10 Team-Building Games For A Friendlier Classroom
by TeachThought Staff
10 Team-Building Games for a Friendlier Classroom is a fantastic resource for developing relationships and a positive tone in the classroom.
Included are 10 team-building games to get you started towards a friendlier, more positive classroom. This resource was developed by our own TeachThought Professional Development provider Jackie Gerstein, whose fantastic blog User Generated Education has fantastic resources on Maker Education, Growth Mindset, and more.
Her 26 years of experience in the classroom teaching at the K-12 and higher education level have allowed these team-building games to be in a wide range of classrooms, and have met the approval of teachers nationally. The games appear below–the first three as graphics, and the final seven as text below.
10 Team-Building Games For A Friendlier Classroom
4. Balloon Juggle-and-Sort
Challenge participants to keep inflated balloons (1+ per person) in the air. This gets the group moving and cooperating.
Once they’ve got the hang of it, make it harder by adding in more balloons or placing restrictions (e.g. no hands to keep balloons up.)
Then ask participants to keep juggling the balloons but sort them into colors (works best with large groups.)
5. Catch Me If You Can
The group is divided into two and then asked to face one another in two lines.
The groups are given approximately one minute to look at the opposing team, taking in all details about the individuals in the other group.
The two lines turn and face away from the center. Each group has a minute to change things (total # of changes determined by the facilitator) about their appearance (i.e., change a watch to a different wrist, unbutton a button, etc.) The changes must be discrete but visible.
The players again turn in to face each other to discover the physical changes that have been made. The team who discovers the most wins.
6. Are you more like…?
Ask members to stand in the middle of the room, then have them move to either side to indicate their choice (they must pick one).
More of a book or a song?
More Spotify or Apple Music?
More of a saver or a spender?
More like a cheetah or a bear?
More like the present or future?
More emotional or more logical?
More like a planet or star?
7. Flip the Sheet
While standing on top of a completely open bed sheet, the group must create a plan to get everyone on the opposite side of the sheet without anyone stepping off.
The size of the sheet should be defined by the number of individuals in the group. Larger groups may need to use a tarp instead.
8. All Aboard
Ask the whole group to try to fit inside a small area which can be marked by small platforms, a circle of rope, tarpaulin, blanket–use your imagination!
No body parts can touch the ground outside of the area.
When the group succeeds, decrease the area (e.g., changing platforms, shrinking the circle, or folding the tarp) & challenge the group again.
How far can the group go?
9. How are we the same?
Group members are paired and asked to come up with four commonalities.
Two pairs are then formed and they need to communicate with one another to discover four commonalities among them.
These are then shared with the rest of the group.
10. Line up!
Tell the team you will be calling out a category, and they have to ‘line up’ in order, based on the category.
Each person places him-herself on the line and moves to fit into the proper placement.
Each team member can only place and move themselves.
Example Categories:
● Birth Date (month and day)
● Alphabetical order in order of your middle name
● Alphabetical order in order of your birthplace
● Alphabetical order in order of your mother or father’s first name
More Information
This is the first set of team-building games in an ongoing series, each set designed for a specific purpose, audience, or effect.
Other Included Materials
• Game names and instructions for teacher
• General recommendations for choosing game
• 1 Editable presentation
• 1 PDF File
10 Team-Building Games For A Friendlier Classroom