Planning summer team building events is a great way to strengthen productivity, increase employee engagement, and form bonds. However, knowing the most engaging and effective team building activities is tricky. After all, a corporate outing in the summer should help bring teams closer together and boost morale.
Team building is not just a corporate buzzword—it’s a key player in fortifying a workforce. And it has the potential for more than just memories. The right summer team building activities equip team members with the skills to collaborate and reach their full potential.
Are you wondering which essential team building activities to plan this summer to boost corporate success? Do you want to find the most engaging and effective activities your employees will love? If so, please read on.
This article is a guide to the best summer team building activities. From building seaworthy vessels from cardboard to beach Olympics, boot camps, and scavenger hunts, this article has you covered.
Benefits of Team Building Activities
A team building program is the best way to foster a sense of community and improve company culture. You can plan outdoor corporate events that enhance communication, leadership, and collaboration skills, promote problem-solving, and encourage healthy competition. Fun activities in open spaces also provide a refreshing backdrop for friendly competition and physical challenges.
Here are five benefits your company can enjoy by organizing summer events for team building:
- Improved communication skills: Interactive games and challenges facilitate better communication and teamwork.
- Enhanced critical thinking skills: Many team building activities involve solving challenges or puzzles. This helps employees develop critical thinking to find solutions in relaxed settings.
- Strengthened relationships: Summer team building events create an opportunity for employees to bond and build stronger relationships with their colleagues in a relaxed setting.
- Positive company culture: Better teamwork results in strong camaraderie and trust among team members. This leads to a more positive and productive work environment.
- Better leadership skills: Team building often requires individuals to take on leadership roles or work together to lead a group. These experiences help employees develop and hone their leadership skills, positively impacting their professional growth and contributing to effective team dynamics.
Why Summer is the Perfect Time for Team Building
Summer is the ideal time to organize outdoor team building activities or corporate retreats. Longer days and better weather make it suitable for outdoor games that foster friendly competition and strong leadership skills. You can plan summer team building events and fun activities in parks, sports fields, beach resorts, and beside lakes.
Here’s a quick glance at how your company benefits from team building in summer:
- Boosted morale: Summer team building events provide a break from the routine office environment. They give everyone something to look forward to, which lifts spirits and energizes employees.
- Revitalize employees: Summer is a time when employees want to take vacations. Planning for time away from the office and engaging in fun activities helps rejuvenate team members and increase productivity.
- Prevent employee burnout: Planning team events in summer is a way to give employees a break in fast-paced industries. A weekend company retreat helps employees enjoy downtime and forge stronger personal relationships.
- Best time for outdoor activities: Organizing outdoor events in summer is easier because of the better weather. This allows for a broader range of activities to choose from, such as swimming, beach activities, and picnics in forests, parks, or lakesides.
By dedicating plenty of time to these activities, your entire team could see significant improvements in overall performance and workplace satisfaction.
When to Start Planning Summer Team Building Activities
It is best to plan summer team building activities well in advance. Choosing suitable activities, securing locations, and coordinating schedules takes time. Employees also need plenty of time to make arrangements and schedule adjustments. Therefore, early planning helps ensure success so that your investment in team building provides excellent returns.
FullTilt organizes team building corporate events in the summer
FullTilt Team Development specializes in organizing large and small company team building events. Our experienced facilitators work with your team leaders to tailor programs to fit your company’s specific goals, objectives, and budget. By starting the planning process in spring, you can secure the best venues in North America before the busy summer season begins.
Fun Outdoor Team Building Activities for Summer
Fun outdoor activities in the warm summer sun energize teams, infusing fun and camaraderie into work life. Here are three enjoyable activities that merge creativity, strategy, and teamwork in stunning outdoor spaces.
Cardboard Boat Build
Building a boat from cardboard is a fun summer activity that promotes creative thinking and excellent communication skills. Each team must design and construct a seaworthy vessel from cardboard, tape, and standard office supplies. The event culminates in a race to test the craft’s durability and the team’s synchrony.
The Cardboard Boat Building challenge is perfect for a summer team building program. We can organize the event anywhere there is water, such as at the beach, a lake, or a river. If necessary, the event can take place indoors if the hotel or venue has a suitable swimming pool.
Benefits of the Cardboard Boat Build Challenge:
- Promotes creative thinking
- Enhances teamwork under pressure and develops time management skills
- Highly collaborative and team-orientated
- Helps team members communicate better
Learn more: The Cardboard Boat Building Challenge.
Rocket Challenge
The Rocket Challenge is a fun-filled activity ideal for organizing a large park during summer.
Teams must construct high-flying rockets using a 2-liter soda bottle, cardboard, and tape. The rocket should safely transport a raw egg high in the sky. But there’s a catch. It must have a parachute to ensure a safe landing without breaking the egg. This event is inclusive of everyone.
The Rocket Challenge can be organized at a local park or any open outdoor space that allows for rocket launching. It encourages problem-solving, collaboration, and innovation while providing an exciting and competitive environment for teams to thrive.
Benefits of the Rocket Challenge:
- Cultivates critical thinking skills
- Encourages better collaboration skills and engagement
- Focuses on developing creative solutions
- Offers a memorable physical activity
Learn more: The Rocket Challenge for summer team building.
Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island is a version of the Cardboard Build team event. The difference is that teams must create a floating island from cardboard and everyday materials. Each island must be constructed to hold three to four team members. In the end, someone is going to get wet.
You can plan the fantasy island team building event in any picturesque outdoor location. This could be a beach, park, or nature reserve as long as there is a body of water. The outdoor space enhances the team building experience for everyone.
Benefits of the Fantasy Island Challenge:
- Encourages strategic thinking
- Strengthens camaraderie and build relationships
- Helps team members think outside the box
- Teaches how to have fun in high-pressure situations
Learn more: How to have fun with the Fantasy Island challenge.
Team Building with Fun Activities and Healthy Competition
Summer months offer the perfect backdrop for high-energy, outdoor team building activities. Team events promoting friendly competition and fostering company culture can boost morale in team members. Here are some examples of challenges that leverage sunshine and outdoor spaces for team building events.
Beach Olympics Challenge
The Beach Olympics Challenge lets you organize fun events where everyone loves to be in the summer—at the beach. This fun team building activity involves a combination of collaborative, strategic, mental, and competitive challenges. The fun games require speed, strategic thinking, and willpower to be crowned winner and get the Olympic gold medal.
As the name suggests, the outdoor space should be a beach. We can organize the event at a beachfront resort with access to a private or public beach in a coastal location. You can also organize the event anywhere in the world. From the coast of Florida or California to Hawaii or a private island in the Caribbean.
This event can also be adapted to green spaces if you don’t want it in a beach location.
Benefits of Beach Olympics in your summer team building program:
- Encourages friendly competition in a fun environment
- Boosts physical activity and agility
- Collaborative with a focus on communication
- Memorable and exciting events
Learn more: The Beach Olympics Challenge.
The Amazing Race
Summer is ideal for organizing the Amazing Race team building scavenger hunt. This flexible program is perfect for any city in North America. The challenge involves teams navigating a series of checkpoints, deciphering clues, and overcoming obstacles. It’s a physical and mental challenge for teams to collaborate.
The Amazing Race is a race against time that demands strategy and unifies teams. It requires teams to work together to develop a winning strategy, solve problems, and endure until the end. We have ensured that the program is suitable for all levels of physical ability.
Benefits of the Amazing Race for team building in the summer:
- Promotes quick thinking and problem-solving
- Strengthens communication and teamwork
- Offers a dynamic and fun physical challenge
- Helps team members collaborate in high-pressure situations
Learn more: How the Amazing Race benefits teams.
Using Summer Team Building to Strengthen Communication Skills
FullTilt Team Development has several fun activities that are ideal for planning for the summer. Strengthening communication skills and active listening are two of the most significant benefits of team building. Here are two events that help team members develop robust communication skills.
Iron Chef
The Iron Chef combines culinary creativity, communication, active listening, and teamwork. Participants must work in teams to create gourmet dishes using different ingredients. At the end of the event, all dishes are judged, tasted, and rated, with the tastiest being crowned Master Iron Chef.
The Iron Chef challenge teaches teams to work together under pressure, communicate effectively, and listen to each other’s ideas. It also encourages creativity and problem-solving skills as teams must devise innovative ways to use the given ingredients to create something tasty—or at least something edible.
Benefits of the Iron Chef for summer team building events:
- Cultivates creative, outside-the-box thinking and collaboration
- Enhances communication under pressure
- Teaches valuable time management skills
- Translates cooking lessons to workplace dynamics
Learn more: The benefits of the Iron Chef challenge.
Pit Stop Challenge
Rev up your company’s engine with the Pit Stop Challenge. This adrenaline-pumping activity teaches team participants what it’s like to work in an F1 pit crew. It’s vital to make quick decisions, work fast, and communicate with clarity. This dynamic exercise enhances precision, coordination, and the importance of every team member’s role.
Benefits of the Pit Stop Challenge:
- Develops synchronization and time management skills
- Promotes detailed communication and focus
- Enhances Blue Ocean thinking
- Builds a high-performance team mentality
Learn more: How your teams can benefit from the Pit Stop Challenge.
Mission Incredible
Mission Incredible is an outdoor team building event that is ideal for the summer months. This flexible, customizable program is tailored to your company’s specific goals and needs. We can organize the exciting and adventurous mission in your preferred location—a nearby park or corporate retreat at a beach resort.
Mission Incredible fosters teamwork, better communication, and enhanced problem-solving skills. The program can be tailored to specific objectives, ensuring relevance and meaning for your team members. Examples of our Mission Incredible event include the following:
- City-wide scavenger hunts
- Outdoor adventure missions
- Themed challenges suited to your conference theme
Benefits of Mission Incredible team building event:
- Promotes teamwork, collaboration, and communication
- Enhances critical thinking skills in a dynamic and engaging environment
- Fosters trust, camaraderie, and team cohesion
- It can be done at any location, making it a versatile and adaptable team-building choice
Learn more: Discover how Mission Incredible can help develop stronger teams.
Summer Team Building Events: A Takeaway
Plan for summer team building activities to strengthen teamwork and give something back to your employees. The best activities for summer promote teamwork, communication, problem-solving, and trust. By organizing team building activities, you not only foster a positive work environment and enhance employee engagement.
Ready to plan a fun and engaging team building event this summer?
Contact FullTilt to organize a unique and exciting experience for your team this summer. Whether you’re looking for outdoor adventures in your city or themed events in a weekend retreat, we have you covered.