According to Forbes, companies with great company culture report 4X higher revenues by encouraging team bonding between all group members.
However, managing larger groups is a challenge; finding a team building game that suits over 50 individuals is not always an easy task.
Let’s discover the best 15 team building activities for large groups to enjoy all the benefits and advantages of these events.
Benefits of Team Building Events for Large Groups
The best team building activities for large groups positively impact the way team members behave in their work duties. Among the most widely recognized benefits of team building ideas for large groups, we have the following:
- Large teams are hard to gather together in one place. A study called The New Science of Building Great Teams by Harvard Business Review shows that team building events for large groups improve communication patterns by 50%.
- A study by Gusto called “Community at Work” shows that 55% of the employees who work in large companies don’t know their coworkers. Implementing team building games in large groups improves critical thinking, creative thinking, and boosts team morale by getting to know each other.
- Productivity in larger groups can decline up to 20% due to isolation, according to Gallup. Team building events encourage teamwork and promote team bonding by making team members work together.
How to Choose a Team Building Activity for Big Groups
Choosing a single team building game that suits the entire team is challenging, which is why it’s important to focus on the planning process.
Before choosing a single team building game for large groups, it is crucial to consider the following three factors.
1. Define “Large Group”
Large groups are more difficult to handle than small teams. Smaller groups can play quick and straight-to-the-point games, such as board games and quick quizzes.
However, the number of participants in large groups usually ranges from 50 to 500 team members, but it can be more. Organizing fun games that suit the entire group can be done by filtering activities based on the team’s needs and size.
2. Plan the Team Building Event with Enough Time
Planning ahead is crucial when it comes to choosing team-building events for larger groups. Smaller teams can jump straight into an activity with little planning, but this does not always apply to large groups.
As a consequence, any large group game should be planned ahead and, if possible, with the help of team building professionals.
3. In-person Team Building Event vs. Virtual Team Building Event
Some companies have large groups of remote teams. Remote employees often feel more isolated than in-office team members, which creates the need to take every remote worker into account.
The organization of virtual team building events for large groups poses significant challenges for companies, which creates the need to carefully select activities that effectively cater to the needs of remote teams.
15 Team Building Activities for Large Groups
The following 15 team building ideas work to appeal to both remote and in-person groups (depending on the game chosen).
The objective of each one of these games is to improve communication skills, problem-solving skills, and connect each group member with their coworkers through activities and group discussions.
Keep on reading to check out the best 15 team building activities for large groups (remote and in-person).
1. Large Team City Hunt
Scavenger Hunts are classic team building games where team members gather to find certain objects and complete challenges to win the game.
Large Team City is a fun activity that connects large groups and makes them work together to improve their problem-solving skills.
The best part of Large Team City Hunt is the fact that each team member can learn more about their own city by participating in this in-person activity.
This activity is ideal for large groups, as it can be enjoyed by anywhere between 4 to over 200 people.
- Materials to Play: Teamland’s City Hunt experience.
- Activity duration: From 1 to 3 hours.
- How to play: To complete the Team City Hunt, group members must explore different parts of their own city to complete challenges, such as taking pictures, finding hidden objects, and more.
2. Squid Game
The popular Squid Game TV Series by Netflix serves as an inspiration for one of the most interesting team building games for large groups: Virtual Squid Game.
Squid Game is a friendly competition where two teams work together to survive the challenges that lie ahead.
This activity can be played both in-person or a remote team, as it supports over 200 participants. As teams play and overcome the different challenges, they will improve their problem-solving skills while learning more about each other.
- Materials to Play: Teamland’s Virtual Squid Game experience.
- Activity duration: About 1 hour.
- How to play: Squid Games puts members inside the Squid Games TV Series - they need to overcome fun and difficult challenges (without violence) to win the Squid Games while working as a unified team.
3. Cardboard Boat Building Challenge
It’s time to unleash the team working abilities of large groups with cardboard boat-building challenges!
This game consists of building a cardboard boat using only cardboard and tape, but other materials can be used as well.
Divide a large group into smaller, 10-person groups and set a time so they can unleash their creativity into making a cardboard boat. Here’s the twist: the group with the most original and creative cardboard boat wins.
- Materials to Play: Cardboard, tape, and other paper materials.
- Activity duration: From 1 hour to 1.5 hours.
- How to play: Divide large teams into smaller teams and let them build a boat with the materials provided. The most original and unique cardboard boat wins - don’t forget to include a small prize for the winner.
4. Charity Bike Build
Helping children to achieve their dreams of having a bike is one of the most fulfilling things that large groups can do.
In Charity Bike Build, Teamland provides all the materials needed to assemble fully operational bicycles, which will later be handed to children.
There is no competition here - all teams win. By participating in these activities, team members have the chance to make a difference in the life of many local kids.
- Materials to Play: Teamland’s Charity Bike Build experience.
- Activity duration: From 1 to 2 hours.
- How to play: Assemble multiple bikes by working together while following the instructions provided by professionals.
5. Marshmallow Challenge
Marshmallow Challenge is a fun way to create structures using just marshmallows.
The game consists of building a little tower of marshmallows - the first team that builds the tallest free-standing structure wins the challenge.
Later on, teams can roast marshmallows together to celebrate their victory while also having a great time with each other. Besides, this is a quick activity, which makes it ideal for busy companies.
- Materials to Play: Several packages of marshmallows.
- Activity duration: From 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- How to play: Organize large groups into different teams of 5 people. The team that builds the tallest marshmallow tower after setting a time will win the challenge.
6. Virtual Escape Room
Escape rooms are some of the most entertaining ways to improve the problem-solving and social skills of small and medium-sized groups.
However, gathering 200 people in a single escape room is a challenge as most escape room facilities only allow up to 15 people to play together.
The solution? Virtual Escape Rooms. By engaging in Virtual Escape Rooms, remote team members can work together to find clues and solve puzzles.
Virtual Escape Rooms can also be holiday-based, which adds an exclusive touch of personality. This game is suited for group sizes from 50 to 100 players.
- Materials to Play: Teamlan’s Virtual Escape Room experience.
- Activity duration: From 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- How to play: Use Teamland’s Virtual Escape Room experience so team members work together to discover the mysteries that lie ahead and escape from the room through team working.
7. Camping Experience
Engaging in outdoor team building activities centered around connecting with nature provides significant advantages to team members of large organizations.
By forgetting about the hassle of modern life, large groups can tackle fun physical and mental problems by engaging in a camping experience together.
Organizing a camping experience requires in-advance planning and willingness from all coworkers. Make sure to organize this activity on a Friday (so team members can have the next day off) and implement certain rules, such as no work-related talk during the camping trip.
- Materials to Play: Camping materials (tents, food, water, and more) and a local camping place.
- Activity duration: One day.
- How to play: Locate a local camping spot where 50 to 150 people can go camping together overnight. Make sure to bring all the required camping materials to prevent accidents during the experience.
8. Egg Drop Challenge
Egg Drop is another classic of team building games that large groups can play together.
The game consists of building a safe landing pad and then dropping an egg into it to see if it breaks or survives the fall.
The one team that manages to build a pad resistant enough to prevent the egg from breaking wins this team building activity! The Egg Drop Challenge can be played by 50 to 100 people by dividing them into big groups.
- Materials to Play: Several eggs and a place to build soft landing pads.
- Activity duration: From 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- How to play: Team members have the duty to keep a raw egg safe from a fall. Make them build soft landing pads and throw the egg from different heights to see who is the winner of this challenge.
9. Random Act of Kindness
Random Act of Kindness is one of the most fulfilling and heart-touching team building activities that all kinds of teams can play together.
The activity consists of doing as many good deeds as possible in a short period of time, such as helping senior citizens or giving food to local charities and people in need.
These good deeds must be recorded and listed to determine the winner of the challenge. However, each team will feel like a winner as they collaborate to improve our society.
- Materials to Play: Donations materials and an organized list of places to go to do good deeds.
- Activity duration: From 1 to 2 hours.
- How to play: Organize large groups into smaller teams and make them go through the city or nearby places to perform random acts of kindness with local people.
10. Sports Tournament
There are different sports that large teams can play together, such as football, soccer, and basketball.
Organizing a mini-sport tournament is a great way to divide large groups of people into different groups - they can even select their team’s name and anthem!
By playing sports together, team members improve group communication and exercise together. Make sure to buy a little trophy for the winner of the tournament - they will remember this large group team building activity forever.
- Materials to Play: Sports balls (basketball, football, etc.) and a court to play the tournament.
- Activity duration: From 2 to 3 hours.
- How to play: Gather in a sports court, depending on the activity chosen, organize large groups into different smaller teams, and make them bond together by choosing a name for their own team and playing together to win the cup.
11. Play Racing Games
Racing games make small, medium, and large groups engage in a friendly competition to determine who’s the fastest in the office.
For instance, go-karts teams racing or Amazing Race are three fun activities that large groups can enjoy too, as long as everything is well-organized and suited to handle many people.
It is important to designate team leaders and the format of the competition to make the activity as organized as possible.
- Materials to Play: A racing game that everyone likes and a big outdoor space to race against each other.
- Activity duration: From 1 to 2 hours.
- How to play: Divide a large group into small groups and organize the racing court. Make sure that any other team is well-organized and ready to go before starting the racing game.
12. Group Cooking Class
Cooking in groups is a nice way to learn about new cultures and help each other to cook an amazing dish that will later be shared in a group.
Group cooking classes can be messy, but they are fun and extremely engaging for large groups. Choose different new recipes and gather the required materials to participate in the group class.
Since we are talking about groups from 50 to 100 people, it is important to divide team members into 5-people groups before starting.
- Materials to Play: Cooking materials and cooking recipes to follow (preferably international recipes to learn about different cultures).
- Activity duration: From 1 to 2 hours.
- How to play: Divide the large group into smaller 5-person teams, provide them with cooking materials, and make them cook a new dish. At the end of the cooking class, all groups will gather together to have lunch with each other.
13. Origami Class
Learning about the Art of Origami is always interesting and entertaining, even for large groups inside companies.
It has been proven that Origami builds patience, precision, and improves decision-making processes.
By going to an Origami Class, team members will face interesting mental challenges as they learn how to craft little paper figures with their own hands. Origami Classes are one-in-a-lifetime experiences that even groups of over 500 people can enjoy together.
- Materials to Play: Teamland’s Origami Class experience.
- Activity duration: From 1 to 1.5 hours.
- How to play: Use the materials provided by Teamland (and the help from an Origami expert) to craft unique Origami figures together. Creating Origami art boosts team bonding and provides new knowledge to all participants in the activity.
14. Survivors Game
Are you ready to experience an activity where surviving is the main goal? With Survivors, large groups can work together to overcome different competition challenges inspired by the famous Survivor TV show.
The challenges are both physician and mental, and the drama and adrenaline that Survivor participants experience can’t be compared to other activities.
Survivors is one of the best team building activities for large groups because the number of participants can be as high as over 100 individuals.
- Materials to Play: Teamland’s Survivors experience.
- Activity duration: From 1 to 3 hours.
- How to play: Use Teamland’s Survivor materials to divide large groups into different teams that will sort out all kinds of challenges in order to become the ultimate Survivor Champions.
15. Virtual or In-person Happy Hours
There’s no better way to finish a long in-office or virtual work day than by having a happy hour with the whole team.
Happy hours are all about relaxation and fun. Prepare cocktails together, talk about the greatest professional achievements of the company through the year, and let team members connect with each other in a more natural and organic way.
You can also play a classic party game, such as Never Have I Ever, which will add some fun to the activity.
- Materials to Play: Happy hour-themed virtual or in-office settings and enough drinks to prepare fun cocktails and have fun.
- Activity duration: From 1 to 3 hours.
- How to play: Simply gather together outside office hours and have some drinks while talking, laughing, and connecting with each other.
Summary: Best Large Group Team Building Activities
With enough planning, organization, and ideas, it’s possible to find great large group team building activities that provide many benefits to companies and team members alike.
By caring about the experiences team members have in the office, improving social skills, work productivity, and team motivation is easier than ever before. The following list is a summary of the best team building activities that work for large groups of 50 to 500 individuals:
- Large Team City Hunt.
- Squid Game.
- Cardboard Boat Building Challenge.
- Charity Bike Build.
- Marshmallow Challenge.
- Virtual Escape Room.
- Camping Experience.
- Egg Drop Challenge.
- Random Act of Kindness.
- Sports Tournament.
- Racing Games.
- Group Cooking Class.
- Origami Class.
- Survivors Game.
- Virtual or In-person Happy Hours.
FAQ
How Long Should a Team Building Activity for Large Groups Last?
Normally, the ideal duration of a team building activity for large groups is between 1 to 3 hours. However, some activities can take longer, whereas other games can be completed in just 45 minutes (such as the Marshmallow Challenge).
Are Team Building Events for Large Groups Expensive?
It depends on the type of team building event and the total number of participants. For instance, playing Egg Drop Challenge is not as expensive as organizing a camping experience for 100 people. The budget is based on the final number of participants and the materials required to play the activity.
