This article was inspired by a visit to the Forge Initiative in Cary, North Carolina. The Forge Initiative is a STEM/Makerspace for kids, adults and several FIRST teams.

The above photograph is an organized wall full of miscellaneous items. There are balls and bells, cardboard and foam board, popsicle sticks and cones, bandanas and more. All the items were neatly organized alphabetically. I love this idea of keeping a random collection of objects. While our own collection is not nearly as organized, I too like to pull random objects together to come up with team building activities.

Why practice team building?

Whether you are a FIRST LEGO League team, a company employee, or a member of boy scout’s troop, team building activities are pretty commonplace. They are a great way to learn to work together and appreciate each other.

Top 5 reasons to for team building in FIRST LEGO League:

1. Getting to know each other better. Kids from all over often come together to make teams. Sometimes, they barely know each other. Such activities are good icebreakers.
2. Team work and increasing the performance of the team. The team can learn to problem solve together and improve their overall performance during the season.
3. Increasing Fun and creativity. Through team building, teams can display their personality. They will learn to be more creative and think out-of-the-box.
4. Building communication skills. Activities will teach the team to communicate better with each other.
5. A well-earned break. Team building activities offer a quick and fun break from the reaseach project and robot building at team meetings.

Where can I get team building activities to practice?

Just google team building on the Internet. If you look at FLL Tutorials Core Values, you will see that there are over 40 Core Values Activities. These are various activities actually done by FIRST LEGO League teams. There are some that are designed as get-to-know-you activities. These are great at the start of the season. There are some that help teams realize the role that each person plays. No matter what activity you pick, understand that the goal is for the kids on the team to learn to work together and appreciate one another.