As Colorado Academy instructors prepare for the kids coming to camp this summer, they invited Cottonwood Institute (CI) to teach a teambuilding workshop at their staff training!  If you know CI, this is definitely in our wheelhouse of what we like to teach, so we jumped on this opportunity!  With three CI instructors and 68 Colorado Academy instructors ages 15 and up, we had a fun-filled afternoon of games!

We pulled some of our favorites from our repertoire and started with a goofy, big group game called “Captain’s Coming”!  Then we proceeded to break into small groups and teach some name games and play more of our favorites like “Magic Carpet”, “Communication Breakdown”, and “Helium Stick”.  We also spent time talking about why games are so important for forming group cohesion.  They not only solidify a groups ability to work together, they help to build leadership skills, and touch on lots of different learning styles- including kinesthetic, auditory, and visual.  It’s actually proven games can provide higher levels of engagement which can lead to an increase in recall and retention.  No wonder this has become such a popular way to teach new information in the classroom.  Outdoor educators have been doing it for years!

Another important piece of playing teambuilding games and completing educational experiences is taking the time to debrief and reflect on what you did. Cottonwood Institute finds these facilitator skills to be the most important of all. Giving students time to reflect on their experiences coupled with well-led reflection activities can lead to more long-term personal growth and awareness.

It was a fun workshop with lots of giggles and laughs.  Instructors were challenged to work together and come up with new ways to solve difficult teambuilders. They walked away with some new skills to add to their “toolbox” of games.  As their campers will be coming in the following weeks, we hope these newly learned games provide hours of challenging fun!

Written By: CI Program Manager, Taryn Longberry

See more pictures here!