I’ve been really cognoscente  this year about changing up the way we’ve done staff meetings.  You see we do a staff meeting once a month.  And on a campus of over 80 employees, I feel like that time is so important for us to use to get to know each other, and to grow.

Last year I wrote a post called “Each of Us Holds Value“.  This activity was such a powerful one that I did it again this year with my team.  February is such a hard time of the year that I felt it was so necessary.  You see that’s the first ingredient that should be present in every staff meeting: Love.  People need to feel loved, but they also need to share love with others around them.  We so easily forget our worth and the great things we bring to the table.

Then for the “second-half” of our staff meeting I knew we needed to play a game.  We needed the other two ingredients that every staff meeting should have: fun and laughter.

So more than just play a fun game, I wanted to play a game that would have people laughing hysterically.

I had remembered reading a blog post from Hope King about a life sized Hungry Hungry Hippos game (You can read it HERE).  I had also seen Greg Smedley’s staff play it recently. And I knew this was what we needed.

So I explained the game and told everyone that if they were physically able, and wanted to participate to form teams of three.  One person would lay on the cart, one would push, and one would collect balls back at their collection station.

You can watch the “Finals” round below.  Let’s just say the room was full of laughter, screaming, and all around fun.

It reminded me of the quote by Erica Bauermeister, “Adults need to have fun so children will want to grow up.”  And today we did that.  We had fun.  We bonded.  And we just flat out acted like little children.

Today was one of those moments I could see stress fall away for just a few moments.  For just a little while we got to act like we had no concerns in the world.  And really, as teachers, we need those moments to keep us sane.

Staff Meetings?  They should be filled with love, laughter, and fun.  All the other stuff you can cover in an email.  Spend time getting to know your people, laughing uncontrollably, building each other up, and make sure you have lots of fun.