Stress relief games for groups

Stressful Work and Teamwork

We are exposed to stress each single day of our lives. We are worried about our jobs, meeting deadlines, fearing we will not prove our worthiness adequately and lose what we have achieved during the years. Also, there are other problems at home, with the children, lack of free time to spend with your family and other common household problems. This all leads to stress accumulation which is bound to make us “explode” sooner or later. Namely, once we are under stress, our body perceives this as a case of emergency, where we need either to fight the cause of our stress or to run away from it. Yet, if we do not provide ourselves comfort and remain stressed for no reason, our body will start deteriorating. This can be catastrophic for our health. Thus stress relief is a necessity, if you are to stay healthy and productive, in all aspects of life.

At work, stress comes when you are supposed to work out something on your own, being faced with great expectations of your superiors. Then, you might be assigned a group, of which you will be the leader, and forced to get introduced with them, get them in the right mood for working and be as productive as possible over the shortest periods of time. However, other people are not immune to stress, and they too can be stressed out in your group, leading to increased levels of this obstructive state of mind. Then, there are several things you might try, relieving your whole group from stress and creating a healthy, relaxed, working atmosphere.

Stress Relief Games

One of the best ice breakers while working in a group is the following question game. Each person in the group is to ask the person next to him/her an “if” question like “if you were an astronaut, which planet you would visit?” and the other person is to answer, him/her being the next one to ask someone else. This is good when practiced while people are sitting in a circle.

Another good technique involves giving your group members papers with certain groups they are supposed to write their own answers to. For example, you can make a musician, TV program and book group, where they are each supposed to write their favorites. Then, collect the papers, read them aloud and let the others answer whose each is.

Similarly, group members, one by one, may introduce themselves, by telling facts mixed with lies. At the same time, others are to notice these lies.

Alternatively, a good gossip game is excellent when there are more than 10 people in the group. All you need to do is whisper something into the ear of the first member and he is to repeat it to the other and so on, until the message is completely different when it reaches the last group member.

Finally, you might ask some ethical questions and one of the group members may try and answer them. If the other believe him/her, he or she can remain in the discussion. However, if they think he/she is not being honest, he or she is removed from any further discussions.