critical thinking team building exercise

10 Critical Thinking Team Building Activities for Work

Are you looking for some critical thinking team building activities ?

Employees who can think critically and solve complex problems are valuable assets to any company. With this skill, they can objectively analyze data and make informed decisions.

This will ease your job as a leader, right?

In this article, let’s see 10 critical thinking activities for your employees.

What are the Main Benefits of Critical Thinking in the Workplace?

Critical thinking helps employees to assess situations accurately and make sound decisions. When it is incorporated into the workplace, it can help teams become more collaborative and productive. Moreover, they can think strategically under pressure.

Here are 10 activities that will help your teams develop their critical thinking skills:

#1. Debate It Out

This activity requires teams to debate a controversial topic and come to a consensus.

Time: You decide

Materials: None

Participants: 3-10 people per group

Instructions

• Break the participants into small groups and assign each group a controversial topic to debate.

• Give them some time to research their topics and discuss possible arguments.

• During the debate, encourage all group members to participate and cooperate while developing their arguments.

• Finally, each group should come up with a consensus.

Discuss how the groups reach a consensus. Ask them how they overcame disagreements to come to an agreement.

#2. The Challenge Quest

This activity requires employees to answer questions and solve puzzles to reach a common goal.

Materials: Questions, puzzles, and clues about the given subject.

Participants: 3-10 people in a team

• Break the participants into teams and give each one a set of questions, puzzles, and clues related to a given topic. For example, the topic could be sustainability in the workplace.

• Give the teams time to discuss and answer each question or puzzle.

• Once they’ve answered all the questions, they must come up with a plan to reach a common goal.

During the debrief, see how each team worked together and what strategies they used to solve the puzzles. Encourage them to think strategically and in an orderly manner.

#3. Fishbowl

This team building activity requires employees to come up with solutions to a given problem.

Materials: Questions, topics, and discussion prompts

Participants: 5-15 people per group

• Choose a person to be in the center of the circle that everyone else can see. Everyone else stands around them in a circle.

• Ask the group a question or provide a discussion prompt, and allow the person in the center to begin discussing their thoughts.

• Everyone else takes turns providing input and suggestions, helping the individual in the center reach a solution or conclusion.

Discuss how the group worked together to come up with ideas and solutions. Talk about what strategies were used, how people communicated, and any key points that came up during the discussion.

#4. Elimination Match

This exercise requires employees to use their strategic planning skills. Here groups must complete tasks quickly in order to win the game.

Time: 15-30 minutes

Materials: Cards with various tasks, such as creating a budget or developing a marketing plan

Participants: 5-10 people divided into teams of 2-3

• Ask teams to pick one card from the deck and assign each team the task indicated.

• Give them some time to complete their tasks.

• After the time is up, ask each team to present their results.

• Award points to the teams based on how well they completed the task, and choose the winner!

Discuss how each group planned and worked together to complete the task. Also, talk about the importance of thinking critically and strategically under pressure.

#5. Quick Brainstorming

In this activity, employees must quickly brainstorm ideas in order to come up with solutions.

Time: 5 minutes

Materials: Problem and discussion prompts

Participants: 4-10 people per team

• Initially, present a problem to the group. Next, give them 2-3 minutes to brainstorm as many solutions as possible.

• Have each team present their ideas.

• Ask the teams to discuss each solution and vote on the best one.

Have employees reflect on the ideas that were generated during the activity. Discuss how open and honest communication can help groups come up with creative solutions in a short amount of time.

#6. Creative Writing

This team building exercise encourages employees to think creatively while crafting a story.

Materials: Story prompts and writing utensils

Participants: 4-10 people in a group

• Give each group a short story or scenario to work with.

• Have the groups discuss potential plot points, character traits, and other creative aspects of the story.

• Each group should write the completed story collaboratively.

Evaluate the effectiveness of teamwork and recognize any biases or patterns noticed while writing the stories. Talk about how important it is to communicate openly and consider different perspectives while solving problems.

#7. The Exchange

This exercise requires teams to work together by exchanging and reallocating items.

Time: 10-20 minutes

Materials: Any items needed to complete the task such as cards, balls, puzzles, etc.

Participants: At least two teams of any size

• Give each team a different task to complete. For example, building the highest tower or creating the most complex puzzle.

• Provide a set of items to each team.

• Allow them to exchange items with the other teams until they have created their final product.

Evaluate the team members’ problem-solving abilities and recognize any biases that may have impacted their decisions. Also, assess what they learned about communication and collaboration during the exercise. ​​​ ​​

#8. Idea Generation Game

This team building activity encourages groups to think creatively by generating ideas for a particular challenge.

Time: 5-10 minutes

Materials: Any items needed to complete the task such as construction paper, tape, scissors, etc.

Participants: 3-10 members in a team

• Assign each team a set of items and ask them to come up with an innovative idea or invention using the materials provided.

• Encourage them to brainstorm and generate ideas with their team members.

• Allow each team to create prototypes or models of their idea if desired.

Evaluate the creative problem-solving skills displayed by team members. Also, identify any potential areas for improvement.​​ ​​

#9. The Case Study

This activity encourages employees to collaborate and think critically in order to solve a case study.

Materials: Case study, research materials, and discussion prompts

Participants: Any number of members per group

• Present the groups with a case study that requires critical thinking to solve.

• Provide them with research materials and discussion prompts to come up with solutions.

• Each group should present their findings and solutions to the other groups.

Assess how well the teams worked together, and evaluate their strategies for problem-solving. Also, discuss which solution was the most effective.​​​ ​​​ ​​

#10. Desert Survival

This exercise encourages employees to work together and think critically in order to survive in the desert.

Materials: A list of items, paper, and pen

Participants: Teams of 3-8 members

• Each team should assume that they are stuck in a desert. Their goal is to come up with solutions for survival.

• Now, provide a list of 10 items to each team. Some of the items can be food, shelter, water, etc.

• Instruct them to choose five items from the list that they value the most.

• After a few minutes, ask each team to present their solution.

• Award points to the teams based on how effectively they used the items to survive.

Discuss how the teams used their problem solving skills to come up with solutions and ask them what other strategies they could have used in this situation. Also, talk about the importance of being able to think critically and strategically under pressure.

Want Unique Team Building Exercises?

If you want some unique team building exercises for your employees, you can get my new e-book:

The Busy Leader’s Guide of Unique Team Building Activities: 30 Fully Customizable Exercises That You Can Conduct with Any Group of Employees, Anywhere

Or Want Some Unique Leadership Development Activities?

If you want some unique activities to equip your employees with leadership skills, qualities, and mindset, you can get my new e-book:

The Empowering Guide of Unique Leadership Development Activities: 100 Fully Customizable Exercises That You Can Conduct with Any Group of Employees, Anywhere

Final Words

Teams can enhance their critical thinking skills by taking part in the above-mentioned activities in a fun and collaborative environment. Since everyone has varying viewpoints, you must exercise patience and respect while exchanging ideas. Finally, conducting a debrief after each activity is essential to help everyone gain insight from the experience and incorporate it into future scenarios.

FAQ: Critical Thinking Team Building Activities

You might have these questions in mind.

What are critical thinking activities?

These are exercises that can help your teams to think outside the box and solve complex problems. They will help your employees work under pressure and make the right decisions.

What are some critical thinking 5-minute team building activities?

Some 5-minute activities that can help your employees think critically are Idea Generation Game, Quick Brainstorming, and The Challenge Quest.

How does improving critical thinking skills increase workplace performance?

Having good critical thinking skills helps employees think strategically and analyze data efficiently. They also become better problem solvers and are able to generate innovative solutions more quickly. All of this helps to improve overall workplace performance and productivity.

Like this article on “10 Critical Thinking Team Building Activities for Work”? Feel free to share your thoughts.

10 Team-Building Games That Promote Critical Thinking

Begin a story that incorporates whatever happens to be on your assigned photo. The next student continues the story, incorporating their photo, and so on.

What Are The Best Team-Building Games For Promoting Critical Thinking?

by TeachThought Staff

One of education’s primary goals is to groom the next generation of little humans to succeed in the ‘real world.’

Yes, there are mounds of curricula they must master in a wide breadth of subjects, but education does not begin and end with a textbook or test.

Other skills must be honed, too, not the least of which is how to get along with their peers and work well with others. This is not something that can be cultivated through rote memorization or with strategically placed posters.

Students must be engaged and cooperation must be practiced, and often. The following team-building games can promote cooperation and communication, help establish a positive classroom environment and — most importantly — provide a fun, much-needed reprieve from routine.

See also Team-Building Games For The First Day Of School

10 Team-Building Games That Promote Collaborative Critical Thinking

You can purchase a classroom-ready version of team-building games that promote critical thinking here .

1. If You Build it…

This team-building game is flexible. First, divide students into teams and give them equal amounts of a certain material, like pipe cleaners, blocks, or even dried spaghetti and marshmallows.

Then, give them something to construct. The challenge can be variable (think: Which team can build the tallest, structurally-sound castle? Which team can build a castle the fastest?). You can recycle this activity throughout the year by adapting the challenge or materials to specific content areas.

Skills: Communication; problem-solving

2.  Save the Egg

This activity can get messy and may be suitable for older children who can follow safety guidelines when working with raw eggs. Teams must work together to find a way to ‘save’ the egg (Humpty Dumpty for elementary school students?) — in this case, an egg dropped from a specific height. That could involve finding the perfect soft landing, or creating a device that guides the egg safely to the ground.

Let their creativity work here.

Skills: Problem-solving, creative collaboration

Zoom is a classic classroom cooperative game that never seems to go out of style. Simply form students into a circle and give each a unique picture of an object, animal, or whatever else suits your fancy. You begin a story that incorporates whatever happens to be on your assigned photo. The next student continues the story, incorporating their photo, and so on.

Skills: Communication; creative collaboration

4. Minefield

Another classic team-building game. Arrange some sort of obstacle course and divide students into teams. Students take turns navigating the ‘minefield’ while blindfolded, with only their teammates to guide them. You can also require students to only use certain words or clues to make it challenging or content-area specific.

Skills: Communication; trust

See also 10 Team-Building Games For A Friendlier Classroom

5. The Worst-Case Scenario

Fabricate a scenario in which students would need to work together and solve problems to succeed, like being stranded on a deserted island or getting lost at sea. Ask them to work together to concoct a solution that ensures everyone arrives safely. You might ask them to come up with a list of 10 must-have items that would help them most, or a creative passage to safety. Encourage them to vote — everyone must agree to the final solution.

Skills: Communication, problem-solving

6. A Shrinking Vessel

This game requires a good deal of strategy in addition to teamwork. Its rules are deceptively simple: The entire group must find a way to occupy a space that shrinks over time until they are packed creatively like sardines. You can form the boundary with a rope, a tarp or blanket being folded over, or small traffic cones. (Skills: Problem-solving; teamwork)

7. Go for Gold

This game is similar to the ‘If you build it’ game: Teams have a common objective but instead of each one having the same materials, they have access to a whole cache of materials. For instance, the goal might be to create a contraption with pipes, rubber tubing, and pieces of cardboard that can carry a marble from point A to point B in a certain number of steps, using only gravity.

Creative collaboration; communication; problem-solving

8. It’s a Mystery

Many children (and grown-ups) enjoy a good mystery, so why not design one that must be solved cooperatively? Give each student a numbered clue. In order to solve the mystery — say, the case of the missing mascot — children must work together to solve the clues in order. The ‘case’ might require them to move from one area of the room to the next, uncovering more clues.

Skills: Problem-solving, communication

9.  4-Way Tug-of-War 

That playground classic is still a hit — not to mention inexpensive and simple to execute. For a unique variation, set up a multi-directional game by tying ropes in such a way that three or four teams tug at once. Some teams might choose to work together to eliminate the other groups before going head-to-head.

Skills: Teamwork; sportsmanship

10. Keep it Real

This open-ended concept is simple and serves as an excellent segue into problem-based learning. Challenge students to identify and cooperatively solve a real problem in their schools or communities. You may set the parameters, including a time limit, materials, and physical boundaries.

Skills: Problem-solving; communication

While education technology is a basic and crucial component of the 21st-century classroom, educators must still ensure that students are engaging with each other in meaningful ways. Team-building exercises are a great way to do this, and because of this, they will never go out of style.

Aimee Hosler is a writer and mother of two living in Virginia. She specializes in a number of topics, but is particularly passionate about education and workplace news and trends. She holds a B.S. in Journalism from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and is a contributor to several websites including OnlineSchools.com; 10 Team-Building Games For Kids, Teenagers, or Adults

TeachThought is an organization dedicated to innovation in education through the growth of outstanding teachers.

10 Critical Thinking Team Building Activities

However, this is harder than it sounds - critical and creative thinking are two sought-after skills that are not easy to find during the recruitment process.

Instead of finding great team players with powerful and relevant skills, we'll turn our current team into a valuable asset with these 10 critical thinking team building activities.

Instead of seeking great team players with powerful and relevant skills, we'll transform our current team into a valuable asset with these 10 critical thinking team building activities.

Why Are Critical Thinking Team Building Games Important?

Critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving skills are among the most important core skills that employees in all industries seek.

In this case, having the ability to overcome new situations through critical analysis is a must, and the following statistics help us prove this point:

• A survey by the American Management Association revealed that 72% of employees believe that critical thinking skills are key to their organization's success , yet only half of those surveyed reported these skills in their employees.
• A research paper by The Foundation for Young Australians ( FYA ) reveals that the proportion of jobs demanding critical thinking has increased by 158%, showcasing the importance of soft skills that encourage reasonable, rational, and logical decisions in various tasks.
• According to Harvard Business Review ( HBR ), the majority of new graduates looking for a position lack critical thinking capabilities , which puts a focus on encouraging the development of this skill to create high-performance teams in different industries. 

Introducing critical thinking, problem-solving , and classical team building activities into the workplace motivates employee engagement and contributes to improved productivity.

Let's explore 10 team-building games that encourage critical thinking and are suitable for both remote and in-person teams.

1. Escape Room

It's time to boost team morale by participating in an Escape Room challenge where participants collaboratively solve puzzles and decode clues to "escape" within a set time.

Teamland's Virtual Escape Room activity will encourage team members to collaborate as a united team in order to overcome the challenges ahead.

Virtual escape games enhance the communication and critical-thinking skills of remote team members, "forcing" them to make innovative decisions to achieve a common goal.

• Activity Duration : From 30 minutes to 1 hour.
• Best For : Small and medium-sized hybrid teams.

2. Virtual Murder Mystery

Virtual Murder Mystery is a classic team-building game by Teamland that will test the critical thinking skills of your teams to the limit.

In this immersive experience, participants work together to unravel a fictional crime through clues, witness accounts, and detective work.

All team members will join a virtual party and will need to collaborate with each other to discover the identity of the murderer before time runs out.

This activity not only hones critical thinking skills but also enhances interpersonal connections as team members become characters in a shared narrative, fostering a dynamic and engaging atmosphere for problem-solving and strategy development.

• Activity Duration : 30 minutes to 2 hours.

3. Company Debates

Company Debates is a simple team building activity that consists of holding a debate about different topics among all team members in the office.

Choose a topic, divide team members into smaller teams, and make them articulate their ideas to defend their points of view.

This activity sharpens critical thinking as team members weigh various perspectives, consider evidence, and articulate their positions persuasively.

4. Public Speaking Training

Public Speaking Training is an expert-led workshop by Teamland that teaches team members the importance of having public speaking skills.

Speaking in front of an audience enhances communication and transparency , fostering a more dynamic work environment where all team members learn how to prevent communication problems.

Learning how to properly communicate your ideas is a great way to improve critical thinking and foster the whole team's leadership skills. 

• Activity Duration : From 1 to 2 hours.
• Best For : All team types and sizes.

5. The Worst-Case Scenario

The Worst-Case Scenario is yet another standard team building game where everyone can participate.

Divide team members into groups, ask them to put themselves in the worst-case scenario (which can be a plane crash or stranded on a desert island), and make them come up with 10 must-have items (survival items, ideally) to overcome the situation.

Through an out-of-the-box thought process, team members will need to elaborate on why their items of choice will help them during difficult times.

It's important to make all team participants collaborate in the activity, as this will enhance the critical thinking skills of the entire group. 

• Best For : Small and medium-sizes in-office and remote teams.

6. Survivors

If you are familiar with the classic TV show " Survivors ," you'll love this team-building activity by Teamland.

In Survivor, team members will need to work with each other to overcome different challenges, which include both mental and physical activities.

This team-building game for adults will make "tribes" compete against each other in a friendly way, but they will all want to win the great prize, so thinking critically will be imperative. 

• Activity Duration : From 1 to 3 hours.
• Best For : In-office teams of all sizes.

7. Office Olympics

The Office Olympics are here, and it's time to win a gold medal!

Office Olympics involve a series of mini-games designed to foster teamwork, enhance company pride, and create a fun and creative space for your team.

Some games will be simple, and some others will be a real challenge - critically analyzing the situation and having strong communication is crucial to end up victorious.

Whether you're celebrating milestones, improving cooperation, or welcoming new team members, this activity is ideal for fostering critical thinking and instilling a sense of victory in your team.

• Best For : All in-person group types and sizes.

8. Bridge Build

If your team members had all the materials to build a small bridge, would they know how to do it?

If not, don't worry - Teamland's experts will show them everything they need to know about bridge building in our Bridge Build Experience .

In Bridge Build, contestants will need to build a bridge from scratch . Teams will compete against each other to build the more impressive and durable bridge and win the great prize.

However, keep in mind that the bridge needs to be strong and stable enough to allow a large remote-controlled vehicle to safely cross it - critical thinking will be crucial to achieve this! 

• Activity Duration : From 2 to 4 hours.
• Best For : All in-office group sizes.

9. Capture the Flag

" Capture the Flag " by Teamland may seem straightforward, but in reality, it's a game that pushes your team's problem-solving and critical skills to the max.

The concept is simple: there are two flags and two bases. Teams need to capture the enemy flag while also protecting theirs.

This game requires an immense amount of collaboration, but once everyone gets the hang of it, it'll turn into an unforgettable activity that will teach valuable lessons to everyone.

This activity, which sounds simple at first, unfolds into a challenging and strategic experience, requiring your team to work together, think on their feet, and come up with clever solutions to emerge victorious.

• Best For : Medium and big-sized in-office teams.

10. Teamopoly

Teamland has created Teamopoly , the ultimate outdoor adventure, which is a game that combines the best of Monopoly, Scavenger Hunts, and other outdoor activities.

Teamopoly is a city-wide scavenger hunt where team members will discover the most iconic places of their city while also acquiring properties as they would on Monopoly.

Although it might sound a bit complicated at first, the truth is that this original experience will not only keep your team members entertained for hours, but it'll also improve the whole team's critical, analytical, and communication skills. 

• Best For : All in-office team sizes.

Summary: Best In-Person and Virtual Team-Building Activities to Encourage Critical Thinking

Implementing any of these critical thinking building activities can help you create a powerful workplace and improve the potential of all team members. This is a quick summary of the best 10 team building activities to encourage critical thinking:

• Escape Room: Collaboratively solve puzzles to "escape" and boost team morale.
• Virtual Murder Mystery: Unravel a fictional crime through clues and detective work in a virtual setting.
• Company Debates: Encourage thoughtful discussions and argumentation on business topics.
• Public Speaking Training: Learn the importance of public speaking skills for improved communication and leadership.
• The Worst-Case Scenario: Think critically about survival items in a worst-case scenario.
• Survivors: Experience team challenges inspired by the TV show "Survivor."
• Office Olympics: Engage in mini-games to foster teamwork and company pride.
• Bridge Build: Compete to build an impressive and durable bridge.
• Capture the Flag: Strategically capture the enemy flag while protecting your own. ‍
• Teamopoly: Enjoy a city-wide scavenger hunt with Monopoly elements.

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22 Unbeatable Team Building Problem Solving Activities

Problem-solving is a critical skill for professionals and with team building problem-solving activities, you can sharpen your skills while having fun at the same time.  

Updated: March 1, 2024

In the professional world, one thing is for sure: problem-solving is a vital skill if you want to survive and thrive. It’s a universal job skill that organizations seek in new potential employees and that managers look for when considering candidates for promotions.  

But there’s a problem. 

According to Payscale, 60% of managers feel that new grads entering the workforce lack problem-solving abilities – making it the most commonly lacking soft skill.  

Problem-solving skill needs to be practiced and perfected on an ongoing basis in order to be applied effectively when the time comes. And while there are tons of traditional approaches to becoming a better problem-solver, there’s another (much more interesting) option: team building problem-solving activities. 

The good news? This means learning and having fun don’t have to be mutually exclusive. And you can create a stronger team at the same time. 

16 In-Person Team Building Problem Solving Activities for Your Work Group  

1. cardboard boat building challenge, 2. egg drop , 3. clue murder mystery, 4. marshmallow spaghetti tower  , 5. corporate escape room, 6. wild goose chase, 7. lost at sea  , 8. domino effect challenge, 9. reverse pyramid  , 10. ci: the crime investigators, 11. team pursuit, 12. bridge builders, 13. domino effect challenge, 14. hollywood murder mystery, 15. code break, 16. cardboard boat building challenge, 6 virtual team building problem solving activities for your work group  , 1. virtual escape room: mummy’s curse, 2. virtual clue murder mystery, 3. virtual escape room: jewel heist, 4. virtual code break  , 5. virtual trivia time machine.

• 6. Virtual Jeoparty Social

There are a ton of incredible team building problem solving activities available. We’ve hand-picked 16 of our favorites that we think your corporate group will love too. 

Split into teams and create a cardboard boat made out of just the materials provided: cardboard and tape. Team members will have to work together to engineer a functional boat that will float and sail across water without sinking. Once teams have finished making their boats, they will create a presentation to explain why their boat is the best, before putting their boats to the test. The final challenge will have teams racing their boats to test their durability! Nothing says problem-solving like having to make sure you don’t sink into the water!

Every day at work, you’re forced to make countless decisions – whether they’re massively important or so small you barely think about them.  

But your ability to effectively make decisions is critical in solving problems quickly and effectively.  

With a classic team building problem solving activity like the Egg Drop, that’s exactly what your team will learn to do. 

For this activity, you’ll need some eggs, construction materials, and a place you wouldn’t mind smashing getting dirty with eggshells and yolks.  

The goal of this activity is to create a contraption that will encase an egg and protect it from a fall – whether it’s from standing height or the top of a building. But the challenge is that you and your team will only have a short amount of time to build it before it’s time to test it out, so you’ll have to think quickly! 

To make it even more challenging, you’ll have to build the casing using only simple materials like: 

• Newspapers 
• Plastic wrap
• Rubber bands
• Popsicle sticks
• Cotton balls

Feel free to have some fun in picking the materials. Use whatever you think would be helpful without making things too easy! 

Give your group 15 minutes to construct their egg casing before each team drops their eggs. If multiple eggs survive, increase the height gradually to see whose created the sturdiest contraption.  

If you’re not comfortable with the idea of using eggs for this activity, consider using another breakable alternative, such as lightbulbs for a vegan Egg Drop experience. 

With Clue Murder Mystery, your team will need to solve the murder of a man named Neil Davidson by figuring out who had the means, motive, and opportunity to commit the crime.

But it won’t be easy! You’ll need to exercise your best problem-solving skills and channel your inner detectives if you want to keep this case from going cold and to get justice for the victim.

Collaboration is critical to problem solving. 

Why? Because, as the old saying goes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This expression reflects the fact that people are capable of achieving greater things when they work together to do so. 

If you’re looking for a team building problem solving activity that helps boost collaboration, you’ll love Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower.  

This game involves working in teams to build the tallest possible freestanding tower using only marshmallows, uncooked spaghetti, tape, and string.  

The kicker? This all has to be done within an allotted timeframe. We recommend about thirty minutes.  

For an added dimension of challenge, try adding a marshmallow to the top of the tower to make it a little more top heavy.  

Whichever team has the highest tower when time runs out is the winner! 

If you’ve never participated in an escape room, your team is missing out! It’s one of the most effective team building problem solving activities out there because it puts you and your colleagues in a scenario where the only way out is collaboratively solving puzzles and deciphering clues.  

The principle is simple: lock your group in a room, hide the key somewhere in that room, and have them work through challenges within a set time frame. Each challenge will lead them one step closer to finding the key and, ultimately, their escape.    

At Outback, we offer “done-for-you” escape rooms where we’ll transform your office or meeting room so you don’t have to worry about:

• Seeking transportation for your team 
• Capacity of the escape rooms  
• High costs 
• Excessive planning  

That way, you and your team can simply step inside and get to work collaborating, using creative problem solving, and thinking outside the box.   

In this smartphone-based scavenger hunt team building activity , your group will split into teams and complete fun challenges by taking photos and videos around the city. Some examples of challenges you can do in this activity are:

• Parkour:  Take a picture of three team members jumping over an object that’s at least waist-high.
• Beautiful Mind:  Snap a photo of a team member proving a well-known mathematical theorem on a chalkboard.
• Puppy Love:  Take a photo of all of your team members petting a stranger’s dog at the same time.

It takes a ton of critical thinking and problem-solving to be crowned the Wild Goose Chase Champions!

Can you imagine a higher-pressure situation than being stranded at sea in a lifeboat with your colleagues? 

With this team building problem solving activity, that’s exactly the situation you and your group will put yourselves. But by the time the activity is over, you’ll have gained more experience with the idea of having to solve problems under pressure – a common but difficult thing to do. 

Here’s how it works. 

Each team member will get a six-columned chart where: 

• The first column lists the survival items each team has on hand (see the list below) 
• The second column is empty so that each team member can rank the items in order of importance for survival  
• The third column is for group rankings  
• The fourth column is for the “correct” rankings, which are revealed at the end of the activity 
• The fifth and sixth columns are for the team to enter thee difference between their individual and correct scores and the team and correct rankings 

Within this activity, each team will be equipped with the following “survival items,” listed below in order of importance, as well as a pack of matches:  

• A shaving mirror (this can be used to signal passing ships using the sun) 
• A can of gas (could be used for signaling as it could be put in the water and lit with the pack of matches) 
• A water container (for collecting water to re-hydrate ) 
• Emergency food rations (critical survival food) 
• One plastic sheet (can be helpful for shelter or to collect rainwater) 
• Chocolate bars (another food supply) 
• Fishing rods (helpful, but no guarantee of catching food) 
• Rope (can be handy, but not necessarily essential for survival) 
• A floating seat cushion (usable as a life preserver)  
• Shark repellant (could be important when in the water) 
• A bottle of rum (could be useful for cleaning wounds) 
• A radio (could be very helpful but there’s a good chance you’re out of range) 
• A sea chart (this is worthless without navigation equipment) 
• A mosquito net (unless you’ve been shipwrecked somewhere with a ton of mosquitos, this isn’t very useful) 

To get the activity underway, divide your group into teams of five and ask each team member to take ten minutes on their own to rank the items in order of importance in the respective column. Then, give the full team ten minutes as a group to discuss their individual rankings together and take group rankings, listed in that respective column. Ask each group to compare their individual rankings with those of the group as a whole. 

Finally, read out the correct order according to the US Coast Guard, listed above.  

The goal of this activity is for everyone to be heard and to come to a decision together about what they need most to survive.  

If your team works remotely, you can also do this activity online. Using a video conferencing tool like  Zoom , you can bring your group together and separate teams into “break-out rooms” where they’ll take their time individually and then regroup together. At the end, you can bring them back to the full video conference to go through the answers together. 

Many problems are intricately complex and involve a ton of moving parts. And in order to solve this type of problem, you need to be able to examine it systematically, one piece at a time.  

Especially in the business world, many problems or challenges involve multiple different teams or departments working through their respective portions of a problem before coming together in the end to create a holistic solution. 

As you can imagine, this is often easier said than done. And that’s why it’s so important to practice this ability.  

With a collaborative team building problem solving activity like Domino Effect Challenge, that’s exactly what you’ll need to do as you and your group work to create a massive, fully functional chain reaction machine. 

Here’s how it goes. 

Your group will break up into teams, with each team working to complete their own section of a massive “Rube Goldberg” machine. Then, all teams will regroup and assemble the entire machine together. You’ll need to exercise communication, collaboration, and on-the-fly problem solving in order to make your chain reaction machine go off without a hitch from start to finish. 

Being a great problem-solver means being adaptable and creative. And if you’re looking for a quick and easy team building problem solving activity, you’ll love the reverse pyramid. 

The idea here is simple: break your group out into small teams and then stand in the form of a pyramid.  

Your challenge is to flip the base and the peak of the pyramid – but you can only move three people in order to do so.  

Alternatively, rather than doing this activity with people as the pyramid, you can do another version –  the Pyramid Build  – using plastic cups instead.   

This version is a little bit different. Rather than flipping the base of a pyramid to the top, you’ll need to build the pyramid instead–but in reverse, starting from the top cup and working down. 

With this version, you’ll need 36 cups and one table per group. We recommend groups of five to seven people. Give your group 20 to 30 minutes to complete the activity. 

To get started, place one cup face down. Then, lift that cup and place the subsequent two cups underneath it. 

The real challenge here? You can only lift your pyramid by the bottom row in order to put a new row underneath – and only one person at a time can do the lifting. The remaining group members will need to act quickly and work together in order to add the next row so that it will balance the rest of the pyramid. 

If any part of your pyramid falls, you’ll need to start over. Whichever team has the most complete pyramid when time runs out will be the winner!  

The value of being able to approach problems analytically can’t be overstated. Because when problems arise, the best way to solve them is by examining the facts and making a decision based on what you know. 

With CI: The Crime Investigators, this is exactly what your team will be called upon to do as you put your detective’s hats on and work to solve a deadly crime. 

You’ll be presented with evidence and need to uncover and decipher clues. And using only the information at your disposal, you’ll need to examine the facts in order to crack the case. 

Like many of our team building problem solving activities, CI: The Crime Investigators is available in a hosted format, which can take place at your office or an outside venue, as well as a virtually-hosted format that uses video conferencing tools, or a self-hosted version that you can run entirely on your own.  

Each member of your team has their own unique strengths and skills. And by learning to combine those skills, you can overcome any challenge and solve any problem. With Team Pursuit, you and your team together to tackle challenges as you learn new things about one another, discover your hidden talents, and learn to rely on each other.

This team building problem solving activity is perfect for high-energy groups that love to put their heads together and work strategically to solve problems as a group.

Collaborate with your colleague to design and build different segments of a bridge. At the end, see if the sections come together to create a free-standing structure!   

Together as a group, see if you and your colleagues can build a gigantic “chain-reaction” machine that really works!

In smaller groups, participants work together to solve the challenge of creating sections of the machine using miscellaneous parts, and at the end, you’ll have to collaborate to connect it all together and put it in motion.

The case is fresh, but here’s what we know so far: we’ve got an up-and-coming actress who’s been found dead in her hotel room following last night’s awards show.

We have several suspects, but we haven’t been able to put the crime on any of them for sure yet. Now, it’s up to you and your team of detectives to crack the case. Together, you’ll review case files and evidence including police reports, coroners’ reports, photo evidence, tabloids, interrogations, and phone calls as you determine the motive, method, and murderer and bring justice for the victim.

You’ll need to put your problem-solving skills to the test as you share theories, collaborate, and think outside the box with your fellow investigators.

Using Outback’s app, split up into small groups and put your heads together to solve a variety of puzzles, riddles, and trivia. The team who has completed the most challenges when time is up, wins!

Can you stay afloat in a body of water in a boat made entirely of cardboard? Now that is a problem that urgently needs solving.

With this team building problem solving activity, you and your colleagues will split into groups and create a cardboard boat made out of just the materials provided – cardboard and tape.

Team members will have to work together to engineer a functional boat that will float and sail across water without sinking. Once teams have finished making their boats, they will create a presentation to explain why their boat is the best, before putting their boats to the test. The final challenge will have teams racing their boats across the water!

If you and your team are working remotely, don’t worry. You still have a ton of great virtual team building problem solving options at your disposal.

In this virtual escape room experience, your team will be transported into a pyramid cursed by a restless mummy. You’ll have to work together to uncover clues and solve complex challenges to lift the ancient curse.

You’ve probably never heard of a man named Neil Davidson. But your group will need to come together to solve the mystery of his murder by analyzing clues, resolving challenges, and figuring out who had the means, motive, and opportunity to commit a deadly crime. 

This activity will challenge you and your group to approach problems analytically, read between the lines, and use critical thinking in order to identify a suspect and deliver justice.  

If you and your team like brainteasers, then Virtual Escape Room: Jewel Heist will be a big hit.  

Here’s the backstory.

There’s been a robbery. Someone has masterminded a heist to steal a priceless collection of precious jewels, and it’s up to you and your team to recover them before time runs out.

Together, you’ll need to uncover hidden clues and solve a series of brain-boggling challenges that require collaboration, creative problem-solving, and outside-the-box thinking. But be quick! The clock is ticking before the stolen score is gone forever.

With Virtual Code Break, you and your team can learn to be adaptive and dynamic in your thinking in order to tackle any new challenges that come your way. In this activity, your group will connect on a video conferencing platform where your event host will split you out into teams. Together, you’ll have to adapt your problem-solving skills as you race against the clock to tackle a variety of mixed brainteaser challenges ranging from Sudoku to puzzles, a game of Cranium, riddles, and even trivia. 

Curious to see how a virtual team building activity works? Check out this video on a Virtual Clue Murder Mystery in action. 

Step into the Outback Time Machine and take a trip through time, from pre-pandemic 21st century through the decades all the way to the 60’s. 

This exciting, fast-paced virtual trivia game, packed with nostalgia and good vibes, is guaranteed to produce big laughs, friendly competition, and maybe even some chair-dancing. 

Your virtual game show host will warm up guests with a couple of “table hopper rounds” (breakout room mixers) and split you out into teams. Within minutes, your home office will be transformed into a game show stage with your very own game show buzzers! 

And if your team loves trivia, check out our list of the most incredible virtual trivia games for work teams for even more ideas.

6.  Virtual Jeoparty Social

If your remote team is eager to socialize, have some fun as a group, and channel their competitive spirit, we’ve got just the thing for you! With Virtual Jeoparty Social, you and your colleagues will step into your very own virtual Jeopardy-style game show—equipped with a buzzer button, a professional actor as your host, and an immersive game show platform! Best of all, this game has been infused with an ultra-social twist: players will take part in a unique social mixer challenge between each round. 

With the right team building problem solving activities, you can help your team sharpen their core skills to ensure they’re prepared when they inevitably face a challenge at work. And best of all, you can have fun in the process. 

Do you have any favorite team building activities for building problem-solving skills? If so, tell us about them in the comments section below! 

Learn More About Team Building Problem Solving Activities  

For more information about how your group can take part in a virtual team building, training, or coaching solution, reach out to our Employee Engagement Consultants.     

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I love how this blog provides a variety of problem-solving activities for team building. It’s a great resource for anyone looking to foster teamwork and collaboration!

A Short Guide to Building Your Team’s Critical Thinking Skills

by Matt Plummer

Summary .   

Most employers lack an effective way to objectively assess critical thinking skills and most managers don’t know how to provide specific instruction to team members in need of becoming better thinkers. Instead, most managers employ a sink-or-swim approach, ultimately creating work-arounds to keep those who can’t figure out how to “swim” from making important decisions. But it doesn’t have to be this way. To demystify what critical thinking is and how it is developed, the author’s team turned to three research-backed models: The Halpern Critical Thinking Assessment, Pearson’s RED Critical Thinking Model, and Bloom’s Taxonomy. Using these models, they developed the Critical Thinking Roadmap, a framework that breaks critical thinking down into four measurable phases: the ability to execute, synthesize, recommend, and generate.

With critical thinking ranking among the most in-demand skills for job candidates , you would think that educational institutions would prepare candidates well to be exceptional thinkers, and employers would be adept at developing such skills in existing employees. Unfortunately, both are largely untrue.

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10 Team-Building Games That Promote Critical Thinking

Students may improve their capabilities in critical thinking and other skills that will help them be successful in the contemporary job by participating in Team-building games for critical thinking. Students who value collaboration (and who will go on to become employers!) have higher levels of motivation and creativity.

It is common knowledge that kids like collaborating in groups very lot. Why don’t we make it into a game instead? Games are often a better option than brain training activities for helping children develop lateral thinking. However, brain training activities may be employed. Implementing these strategies in your classes can help students become more critical thinkers and more successful collaborators.

Here are 10 Team-Building Games That Promote Critical Thinking;

1. minefield.

Minefield Team-building games for critical thinking is a time-honored exercise that has been shown to foster better communication and a sense of trust among participants of all ages. It requires the construction of an obstacle course as well as the grouping of the students into different teams. Students take turns navigating the “minefield” while wearing blindfolds and relying only on the support of their classmates to find their way. You might also encourage kids to use certain terms or hints in order to make it more challenging for them or to utilize information that is related to the topic in order to make it more interesting to them.

2. If You Build it

This exercise in establishing teams may easily be adapted to fit your needs. To get started, separate the children into teams and give each group an equal quantity of a certain substance. Some examples of this material are pipe cleaners, bricks, dried spaghetti, and marshmallows.

After that, you should assign them a project to work on. The challenge may take on a variety of forms, such as “which team can build the biggest castle that is also structurally sound?” Which side has the capacity to build the greatest number of castles in the least period of time? You may recycle this exercise throughout the year by modifying the challenge or the resources to correspond to other subject areas in the curriculum.

3. It’s a Mystery

Since many children, especially younger ones, like a good mystery, why not challenge them to solve it in a way that encourages them to collaborate with one another? It would be helpful to offer each child a numbered clue. The youngsters need to cooperate in order to find the answers to the clues in order to allow themselves enough time to solve the mystery, such as the case of the missing mascot. It’s possible that in order to solve the “case,” they’ll need to go about the room and look in other areas for additional clues.

Zoom team-building games for critical thinking is an old standby when it comes to games for constructing teams, and the many advantages that come with playing the game make it even more interesting. The children are seated in a circle, and one child gives each child an image of an item from Zoom.

The game begins with one child relating a story based on the image that they are holding, and the next student continues the story from where the previous student left off. The game helps youngsters improve their creativity, critical thinking, and communication abilities by compelling them to create the tales on the spot and challenging them to think critically about what they’ve written.

5. Save the Egg

During this team-building games for critical thinking, each team of three or four persons will have the opportunity to drop their egg from a certain height. They need to devise strategies that will prevent the egg from cracking while it is in the air. They are free to use whatever items or apparatus of their choosing to effect a soft landing for the egg or to guarantee that it settles in an unharmed state.

Because this one has the potential to get ugly, it is essential to choose a site that is risk-free and where no one will be worried about hurting valuable school property.

6. marshmallows-game

7. Go for Gold

The teams compete to achieve the same objective in this Team-building games for critical thinking, which is similar to the game “If you create it,” but rather than having the same resources, the teams have access to a huge quantity. For instance, the objective may be to construct, consisting of pipes, rubber tubing, and cardboard, a machine that, with the only assistance of gravity, can move a marble from point A to point B in a certain number of stages.

Although learning through textbooks is essential, teachers also have a responsibility to ensure that pupils can interact effectively with one another. Exercises that focus on fostering a sense of teamwork are an effective way to do this, and there is no sign that this fad will ever die out.

8. Keep it Real

Because it is founded on a straightforward concept that encourages conversation and problem-solving, this open-ended model functions as an efficient examination tool for students. Give the students the mission to identify and address a genuine issue that exists in their own schools or communities. For the purpose of assisting youngsters in defining their own boundaries, some restrictions, such as time limits, material limits, and physical limitations, might be put on them.

9. Shrinking Vessel

Critical thinking may be tough to understand after undergoing brain training, but after participating in exciting Team-building games for critical thinking like the shrinking vessel, it quickly becomes second nature. The participants will first be split up into smaller groups to begin the exercise. Every group is going to have to coordinate their efforts so that they can fit into a smaller and smaller area until there is no more room. Cones or a rope might be used to define the perimeter of the area. Playing this game will teach you how to collaborate with others to find solutions to challenges.

10. The Worst-Case Scenario

Students are split up into two or more groups, and each of those groups is given a tough scenario to solve. Some examples of these scenarios include being abandoned on a barren island or becoming lost at sea. They are then given the instruction to collaborate with one another within their teams in order to find a solution to the challenge and ultimately emerge triumphant. The children have to come up with a strategy in order to guarantee that everyone will live through the worst-case scenario.

In this particular situation, the students may be quizzed about the things that they will need in order to do the task, in addition to any other passages that they may come across. The fact that youngsters are required to cooperate with one another helps in the development of their ability to solve problems and teaches them the importance of working together as a team through Team-building games for critical thinking.

Bottom line

To achieve the highest productivity at work, Team-building games for critical thinking are conducted in distinct corporate games. However, these games can boost efficiency in the study if undertaken in a classroom atmosphere. They help students to break the monotony in the learning environment. We hope our blog helped you to get new ideas regarding Team-building games for critical thinking. You can implement them in your next session within the classroom.

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Critical Thinking Exercises for Employees: Boosting Workplace Problem-Solving Skills

In today’s fast-paced work environment, critical thinking skills are essential for success. By engaging in critical thinking exercises, employees can refine their ability to evaluate information, solve complex problems, and communicate effectively. These skills not only contribute to individual success but also promote a more innovative and productive work environment.

Key Takeaways

Understanding critical thinking.

Critical thinking is a vital skill for employees in the business world, as it enables individuals to analyze complex situations, identify biases, and make informed decisions through creative problem-solving methods. This cognitive process encourages a deeper understanding of problems and promotes the ability to approach them from multiple perspectives.

Developing critical thinking skills involves being aware of one’s own biases and working towards eliminating them. Bias can significantly impact how we approach problems and may result in making distorted decisions. By recognizing and addressing these biases, employees can harness their critical thinking abilities to make impartial and robust decisions in the business landscape.

In the context of problem-solving, critical thinking encourages employees to explore new perspectives and think beyond conventional solutions. By adopting a creative approach, individuals can generate novel ideas and innovations, which can lead to improved business results and overall growth.

In conclusion, it is crucial for employees to develop and hone their critical thinking skills, as they enable individuals to navigate complex business environments effectively. By addressing biases, conducting robust analysis, and adopting creative problem-solving strategies, employees can make well-informed decisions that contribute to the success and longevity of the organization.

The Importance of Critical Thinking in the Workplace

In the workplace , critical thinking allows for a more thorough evaluation of issues, helping to identify potential problems or opportunities. This is particularly important in today’s fast-paced, competitive environment, where companies need to stay ahead of industry trends and anticipate the needs of their customers. Employees who possess strong critical thinking skills can help their team effectively navigate the challenges that arise in any industry.

Ultimately, developing critical thinking skills in employees is not just beneficial for the individual worker and their direct colleagues, but it also impacts the overall success of the organization. By fostering an environment that encourages the growth of critical thinking skills, employers can not only increase productivity but also create a more positive and engaged work culture.

Developing Critical Thinking Skills

Mindful observation, active listening, asking questions.

Asking questions is a key component of critical thinking, as it encourages employees to inquire deeper into subjects and analyze all aspects of an issue. Employers can foster a work environment that supports curiosity by encouraging team members to ask both open-ended and closed-ended questions and offering guidance when needed.

Assessing Evidence and Drawing Conclusions

Recognizing and managing biases.

By incorporating these exercises and strategies into the workplace, employees can develop critical thinking skills that strengthen their overall performance, communication, and leadership abilities.

Critical Thinking and Communication

Critical thinking and communication go hand in hand in the workplace. Developing both skills can enhance employees’ ability to solve problems, make decisions, and work effectively in teams. By engaging in critical thinking exercises that involve clear communication and open discussion, employees can improve their cognitive abilities and interpersonal skills.

Another useful technique is group discussions, which can stimulate critical thinking and promote clear communication. By engaging in conversations where various perspectives are considered, employees can develop the ability to analyze information objectively and reevaluate their initial assumptions. Fostering open-mindedness and empathy for others’ viewpoints can also build strong communication skills in the workplace .

Applying Critical Thinking to Problem Solving

Effective problem solving requires employees to utilize critical thinking skills. By carefully analyzing information, asking questions, and determining the best course of action, employees will be more likely to arrive at creative and innovative solutions to challenges.

Critical thinking also involves evaluating the effectiveness of potential solutions. Employees should be encouraged to analyze the pros and cons of each option, as well as consider any potential long-term impacts. This process can help identify the most viable and successful solutions for a given problem.

Critical Thinking in Leadership and Management

Developing critical thinking skills in leadership and management positions is crucial for making informed decisions, driving company growth, and ensuring employee satisfaction. By enhancing their cognitive abilities, leaders and managers become better at decision-making, hiring processes, and overall performance.

In the realm of leadership, critical thinking helps leaders to understand the logical relationships between ideas and recognize the importance of an argument. This enables them to identify mistakes in reasoning and make well-informed choices, thus driving superior organizational outcomes as mentioned here .

Incorporating critical thinking exercises into hiring processes allows employers to better assess candidates’ abilities objectively. By focusing on problem-solving and communication skills during the interview process, managers can identify high-potential talent who demonstrate strong critical thinking competencies.

Critical Thinking in Team Building

Incorporating critical thinking exercises within team building activities is essential for fostering creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving amongst employees. By engaging team members in activities that require them to consider multiple perspectives and work together to reach a conclusion, companies can significantly improve their team’s performance.

Brainstorming is another critical thinking team building activity that can generate diverse ideas and encourage innovation. By setting specific goals or challenges, team members collaborate to provide multiple solutions to a given problem. Encourage employees to think beyond the obvious answers, providing a safe space for innovative and unusual ideas.

Evaluating Potential Job Candidates for Critical Thinking Skills

Screening for critical thinking.

A vital step to measure critical thinking is through the initial screening process. To do this effectively, recruiters can utilize pre-employment tests that focus on evaluating candidates’ analytical skills, problem-solving abilities, and decision-making skills. These assessments can be administered online for a more efficient process while narrowing down the applicant pool.

Assessing Analytical Skills during Interviews

Asking situational and behavioral questions can provide excellent insight into a candidate’s analytical capabilities. Employers may ask questions that require candidates to analyze specific scenarios, or they may inquire about past experiences where candidates employed their critical thinking skills.

By effectively screening and assessing job candidates’ critical thinking skills, companies can confidently hire employees with the necessary abilities to contribute successfully to their organization’s goals and vision.

The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Critical Thinking

Emotional intelligence also helps employees consider the ethical implications of their decisions. With a heightened understanding of emotions, individuals are more likely to empathize with others and take their perspectives into account. This ability enables them to navigate complex ethical dilemmas and make fair judgments that adhere to the organization’s values.

Fostering an Innovative Work Environment through Critical Thinking

Promoting open discussions.

One way to encourage innovation in the workplace is by promoting open discussions. These encourage employees to share their ideas and contribute to the collaborative push for creative solutions. When a culture of open communication is established, employees feel valued and are more likely to take risks, making it easier for them to come up with innovative solutions. Conducting regular brainstorming sessions and encouraging the exchange of opinions during meetings can further enhance the creative thinking process.

Encouragement of Reflective Practice

Enhancing critical thinking skills in the workplace is an essential step towards cultivating a culture of effective decision-making and problem-solving. By engaging in various training exercises, employees can strengthen their ability to analyze situations, interpret data, and make informed choices.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are effective group exercises to improve critical thinking.

There are various group exercises that can help improve critical thinking skills among employees. One example is the Socratic questioning technique in which a facilitator poses a series of questions designed to uncover assumptions and stimulate critical thinking. Another effective activity is the “Case Study Analysis,” where employees are tasked with analyzing real-life business scenarios to identify challenges, gather data, and make informed decisions.

How can team building games enhance critical thinking skills?

What are some fun activities to develop critical thinking in adults, how can a workbook aid in critical thinking development.

A workbook designed for critical thinking development typically contains structured exercises, real-world examples, and reflective activities. These materials guide individuals through a step-by-step process of improving their critical thinking skills by encouraging self-awareness, fostering curiosity, and promoting constructive feedback. Using a workbook can provide an organized and personalized approach to enhancing critical thinking abilities.

What are the top 5 skills essential for critical thinking?

How can virtual activities benefit employees’ critical thinking, you may also like, 7 ways to enhance your decision-making with critical thinking: proven strategies for better choices, the connection between associative thinking and entrepreneurship: exploring the link, 9 common characteristics of strong critical thinkers, enhancing critical listening skills: techniques for effective comprehension, download this free ebook.

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Skill-based team building

5 critical thinking team building activities for adults [research-based]

This just in: Critical thinking is one of the top 10 job skills of the future.

While that's not entirely shocking, most leaders aren't sure how to develop critical thinking. If you're one of those people, we've compiled five activities that will sharpen your team's skills and bring them closer together.

Dive deeper:   Reverse-engineering Google - Team building for high-performance teams.

How employers see critically thinking employees 

Thanks to critical thinking, you can stand out during the recruitment process and excel throughout your career. But what makes a powerful workplace critical thinker?

In 2020, the Journal of Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues (JESI) published a phenomenography study dedicated to an average employer's expectations from their workers . 

It identified 3 most-valued "categories" of critical thinking at the workplace : 

• Decisions to act here and now. Quick decision-making makes problem-solving and crisis management easier. To master this type of critical thinking, you need to take responsibility for your actions and opinions. 
• Verified and assured decisions to act. Here, team players driven by the company's values stand out. Learn to manage conflicts, highlight each others' strengths, and work as a team for the good of the organization. 
• Innovative decisions for operational improvement. This aspect of critical thinking encourages you to work with others and socialize, finding solutions that will improve the existing processes in your company. 

As you can imagine, it's pretty difficult to come up with a training that would cover all three specifics at once. Instead, work on each of the critical thinking categories on their own.

Anna Kvasnevska

Team Building Expert & Writer

Large groups

Prep required

Share fun facts and bond with a team quiz

Have your participants choose from a list of questions they’d like their coworkers to answer about them, before watching as they guess the right answer.

share-fun-facts-and-bond-with-a-team-quiz

Run a guided recognition activity

run-a-guided-recognition-activity

Organize a virtual cooking class

Hire a professional chef to help your team cook a delicious lunch or dinner. May be difficult for co-workers with families. To find providers and get tips, read our blog about virtual cooking classes.

organize-a-virtual-cooking-class

Hire a stand-up comedian

hire-a-stand-up-comedian

No items found

Table of contents

Stop googling ideas. Get a long-term team building plan.

Critical thinking team building games to practice acting here and now.

According to the JESI research, this type of critical thinking directly relates to your internal inspiration and courage. You need to believe that what you decide is right and act accordingly . 

Classical team building activities like survival simulation and escape rooms are perfect for this practice. 

1. Take part in survival simulation activities

Survival simulation challenges your on-the-spot decision-making. This type of exercise puts you in situations where you need to think fast as if your life depends on it. 

2. Go to an escape room

Carefully scripted challenges of modern escape rooms work similarly to the survival simulations. It forces you to act here and now, knowing that your decisions will affect the rest of the team.

This kind of team building is perfect for remote teams , as you can do the most sophisticated escape rooms online ! 

Critical thinking team building activities for adults who want to make verified decisions

This type of employer-oriented critical thinking helps you understand professional activities better. Here, it's not just about finding the right solution. Instead, it's about discovering as many solutions as possible and justifying them . 

Try team building activities dedicated to research and group problem-solving, like the timely classics: SWOT analysis or group debates. 

3. Make a SWOT analysis together

SWOT analysis is a popular marketing framework for analyzing a project's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. It encourages research, outside-of-the-box reasoning, and teamwork. So it also makes a fruitful critical-thinking team building experience! 

4. Hold a debate

Another great way to practice making verified decisions is by holding a debate-style team building event. This way, you'll get valuable experience backing up your statements with facts. Also, you will practice public speaking and argumentation - the other two highly-valued professional skills.

Build engaged teams with zero effort

Critical thinking team building activities to promote innovation.

You can use critical thinking to drive innovation and change. Innovators feel safe sharing their ideas and are ready to become leaders . For this, focus on team building activities that promote communication , creativity, and empathy . 

There are many team building activities for work that promote these behaviors. But today, we wanted to share the one that encourages innovation particularly well:

5. Create a vision board with your team

Think of a company you'd be proud to represent. Brainstorm the values it stands for. Present the opportunities it opens for the employees and the clients. Highlight the good things you already have. And think about what you could do as a team to turn it into reality. 

This powerful team building exercise works on many levels:

• It allows you to appreciate the benefits you may be taking for granted ;
• It demonstrates what goals and values you share with your team ;
• It creates a sense of direction for the positive impact you could have on the company;
• It promotes creativity, critical thinking, and trust among the participants. 

All these critical thinking team building activities work for remote teams as well as the on-site ones and are affordable ! All you need is a reliable virtual conference platform (like Veertly !) and some of the must-have software to make your online team building feel like a face-to-face one. 

Have fun and drive the change you want to see! 

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5 Team Building Games For Adults That Teach Critical Thinking Skills

Team building games are not only fun; they break the monotony of daily routines and help us to develop valuable skills. Some games help us to acquire critical thinking skills, which make us productive and increase our output in the workplace. Corporate training through critical thinking games is beneficial for both small and established organizations because it fosters trust and problem-solving skills among the employees. Brain training activities are quite common; however, critical thinking games are much better if you want to teach skills faster.

So keep reading on and learn if you want to learn a 5 new games for boosting critical thinking in your team.

Why Team Building Activities are Important

The leading organizations know the importance of corporate training. A business can either succeed or fail, depending on the ability of its employees. Regular training inculcates relevant skills and knowledge to the workers who in turn use it to boost production.

Team building activities improve work relations, therefore creating a conducive working environment. Working together to solve different problems shows the employees that they need each other to reach their organization’s goals. This knowledge is applied in the office as each one understands how to work with different individuals and talents.

Team building activities also allow employees to socialize, network, and get to know each other. Making friends in the workplace is the first step to increasing productivity. Employees can work together to solve problems. This is the moment when critical thinking games step in: a common goal to achieve in a playful format brings out each team members’ stregths.

When employees work together in team building games, they celebrate and have fun together, which inspires them to work harder and win more. Cheering and supporting each other in these activities promotes team bonding and motivates them to rise to the next level. Working together also promotes creativity and innovation. This is why critical thinking activities for employees need to be planned ahead and implemented withing your company.

Create games, self-guided and audio tours, team building events and educational content that captures peoples' attention.

Teaching critical thinking through team building games for adults

The good thing about corporate training and team building games is that they equip you with knowledge in and out of office. The following team building games will teach you critical thinking skills while having fun:

1. If You Build It

This critical thinking game for adults is not only simple, but it’s also flexible – this means that anybody can participate. The game starts when the teams are divided into small groups, given equal amounts of different materials, such as building blocks, pipes, or even marshmallows. The teams are assigned a task that involves construction. This can either be to build the tallest structure, for instance, a castle. The groups should work together until they come up with the required structure. This game inculcates problem-solving and communication skills.

Zoom is an exciting game that can be used both in the classroom and to foster cooperation in the workplace. The team sits or stands in a circle, and each is given a unique picture of an animal, object, or other items. To make it more exciting, the instructor starts a unique story then the next member continues the story following the picture provided. This team building game inculcates creative collaboration skills for adults and children alike. You can get more critical thinking and other games for Zoom here.

3. Shrinking Vessel

Critical thinking can be difficult to master with brain training; however, with fun team building games such as shrinking vessel, it becomes effortless. The activity starts with dividing members into small teams. Each group has to work together to fit into a shrinking space until; there is no room in between. The boundary can be made of cones or a rope. This game equips you with teamwork and problem-solving skills .

4. It’s a Mystery

Many people love a good mystery, and this can be exciting when people work in groups. In this critical thinking game for adults, each team member is given a numbered clue. In order to solve this mystery, for instance, if you are told to find the missing eggs, teams must work together following the clues in order. Solving this case might require the groups to move around to uncover more clues to solve the mystery. This game is important because it teaches you problem-solving and communication.

5. The Worst-Case Scenario

The objective of this activity is to foster teamwork. In this case, every team has to collaborate to come up with a list of must-have items in extreme circumstances. The members are divided into smaller groups; then the instructor explains an example of the worst scenario. For instance, one group could have a scenario where they are stuck in a burning house or a hijacked plane. Each group has to decide on 5 or 10 must-have items to get them to safety. The decision to choose the items must be unanimous. Among critical thinking games this activity draws out everyone’s personalities, expert knowledge and helps to prioritize.

Some managers don’t give them the attention they deserve, choosing to concentrate only on work itself, however, team building activities are important because they break the monotony and equip employees with relevant skills. Especially in the form of critical thinking games for adults, which are created with the purpose of training participants into making better decisions. These activities are beneficial to both the workers and the organization, and this boosts the output and productivity.

Waiting game for virtual meetings is a bonus in our list of games for critical thinking. This game needs input from people with different skills and knowledge base. Common goal to clean the gameboard and reveal hidden picture gets everyone talking. Logical puzzles promote discussion and breaks silence!

We hope you enjoyed this list of critical thinking team building activities and manage to implement some of them in your organization!

Authors Bio Hazel is an entrepreneur at heart and has built a regionally recognized and successful multi-million dollar businesses – Biz Group , starting the company in 1993 with just $700. The group now employs 62 professionals and provides services in the fields of design and delivery of corporate training, teambuilding, meeting facilitation and organizational health through culture and engagement.

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Games Promoting Collaborative Critical Thinking: Top 10

Fun Team Building Games To Improve Team Collaboration

While working in a business organization, employees have to come together, collaborate their efforts, indulge in critical thinking and ensure meeting common goals. Like any other organization, a business or a company is basically an amalgamation of employees who come together from diverse backgrounds, with different capabilities and skillsets to pursue common organizational goals. It is not uncommon to find some issues and problems that deter them from collaborating with each other. If the work environment becomes too negative and vitiating, it has a direct impact on the productivity and work performance of the employees. Companies must take some proactive action lest this situation gets out of hand leaving a detrimental impact on the company’s productivity and bottom line. Organizing team building games from time to time can help employees come together and indulge in collaborative critical thinking. Here, we bring you the top 10 games can help in this endeavor.

Triggertronics

It is an exciting and interesting challenge where the team has to come together and solve simple tasks in complicated ways. The challenge is based on Rube Goldberg’s Concept. The teams are given materials required to meet this challenge. They have to make use of the sequential trigger effect. The team participants have to collaborate their efforts and indulge in intuitive thinking thereby creating a self-running mechanism.

Gigsaw Challenge

In this challenge, the team is entrusted with the task of making a gigantic jigsaw by putting together a lot of jigsaw puzzles in such a way that it comes out to be meaningful. Each individual team is given a canvas to work on and they have to collectively come together to create an artwork that may symbolically depict the vision of an organization or simply create an abstract theme. The masterpiece of each team is then combined into a giant picture. Each team has to collaborate and has to contribute to the larger picture, the teams gain and learn a lot in terms of perspective.

Beat Box Challenge

It is a musical group activity where team members come together and learn a new skill. The best part of this activity is that there are no instruments and no musicians. The team participants have to beatbox or make use of their mouth to create music and perform together with close collaboration. They come together to learn a few beatbox sounds and come up with a specific beatbox rhythm. This activity encourages them to come together and collaborate with each other to create amazing music.

Pyramid Building

As part of this challenge, the team comes together to build a giant-sized pyramid. To complete the activity, a lot of planning and flawless execution is required. The team is given materials, tools, and instructions to complete this activity. Random material is used to create a pyramid. After each team build its pyramid, these are decorated with an organization’s name or logo, using brand colors and messages. Finally, the pyramids of each team are brought together and a giant pyramid is built with collaborative efforts and critical thinking.

Remoto Car Challenge

This is a fun activity where the team not only collaborates but competes to emerge as a winner. They have to work together to build bridges forming a circuit where remote cars can be raced. The team participants have to don their thinking hats and build a robust bridge that can at least sustain the weight of two racing cars. This activity requires close collaboration and critical thinking that ensures stability and strength of the pillars. The high point of this activity is the car race where all team cars race to reach the checkered flag.

Drum Jam Session

It is a music-based activity. This drum jam session help team members to enjoy, have fun and reduce stress. The energetic beating of djembe, a percussion instrument results in a rush of energy that leaves everyone overwhelmed and excited. The ‘unseen’ barriers seem to break down and the team comes together to form a strong bond. The hypnotic drumbeats fill the environment with energy and excitement that is unmatched to anything else. Music is rightly considered as the best healer and the perfect way to bring people closer to each other.

This challenge is based on the famous MasterChef-style challenge where teams are created, each entrusted with the task of cooking a 5-course meal. Each team has to prepare one dish and this task has to be completed within the stipulated timeline. It is very critical to manage time efficiently and effectively else the team has to go hungry. A five-star chef encourages the team to give their best and which results in more pressure on the teams to do a good job.

Junkyard Sales

As the name suggests, in this activity, teams come together to create something functional out of waste or junk that is of no use. The teams are assigned with junk items like paint boxes, plastic bottles, and many other scrap items.  Once the material is received, the team spend some time thinking about how to put the junk stuff to its best use. They not only have to design but also build a functional product that is sturdy, presentable and can be put to better use. Collaborative efforts and some critical thinking can transform even junk stuff into something of utility.

Beat The Trash

This is another activity that is a perfect example of how collaborative efforts and critical thinking can help in transforming junk into music. Urban wastes of every day are used to build music instruments creating a junkyard masterpiece. With growing concern about environmental conservation, and the need to follow the principle of reducing, reuse, and recycle, daily waste items like bottles, water cans, pipes, etc., is used to create music. Once the instruments are created, the team perform together, and it is a sight to behold and music to ears.

Raft Building

This activity is based on rescue efforts taken by a team that is stuck at an island with very limited supplies. The only way to get out of this situation is by building a raft that takes them to the mainland. The raft must be built using limited materials and must be strong enough to carry 4-6 people of each team to a certain distance. The activity requires close collaboration and critical thinking to complete the activity. 

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For more interesting team building activities, visit Trebound .  

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LOST AT SEA activity (FREE Critical Thinking Lesson Plans)

Lost at Sea Critical Thinking activity last updated Oct 7, 2021:

The Lost at Sea Activity is a fantastic team-building activity. 

Lost at Sea is a classic activity that can be found all across the Internet.

We’ve adapted it in our CRITICAL THINKING lesson plans to help teachers introduce the idea of criterion based decision making

Plus, we made the activity look visually appealing for school. Check it out!

Psst. it’s free 2 hours and 101 slides / pages of free content.

The original activity comes from PACE: Profession of Arms Centre of Excellence which is a dedicated champion to strengthening Air Force culture. 

• The Pace website provides a variety of tools on their teamwork page . 
• These include a series of TEAMBUILDER activities including the  original “Lost at Sea” activity

Information presented on AF.mil is considered public information.

AF.mil is provided as a public service by the Office of the Secretary of Air Force (Public Affairs). Information presented on AF.mil is considered public information and may be distributed or copied. Use of appropriate byline/photo/image credits is requested. SOURCE: https://www.af.mil/Disclaimer/

So, in this Educircles version of Lost at Sea, this activity has been adapted to highlight the importance of criteria based thinking (critical thinking), instead of relying solely on emotional intuitive responses.

In the original activity:

• Students are divided into groups. 
• They are given a hypothetical scenario where they are on a yacht in the middle of the ocean. 
• The yacht catches on fire and the students are given a list of 15 items that they need to rank in order of importance. 
• At the end, the answers are given. (Rankings provided by an expert, in this case, the US Coast Guard) 

The original goal according to PACEsetter is a tabletop scenario designed to 

• “help individuals work together in a time constrained environment, 
• collaborate on how a project should best be accomplished and 
• experience pressure to go along with the crowd and see the consequences.” 

Lost at Sea is also a fantastic opportunity to help us think more critically.

In this Educircles version, we suggest three strategies to help students think more critically:

Use criteria 

Be open-minded.

• Be full minded  (have lots of high quality information to help make an informed decision)

We have adapted the original activity for students as follows:

• We provide a high-interest, visually appealing slideshow to introduce and explain the activity, objects, and answers to students.
• We explain with images and words what each of the 15 items are.
• We provide student worksheet that allows students to record their ranking based on their individual thinking, group thinking  and  based on criteria.

At the end of the activity, we invite students to think about strategies that might help them to 

• trick other people, and 
• think about strategies that might help them to think more critically.

Ultimately, the goal is to begin a conversation about what critical thinking is, and what it is not.

Critical Thinking Strategies used in the Lost at Sea Activity

• After students have had an opportunity to rank the 15 items based on their individual ideas, and group ideas, students are then given the criteria that the experts used.
• Criteria are a set of rules that we can use to help us make decisions. 
• In this case, the criteria (according to the US Coast Guard) are to select objects that 1) attract attention to ourselves, and 2)help us to stay alive until we are rescued. 
• in any group scenario, team members can disagree because they’re coming from different perspectives. 
• In critical thinking, it’s important to be able to stay open-minded and accept that other people’s points of view might be equally valid and deserve careful consideration.
• In fact in this scenario, some objects can be used in different ways – and depending on how they are used, they might be rank higher or lower. 
• It’s up to the students to try to remain open-minded and consider opposing points of view. 
• For example, the oil and gas mixture could be used as fuel for an engine. However, the criteria is not to try to get the land, but to stay alive until we are rescued. So from that perspective the oil and gas mixture might not be very useful. 
• On the other hand, the oil and gas mixture can be lit and create a visible signal that can be seen from far away. In this case, this item becomes incredibly useful under the goal of attracting attention to ourselves.

Be full minded (have lots of high quality information to help you make an informed decision)

• One of the challenges of this activity is that students don’t always know what all the items are, or why they might be significant. 
• In our slideshow, we explain what each item is and we provide a little bit of background information to help students make an informed decision about how to use the item. 

LOST AT SEA ACTIVITY LESSON PLAN:

Note:  the slides from this Taste of Critical Thinking come from our larger “ Exploring the 6Cs – Chapter 6 Critical Thinking ” lesson package, specifically the following slides:  1-35, 36-80, 97-101

How to make informed decisions (Critical Thinking Lesson Plans)

Critical thinking lesson plans help students make informed decisions by using strategies: use criteria, be open minded, identify bias, etc. Learn More

LOST AT SEA – DAY/LESSON 1 – Introduction / Lost at Sea Activity (slides 1-35) – 45 MIN 

• Introduce concept of Critical Thinking (slides 1-7) – 5 min
• MINDS ON! Brainstorm strategies to trick people / think critically (slide 8) – 5 min
• Introduction of scenario (slides 9-17) – 5 minutes
• Explanation of handout / items (slides 18-33) – 5 min
• Independent work period (slide 34) – 5 min
• Step 2: IN GROUPS (slide 35) – 20 minutes

LOST AT SEA – DAY/LESSON 2 –  Lost at Sea Activity continued (slides 36-80) – 55 MIN

• Explain criteria (slides 36-39) – 5 min
• Review items (slides 40-54) – 5 min
• Work Period (slide 56) 10 min
• Instructions (slide 57-58)
• Answers with explanations (slides 59-73)
• Step 5: Calculate Individual Scores
• Step 6: Calculate Group Scores
• Step 7: Calculate Criteria Scores
• Discussion (slide 78-79) – 5 min
• Reflection: Brainstorm strategies to trick people / think critically (slide 80) – 5 minutes
• Discussion: Obstacles and strategies (slides 81-85) – 5 minutes

How do you do the Lost at Sea activity with your students?

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The Best Problem-Solving & Critical Thinking Team Building Activities, Games & Ideas! Virtual & In-person!

January 19, 2023

Eugene Alcide

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"Problem-solving is arguably one of the most crucial skills and aptitudes for your team to develop. Improving your team's problem-solving skills will enhance the creativity and innovation aptitudes of your team! When you incorporate critical thinking into a fun and engaging team-building activity, you're onto a winner!"

In most cases, teams can see problems and complications as a barrier. Critical thinking team building activities allow your team to widen their train of thought to see roadblocks as opportunities for growth, personal development, and innovation! It is one of the most important skills to develop with your team. No matter what your job title is, you will always experience roadblocks and complications, problem-solving games are one of the best ways to not only improve employee engagement but also help develop your teams' soft skills! So let's dive straight into our list!

1. Virtual Escape Rooms

Virtual escape rooms take our number one spot when it comes to problem-solving and critical thinking ideas. Escape games require strategy as well as an out-of-the-box thought process in order to get through the action-packed puzzles, red hearings, and brain-teasing moments. This activity is the perfect way to improve your team's communication whilst improving their problem-solving skills. Virtual escape rooms are fun to play in and will always keep your team on their toes!

Arctic Survival - Will see your team take part in an arctic expedition and you've suddenly been separated from your main group! It's cold, it's dark and the storm is closing in! You'll need to use everything available to you inside any shelters you can find as you unlock riddles, and clues and take on 3 exciting levels! Your team will need to use image recognition and augmented reality to get through all of the interactive challenges! Play Now

Art Heist - Don't panic, but you've just been framed for an art heist and even worse, you're locked in the art gallery! You'll need to use the clues around you to escape before the police arrive. You are 100% innocent, but think of how it will look if you don't get out in time and the police arrive, you'll need a day to explain the mix-up! You and your team will use the interactive clues and challenges to see if you can crack the code to make it out in time. Find those clues to avoid spending a life behind bars! Play Now

Zombie Apocalypse - Calling all The Walking Dead Fans! In this suspenseful game, your team will be virtually transported to a post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested city of London. The aim is to survive, just like in The Walking Dead! You'll need to hurry and complete 12 sets of challenges across 3 levels. Each level will comprise of puzzles, codebreaking, challenges, and riddles! There will even be the use of Google Street View and what3words, which will really immerse your team into the location! Play Now

2. CSI Team Building Jury Games

Nothing says problem-solving quite like Jury service games ! Your team will immerse yourselves into the courtroom to observe some very complex cases! This is the perfect team building game for really challenging your team's problem-solving and critical thinking skills, as your team will need to dive into evidence files, read witnesses' statements and even listen to relevant phone calls to form your narrative. There is so much for your team to unpack and it will really challenge your team to apply their critical thinking, whilst working together and communicating! Jury games are full of loads of red hearings, so be sure not to take everything at face value. You'll also need to decide if the defendant is guilty or innocent!

MacLean House Jewellery Heist

The case of solving a high-end jewelry heist which is definitely a case of organised crime! Your team will need to decide the fate of a man that is currently standing trial. You'll have to review the case files and evidence all in the name of deciding if the defendant is innocent or guilty! A man's fate is in your team's hands! Play Now

The Vanderwit Murder

Your team will need to decide the fate of a father who is standing trial for the supposed murder of his son! You'll need to put your detective and critical thinking hats on to decide whether you think he is guilty or innocent! Be sure to go through the evidence thoroughly, as with any jury case there will always be some red hearings! Play Now

3. Murder Mystery Team Building Activities

Murder mystery games are another favorite of ours. These games are perfect for encouraging your team to apply both critical and problem-solving logic to the situation being analysed. Your team will need to balance speed and precision to investigate the murder. Strategy is so important with these games as naturally, everyone has their strengths, and weaknesses, and delegating the tasks to suit everyone's strengths will also help your team to improve their communication and overall cohesion. Most importantly, murder mystery games are fun and when it comes to bringing teams together, fun is one of the most important elements to consider!

Murder On The Train

We've got some bad news, there's been a murder! We're hoping your team can help us solve this case, so be sure to bring your best detectives in order to solve this mystery. You'll need to work together to solve the clues, piece together the evidence and work out who the killer is. The train conductor, Raul will be your best guide for this, or will you suspect him as well? You'll have just 1 hour to catch the killer! Play Now

Murder On The Slopes

You and your team are on your way to a wonderful ski resort when things suddenly take a deadly turn! One of the resort's staff has gone missing! Everyone is now considered a suspect, it's up to you and your team to figure out who the murderer is. The aim of the activity is to earn as many points as possible but more importantly, find out who the killer is. The evidence board will be your best friend in this situation. So get ready to uncover clues via augmented reality as well as some red-hearing interactive challenges. Will your team solve this chilling case in time? Play Now

Manor House Murder

7 people attended a school reunion, but only 6 left alive! We need your team to explore the manor house, work through the evidence and catch the killer before it's too late! As top detectives, you'll need to use the interactive evidence and examine the witness cards as you progress your way through the crime scene. Get ready to use image recognition as well as augmented reality to try to piece together the jigsaw in order to create a timeline to catch the elusive killer! Grab your magnifying glasses, check for fingerprints and catch the killer before it's too late! Play Now

4. The Pitch

Nothing says critical thinking and problem solving like The Pitch . The Pitch is a team game based on the popular US and UK tv show, The Apprentice! Your team will work together to create a product, as part of the process, you'll develop, market, and pitch your ideas to see if you can make a case to be on the winning team! Strategy will be key here, as you'll need to delegate tasks that play to each individual team member's strengths. You'll even need to pick your own project manager, just like The Apprentice! Get ready to create marketing, finance, and design teams as you head to the studio to design your product and logo to bring your team's vision to light! Play Now

Why Organise a Problem-Solving Team Activity?

Bringing your team together is always a good way of improving team comradery! It's even better when you combine fun into an activity that helps develop and encourages your team to build on their problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. Why not view our range of London treasure hunts , indoor team games , office party games , and virtual team building activities ?

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10 team building games that stimulate critical thinking in students.

A sure-shot way to groom the next generation for education is to promote critical thinking. Yes, there’s a lot to learn in terms of curriculum and textbooks, but education is more than that. Other skills that include how to get along with peers and work well with others must be honed too. This is not something that can be cultured through memorization or with strategically placed posters.

Cooperating and peer engagement should be practiced by students in order to improve social dynamics.

Here are ten team building games that promote cooperation and communication to establish a positive environment in the classroom along with a fun reprieve from a monotonous schedule.

This activity is more suitable for older children who can follow safety instructions as it can get messy working with raw eggs. The aim of this exercise is to find a way to save the egg in a creative collaboration. It could involve finding a soft landing spot or creating a device that could guide the egg safely to the ground. There’s a lot of space for the children’s creativity along with problem-solving abilities to kick in.

2. Minefield

Another classic team-building game, Minefield builds communication and trust among the students. It includes the arrangement of some sort of obstacle course and divides students into teams. Students take turns piloting the “minefield” while blindfolded, with only the guidance of their teammates to steer them. To make it more interesting, you could also ask students to use certain words or clues to make it challenging or content-area specific.

Zoom is a standard schoolroom cooperative game that promotes communication and creative collaboration. The students must simply form a circle and each must take a unique picture of an object, animal or anything else. A story is then introduced which must incorporate whatever happens to be on their assigned photo. The next student continues the story, incorporating their photo, and so on.

4. The Worst-Case Scenario

In this game, a scenario must be fabricated in which students would need to work together and solve problems to succeed. For example, being stranded on a deserted island or getting lost at sea. They must work together to create a solution that ensures everyone arrives safely. This instills better communication and problem-solving. You could ask them to come up with a list of 10 must-have items that would help them most, or a creative passage to safety. Everyone must agree to the final solution, therefore you should encourage them to vote.

5. If You Build It

A flexible game that encourages communication and problem-solving, the ‘If you build it’ activity can be reused throughout the year by changing the materials to specific content areas. Divide the students into teams and give them equal amounts of material like blocks or dried up spaghetti or marshmallows. Using these materials, the students must construct something as a team. It could be a building or a castle or a car, for that matter.

6. A Shrinking Vessel

In addition to teamwork, this game requires a good deal of strategy. The rules might seem simple but it is deceptive in that aspect. With a good amount of creativity, and problem-solving, the entire group must figure out a way to fit in a space that shrinks over time, until there’s no room left. The boundary can be formed using a rope, a blanket or small traffic cones.

7. It’s a Mystery

Who doesn’t love a good mystery? Designing one that requires the students to hone their problem-solving skills and their communication game, will, in turn, promote cooperation. Each student gets a numbered clue, which would entail them to work together to solve the clues in order. To make it more engaging, the mystery could be devised in such a way, that the students could move from one area to the next, uncovering clues along the way.

8. 4-Way Tug-of-War

Including a little sportsmanship in a teamwork classic, this game is reasonable and easy to implement. To make it more interesting, the ropes must be tied in such a way that three to four teams must participate to tug at once. Another variation could be that some teams could eliminate other teams in a classic tug of war before going head to head.

9. Keep it Real

A simple concept that advocates communication and problem-solving, this open-ended model serves as an excellent test to students. Challenge students to detect and compliantly solve a real problem in their schools or communities. Certain strictures like the time limit, materials, and physical boundaries could be set to help the students gauge their bounds.

10. Go for Gold

Similar to ‘If you build it,’ the teams in this game have a common objective, but instead of having access to only one material, they have a whole supply of materials to choose from. Steps can be devised by teams to create a machine or something that would need some creative collaboration and communication on the student’s part.

Textbook education has its importance, but educators must ensure that students are engaging with each other in eloquent ways. Team-building exercises are a great way to help a child open up their creative side and kick start those wheels that could add to their skill sets.

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10 Critical thinking exercises to keep your team sharp

Sometimes common sense doesn’t seem so common. In an increasingly digital age, it’s important that people can form their own opinions and problem solve using the facts at hand - otherwise known as critical thinking. 

When everyone on your team is able to think critically, you’re more likely to have improved collaboration and cooperation, problem solve quickly, and make better decisions. While common sense isn’t really something that can be learned - critical thinking definitely is. Business leaders and smart managers will find that investing in critical thinking improvement is always worth their time. Here are some of our favorite critical thinking exercises to help your work team enhance their cognitive skills. 

10 Critical thinking exercises for work teams

What is a critical thinking exercise, anyway? Simply put, they are activities designed to help people build and flex their brain muscle. Having better critical thinking capability is helpful in many areas, both personally, and professionally. When it comes to the workforce specifically, critical thinking helps with comprehending or analyzing data, problem solving, breaking down abstract ideas - and generally working smarter, not harder. 

If you feel like your team could use a boost in these areas, why not pull them together for some fun and engaging critical thinking exercise?

1. Explain the problem

You can’t solve a problem that you don’t understand fully. Many times, this is why proposed solutions don’t end up working - they’re not addressing the real issue at hand. To help with that, try this activity with your team. Come up with a problem for them to solve. It can be a generic “what if” scenario, or a specific case study for a real client. If there is a problem you all have been challenged with for a while, you might start there. Explain everything clearly, and then have the next person explain to the group as well. Did they capture the correct information? Do they have a clear understanding of what the issues are? Then have the person they explained to pass along the information. The goal isn’t for this to become a game of telephone, but to see if each person explaining truly comprehends the issue to such a degree that they can explain it to someone else. This exercise is great for not only critical thinking, but also communication skills and general problem solving. You never know, by the end of this session, you may have solved a problem that’s been plaguing you! 

2. Work backwards

Few things in the workplace are as frustrating as working on a problem for a long time without coming to a conclusion. In many instances, people hit a form of mental block if they’ve been working on a certain challenge for a while without much forward momentum. In these cases, use this exercise to get everyone to think of things in a different way. A new perspective might be just what everyone needs. Rather than having all of your previous work and information in your mind, start with the end result that you want to achieve. For example, if you have been trying to get your sales team to adopt a new CRM system, but they aren’t using it, you might pause and figure out what the end goal really is. Why is it that you need them to use this CRM system? What are you trying to achieve? You’ll likely find that what you want is a system populated with accurate and consistent customer data. Once you know that this result is the true goal you need to reach, you might start thinking about other ways to get there. Maybe the CRM adoption isn’t the problem at all; maybe there is another reason the sales team isn’t using it. The point is: stop working under the pretenses you already labored under. Go straight to what you hope will happen and start working backwards to see what new scenarios you can uncover. 

3. Develop a mind map

Visual aids can be a powerful tool when addressing new challenges or seeing things in a new way. One simple way to start is with a mind map that plots different outcomes based on different scenarios or arguments. It’s essentially one big “If this, then that” scenario, where you can get a visual understanding of what could potentially happen based on several different paths. As an example, let's say you’re trying to figure out if a troublesome client is worth keeping on. Map out a few different scenarios, such as “no, let them go”, “yes, keep them”, “keep them in a limited capacity”, etc. For each of these, address the potential outcomes and what those options might look like. It’s best to do this on a real or digital white board, or some people like to use several post-it notes that can be moved and placed where appropriate. This makes it easier to not only capture all of your options, but to consider some of the effects you may not have thought of before. Plus, it gives your team a great visual to return to for conversations. 

4. Read - and read some more

Though this seems overly simple and not like an “exercise” at all, it’s great advice for nearly all teams. Reading various materials exposes everyone to new ideas, new concepts, and new perspectives. Plus, it’s an important way of making sure your brain gets at least some exercise every day. All types of reading are beneficial, from a morning newspaper to an in-depth historical novel. Choose some reading material that you’ve found particularly helpful, along with some that pertain to your industry or subject matter, and set them out in a resource section in the office. You might also consider starting a monthly book club or even a group message board where people can leave reviews, ask questions, and generally discuss reading material. If you want to take things a step further, create a reading challenge where people can get points and earn prizes for time spent reading. 

5. Host a debate

Competitive debate is something many people are passionate about - but even for those who don’t particularly enjoy it, there are benefits. Organize your team into two groups and give them a topic to debate. We suggest avoiding topics that are overly sensitive like politics or hot-button cultural issues. Ideally, it’s a subject that’s new to both of them, so that no one has an unfair advantage. Give them time to complete some research and prepare their thoughts, and then debate with each other in good faith. This is great practice for creating more structured arguments and organizing a variety of information. We suggest avoiding topics that are overly sensitive like politics or hot-button cultural issues. 

6. Learn about logical fallacies

In formal logic circles, experts have identified several common fallacies that tend to occur over and over in arguments. If you can learn about these, and be able to pick them out of arguments, you have a much better chance of thinking critically through an issue. You can find them in conversations or even your own thoughts, which adds a lot of value to intense discussions. You might host a workshop or a lunch and learn where these are covered in detail, and then have a quiz or engaging activity where arguments are presented and people must pick out the fallacies present. 

Here are the most common logical fallacies: 

• Ad hominem: When a position is attacked based on an individual’s personal character or other attributes, rather than its own merit. 
• Non sequitur: When the conclusion of an argument doesn’t logically follow from the original premise. 
• Slippery slope: In this fallacy, someone asserts that a chain of extraneous events is bound to occur if they allow their opponent's argument.
• Motte and Bailey: This happens when a debater defends a controversial position by intentionally confusing it with a similar but less controversial assertion.
• Appeal to authority: This can often occur when an individual asserts the truth of their argument simply by citing an authoritative source.
• Begging the question: This is a common fallacy in which an individual assumes the conclusion of their argument on their premises.

7. Ladder of inference exercise

Each of us naturally makes inferences as part of our human decision-making process, and understanding how we do that can be really helpful. Start by discussing a common scenario, and then write down the assumptions that might be used to draw conclusions. For example, if you see a professional contact at a networking event, but they turn away when they see you, what could that mean? Our brains immediately start to infer things, such as “They are mad at my company”, or “They don’t like me.” Have your team list out the possible reasons this could have happened, and then talk about other reasons that they did not automatically conclude. This is a great practice for helping people to think critically through everyday situations, rather than letting their own minds run away with them. For more problem solving games or team-building brain teasers , make sure to follow our blog. 

8. The “Five Whys” technique

This is an analytical skill that can help people to  uncover the source of a problem. The core tenant of the concept is repeatedly asking “why?” when a problem is encountered to determine its root cause. You may need several rounds of questioning; just keep going. The most beneficial part that helps you practice critical thinking is the process of asking "why?" and uncovering the deeper issues affecting a situation. Here’s a simple example. Your computer keeps crashing. Why? Because the computer keeps running out of memory. Why? Because I have too many programs running at once. Why? Because I’m trying to multitask. Why? Etc. Come up with some scenarios and help your team to work through several scenarios as practice. 

9. Practice inversion

This is a form of critical thinking that can be used in almost any situation, and involves playing the role of devil’s advocate in a situation. To try it, adopt the opposite view of whatever the general consensus is on an issue. This helps you to explore and also consider other options than the ones that immediately come to mind. For example, if you are considering developing a new product line, start by listing all of the reasons why that might be a bad idea (limited resources, too expensive, etc). Only when you clearly understand these potential negatives can you fully work through the pros and cons of such a decision. 

10. Opinion vs. fact

Our current digital world makes it increasingly common to confuse opinions with facts. Sensationalist articles and click-bait headlines are huge contributors to this problem. It’s essential that your team can discern fact from opinion - in their personal and professional lives. Practice this skill by reading an article or listening to the news with your team, and having them go through each statement sharing what is opinion and what is fact. For example, “The DOW hit this number on Friday.” is a fact, while “This market is tremendous for stock-holders” is an opinion. You can even make copies of an article and have everyone use different colored highlighters to show what is fact vs. opinion. 

👉 For more team building activities for work , such as team-building puzzles or games for creativity and innovation, make sure to subscribe to our blog.

Make critical thinking a component of your team retreats

A great team-building retreat is a robust combination of fun, learning, and skill building. These critical thinking exercises, along with activities like team-building activities, leadership activities , and team ideation techniques can all go a long way toward building your best team. A series of fun and engaging activities that helps your staff to get to know each other and the company better is ideal.

If you aren’t sure how to put together an effective agenda, reach out to Surf Office . We help companies of all sizes to pull off memorable work retreats that teams look forward to each year.

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Become a better critical thinker with these 7 critical thinking exercises

Critical thinking is a skill you can use in any situation. Whether you're a student, entrepreneur, or business executive, critical thinking can help you make better decisions and solve problems.

But learning critical thinking skills isn't always an easy task. Many tools, techniques, and strategies are available, and choosing the right one can be challenging. Vague suggestions on the internet like "read more" aren't very helpful, and elaborate business examples don’t apply to many of us.

As average problem-solvers, we need actionable thinking exercises to improve our critical thinking skills and enhance our thinking processes. Regularly performing exercises that specifically stretch our decision-making and reasoning skills is the most effective method of improving our thinking abilities.

This article will explore several exercises that will help you develop critical thinking skills. Whether you are preparing for an exam, making an influential decision for your business, or going about your daily life, these fun activities can build your reasoning skills and creative problem-solving abilities.

Boost your logical thinking skills and start practicing a critical mindset with these 10 critical thinking exercises.

A Quick Look at Critical Thinking

As a thoughtful learner, you likely already understand the basics of critical thinking, but here's a quick refresher.

Critical thinking involves analyzing problems or issues objectively and rationally. Critical thinkers are able to understand their own biases and assumptions, as well as those of others. They’re also able to see the world from a different point of view and understand how their experiences impact their thinking.

Developing critical thinking skills is essential because it allows us to see things from multiple perspectives, identify biases and errors in reasoning, and be open to possible solutions. Making informed decisions is easier when we have a better understanding of the world around us.

Why We Need to Practice Critical Thinking

We aren't born with critical thinking skills, and they don’t naturally develop beyond survival-level thinking. To master critical thinking, we must practice it and develop it over time.

However, learning to think critically isn't as easy as learning to ride a bicycle. There aren't any step-by-step procedures to follow or supportive guides to fall back on, and it is not taught in public schools consistently or reliably. To ensure students' success, teachers must know higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) and how to teach them, research says.

Unfortunately, although teachers understand the importance of HOTS and attempt to teach it, studies show that their capacity to measure students' HOTS is low. Educator and author Dr. Kulvarn Atwal says, "It seems that we are becoming successful at producing students who are able to jump through hoops and pass tests."

As critical thinking skills become more important in higher grades, some students find it challenging to understand the concept of critical thinking. To develop necessary thinking skills, we must set aside our assumptions and beliefs. This allows us to explore and question topics from a "blank page" point of view and distinguish fact from opinion.

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7 Critical Thinking Exercises To Improve Your Critical Thinking Skills

The good news is that by assessing, analyzing, and evaluating our thought processes, we can improve our skills. Critical thinking exercises are key to this improvement. Our critical thinking builds and improves with regular practice, just like a muscle that gets stronger with use.

If you want to become a better critical thinker , here are some critical thinking exercises to try:

Exercise #1: The Ladder of Inference

You can exercise your critical thinking skills by using the Ladder of Inference model . This thinking model was developed by renowned organizational psychologist Chris Argyris. Each rung on the ladder of inference represents a step you take to arrive at your conclusions.

The decision-making process starts when we are faced with a problem or situation. As soon as we observe something problematic or important, we presume what is causing it, and then we use that assumption to draw conclusions. Based on those conclusions, we take action.

For example, say you're at a party and see a friend across the room. You catch their eye and wave, but they turn and walk away. Using the ladder, you might climb the rungs as follows:

• Observe that your friend walked away.
• Select a few details of the situation, including your wave and your assumption that they saw you.
• Meaning is attached based on the environment, making you think your friend must have other people to talk to at the party.
• Assumptions are made based on that meaning, assuming that means your friend doesn’t like you as much as them.
• Conclusions are drawn from the assumption, and you determine that your friend must be mad at you or doesn't want you to be at the party.
• Beliefs are formed, making you think you're not welcome.
• Action is taken, and you leave the party.

In this example, you started with a situation (someone walking away at a crowded party) and made a series of inferences to arrive at a conclusion (that the person is mad at you and doesn't want you there).

The Ladder of Inference can be a helpful tool to frame your thinking because it encourages you to examine each step of your thought process and avoid jumping to conclusions. It's easy to make assumptions without realizing it, as in this scene. Perhaps your friend never even saw you wave from across the crowded room.

Exercise #2: The Five Whys

The "Five Whys" technique is an analytical skill that can help you uncover the source of a problem. The activity was created by Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyota, and consists of repeatedly asking “why?” when a problem is encountered to determine its root cause.

This exercise can be difficult because knowing if you've discovered the source of your problem is challenging. The "five" in "Five Whys" is just a guideline — you may need to ask more. When you can't ask anything else, and your response is related to the original issue, you've probably arrived at the end.

Even if you need several rounds of questioning, just keep going. The important part that helps you practice critical thinking is the process of asking "why?" and uncovering the deeper issues affecting the situation.

For instance, say you're trying to figure out why your computer keeps crashing.

• You ask " why ," and the answer is that there's a software problem.
• Why? Because the computer keeps running out of memory.
• Why? Because too many programs are running at the same time.
• Why? Because too many browser tabs are open .
• Why? Because multitasking is fragmenting your focus, you're doing too many things at once.

In this example, working through the "why's" revealed the underlying cause. As a result, you can find the best solution, which is concentrating on just one thing at a time.

Exercise #3: Inversion

Inversion is another critical thinking exercise that you can use in any situation. Inversion is sort of like taking on the role of the devil's advocate. In this exercise, adopt the opposite view of whatever issue you're exploring and consider the potential arguments for that side. This will help broaden your critical thinking skills and enable you to see other perspectives on a situation or topic more clearly.

For example, let's say you're thinking about starting your own business. Using inversion, you would explore all of the potential arguments for why starting your own business is bad. This might include concerns like:

• You could end up in debt.
• The business might fail.
• It's a lot of work.
• You might not have time for anything else.

By exploring these potentially adverse outcomes, you can identify the potential risks involved in starting your own business and make a more sound decision. You might realize that now is not the right time for you to become an entrepreneur. And if you do start the company, you'll be better prepared to deal with the issues you identified when they occur.

Exercise #4: Argument Mapping

Argument mapping can be a beneficial exercise for enhancing critical thinking skills. Like mind mapping, argument mapping is a method of visually representing an argument's structure. It helps analyze and evaluate ideas as well as develop new ones.

In critical thinking textbooks, argument diagramming is often presented to introduce students to argument constructions. It can be an effective way to build mental templates or schema for argument structures, which researchers think may make critical evaluation easier .

Argument maps typically include the following:

• Conclusion: What is being argued for or against
• Premises: The reasons given to support the conclusion
• Inferences: The connections made between the premises and conclusion

The argument map should be as clear and concise as possible, with a single word or phrase representing each element. This will help you make connections more easily. After the map is completed, you can use it to identify any weak points in the argument. If any areas aren't well-supported, additional premises can be added.

Argument mapping can be applied to any situation that requires critical thinking skills. The more time you take to map out an argument, the better you'll understand how the pieces fit together. Ultimately, this will help you think more creatively and critically, and make more informed decisions.

Exercise #5: Opinion vs. Fact

Critical thinking activities that focus on opinions and facts are particularly valuable and relevant new learning opportunities. Our constantly-connected world makes it easy to confuse opinions and facts , especially with sensationalist news articles and click-bait headlines.

How can you tell a fact from an opinion? Facts are generally objective and established, whereas opinions are subjective and unproven. For example, "the cloud is in the air" is a fact. "That dress looks good on you" is an opinion.

Practice your critical thinking skills by reading or listening to the news. See if you can identify when someone is stating an opinion rather than a fact. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Who is saying what? What reasons might be behind their statements?
• Does the claim make sense? Who would disagree with it and why?
• How can you tell if the data is reliable? Can it be fact-checked? Has it been shared by other credible publishers?
• How do you know whether or not the presenter is biased? What kind of language is being used?

This powerful exercise can train your mind to start asking questions whenever presented with a new claim. This will help you think critically about the information you're taking in and question what you're hearing before accepting it as truth.

Exercise #6: Autonomy of an Object

In her book " The Critical Thinking Tool Kit ," Dr. Marlene Caroselli describes a critical thinking exercise called "Living Problems, Lively Solutions." This exercise uses the autonomy of an object as a problem-solving tool to find a possible solution.

To do this, you'll personify your problem and place it in another context — a different time or place. This allows you to uncover unique solutions to the problem that might be tied to your mental associations with that setting.

For example, if your problem is poor time management , you might personify the issue as a thief of your time. The idea of a thief could make you think of jail, which might prompt thoughts of locking up specific distractions in your life. The idea of jail could also make you think of guards and lead you to the possible solution of checking in with an accountability buddy who can make sure you're sticking to your schedule.

The autonomy-of-object technique works because it stimulates thoughts you wouldn’t have considered without the particular context in which you place the problem.

Exercise #7: The Six Thinking Hats

Designed by Edward de Bono, the Six Thinking Hats is a critical thinking exercise that was created as a tool for groups to use when exploring different perspectives on an issue. When people use other thinking processes, meetings can become challenging rather than beneficial.

To help teams work more productively and mindfully, de Bono suggests dividing up different styles of thinking into six categories, represented as hats:

• The white hat is objective and focuses on facts and logic
• The red hat is intuitive, focusing on emotion and instinct
• The black hat is cautious and predicts negative outcomes
• The yellow hat is optimistic and encourages positive outcomes
• The green hat is creative, with numerous ideas and little criticism
• The blue hat is the control hat used for management and organization

With each team member wearing a different hat, a group can examine an issue or problem from many different angles, preventing one viewpoint (or individual) from dominating the meeting or discussion. This means that decisions and solutions reached using the Six Thinking Hats approach will likely be more robust and effective, and everyone’s creative thinking skills will benefit.

Train Your Brain With Critical Thinking Exercises

Using critical thinking regularly in various situations can improve our ability to evaluate and analyze information. These seven critical thinking exercises train your brain for better critical thinking skills . With daily practice, they can become habits that will help you think more critically each day.

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12 Wacky & Fun 5 Minute Team Building Activities For Work In 2024

When we hear “team building activities,” many of us think of office scavenger hunts , murder mysteries , escape rooms , and brewery tours (all GREAT examples, by the way).

But team building doesn’t have to be an all-day event, covering a whiteboard full of agenda topics. Booking calendar time for some synergetic 5-minute team-building exercises can be a game changer.

It’s just as easy to carve out time to play 5-minute games for virtual meetings as well. Make it an icebreaker game or use it to close out the meeting. Either way, 5-minute team building activities for work have a big impact on your company culture.

Not only are 5-minute team building games a brilliant idea because… well… we’re busy. And it’s only 5 minutes. But they’re also perfect because, no matter the size or location of your teams, it’s easy to slide a fun activity into a 5-minute time limit.

You can plan 5-minute team building activities for small groups just as easily as you can for large groups, and the same for virtual team building activities.

Be the boss who preplans energetic 5-minute office games. Or pivot to 5-minute games for online meetings if you’re connecting remote teams. Pull the entire team together and give everyone a breather with one of these fantastically fun 5-minute team building ideas.

1. Propose an icebreaker question at your next meeting

🚨 What is an icebreaker question?

An icebreaker question is simply a question you can ask your team members that allows them to reveal a little about themselves that may not be work-related. Which Olympic event would you compete in if you could choose any of them? What’s your favorite place that you’ve traveled to? These questions open up conversations and allow dialogue to flow easily among coworkers, even after the 5-minutes are up.

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: You can learn so much about your employees and coworkers with icebreaker questions. No wrong answers, just breaking the ice with fun, organic responses.

2. Instant Meme

🚨 What is Instant Meme?

We communicate so often with just gifs and memes, they’ve practically become their own language. With Instant Meme , the players flex their teamwork muscles to match the best ones to the random prompts they’re given, then everyone votes on which is the funniest. Warning – this can be a gut-buster!

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: Everyone loves memes! And 5 minutes of laughing with your team can change the whole vibe for the rest of the workday.

3. Icebreaker Quiz

🚨 What is an Icebreaker Quiz?

A scheduled, virtual team building icebreaker quiz is delivered to your inbox. You can set up your own or use a tool like QuizBreaker to automate this entire process. Simply follow these steps:

• Step 1: Invite your team to answer fun icebreaker questions
• Step 2: Take five minutes to guess the correct answers
• Step 3: Learn more about your coworkers while seeing who is crowned the winner

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: It can be sent out to your employees’ email inboxes so that they can play whenever they have a few minutes in their schedule. Managers can reveal the results and congratulate the winner at the beginning of your next team meeting.

4. Meeting Mini Games

🚨 What are Meeting Mini Games?

With The Go Game’s menu of Mini Games , it’s tough to get bored of the same ole, same ole. They offer 24 self-hosted mini games for quick team building brilliance. Whether it’s a lip sync battle or a dash-through-the-house scavenger hunt , these 5-minute meeting games are great for getting everyone in a good mood.

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: The variety of games really keeps things fun and interesting. And you have an opportunity to learn a lot about your employees in just 5 short minutes.

5. Spread Some Gratitude

🚨 What is Spread Some Gratitude?

Open up your recognition platform piggy bank and spread some love using Slack to other team members in your organization. With this tool you can create a dedicated space for showing gratitude. The team at SnackNation uses the #gratitudewall on a daily basis to send appreciation messages to each other!

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: We all like to feel appreciated, especially at work. Taking 5 minutes to spread some gratitude using Slack has a positive effect that lasts long after those 300 seconds have passed.

6. Show and Tell (Pet Edition)

🚨 What is Show and Tell (Pet Edition)?

About 70% of US residents have a pet (or pets), and chances are, most of them love to brag on their “babies.” This simple but fun game gives everyone a chance to show off their favorite companions, whether they’re two or four-legged, feathered, slithery, scaly, swimmy, and more.

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: Our pets bring a sense of ease and comfort to our lives. Taking 5 minutes to revisit those calm feelings can put everyone in a relaxed and open state of mind, and offers some team bonding over a shared interest.

7. Two Truths And A Lie

🚨 What is Two Truths And A Lie?

Put everyone’s human lie-detector skills to the test and see who fancies themselves a master manipulator with a five-minute game of Two Truths And A Lie. Each person presents two truthful statements and one sneaky little lie about themselves to the group. The rest of the team then has to guess which is actually the lie.

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: You can get really creative with this one, plus it discreetly puts everyone’s communication skills to the test. And some of the things you’ll learn about your colleagues may have you ROFL.

8. 5-Minute Mafia Game  

🚨 What is 5-Minute Mafia Game?

Kinda like a speed round of roleplaying. Each team member is assigned a character on either the Mafia or civilian teams but doesn’t know anyone else’s assignment. The objective is to be on the side that dominates and runs the other team out of town (or… whatever the Mafia does to hypothetically make people “go away”).

Pro Tip: If you want to extend the fun past 5 minutes, give the Virtual Clue Murder Mystery a shot.

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: This is a great idea as a “continuing series” in your team meetings. Each meeting could start with 5 minutes of roleplaying where the last 5-minute episode left off.

9. 5-Minute Team Trivia

🚨 What is 5-Minute Team Trivia?

Toss in a little 5-minute competition with coworker-specific trivia questions for your whole team to take a shot at. Mix in a variety of categories, add a tiebreaker, and voila! Five minutes to have a little fun, detach from work just a bit and engage in a team bonding group activity like online trivia .

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: What’s more perfect for hybrid and remote teams than a trivia game from QuizBreaker ? Super fun questions get teammates involved and a little friendly interoffice rivalry never hurt anyone. This is the kind of team building activity that you can build into weekly meetings or standups to boost engagement at your company.

10. Who am I?

🚨 What is Who Am I?

Each person writes a secret about themselves on a piece of paper- something their coworkers wouldn’t necessarily know about them. The rest of the group then has to guess who each secret belongs to. Bet you never guessed that the intern who rarely speaks, actually has a podcast on something super interesting that your team may want to tune in to and support.

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: Learning about your employees’ interesting (and sometimes eclectic) lives helps you relate to them on a deeper level, and creates stronger bonds with their coworkers, all in just 5 minutes.

11. Send a cocktail kit to sip on a beverage during an afternoon meeting

🚨 What is a cocktail kit?

We’re so glad you asked! A cocktail kit is a super convenient arrangement of everything you need to fix a fabulous after-hours cocktail. The best part is that you get to decide what defines “after hours.” Go ahead and give your team 5 minutes to prep their potions and join the Zoom meeting with a little zing. You can order the Happy Hour Swag Pack to the office or send it straight to your guests’ doorsteps if your meeting is virtual!

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes: There’s no rule saying that happy hour only exists inside a bar or lounge. Five minutes is plenty of time for everyone to open their cocktail kit, clink some ice in a glass, and concoct a relaxing drink (or mocktail) to sip during an afternoon team meeting.

12. Mindfulness Bingo

🚨 What is Mindfulness Bingo?

Download a digital bingo card that will inspire your team to cultivate more mindfulness at work.

Take five minutes to send out the bingo card to your employees and see who can complete their bingo card and practice some mindfulness strategies when you have a few minutes during your work day.

The Mindfulness Bingo template was created by the folks at Bonusly who offer free templates to engage with your team. Even if you only have five minutes at the beginning or end of a meeting.

Does your team need a pick-me-up? At SnackNation, we use Bonusly to help us improve engagement and build camaraderie with our distributed teams. 👉 Try Bonusly’s recognition platform for free here to start appreciating the small wins that often times go unnoticed and foster a stronger company culture that delivers results.

👍🏻 Why this is a great team building activity to play in 5 minutes:  It can be sent out to a remote or hybrid team to encourage a healthier lifestyle by taking a few minutes to relax, meditate, drink some water, or complete a new wellness challenge.

Five minutes feels very different depending on the circumstances. Five minutes stuck in traffic on the way to an appointment can feel like an eternity, while those final 5 minutes before your next meeting can have you scrambling to prepare and counting the rapidly-ticking seconds.

“One of the most powerful reasons for team building is to get results. Through a series of planned team building events that are fun and motivational, teams build skills like communication, planning, problem-solving, and conflict resolution.”

Five minutes at work equals 300 seconds of answering emails, updating calendars, returning a missed call, organizing a desk, or any one of a hundred other necessary, yet tedious tasks still on the daily to-do list.

Why not capitalize on the value of 300 whole seconds ?

Believe it or not, just 5 minutes spent doing these types of team bonding activities helps to build trust, improves employee engagement and morale , and is a quick and fun way to improve the overall work environment. Games, in general, improve team spirit and broaden our sense of camaraderie with our coworkers.

Whether your teams are playing in person or managing a remote work situation, 5-minute team building games create opportunities to welcome new team members, promote teamwork, and support your employees’ well-being .

People Also Ask These Questions About 5-minute Team Building Activities

Q: what are some good quick team building activities that take five minutes.

• A: Some good quick team building activities that take five minutes are actually laid out for you in the paragraphs above. Just scroll up a bit.

Q: How do I choose a short team building activity that is only five minutes long?

• A: You can choose a short team building activity that is only five minutes long by knowing your team and what gets them excited. Then choose an activity that’s most engaging for your squad.

Q: What are critical thinking 5-minute team building activities?

• A: An example of a critical thinking 5-minute team building activity would be posing a thought-provoking question , then having your team discuss their answers.

Q: How do I start an icebreaker 5-minute team building activity?

• A: You can start an icebreaker 5-minute team building activity by asking a question like “What three things would you need to survive on a desert island?” Or with any of the other stellar suggestions we’ve made in the above article.

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About SnackNation

SnackNation is a healthy office snack delivery service that makes healthy snacking fun, life more productive, and workplaces awesome. We provide a monthly, curated selection of healthy snacks from the hottest, most innovative natural food brands in the industry, giving our members a hassle-free experience and delivering joy to their offices.

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