activity is accessible to everyone, and whoever is in a leadership role needs to take active steps to ensure that everyone is included, but beyond that – it doesn’t take much more than a great team building game for teens to get the ball rolling.
Remote/Virtual Team Building Games
If you aren’t able to gather in person, for example if it’s a team that exists remotely like an eSports team, or people doing virtual learning, or whatever else – there are plenty of easy, accessible games.
Among Us for Team Building
Among Us is a pretty popular game that does a good job of including everyone. It offers a loose structure/framework, and the team can interact within that, allowing everyone’s personalities and minds to shine through.
Online Board Games for Team Building
Many popular board games have online versions that people can play as a group. These work great. It’s interesting to watch as some people take the leadership roles to learn and explain the rules, as others wait to have the rules explained to them. There’s no right or wrong response, but it’s an interesting way to gauge people’s personalities, and to adapt to that as the team moves on to accomplish whatever their goals our, outside of team building.
In-Person Team Building Games
When you’re able to meet in person with your team, games are still a great way to build familiarity among everyone.
The Trust Fall Game
This is a classic team building exercise, where a person blindly falls backwards, trusting that their team members will be there to catch them.
Never, ever, ever, allow someone to not be caught. Turning this into a prank, where you let someone fall as a joke, even if they laugh it off, can be deeply traumatic, especially to someone with any past trust issues. This will almost definitely ensure that the person is never able to trust their teammates. Don’t do trust falls unless you know, with absolute certainly, that everyone is mature enough for it.
Dodgeball, Capture the Flag, etc…
Dodgeball is another fun game, and if you have the facilities for it and the equipment, it’s a good physical activity. Not everyone is athletic, or coordinated enough to play great, so make sure it’s a safe environment for people of all skill levels.
I’d recommend against relying entirely on sports and physical activities for team building, try to incorporate different types of activities, so that everyone has a chance to excel.
Trivia Games
Trivia games can be fun too, especially with a variety of themes and topics, so that everyone has a chance to get some questions right. You can divide people into teams, either 2 larger teams, or smaller teams, and they’ll work together to come up with the correct answer. Trivia games and hard riddles for teenagers are solid ways to bring people together and get them involved.
Other Team Building Exercises For Teenagers
Here are some other team building exercises for teenagers that are worth checking out.
Photo-a-Day
If there’s a group chat, a Slack, a Facebook group, or some other digital platform where team members connect, you can have a channel that encourages each person to share a slice of life photo from their day. This is a great prompt to start conversations, somebody may share an interesting meal from their culture’s cuisine, or a souvenir from a vacation that meant a lot to them, or any number of other things that will offer insights into their personalities, will prompt other group members to ask questions, and can start some great conversations. It’s a good way for shy people to come out of their shells in a group, since they’re just following the prompt.
Extra Terrestrial Visitors
In this exercise, you have to imagine that a group of aliens have landed on our planet, and they want to learn about the team. Without using any words, the team members are to draw 5 symbols that represent what the team is all about, to them. They can be divided into groups, and then each group will present the symbols that they came up with.
You don’t have to choose any single team building activity for teens, you can mix and match everything we’ve highlighted in this article to create the perfect combination for your group.
Movie Nights
This can work remotely or in person, depending on what’s practical at the time. If you’re doing this remotely, have a group chat open and have everyone start the same movie at the same time. Try to pick something that’s easily accessible, like something on Netflix, and ensure everyone has access to a Netflix account. Among the group, there should be enough people who have an account that can share it with those who don’t. Alternatively, the team leader can setup a screening on a video conference. Have a group chat open to talk about it. This is a much less formal team building activity for teens, but it’s still a conversation starter and an activity you can do together.
Do You Need More Team Building Activities for Teens?
There are many benefits to being a part of a team, a community, or any type of group. Whether it’s having people there when you need support like hotlines for teenagers, or just people to talk to and share your achievements with, teambuilding can help lead to that.
If you’ve exhausted this list, or you need more specific ideas, such as team building activities for at risk youth, or anything else we haven’t gone over – just leave a comment and let us know. We try to let our readers influence the content we create, so I’d love to hear from you with any ideas you have.
