Team Building Exercises

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE

Best fit: Session 1 (Creative Object)

Instructions: Have each person share three statements about themselves: two true statements and one false statement. The group tries to guess which is false. Keep the atmosphere lighthearted and fun. If your team is split into multiple smaller groups, have each group do this only with those in their circle (not with the larger team).

• Ideal for: Shorter meetings and virtual teams
• Time required: 10 to 15 minutes
• It works because: It encourages conversation and helps people get comfortable speaking in front of the team by giving specific parameters.

SHOW AND TELL

Best fit: Session 1 (Creative Object)

Instructions: Communicate the parameters in advance so team members can bring their item(s). Make sure they understand the item should communicate something about their personality, interests, or background/experiences. This is in lieu of creating an object in Training Session 1 and functions much the same way. Give each person 30 to 60 seconds to explain the item. Then, go around one at a time again and let other team members “speak life” into each team member based on the item they shared (follow the same instructions in your Leader Manual for taking the Creative Object exercise deeper).

• Ideal for: Mixed age groups (especially with younger team members), and with virtual teams.
• Time required: 10 to 20 minutes
• It works because: It seamlessly replaces the Creative Object exercise and allows for team members’ personalities and creativity to shine in different ways, and helps spark conversations that build trust.
• Note: Have team members gather three distinct items and bring them in a brown paper bag (or something that hides the objects before it’s time to share them).

COMMON THREAD

Best fit: Session 1 (Creative Object)

Instructions: With the team split into smaller groups, ask them to find one thing every person has in common with each other in the group. It should be something that isn’t immediately obvious. This could be about their hobbies, family traditions/background, favorite food, etc. After identifying their Common Thread, have them create a fun team name that matches it and emphasizes a stereotype around that common interest. Bring the groups back together, then have them introduce themselves to the other groups using their chosen name, and finally have them act out or demonstrate the stereotype (only a minute or two).

• Best for: New or mixed teams that don’t know each other well
• Time required: 15 to 20 minutes
• It works because: This illustrates how to find common ground in a short period of time and gently challenges stereotypes.

GROUP TIMELINE

Best fit: Session 1 (Creative Object; can also be incorporated in Session 2)

Instructions: Using a white board, letter-sized paper taped together, or roll of craft paper, have your team create a visual timeline that spans the years relevant to your group. Start with the oldest team member’s birthday (or the founding of your church/organization). Give each person a pen or marker to add their entries. You can include key moments in team members’ lives, milestones that are relevant to your church/organization or fieldsite/partner, etc. You can also include key historical events that happened during the span of years (internet becomes public, September 11^th attacks, launch of the first iPhone, etc.). When it is complete, let the team debrief and comment as they look at their lives in light of those of their team members. Emphasize where people’s lives/stories overlap.

• Best for: Teams with a good generational mix
• Time required: 20 to 25 minutes
• It works because: It helps your team visualize their life experiences alongside those of others, and it opens up natural conversation about each other’s backgrounds. It also sheds light on the varying assumptions people have about the world simply because of when they were born and what was happening/available at the time.
• Note: You can reincorporate this exercise in Session 2: Cultural Research. During cultural research, bring the timeline back out and add historical moments that are significant to your hosts.

PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

Best fit: Session 1 (Creative Object, good fit for larger teams)

Instructions: Gather coins (doesn’t have to be pennies, bonus points if you have coins from other countries) that fall within the team’s lifetime. You can do this by looking at the birthdays on your teams’ applications. Have each person randomly draw a coin and announce the year. This person then shares one meaningful thing that happened to them in that year. If the year is before their birth, they can offer the coin to someone who can share something relevant to the date on the coin. In this scenario, make sure the first person draws another coin until they get a one with a year that they can share about.

• Best for: Quick introductions when time is limited, but can lead to more meaningful conversations.
• Time required: 10 to 15 minutes
• It works because: It’s low-pressure, moves quickly, and gives everyone an equal chance to speak.

COMMON FACTOR

Best fit: Session 1 (Creative Object)

Instructions: To lead participants through a game of Common Factor, ask teammates to move to a designated area of the room if certain statements apply. For instance, “If you have ever attended a music festival, gather in the center of the room.”

• Best for: Quick introductions when time is limited, but can lead to more meaningful conversations.
• Time required: 10 to 15 minutes
• It works because: It helps team members find common ground and solidify relationships in a short period of time.
• Note: You can award tokens/tickets to anyone that matches any factor with at least one other person, by the end of the exercise then reward/award the person with the most common factors across the team.

Examples of Common Factors:

• Pet owners (or same type of pet)
• Parents (or adoptive/foster parents, or have the same number of parents)
• Musicians
• Same favorite genre of music, or musical artist
• Same favorite genre of TV series/movies, or same favorite TV series/movie
• Left-handed
• Have lived in another country
• Have visited more than ten countries
• Have visited 20+ states
• Hate cilantro
• Birthday falls on a holiday
• Met a celebrity

COLOR ME FAMILIAR

Best fit: Session 1 (Creative Object)

Instructions:

1. Have enough different-colored crayons for each member of your team (if twelve team members, you’ll need twelve different colors).
2. Hand each participant a coloring page and a single crayon.
3. Instruct participants to color a picture using every color in the group.
4. Players can move around the space and will need to borrow crayons.
5. In order to use another teammate’s color crayon, team members will have to share one fact about themselves.

• Best for: Teams comprised of individuals who do not know each other well.
• Time required: 30 minutes
• It works because: It spurs personal communication in order to cooperate and learn more about teammates in the process.
• Note: Get creative in what you ask people to color. It can be a pre-designed sheet or a blank piece of paper. You can require the picture to be relevant to their fieldsite or ministry task in some way.

TIME CAPSULE

Best fit: Session 1 (Letter to God)

Instructions: This follows the heart behind the Letter to God exercise in Session 1. Have every team member bring an object, photo, or simply write a word/phrase on a notecard. Have each person share the significance of their item, as well the hopes/expectations it represents they are praying God brings to fruition on the trip. Gather them into a box and hold on to them. At your post-trip team meeting (Session 10), bring the items back out and discuss them in light of the cross-cultural experience.

• Best for: Teams who will begin the training process at least 2-3 months prior to departure and/or teams who will be gone longer than 10 days.
• Time required: 30 minutes
• It works because: It helps team members identify areas of personal growth and spiritual impact after the conclusion of their cross-cultural experience.
• Note: For virtual teams, have team members send you a picture/image and a brief explanation of why that image is significant. Save them in a folder. During your team debrief, share your screen, open up the images, and discuss how the meaning(s) of those images bore out on the trip.

REVERSE CREATIVE OBJECT

Best fit: Session 1 (Creative Object; for repeat teams or when groups know each other well)

Instructions: If you have teams of repeat participants who are familiar with the Creative Object exercise in your Team Leader manual, flip the exercise on its head. Put the names of each person in a bowl and had everyone draw a name at random (but do not show anyone else). Then each person had to create an object reflective of the person whose name they drew. Sharing about the object, and their teammate, immediately jumps into “speaking life.” Allow other team members to add their own, while the person being talked about remains silent.

BARTER PUZZLE

Best fit: Session 4/5

Instructions: Separate your team into equal size groups. Give each group a different jigsaw puzzle (make sure they are the same number of pieces so difficulty levels match). Beforehand, take a few pieces from each puzzle and swap them into another puzzle(s). Each team should have extra pieces that belong to a different group, while also missing some of their own. Instruct the groups that the goal is to complete their puzzle first, but to do so will require negotiation, trade, or collaboration with the other groups to get the pieces they need.

• Best for: Mid- to large-size teams who may serve in different areas or in different ways on the field.
• Time required: 30 to 45 minutes
• It works because: It shows that group success often depends on outsiders, and it rewards creative collaboration.
• Note: We suggest smaller puzzles for the sake of time. You can choose to add rules to what each group can/cannot do. Alternatively, you can give groups identical puzzles but different instructions/limitations on how they are to complete it.

USE WHAT YOU HAVE

Best fit: Session 4/5

Instructions: Divide into groups. Each group receives the same materials and must create a device/object or complete a challenge, such as moving a golf ball from one spot to another without electricity. Present the challenge and set a clear time limit. When time is up, each group presents its creation and explains its approach.

• Best for: Groups from different backgrounds or those traveling to environments where creative/resourceful solutions are readily pursued.
• Time required: 20 to 30 minutes
• It works because: It encourages resourcefulness and collaboration. Teams learn to use constraints creatively and adapt their plans together.

JENGA

Best fit: Session 4/5

Instructions: Divide the team into groups of 4 or 5. Set a time limit and see which group can make theirs the tallest without falling over as they remove/replace blocks. If using colored blocks (or number the blocks yourself), you can assign or draw the color (or number) each team member has to remove on their turn.

• Best for: Groups from different backgrounds and those whose “success” on the field requires group effort.
• Time required: 20 to 30 minutes
• It works because: It requires team members to depend on each other for group success.

WATCH WHERE YOU STEP

Best fit: Session 4/5

Instructions: Divide the team into groups of 3 or 4. Use tape or string to mark a path or maze on the ground. Place “mines” along the way using paper with large X marks, and add a few squeaky toys. Blindfold one team member from each group and have to walk through the maze from start to finish without stepping on a mine or leaving the path. The fellow group members must stand outside the marked area and guide them using only verbal directions. If someone steps on a mine, they freeze until another blindfolded teammate steps on a squeaky toy.

• Time required: 20 to 30 minutes
• It works because: It forces team members to rely on others and give precise, timely instructions.

CLASSIFY THIS

Best fit: Session 4/5

Instructions: Place a couple dozen random objects on a table, such as office supplies, kitchen gadgets, tools, toys, etc. Divide your team into small groups and ask each group to sort the objects into four categories of their choice, without communicating with other groups. When time is up, ask each group to share how they classified the items and why.

• Best for: Teams that will assist in designing / implementing processes or helping to solve complex problems on the field.
• Time needed: 15 to 20 minutes
• Why it works: It encourages creativity and systematic thinking while being flexible, and it reveals how individual team members identify patterns.
• Note: It is interesting to see how people reframe the value of objects they otherwise wouldn’t notice or value. Consider how this translates to your team’s view of people.

SPEED BUMP/OBSTACLE COURSE

Best fit: Session 4/5 (similar to the Handicapped Game outlined in your Leader’s Manual)

Instructions:

1. Spread large objects randomly around a large room or an outdoor area; use cones if needed to mark the boundaries of the “course.”
2. Divide the team into groups of up to four people.
3. Blindfold one participant.
4. Instruct the other group members to lead their blindfolded teammate through the obstacle course towards the finish line.

• Time required: 45 to 60 minutes
• It works because: Teams develop their skills in giving and interpreting instructions while building trust.
• Note: Any large objects will work for the speed bumps, such as cardboard boxes, inflatable yard decorations, cones/flags, small children’s pools, furniture, etc.

TOWER OF POWER

Best fit: Session 4/5

Instructions: Divide the team into groups and give each a plastic basket containing the following: pencils or popsicle sticks, 1 role masking tape, paper cups, 1 small soda can, construction paper (make sure the quantity of materials is the same). In 15 minutes, teams must work together to build a tower that can support the soda can for 10 seconds. The team to build the tallest tower that can support the soda can for at least 10 seconds wins.

• Time required: 30-40 minutes
• It works because: Teams develop their skills in giving and interpreting instructions while building trust.
• Note: Part way through you can always take away an item to add challenge. Also, they can use the basket but many groups fail to recognize its value. Observe your team and point this out during debriefing, if applicable.

GROCERY SHOPPING

Best fit: Session 4/5 (especially on an overnight retreat)

Instructions: Inform your team they will shop together for the ingredients for their next meal. Give the team a budget (keep it intentionally tight) and divide the funds evenly between team members. Drive them to the store and tell you team they are only to contribute their portion of cash when they are in full agreement with the plan/items. As the team leader, do not participate in the planning. Instead, observe without providing any input. Upon returning, they will contribute to the meal prep with their specific ingredient (for example: if a jar of pasta sauce, they must pour it into the pan to heat up; if a salad kit, they must mix it and bring it to the table).

• Time required: 20 to 30 minutes
• It works because: It encourages collaboration, group dynamics, and navigating a less familiar environment.
• Note: Watch to see if anyone dominates or bulldozes others, or if anyone’s opinion is regularly pushed aside. Debrief the exercise over dinner (or before leaving the parking lot if serious conflict arises). Discuss what could have been done differently.

GEOCACHING/SCAVENGER HUNT

Best fit: Session 4/5 (especially on an overnight retreat)

Instructions: Hide small containers or items around your church building or outdoor area. Give groups GPS coordinates or simple maps and a list of clues that lead to each spot. At each location, teams find a new hint or small challenge before proceeding to the next one. The first group to complete the route wins.

• Time required: 45 to 60 minutes
• It works because: It encourages collaboration, group dynamics, and navigating a less familiar environment.

THE AMAZING RACE

Best fit: Session 4/5 (especially on an overnight retreat)

Based on the TV show where contestants compete to complete tasks and beat the other teams to the finish line. The space can be as close together as different rooms in the same building, or as spread out as a shopping mall or in a town square. You can also adapt the game to play in a single room by creating stations.

Instructions:

1. Create a course with several challenges
2. Divide the group into teams of three.
3. Provide each team with a map and list of clues. Each team should start on a different challenge.
4. Allow 45-60 minutes to complete the race.
5. Wait at the finish line to congratulate the winning group.

Sample challenges:

Unlock a padlock by choosing the correct key out of a pile. Remove your names from the now unlocked box before relocking the box and returning the key to the pile.

Run up and down the staircase five times. Record video as proof.

Eat a whole bowl of spicy wasabi peas. Solve the riddle on the bottom of the bowl.

• Time required: 45 to 60 minutes
• It works because: Groups have to cooperate and tackle challenges strategically. Team members will learn problem solving and time management while building trust and camaraderie. It also can highlight potential points of tension or conflict that can be resolved before your team serves reaches the field.