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17 Unbeatable Team Building Problem Solving Activities
Problem-solving is a critical skill for professionals and with team building problem-solving activities, you can sharpen your skills while having fun at the same time.
Updated on August 31, 2021
In the professional world, one thing is for sure: problem-solving is a vital skill if you want to survive and thrive. It’s a universal job skill that organizations seek in new potential employees and that managers look for when considering candidates for promotions.
But there’s a problem. According to Payscale , 60% of managers feel that new grads entering the workforce lack problem-solving abilities – making it the most commonly lacked soft skill.
Problem-solving skill needs to be practiced and perfected on an ongoing basis in order to be applied effectively when the time comes. And while there are tons of traditional approaches to becoming a better problem-solver, there’s another (much more interesting) option: team building problem solving activities.
The good news? This means learning and having fun don’t have to be mutually exclusive. And you can create a stronger team at the same time.
11 In-Person Team Building Problem Solving Activities for Your Work Group
1. cardboard boat building challenge, 2. egg drop , 3. clue murder mystery, 4. marshmallow spaghetti tower , 5. corporate escape room, 6. wild goose chase, 7. lost at sea , 8. domino effect challenge, 9. reverse pyramid , 10. ci: the crime investigators, 11. team pursuit, 5 virtual team building problem solving activities for your work group , 1. virtual escape room: mummy’s curse, 2. virtual clue murder mystery, 3. virtual escape room: jewel heist, 4. virtual code break , 5. virtual trivia time machine.
- 6. Virtual Jeoparty Social
There are a ton of incredible team building problem solving activities available. We’ve hand-picked 11 of our favorites that we think your corporate group will love too.
Split into teams and create a cardboard boat made out of just the materials provided: cardboard and tape. Team members will have to work together to engineer a functional boat that will float and sail across water without sinking. Once teams have finished making their boats, they will create a presentation to explain why their boat is the best, before putting their boats to the test. The final challenge will have teams racing their boats to test their durability! Nothing says problem-solving like having to make sure you don’t sink into the water!
Every day at work, you’re forced to make countless decisions – whether they’re massively important or so small you barely think about them.
But your ability to effectively make decisions is critical in solving problems quickly and effectively.
With a classic team building problem solving activity like the Egg Drop, that’s exactly what your team will learn to do.
For this activity, you’ll need some eggs, construction materials, and a place you wouldn’t mind smashing getting dirty with eggshells and yolks.
The goal of this activity is to create a contraption that will encase an egg and protect it from a fall – whether it’s from standing height or the top of a building. But the challenge is that you and your team will only have a short amount of time to build it before it’s time to test it out, so you’ll have to think quickly!
To make it even more challenging, you’ll have to build the casing using only simple materials like:
- Newspapers
- Plastic wrap
- Rubber bands
- Popsicle sticks
- Cotton balls
Feel free to have some fun in picking the materials. Use whatever you think would be helpful without making things too easy!
Give your group 15 minutes to construct their egg casing before each team drops their eggs. If multiple eggs survive, increase the height gradually to see whose created the sturdiest contraption.
If you’re not comfortable with the idea of using eggs for this activity, consider using another breakable alternative, such as lightbulbs for a vegan Egg Drop experience.
With Clue Murder Mystery, your team will need to solve the murder of a man named Neil Davidson by figuring out who had the means, motive, and opportunity to commit the crime.
But it won’t be easy! You’ll need to exercise your best problem-solving skills and channel your inner detectives if you want to keep this case from going cold and to get justice for the victim.
Collaboration is critical to problem solving.
Why? Because, as the old saying goes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This expression reflects the fact that people are capable of achieving greater things when they work together to do so.
If you’re looking for a team building problem solving activity that helps boost collaboration, you’ll love Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower.
This game involves working in teams to build the tallest possible freestanding tower using only marshmallows, uncooked spaghetti, tape, and string.
The kicker? This all has to be done within an allotted timeframe. We recommend about thirty minutes.
For an added dimension of challenge, try adding a marshmallow to the top of the tower to make it a little more top heavy.
Whichever team has the highest tower when time runs out is the winner!
If you’ve never participated in an escape room, your team is missing out! It’s one of the most effective team building problem solving activities out there because it puts you and your colleagues in a scenario where the only way out is collaboratively solving puzzles and deciphering clues.
The principle is simple: lock your group in a room, hide the key somewhere in that room, and have them work through challenges within a set time frame. Each challenge will lead them one step closer to finding the key and, ultimately, their escape.
At Outback, we offer “done-for-you” escape rooms where we’ll transform your office or meeting room so you don’t have to worry about:
- Seeking transportation for your team
- Capacity of the escape rooms
- High costs
- Excessive planning
That way, you and your team can simply step inside and get to work collaborating, using creative problem solving, and thinking outside the box.
In this smartphone-based scavenger hunt team building activity , your group will split into teams and complete fun challenges by taking photos and videos around the city. Some examples of challenges you can do in this activity are:
- Parkour: Take a picture of three team members jumping over an object that’s at least waist-high.
- Beautiful Mind: Snap a photo of a team member proving a well-known mathematical theorem on a chalkboard.
- Puppy Love: Take a photo of all of your team members petting a stranger’s dog at the same time.
It takes a ton of critical thinking and problem-solving to be crowned the Wild Goose Chase Champions!
Can you imagine a higher-pressure situation than being stranded at sea in a lifeboat with your colleagues?
With this team building problem solving activity, that’s exactly the situation you and your group will put yourselves. But by the time the activity is over, you’ll have gained more experience with the idea of having to solve problems under pressure – a common but difficult thing to do.
Here’s how it works.
Each team member will get a six-columned chart where:
- The first column lists the survival items each team has on hand (see the list below)
- The second column is empty so that each team member can rank the items in order of importance for survival
- The third column is for group rankings
- The fourth column is for the “correct” rankings, which are revealed at the end of the activity
- The fifth and sixth columns are for the team to enter thee difference between their individual and correct scores and the team and correct rankings
Within this activity, each team will be equipped with the following “survival items,” listed below in order of importance, as well as a pack of matches:
- A shaving mirror (this can be used to signal passing ships using the sun)
- A can of gas (could be used for signaling as it could be put in the water and lit with the pack of matches)
- A water container (for collecting water to re-hydrate)
- Emergency food rations (critical survival food)
- One plastic sheet (can be helpful for shelter or to collect rainwater)
- Chocolate bars (another food supply)
- Fishing rods (helpful, but no guarantee of catching food)
- Rope (can be handy, but not necessarily essential for survival)
- A floating seat cushion (usable as a life preserver)
- Shark repellant (could be important when in the water)
- A bottle of rum (could be useful for cleaning wounds)
- A radio (could be very helpful but there’s a good chance you’re out of range)
- A sea chart (this is worthless without navigation equipment)
- A mosquito net (unless you’ve been shipwrecked somewhere with a ton of mosquitos, this isn’t very useful)
To get the activity underway, divide your group into teams of five and ask each team member to take ten minutes on their own to rank the items in order of importance in the respective column. Then, give the full team ten minutes as a group to discuss their individual rankings together and take group rankings, listed in that respective column. Ask each group to compare their individual rankings with those of the group as a whole.
Finally, read out the correct order according to the US Coast Guard, listed above.
The goal of this activity is for everyone to be heard and to come to a decision together about what they need most to survive.
If your team works remotely, you can also do this activity online. Using a video conferencing tool like Zoom , you can bring your group together and separate teams into “break-out rooms” where they’ll take their time individually and then regroup together. At the end, you can bring them back to the full video conference to go through the answers together.
Many problems are intricately complex and involve a ton of moving parts. And in order to solve this type of problem, you need to be able to examine it systematically, one piece at a time.
Especially in the business world, many problems or challenges involve multiple different teams or departments working through their respective portions of a problem before coming together in the end to create a holistic solution.
As you can imagine, this is often easier said than done. And that’s why it’s so important to practice this ability.
With a collaborative team building problem solving activity like Domino Effect Challenge, that’s exactly what you’ll need to do as you and your group work to create a massive, fully functional chain reaction machine.
Here’s how it goes.
Your group will break up into teams, with each team working to complete their own section of a massive “Rube Goldberg” machine. Then, all teams will regroup and assemble the entire machine together. You’ll need to exercise communication, collaboration, and on-the-fly problem solving in order to make your chain reaction machine go off without a hitch from start to finish.
Being a great problem-solver means being adaptable and creative. And if you’re looking for a quick and easy team building problem solving activity, you’ll love the reverse pyramid.
The idea here is simple: break your group out into small teams and then stand in the form of a pyramid.
Your challenge is to flip the base and the peak of the pyramid – but you can only move three people in order to do so.
Alternatively, rather than doing this activity with people as the pyramid, you can do another version – the Pyramid Build – using plastic cups instead.
This version is a little bit different. Rather than flipping the base of a pyramid to the top, you’ll need to build the pyramid instead–but in reverse, starting from the top cup and working down.
With this version, you’ll need 36 cups and one table per group. We recommend groups of five to seven people. Give your group 20 to 30 minutes to complete the activity.
To get started, place one cup face down. Then, lift that cup and place the subsequent two cups underneath it.
The real challenge here? You can only lift your pyramid by the bottom row in order to put a new row underneath – and only one person at a time can do the lifting. The remaining group members will need to act quickly and work together in order to add the next row so that it will balance the rest of the pyramid.
If any part of your pyramid falls, you’ll need to start over. Whichever team has the most complete pyramid when time runs out will be the winner!
The value of being able to approach problems analytically can’t be overstated. Because when problems arise, the best way to solve them is by examining the facts and making a decision based on what you know.
With CI: The Crime Investigators, this is exactly what your team will be called upon to do as you put your detective’s hats on and work to solve a deadly crime.
You’ll be presented with evidence and need to uncover and decipher clues. And using only the information at your disposal, you’ll need to examine the facts in order to crack the case.
Like many of our team building problem solving activities, CI: The Crime Investigators is available in a hosted format, which can take place at your office or an outside venue, as well as a virtually-hosted format that uses video conferencing tools, or a self-hosted version that you can run entirely on your own.
Each member of your team has their own unique strengths and skills. And by learning to combine those skills, you can overcome any challenge and solve any problem. With Team Pursuit, you and your team together to tackle challenges as you learn new things about one another, discover your hidden talents, and learn to rely on each other.
This team building problem solving activity is perfect for high-energy groups that love to put their heads together and work strategically to solve problems as a group.
If you and your team are working remotely, don’t worry. You still have a ton of great virtual team building problem solving options at your disposal.
In this virtual escape room experience, your team will be transported into a pyramid cursed by a restless mummy. You’ll have to work together to uncover clues and solve complex challenges to lift the ancient curse.
You’ve probably never heard of a man named Neil Davidson. But your group will need to come together to solve the mystery of his murder by analyzing clues, resolving challenges, and figuring out who had the means, motive, and opportunity to commit a deadly crime.
This activity will challenge you and your group to approach problems analytically, read between the lines, and use critical thinking in order to identify a suspect and deliver justice.
If you and your team like brainteasers, then Virtual Escape Room: Jewel Heist will be a big hit.
Here’s the backstory.
There’s been a robbery. Someone has masterminded a heist to steal a priceless collection of precious jewels, and it’s up to you and your team to recover them before time runs out.
Together, you’ll need to uncover hidden clues and solve a series of brain-boggling challenges that require collaboration, creative problem-solving, and outside-the-box thinking. But be quick! The clock is ticking before the stolen score is gone forever.
With Virtual Code Break, you and your team can learn to be adaptive and dynamic in your thinking in order to tackle any new challenges that come your way. In this activity, your group will connect on a video conferencing platform where your event host will split you out into teams. Together, you’ll have to adapt your problem-solving skills as you race against the clock to tackle a variety of mixed brainteaser challenges ranging from Sudoku to puzzles, a game of Cranium, riddles, and even trivia.
Curious to see how a virtual team building activity works? Check out this video on a Virtual Clue Murder Mystery in action.
Step into the Outback Time Machine and take a trip through time, from pre-pandemic 21st century through the decades all the way to the 60’s.
This exciting, fast-paced virtual trivia game, packed with nostalgia and good vibes, is guaranteed to produce big laughs, friendly competition, and maybe even some chair-dancing.
Your virtual game show host will warm up guests with a couple of “table hopper rounds” (breakout room mixers) and split you out into teams. Within minutes, your home office will be transformed into a game show stage with your very own game show buzzers!
And if your team loves trivia, check out our list of the most incredible virtual trivia games for work teams for even more ideas.
6. Virtual Jeoparty Social
If your remote team is eager to socialize, have some fun as a group, and channel their competitive spirit, we’ve got just the thing for you! With Virtual Jeoparty Social, you and your colleagues will step into your very own virtual Jeopardy-style game show—equipped with a buzzer button, a professional actor as your host, and an immersive game show platform! Best of all, this game has been infused with an ultra-social twist: players will take part in a unique social mixer challenge between each round.
With the right team building problem solving activities, you can help your team sharpen their core skills to ensure they’re prepared when they inevitably face a challenge at work. And best of all, you can have fun in the process.
Do you have any favorite team building activities for building problem-solving skills? If so, tell us about them in the comments section below!
Learn More About Team Building Problem Solving Activities
For more information about how your group can take part in a virtual team building, training, or coaching solution, reach out to our Employee Engagement Consultants.
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15 Team Building Problem Solving Activities
In this article you will find:
- 15 problem-solving activities for your team to master
- Frequently asked questions about team building
Here are 15 problem-solving activities for your team to master:
15 Problem-Solving Activities
1. a shrinking vessel.
Why adaptability is important for problem-solving:
Adaptability is highly associated with cognitive diversity, which helps teams solve problems faster, according to the Harvard Business Review. Innovation and disruption are happening faster than ever before. People, teams, and organizations that can adapt will come out on top.
What You'll Need:
A rope or string
Instructions:
1. Using the rope, make a shape on the floor everyone can fit into.
2. Slowly shrink the space over a time period of 10-15 minutes.
3. Work together to figure out how to keep everyone within the shrinking boundaries.
2. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower
Helps with: Collaboration Why collaboration is important for problem-solving: “Collectively, we can be more insightful, more intelligent than we can possibly be individual,” writes Peter Senge in The Fifth Discipline. We can solve problems better as a team than we can alone, which means developing your team's collaboration skills will lead to better problem-solving outcomes.
What You'll Need (per team):
20 sticks of uncooked spaghetti
1 roll of masking tape
1 yard of string
1 marshmallow
1. The goal of this exercise is to see which team can use the materials provided to build the tallest tower within an allotted time period. The tower must be able to stand on its own.
2. To make this exercise more challenging, try adding a marshmallow to the top of the tower. This team problem-solving exercise helps teams think on their toes while building camaraderie and leadership.
3. Egg Drop
Why decision-making is important for problem-solving:
Making decisions isn't easy, but indecision leads to team paralysis, stagnant thinking, and unsolved problems. Decision-making activities help your team practice making quick, effective choices. Train your team's decision-making muscle and they will become more adept at problem-solving.
A carton of eggs
Basic construction materials such as newspapers, straws, tape, plastic wrap, balloons, rubber bands, popsicle sticks, etc., tarp, or drop cloth
A parking lot, or some other place you don't mind getting messy!
1. Each team gets an egg and must select from the construction materials.
2. Give everyone 20-30 minutes to construct a carrier for the egg and protect it from breaking.
3. Drop each egg carrier off a ledge (i.e. over a balcony) and see whose carrier protects the egg from breaking.
4. If multiple eggs survive, keep increasing the height until only one egg is left.
4. Stranded
Helps with: Communication and Decision-Making Why communication is important for problem-solving:
More employees work remotely than ever before. Good communication skills are vital to solving problems across increasingly virtual teams. Working on communication skills while your team is together will help them better solve problems when they're apart.
Your team has been stranded in the office. The doors are locked, and knocking down the doors or breaking the windows is not an option. Give your team 30 minutes to decide on 10 items in the office they need for survival and rank them in order of importance. The goal of the game is to have everyone agree on the 10 items and their ranking in 30 minutes.
1. Divide everyone into small teams of two or more.
2. Select an overseer who isn't on a team to build a random structure using Lego building blocks within 10 minutes.
3. The other teams must replicate the structure exactly (including size and color) within 15 minutes. However, only one member from each group may look at the original structure. They must figure out how to communicate the size, color, and shape of the original structure to their team.
4. If this is too easy, add a rule that the member who can see the original structure can't touch the new structure.
Collaboration
A lockable room
5-10 puzzles or clues (depending on how much time you want to spend on the game)
The goal of this exercise is to solve the clues, find the key, and escape a locked room within the time allotted.
Hide the key and a list of clues around the room.
Gather the team into the empty room and "lock" the door.
Give them either 30 minutes or 1 hour to find the key using the clues hidden around the room.
7. Frostbite
Decision Making, Adaptability What You'll Need:
A blindfold
1 packet of construction materials (such as card stock, toothpicks, rubber bands, and sticky notes) for each team
An electric fan
Picture this... Your employees are Arctic explorers adventuring across an icy tundra! Separate them into teams of 4-5 and have them select a leader to guide their exploration. Each team must build a shelter from the materials provided before the storm hits in 30 minutes. However, both the team leader's hands have frostbite, so they can't physically help construct the shelter, and the rest of the team has snow blindness and is unable to see. When the 30 minutes is up, turn on the fan and see which shelter can withstand the high winds of the storm.
8. Minefield
An empty room or hallway
A collection of common office items
1. Place the items (boxes, chairs, water bottles, bags, etc.) around the room so there's no clear path from one end of the room to the other.
2. Divide your team into pairs and blindfold one person on the team.
3. The other must verbally guide that person from one end of the room to the other, avoiding the "mines." 4. The partner who is not blindfolded can't touch the other.
5. If you want to make the activity more challenging, have all the pairs go simultaneously so teams must find ways to strategically communicate with each other.
9. Blind Formations
1. Have the group put on blindfolds and form a large circle.
2. Tie two ends of a rope together and lay it in a circle in the middle of the group, close enough so each person can reach down and touch it.
3. Instruct the group to communicate to create a shape with the rope a square, triangle, rectangle, etc.
4. If you have a very large group, divide them into teams and provide a rope for each team. Let them compete to see who forms a particular shape quickest.
10. Line up Blind
1. Blindfold everyone and whisper a number to each person, beginning with one.
2. Tell them to line up in numerical order without talking.
3. Instead of giving them a number, you could also have them line up numerically by height, age, birthday, etc.
11. Reverse Pyramid
1. Have everyone stand in a pyramid shape, horizontally.
2. Ask them to flip the base and the apex of the pyramid moving only three people.
3. This quick exercise works best when smaller groups compete to see who can reverse the pyramid the fastest.
12. Move It!
Chalk, rope, tape, or paper (something to mark a space)
1. Divide your group into two teams and line them up front to back, facing each other.
2. Using chalk, tape, rope, or paper (depending on the playing surface), mark a square space for each person to stand on. Leave one extra empty space between the two facing rows.
3. The goal is for the two-facing lines of players to switch places.
Place these restrictions on movement:
Only one person may move at a time.
A person may not move around anyone facing the same direction.
No one may not move backward.
A person may not move around more than one person on the other team at a time.
13. Human Knot
1. Have everyone stand in a circle, and ask each person to hold hands with two people who aren't directly next to them.
2. When everyone is tangled together, ask them to untangle the knot and form a perfect circle without letting anyone's hand.
Our last two problem-solving activities work best when dealing with an actual problem:
14. Dumbest Idea First
Instant Problem Solving What You'll Need:
1. "Dumb" ideas are sometimes the best ideas. Ask everyone to think of the absolute dumbest possible solution to the problem at hand.
2. After you have a long list, look through it and see which ones might not be as dumb as you think.
3. Brainstorm your solutions in Wrike. It's free and everyone can start collaborating instantly!
15. What Would X Do
1. Have everyone pretend they're someone famous.
2. Each person must approach the problem as if they were a famous person. What options would they consider? How would they handle it?
3. This allows everyone to consider solutions they might not have thought of originally.
Looking for more team building games? Check out these virtual icebreaker games Ultimate Guide to Team Building Activities that Don't Suck.
People also ask these questions about team building activities
Here are the answers to the most common questions about team building activities:
What is the team building process?
This process of learning to work together effectively is known as team development. Bruce Tuckman, an educational psychologist, identified a five-stage development process that most teams follow to become high performing. He called the stages: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.
What is team building?
The Oxford English Dictionary defines team building as: “The action or process of causing a group of people to work together effectively as a team, especially by means of activities and events designed to increase motivation and promote cooperation.”
How often should you schedule team-building activities?
One of the most important aspects of team building is that it is an ongoing process. One team-building session can be effective, but your team could benefit more from multiple sessions. In fact, it may be beneficial to make it a part of your regular program. For team building to be effective, you should repeat it as often as you feel it is useful. This largely depends on the activity you choose. You can do quick activities on a more regular basis since they don't interfere with the regular work schedule. You will probably conduct longer, more elaborate activities less frequently so the team can get work done.
What you should do now
More articles.
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14 Best Team Building Problem Solving Group Activities For 2023
The best teams see solutions where others see problems. A great company culture is built around a collaborative spirit and the type of unity it takes to find answers to the big business questions.
So how can you get team members working together?
How can you develop a mentality that will help them overcome obstacles they have yet to encounter?
One of the best ways to improve your teams’ problem solving skills is through team building problem solving activities .
“86% of employees and executives cite lack of collaboration or ineffective communication for workplace failures.” — Bit.AI
These activities can simulate true-to-life scenarios they’ll find themselves in, or the scenarios can call on your employees or coworkers to dig deep and get creative in a more general sense.
The truth is, on a day-to-day basis, you have to prepare for the unexpected. It just happens that team building activities help with that, but are so fun that they don’t have to feel like work ( consider how you don’t even feel like you’re working out when you’re playing your favorite sport or doing an exercise you actually enjoy! )
What are the benefits of group problem-solving activities?
The benefits of group problem-solving activities for team building include:
- Better communication
- Improved collaboration and teamwork
- More flexible thinking
- Faster problem-solving
- Better proactivity and decision making
Without further ado, check out this list of the 14 best team-building problem-solving group activities for 2023!
Want to become a better professional in just 5 minutes?
Page Contents (Click To Jump)
Popular Problem Solving Activities
1. virtual team challenge.
Virtual Team Challenges are popular problem-solving activities that involve a group of people working together to solve an issue. The challenge generally involves members of the team brainstorming, discussing, and creating solutions for a given problem.
Participants work both individually and collaboratively to come up with ideas and strategies that will help them reach their goals.
Why this is a fun problem-solving activity: Participants can interact and communicate with each other in a virtual environment while simultaneously engaging with the problem-solving activities. This makes it an enjoyable experience that allows people to use their creative thinking skills, build team spirit, and gain valuable insights into the issue at hand.
Problem-solving activities such as Virtual Team Challenges offer a great way for teams to come together, collaborate, and develop creative solutions to complex problems.
2. Problem-Solving Templates
Problem-Solving Templates are popular problem-solving activities that involve a group of people working together to solve an issue. The challenge generally involves members of the team utilizing pre-made templates and creating solutions for a given problem with the help of visual aids.
This activity is great for teams that need assistance in getting started on their problem-solving journey.
Why this is a fun problem-solving activity: Problem-Solving Templates offer teams an easy and stress-free way to get the creative juices flowing. The visual aids that come with the templates help team members better understand the issue at hand and easily come up with solutions together.
This activity is great for teams that need assistance in getting started on their problem-solving journey, as it provides an easy and stress-free way to get the creative juices flowing.
Problem Solving Group Activities & Games For Team Building
3. coworker feud, “it’s all fun and games”.
Coworker Feud is a twist on the classic Family Feud game show! This multiple rapid round game keeps the action flowing and the questions going. You can choose from a variety of customizations, including picking the teams yourself, randomized teams, custom themes, and custom rounds.
Best for: Hybrid teams
Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Coworker Feud comes with digital game materials, a digital buzzer, an expert host, and a zoom link to get the participants ready for action! Teams compete with each other to correctly answer the survey questions. At the end of the game, the team with the most competitive answers is declared the winner of the Feud.
How to get started:
- Sign up for Coworker Feud
- Break into teams of 4 to 10 people
- Get the competitive juices flowing and let the games begin!
Learn more here: Coworker Feud
4. Crack The Case
“who’s a bad mamma jamma”.
Crack The Case is a classic WhoDoneIt game that forces employees to depend on their collective wit to stop a deadly murderer dead in his tracks! Remote employees and office commuters can join forces to end this crime spree.
Best for: Remote teams
Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: The Virtual Clue Murder Mystery is an online problem solving activity that uses a proprietary videoconferencing platform to offer the chance for employees and coworkers to study case files, analyze clues, and race to find the motive, the method, and the individual behind the murder of Neil Davidson.
- Get a custom quote here
- Download the app
- Let the mystery-solving collaboration begin!
Learn more here: Crack The Case
5. Catch Meme If You Can
“can’t touch this”.
Purposefully created to enhance leadership skills and team bonding , Catch Meme If You Can is a hybrid between a scavenger hunt and an escape room . Teammates join together to search for clues, solve riddles, and get out — just in time!
Best for: Small teams
Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Catch Meme If You Can is an adventure with a backstory. Each team has to submit their answer to the puzzle in order to continue to the next part of the sequence. May the best team escape!
- The teams will be given instructions and the full storyline
- Teams will be split into a handful of people each
- The moderator will kick off the action!
Learn more here: Catch Meme If You Can
6. Puzzle Games
“just something to puzzle over”.
Puzzle Games is the fresh trivia game to test your employees and blow their minds with puzzles, jokes , and fun facts!
Best for: In-person teams
Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Eight mini brain teaser and trivia style games include word puzzles, name that nonsense, name that tune, and much more. Plus, the points each team earns will go towards planting trees in the precious ecosystems and forests of Uganda
- Get a free consultation for your team
- Get a custom designed invitation for your members
- Use the game link
- Dedicated support will help your team enjoy Puzzle Games to the fullest!
Learn more here: Puzzle Games
7. Virtual Code Break
“for virtual teams”.
Virtual Code Break is a virtual team building activity designed for remote participants around the globe. Using a smart video conferencing solution, virtual teams compete against each other to complete challenges, answer trivia questions, and solve brain-busters!
Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Virtual Code Break can be played by groups as small as 4 people all the way up to more than 1,000 people at once. However, every team will improve their communication and problem-solving skills as they race against the clock and depend on each other’s strengths to win!
- Reach out for a free consultation to align the needs of your team
- An event facilitator will be assigned to handle all of the set-up and logistics
- They will also provide you with logins and a play-by-play of what to expect
- Sign into the Outback video conferencing platform and join your pre-assigned team
- Lastly, let the games begin!
Learn more here: Virtual Code Break
8. Stranded
“survivor: office edition”.
Stranded is the perfect scenario-based problem solving group activity. The doors of the office are locked and obviously your team can’t just knock them down or break the windows.
Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Your team has less than half an hour to choose 10 items around the office that will help them survive. They then rank the items in order of importance. It’s a bit like the classic game of being lost at sea without a lifeboat.
- Get everyone together in the office
- Lock the doors
- Let them start working together to plan their survival
Learn more here: Stranded
9. Letting Go Game
“for conscious healing”.
The Letting Go Game is a game of meditation and mindfulness training for helping teammates thrive under pressure and reduce stress in the process. The tasks of the Letting Go Game boost resiliency, attentiveness, and collaboration.
Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Expert-guided activities and awareness exercises encourage team members to think altruistically and demonstrate acts of kindness. Between yoga, face painting, and fun photography, your employees or coworkers will have more than enough to keep them laughing and growing together with this mindfulness activity!
- Reach out for a free consultation
- A guide will then help lead the exercises
- Let the funny videos, pictures, and playing begin!
Learn more here: Letting Go Game
10. Wild Goose Chase
“city time”.
Wild Goose Chase is the creative problem solving activity that will take teams all around your city and bring them together as a group! This scavenger hunt works for teams as small as 10 up to groups of over 5000 people.
Best for: Large teams
Why this is an effective group problem solving activity: As employees and group members are coming back to the office, there are going to be times that they’re itching to get outside. Wild Goose Chase is the perfect excuse to satisfy the desire to go out-of-office every now and then. Plus, having things to look at and see around the city will get employees talking in ways they never have before.
- Download the Outback app to access the Wild Goose Chase
- Take photos and videos from around the city
- The most successful team at completing challenges on time is the champ!
Learn more here: Wild Goose Chase
11. Human Knot
“for a knotty good time”.
The Human Knot is one of the best icebreaker team building activities! In fact, there’s a decent chance you played it in grade school. It’s fun, silly, and best of all — free!
Why this is an effective group problem solving activity: Participants start in a circle and connect hands with two other people in the group to form a human knot. The team then has to work together and focus on clear communication to unravel the human knot by maneuvering their way out of this hands-on conundrum. But there’s a catch — they can’t let go of each other’s hands in this team building exercise.
- Form a circle
- Tell each person to grab a random hand until all hands are holding another
- They can’t hold anyone’s hand who is directly next to them
- Now they have to get to untangling
- If the chain breaks before everyone is untangled, they have to start over again
Learn more here: Human Knot
12. What Would You Do?
“because it’s fun to imagine”.
What Would You Do? Is the hypothetical question game that gets your team talking and brainstorming about what they’d do in a variety of fun, intriguing, and sometimes, whacky scenarios.
Best for: Distributed teams
Why this is an effective group problem solving activity: After employees or coworkers start talking about their What Would You Do? responses, they won’t be able to stop. That’s what makes this such an incredible team building activity . For example, you could ask questions like “If you could live forever, what would you do with your time?” or “If you never had to sleep, what would you do?”
- In addition to hypothetical questions, you could also give teammates some optional answers to get them started
- After that, let them do the talking — then they’ll be laughing and thinking and dreaming, too!
13. Crossing The River
“quite the conundrum”.
Crossing The River is a river-crossing challenge with one correct answer. Your team gets five essential elements — a chicken, a fox, a rowboat, a woman, and a bag of corn. You see, the woman has a bit of a problem, you tell them. She has to get the fox, the bag of corn, and the chicken to the other side of the river as efficiently as possible.
Why this is an effective group problem solving activity: She has a rowboat, but it can only carry her and one other item at a time. She cannot leave the chicken and the fox alone — for obvious reasons. And she can’t leave the chicken with the corn because it will gobble it right up. So the question for your team is how does the woman get all five elements to the other side of the river safely in this fun activity?
- Form teams of 2 to 5 people
- Each team has to solve the imaginary riddle
- Just make sure that each group understands that the rowboat can only carry one animal and one item at a time; the fox and chicken can’t be alone; and the bag of corn and the chicken cannot be left alone
- Give the verbal instructions for getting everything over to the other side
14. End-Hunger Games
“philanthropic fun”.
Does anything bond people quite like acts of kindness and compassion? The End-Hunger Games will get your team to rally around solving the serious problem of hunger.
Best for: Medium-sized teams
Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Teams join forces to complete challenges based around non-perishable food items in the End-Hunger Games. Groups can range in size from 25 to more than 2000 people, who will all work together to collect food for the local food bank.
- Split into teams and compete to earn boxes and cans of non-perishable food
- Each team attempts to build the most impressive food item construction
- Donate all of the non-perishable foods to a local food bank
Learn more here: End-Hunger Games
People Also Ask These Questions About Team Building Problem Solving Group Activities
Q: what are some problem solving group activities.
- A: Some problem solving group activities can include riddles, egg drop, reverse pyramid, tallest tower, trivia, and other moderator-led activities.
Q: What kind of skills do group problem solving activities & games improve?
- A: Group problem solving activities and games improve collaboration, leadership, and communication skills.
Q: What are problem solving based team building activities & games?
- A: Problem solving based team building activities and games are activities that challenge teams to work together in order to complete them.
Q: What are some fun free problem solving games for groups?
- A: Some fun free problem solving games for groups are kinesthetic puzzles like the human knot game, which you can read more about in this article. You can also use all sorts of random items like whiteboards, straws, building blocks, sticky notes, blindfolds, rubber bands, and legos to invent a game that will get the whole team involved.
Q: How do I choose the most effective problem solving exercise for my team?
- A: The most effective problem solving exercise for your team is one that will challenge them to be their best selves and expand their creative thinking.
Q: How do I know if my group problem solving activity was successful?
- A: In the short-term, you’ll know if your group problem solving activity was successful because your team will bond over it; however, that should also translate to more productivity in the mid to long-term.
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Top 50 problem solving activities, games & puzzles for remote teams
Blockchain and Crypto / March 6, 2022 by admin
Here is a list of the top 50 problem solving activities, games & puzzles best suited for remote teams. Read on!
What are problem solving activities?
The success of a company or organization depends heavily on the managers’ ability to help workers develop their problem solving skills. Problem solving activities that address areas such as teamwork and cooperation, adaptability or reinforcement of decision-making strategies help.
All processes of problem solving begin with the identification of the problem. The team will then evaluate the possible course of action and select the best way to tackle it. This needs a profound understanding of your team and its core strengths.
Not only among corporates, but problem solving activities find their use in educational settings as well. Students who are good at solving problems will become much more successful than those who are not. Remote work and education are on the rise.
Enabling smooth interpersonal communication to solve problems can become a task in these situations. However, engaging all the people concerned in problem solving activities before shifting to the remote space can ease the process.
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Key skills evaluated in problem solving activities
Problem solving skills refer to the necessary thinking skills that an individual or group uses when met with a challenge. Many issues require the use of several skills; others are easy and may require only one or two skills. These are some skills that help to solve problems,
- Communication skills
- Decision-making skills
- Analytical thinking
- Negotiation skills
- Logical reasoning
- Persistence
- Lateral thinking
Problem solving skill examples
Several problems occur at the workplace. Problem solving skills can be technical problems that occur on websites or apps or addressing client concerns. Problems could be simple or complex. Business managers spend time and resources to solve problems.
They encourage their team to improve their analytical and logical abilities. Common issues in companies can be exploding data or changing technology, or financial management.
Did you know? Emotional intelligence plays a crucial role in problem solving!
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Problem solving scenarios
Many problem solving scenarios occur at work. The basis to solve any problem is to evaluate and arrive at a solution. Analytical skill or problem solving ability is a skill many employers evaluate while hiring candidates.
Strong problem solving skills can be an asset to any organization. Organizations organize problem and solution activities to improve the problem solving abilities in the workplace.
1. Decision making games
Businesses are looking for new and innovative ways to stimulate their staff. Decision making games help employees to learn new skills and work effectively as a team. Decision making activities help to improve the creative problem solving and decision-making skills of the team. Here are some best Decision-making games,
1. Dumb Idea first – This game gives a hypothetical problem that could occur in your company. Ask each manager to think of the dumbest solution to the problem. After compiling the list of the ideas, the team reviews them.
You have a brainstorming session to make the “dumb ideas” feasible. This problem solving exercise underlines the importance of out-of-box thinking.
Benefits: Decision-making skill
Time duration: 10 to 15 minutes
Team size: 2 to more team managers
Material: Paper and pencil
2. Egg Drop Idea – The objective of the game is to build a container to protect the egg when dropped from a specified height using the material provided. Each team nominates a presenter who explains why the egg will survive the fall.
Once they have presented the idea, the team drops the egg to check if the idea has worked. Egg drop pyramid activities like the marshmallow challenge help teams to think on their feet.
Benefit: Decision-making skill and is a top problem solving skill example
Time duration: 15 – 30 minutes
Team size: 6 or more
Material: A cartoon of eggs, aprons to protect clothes, material for packing (cardboard, tape, elastics, plastic straws, etc.), material to clean up.
Instructions:
- Every team gets an egg and should choose from the building materials.
- Grant everyone 20-30 minutes to build an egg carrier and guard against breaking.
- Remove each egg carrier from a ledge (that is, over a balcony) to see which carrier prevents it from cracking.
- If several eggs survive, continue to heighten until only one egg remains.
3. Dog, Rice, and Chicken – The dog, rice, and chicken game can be fun decision-making activities for adults. In this game, one team member plays the farmer, and the other team members are villagers who advise him. The farmer has to take three items chicken, dog, and rice across the river by boat.
There are the following constraints:- only one item can be carried on the boat. He cannot leave the chicken and dog alone because the dog will eat the chicken. He cannot leave the chicken alone with the rice because the chicken will eat the rice grains.
Benefit: creative problem solving examples that are applicable at work.
Time duration: 10-15 minutes.
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2. Teambuilding puzzle
Team building exercises are fun and creative ways to get your team to work together and improve problem solving skills.
1. Lost at Sea – In this game, you and your friends have chattered a yacht to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. Since you do not have any navigation experience, you hire a captain and a two-person crew. Unfortunately, the crew and captain die when a fire breaks out on the yacht.
The yacht is severally damaged and is sinking. You and your friends have managed to save 15 items and a lifeboat. Your task is to rank the 15 items while you are waiting to be rescued. The activity lost at sea team building underlines the importance of problem solving skills in the workplace.
Benefits: Team building exercise and interaction
Time duration: 30 to 40 minutes
Team size: 4 to 6
Material: Lost in sea ranking for interaction chart for each member
2. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower – The marshmallow team-building activities have the goal of building the tallest tower as quickly as possible. To make the task more challenging the marshmallow is placed at the top of the tower. This is a fun puzzle activity for team building.
Benefit: Teambuilding puzzle
Time duration: 30 minutes
Material required: 20 sticks on raw uncooked spaghetti, a marshmallow, masking thread, and yarn of thread.
3. Go for Gold – This is an example of a marshmallow challenge similar to activities. The objective of this exercise is to create a structure using pipes, rubber tubing, and cardboard to carry a marble from point A to point B using gravity.
Benefit: team building problem solving scenario examples
Team size: Minimum 6 persons
Material required: Each member has different material
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3. Work Problem Solving
Work problem solving activities help to use the skills you used in problem solving activities in your workplace.
1. Create your own – this game aims to create a brand new problem solving activity for the organization. The team can brainstorm for 1 hour. After one hour each team has to give a presentation about their activity outlining the key benefits.
Benefit: Understanding the problem solving process. Build creativity, improve negotiation, and Decision-making skills
- When the participants arrive, you declare that they will create an original problem solving activity on their own, rather than spending an hour on an existing problem solving team-building exercise.
- Divide members into teams and encourage them to develop a new problem solving team-building exercise that will fit well with the organization. The activity should not be one they have engaged in or heard of before.
- Every team has to show their new activity to everyone else after an hour and outline the main benefits.
2. Shrinking Vessel – make a shape on the floor using a rope where all the team members can fit. Reduce the size every 10 -15 minutes. The real challenge for the team is figuring out how to work together and keep everyone together.
Benefits: Adaptability and cognitive diversity
Material: Rope and large room
- Place on the floor a big circle of rope. Position your whole team inside the circle.
- Lessen the circle size steadily. When it gets smaller, advise the team to keep the entire team inside the circle. Nobody must move out of the loop. See how small you can make the area until it cannot remain inside.
3. Legoman – the team is divided into groups of two or more people. Select an impartial individual who will make a structure in 10 minutes. Each team will compete to recreate it in fifteen minutes. Only one person is allowed to see the structure. They need to communicate vital parameters like color, shape, and size.
Benefits: Communication
Tools: Lego
4. What Would X Do – This problem solving activity stimulates teams to think of new ideas.
- Benefits: Instant problem solving
- Time Duration: 10-15 minutes
- Materials Required: N/A
- Let every team pretend to be someone famous.
- Every team needs to address the issue as if they were a famous person. Which are the choices they would consider? How will they do this?
- It helps all to consider options they may not have initially thought of.
Tip: Before you decide, a problem is worth solving, weigh the risks of solving it versus not solving it.
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4. Team building riddles
Team building riddles are a great way to show the team group problem solving is usually more effective.
1. Barter puzzle – the team is broken into groups. Give each team a different jigsaw puzzle to solve. The groups have to complete the puzzle at the same time. The twist in the game is that some pieces of their puzzle belong to other puzzles.
The goal is to complete the puzzle before the other teams. Each group has to come with their method to convince other teams to handover the pieces they need, either by bartering pieces or donating time to the other teams. This puzzle piece team-building activity helps teams to collaborate.
Benefit: Team building and negotiating.
Material: Jigsaw puzzle for each team
Time: 30 minutes
2. Scavenger Hunt – in this game, each team has a list of the article to locate and bring back. The goal of the game is to finish the assigned list first. In the scavenger hunt, the team has a time limit to make the game more challenging. You have the flexibility of having the hunt outside or within the premises. The team-building puzzle game helps the team to look for creative solutions.
3. Escape – the goal is to solve clues and find the key to unlock the door in a limited time. Hide the key and a list of clues around the room. The team has 30 to 60 minutes to figure out the clues and unlock the door.
Benefit: Team building exercise
Material: Rope, key, lockable room, 5 to 10 puzzles
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5. Work together problems
Work together on problems helps to underline the need to collaborate while solving issues at work. Group challenge activities help the team work well together.
1. Bonding belt – each group is divided into 5 to 6 participants, who are bound together with rope or tape so that their movements are limited. The team has to reach from point A to point B, and the time is recorded. The teams collaborate to beat their previous score.
Benefits: Helps the team to collaborate and skills for problem solving scenario/
Time: 20 to 30 minutes
Material: Cling film, belt, or rope
2. Scramble puzzle – the team members with blindfolds sit in a circle with the puzzle. The teammate without the blindfold sits outside the circle, with their back to the group. The blindfolded group tries to assemble the pieces of the puzzle. The outsider who has the same puzzle gives the team instructions to solve it.
Benefits: trust, leadership, and communication
Material: Preschool-level puzzles and blindfolds.
3. Flip it over – this is a classic work-together problem. In this game, 6 to 8 participants stand together on a blanket/towel/tarp. The challenge is to flip over the blanket or reverse it. The rule is that none of the participants can leave the blanket.
Benefit: Work together exercise
Duration: 30 minutes
Material: Blanket
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6. Team building survival games
Team building survival games helps to fine-tune problem solving scenarios that may occur at work. The activities encourage creative problem solving and decision making.
1. Stranded – Stranded helps in building effective communication. In this setting, the team is stranded in an office. The rooms will be locked, and doors and windows cannot be broken down. The team is asked to make a list of 10 items that they need to survive.
They need to rank items in the order of their importance. The team has to agree on the items and the order. Stranded is one of several popular survival team-building exercises.
Benefit: Team building and Decision-making exercises
- Your team is stuck inside the building. Doors are closed, so there is no option to kick down the doors or smash the windows.
- Grant the team 30 minutes to determine what ten things they need to thrive in the office and list them in order of importance.
- The goal of the game is to get everyone to agree in 30 minutes about the ten things and their ranking.
2. Minefield – you randomly place items around the room or hallway and there is no clear path from one end of the room to another. The team is divided into pairs. One team member is blindfolded, and the other team member is the guide.
The guide navigates the blindfolded person across the minefield. The two partners cannot touch. This survival team-building activity underlines the need for clear communication.
Benefits: Communication and collaborative problem solving
Duration: 10-15 minutes
Material: Blindfold, empty room or hallway, and collection of random items.
3. Frostbite – in this survival scenario team-building exercise the team is trapped in Siberia. Each team has to elect a team captain. The team has to build a storm shelter with the material provided.
The twist in the game is the team captains cannot help physically since they have frostbite. Other team members are suffering snow blindness and are blindfolded. The electric fan will be turned on in 30 minutes to see if the shelter built will survive the storm.
Benefit: Leadership, skills action plan, and team building survival games
Team size: 4 to 5 members
Material: An electric fan, blindfold, simple building materials like cardboard paper, rubber bands, toothpicks, masking tape, straws, sticky notes, etc.
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7. Group decision making games
Group decision making games help encourage creative problem solving and decision making at work. Here is a bunch of group decision making games
1. Reverse Pyramid – the team members stand in a pyramid shape. The next step is to flip the base and apex of the pyramid. The limiting factor in only three persons can move.
Benefits: Group Decision-making and collaboration
2. Tower of Hanoi – in this game, there are three towers/posts/rods with 5 or more discs arranged conical shape with the smallest shape at the top. The objective of the game is to move the entire stack to another location retaining the shape. Some conditions of the games are only one disc can be moved at a time. Only the top disc can be moved. Another rule of the game is larger disc cannot be put on a smaller disc.
Benefits: This team-building exercise helps problem solving within the participants.
3. Human Knot – the team stands in a circle every person holds hands with a person not standing next to them. When everyone is cross-connected, the aim is to untangle the structure without letting go of anybody’s hand.
Benefit: group problem solving
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8. Funny problem solving games
We need to solve problems for personal and professional lives. Funny problem solving exercises are a light way. Funny problem solving can help reduce stress levels.
1. Pencil drop – in the pencil drop challenge, one end of the pencil is tied to a pencil and the other is tied around the waist of a team member. The other team member puts the pencil into the bottle placed below. The participants are not allowed to use their hands.
Benefit: Team bonding
Team size: 2 members each
Material: Some pencil and bottle
2. Blind drawing – this game requires two players to sit back to back. One participant describes an image in front of them without giving stating anything obvious. The other participant needs to draw it using the description. The outcome can be fun.
3. Be the character – in this activity, you pretend to be an imaginary character while trying to solve a problem. This game gives a unique perspective on your solution and whether the solution is feasible for other members.
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9. Group problem solving activities for adults
Group problem solving activities are very efficient, especially for adults. These can be used in any setting to enhance problem solving skills.
1. Human Knots
- Benefits: Communication skills, collaboration
- Time Duration: 10 – 15 minutes.
This is one of the most straightforward group problem solving activities that can be done with any group. It facilitates communication and critical thinking in the face of a challenging and complex question. Various group members will possibly suggest a variety of solutions, and each will need to be reviewed and adopted by the organization as a whole.
- Have the group stand in a small circle (make several circles when you are a larger group). Every person in the loop will hold the hands of 2 other people who are not directly next to them. That would make a messy crossed arms knot.
- Ask the group to disentangle themselves without moving their hands at any point in time. They may be unable to disentangle completely to form a circle again. Still, they would have begun to work together to solve the problem by the end of the activity.
2. Frostbite
- Benefits: Leadership, decision-making, trust, adaptability
- Time Duration: 30 minutes.
- Materials Required: An electric fan, blindfold, simple building materials like cardboard paper, rubber bands, toothpicks, masking tape, straws, sticky notes, etc.
Your group is trapped in the barren deserts of Siberia, and a sudden winter storm is approaching. You have to create a shelter with only the materials in hand that can survive the storm’s harsh winds. The leader of your expedition was afflicted with frostbite in both hands, sadly, and all the others experience severe snow blindness.
- Divide the group into clusters of 4-5. Every group will have to elect a chief.
- Group leaders are not allowed to use their hands to support the group in any way, and group members should be blindfolded during the exercise.
- The groups have 30 minutes to build a small tent structure that can withstand the wind from the fan’s highest location.
3. Dumbest Idea First
- Benefits: Critical thinking, creative problem solving, quick problem solving
- Time Duration: 15 – 20 minutes
- Materials Required: Pen or pencil, a piece of paper.
Dumbest Idea First is one of the most creative problem solving activities for groups. This can encourage your creativity by thinking out of the box and lead you to ideas that would typically sound too insane to work. You can broaden the possibilities by looking at these crazy solutions first, and find potential alternatives that might not be as obvious.
- Present your team with a question. It could be a real-world dilemma facing the group, or it could be a created scenario. For example, your company attempts to beat a rival to win a high-paying customer contract, but the customer bends to your competitors. You have a short period before they make the final decision to change their mind.
- With the given question, advise your group to come up with the dumbest ideas to tackle the issue. Anything can be written down.
- After each person has put forward a few ideas, go through the list, and analyze each plan to see which are the most feasible. List them from the highest level of feasibility to the lowest level.
4. Wool Web
- Benefits: Leadership, communication
- Time Duration: 30 minutes
- Materials Required: Some balls of yarn.
As hard as replicating the magnitude of the real-world problems is, that is no excuse not to try! Wool web creates a dilemma that appears complicated at first, but groups will learn to break down complicated challenges into solvable problems one move at a time.
This happens by using the right strategy and working together. Undoubtedly, this is one of the most stimulating problem solving activities for adults.
- Split the group into similarly large teams. Every time, it receives a yarn ball.
- Tell each team to turn the yarn ball into a vast web. Give them around 5-10 minutes to do this. When done, rotate all the teams so that every team is on a yarn web they have not set up.
- Every group must choose one person to untangle the web. That individual would be blindfolded and be guided by the rest of the team on how to unwind the web using only verbal instructions. The first team to achieve it wins the game.
5. Tallest Tower
- Benefits: Creative thinking, collaboration
- Materials Required: 1 bag of marshmallows, one packet of uncooked spaghetti.
Simple building projects can help group members create strategies to overcome box issues. Tallest Tower is another one of the most creative problem solving activities. Groups will compete with only two materials to make the tallest tower in a fixed period.
- Divide the group into two, which have an equal number of players. Provide 20 – 30 uncooked spaghetti noodles and 3-4 marshmallows to every team.
- Groups must compete in the provided period to build the tallest tower using only the materials supplied. A marshmallow has to be set at the top of the tower.
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10. Problem solving activities for students
Below is a bunch of problem solving activities for students and kids,
1. Brainstorm Bonanza – Brainstorm Bonanza is one of the best problem solving activities for students. As a teacher, making your students create lists relevant to something you are teaching at the moment can be a fantastic way to help them expand their knowledge of a subject when learning to solve problems.
- Benefits: Problem solving
- Materials Required: Pen and paper
1. If you are discussing a real, current, or fictional occurrence that did not work out well, let your students imagine ways that the protagonist or participants might have produced a better, more favorable result.
2. They can brainstorm independently or in groups.
2. Clue Me In – this is one of the most enjoyable problem solving games. It facilitates logical thinking and cognitive development.
- Benefits: Cognitive development, logical thinking
- Time Duration: 20 minutes
- Materials Required: A bag, clues, items as necessary
- Select a collection of things relating to a specific occupation, social phenomenon, historical incident, object, etc.
- Assemble individual objects (or pictures of things) commonly linked to the target response.
- Place all of them in a bag (five-10 clues ought to be enough).
- Then, have a student reach into the bag and take out clues one by one.
- Select a minimum number of clues to draw before they make their first guess (two-three).
- After that, the student should guess, pulling each clue until they think it is right.
- See how quickly the student can solve the riddle.
3. Survivor Scenario – Create a hypothetical situation that allows students to think creatively to make it through. One example may be being stuck on an island, realizing that three days of help would not come.
The community has a small amount of food and water and has to establish shelter from the island’s objects. This would undoubtedly be one of the fascinating problem solving activities for students.
- Benefits: Logical thinking, collaboration
- Encourage working together as a group.
- Listen to each student who has an idea about making it safe and secure across the three days.
4. Moral Dilemmas – Create several potential moral dilemmas that your students can face in life, write down, and place each object in a bowl or container. These things may include items like, “I’ve seen a good friend of mine shoplifting. What is it that I would do?” or “The cashier gave me an additional $1.50 in change after I purchased candy from the shop. What is it that I would do?”
- Benefits: Logical thinking
- Time Duration: 5 minutes per student
- Materials Required: Container, bits of paper with moral dilemmas written
- Ask every student to draw an item from the bag one after the other and read it aloud.
- They must then tell the class the response on the spot as to how they would handle the situation.
5. Problem solving box – this is an activity that will help on both cognitive and emotional levels for students.
- Benefits: Logical thinking, decision making
- Materials Required: Box, paper, pen
- Have your students design and decorate a medium-sized box with a top slot. Name it as the “Problem Solving Box.”
- Invite students to write down anonymously and apply any concerns or problems they may have at school or at home, which they do not appear to be able to work out on their own.
- Let a student draw one of the things from the box once or twice a week, and read it aloud.
- Finally, as a group, let the class work out the best way students can approach the problem and eventually solve it.
Also Read: Invest large in bitcoins – get a profitable deal from a bitcoin OTC broker now!
11. Problem solving activities for kids
Below is a bunch of problem solving activities for kids,
1. Puzzle-solving – Solving puzzles is one of the best problem solving activities for kids out there. Essentially, every puzzle is a big collection of muddled-up items to figure out and bring back together again.
Kids must be introduced to puzzles with regularity. These are useful for improving skills in reasoning. The best kinds to choose from are wooden puzzles with a wooden frame. They last long, and the structure serves as the foundation to direct children during construction.
- Benefits: Reasoning skills
- Time Duration: Varies
- Materials Required: Puzzles according to the age level
Instructions:
- Show the kids a demo of how a particular puzzle can be solved.
- Then, let them choose a puzzle of their liking from the available choices.
- Ask them to solve their chosen puzzles.
2. Memory Games – Memory games will improve memory and attention to detail for your child.
- Benefits: Attention to detail
- Materials Required: Matching pairs of images
- Using matching pairs of images and turn them all face down, shuffled, on a table.
- Take turns to pick any two cards, and face them on the table.
- You hold the cards if you turn over a similar pair, and if the pair does not match, turn the cards over before it is your turn to try again.
- A teacher/parent must encourage the kids to concentrate on where the pictures are, and seek to find a matching pair on each turn.
3. Building games – Construction toys like building blocks, wooden blocks, or legos should be a staple in a kid’s home every day. Playing with them is one of the most fun problem solving activities for kids. Anything that your child builds is a challenge as it involves thinking about what to create and how to put together the parts to get a workable and usable design.
- Benefits: Decision making
- Materials Required: Construction toys.
1. Let your child build a challenge openly and often, and ask him/her to build a particular structure, with conditions. For instance:
- Create two towers with a bridge that connects them.
- Create a creature that stands alone and has three arms.
2. Observe how your child uses trial-and-error before finding a way to bring the idea into motion.
4. Tic-Tac-Toe – this is an excellent game for teaching decision-making skills. It encourages kids to think before they act and weigh the potential consequences.
- Materials Required: Pencil, paper
- Draw a simple tic-tac-toe table on paper or chalkboard.
- Take turns to add a nought or a cross to the table to see who is the first to make a line of three.
- Your kid will likely catch on in no time before placing their symbol and start thinking carefully.
- Coloured counters or different items can be used to play this game as well.
5. Building a Maze – This activity is fun and fits for any age. It will also be a lot more enjoyable than doing a maze in an activity book, particularly for younger kids.
- Materials Required: Chalk
- Draw a big maze with jumbo chalk on the paving. Make passages, including one or two, which end in an impasse. Teach your kid how to get out of it.
- Make the maze more complicated and add more dead-end passages as your child gets better at figuring out a path and finding the way out.
Also Read: Developing a blockchain – hire an expert blockchain developer now!
What is a problem solving process?
When a team or person faces an issue or obstacle, it can be tempting to quickly track a potential solution and set up a fast fix. This could happen without understanding the complexity of the problem and pursuing a systematic approach to seeking a solution.
The attempts to address issues or obstacles may become unstructured and frustrating without a consistent method. End-to-end processes for problem solving offer a mechanism for a community to tackle any size or nature, and see results. Problem solving activities for adults, kids, and students can help make the problem solving process very useful.
Army problem solving process
There are 7 steps to problem solving army model,
- Recognize and define the problem – The first step army problem solving process is defining the problem precisely and determining the root cause.
- Gather facts and make assumptions – You need to gather all information you have at your disposal. Common resources for information may be documentation and policies. Assumptions are unsubstantiated facts. Use facts rather than assumptions when you need to analyze the scope of the problem.
- Generate alternatives – One of the key steps in military problem solving is finding ways to solve the problem. Ideally, it best to have multiple approaches to solve the problem. Take input from peers and subordinates if possible.
- Analyze possible solutions – Analyze each possible solution with advantages and disadvantages. You evaluate each solution according to screening and feasibility criteria. Reject the solution when it fails in the screening process.
- Compare Alternatives – Another crucial step in the army problem solving model is to evaluate alternatives for cost and benefits. You need to consider your experience and immediate future. Tabulating each solution with the pros and cons will help clear the picture.
- Make an executive your decision – Make a decision and prepare an action plan, and put it in motion.
- Assess the result – You need to monitor the implementation of the plan and modify it if required. Establishing critical steps and milestones will help to ensure success.
Army problem solving games
- Capture the flag – the game helps in team building and army problem solving. Two teams compete against one another to retrieve a flag or object from the opposing team camp base and get into their camp base. This game is flexible, and ground rules need to be set before the game starts.
- Paintball – Paintball is a fun military problem solving activity. You can have many modifications and variations of the paintball game. The aim is to fire paint pellets at the opposing team. Laser tag is another variation of the game.
- Firing blind – Firing blind is a game where each team has a large number of water balloons. At the other end of the field has to hit the target is protected by a tarp from direct firing. The team has to hit the target that is covered. One team member acts as the observer and directs the team to hit the target with the water balloons.
Also Read: Interested in NFT – find an expert NFT consultant now!
Obstacles to problem solving
Problem solving can take time and patience, one of the best ways to solve any problem is pausing and evaluating the problem. Obstacles to problem solving are,
- Misdiagnosis – Misdiagnosis is a common problem can occur due to preconceived idea, biases or judgments. Defining and having a concrete understanding of the problem is the first step in the problem solving activity. This can be difficult. If you are not careful, you may spend your time and resources solving the wrong problem and finding the wrong solution.
- Communication bias – Communication barriers are caused when we are unable to explain the problem to the team, or presuming we know more than everyone else. Everyone on the team must be on the same page. You may need to acknowledge you have a limited understanding of the problem.
- Solution bias – A common obstacle in problem solving is thinking there may be a universal solution or thinking the same solution can solve multiple problems. You need to evaluate a problem independently than try to force-fit a solution that worked previously.
- Cognitive bias – One of the barriers to finding an effective solution is cognitive bias, or the tendency to jump to conclusions. To find solutions fast firms often end up with an irrelevant solution. This may cause more problems down the line.
- Lack of empathy – Every problem is associated with human emotions or abilities. It is important to identify and recognize people affected by the problem or it will be difficult to find a solution that will solve help.
Also Read: Developing an NFT – hire an expert NFT developer now!
Famous virtual problem solving software
Traditionally watercoolers chat is a great way to bring people together and help team members interact with one another. A virtual water cooler has a similar concept where people interact in a similar virtual setting or a dedicated virtual room. It allows remote teams to bond. Software that offers virtual water coolers services,
- unremot.com – provides users with a unique water cooler experience. The app provides unique solutions to remote teams.
- Microsoft Teams
- Informal Whatsapp group
- Donut over slack channels
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38 Awesome Team-Building Games and Activities for Kids
Fun activities to help you build community in your classroom.
Looking for great ways to help students learn to work together, listen carefully, communicate clearly, and think creatively? Try some of these team-building games and activities. They’re a super way to give your students the chance to get to know one another, build trust as a community, and, best of all, have fun! Below we’ve gathered 38 team-building games and activities for the classroom. And if you’re looking for online team-building activities , we have those too!
Watch the video below to see three of our favorite in-person team-building games in action, then read on for more ideas.
1. Seeing spots
For this activity, you’ll place a colored sticker dot (blue, red, green, or yellow) on each student’s forehead without them knowing what color it is. When the game begins, each “team” of students (with the same color) must find each other— without speaking. This is a wonderful team-building activity because it encourages non-verbal communication and cooperation.
2. Common thread
Divide students into groups of four and have them sit together in these small groups. Give each group five minutes to chat among themselves and find something they all have in common. It could be that they all play soccer, or pizza is their favorite dinner, or they each have a kitten. Whatever the common thread, the conversation will help them get to know one another better. Check in with the groups after five minutes to see if they need more time. After each group has come up with their common element, have them work together to create a flag that represents it.
3. Four-way tug-of-war
Source: School Specialty
This classic outdoor activity is double the fun of the traditional tug-of-war. Tie two long jump ropes together at their center points, creating an X shape. Tie a bandanna around the center point. Next, use cones to form a circle that fits around the X. Form four equal teams, and have each team stand at one of the four ends of the ropes. At your signal, each team begins pulling. The objective is to be the first team to pull the others in their direction far enough for the bandanna to cross to the outside of the circle of cones. Students who feel nervous about participating can serve as referees who make sure everyone is safe.
4. Classification
For this activity, prepare a tray with 20 unrelated items—for instance, a spool of thread, an eraser, a juice box, etc. Alternatively, create a document with 20 images of items to put up on the screen. Divide your class into even groups. Set a timer and have each group divide the 20 items into four categories that make sense to them. For example, they may put an earring, a glove, a headset, a sock, and a smile into the category “things you wear.” Have groups work quietly so that their ideas are kept secret. When each group is finished, give each one time to present their categories and their rationale behind each category.
5. Railroad tracks
Lay out two long ropes parallel to each other and have students line up in the middle. Call out a set of opposites like sweet or sour, day or night, cat or dog. Students will jump over the left rope if they prefer the first one or over the right rope if they prefer the second one. Give them a minute to look around, then have everyone return to the middle. This activity is a good way to get to know classmates better and to see who they have preferences in common with.
6. Balloon walking
Have your students pair up side-by-side and hold hands. Then place a balloon in between the shoulders of each pair. The object of the activity is for the entire class to walk in a line without any of the balloons popping or falling to the ground. It’s heaps of fun!
7. Hot seat
This fun game is a lot like the game show Password . Split your class into two teams and have them sit together in teams facing the whiteboard or chalkboard. Then take an empty chair—one for each team—and put it at the front of the class, facing the team members. These chairs are the “hot seats.” Choose one volunteer from each team to come up and sit in the “hot seat,” facing their teammates with their back to the board.
Prepare a list of vocabulary words to use for the game. Choose one and write it clearly on the board. Each team will take turns trying to get their teammate in the hot seat to guess the word, using synonyms, antonyms, definitions, etc. Make sure team members work together so that each member has a chance to provide clues.
The student in the hot seat listens to their teammates and tries to guess the word. The first hot seat student to say the word wins a point for their team. Once the word is successfully guessed, a new student from each team sits in the hot seat, and a new round begins with a different word.
Source: Ellen Senisi
Did you know there are team-building games and activities that can help teach students how to line up? It may take 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the age of your students, so plan accordingly. The objective is to have students line up in order of their birthdays—January 1 through December 31. To do this, they will need to know the order in which the months fall as well as their own birthday. They will also need to talk with one another in order to figure out who goes in front of whom. To make it super challenging, tell them they must do it without speaking at all, only using hand signals. Other ways to line up include by height, alphabetically, or by foot size.
9. The perfect square
This activity requires strong verbal communication and cooperation. All you need is a long rope with the ends tied together and something to serve as blindfolds for students, such as bandannas or fabric strips. Have students stand in a circle holding the rope in front of them. Signal them to put their blindfolds on and set the rope on the ground in front of them. Ask students to turn and walk a short distance away from the circle. Assign a partner to any students who may need help. Finally, have everyone come back to the rope and try to form a perfect square with their blindfolds on. Set a time limit to make it more challenging.
10. Rock, paper, scissors tag
Source: Playworks
You’ll need some space for this activity. Divide students into two teams. Before you begin, stake out the boundaries and position a home base at either end for each team. For each round, each team must confer and decide whether they will be rock, paper, or scissors. Have the two teams line up facing each other, and on your signal, have all players flash rock, paper, scissors, shoot! The kids on the losing team must run back to their base before they are tagged by one of the kids on the winning team.
Or try this fun, kid-created version filmed by Coach Leach .
11. Flip-the-sheet challenge
Looking for creative-thinking team-building games and activities? Divide students into two teams. One team will do the challenge first while the other team watches, then they will switch places. Have all members of the team stand on a flat bedsheet, tarp, or blanket (kids should fill up all but about a quarter of the space). Challenge the team to flip over the sheet/tarp so that they are standing on the other side of the sheet/tarp without stepping off or touching the ground.
12. “Get to know you” balloons
Source: Darlington Schools
Give each student an empty balloon and a slip of paper. Ask them to write a get-to-know-you question on their paper, such as How many brothers and sisters do you have? Do you have any pets? What’s one fun thing you did this summer? Next, have them put their question inside the balloon, blow it up, and tie the end.
When everyone is ready, have them gather on the rug and, on your signal, toss their balloon up in the air. Give them a couple of minutes to bat the balloons around, then call stop . Have each student grab one balloon and come sit in a circle. Go around the circle and, one at a time, have students pop their balloon, read the question inside, and answer the question. This is one of those team-building activities students will always remember.
13. Marshmallow-and-toothpick challenge
Source: Jady A.
Divide students into groups of equal numbers. Pass out an equal number of marshmallows and wooden toothpicks to each group. Challenge the groups to create the tallest, largest, or most creative structure in a set amount of time, each member taking turns doing the actual building. Afterward, have each group describe what they made.
14. Sneak peek
Need team-building games and activities that focus on problem-solving? This activity will help students learn to communicate effectively. Before the game begins, build a small sculpture with LEGO bricks or building blocks and keep it covered in an area that is of equal distance from all the groups. Divide your students into teams of four or five, and give each team enough blocks to duplicate the structure.
To begin the game, reveal the structure, and one member from each team is allowed to come up to look at it closely for 10 seconds, trying to memorize it before returning to their team. Once they return to their team, they have 25 seconds to instruct the group on how to build a replica of the structure. After one minute of trying to re-create it, another member from each team can come up for a sneak peek before returning to their team and trying again. The game continues until one of the teams successfully re-creates the original structure.
15. Art reproduction puzzle
Divide students into groups of six or eight (or larger if you want to make the task more difficult). Provide each team with an image and blank pieces of white card stock, one per team member. First, each team must cut up the image into the same number of pieces as there are group members. Then, each player will take one of the pieces of the image and reproduce it onto their blank piece of card stock with pencils, colored pencils, or markers. (If the team cuts the image into irregularly shaped pieces, each team member must then cut their blank paper into the same shape.) When every team has created the pieces of their puzzle, they will switch pieces with another team. The team will work together to solve the puzzle.
16. Hula-Hoop pass
Source: Parma Preschool
This activity helps kids work on listening, coordinating, and strategizing skills. It works best with smaller students. Have your students stand in a big circle. Place a Hula-Hoop on one student’s arm and have them join hands with the student next to them. Ask all the other students to join hands to close up the circle. The objective of the game is to pass the Hula-Hoop all the way around the circle without unclasping hands. Students will have to figure out how to maneuver their bodies all the way through the hoop to pass it on.
17. Eye contact
Are you looking for team-building games and activities to support nonverbal communication skills? Choose ten students to participate in the first round. The others can gather around the edges and watch. Designate a player one. To begin, player one makes eye contact (no words or hand motions) with another player (player two) and gives them a signal that means go. When player two says go, player one starts moving slowly toward them to take their place in the circle. Player two then makes eye contact with another player (player three) and gives them a signal meaning go, and starts moving toward them. The objective of the game is to time each player’s command so that each player makes space for the others in time. After the first round, switch out the teams until everyone has had a chance to play.
18. Fingertip Hula-Hoop
In this game, your students stand in a circle and raise their arms with only their index fingers extended. Place a Hula-Hoop so that it rests on the tips of the children’s fingers. Tell the students they must maintain a fingertip on the Hula-Hoop at all times, but they are not allowed to hook their finger around it or otherwise hold the hoop; the hoop must simply rest on the tips of their fingers. The challenge is for the children to lower the hoop to the ground without dropping it. To make this more challenging, you can place communication constraints on the children—no talking or limited talking, for example. Watch the video for a demonstration.
19. Mingle, mingle group
This activity is good for encouraging kids to mix it up. Students mill about the room saying, in a quiet voice, “Mingle, mingle, mingle.” Then, you call out a group size, for example, groups of three. Students must break into groups of that size. The goal is to form different groups of individuals every time. If a person tries to join a group with whom they have already partnered, they must find a different group. After a few rounds, the process may take a bit of rearranging.
20. Bumpity-ump-bump-bump
This is a fun name game that requires quick thinking! Students stand in a large circle. One student comes to the middle. That student walks around the inside of the circle, stops in front of one person, and gives them a direction. There are four choices: Left = say the name of the person to the left; right = say the name of the person on the right; it = say the name of the person who is it; or self = say one’s own name. After you give the student the direction, the designated person says “bumpity-ump-bump-bump!” out loud. The student who was given the direction races to say the name of the correct person before the student finishes the phrase. If they can’t, they’re the next person on the inside of the circle.
21. Group hop
This activity requires coordination and communication. Divide students into groups of four to six people. Have the students in each group stand in a straight line with their right hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them and their left leg forward so that the person in front of them can hold their ankle. The group then sees how far they can hop along together without toppling over. Once groups get the hang of hopping, you can hold a competition to see who can hop the farthest or longest.
22. No-hands cup-stacking challenge
Source: Nick Cornwell
If you’re looking for hands-on team-building games and activities that work for groups, try this challenge. It’s an exercise in patience and perseverance, not to mention a total blast! Decide how many students you want in each group and tie that number of strings to a single rubber band, making one for each group. Each person in the group holds on to one of the strings attached to the rubber band, and, as a group, they use this device to pick up the cups (by expanding and contracting the rubber band) and place them on top of each other in order to build a pyramid. See detailed instructions here .
23. Tick tock
This activity helps students negotiate and work together toward a common goal. Make a list of tasks on chart paper, assigning a point value for each job. For example: Do 25 jumping jacks (5 points); make up a nickname for each member of the class (5 points); get every person in the class to sign a piece of paper (15 points); form a conga line and conga from one end of the room to the other (5 points, 10 bonus points if anyone joins you); etc. Make sure you list enough tasks to take up more than 10 minutes. Divide your students into groups of five or six and give them 10 minutes to collect as many points as they can by deciding which tasks from the list to perform.
24. Body parts
Looking for team-building games and activities where students mingle around the classroom? In this game, they move around the room calling out a body part and a number, for instance, “four knees!” Students have to form a group of four students closest to them (finding new partners each time) and join together one knee each or a group of two with both knees together. Anyone who isn’t part of a group gets to call the next round.
25. Human alphabet
If you have a large open space for your team-building games and activities, try this idea. Have students spread out and guide them through a few rounds of forming letters with their bodies. For instance, “Use your body to make a T … now make an O!”
Next, call out a simple short word, such as “so” or “dog.” Students will have to team up to form the word, with each student using their body to form one of the letters. Start with two-letter words, then three, then four. If students want a challenge, come up with a phrase that will take the whole class to complete.
26. Applause, please
Form groups of three to five students. One person from each group (the finder) steps out of the classroom. The rest of the group picks an object (for instance, the pencil sharpener) in the classroom for the finder to find. When the finder comes back in, they begin walking around the classroom in search of the object. The others cannot say anything, but they can give hints by using applause to lead the finder in the right direction. If the finder is far away from the object, the group will clap slowly and softly. When the finder gets close, the group will applaud faster and more loudly until the finder picks the correct object.
27. Caterpillar
Divide students into groups of four. Lay out four Hula-Hoops per group and have one student stand in the center of each one to form teams of “caterpillars.” Line all of the teams up at the end of a field or large open space. Set out four or five objects in front of the lines, such as cones, foam blocks, or balls.
The goal of the game is to collect as many objects as possible by moving the caterpillar forward. To move forward, the last player in line steps into the hoop with the player in front of them, picks up their empty hoop, and passes it overhead to the front of the line. The front player then places the hoop on the ground in front of them and steps into it. Every player then shifts forward, moving the caterpillar. Only the front player may pick up objects, but it is the team’s job to carry the collected objects throughout the game. The game ends when there are no more objects on the ground. Find more detailed instructions here .
28. Golf ball trampoline
Divide the class into teams of six or eight. Provide each team with a large bedsheet or tarp that has several slits cut into it, and have students hold on to the edges and spread the sheet out so that it is tight. Place a golf ball in the center of the sheet. Students must work together to maneuver the ball around the sheet without having it fall through one of the slits. When a team’s ball falls through, they are out and must sit until there is only one team left. Mix up teams and start over again.
29. Shrinking lifeboat
For this activity, you will need a few jump ropes. Divide students into groups of six or eight. Have each group make a circle with their jump rope (their “lifeboat”) on the ground so that the ends are touching. Now have all the members of each group get into their lifeboat. This should be easy the first time. Then have all players get out and reduce the size of their circle by one foot. Again, all players need to get into the boat. Repeat this process, making the lifeboat smaller and smaller while you watch your students come up with creative solutions for making sure that everyone fits safely inside their boat.
30. Pretzel, unpretzel
Source: Icebreaker Ideas
Divide your class in half and have each group choose one pretzel maker and two unpretzelers. Direct the unpretzelers to turn their backs. Have the rest of the students in each group form a circle and hold hands. Now, have the pretzel maker direct the students (with words only) to twist around, step over, and duck under one another’s arms to form a human pretzel. Once they are sufficiently twisted, call the unpretzelers over and have them try to direct the students (with words only) in order to untangle them. Students cannot drop their hands at any time. The first team that successfully unpretzels their group wins.
31. Creative solutions
This activity encourages creative problem-solving. Pick four or more different objects, such as a coffee can, a potato peeler, a knit hat, and a book. Split students into even teams. Now present a situation where each team has to solve a problem using only those objects. These scenarios can be anything from students who are stranded on a desert island and must find a way to get off or survive to students must save the world from Godzilla . Give the teams five minutes to figure out an original solution to the scenario, including ranking each object based on its usefulness. When the five minutes are up, have each team present their solution along with their reasoning to the class. (Tip: Don’t make the scenarios so easy that it is obvious which objects will be most useful.)
32. Zip, zap, zop
Here’s an option for team-building games and activities about focus and energy. As students pass the energy across the circle (in the form of a zip, a zap, or a zop), they make eye contact with the person they send the energy to and work together to keep the rhythm going. To pass the energy, have students put their hands together in a teepee in front of their chest. Player one moves their hands away from their chest, makes eye contact with and points at a classmate, and says “zip.” Then that student repeats the process with another student and says “zap.” That player repeats with a “zop,” then it starts all over with “zip.” Make sure students are making eye contact when they pass the energy. To make sure everyone is picked, students can put their hands down at their sides after their turn.
33. Spider web
Source: Fabulous Fabris
This team-building game will teach your students that even though they may be different in many ways, they are still connected to one another. Gather in a circle, standing or sitting. The game begins when the first person, holding a large ball of twine, tells the group a funny or embarrassing story about themselves. Once they finish, they will hold on to the end of the twine and throw the ball to someone else in the circle. That person grabs hold and tells a funny or embarrassing story about themselves and then passes it on to another student. Play continues until the twine has been passed to each person. The end result will produce a “spider web” out of the twine, connecting each student to all of the others.
34. Newspaper fashion show
Source: Mommy Lessons 101
This is a great way to incorporate upcycling into your team-building games and activities. Divide students into groups of five or six, then give them a stack of newspapers, tape, and scissors. Set a timer and ask them to create the most fashionable outfit using only the supplies given. When time is up, have each group designate a model for the outfit, and have the group share information about the outfit. Once everyone shares, put on some rocking music and have a mini fashion show.
35. Back-to-back drawing
Need team-building games and activities that build communication skills? Ask students to pair up and sit back-to-back with their partner. Give one student a blank piece of paper and a pen or a marker. Give the other student a piece of paper with a simple drawing on it. The kid who receives the illustration will verbally describe the drawing to their partner. The other kid must draw the illustration by listening to the verbal instructions alone.
36. Changing tableau
Ask for five or six volunteers to come up to the front of the class. Divide the rest of the students into two teams and have them sit together. Have the students up front arrange themselves into a tableau. Give the two teams a short time to observe the tableau, trying to memorize their physical arrangement. After a couple of minutes, ask every person on both teams to face away from the team up front. The tableau team will decide on one thing to change about the tableau. When they are rearranged, the teams can turn around and try to figure out what changed. The first team to spot the difference gets a point. Continue play until one team receives ten points.
37. Straw challenge
Source: Guide, Inc.
If you’re looking for team-building games and activities that require coordination and cooperation, try this one. Have your students form a large circle and give each one a plastic straw. Holding their straw in their right hand, have them cross their arms in front of them so their right hand is near their left shoulder and their left hand is near their right shoulder. The objective of the challenge is to balance each straw between one person’s right pointer finger with the left pointer finger of the person next to them. Try making some movements such as rotating the circle to the left or right, raising one foot, etc. The challenge is to keep the connection of straws intact.
38. Group Juggle
Have students circle up and have a supply of small plastic balls at the ready. Start by tossing one ball from person to person in the circle. After a minute, add in another ball. Instruct students to mindfully toss the ball, avoiding a collision. After another minute, add in another ball. Continue adding balls in each minute to see how many balls your students can successfully juggle.
Do you have a few favorite go-to team-building activity in the classroom? Come share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook .
For ways to connect with your students virtually, check out 20 fun zoom games for kids ..
Elizabeth Mulvahill is a Contributing Editor with WeAreTeachers. She has taught elementary, literacy and small group intervention. She currently resides outside of Boulder, Colorado and loves learning new things, hearing people's stories and traveling the globe.
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Top 15 Problem-Solving Activities for Your Team to Master
Some people see problems as roadblocks, others see them as opportunities! Problem-solving activities are a great way to get to know how members of your team work, both individually and together. It’s important to teach your team strategies to help them quickly overcome obstacles in the way of achieving project goals.
The importance of problem-solving skills in today’s workplace
According to a 2019 report by McKinsey , soft skills are increasingly important in today's world — and problem-solving is the top area in which skills are lacking. A company or team’s success weighs heavily on the willingness of managers to help employees improve their problem-solving abilities. Team building activities targeting focus areas like communication and collaboration, adaptability, or strengthening decision-making techniques help.
All problem-solving processes start with identifying the problem. Next, the team must assess potential courses of action and choose the best way to tackle the problem. This requires a deep understanding of your team and its core strengths. A problem-solving exercise or game helps identify those strengths and builds problem-solving skills and strategies while having fun with your team.
Problem-solving games aren't for just any team. Participants must have an open mind and accept all ideas and solutions . They must also have an Agile mindset and embrace different structures, planning , and processes. Problems usually arise when we least expect them, so there's no better way to prepare than to encourage agility and flexibility.
Another aspect to keep in mind when engaging in problem-solving games and activities: There are no winners or losers. Sure, some games might end with a single winner, but the true goal of these exercises is to learn how to work together as a team to develop an Agile mindset . The winning team of each game should share their strategies and thought processes at the end of the exercise to help everyone learn.
Here’s a list of fun problem-solving activity examples to try with your team. From blindfolds to raw eggs, these problem-solving, team-building activities will have your team solving problems faster than Scooby and the gang.
Classic team-building, problem-solving activities
1. a shrinking vessel.
Helps with: Adaptability
Why adaptability is important for problem-solving: Adaptability is highly associated with cognitive diversity, which helps teams solve problems faster , according to the Harvard Business Review. Innovation and disruption are happening faster than ever before . People, teams, and organizations that can adapt will come out on top.
What you’ll need:
- A rope or string
Instructions:
1. Using the rope, make a shape on the floor everyone can fit into.
2. Slowly shrink the space over 10-15 minutes.
3. Work together to figure out how to keep everyone within the shrinking boundaries.
2. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower
Helps with: Collaboration
Why collaboration is important for problem-solving: “Collectively, we can be more insightful, more intelligent than we can possibly be individually,” writes Peter Senge in The Fifth Discipline . We can solve problems better as a team than we can alone, which means developing your team’s collaboration skills will lead to better problem-solving outcomes.
What you’ll need (per team):
- 20 sticks of uncooked spaghetti
- 1 roll of masking tape
- 1 yard of string
- 1 marshmallow
1. The goal of this exercise is to see which team can use the materials provided to build the tallest tower within an allotted time period. The tower must be able to stand on its own.
2. To make this exercise more challenging, try adding a marshmallow to the top of the tower. This team problem-solving exercise helps people think on their toes while building camaraderie and leadership.
3. Egg Drop
Helps with: Collaboration, decision-making
Why decision-making is important for problem-solving: Making decisions isn’t easy , but indecision leads to team paralysis, stagnant thinking, and unsolved problems. Decision-making activities help your team practice making quick, effective choices. Train your team’s decision-making muscles and they will become more adept at problem-solving.
- A carton of eggs
- Basic construction materials such as newspapers, straws, tape, plastic wrap, balloons, rubber bands, popsicle sticks, etc., tarp, or drop cloth
- A parking lot, or some other place you don’t mind getting messy!
1. Each team gets an egg and must select from the construction materials.
2. Give everyone 20-30 minutes to construct a carrier for the egg and protect it from breaking.
3. Drop each egg carrier off a ledge (i.e. over a balcony) and see whose carrier protects the egg from breaking.
4. If multiple eggs survive, keep increasing the height until only one egg is left.
4. Stranded
Helps with: Communication, decision-making
Why communication is important for problem-solving: More employees work remotely than ever before. Good communication skills are vital to solving problems across virtual teams . Working on communication skills while your team is together will help them solve problems more effectively when they’re apart.
Here's the setting: Your team has been stranded in the office. The doors are locked, and knocking down the doors or breaking the windows is not an option. Give your team 30 minutes to decide on ten items in the office they need for survival and rank them in order of importance. The goal of the game is to have everyone agree on the ten items and their rankings in 30 minutes.
Creative problem-solving activities
Helps with: Communication
What you'll need:
1. Divide everyone into small teams of two or more.
2. Select an overseer who isn't on a team to build a random structure using Lego building blocks within ten minutes.
3. The other teams must replicate the structure exactly (including size and color) within 15 minutes. However, only one member from each group may look at the original structure. They must figure out how to communicate the size, color, and shape of the original structure to their team.
4. If this is too easy, add a rule that the member who can see the original structure can't touch the new structure.
- A lockable room
- 5-10 puzzles or clues (depending on how much time you want to spend on the game)
1. The goal of this exercise is to solve the clues, find the key, and escape a locked room within the time allotted.
2. Hide the key and a list of clues around the room.
3. Gather the team into the empty room and "lock" the door.
4. Give them 30 minutes to an hour to find the key using the clues hidden around the room.
7. Frostbite
Helps with: Decision-making, adaptability
- A blindfold
- 1 packet of construction materials (such as card stock, toothpicks, rubber bands, and sticky notes) for each team
- An electric fan
Instructions: Your employees are Arctic explorers adventuring across an icy tundra! Separate them into teams of four or five and have them select a leader to guide their exploration. Each team must build a shelter from the materials provided before the storm hits in 30 minutes. However, both the team leader’s hands have frostbite, so they can’t physically help construct the shelter, and the rest of the team has snow blindness and is unable to see. When the 30 minutes is up, turn on the fan and see which shelter can withstand the high winds of the storm.
8. Minefield
- An empty room or hallway
- A collection of common office items
1. Place the items (boxes, chairs, water bottles, bags, etc.) around the room so there's no clear path from one end of the room to the other.
2. Divide your team into pairs and blindfold one person on the team.
3. The other must verbally guide that person from one end of the room to the other, avoiding the "mines."
4. The partner who is not blindfolded can't touch the other.
5. If you want to make the activity more challenging, have all the pairs go simultaneously so teams must find ways to strategically communicate with each other.
9. Blind Formations
1. Have the group put on blindfolds and form a large circle.
2. Tie two ends of a rope together and lay it in a circle in the middle of the group, close enough so each person can reach down and touch it.
3. Instruct the group to communicate to create a shape with the rope — a square, triangle, rectangle, etc.
4. If you have a very large group, divide them into teams and provide a rope for each team. Let them compete to see who forms a particular shape quickest.
Quick and easy problem-solving activities
10. line up blind.
1. Blindfold everyone and whisper a number to each person, beginning with one.
2. Tell them to line up in numerical order without talking.
3. Instead of giving them a number, you could also have them line up numerically by height, age, birthday, etc.
11. Reverse Pyramid
Helps with: Adaptability, collaboration
1. Have everyone stand in a pyramid shape, horizontally.
2. Ask them to flip the base and the apex of the pyramid moving only three people.
3. This quick exercise works best when smaller groups compete to see who can reverse the pyramid the fastest.
12. Move It!
- Chalk, rope, tape, or paper (something to mark a space)
1. Divide your group into two teams and line them up front to back, facing each other.
2. Using the chalk, tape, rope, or paper (depending on the playing surface), mark a square space for each person to stand on. Leave one extra empty space between the two facing rows.
3. The goal is for the two facing lines of players to switch places.
4. Place these restrictions on movement:
- Only one person may move at a time.
- A person may not move around anyone facing the same direction.
- No one may not move backward.
- A person may not move around more than one person on the other team at a time.
13. Human Knot
1. Have everyone stand in a circle, and ask each person to hold hands with two people who aren’t directly next to them.
2. When everyone is tangled together, ask them to untangle the knot and form a perfect circle — without letting go of anyone's hand.
Our last two problem-solving activities work best when dealing with an actual problem:
14. Dumbest Idea First
Helps with: Instant problem-solving
1. "Dumb" ideas are sometimes the best ideas. Ask everyone to think of the absolute dumbest possible solution to the problem at hand.
2. After you have a long list, look through it and see which ones might not be as dumb as you think.
3. Brainstorm your solutions in Wrike. It's free and everyone can start collaborating instantly!
15. What Would X Do
1. Have everyone pretend they're someone famous.
2. Each person must approach the problem as if they were their chosen famous person. What options would they consider? How would they handle it?
3. This allows everyone to consider solutions they might not have thought of originally.
Looking for more team-building and virtual meeting games ? Check out these virtual icebreaker games or our Ultimate Guide to Team Building Activities that Don't Suck.
Additional resources on problem-solving activities
- Problem-Solving Model : Looking for a model to provide a problem-solving structure? This detailed guide gives you the tools to quickly solve any problem.
- The Simplex Process: Popularized by Min Basadur's book, The Power of Innovation , the Simplex Process provides training and techniques for each problem-solving stage. It helps frame problem-solving as a continuous cycle, rather than a “one and done” process.
- Fun Problem-Solving Activities and Games : Looking for more ideas? Check out this list of interesting and creative problem-solving activities for adults and kids!
- The Secret to Better Problem-Solving: This article provides tips, use cases, and fresh examples to help you become a whiz at solving the toughest problems.
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Team-Building & Problem-Solving Activities
Build better teams.
Group problem-solving activities, or team-building initiatives, provide an opportunity for group members to effectively communicate, cooperate and interact with each other to solve a problem that often has more than one ‘answer.’
These activities often stimulate significant growth for a group, especially if their experience is processed upon completion. Group problem-solving exercises typically feature the following characteristics:
- Ample opportunities for group members to interact, play, trust and learn
- High levels of challenge, arousal and excitement
- Opportunities for trust, leadership, communication and group cooperation to evolve
- Often focused more on the process , not just completion of the task.
5 Fun Problem-Solving Activities
playmeo features dozens of wonderful group problem-solving activities which not only develop critical team skills but are contagiously fun to be a part of, including:
- Mute Line Up
- Leaning Tower of Feetza
- Great Egg Drop
- Stepping Stones
- Flip Over Ten
What To Do Now
Experiential trainer and author Mark Collard , and many of playmeo’s partners , offer outstanding professional development and team-building workshops all over Australia, the United States and south-east Asia. Contact us for more information.
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Secondary School Team Building Activity Days
There are many reasons why Secondary schools book us to run our activities at their school. A few of these can be seen below.
- Enrichment Days
- Activity Weeks
- Reward Activities
- Drop Down Days
- Collapsed Timetabled Days
- Summer Schemes
Whatever the reason the Problem Solving Company has many years of experience creating days that fit the needs of thousands of schools throughout the UK.
Types of Secondary School Team Building Activities Day on offer.
Click here for Primary School Team Building Activities Day
The Challenge Carousel
Ks3 / ks4 / ks5, prices from £495.00, nationwide service.
Suitable for: KS3, KS4, Sixth Form (KS5)
Duration: Sessions can run for 120 mins to full days
The Challenge Carousel is a collection of over 30 team building and problem solving activities which encourage the participating students to plan, communicate, work together whilst staying motivated to finish the tasks. It’s a great way for schools to run large Team Building Days and keep the cost down.
Instructors come to the school and setup and oversee a large carousel of approx 32 activities. The students work in groups of approx 7-10, and visit different activity locations with a teacher / TA or sixth former. It will be their job to help score the students.
Each activity station has clear written instructions for the students and any guidance notes for the staff.
We have run this style of day for over 1000 students. Split days with different groups of students in the day does NOT incur an extra charge.
A great advantage of this type of day is to that it keeps the cost down per head
Find out more about The Challenge Carousel
Our Year 7s had a great day of problem solving and team work led by @problemsolveit #TheBAWay #Driven pic.twitter.com/mxnvYhqj1b — Bedford Academy (@Bedford_Academy) October 18, 2019
Instructor Led Secondary School Team Building Day
Nationwide seervice.
Duration: Sessions can run for 60 mins to full days
The Problem Solving Companies Instructor Led Team Building Days are a brilliant way to for students to experienced an array of Team Building Tasks all whilst being accompanied by one of our experienced instructors at all times.
For every class of 30 students taking part we will provide 1 instructor. This ratio of 1:30 allows the facilitation of a quality experience. We have run this style of day for up to 600 students at the same time.
Typically the group of 30 will be split into 4-6 smaller sub groups. As we are able to bring multiple equipment sets of the same activity, the whole class will always be doing the same activity.
A real advantage of this type of day is that the sub groups can constantly change allowing the class or form to work with many different groups of people during the day.
Another advantage of this type of day is that the school does not need to provide as many staff as the Challenge Carousel.
Find out more about this style of Secondary School Team Building Day
Year 7 enjoying a morning full of team building activities @problemsolveit - UK SuperBowl after lunch @ImpactMAT #whereheartsandmindsconnect pic.twitter.com/5bF5Nn50BZ — Castle Hall Academy (@Castle_Hall) July 2, 2019
School Escape Rooms
Duration: 50 – 90 mins – Often incorporated into full days of team building activities
With the huge success of Maths, Science and History Classroom Escapes we now have two escapes dedicated to Secondary School Team Building.
Our Escape sessions require the students to use their problem solving skills to firstly access the Escape Box and then follow a series of clues and puzzles to reach a key. This key will allow them to access a timer to register their time
The Team Building themes currently on offer are The Bank Heist and a Mayan Adventure.
One instructor can currently run back to back sessions with 30 students in each.
This activity can be incorporated into both The Challenge Carousel and our Bespoke Team Building Days.
Find out more about our Escape Room Challenges
Ms Ashton is scarily competitive in the @problemsolveit escape room... pic.twitter.com/iaQfEdaBWL — Wath_Houses (@Wath_Houses) January 30, 2020
Mobile Escape Van
Duration: 50 – 90 mins – Often incorporated into full days of team building activities
If you are wanting the ultimate Escape Room experience at your Secondary School then look no further. Perfect for groups of 5-6 students, this exciting and immersive activity will have students trying to escape by fulfilling a series of group challenges. This technology ready experience will not disappoint
Visit our dedicated Escape Rooms website for further details on this unique Mobile Escape Rooms experience.
Rocking the convict jumpsuit look......even has HMS Supernova branded on the back ?? @ElginAcademyHT @nesta_uk @TataCompanies @TheMorayCouncil @VCrossHoSCD @FionaFionacru @MathsScot pic.twitter.com/ZaFiLRG4Jc — EA Maths Dept. (@ElginAcMaths)
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Problem solving / team building activities for schools ks1, ks2, ks3, ks4, ks5.
Play of the Wild
Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. -Oscar Wilde
Outdoor Problem Solving Activities KS2- Learning Maths
Outdoor Problem Solving Activities KS2 – Learning Maths Outdoors
These are some ideas for outdoor problem solving activities for KS2 to help children with learning maths outdoors. One of the most critical aspects of teaching and learning maths is to be able to solve problems. While teaching maths in school, I found that it can become easy to get overly focused on teaching the rules and procedures for doing maths. These are essential tools that everyone needs, but the actual point is to be able to apply those skills in real life. Therefore, children must be given opportunities to practice problem-solving and make it purposeful.
I hope you find these outdoor problem solving activities for KS2 useful, and perhaps they will also inspire you to try other ideas. If you would like some other ways to take learning maths outdoors, you may also want to see my post, Outdoor Maths Activities KS2 .
Nim is a mathematical strategy game where two players take turns removing objects from a pile. Each player must take at least one object per turn. The goal is to either take or avoid taking the last item from the stack. Children can play nim with a pile of sticks or rocks.
Ordering natural objects by different features
Children can place in order objects such as rocks or pinecones based on the characteristic(s) they decide upon. It might be longest to shortest, least to the greatest circumference or smallest to greatest volume.
Observing the sun & moon
Children can explore and investigate the sun and moon, including changes that take place over time. They can try to figure out some of the following questions, and ask some of their own questions as well.
- What time does the sun set and rise? Does this ever change? How do you know?
- Where on the horizon do you first/last see the sun or the moon? Does this change? How do you know?
- Can you observe the phases of the moon- how does it change? Are there any patterns that you notice?
Measuring circles
Children can measure circles (such as flower pots, tree stumps or other circular objects found outside). They can measure the circumference, radius and diameter and then investigate the relationship between radius/diameter and circumference. What do children notice? Is there a pattern? They may even be able to ‘discover’ pi.
How tall is a tree?
Measure / calculate the height of a tree with the shadow & calculation method, triangle method and/or clinometer method. If children try more than one method, do they get the same results? Which method might be more accurate?
(ex. Estimating by height, clinometer method, looking through legs method, pencil method, meter stick method)
Different ways children can help with planning in a garden
Children can figure out how much space is available in the garden and how many different types of plants can be planted. Can they figure out how many of one kind of plant will fit into one planter box? Can they figure out how many different sized plants fit into the same planter box? Children would need to use their measuring skills to calculate the surface area of the garden. Then they would need to find out how much space each plant requires (e.g. from seed packets) and then determine how many and which of the plants can be used.
If a new planter box is purchased, children can help work out how many bags of compost would be needed to fill it. (They would need to measure, calculate the size, etc.) Will there be any leftover soil from one of the bags? How do you know?
If children grow crops such as pumpkins, they can do things like ordering them from heaviest to lightest. This way they might see which is the ‘prize-winning pumpkin’ in a harvest festival.
They might also consider how much each pumpkin could be sold for. This would involve calculating each pumpkin’s cost, based on a price of £1.00 per kilo, £2.00 per kilo (or whatever reasonable price is determined). They might also try to figure out if larger pumpkins (or other crops like corn) always weigh more than smaller ones? *The children will have to define what is the larger, longer, or wider circumference.
Children could get involved with selling the crops they grow. This will give them plenty of opportunities to use mathematical skills and handle money in real-life contexts. They will also need to plan the pricing of different vegetables based on weight, the number of vegetables, or selling them in combinations. Children could even try to figure out the appropriate amount to charge for each crop based on the cost of the seeds, the growing time, grocery store costs or any other factors.
If they do sell some of what they grow after school or possibly at a market, then the children can apply their maths skills to figure out how much each customer will need to pay when buying any particular fruit or vegetable.
Monitoring Plant Growth
See if children can figure out how quickly different plants grow. Can they determine the rate of growth (e.g. mm per week)? Which seedlings / plants grow fastest? Is it a steady rate of growth, or does it change?
*To take this further, children might also conduct an experiment to compare different groups. They might compare the growth or the growth rate of plants whose seeds have been frozen vs those that have not, or something else.
Making Shapes
How many shapes can you make (including shapes within shapes) using a set number of sticks (ex. 6 large sticks and 6 small sticks)? Is there a way to make more or fewer shapes using the same number of sticks?
Planning and holding a bake sale
(Some parts of this activity take place inside and some outside. This activity can be linked further to learning maths outdoors if children use some ingredients grown from a school garden).
Baking for a bake sale is a great way to give children hands-on practice solving problems in real contexts. For a baking project they will need to follow recipes and accurately use measuring cups and weighing scales. They might also want to make larger quantities and scale up recipes by doubling, tripling, or quadrupling them. The children will need to plan ahead and calculate how much of each ingredient they need to buy to make a set number of cookies, cupcakes, etc. They must also determine how many batches would be needed to make 200 cupcakes if the recipe makes 2 dozen.
Then when they hold an actual sale they will be using their maths skills to calculate how much to charge people. They must also learn how to give people the proper change (just like selling vegetables above). They can setup a stall outside of school and sell them after school one day.
Organizing and running a track & field event
Children can get involved in organizing a sports day or track and field event. They can first decide which events to include and then figure out how much space is needed for each activity (e.g. measuring the appropriate length and width required). The children can then help measure and set up the activities.
Once races are held, that data can be used to make calculations. For example – for a jumping event, children can measure how far people jump, and after several tries, figure out if there is improvement and how much (finding the difference). Children can time how far it takes them to run certain distances, e.g. 500 meters versus ½ a mile. They can figure out how fast they are running. They might then calculate how fast they ran different races (e.g. miles per hour) and then figure out when they ran faster or slower.
Finding ways to approximate measurements
See if children can find different ways to measure the approximate distance between two far points with a meter stick and string. This might be the length of the playground or the distance between two trees, etc. Children might compare different ways of measuring the approximate distance such as measuring the length it takes them to take one step and then counting the number of steps between two points. They might also use the string to go between the two points and measure the string’s length. See if they can find any other ways to find the approximate distances.
I hope that you find these outdoor problem solving activities for KS2 helpful and it helps you take teaching and learning maths outdoors!
Arithmetic , Gardening , Geometry , Maths , Measurement , Number & Place Value , School Age , Sticks
hands-on learning , Learning Outdoors , learning outside , outdoor learning , Sticks
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February 9, 2022 Indoor Activities Move The Balloons Group Size: 30 students plus (Space dependant) Key Stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Coordination, Speed Equipment: Balloons - 1 per participant Move The Balloons is a fun fast paced game that will guarantee to have your students out of breath! The participants will need to be
11 In-Person Team Building Problem Solving Activities for Your Work Group 1. Cardboard Boat Building Challenge 2. Egg Drop 3. Clue Murder Mystery 4. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower 5. Corporate Escape Room 6. Wild Goose Chase 7. Lost at Sea 8. Domino Effect Challenge 9. Reverse Pyramid 10. CI: The Crime Investigators 11. Team Pursuit
Here are 15 problem solving activities for your team to master 15 Problem Solving Activities 1. A Shrinking Vessel Why adaptability is important for problem solving: Adaptability is highly associated with cognitive diversity, which helps teams solve problems faster , according to the Harvard Business Review.
1 Group Problem Solving Activities 1.1 Wool Webs 1.2 To Do Scavenger Hunt 1.3 Impromptu Skits 1.4 Block Duplicating 2 Team Building Problem Solving Activities 2.1 Tower Building 2.2 Personalized Crossword 2.3 Picture Pieces Puzzle Game 3 Problem Solving Activities for Adults 3.1 Move It! 3.2 Playing Card Mix-up 3.3 Blind Formations
Popular Problem Solving Activities 1. Virtual Team Challenge Virtual Team Challenges are popular problem-solving activities that involve a group of people working together to solve an issue. The challenge generally involves members of the team brainstorming, discussing, and creating solutions for a given problem.
Here are a few awesome team-based activities and games that your kids will both enjoy and learn a lot from: 1) Group Jump Rope Image from Flickr, used with Creative Commons License One might think that a jump rope is a solo sport or active activity for kids. In reality, however, it can be used as an awesome team kids' building activity.
Here is a list of the top 50 problem solving activities, games & puzzles best suited for remote teams. Read on! Contents hide 1. What are problem solving activities? 2. Key skills evaluated in problem solving activities 3. Problem solving scenarios 4. What is a problem solving process? 5. Obstacles to problem solving 6.
Here is our list of the best problem solving games, activities and exercises for adults. Problem solving games are activities that require players to use critical thinking skills to solve puzzles. Example activities include escape rooms, Sudoku, and murder mysteries. The purpose of these exercises is to sharpen reasoning and decision-making ...
The student in the hot seat listens to their teammates and tries to guess the word. The first hot seat student to say the word wins a point for their team. Once the word is successfully guessed, a new student from each team sits in the hot seat, and a new round begins with a different word. 8. Line up Source: Ellen Senisi
Team Building & Problem Solving | Teaching Resources Team Building & Problem Solving Subject: Physical education Age range: 11-14 Resource type: Worksheet/Activity 24 reviews File previews docx, 163.17 KB docx, 162.61 KB doc, 423.5 KB docx, 162.45 KB docx, 182.54 KB doc, 1.58 MB doc, 225 KB doc, 1.58 MB docx, 200.05 KB
A pack of team-building games split into communication, problem-solving and physical challenge games - a bit like the Crystal Maze! You can print off the main slides and laminate them for pupils to follow. The notes pages give a guide as to how all the challenges can be led. Creative Commons "Sharealike"
20 Fun Problem Solving Activities to Improve Creativity 1. Dumbest Idea First 2. 40-20-10-5 3. Brainstorm Ideas 4. Gamification 5. Shrinking Vessel 6. Egg Drop Idea 7. Legoman 8. Stranded 9. Reverse the Pyramid 10. Word on the Street 11. Human Knot 12. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower 13. Minefield 14. Bonding Belt 15. Frostbite 16. Idea Mock-Up 17.
Primary School Activity Days - School Team Building - KS2 The Problem Solving Company have been running carousels of Team Building Activities in schools since our first school visits in 2007. We have taken these basic carousels and developed our Challenge Carousel enabling a cheaper way for your students to take part for longer.
Place the items (boxes, chairs, water bottles, bags, etc.) around the room so there's no clear path from one end of the room to the other. 2. Divide your team into pairs and blindfold one person on the team. 3. The other must verbally guide that person from one end of the room to the other, avoiding the "mines." 4.
The Teddy Chase March 3, 2021 Size: 10 - 30 Key stages: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5 Team Building Skills: Co-operation, Team Spirit, public speaking if commentating Equipment: Two teddy bears, blindfolds if you are running a variation. Download Activity PDF This is a great team challenge for all ages. With the participants sat in a Read More »
The Problem Solving Company offer a variety of different programs for both Primary and Secondary Schools ranging from short workshops to full activity days Suited to both small and large groups of students, our activity programmes are created to differentiate between age ranges, allowing the students to get the most from their experience.
Build Better Teams . Group problem-solving activities, or team-building initiatives, provide an opportunity for group members to effectively communicate, cooperate and interact with each other to solve a problem that often has more than one 'answer.'. These activities often stimulate significant growth for a group, especially if their experience is processed upon completion.
This very popular activity sees students code breaking, solving riddles and puzzles. With a myriad of compartments and padlocks our Escape Boxes engage even the most reluctant of students As well as Maths and Team Building we also cover topics such as Science and History.
Suitable for: KS3, KS4, Sixth Form (KS5) Duration: 50 - 90 mins - Often incorporated into full days of team building activities If you are wanting the ultimate Escape Room experience at your Secondary School then look no further. Perfect for groups of 5-6 students, this exciting and immersive activity will have students trying to escape by fulfilling a series of group challenges.
Planning and holding a bake sale. (Some parts of this activity take place inside and some outside. This activity can be linked further to learning maths outdoors if children use some ingredients grown from a school garden). Baking for a bake sale is a great way to give children hands-on practice solving problems in real contexts.