10 Fun Team Building Activities And Trust Games For The Classroom
Looking for amazing ways to teach students how to collaborate, listen intently, speak properly, and think creatively? Try some of these fantastic team-building activities for children. They’re an excellent method for your children to get to know one another, create community trust, and, most importantly, have fun together! There is no doubt that happy children learn better. It, therefore, stands to reason that a classroom needs to be a place where, above everything else, the child’s well-being needs to take precedence. It is essential that the children bond with each other in the classroom. Team building and trust-enhancing exercises are therefore crucial in every play school. If you are looking for some ideas, read on.
Team-building Activities For Your Classroom
1. Staying Connected
Now, this team-building exercise helps children literally stay connected. All you need to do is put together two chairs and pretend it’s an electric fence. The children need to hold hands and jump over it. The brief to them is that even if anyone touches it, the electric shock will travel to each one of them. It will be heartening to see the group concerned about everyone’s wellbeing.
2. Build Together
This is a fun game where you break the classroom into groups and give each group a building task. For instance, one group can be given Lego pieces and instructed to build a vast Lego tower. Another group could be offered matchboxes and asked to make a castle. The game allows students to bond with each other, think creatively, and carry out their tasks. Fun team activities, such as this one, enhance, among other things, the critical thinking skills of children.
3. Story Circle
Get the children to sit in a circle. Now, let one student start telling a story. The following student has to add to the story until every child has a chance. It will be worth spending some time to discuss at the end how the process of creative collaboration worked!
4. Newspaper Dancing
Divide the class into a few groups and give them a newspaper each. Every group member has to dance on the newspaper as the music plays. Each time the music stops, the newspaper must be folded in half, and no group member must be dancing outside the newspaper. It will be fun to see the many creative ways students work together to ensure their group remains on the newspaper.
5. Arrange Yourself
This is a fun classroom game for students. Let the class stand in a queue. Now is the time for you to give a command. For instance you may tell them that they need to arrange themselves alphabetically or according to their height. Each time you come up with a command, you will be surprised to see the innovative ways children work together to complete the task.
6. Classroom Party
On any occasion, let the children plan a classroom party. Encourage them to think of the tasks and divide them amongst themselves. Depending on the age of the children, the teacher will need to provide support and scaffolding. The sense of achievement you will see in the eyes of the children will be indescribable.
7. Blindfold
Arrange your class into two groups. While one group is blindfolded, the other becomes their guiding light. It will be a delight to see the guiding lights guide the blindfolded students so that they can avoid any obstacles.
8. Gazing Challenge
Now, this activity will bring about a lot of giggles and connections. You do not need any props for this. All you need to do is to divide the class into pairs. Each pair has to gaze into each other’s eyes for a minute. At the end of the activity, ask the class to share their experiences. You will be surprised at what they have to tell you.
9. Tree
You need to get the children to stand in a circle while one child stands in the middle of the circle. This child is a tree. The challenge is that when the tree falls, the other children must ensure that it does not really fall and is protected. You will be amazed to see the feeling of teamwork and oneness on this one.
10. Artistry
Not this is an artistry game with a twist. You need to organize the class in pairs. One person in each pair is blindfolded while the other is given a picture. Without saying what is in the picture, the person needs to give instructions to the one blindfolded, such that they draw the picture. It will be great fun to see how close the picture that the child draws is to the original picture
To Sum Up
There you go. With these fun team-building activities, you would have added oodles of laughter to the class. That the children feel happy and bonded will be a great precursor to all the activities you undertake. Not only is it helpful to have these activities as icebreakers when the school reopens after a holiday, but also during the year. These group activities and classroom games will fill the class with new energy and excitement, and children will be that much more enthused to carry out their lessons and learning activities.
At Footprints, a chain of preschools that has emerged as the preferred parenting partner, we follow a scientifically developed HighScope Curriculum. Among other things, the teachers scaffold children in their play to ensure that all areas of early childhood development are addressed. The HighScope Curriculum is designed to provide a rich academic foundation while promoting life skills of independence, decision making, cooperation, creativity, team building, and problem-solving in young children.
Here’s to the holistic growth of our children!
Amita is an experienced educator with over 30 years of experience. She has an outstanding understanding of child development, having worked with various age groups for prestigious businesses. She has been dedicated to handling Footprints’s Curriculum and Delivery department for the past decade. Amita’s credentials include being one of India’s few HighScope Curriculum certified trainers and volunteering as a course leader for Landmark Education, the world’s largest training firm.