Managing a team is not easy. Making sure that everyone works together as a cohesive unit takes a lot of work.

One of the ways to make sure that happens is to plan effective team building activities that actually work. However, the conventional trust-falls, office get-aways, and so on, don’t always prove to be effective. In that case, what other team building activities are left?

Below are ideas for unusual team building activities that you can try with your employees—which have been proven to actually work.

1. Volunteer

Charity, or the mere act of giving away, can prove to be beneficial to anyone. Do it as a group, and the entire group benefits.

It doesn’t have to be extravagant or expensive. It can be something as simple as going to your local soup kitchen and feeding the homeless or poor. It can also be giving away any used clothes you’ve gathered from the entire office, as well as their friends and families. You can even volunteer as an office to clean up the nearby beach or river.

Regardless of what kind of charity work it is that you choose to volunteer for as an office, the fact that you’re doing it as a group for the good of everyone around you makes volunteering an excellent team-building activity—and an affordable one at that.

2. Bowling and beer night

With a bowling ball in hand and a beer in the other, going bowling as an entire office can make for an excellent team-oriented activity that encourages everyone in the workplace to socialize and bond with each other.

The best part? Workers can take their families with them, making the event even more personal. Try to level the playing field, however. Pair the more experienced bowlers with the beginners so that those who are new to the game just don’t end up flat out losing. While winning should never be the main goal, it’s never a good feeling to lose a game, even if it’s something as casual as going bowling with your office mates.

Also, by pairing the good bowlers with the beginners, you help them create a learning relationship with each other.

3. Go to escape rooms

Escape rooms are designed to keep people in for as long as possible unless they work together to solve the puzzles.

What could go wrong? Apparently, nothing. There’s a reason why going to an escape room is slowly becoming a go-to favorite among many companies today. It’s an excellent team-building activity that literally forces everyone to work together because otherwise, they’ll find themselves locked inside the room.

4. Laser tag

Lasers and tag. Those are two things that are universally loved by both adults and kids alike. Getting the entire office to play laser tag for an entire afternoon is a great way to have some good fun and blow off some steam. If you want to up the ante, you can even encourage teams to compete and award those with the most points.

Whether you choose to go to an escape room in Singapore, or volunteer at your local shelter, these unusual yet highly effective team-building activities should help your office get together and become that cohesive unit that you’ve always dreamed of.