Team Building Activities for High School Boys
Team-building activities for high school boys encourage collaborative working, cooperation and compromise. This sort of activity lends itself to practical pursuits and challenges. Most high school boys enjoy excitement and a change of scene, so choose outdoor pursuits where possible. Team building inside the classroom is also possible if you set specific problem-solving challenges in groups. Mix the teams up so that you have a variety of personalty types and abilities. For instance, do not place all the sporty types together in a physical team-building activity. Give the teams a set time to complete the challenge.
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Orienteering
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Take your high school boys teams to a forest or field outside your local area. Give the teams a map and compass and tell them to make their way to a certain meeting point (a one or two-hour walk is ideal). Make it competitive by awarding a small prize or certificate to the first team back. This activity forces the boys to discuss their options and strategies and encourages decision making, collaboration and leadership. All members must contribute to give their team the best chance of success.
Raft Building
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Divide the boys into teams and give them a selection of materials, such as logs, plastic barrels and rope. Each team must build a raft after discussing their strategy for 15 minutes. The teams work to build a raft that manages to get from one end of the swimming pool to the other, without sinking, in the fastest time possible. This hands-on activity, with a clear goal, leads to purposeful discussion. It also encourages cooperation, as the team members have to work collectively to succeed.
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Group Games
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Games can help high school boys work together as a team. "Walk the Plank" is an effective activity for small teams of three or four boys. Each team has two wooden planks that they use to get from one side of a large room to the other side. All team members stand on one plank and pass the second plank to the front of the line. The team members step onto the front one and then pass the second plank again to the front. Teachers can disqualify teams if a member falls off a plank. The game is fun and helps the teams to encourage each other if they are to succeed.
Classroom Challenges
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Teachers can set team-building activities in the classroom. For example, at the beginning of the day divide the class into teams and ask them to produce a school newspaper by the end of the day. The teams have to assign the roles of editor, reporter and designer to members. The whole class votes on which newspaper is the best. Other challenges include giving teams balloons and tape and asking them to build the tallest balloon tower in the classroom. Discuss the results and team strategies as a class. Asking teams to research a topic and then make a presentation to the class is another, more academic team-building activity.
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References
Resources
- "Team-Building Activities For Every Group"; Alanna Jones; 2000
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