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Exercises/Relationship Mapping/Group Storytelling Activity For Team Connection - Build A Story
Collaborative Story Building · Relationship Mapping

Group Storytelling Activity For Team Connection - Build A Story

Group Storytelling Activity For Team Connection - Build A Story is a collaborative story building exercise for relationship mapping: it helps participants build useful connections and understand how people, roles, or ideas relate.

5 to 15 minutesTIME
Medium group (9-25), Small group (4-8)GROUP SIZE
ActiveENERGY
In person, RemoteSETTING
High cognitive loadCOGNITIVE LOAD
Strengthens Network Design This relationship mapping exercise strengthens Network Design, one of the eight Gathering Effectiveness pillars.

How to run it

  1. Ask your group to help you create a unique story.
  2. Invite a volunteer to start by suggesting the opening sentence of a ‘fictional’ story, eg “I was walking down the street, when suddenly…”
  3. Then, when someone can add to the story, ask them to link elbows with the first person and share what happened next, eg “… I saw a massive moose blocking my path.”
  4. The story continues with new people joining at the end of the line, building the story sentence by sentence, one person at a time.
  5. Encourage your group to keep the storyline moving forward.
  6. The game continues until everyone has contributed to the story and linked elbows with the group.
  7. If possible, encourage the last few members of your group to bring the story to a natural conclusion.
  8. Build A Story Group storytelling activity sparks imagination & bonding.
  9. Build A Story combines physical interaction with improvisational narrative as the story unfolds one sentence at a time.
Live facilitator

Run this exercise live

The facilitator console stays in this browser. Its QR handoff is a short-lived participant snapshot containing only public exercise instructions, phase, prompt, and timer state.

Prompts to use +

Ask your group to help you create a unique story.

Invite a volunteer to start by suggesting the opening sentence of a ‘fictional’ story, eg “I was walking down the street, when suddenly…”

Then, when someone can add to the story, ask them to link elbows with the first person and share what happened next, eg “… I saw a massive moose blocking my path.”

The game continues until everyone has contributed to the story and linked elbows with the group.

Build A Story Group storytelling activity sparks imagination & bonding.

Run this with your AI assistant +

Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Adapt this exercise for my exact room. Exercise: Group Storytelling Activity For Team Connection - Build A Story. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Ask your group to help you create a unique story.; Invite a volunteer to start by suggesting the opening sentence of a ‘fictional’ story, eg “I was walking down the street, when suddenly…”; Then, when someone can add to the story, ask them to link elbows with the first person and share what happened next, eg “… I saw a massive moose blocking my path.”; The game continues until everyone has contributed to the story and linked elbows with the group.. Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.

Origin unverified

  • Where we observed it: The strongest current observations come from Playmeo; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (1 source observed, including Playmeo.)
  • What that means: we track where an exercise has been observed in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, or how popular it is.
  • No efficacy claims: appearing in this library is not a claim that the exercise is proven effective. Facilitator judgment and context decide whether it works for a given room.
  • Corrections: if you have evidence of an earlier or more accurate source, read our methodology and trust boundary and tell us.

Pairs well with