GSA Green Art Project

Over 75 Northern California Government Property Managers gathered together last week for a day of teambuilding with TeamBuilding Unlimited.

Warming up with an ice-breaker and a series of competitive TeamBuilding Unlimited Wacky Games, the final event was a Green Art Challenge which was a combination of our Green Art and new Green Product events. Using recycled materials, each team had to design and construct a building that could be 'LEED certified'. Not only did teams have to build it, but they had to explain their 'masterpieces' to the other teams.

Since these GSA people deal with government buildings in their 'real lives', this gave them the opportunity to translate what's important on a smaller, and certainly more manageable scale. It was really interesting to see what they would include in their Green buildings. Child-care, yes, but one team included Elder Care. Now there's a step forward. It was all about being green and reusing and recycling.

Our motto: Reduce, Recycle, Reuse, Repurpose, Recharge.

TeamBuilding Unlimited met the goals and objectives of this group!

Check out some of our other Green TeamBuilding Activities.

Green Art Project

TeamBuilding Unlimited does a lot of Green Team Building. Some of our events include Recycled materials like our Green Art Project.  I must admit that our participants don't always create masterpieces, but their goals are different.

I came across this PC Art and thought I'd share. This is truly the ultimate Green Art Project.

Go Fly a Kite! The Ultimate high flying team activity.

It's time to get out of the office and into the Great Outdoors! TeamBuilding Unlimited is here to make your experience fun and interactive and teambonding! What could be better than Kite Flying?

By nature, event and meeting planners want to control all of the factors and forces that go into making an event a success.

Go Fly A Kite “flies in the face” of our natural instincts. Go Fly a Kite is the perfect activity for an offsite, meeting or retreat! You’ll definitely want a place with wind, but this can be done on the Beach, at a picnic or in the park.

TeamBuilding Unlimited supplies each team with a variety of kite designs and plans on kitemaking. Each team is also given colorful pieces of rip stop nylon, wood for framing and all of the necessities and information to design, cut and assemble a team kite.

Then the fun begins. Each team selects the best person to launch the kite and keep it in flight. A touch of knowledge of physics is included in the TeamBuilding Unlimited packet, but teams sometimes struggle with the elements. How much wind is enough? How long should the kite’s tail be? In what direction and what method does the team use to launch the kite.

There are many forces and factors that each team must deal with that are beyond their “control”. As in business, teams must learn to adjust and coexist with these forces. Disaster may be just a moment away.If the kite flutters to the earth rather than going into a steep kite breaking nose-dive it can be, most likely re-launched. But can the team make the repairs to send up its kite again after the crash. Will it be on the sidelines of the challenge?

The range of possibilities can change in a moment. Teams learn that success can be on the edge of disaster. Pushing the kite, pushing the envelope, are metaphors for how to deal with the unknown forces that are not within our normal everyday environment. Quick reactions are required to deal with the ever changing environment.

TeamBuilding Unlimited's debriefing does not take the wind out of any team’s sails. Go Fly a Kite is a perfect team building activity for a day or afternoon outdoors! It's a Breath of Fresh Air!


Where to see and participate in Kite Flying on your own in the San Francisco Bay Area: 

World Kite Museum, Long Beach, WA
Kite League, Berkeley. Different times of year around Berkeley, CA. Demonstrations& Kite flying.
Old City Kites, Sacramento
Baylands Park, Sunnyvale. Wind and room to run and fly!

The Marshmallow Challenge: Great TeamWork

This is a great video that really exemplifies the essence of Teambuilding exercises --what they're about and how they reflect the workplace and your own teams.

Tom Wujec presents some surprisingly deep research into the "marshmallow problem" -- a simple team-building exercise that involves dry spaghetti, one yard of tape and a marshmallow. Who can build the tallest tower with these ingredients? And why does a surprising group always beat the average?

Tom Wujec is a Fellow at Autodesk. He's the author of several books, including Five-Star Mind: Games and Puzzles to Stimulate Your Creativity and Imagination.

Build a Tower, Build a Team!