3 of the best team building activities for your staff

A team that plays together stays together — that’s what we believe. That’s why last week the Bonkers Beat team headed off on our latest Staff Retreat. We’ve done a lot of different things together, from delicious meals and hot springs to wineries and laughter sessions. One thing we always include are some team building games to strengthen bonds and add to the fun!

For the latest Bonkers Beat Staff Retreat, we went sailing! You can see all the fun we had in this Facebook album. Of course, sailing was a relaxing and enjoyable experience, but we had to add some team build activities in too.

While some of them are just for fun, others help us to get to know each other a little better. Some games are even designed to help teams learn to work together effectively and solve problems.

To help you plan your next staff event or even just to add something fun to your next staff meeting, we’ve gathered three fun team building activities that we know your team will love.

1. Observation

Similar to spot the difference, this exercise has everyone stand in two lines facing each other. One team begins and should be instructed to observe the other team for around 1 minute or any preferred time allocation. Then they must turn around and face the other way. The other line (who was being observed) is given 30 seconds or one minute to change a designated number of things about themselves. This could be rolling up sleeves, removing a bracelet, swapping shoes — anything!

Once the time is up the other line turns around so the lines are facing one another again. They must then pick the designated number of changes that have taken place. Once they pick them all, the teams swap.

This game is fun, stress-free and encourages teams to work together.

2. A case of need

This game requires a large number of one item. It could be a big bowl of paper clips, coins, rocks – anything. The team is instructed: ‘Take as many as you think you will need”. They don’t know anything else about the game. Once they have each taken their chosen amount of the item, the team is instructed that they must now share one fact about themselves per item they took. For example, if five items were taken, five facts must be shared!

This is a quirky way of encouraging team members to share things about themselves and helps everyone get to know each other better.

3. Game of possibilities

An effective team building game, Game of Possibilities can also be hilarious. You’ll need a few random objects for this one and should break into small groups or participate as individuals. Give the first participant one of the random objects. They then have to stand in front of the group and silently demonstrate a use of the object. Get creative and aim to be original. The rest of the team needs to guess what the player is demonstrating.

At any childcare service, your team is your greatest asset. Creating opportunities for your team to bond, grow and thrive together is vital to their success and can improve the culture within your centre.

To see our amazing photos from our Staff Retreat this year, click here.

Do you have any favourite team building games? Share with us on Facebook. 

Smiles and Segways – Bonding at Bonkers Beat Aspendale

educators team bonding

A yearly staff retreat is a tradition at Bonkers Beat Music Kinder in Aspendale, Victoria, and 2016 was no exception.

The benefits of educators taking time for team bonding outside of the workplace are invaluable, and once again we’ve found our staff retreat to be a worthwhile event.

Taking time to relax and reflect

Educators work hard and dedicate so much to make sure that today’s children are ready for everything life has to offer. Giving them a special day to smile and have fun with one another allows them to relax, reflect and, in the case of this year’s staff retreat, ride on Segways!

In the past, we have incorporated yoga, massage and even laughter sessions into our staff retreat days. This year we took to the Yarra Valley to experience all the beauty the Rochford Wines vineyards had to offer.

Team bonding… on Segways!

Riding on board our Segways (if you’re not sure what a Segway is, take a look here!), the team of educators from Bonkers Beat Music Kinder Aspendale admired the Rochford Wines grounds and practiced this adventurous new skill!

Together we faced the rather daunting task of learning to ride these unusual two-wheeled upright vehicles. What a wonderful bonding experience it was as we all encouraged one another and took on the challenge together. Of course, there was plenty of laughter too!

Some well-deserved wine tasting was a delightful addition to the day, not to mention the beautiful food.

Unwinding for our mental health

The mental health of educators is vital for centres to provide the highest quality care to children. By taking on a new challenge together we strengthened relationships within our team and underpinned the foundations for a supportive environment for all educators.

Laughing, some exercise and enjoying beautiful food together – what better outlet for staff to relax and unwind.

Of course, we also used our staff retreat day to discuss and share ideas about how we can make our centre the very best it can be. An open line of communication is a key factor when it comes to cultivating a culture of motivation, inspiration and happiness in the workplace.

Take a look at the album on Facebook to see how much fun we had!

The hardest part is coming up with something just as great for next year!

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