Outdoor team building activities can be an awesome way to bring your team members closer together, create long-lasting bonds, and provide a little relief from their workloads.
By uniting team members with a common goal, and then pitting them against other teams in friendly competition, they’re encouraged to work together, be creative, and figure out how to be victorious. This can create long-lasting connections between team members, making them happier and more productive at work.
Here’s a selection of the best outdoor team building activities you can organise for your firm.
Treasure hunt
A timeless classic, the Treasure Hunt pits teams against each other in a quest for booty. There’s clues, mysteries, points of interest, and plenty of walking, leading to a final glorious treasure to be claimed by the winning team.
This activity encourages people to work together to solve clues and strategise their way to success. It can bond people who haven’t previously worked together, and make everyone a little friendlier and more familiar back in the office.
If you have the budget for it, you can even host this event in another city, and organise accommodation for staff.
Glider challenge
Image from Outback Team Building
The glider challenge involves building a bunch of airplane gliders, and then seeing which of them flies the farthest. It works best in teams of between three to five people, who must be supplied with cardboard, tape, glue, and scissors, and after a little guidance from the event’s coordinator, figure out how to turn it into the ultimate gliding machine that can ride the currents to glory.
This activity is fantastic for bringing out people’s creative side, and tests their problem-solving skills and teamwork. They’ll work together to plan, design, and construct the glider, and forge a little closeness while doing so.
Paparazzi challenge
Transform team members into paparazzi who dash around the city for photos of monuments, buildings, and other landmarks. You make it fun by introducing props, signs, and asking them to adopt their most extreme gurns and silliest body positions, with points for the most creatively absurd.
This challenge urges people to use their spatial awareness skills to navigate around the city, their organisational skills to get the photos in the quickest possible time, and their teamwork skills to work together as a unit.
Survivor
Image from Bushsports Australia Adventure Team Activities
Based on the popular TV series Survivor, this team building activity is a collection of “survival” challenges that test a vast array of players’ skills. Games include scavenger hunts, word puzzles, negotiations, sling shots, and more, with awards given that provide team members with immunity. It’s a fantastic bonding event that encourages your team to solve problems together, communicate effectively, and become motivating leaders.
Because of the versatility of events in this team activity, it’s suitable for pretty much everyone. A local park or beach are usually good spots for it to be held.
Mini olympics
What self-respecting competitor doesn’t want to be draped in gold medals? A mini olympics allows your team members to compete in games such as ring throwing, egg and spoon relays, sack racing, and to give it a truly Aussie feel, thong-tossing. Gold, silver, and bronze medals can be awarded for each, and you can also give a prize to the person with the most golds. This is one of the most enjoyable corporate team building activities outdoors.
Mini olympics are a goofy activity that encourage people to loosen up, be foolish, and bring out their inner kid. They’re also relatively easy to organise, so if you’re on a budget, you won’t have to pay a company to do it. In Australia, winter is the least sweatiest time for this event.
Bubble soccer
Bubble soccer isn’t for everyone, particularly those with a faint heart. But for team members who are happy and fit enough to shroud themselves in a huge inflatable ball and smash into their opponents with reckless abandon, they’ll probably love the experience, and find themselves laughing until their cheeks hurt. It’s a great team-bonding experience filled with calamitous clashes, flailing limbs, and relived memories.
This game challenges people’s fitness and their ability to work as a team. There’ll likely be staff members who can’t or won’t play this game, so you may want to arrange something slower-paced for them.
Mini golf
Mini golf is a leisurely game that can be played by everyone. It’s a great way to create a little friendly competition between colleagues, and you can even create a “masterboard” where everyone’s scores are tallied at the end, with prizes for the top three places.
There’s some truly imaginative mini golf places in Australia, particularly Holey Moley, which sends its balls flying through pneumatic tubes, down Mousetrap-styled carousels, and between the legs of celebrities. Who wouldn’t enjoy that? Mini golf is an awesome team-building activity for most companies.
Go karting
Another frenetic and fast-paced activity, go karting brings out the Formula One driver in us, taking corners at the quickest possible angle and accelerating out of them like the Roadrunner. It’s a highly-competitive team building activity.
As with bubble soccer, this team building activity won’t be for everyone, but can be thrilling for those keen to have a go.
Paintballing
Paintballing is our final intense activity on this list, and it’s a corker. Team members will clad themselves in camouflage, arm themselves with a rifle packed with paint bullets, and attempt to shoot the bejesus out of their opponents. Many paintballing games also include strategic challenges, where the team needs to work together to capture a flag or a fort, deep in their opponents’ territory.
This activity is often better suited to companies with younger employees, who are fine with feeling the sting of a paint bullet.