Are you concerned about how your class is behaving when it comes to working in a group? If you're tired of dealing with endless conflict and witnessing instances of pecking order in your classroom, perhaps a youth team building seminar is in order. Here are a few ways this seminar can benefit both you and your students.
How does youth team building work? Great for children and teens of all ages, it's a seminar in which the team learns to think and behave in a group. The games, discussions, and activities involved disguise learning as play as students learn the value of teamwork.
What sort of activities go on at youth team building seminars? Most begin with something known as an ice breaker session. This allows students to introduce themselves, find common ground through discussions, and play a few easy, warm-up team building games such as call and response games or the human knot. The person running the seminar will also take this time to explain the basic mission statement of her lesson plan.
Once the group is nicely acquainted with how the rest of the seminar will go, there are many fun activities that can occur. Physical youth team building games are very common. These include group tag, relay races, crack the whip, group blind man's bluff, scavenger hunts, catching games, and more. These games do more than just energize and excite students—it also teaches them basic concepts of teamwork, leadership, role assigning, communication, thinking on their feet, and more.
Verbal and mental youth team building games are also very common. These include games such as telephone, memory games, optical illusions, name games, what-if scenarios, singing games, and more. These games are more suited to introducing concepts of empathy, discussion, critical thinking, public speaking, and others. They also serve as a good way to get students settled down and end the session on a positive note.
Keep in mind that inevitable accidents and conflicts do occur. If this happens, simply stay calm and halt all activities. Avoid singling out any single person and refuse to listen to any excuses blaming any individual. Instead, lead a discussion on what went wrong and how, as a group, they can improve on things. This teaches them to make the most out of a bad situation rather than simply pointing fingers.
With this in mind, it's easy to see why youth team building games are actually quite useful for helping them to learn to work as a team both at school and in other social situations. Furthermore, as your students learn more about these concepts, they will be able to carry these lessons with them to college and even in the workforce. Learn more today!
When it comes to the workplace, there are thousands of people across the country who simply don't know the fun of working as a team. Either they've learned to be distrustful or they simply lack the communication and empathy skills needed to experience true teamwork. Whether your group of employees are in need of some retraining or you simply want them to get to know each other a little better, workplace team building activities are a fun and productive way to encourage teamwork.
What are workplace team building exercises? Essentially, they are physical and mental games that encourage everyone to work together. Usually a team leader begins with a series of ice breakers that help the audience learn one another's names and faces. Once the group has learned a bit about each other, it's time to progress to games that establish trust, communication, group thinking, problem solving, and even creativity.
What are some examples of classic workplace team building games? These can be everything from name memory games to simply telling stories to one another about topics such as favorite childhood memories or your most embarrassing moment ever. Physical activities can get the crowd feeling enthusiastic and eager to play. Games such as tug of war, team races, relay races, human knots, and others encourage friendly competitiveness while also helping the group as a hole to think outside the box and solve problems as a collective whole.
The point of workplace team building isn't just to teach your group how to work together. It's also to teach them to avoid singular activities or exercises that encourage singling any one person out. Instead, they introduce the pleasure of enjoying a success as a group, where no one person is held above or below any other.
A word of caution: while some activities, such as the group catching a person as they fall back, may sound like a great way to help establish trust, such activities aren't for everyone. At the very least, they should be established once the group is very familiar with each other. You should also supervise such activities very closely to ensure the group is capable of such a thing. Not only does this prevent a truly embarrassing situation, but it also prevents people from getting hurt as well.
Once your employees have experienced workplace team building, they will feel much more confident about working with each other. Not only will this boost productivity and creativity in your company, but it will make achieving tasks together feel all the more productive and fun. Learn more today about how workplace team building can enhance your team.