Marshmallow Challenge
Know the activity
The Marshmallow Challenge may look like child’s play, but don’t be fooled—it’s a masterclass in design thinking, collaboration, agile planning, and one of the best employee engagement activities. Teams are given 20 sticks of spaghetti, a yard of string, a yard of tape, and one marshmallow. The task: build the tallest freestanding structure possible, with the marshmallow sitting proudly on top.
Teams jump into construction mode, ideas flying and structures rising. Some go for height, others for stability, but the true challenge is integrating that soft, weighty marshmallow without toppling everything. The final moments are often filled with tension, excitement, and last-minute adjustments.
What makes this activity so powerful is its ability to reflect real-world innovation processes. Teams learn the value of quick prototyping, testing, and iterative improvement, often realizing that over-planning without testing leads to failure.
It’s the perfect energizer for workshops, design sprints, or strategy days. The physical nature of the challenge, combined with the creative freedom and tight time limit, ensures employee engagement from start to finish.
Ideal For: Creativity, innovation, and team dynamics
What Makes This Activity Stand Out?
Encourages Experimentation: Open dialogue and collaboration among team members.
Highlights Group Dynamics: The importance of quick thinking and adaptability under time pressure.
Provides a tangible way to experience the iterative process of testing, failing, and improving.
Facilitates bonding through laughter, shared goals, and mutual support.
Perfect for workplace settings, corporate team building events, or off-site team building sessions, this challenge helps teams discover new dynamics while having a great time. It is not just an activity; it is a way to foster a culture of cooperation, resilience, and fun within your organization.
Bring the Marshmallow Challenge to your next engagement session and see creativity and collaboration soar!
Know the activity
In twenty minutes, teams must build the tallest free standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. The marshmallow needs to be on top.
Surprising lessons emerge when you compare teams’ performance. Who tends to do the worst? Why? Who tends to do the best? Why? What improves performance? What kills it?
The training is the only way to initiate and form a team with a creative mindset. Also, it even considered to be the best way to encourage the whole team towards innovation and simulation activities. For a good marshmallow challenge, 45 minutes is enough for this indoor activity.
Game
Indoor
Activity Time
45-60 Mins
MARSHMALLOW CHALLENGE
MARSHMALLOW CHALLENGE
MARSHMALLOW CHALLENGE
MARSHMALLOW CHALLENGE
Gallery
Our clients
Companies that’ve had fun with us till now
Testimonials
T Subramaniam (merck Pharma)
Your team was awesome. We all had great fun and feel refreshed. . Thanks for adding such entertainment games in our memories.
T Subramaniam
Purba (L&T Hydrocarbons)
The Team building event was a great success. Everyone had a great time and the outdoor games were very interesting , which made it better.
Purba
Jawahar S (L&T )
Everyone had a great time and the outdoor games were very interesting. Overall, Parakram's team building events are amazing and our staff really enjoyed it!
Jawahar S
R Kumar (HDFC)
The event was great and our staff loved it!!!! Your facilitator was fantastic and so nice. We will definitely be keeping your information for future events
R Kumar
Pradeep Singh (Ultratech)
We had a fabulous time, and Riaz and team were excellent. We are very pleased with how everything went!
Pradeep Singh
Mumbai
Pune
bengaluru
GOa
Hyderabad
