Candy Match Up - Easy Team Building Activity
Candy Match Up is a fun (and tasty) team activity you can easily execute in about 5 minutes during your team meeting. In short, candy is placed on the table, and each person guesses whose favorite candy it is. The activity is followed by eating the candy…and who doesn’t enjoy that?
A big shout out to Catherine Piper, Team Lead for Incident Management Training and Development Program at the Centers for Disease Control for sharing this idea with me. Her team had fun playing the game they were still talking about it the next day.
INSTRUCTIONS:
Get prepared before the meeting:
- Before your meeting, privately ask each person: What is your favorite candy?
- Purchase their favorite candy.
- Create cards with each team member’s name and picture.
Facilitating the activity during your meeting:
- Lay the favorite candies out on the table.
- Give each person a set of cards with all of the team member’s names.
- Instruct them to guess which candy is each person’s favorite one, and put that person’s card by the candy.
- Once everyone has guessed, reveal the answers and pass out the candy!
Here are a few variations to consider:
1. If short on prep time.
Use this variation if you don’t have the time or supplies to print cards with each person’s name and picture. For every person on the team, place a blank 8x11 piece of paper on the table and put one piece of candy on each paper. Then, on each paper (with the candy) each person writes the name of the person whom they believe prefers this candy.
2. Vote using snack-sized candies.
Get enough snack sized candy bars of each person’s favorite for each person on the team. On the table, place the name/picture of each team member. The team member’s then place the candy they believe to be each person’s favorite beside the name card. After the reveal, they can all trade candies with each other to get the ones they like the most.
3. For a Virtual Team: Mail favorite candies prior to the meeting.
Mail each person their favorite candy in an envelope prior to the meeting. Be sure to tell them to bring the UNOPENED envelope to the virtual meeting. During the meeting, use a polling tool on your meeting software to let them guess each other’s favorite candies. Or to go low tech, send a list of the favorite candies out – and ask them to say out loud who they think prefers each one. Then, invite them to open their envelopes and enjoy the candy during the meeting.
About the Author: Leigh Ann Rodgers, Founder of Better Teams and Forward, is an IAF Certified Professional Facilitator with 20 years of experience in the human development field. Leigh Ann is a skilled meeting facilitator, trainer, and coach working across the globe to help leaders cultivate teams that are happy and high-performing.
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