Why Offsite Outdoor Team-Building Activities Are Great for School Children

1. Develops Social and Communication Skills

Outdoors and offsite, children often find it easier to drop their guard. Without the structure of a classroom, they naturally collaborate, negotiate, and problem-solve together. Activities like group challenges, obstacle courses, or team-building games encourage students to:
– Listen actively to each other
– Speak up and share ideas
– Learn how to work through conflict constructively
– These are real-world skills that benefit students far beyond the playground.

2. Builds Resilience and Confidence
Outdoor team-building often involves trying new things — climbing, balancing, exploring, or facing group challenges. Many kids are surprised by what they’re capable of when they’re gently pushed out of their comfort zones.
Every zip line crossed, puzzle solved, or goal achieved tells a child:
“I can do hard things.”
This sense of accomplishment builds self-confidence that translates into the classroom and everyday life.

3. Encourages Leadership and Teamwork
Outdoor activities often rotate roles within a team — sometimes a child is the problem-solver, other times the encourager or the leader. Students learn that:
– Everyone brings something valuable to the group
– Leadership isn’t about being the loudest — it’s about listening, guiding, and supporting
– Collaboration leads to better outcomes than working alone
– These team experiences prepare students for future group projects, sports, and even their eventual workplaces.

4. Improves Focus and Mental Health
Spending time outside has been shown to reduce anxiety, improve mood, and boost attention spans. For children especially, it’s a natural and powerful way to:
– Disconnect from screens
– Recharge mentally
– Reconnect with peers in a playful, pressure-free environment
– The change of scenery — trees instead of desks — is often all it takes to help kids return to school feeling refreshed and ready to learn.

5. Promotes Physical Activity in a Fun Way
Unlike structured P.E. lessons, outdoor team-building lets kids run, jump, balance, and stretch in a way that feels like pure play. Physical activity is built into the day — and they barely notice they’re exercising!
It supports:
Gross motor skill development
Coordination and balance
Healthy lifestyle habits for the long term

6. Fosters Empathy and Inclusion
One of the most beautiful parts of team-building outdoors? It levels the playing field.
Away from test scores or traditional academic measures, different skills shine. A quiet student might emerge as a natural strategist. A shy child may find their voice as the team cheerleader. These moments foster empathy and inclusiveness as students learn to appreciate different strengths.

WildFit Surrey offers an engaging and dynamic outdoor obstacle course designed to enhance team building for schools. Set within 10 acres of picturesque countryside near Redhill, the course features 35 diverse obstacles, including climbing walls, rope swings, balance beams, and tyre runs. These challenges are tailored to accommodate various fitness levels, ensuring that all participants can engage meaningfully. Mix this with options such axe throwing, zip wire, team building games and you have the perfect schools outdoor offsite.

What Makes WildFit Surrey Ideal for School Team Building?

Inclusive Design: The course is suitable for all fitness levels and abilities, with obstacles graded from blue (easy) to black (very difficult), allowing students to choose challenges that match their comfort and skill levels.

Holistic Approach: Sessions are led by experienced instructors who focus on encouragement and positive energy, fostering a supportive environment where students can thrive.

Customisable Programmes: WildFit Surrey offers tailored team building sessions that can be adapted to meet the specific needs and objectives of school groups, whether for fitness, fun, or personal development.

Natural Setting: The open-air environment not only provides physical challenges but also promotes mental well-being by connecting participants with nature, reducing stress, and boosting mood.

Testimonials from Schools:

“It was great and the students (and staff) all loved it. Thank you for making the sessions so fun and engaging.”
Andy Powell, Esher Sixth Form College

“WildFit Surrey is great, highly recommended! We bring the sports scholars every year to the obstacle course and always have a fantastic session.”
Andy Morris. Head of Sport, Hawthorns School

“Ollie and his energetic team provided us with three days of exciting outdoor activities for 60 year 8 and 9 students, in a lovely rural setting, at very short notice after another provider let us down. The obstacle course was very popular with the students, with its wide range of obstacles that provide a challenge to students of all abilities. The course is highly inclusive with easier and harder obstacles, and options to bypass an obstacle if it’s beyond a students capability. Completing the course individually, in teams, and without spilling cups of water meant students wanted to complete the course again and again. Beyond the obstacle course, students really enjoyed a wide variety of wide games, rounders, dodgeball, cricket and especially the zip line. The axe throwing also provided a memorable experience and a great photo opportunity! Ollie and his team were extremely hospitable and accommodating, and went above and beyond in providing us with an alternative way to access the site when we had an issue with our coach. Highly recommend!”
Martyn Johnson, Sackville School, East Grinstead

Sample sessions:

15 students 1.5-2 hours
Team building warm-up games, Group run around the obstacles, Sprint track relay run offs, timed/own pace full course run, zip wire, FitLight reaction lights

60 students two hours:
– three teams and four 25 minute zones
zone 1 – full group playful/rapport warm-up and crawl/tyre flip relay
zone 2 – ninja ramp and sprint course obstacle run-offs in pairs
zone 3 – the main obstacles (#10-32) taken at own pace
zone 4 – zip wire & reaction FitLight hi score

100 students three hours
– five teams and five 25 minute zones + break
zone 1 – ninja ramp and sprint course obstacle run-offs in pairs
zone 2 – the main obstacles (#10-32) taken at own pace
zone 3 – zip wire & reaction FitLight hi score
zone 4 – relays & skill or rapport games
zone 5 – axe throwing

60 students three days
– 30 students in the morning & 30 students in the afternoon
Day 1 – obstacle course day
Day 2 – competition day including relays, obstacles, axe throwing, skills, team work
Day 3 – fun & games day including team games, creative arts, campfire & marshmallows

Final Thoughts

Taking school children offsite for outdoor team-building isn’t just a “fun day out.” It’s an investment in their growth — emotionally, socially, and mentally. It teaches lessons they’ll remember far longer than facts from a textbook. So next time you’re planning a school trip or enrichment activity, think beyond the walls. Sometimes, the most powerful learning happens under the open sky.