Effective Communications Month
Have a Non-Verbal Team-building Event. Place eight or more employees on a team. Have the entire team complete a task, such as building a contraption that transports a ball from one end to the other in a series of eight steps, without talking to one another. To make it more interesting give each person on the team a specific thing they must make the contraption do. They have to communicate this non-verbally to the rest of their teammates. For instance, one person may be told that the ball has to roll downhill at one point. Another person may be told to make the ball go through a tunnel, etc. The team that makes the ball travel the fastest through the eight steps wins.
National Iced Tea Month
- Give each employee an insulated iced tea mug with his or her name on it. Set up an iced tea station in your break room complete with fixings such as lemon, mint and flavored / colored sugars to rim their mugs.
- Send a tea bag to each of your employees. Attach a message to the tea bag that reads, “__eamwork. Is your Team missing something? We want to help! Write a suggestion on the reverse of this message and drop it in the teapot outside Human Resources to let us know what we can do to help.”
National Candy Month
Have a different Candy Contest each week and award a prize to the winner:
- Licorice chomp – Employees line up shoulder-to-shoulder facing the judge. Each is given a licorice whip and asked to place the end of it into their mouth. On “go” players must slurp it up into their mouths, without using their hands, and eat it. When they are done eating it, they should raise their hand and open their mouth. The person who eats their licorice whip the fastest wins.
- Jelly Belly Taste Test – Give each employee the same 15 different flavors of Jelly Belly candies in a bag to taste. Employees register their guess next to a picture of each Jelly Belly on an answer sheet. The person who gets the most correct wins. Or, place all of the employees who get them all right into a prize drawing.
- Bubble Gum Blowing – Employees line up shoulder-to-shoulder facing the judge. Each is given a piece of wrapped bubble gum. On “go” players must unwrap the bubble gum and blow a bubble. The person who blows a bubble first wins a prize. Also award prizes to the person who blows the biggest bubble, holds the bubble without it popping the longest, etc.
National Iced Tea Month
- Give each employee an insulated iced tea mug with his or her name on it. Set up an iced tea station in your break room complete with fixings such as lemon, mint and flavored / colored sugars to rim their mugs.
- Send a tea bag to each of your employees. Attach a message to the tea bag that reads, “__eamwork. Is your Team missing something? We want to help! Write a suggestion on the reverse of this message and drop it in the teapot outside Human Resources to let us know what we can do to help.”
Ballpoint Pen Patented: Anniversary – June 10th
Have a team-building event. Give each team a certain amount of money and one hour to come up with a plan to use the money to collect school supplies for a local charity, such as A Gift For Teaching. Later, give them 3 hours to put their plan in place. The team that collects the most school supplies wins a prize. And, the charity wins regardless!
National Flag Day – June 14th
Have a team-building event. Give each team a certain amount of money and one hour to come up with a plan to use the money to collect school supplies for a local charity, such as A Gift For Teaching. Later, give them 3 hours to put their plan in place. The team that collects the most school supplies wins a prize. And, the charity wins regardless!
- Have a Flag Design team-building event. Place six employees on a team. Just as Betsy Ross designed a flag that symbolized what our country stood for, challenge each team to design a flag that symbolizes what your company stands for. Give each team a plain white fabric flag and decorating supplies such as patterned fabrics, fabric markers, needles, colored thread, scissors, etc. Have each team create a presentation on what their flag represents and why it should be chosen as the winner. Have a panel of judges choose their favorite flag. After the event, fly the flags on flagpoles outside of your building.
- Deliver a red, white and blue treat to everyone in your office today, such as a decorated cupcake, or a layered Jell-o cup.
Father’s Day
- Have an Ugly Tie Contest. Ask fathers to wear their ugliest tie. Give each employee one voting slip to vote for the names of the three men they think are wearing the ugliest ties. Award a gift certificate to a men’s clothing store to the winner so they can buy new ties!
- Host a Father’s Day Chair-ity Team-building Event. Place eight employees on a team. Try to put at least one father on each team. Give each team an old recliner to decorate with a Father’s Day theme. For instance, someone may call their entry “The Handyman” and replace the handle with a tool, place a handyman’s apron on the side of each arm, etc. After introducing the event, send each team to a department store with a set amount of money to purchase materials to decorate their chair. Set a time limit to complete the project. When time is up, have each team do a presentation for their chair. Have a panel of judges vote for their favorite chair and donate money to a charity of the winning team’s choice.
Take Your Dog to Work Day
- Have a Dog & Owner Look Alike Contest. If your company will not allow employees to bring their dogs to work, ask them to bring in a photo of themselves and their dog to hang side by side on a display board. Ask employees to vote for the dog and owner that look the most alike and award a basket of pet treats to the winner.
- Have an early morning, or after work walk / run for your employees to take with their dogs. Give everyone who takes part a Take Your Dog To Work Day imprinted T-shirt for themselves and an imprinted bandanna for their dog.