Are you wishing your child would be more focused? Does he have a problem adapting to social situations? Or does he simply have too much energy for you to handle? If any of these questions pique your interest then you have come to the right place. A well-known fact is that there is nothing more beneficial to children than team building games. They are a great tool for helping kids learn how to behave and thrive in groups of people. By using some simple indoor team building games, your kids will definitely improve when it comes to communication, creative thinking, and overall team bonding.
Stop and think about this: How many times have you noticed that your child’s day-to-day school activities meant to educate them don’t have any results? There is an easy answer for that: an element of relatability may be missing. Kids of all ages will come to a point in their lives where they will develop a real interest in the world around them. With that feeling, they will begin to want to explore more aspects of life, but in order to do that, they need a basic set of skills that will take them further in their quest. And in order to give them that, you need to stop looking at the world from the perspective of an adult and learn to see it from your kid’s eyes. With that in mind, you may find that all sorts of team building games will offer a greater deal in teaching children many skills that school or even well-equipped parents won’t be able to.
Below I will list a few options that you may take under consideration when organizing an event with your kids as well as some step-by-step instructions. You can always adapt these games to your situation as they are versatile and can be fully optimized for a day of fun indoors.
Hot Seat Game
This is a perfect game to play in a classroom. It is similar to “Charades” in the sense that it involves words and the main focus of the game is guessing. All you have to do is split the players into two groups. For convenience sake, you can simply divide the classroom into two sides. The important part here is the teams must face the chalkboard/whiteboard. Place two chairs, one for each team, in front of the classroom, making sure that the players in the “hot seats” won’t be able to see what is written on the board. One player from each team will be chosen to sit in the “hot seat”. The person in charge of organizing the game will prepare a list of words and will proceed in writing them on the board behind the selected players. Afterward, the teams will take turns in describing the word without pronouncing it. Each member must contribute to the team’s effort with explanations, synonyms, or whatever ideas they have in mind. The participant in the “hot seat” must carefully listen to the definitions provided by their teammates and make an effort in guessing the word. The first student that correctly says the word will win and the team will get one point. The game will continue until a certain number of points will be reached. The “Hot Seat Game” is an excellent way for kids to explore their creative thinking, while at the same time having a lot of fun.
Zoom Story
“Zoom Story” is a great game for team building among kids and it is perfect for the indoors. It is also easy to put together and it enhances imagination and creative thinking. Simply put, “Zoom Story” is a game about developing stories. As a game facilitator, you only need to provide a few materials such as images that depict a story ( they can be taken out of a magazine or comic books ). Each player will receive an image and analyze it to the best of their ability. The participants shouldn’t discuss the images with one another. Once everybody has successfully looked over their image, all players will gather and try to piece the story back together. This is the perfect activity because it enables children to use not only their imagination but also their logical skills in order to complete the story.
Human Shapes
This game is great for kids as it encourages them to work with one another on a physical as well as an intellectual level. This is a group game that is best suited for a small number of individuals as everybody will be part of the same team. You can start with a warm-up and make the players form some basic letters. They can do it individually or help one another if need be. Afterward, the game facilitator will give a word. Players will quickly need to form the letters using their bodies and nothing else under the given time. They are allowed to lay on the floor if needed. In that sense, the chosen place should be a clean and safe one. This a great activity as it fosters creative thinking within a group that must use a given space as well as cooperate smartly. Perfect for a cozy and fun day indoors.
Dance Freeze
This game is perfect for an entertaining day at home or a quick break between classes. Simply turn on your radio or bring your Spotify playlist and get dancing. But wait, it is not as easy as it sounds. Some ground rules need to be established. First of all, you need to designate a space for this activity, keeping in mind to remove any sort of obstacle that may get in your way. Then gather everyone and turn on the music. Everybody will dance to the tune. When the music stops all players must freeze instantly and hold their position until the song is being played once again. If a player fails at maintaining their position, they will get a penalty that must be undertaken before the next round. The reason why this is a wonderful activity to enjoy with your family or peers is that it enables participants to let loose and become more comfortable with one another. Not only that but is a definite mood booster.
Classification Game
The “Classification Game” is a great way to enhance critical thinking abilities in small children. It is easy to put together and it goes a long way in teaching your child how to think logically while being fun at the same time. As a game facilitator, you only need a few boxes with tags on them ( e.g. the kitchen box / the bathroom box, etc ) in which your kid will sort the items. Then, you need to pick up some simple household items like pens, spoons, or toothbrushes. Place them in a bag and then proceed to give clues to the participants about one of your choosing. If you pick a perfume, for example, you might say “It is a liquid in a bottle. It smells really good. Mama uses it to apply it on her skin”. The players will then have to guess the item and sort it in the appropriate box. Whoever does that first, will get a point. Keep in mind that kids may have problems in guessing at first so make sure to have patience and give them time to solve the problem on their own. You can start with basic objects at first and then move to more unique ones. This is a wonderful game for children as they learn how to sort and categorize things which in time leads to developing their problem-solving skills.
Duck, Duck, Goose!
No indoor team building game list for kids is complete without the classic “Duck, Duck, Goose” activity. Gather all the players and have them sit in a circle. One player will start walking around the circle tapping everyone’s head and naming them “duck”. If that player, however, decides to name somebody “goose” then the “goose” will have to get up and chase the player outside the circle before he makes a complete round and takes the “goose’s” place. If he manages to do that, then the “goose” will now take turns walking around the circle and naming the players. Keep the game going until everybody has the chance to become a “goose”. Even though this game can get crazy and chaotic rather quickly, it is a certain stepping stone for any toddler out there that in time will lead to team building development. And parents, take this under consideration: this game will definitely empty your kid of any leftover energy that might disrupt your work hours later.
Traffic Lights
This a fantastic indoor team building game for kids, that works especially well in large spaces like a sports hall. It is a great way to get everybody moving and it’s perfect for a winter or rainy day when the great outdoors is not available to you. The classic version of the game, which works best if you don’t have any materials ready at hand, involves someone ( usually an adult or the game facilitator himself ) standing in the middle of the room and yelling the colors of the traffic light. The players, which will stand on the opposite side of the room, need to act according to the colors. “Green” means run, “yellow” means walk slowly and “red” means stop. The goal is for the players to reach the traffic light on the other side of the room. If there are enough players, you can easily modify the game and make it competitive by creating two teams and having a kid from each team become a traffic light. The team that gets all players to their side wins. The key team building aspect here is that children won’t be racing against one another, but rather collectively. In order to win, they need to come together and help one another to reach the other side. This is a great group game that facilitates team bonding and increases chemistry between the members.
Sharks
For a variation on the typical group games such as “Tag”, here comes another activity that allows kids to learn skills such as teamwork. It is perfect for a large indoor space if the weather is not on your side that day. All you need is a few plastic circles or some type of writing material that you can use to mark the floor. The circles will represent the “safe zones”. Make sure they are placed far away from one another. All players will gather and walk around in the designated area. When the game facilitator yells “Sharks!” they have to quickly find a safe zone so as not to be eaten by the coming shark ( which can be played by the game facilitator himself ). The players that will be captured are out of the game. Keep in mind that as the activity continues you must reduce the number of safe zones. This way, the game will increase in difficulty and the kids will learn how to rely on one another to avoid the shark.
Adventure Photo Game
This simple game is great if you want to teach children how to successfully cooperate in a group while being quick and creative at the same time. The items you will need are some pieces of paper ( on which you will write the objects that will be photographed ) and a camera ( preferably a low-maintenance one, that won’t do a lot of damage to your wallet if it comes back broken ). Split the players into two teams and give them the items. They will have a window of time to take a photo of all the objects written on the pieces of paper. The team that finishes first is the winner. This game is the perfect learning opportunity for children. You can send them off on an adventure to bond with the other members and pick up some skills along the way.
Birthday Line Up
Another standard and popular game among children is the “Birthday Line Up”. It’s an easy activity to set up and it teaches children how to communicate with each other and organize themselves accordingly. The main objective of the game is that kids will have to line up according to their birthdays in a short time frame provided by the game facilitator. To do this, they must talk to each other and find out what their birthdays are. Then they must line up in order, being careful of the way the months fall as well as their own place in line. If you want to increase the difficulty level and also decrease the chaos level, you can make them do this without talking, using only hand gestures.
And here we have it, folks! 10 amazing indoor team building game ideas for kids of all ages. Possibly one of the best tools out there for educating young children, helping them work together and think creatively.
You may be wondering: Why indoor games though? An obvious answer would be “outdoors spaces aren’t always available when you need them”. Or an even more obvious and slightly timely answer would be “unforeseen events ( a pandemic for instance ) might actually make you reevaluate what you can or cannot do inside a building”. In times like these, you must always be prepared, especially when it comes to children. You definitely wouldn’t want to throw away learning opportunities. With that in mind, we have got you covered!
