Here’s an idea for a communication activity to try with your team: Search By Sound. Gather a handful or two of small objects like uncooked macaroni, Skittles or paper clips. Before your team arrives, hide the objects around your meeting space. Split your team into small groups and ask each group to select a “captain.” Show everyone an example of the objects you have hidden and explain that their goal is to find as many of them as possible within the time limit you have chosen. However, they will have two challenges: First, while everyone can search, only the captain is allowed to actually touch the objects. Second, the group is only allowed to communicate using an animal sound, not words or gestures. If group members locate an object, they must use their chosen sound to call over the captain.

When time is up, ask each group to count the objects they found to determine the winners. Then, take a few moments to process the activity. Ask participants what steps they had to take to achieve their goal, what challenges they faced and how they dealt with them, and what their communication was like during the activity. Discuss communication issues that can happen on a team and effective ways to deal with them.

Looking for a simple team activity that focuses on sending positive messages? Try “Behind Your Back”: Tape a piece of paper to each team member’s back and give each person a marker (take care to use markers that will not bleed through the paper). Explain that when people talk behind others’ backs, the result is often gossip, rumors and negativity. However, people can make a choice to avoid gossip and instead focus on sending positive messages. Ask each team member to write one positive statement on each person’s paper. You may want to ask them to avoid complimenting physical attributes (like “you have nice hair” or “your eyes are pretty”) and instead focus on character traits like kindness, friendliness, hard work or generosity. When everyone is done, team members can remove their papers and read the messages.

Whether your team will be adding new members in the next couple of months, throughout the year or not until next spring, it’s always a good idea to have some “getting to know you” activities up your sleeve.  Here’s an icebreaker for your team to try out: Joke and Punchline.  Get two piles of index cards or other small pieces of paper.  On one card, write the set up to a joke.  For example, “What does Godzilla drive to work?”  On another card, write the punchline (“a monster truck”).  Mix all the cards up, and then hand them out.  Explain that the goal is to find the person with the other half of your joke and then to introduce yourselves.  Once everyone has found their match, scramble the cards back up and try again.  Add another element by writing an icebreaker question on the back of each card.  For example, “If you could only have one electronic device, which would it be?”  After exchanging names, each person answers the questions on the cards.

Make sure that you have enough cards for each person in your group.  If your group has an odd number, recruit an advisor to participate so that every card will have a match.  You will also want to keep the jokes appropriate and simple.  A kid’s joke website works well for this activity.  Try http://kids.yahoo.com/jokes or a similar site.