The document provides activities and icebreakers to liven up meetings. It includes directions for 15 different teambuilding activities including: NSEW, where participants group themselves by direction and discuss unique traits; Speed Rabbit, where one person points to others to form a "rabbit"; and Letters & Triangles, where participants memorize letters in a triangle individually and then as a team. The document aims to help participants experience new activities and improve communication and teamwork.

1. Jazz It Up!
Teambuilding Activities
to Liven Up Your Meetings
Dr. Lisa Gonzales – Santa Clara COE
Edith Mourtos – Santa Clara COE
Dr. Devin Vodicka – Carlsbad USD

2. Agenda
OUTCOMES:
• Experience new activities to be used with
teams at school/district/parents/students
• Add more pizzazz to meetings and
improve work quality and communication
Who is in the room this morning?
Stand up, Sit down

3. Directions - NSEW
• Give NSEW handout to each; slide shown
• Signs on 4 directions of room - NSEW
• Have everyone go to group s/he is most like
• 3 chart sheets at each location
• 1st chart – what is unique about you? 2nd chart –
what is most challenging/misunderstood? 3rd chart –
which group is easiest/most difficult to work with for
your group?
• Have groups report out 1st & 2nd chart; do 3rd chart
after all report out the first time
• Debrief – how can you use this information with your
team?

4. NSEW (North, South, East,
West)
• Communication styles
• Large group (40-50) to small group (10)
• 30-60 minutes
• Prep: 10 minutes
• Handout

6. Who Am I?
• Getting to know you, fun
• Large group (not all contribute) or small
group (5-10)
• 10 minutes or interspersed through
meeting
• Prep – 10-15 minutes to design questions
• Space to move
• Great to use to get attention (pop balloon)

7. Speed Rabbit
• Teamwork, fun
• Large group (100+) or small (10)
• 10 minutes
• Prep – none!
• Space to stand in circle

8. Life with the Wright Family
• Communication, following directions,
listening
• Large group (100) to small groups (10)
• 5 minutes
• Prep – none!
• Get a writing utensil

9. Duck & Cover
• Communication, judgment, fun
• Best with group of 20-40 (need subgroups
of 10-20 each)
• 20 – 30 minutes
• Prep - gather items to be used - two or
more of each item (1/subgroup)
• Space to move!

10. Zoom
• Teamwork, problem solving
• Large group (100+) or small (10)
• 10 minutes
• Prep – none!
• Works best in a circle, standing or sitting

11. Talk a Mile a Minute
• Communication, fun
• Large group (100+) or small group (10)
• Best with an even number of people
• Prep – powerpoint, projector
• Need space for two people to work
together and have access to see screen
when standing

12. 1
Famous
people
65
4
3
2
7 11

13. Things associated with babies
Diapers
Pacifier
Bottle warmer
Burp cloth
Blanket
Stuffed animal
High chair
13

14. Give & Take
• Getting to know each other, pre-discussion
of topics in a meeting
• Large group (20+) or small group (12 or
more)
• Even number of people for rotations
• 15-25 minutes
• Prep – 10 minutes for question design
• Materials – timer, noisemaker

15. Pockets
• Teamwork, fun
• Large group (100+) or small (10)
• 5 minutes
• Prep – none!
• Space to team up

16. Letters & Triangles
• Getting to know each other, teambuilding,
communications
• Large group (20+) or small group (12 or more)
• Will need to work individually, in small groups, in
larger teams
• 10 minutes
• Prep – minimal
• Materials – powerpoint slides, projector, paper,
writing utensils

17. Letters & Triangles

18. Group or Team?
D
N X Z
Q B C E T
L U V P M K S
W R J O H G I A F

19. Group or Team?

20. Group or Team?
D
N X Z
Q B C E T
L U V P M K S
W R J O H G I A F

21. Group or Team?
E
S F Z
J A M H P
B Q W Y O V T
D K N C I L R U X

22. Group or Team?

23. Group or Team?
Turn to an elbow
partner and discuss
three key differences
between a group
and a team.

24. Directions - NSEW
• Give NSEW handout to each; slide shown
• Signs on 4 directions of room - NSEW
• Have everyone go to group s/he is most like
• 3 chart sheets at each location
• 1st chart – what is unique about you? 2nd chart –
what is most challenging/misunderstood? 3rd chart –
which group is easiest/most difficult to work with for
your group?
• Have groups report out 1st & 2nd chart; do 3rd chart
after all report out the first time
• Debrief – how can you use this information with your
team?

25. Directions - Speed Rabbit
• Stand in a circle
• Have one person in the center of the circle
• The person in the center points to people and says
“speed rabbit”
• The person being pointed to makes the whiskers and the
two people on the side make the ears
• The person in the center counts to ten and if the rabbit is
not finished before ten the person being pointed to
swaps places and goes to the center
• Can also do:
– Speed elephant
– Speed surfer

26. Directions -
Life with the Wright Family
• Each person needs a writing utensil of any
kind
• Break into groups of 8-10 people and
stand in small circles, almost shoulder to
shoulder
• Directions – when you hear the word
RIGHT, you pass your item to the right;
when you hear the word LEFT, pass your
item to the left
• Facilitator reads the story.
• If the group does it correctly, each should
end up with his/her original writing utensil.

27. Life with the Wright Family
One day the Wright family decided to take a vacation. The first thing they had to decide was who
would be left at home since there was not enough room in the Wright family car for all of them. Mr.
Wright decided that Aunt Linda Wright would be the one left at home. Of course this made Aunt Linda
Wright so mad that she left the house immediately yelling “It will be a right cold day before I return.”
The Wright family now bundled up the children, Tommy Wright, Susan Wright, Timmy Wright, and
Shelly Wright and got in the car and left. Unfortunately, as they turned out of the driveway someone
had left a trash can in the street so they had to turn right around and stop the car. They told Timmy
Wright to get out of the car and move the trash can so they could get going. Tommy took so long that
they almost left him in the street. Once the Wright family got on the road, Mother Wright wondered if
she had left the stove on. Father Wright told her not to worry he had checked the stove and she had
not left it on. As they turned right at the corner, everyone started to think about other things that they
might have left undone.
No need to worry now, they were off on a right fine vacation. When they arrived at the gas station,
Father Wright put gas in the car and then discovered that he had left his wallet at home. So Timmy
Wright ran home to get the money that was left behind. After Timmy had left, Susan Wright started to
feel sick. She left the car saying that she had to throw up. This of course got Mother Wright’s attention
and she left the car in a hurry. Shelly Wright wanted to watch Susan get sick, so she left the car too.
Father Wright was left with Tommy Wright who was playing a game in the backseat.
With all of this going on Father Wright decided that this was not the right time to take a vacation, so he
gathered up all of the family and left the gas station as quickly as he could. When he arrived home, he
turned left into the driveway and said “I wish the Wright family had never left the house today!”

28. Directions - Duck & Cover
• Identify a location with a lot of space to do this activity
• Break into 2 teams of 10-20 people
• Identify who will be the FIRST person in the group to
start the activity – put times behind that person
• Must have 8-10 items per group and same items for
each group
• First run through – person #1 starts, throws item to
anyone in group except next to him/her, then goes
down on 1 knee and cannot be thrown to again
• Practice again – SAME order as the first time
• Then introduce all 10 items – person #1 throws first
item, then another, then another; person #1 goes
down on one knee when completely done
• Group that finishes first wins

29. Possible items for Duck & Cover
• Half-filled water bottles
• Koosh balls
• Nerf footballs
• Nerf balls
• Tennis balls
• Old shoes (no heels please!)
• Handball
• Rolled up newspaper taped shut
• Oranges
• A dozen socks tied together
• Small cat/dog toys
• Half-filled box of tissues
• Small boxes of raisins

30. Directions - Zoom
• People are in a circle
• Starting anywhere, the first person goes “zoom”
and points to his/her neighbor
• The neighbor repeats (says “zoom” and points to
his/her neighbor)
• The “zoom” is passed all around the circle
• Moderator challenges the group to complete the
process faster and faster
• Moderator challenges the group to complete the
entire process in one second

31. Directions - Talk a Mile a
Minute
• Goal- get your partner to say the word
• Talker may say anything but…
– Not words in category title
– Not rhyming words
• May skip and come back
• Raise hand when finished

32. 1
Famous
people
6
5
4
3
2
7
32

33. Things associated with oceans
Waves
Moon
Algae
Pacific
Ships
Tropical fish
George Clooney
33

34. 2
1
3
4
5
6
7 34

35. GAME: Talk a Mile a Minute
The Sixties
1. “One small step for man; one giant leap for mankind”
1. “I have a dream….”
1. Civil Rights Act
1. The Beatles
1. July, 1969
1. “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you
can do for your country….”
35

36. Directions - Who Am I?
• Upon entering a room, have slips of paper
ready for attendees to write one little
known fact about themselves.
• Put slips of paper into balloons and blow
up the balloon. During the meeting, pop a
balloon and read one slip – have team
guess who that person is.
• For a group that is new to one another,
have 3 guesses and then have the author
reveal him/herself.

37. Directions - Give & Take
• Create a list of 5-7 questions you want people to talk
about
• Vary questions between personal & professional
• Participants stand in 2 lines facing each other –
everyone has a partner (need even number)
• Ask question 1 – each pair talks about question for 2
minutes
• May need to use lights in room or noisemaker to end the
time
• Have one line move x people to the right or left (have the
line and the direction remain consistent)
• Continue through the remaining questions
• On way back to seats, have participants say “hi” to 3
people they didn’t talk to

38. Possible Questions for Give &
Take
• Share a highlight of your summer.
• Share a challenge you anticipate this year in your work
that cannot be based on budgets.
• When is the last time you did something for the first
time?
• What challenges have you had with the new adoption?
• What is your favorite childhood memory?
• What one word would you use to describe your
school/district?
• What would people you went to school with tell us about
you?
• What aspect of your work are you most proud of?
• What one thing would you change about ACSA?
School? District?

39. Directions - Pockets
• Find a partner
• Take out your keys. Explain what keys you
carry and why you have them with you.
• Take out a coin. Look at the year on the coin.
Tell your partner about something significant in
your life that happened in that year.
• Other no-prep prompts could include:
– Why did you buy the shoes you are wearing?
– What is your favorite color to wear? Why?

40. Directions - Letters & Triangles
• This is an exercise that will focus us on the difference between being a
group and being a team. It will connect back to the concept of positive
interdependence. This can certainly be used in classrooms.
• You will be shown a pyramid of letters---25, in the shape of a triangle. In 10
seconds, try to remember as many in their proper positions as possible. You
cannot take notes. You can only use your eyeballs and your brains. After
ten seconds the pyramid will be removed, and you will have a minute or so
to copy down what you remember. (Flash slide with triangles and letters).
• Flash slide with triangle and letters for 10 seconds.
• “Draw what you remember.” Flashback to previous triangle. “Count how
many you got right.” Ask groups of 4 to average their INDIVIDUAL scores.
Facilitator lists under a column marked INDIVIDUAL. Ask groups to
aggregate their scores…any one who got any letter right gets a score, but
don’t count doubles. Facilitator lists under a column marked GROUP.

41. Directions - Letters & Triangles
• You’re going to see another triangle in just a few minutes. It will be different
from the first. But what will be different is that you work as a team. I will
give your table one minute to strategize how you will collectively accomplish
the task. It’s too great for any one person, but what will be your plan for
working as a team. FLASH SLIDE FOR 10 SECONDS.
• Check your results individually. Sit down poll. Get in groups of four.
Calculate a group score. Report out. A group is not a team. As a team, you
have two minutes to strategize how you will get all 25 letters of the next
pyramid.
• FLASH SLIDE FOR 10 SECONDS.
• Ask teams for their “group” scores. Record on chart paper. Debrief:
Essential Question: What is the difference between a group and a team?