These group-friendly activities help bring employees together while teaching new skills.
1. Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in Silver Spring offers hands-on art classes for groups. Ranging from collaborative bookmaking to papermaking and screenprinting, sessions for as many as 15 people may be held in the facility's art gallery or on in a classroom. Pricing is based on the number of participants and the activity chosen, but half-day classes for 15 students typically range from $300 to $500. Catering is not provided but participants can bring in their own food and beverages.
2. Hill's Kitchen, a kitchenware store in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, offers private teambuilding-oriented classes like pasta making. In the course, as many as 14 participants work together in the store's kitchen to make different kinds of noodles that they can take home. Classes start at $45 a person, and Hill's Kitchen can provide drinks and appetizers for an additional charge.
3. Dino, a Cleveland Park Italian restaurant recently started offering classes about wines from Italy. The sessions, which typically include six to eight wine samples, are designed to be an informal look at particular regions, and give some background on producers and the history of the grapes. The restaurant can accommodate as many as 16 people, starting at $40 per person. Light snacks or full dinners with wine pairings are available.