Teambuilding in a Virtual Classroom

Teambuilding can be tough in person, let alone through a digital platform.  The key is to carefully picking something with a purpose and that your audience will identify with.  And nothing is better for a morale/mood booster than a good game!  Here are 3 great virtual teambuilding games to help your students (and maybe your staff) build effective project teams:

1. Scattergories

Scattergories is a game of wit and quick thinking.  First, someone rolls a lettered di or otherwise chooses a random letter.  Then, each team has 2 minutes to name something from each category that begins with that letter.  The idea is to think of a reasonable response for each category that no other team has thought of.  This online version is, first of all, completely free and does not require an account.  It offers the ability to click the “Make Child Friendly” button to ensure appropriate categories. And, it even allows the teacher to provide their own categories to customize the game for a particular class or subject area.

2. Among Us

Among Us is a multi-player game where students must work together to prepare their spaceship for departure.  One teammate is an imposter who sabotages the ship as the other players try to repair it.  The goal is to determine who the imposter is before it’s too late.  It’s played in teams of 5-10 and free to play on android, just beware of in-app purchases.

3. Drawize

Drawize is a Pictionary-like game that is perfect for breaking the monotony and putting some fun back into learning.  It’s ad-based but does allow you to host private games so the whole class can play without being disturbed.  Plus, students can play in teams and teachers can customize the word lists to review vocabulary, practice a foreign language or just have a bit of fun!

Bonus: Criminal Dealings

This is an off-line game that can be adapted for a virtual environment.  My students loved this game and always asked to play it during short downtimes.  If you’re playing in person, you just need playing cards (and they don’t have to be a complete deck or even a matching deck for that matter).  Create your own deck or grab this one.  The object of the game is for the Criminal to recruit the rest of the class one by one before the Sheriff can captures them. Each time the Criminal tries to recruit a classmate, the Criminal makes eye contact and winks at the other person.  Once the person has been winked at, they exclaim, “I’ve committed a crime!” It’ up to the Sheriff to determine who the Criminal is but they only get one guess…

For More Ideas, try 3 Fun Ways to Implement STEM through Distance Learning