5 Healthy Team Building Activities To Get Your Employees Moving

Photo credit Escape Room Experience (Photo Credit: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Spotify)

  Getting up from your desk and moving around from time to time is an important component of a healthy lifestyle. However, many employees stay seated at their desks for hours at a time, which has recently been shown to have a detrimental effect on your health. If your company routinely engages employees in team building activities, try making them active to encourage employees to move on a regular basis. Here are some fun team building activities that will allow employees to get to know one another while staying active.

  Escape room

Recently, many employers have been putting groups of employees in a room together and locking them in. These escape rooms are taking place at popular facilities. Escape rooms are a great activity, because they not only encourage team members to move throughout the room to find clues, but these rooms also make each member of the team work together to solve the problem of how to get out. Some escape rooms feature situations designed to amp up the pressure, including zombie-themed rooms, monsters and even a simulated plane crash, which may not be appropriate for an employee with a fear of flying.

  Ropes courses

If your team can afford a few hours to spare, take them to a ropes course, which has become increasingly popular in larger parks and with private providers. Courses are available for people of many skill levels, and many of them have professional guides to help employees who may be less comfortable with the course. This activity also builds trust and support among colleagues, and it can help enhance creativity and problem-solving skills.  

  Volunteer

Not only does volunteering help foster a sense of pride in giving back to the community, but it can also be a great way to build up the team. Many volunteer activities enable employees to move around, including building and restoring trails, volunteering for Habitat for Humanity or a similar organization, signing up for a fun run or a host of other activities. Your employees can work together to establish and meet fundraising goals, developing communication skills and bonding.  

  Blindfold maze

If building trust is your goal, having your employees navigate a blindfold maze is one way to accomplish it while also encouraging employees to move. In this activity, one person is blindfolded, and their teammate talks them through a maze, helping them to get out. Much like the escape room, blindfold mazes require employees to communicate and work together to solve the problem at hand, and walking through the maze is a fun way to stay active.

  Scavenger hunt

Make team building fun by having employees compete in small teams to win prizes. A scavenger hunt builds teams by allowing them to collaborate to solve clues. You can encourage team building by making clues relevant to different team members so that the team has to get to know one another to move on to the next clue. The scavenger hunt can also consist of activities, including taking the stairs to find the next clue. Make it fun for everyone by offering different tiers of prizes.   Not only does team building foster a sense of community among employees, but it can also help contribute to an active lifestyle by allowing them to move around. Encourage them to stay active regularly throughout the day as well.  

 

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