Last updated July 31, 2024
if you are looking for free problem-solving activities and exercises to use in training sessions for employees, adults, or students, here are 12 that you can use below. Enjoy!
Benefits of Using Problem-Solving Activities When Teaching
There is no better way to teach problem-solving skills, be it for employees or students than giving them the chance to try some fun exercises that provide a hands-on opportunity to learn key techniques.
Many participants learn by doing rather than just by listening to a teacher or trainer and these fun activities help to embed learning in the participants’ minds.
12 Group Problem-Solving Activities
1. Scavenger Hunt
Time needed: 1 hour
Number of Participants: 8 or more.
Items Needed:
- Print-out of items that they have to find
- Pens
- Smartphone to take photos
Intention: This problem-solving activity is great for getting participants to try and solve a fun problem together. Participants will need to work together well as a team hence this activity also works great as a team-building activity, in addition to being one of the most enjoyable problem-solving activities for employees or students.
How to Run the Activity: You will need to do a little preparation ahead of the activity, the first thing being to prepare a list of the items that participants have to find and photograph during the activity.
The items can be things such as signage, a natural feature, or the front of a specific building or it can be something more random such as a blue flower, a butterfly, a water fountain or a landmark.
You will need to decide on the location and area in which the scavenger hunt will take place, i.e. it might take place in your company building or if you have a park nearby you could run the activity there (do consider the weather though and ensure it is a safe place for participants).
To start running the activity, randomly divide the teams into groups of 5 and then hand one list to each group (that details the items they must find and take a photograph of).
Give participants a set time such as 30 minutes (but you can use 45 minutes as needed) to find as many items as they can as a group.
I would suggest explaining that all 5 participants must be captured in the photo with each item, to ensure they work as a team.
At the end of the 30 minutes, all groups should return to the meeting point and then show you (the training coordinator) the photos. Then announce the winning group and, if you wish, give them a small prize.
I like to then hold a 15-minute overview discussion to ask the participants some questions for general discussion, such as about what strategies and problem-solving skills they used to find the items.
2. Shrinking Vessel
Time needed: 30 minutes.
Number of Participants: Groups of 8 can work best but you can adapt as needed.
Items Needed: Some long pieces of rope (or balls of string) and chalk to mark boundaries.
Intention: This is one of those problem-solving activities for team building that helps participants with their adaptability skills and quick thinking.
How to Run the Activity: You will need to create a large oblong space on the floor that represents the ‘vessel’ in this activity.
Use the ropes/string and if needed chalk (if you have permission to mark the floors) to create the impression of the vessel on the floor.
To start the activity itself, begin by explaining to the participants that the objective is to try and fit the team onto (into) the vessel without anyone touching or being outside of the boundaries of the vessel. The issue though is that after 3 minutes, the vessel will get smaller!
Start a stopwatch so that an alarm will go off every 3 minutes.
Now ask the team to stand inside the vessel before the 3 minutes is up.
Then after 3 minutes, the participants can step out of the marked vessel and you will reduce the size of the vessel, i.e. by moving one of the ropes/string to make the vessel space a little smaller.
The team must once again stand inside the vessel but this time in the smaller vessel.
Continue this activity, making the vessel smaller and smaller every 3 minutes.
Participants will need to use creative thinking and work well together to all fit into a shrunken vessel as it gets smaller!
3. Dumbest Idea First
Time needed: 25 minutes.
Number of Participants: 6 participants or more.
Items Needed: Paper and pens.
Intention: One of my favourite problem solving activities, this gets a lot of laughs but is also great for getting participants to think outside the box.
How to Run the Activity: Start by dividing everyone into groups of 4 or 5.
Now you need to introduce the problem they will solve, so you will need to have written down some problems beforehand. Let me give you one example problem and also some examples of dumb answers you might expect:
| BlackCat Co Want to Greatly Increase Their Social Media Engagement Numbers Some dumb solutions participants might have come up with could include: Dumb Idea 1: Create Instagram posts only in Morse code. Dumb Idea 2: Share daily photos of the office chairs. Dumb Idea 3: Reply to every comment from your followers, with a love heart. |
Give participants 15 minutes to brainstorm in their groups and to write down the dumbest and craziest ideas they can think of to solve the problem you provide them with.
Make it clear to participants that the crazier and wilder the ideas, the better. They should think outside the box.
After the 10 minutes is up, ask each group to read out the answers they have given to the problem.
As a full class, they will then select the top three dumbest answers, i.e. the three most innovative and unusual answers.
What makes this one of the best problem solving activities for employees is the fact that it is such a fun way to tackle finding a solution to a problem.
4. What Would You Do?
Time needed: 45 minutes.
Number of Participants: 5 or more participants.
Equipment Needed:
- Whiteboard and marker.
- Pieces of paper with the names of famous people (real or fictional) written on them (i.e., Michael Jordan, Prince Harry, Hilary Clinton, Lady GaGa, Madonna, Sherlock Holmes etc).
Intention: This problem solving activity offers another opportunity for participants to try and use creative thinking to work as a team and find a solution.
How to Run the Activity: Begin by dividing everyone into groups of 4 or 5 and then give each some paper and pens, and a character card (a different one for each group).
| Example Scenario A lazy employee Bob is one of the team but he is simply not doing his fair share of the work and this is creating a bad atmosphere in the team. The project at the moment is to market the new fashion line and it’s essential to get this project moving fast as there is limited time. The issue is that Bob is affecting the whole project and there are 6 weeks left to get this campaign completed. Possible Things to Discuss How exactly can this issue with Bob be solved? How can Bob be motivated and supported while the project is kept on track? What can you do to make sure the project stays on track while the issue is sorted? |
Allow each team to spend 20 minutes discussing the scenario you have given them, but remind the groups that they must try and think of solutions from the perspective of the famous person they have been given.
They need to really try and understand both the scenario and the character they have been given.
What specific skills might their character have, for example, that that person would perhaps use to address the scenario?
| Example Character Skills If the character is a famous sports manager, for example, they might have great leadership skills and perhaps be able to mentor and support Bob to begin to solve the issue. |
Ask the groups to write down their thoughts.
After the 20 minutes is complete, ask each group to read out their scenario and character name to the group, and then the ideas they came up with.
>> Problem-Solving Teaching & Training Materials
5. Legoman Activity
Time needed: 45 minutes.
Number of Participants: 8 or more participants.
Equipment Needed:
- Multiple sets of Lego bricks (enough for each team to have a substantial number of pieces)
- A pre-built Lego structure (kept hidden from participants)
- Blindfolds
Intention: If you are looking for fun problem-solving activities then the Legoman Activity is a great option. This activity requires strategic thinking, in addition to teamwork and communication skills.
How to Run the Activity: You are going to need to create a Lego structure beforehand and then hide this under a sheet inside the training room. Participants will need to copy the design so make the design something that can be copied but that is not too easy.
Split teams into groups of 4 (but adapt as needed according to class size and available Lego sets/pieces).
Now it’s time to explain how the activity will work to the participants:
The team (except for one person) will need to copy the pre-designed Lego structure BUT they will do so blindfolded!
The one person without a blindfold will be able to see the structure and will guide the others in her/his team to build the structure.
The chances are that the teams will not perfectly copy the structure but they should be able to get close and the trick will be the listening skills and communication skills of everyone involved.
Give teams 15 minutes to try and build the structure.
After the 15 minutes participants can take off their blindfolds and take a look at the structure they built and the one they were trying to copy. Participants might also want to take a look at the efforts of the other groups.
6. Stranded
Time needed: 60 minutes.
Number of Participants: 10+ participants.
Items Needed: A handout detailing the list of survival items.
Intention: In addition to being great in terms of problem-solving activities for team building, this also requires decision-making skills and negotiation skills.
How to Run the Activity: Explain to participants that they have to imagine that they are stuck on a desert island, completely stranded and with no clue as to when and if help will be available, so they need to survive for an indefinite amount of time.
From a list of 25 items, the teams must choose which 9 items the team would want to be washed up ashore if they had a choice.
The handout you provide to the teams will detail each of the 25 options and will include things such as dry matches, a fishing net, a machete, a large empty plastic bottle, a blanket etc.
For this activity divide everyone into teams of 5 and allow them 30 minutes to discuss, debate and decide on what items from the list you provided to them, to keep.
After the 30 minutes, bring the whole class together and ask each group to explain to the rest of the class, what items they chose and why.
7. Build a Bridge
Time needed: 45 minutes.
Number of Participants: 10+ participants.
Items Needed: Whatever materials you can provide, i.e. cardboard, masking tape, strips of rope, and small boxes. Also scissors and some heavier objects such as some heavy books. Each team will also need a ruler.
Intention: This is one of the classic problem-solving activities for adults that I love using when providing training for employees. It promotes problem-solving through teamwork.
How to Run the Activity: Before the activity starts, you will need to lay out the materials for each group in different spaces around the training room or classroom.
Start the activity by dividing everyone into teams of 4 or 5 and explain to them that, using the materials you have provided them with, they need to build a bridge that will be 50 cm long (you can adapt the length as you wish) and the bridge will need to support the heavy product (i.e. book) that you have given them.
Give teams 30 minutes to make their bridge.
After the 30 minutes, as the training facilitator you will place the book on the bridge and see if the bridge remains standing, i.e. if it is strong enough to support the heavy item.
8. Innovation Challenge
Time needed: 60 minutes.
Number of Participants: 5 more more participants.
Items Needed: Whiteboard (if available), paper and pens.
Intention: This is one of the best classroom and virtual problem solving activities and also works well for teaching innovative thinking. This activity pushes participants to come up with new and interesting ideas.
| Example Challenge Improving the Communication in the Remote Team In Pulpa Productions, the company have decided to allow all employees to work online virtually and many employees are now working from abroad using coworking hubs such as in Thailand and Spain. What the company need to replicate is the sense of unity, teamwork, and collaboration that existed when everyone worked from the same office space. Key Elements What online and virtual tools might help? How can virtual team-building activities and virtual social events be integrated? What else can be done to make sure Pulpa Productions build employee engagement in this new online working environment? |
How to Run the Activity: Divide everyone into teams of 4, 5 or 6 (dependent on the size of the class) and ask each team to spend 30 minutes brainstorming in their groups, working on the scenario above (or make up your own scenarios related and tailored to the company or people you are providing training for). They should write down a list of any ideas they have.
After the 30 minutes is over, teams need to spend another 30 minutes coming up with a plan, based on the ideas they wrote down.
9. Reverse Brainstorming
Time needed: 20 minutes.
Number of Participants: 5 or more participants.
Items Needed: Paper and pens.
Purpose: This is another of those problem solving activities that drives participants to think outside the box and find new and interesting ideas.
How to Run the Activity: You will need to prepare a challenge or issue that participants need to solve (see the example in the last activity regards a company moving to remote working) and use that as needed).
To start this activity divide participants into groups of 5 and then hand each group a copy of the scenario that they will try to solve.
Explain to participants that this is an activity with a difference in that they will focus, to start with, on creating negative ideas, i.e. ideas that make the scenario worse and not better.
So, in the example of remote working in activity 8, for example, what could we do to create even more dis-unity in the company moving to work fully as a digital company? Or how could we try to increase miscommunication online, or select virtual tools which will not help at all?
Give participants 10 minutes to work in their groups, and to write down their ideas.
This can be a lot of fun for participants because it can bring out the mischievous side but at the same time, it does use problem-solving skills and requires teamwork to discuss the ideas.
Now ask the participants to work in their groups again and to work out positive solutions to overcome each of the negative ideas they wrote down. Allow another 10 minutes for this.
At the end of the 10 minutes, ask each group to give a couple of their negative ideas and the positive ideas they used to counteract the negatives.
10. Brainwriting
Time needed: 45 minutes.
Number of Participants: 5 or more.
Items Needed: writing materials and pens.
Intention: The idea of this problem-solving activity is to get all participants equally involved in coming up with ideas, whereas in other activities it is sometimes a few natural leaders who take charge.
How to Run the Activity: You will need to prepare some scenarios (although you can use the scenario from Activity 8 on this page regards a company moving to remote working only).
Now ask participants to spend 10 minutes by themselves, writing down the solutions that they can think of for the scenario you present them. They should not talk to anyone else while jotting down their own ideas.
The idea is that this is about being inclusive and making sure that everyone has an opportunity to offer ideas and be fully involved.
After the 10 minutes is complete, now have participants share their ideas with another participant.
During this exchange, the participants can add to the other person’s list, i.e. adding ideas inspired by what the other person has written. Allow 5 minutes for this.
Participants can also modify ideas on their own list, based on the inspiration from the other ideas they read and hear about.
Participants should share ideas with another participant and so on until they have shared with 4 or 5 others.
The beauty of this activity is that it helps to generate ideas without one or two very dominant employees (or students if teaching students) from taking control. In Inclusive leadership, giving a voice to every employee is essential.
11. The 5-3-1 Method
Time needed: 30 minutes.
Number of Participants: 5 or more.
Items Needed: Paper and pens.
Intention: This problem solving exercise helps participants learn how to spread the net wide in terms of thinking of lots of possible solutions, and then whittling the number down to one, as a group.
How to Run the Activity: 5-3-1 is a popular problem-solving method and in this activity, we use it to get participants individually to come up with 5 ideas, then for them to join up in groups and whittle their ideas down to 3 as a group, and then finally for the class to get it down to one final idea.
To get started, provide participants with a scenario that they need to solve (use the scenario on this page in Activity 8 as needed).
Now ask participants to spend 10 minutes alone to think of their 5 possible solutions.
After the 10 minutes then put people together into groups of 4 and they must all share their ideas with each other (in their group) and together they will come up with a final list of 3 ideas.
Then bring the class back together and get each group to read out their 3 ideas and write them on a whiteboard.
Now as a full class, discuss which idea is the best and then at the end take a vote and you have the one remaining idea.
The 5-3-1 Method is very good for team decision-making and for collaborative projects.
12. Customer Journey Mapping
Time needed: 60 minutes.
Number of participants: 4 or more.
Purpose: This is quite a hands-on style activity and well suited if you are teaching or providing training related to customers and marketing or customer service.
This is all about trying to understand the customer’s journey, the trust funnels and anything you can improve to solve pain points and anything that blocks a potential customer from completing a sale or purchase.
How to Run the activity: Start by dividing participants up into groups of 4 or 5 and if you have people from different departments present, mix them up.
Now ask the teams to think of the customer avatar and to write down exactly what the classic profile would be. Their interests, hobbies, age etc.
Now have the teams map out the customer journey including:
- How do they discover your business? What are the discovery points (touch points)?
- What do you offer to build trust when they come across you?
- What pain points do you help with?
- How might our typical customer (your avatar customer) fit in with the above answers?
Is there a match or disunity between the avatar customer and what you actually offer service-wise?
To end the activity have each group share their thoughts with the rest of the class on the avatar customer they wrote down, and some of their answers to the other questions.
Problem Solving Activities
In addition to providing you with these free problem solving activities above, I just want to draw your attention to the Problem Solving skills Training materials – see below:
Paul is Co-Founder of Symonds Research and is a qualified researcher with a PhD in wayfinding. Paul helps the team at Symonds Research build and focus on providing high-quality training materials packages and programs for trainers, classroom teachers and HR departments.