Team Building Activity: Minefield

Trust has always been a key factor to success in every team. The presence or absence of trust makes or breaks a team.






One team building activity that has been proven and tested to enhance trust in teams is known as Minefield. Since Minefield originally involves blindfolding and trust in one’s team mate, this isn’t for the faint of heart. Of course, the activity can be used as a learning experience for topics such as communication and leadership.


minefield team building activity
Silver Dragon Construction, May 2016


Here is everything you need to know to conduct this engaging team building activity:



PARTICIPANTS:

10 - 30 participants

MATERIALS:
1 Blindfold per pair (CTFN now discourages blindfolds)
Recommended obstacles
-plastic balls
-hula hoops
-plastic chairs 


OBJECTIVE:

The objective of the activity is to allow your blindfolded partner to cross the “Minefield” without stepping on any obstacles.

minefield team building activity
Petron, July 2014

Instructions

1. Before the activity proper, you must scatter the plastic balls and hula hoops generously across the venue. This constitutes the “minefield”.
2. Assign each participant by pairs, and give each pair one blindfold each.
3. Each pair has one blindfolded ‘crosser’ who crosses the minefield, and one ‘communicator’ who guides the crosser verbally.
4. Each crosser has to pass through the minefield without stepping on any obstacle.
5. Stepping on obstacles will result in going back to the starting point.
6. Once each crosser has gone through the minefield, you may now reverse each pair’s roles. The crossers may now become the communicators, and vice versa.

Some debriefing questions to stimulate insight from the activity include…
How much did you trust your partner during the activity? Was it easy or difficult?

How did your partner make you feel as he/she instructed you on the activity?




minefield team building activity
AIM Global PSGW 1 team, December 2014
You may conduct many variations of this activity depending on your circumstances. If you are lacking in time, you may allow all pairs to cross the minefield in one setting. Also, please be sensitive to participants who may have severe issues with trust. Other than that, I hope you enjoy this fun team building activity!  



Notes:
  • The instructions for this activity was recreated by the Learning and Development Division of the Cebu Teambuilding Facilitators Network . Led by Philipp Chen Tan, other members of the division are Kevin Johnrey Sosas, Paulo Frangelyco Magallon, and Marc Julius Rizada.
  • CTFN does not claim ownership of this activity. For a list of references used to recreate activity instructions, please visit our Directory of Activities page.

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