Team Builder Activities for a New Team

Balloon Help

• At the beginning of this team-building activity, each member of the team is given one, two or three small balloons to hide behind their backs. One person starts the activity by trying to keep three balloons up in the air. When that first person starts struggling, he calls out the name of another member of the group to help. That person joins in trying to keep the balloons up in the air, adding her balloons to the ones that are already there. When it becomes too hard for the two of them to keep their combined balloons up in the air, the second person calls out a third person's name, and that person joins the fray. Play continues until all of the team members have joined, or until a balloon hits the floor. This activity helps break down the barriers that new team members may have set in place, and it also shows them how they can work together to be successful while having fun at the same time.

Cross the Barbed Wire

• In this team-building activity, team members stand in the center of a "barbed-wire fence," or a rope tied around three trees about seven feet above the ground. The facilitator tells team members that they are stuck inside of an electric barbed-wire fence and need to get everyone in the group out. The rope symbolizes the top of the fence, and the area directly beneath the rope contains an "invisible" section of the fence. The group needs to work together to figure out how to get everyone out of the fence without touching it. They may need to make a human pyramid for the first member to get out, and that member can then bring other materials from outside that can be tossed over the fence to help. This activity gives new teammates a chance to problem-solve together, build on each other's strengths and work together to reach a mutual goal.

Two Truths and a Dream

• This variation of the common team-building activity "two truths and a lie" will help team members learn about each other. The team sits in a circle, and members take turns making three statements about themselves. Two of the statements describe true facts about themselves, and the third describes a dream that they have had, such as "I have visited all of the 50 states." Other group members must then guess which of the three statements is the dream, and which two are the truths. This activity helps new members of the team to learn about each other, feel more comfortable with each other and share their own personal dreams with each other in a non-threatening forum.