Recess at Work Day
Every year on June 18, everyone gets a chance to be a kid again—or should! Recess at Work Day is the celebration of teambuilding, company spirit and general fun for at least half an hour. So take a cue from your children and see if your employer will make June 18 Recess at Work Day for your company. Work from home? Be sure to take a half hour of “recess” for yourself.
Below are some ideas for celebrating Recess at Work Day:
Go for a traditional recess. Visit the park and swing with your co-workers. Climb the jungle gym in your suit. Go down the slide—with your arms in the air! Bring a ball and play catch or kickball. Remind yourselves what it was like to see the world through your child’s eyes. Jump rope, play tag, or throw a Frisbee.
Do it the grownup way. Go out for a mid-day happy hour. Have lattes as a group and talk about anything but work.
Play hooky as a team. If you boss okays it (or you are your own boss) play hooky for the day and go see a movie—Up is pretty fantastic, and I hear the Night at the Museum sequel is worth seeing! Visit the ice cream parlor. Go bowling, window shopping, to the beach… just have a fun recess, especially with your coworkers if you can.
Go all out. It’s not too late to hit an amusement park, theme park or carnival if there is one near you. Carpool together and make a day of it. You’ll get a kick out of watching that prim and proper woman from accounting let her bun fly loose on a roller coaster, and you can suck up by buying the boss a funnel cake.
Work out. This one’s especially important if you sit at a desk all day! Try out a gym together, or just go out for a brisk walk. Maybe someone at work is a yoga or tai chi expert and can lead the group in an activity?
Do a teambuilding activity. There are traditional “trust” activities like blind walks and falling while you trust your coworker to catch you—but there are also more fun things to do, like silly icebreakers or days spent at bounce facilities.
Play games. This one’s especially good if it’s raining outside. Visit Party Games for some ideas, or bring some board games from home. Twister would be great for this!
Volunteer together. There’s always something you can do, whether it’s distribute goods for the food pantry or clean up the local park or river.
