Easy Outdoor Team Building Activities for 2022

Team building is very vital to the development of strong teams. It’s crucial in nurturing strong relationships with colleagues, a leading factor to lower employee turnover, higher productivity, and a stronger sense of employee satisfaction.

When thinking of hosting a team building event, managers have two options; virtual team building and outdoor team building. But with the pandemic and everything being virtual in the past few years, it has even been more valuable to take team building outside. Outdoor team building allows the team to change the office atmosphere, breathe fresh air, and have fun while interacting with each other.

But to host an epic outdoor team building event requires a manager to know the latest outdoor group activities that relate more to their team.

Here we outline some of the most engaging outdoor team building activities for 2022.

This post covers:

• Outdoor team building games
• Outdoor team building activities social distancing
• Easy team building activities
• Outdoor Team Building Activities

List of Outdoor Team Buildings

Scavenger Hunts

As one of the most popular outdoor team building games, scavenger hunt offers spectacular adventure. But beyond the fun, it takes the teams’ collaboration and communication to the next level as they follow hints, solve clues and find hidden items. In the scramble for what comes first and the competition to win the game, the team member’s competitive spirit is rebirthed. With just a hunting guide, the members have to come together, make an effective plan to get as much done (or find hidden items) within the given time frame. Let the team adventure the city’s most hidden areas, take team photos, and handle trivia challenges to make the game even more fun and engaging.

Ready to take this outdoor game online? Check out Virtual Scavenger Hunt.

Obstacle Courses Activities

If you’re looking for one team building activity to test the team’s mental and physical strength, the obstacle course is the game for you. The game also challenges the team spirit as the team tries to keep as many team members as possible to the finish line. As the name suggests, the obstacle course game contains a lot of obstacles and adventures such as:

• The ropes course
• Mud games
• Rock climbing
• Crossing high walls
• Fall jump
• Carrying heavy logs
• Ziplining, to name a few.

For the success of this game, the team has to be united, remain positive, encourage, and help the other teammates face their fears and make it through.

The Human Knot Team Building Activity

It's exciting to see all team members try to solve a mystery in the face of a challenge. The human knot challenges the team to handle hurdles together. It may seem simple, as it requires a small space and absolutely no materials. To get started with this game, have the participants in a circle and hold the hands of two different team members on the directly opposite side of the circle. The only instruction they get is to untie the knot created without tearing the circle. This game requires a team of more than 6 people and even numbers.

Laid-back Beach Party

Team beach day parties are guaranteed to bring your team a lot closer. The good thing is this team building activity doesn’t require enormous expense. Just bring the team to BBQ by the beachside. While as it, don’t forget to bring a lot of laid-back games such as team board games, lots of sun cream, freezer ice cream. Of course, your team should not forget their swim trunks.

Check out fun team building activities to play at a laid-back beach party.

Team Building Bike Rides

Team bike rides are a great idea to bring a team together to socialize, build real connections, and have fun over a shared experience. Of course, you want to make this event optional for the sake of team members who don’t know how to ride. Before organizing a cycling event, you want to ensure team members are interested in the event. Cycling in team contexts builds healthy and stronger relationships, improves the motivation to train, and incentive the team members to keep fit.

Corporate Day Hikes

Like team bike rides, corporate day hikes are an excellent team building activity. These day trips can be as extreme as mountain climbing or as simple as nature walks. The benefits of day hikes are numerous, from getting the team out of the office into nature, enjoying the breathtaking sceneries and landscapes, and ensuring team members are physically fit.

Camping

While camping is a great opportunity for your team to escape the everyday office and life routines, some people just won’t like the night in the wild experience. The camping experience can be a great one-off experience to unwind and rejuvenate with less phone contact and disturbances of work emails. It can come with many benefits for the employees mentally and the organization.

With a team of nature lovers and fearless survivalists, you’ll enjoy camping the old-fashioned way; a fire and tents in the wild. But with a more reserved team, you can opt for camping in luxury camping sites – less woody and wild areas. You get the best of both worlds—experience nature, just not the scares.

Outdoor Yoga

Want a more calming outdoor team building activity? Outdoor yoga is your activity. Whether in the park, on the beach, or the rooftop of the office, yoga lets team members enjoy the fresh air while working on their physical health and minds. With just a yoga mat, the team will enjoy a sense of collective wellbeing and community.

Check out how you can host a team yoga activity with an online twist.

Outdoor Concerts

If your team is a fan of a local band or musician, attending an outdoor concert featuring one of the singers can bond them. This team building activity would allow your colleagues to know one another outside of the workplace and bond over their love for songs and dance.

Paintballing

When considering team-building activities for employees, paintball remains a popular choice. In this captivating game, two teams get strategic and creative to eliminate their enemies (in this case, colleagues) and come out as the winning team. For this game, it’s not just the thrill and competitive spirit, but the communication, planning, and working as a team. While at it, be ready to come out with a bruise or two.

Amazing Race

Amazing Race is an adventure-based team building activity that is inspired by the popular TV show – The Amazing Race. The game starts with a route for the participants. In the journey, the team faces challenges, roadblocks, and tasks that they must complete to move to the next step. Such tasks may include taking a picture at a specific location, trying exotic food, use unusual travel methods.

Here are more Amazing Race Games to try with your team.

Field Days/Day Sports

Day Sports offer a great mix of fun because it hosts multiple activities that offer maximum engagement and participation. Think of a full day wholly dedicated to sports, competitions, and challenges. The team can participate in various field sports like crab soccer, tennis, badminton, volleyball, high jumps, tug of war, soccer, and many more.

Race Games

Race games are a crucial part of games and activities in a corporate field day. They emphasize teamwork and acting fast as they involve intense competition. Here are some of the most fun race games to play on a corporate field day. Relay races Three-legged-race Wheelbarrow race Sack race Water and sponge game Egg races

Movie in the Park

Outdoor movies in the park are a common event in most major cities. Why not take advantage of signing up the team into one? Team members will enjoy watching the movie together while enjoying snacks and a good time. Even better, set up your viewing party using a portable projector screen.

Corporate BBQ Team Building Activity

A corporate BBQ is a perfect excuse to get workmates outdoors in the summer and spring. Besides being outdoor, a BBQ is fun and allows for more socialization. It’s more appreciated as it helps team members recharge and strengthen ties out of the office. An engaging BBQ team building activity will include team bonding challenges such as trivia. In a BBQ experience, the team will have a fulfilling experience with coworkers over a perfect culinary delight.

Outdoor Jenga Game

Jenga is one of the outdoor team building events you can play in a team. To get started with the game, all you need is wooden blocks, which you arrange three blocks in each row, rows alternating in direction. The hardest task of the game is to remove blocks from the lower rows and use them to build higher rows—this should happen successfully without toppling the tower. The person or team that caused the tower to fall loses.

The game reminds the team members of the essence of individual efforts in the success of the organization. The game also shows the team to always be ready for the unexpected, as even the most strong-looking tower tumbles.

Assemble Giant Jigsaw Puzzles

Jigsaw puzzles consist of individual pieces that require assembling to make a complete picture. Physical jigsaw pieces would work best for outdoor team building. Putting together these jigsaw pieces tests the team’s observation skills, concentration, and creativity.

Random Acts of Kindness

Looking for an activity to bring your team together while giving back to the community? Random acts of kindness are challenges that can help bring this vision to life. Here, the team will aim at completing random acts that make people smile whether team members or the public at large. The challenge pushes for random out-of-the-comfort acts such as telling a joke to a man on the street and paying for coffee for the next-in-line customer at a coffee shop.

Company Picnic

Any company will benefit from a company picnic. The team bonding achieved in a picnic can have positive financial and cultural benefits. The engaging activities facilitated at a corporate picnic, such as creating an item (say a chair) or icebreakers, are often rewarding by making the team stronger.

Tree Planting

The rate at which trees are cut every day is shocking. With the current environmental call to do something about it, your team can be the change. Corporate tree planting is one way to do this. All you need is to reach out to a reforestation organization, get the team into their garden wear, and start planting trees.

Archery

Archery is an exciting outdoor activity that promotes team concentration and coordination. Try archery as a standalone team activity or as part of team building event. While team members can engage in this activity as individuals, playing archery as a team challenge can get the competitive spirit pumping.

Kayaking

While kayaking might be a new challenging activity for most team members, it’s one of the most fun ways to open a team to new ideas. It challenges the team to find effective ways to think and work together. In safe and comfortable environments, the team will master the mindset and tools to work through new experiences at work.

Water Rafting

Few team building activities match white water rafting as a team building activity. This naturally suited team building activity offers extreme fun as team members paddle in unison to get the raft through the rapid waters. The activity requires incredible teamwork, cooperation, leadership, and communication.

Egg Drop Game

The egg drop is an activity that challenges the team’s problem-solving and collaborative skills. With simple building materials like cardboard, balloons, masking tape, newspaper, and strings, a small group of three to ten members has to creatively get a tray of eggs from the roof of a building without breaking. How fun it would be to watch a team's most creative plans turn into massive failures.

Horseback Riding

Horse riding is a fun activity to incorporate into a team building event. It’s easy to plan and doesn’t require any prior experience to take part. Besides, horse riding is an activity you can experience in any setting—the forest, beach, lowlands.

Charity Work

If you’ve been overlooking charity events and social work as a potential team building activity, it’s time you rethink it. Gathering your team to a charitable event is one of the most effective ways to bond the team. It’s an opportunity to know each other while they do something good for the community. Think of charity events such as cooking for the homeless and reading books at a hospital.

Check out unique charitable team building ideas for inspiration.

English Garden Party

While this event will not suit all teams, it’s preferable if you like a more relaxed team building. For entertainment, a selection of lawn games from badminton to Giant Jenga, classic old school sports day races, archery, and more will do. For this team building event, consider a countryside venue. The event can also incorporate organized team building competitions or play-as-you-wish format. Don’t forget to offer food and drinks that match your event.

Team Nature Walks

Team nature walks in parks are relaxed, enjoyable, social events. They are inclusive activities that most team members would willingly take part in. Compared to a hike, which is more demanding in planning, nature walks are likely to be more embraced by more team members.

Team Building Board Games and Challenges

You may not have thought of this one, but team boards are ideal team games for improving team dynamics. Games such as chess, scramble, and codenames help develop teamwork competencies such as compromise, delegation, and interpretation in teams.

Or if you’re all ready to take this experience online, view Virtual Team Building Board Games.

Freeze Tag—The Recipe for Fun

Get the team back in time with this fun and simple kids’ game of freeze tag. Two members are designated as “it” from the start of the game. If a team member (one of the “it”) tags another, they become frozen until someone who is not “it” taps their shoulder to unfreeze them.

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