Collect a variety of objects and put them in the center of a table. The broader the variety, the better e. The goal is to collect items that, at first glance, have no apparent connection. Break the team into groups, giving each group a sheet of paper and pen. Make sure they have a clear view of all the objects. Instruct them to classify the objects into four groups, writing down the groupings on their sheet of paper. They should not let the team groups hear what they are doing.
When the time is up, have a spokesperson for each group reveal how they classified the objects, and why. Reasons might vary, from the function of the object to how it looks, or the material it is made of. Purpose: This exercise promotes teamwork and creative thinking, but it also encourages your team to rethink how they view everyday objects. They are forced to look for commonalities in otherwise unconnected objects.
This leads to a discussion on how to work outside the box for solutions to problems that seem wholly unrelated. Bring in four objects or multiple sets of four objects of the same type e. Write up a conversational scenario for each set that outlines what the perfect item would be, in the order of preference.
While none of the four objects is an exact match, each have qualities that reflect that perfect list. Read this scenario to your team, and instruct them to order the objects from best fit to worst fit.
When all object sets are done, have team members explain why they ordered the objects that way. Purpose: This exercise helps your team break down a scenario or problem and figure out which things are the best fit. This dovetails directly into discussion on current projects or challenges facing the group, in which you can, as a group, write a scenario for an actual project you are working on and decide which solutions are the best fit.
Bring the team into the room, and divide evenly into groups of at least two. Tell them they have thirty minutes to come up with a group problem-solving challenge that would make use of: teamwork, creativity, communication. When the thirty minutes is complete, the team will choose from one of the problem-solving challenges and actually do the activity.
A variation is to use all of the challenges over a period of time so that your team-building activities come directly from your team itself. Purpose: This team building exercise puts leadership responsibilities back on your team, showing them that they have the potential to come up with solutions, too. It also gives your team a chance to challenge other team members in ways they might not otherwise find the opportunity to do so in regular workday activity.
Bring your team in for what they think is just another staff meeting. Have a long document filled with mind-numbing but coherent jargon-filled speech that talks vaguely about sales and marketing goals. Sprinkled in the document are sentences which say something else entirely. These sentences should contain instructions or information that they will be quizzed on after you are finished. Begin reading it to your team in monotone. The goal is to get them to tune you out.
When you are finished, hand out paper to each team member. Then, ask them to write down what they thought you talked about. If your real sentences contained random information, quiz them on that. Discuss who heard what, and see who was able to actively listen. It shows the importance of listening to verbal communication, but also non-verbal communication.
They can discuss why they tuned you out, and what you could have done to keep them tuned in. Create a card deck that has images or words related to your company or brand. It might be logos, products, photos of your team, and so on. Whatever route you go, keep the images related. For example, use all photos of your team, or all photos of your products. Divide up into teams and see which team can match the most pairs in the least amount of time. You might set additional rules, such as requiring the name of the person to be said aloud when the card is flipped over, or some other related bit of information connected to the image on the card.
Purpose: To learn the names, information, and visuals associated with your company. This is particularly effective if you have a lot of new team members and you want everyone to learn their name and something about them. Teams can get a point for matching up cards, but they can get two points if they choose to successfully debate and argue why the two cards the turned over are associated.
If the majority of the room agrees with their reasoning, they receive the points. If not, they lose a point. It also forces them to decide what is worth debating or not, as well as whether or not someone has provided a good argument.
Place the name stickers in a container, and have each team member draw a name sticker out without being able to see the adjective. Have them stick the name tag on their shirt and wear it for a specific period of time, instructing them that all of their responses and interaction for that time must reflect the adjective on their name tag. You can use this in several ways. Your team could wear them during a typical meeting or brainstorming session to show how good and bad attitudes affect outcomes.
They could wear them for a typical work day and then discuss how they felt. Or, you could have them wear a name tag half of the day, and switch with someone for the second half. If they switch name tags, they will see how behavior and action often defines feeling, and not the other way around. Give each team member a piece of paper. Have them draw a simple drawing on the paper, without talking to anyone else.
Each person then passes the paper to their right. Each team member looks at the drawing they now have, fold the paper in half, and write at the top what they think the picture is of. The paper is passed to the right again. Each person reads the description, folds the paper over to hide the words, and draws a picture of that. This continues, where each pass alternates between determining what the picture was and drawing what was described.
It is important that each turn only reveals the words or picture from the previous round. Separate sheets or pads of paper may be used if that is easier than one sheet of paper, but they should be passed together.
Purpose: This activity tends to create a lot of laughter and is an excellent ice-breaker at parties or before long meetings where you want people to be comfortable with each other. The drawings and interpretations tend to bring out discussion and jokes. Give each member of your team three cards with the same number on them so that every team member has a set of numbers different from every other player.
The goal is to accomplish the tasks in a set amount of time so that whoever is left will get a prize based on the total value of the tasks completed.
And once a team member has used up all their cards, they are taken out of the game and out of the running for the prize. Ideally, there are more tasks and values than can be fulfilled by the cards your team possesses. The Game of Possibilities is a great way to bring out your team's creativity and quick thinking as well as a fun way to boost team creativity and innovation. Time: 30 minutes. Goal: Closely mimic movements of dancers to get points. Although one of the most effective and quickest ways to bring someone out of their comfort zone is to get them to dance, dancing can be uncomfortable for people who shy away from attention.
Dance Party solves this issue by having up to 4 participants dance at once. You can download the Dance Party app from the App Store and set it up in your office.
Players mimic the dance moves that the avatar performs on the screen. Encourage members to form teams and compete. Dancing as a group takes the pressure and embarrassment out of dancing.
Dance Party fosters healthy competition and energizes teams. Plus, the physical activity can help reduce feelings of stress and anxiety.
Items Needed: Smartphone. Goal: Guess the word displayed on participants phone. You may have seen "Heads Up! It is a mobile app available for download on Android and iOS devices, in which one player puts the phone on their forehead, the rest of the players can see the word, celebrity, or other category on the card, but it is hidden from the person holding it. He or she has to guess the item on the card based on clues from their team.
Although it is a fun app usually associated with parties, it can be perfect for office team-building. The best part about the game is that you can use the preloaded decks or you can create your own decks.
Make a deck that relates to your company or industry and test their knowledge while having some fun. Items Needed: Blindfold, masking tape, random assortment of items for the mine field.
Goal: Team members must guide a blindfolded person through a minefield with only their words. Minefield can be set up inside or outside, but make sure to clear the area to avoid any accidents.
Place "mines" or objects in an obstacle area and mark a finish line with masking tape. Mines can be anything from styrofoam cups to cones, as long as they are soft with no rough edges. The member that is going through the field, or obstacle area must be blindfolded. The other members of the team direct them through the minefield by giving them verbal instructions. If they hit an object, they must start over. The first team with all members across the minefield wins.
It can be difficult for some to trust their team members or to rely on someone else to help them reach a goal. Some may think they have to do it on their own. Minefield is an activity designed to foster trust in teams. It can help members that are resistant to collaboration become more open. What was the most difficult part about giving instructions? What about receiving instructions? What style of communication was the most effective?
What didn't work? Items Needed: Tarp, Balls. Goal: Guide a ball around tarp without letting it fall into a hole. Thought it may remind you of an activity you did in gym class, Hole Tarp can be a lot of fun, even for adults. It can be done with a tarp or plastic sheet and a few tennis balls. First you must cut one or a few holes into the tarp.
Once this is done, place your team evenly around the tarp. Have each member hold the edge with both their hands. Instruct your team to shake the tarp so it begins moves around like a wave. Once it is moving, throw in a ball. Participants must navigate the ball around the tarp for the longest possible period without having the ball fall through one of the holes.
If the ball falls through a hole or off the side of the tarp, your team must restart the game. Alternatively, you can have the team guide the ball, circling each hole.
The team wins the game when they successfully navigated the ball around the circumference of each tarp without having it fall into any of the holes. Everyone on your team has to keep moving to keep the ball rolling. If someone stops, the ball will drop. This game relies on constant communication to achieve its final goal. Was there any forms of communication that worked better than others? Did you assign a leader formally or informally? Did that help or hinder your progress? Time: 25 Minutes.
Items Needed: Items that can be used as platforms milk crates, fabric square, tires, baseball base , 2 ropes or 4 cones. Goal: Cross the floor or ground by maneuvering across different objects. If the phrase "the floor is lava! Lava Flow, also called River Crossing, is a game in which a group must cross the river of lava by jumping and maneuvering across different objects.
It's the team's task to figure out how to get the entire group from one side of the lava field to the other without touching the ground.
The group should be given a limited number of objects, 2 or 3, that way they have to be moved and shared each time someone crosses. If someone touches the floor at any point, then they will get burnt and must start over.
The first team to cross the river with all members intact are the winners. Time: Hours. Items Needed: Scavenger hunt list, smartphones optional. Goal: Gather as many items on the list within a set period of time. Scavenger hunts are one of the oldest ways to get people to interact and collaborate.
But, there are still one of the most effective and fun. Smartphones and apps have made it possible to do scavenger hunts anywhere. You can even add in photo or video challenges and share an album within the organization. You can do a simple scavenger hunt and keep it in the office or take it outdoors, which can be much more exciting. Create a list of items that groups must collect or tasks that they have to complete. They can be goofy, as long as it's possible to complete. Some examples are: "Take a selfie with someone wearing a cat shirt" or "Grab a take-out menu and a fortune cookie from a Chinese restaurant.
Time: 40 Minutes. Goal: Get everyone through a web of rope without touching the rope. Do you remember all those spy movies with the intricate laser security systems people had to maneuver through?
Spider Web is kind of like that. Create a maze of lines and shapes by stringing twine between vertical 2 poles.
The end result should resemble a spider's web with some larger, easier holes and some smaller more difficult gaps. Teams must cross the spider web to reach the other side without touching the string or going in the same shapes as anyone before them. The challenge gets harder as more people cross to the other side and requires everyone to remember and communicate with each other. Goal: Submerge a ballon in a bucket of water using only the supplies given.
Balloon in water is a great way to see how your team solves problems together, particularly when faced with limited resources. Each group must immerse an inflated balloon in a bucket of water for a minimum of 5 seconds. They can only use the provided materials to complete the activity. The brick goes in the bottom of the bucket of water. Teams have a minute to strategize and flesh out their plan and only 5 minutes to do the activity.
Only the provided materials can be used during the challenge. The 3 binder clips and inflated balloon given to the team cannot be altered in any way. Before starting the activity, the team has one minute to plan and they have to plan without touching the materials.
After planning, the team is given 5 minutes to execute their plan. The balloon must be fully immersed in the water before the 5 minutes is over.
The balloon must remain immersed for at least 5 seconds, and the team must notify the trainer s when they are ready to be timed. Goal: Teams must retrieve a ping pong ball from the pipe by filling it up with water and floating the ball to the top. This game can get a little messy, so it's recommended for outside. Leaky Pipe is a highly interactive activity that requires groups to work fast and efficiently together.
You'll need water, buckets, several cups, 2 pipes with holes drilled in them, and 2 ping pong balls. To win, teams must retrieve a ping pong ball from the pipe by filling it up with water and floating the ball to the top. Participants will need to work together using the cups to carry the water from the bucket to the pipe, relay race style with cups of water to fill it. The pipe has holes drilled in it, so they will have to plug the holes as the water gets higher. To complete the challenge, each team will receive a bucket of water which is placed 10 metres away from the pipe and several cups.
Remember to set a countdown, so they are racing against the clock. Items Needed: Ball Goal: Have every participant say their name. For new groups, check out an icebreaker and memory game called Group Juggle. Participants form a large circle facing each other. If you have a large group, break into groups so there are no more than 20 people in each. Throw a ball to one person. They will throw it to someone else, but must say that person's name first.
The ball goes around the group like that until a pattern starts. Once the group seems comfortable, throw in more balls to increase the difficulty. Time: 50 Minutes. Items Needed: Bags, Random objects. Goal: Create a 10 minute skit based on random items in a bag. Acting and improv exercises can be a humorous and energizing way to bring your team together. Grab Bag Skits is a short activity in which teams will get out of their comfort zones by creating fun skits.
Split the group into teams of 3 to 8 and have each team choose a bag. They don't know what is inside, but it is stuffed with unrelated and random objects. Each team is given 10 minutes to put together a 2 to 3 minutes skit that uses each of the items. Every person in the group must take on a speaking role.
Encourage groups to be as creative as possible. For example, they can use an apple as a meteor or a paintbrush as a witch's broom.
Each team will preform their skit for the group. Although some individuals may be more introverted, Grab Bag Skits can encourage them to get out of their comfort zone and connect with colleagues. Goal: Have the team correctly line up in order of a specific criteria. Ask the group to line themselves in order based on certain criteria. Make it more challenging by setting a rule that members can't speak to each other. You can do this as a get-to-know-you-better activity. Some examples are by:.
As members move around the room to organize themselves in order, you'll notice how they communicate to complete the task and who takes on the role of organizers or leaders. Follow Up Questions. Time: 25 minutes to an hour. Items Needed: Smart phone one per each participant.
Goal: To make others laugh while collecting 7 cards to win the game. Evil Apples is a mobile app inspired by the party game, Cards Against Humanity. Other players submit cards anonymously to fill in the blank. The team must complete a series of puzzles or clues to unlock the door before the zombie catches the group. Explanation: Both participants face the same way, one in front of the other. The person in front then must cross the arms and fall backwards.
The aim is for the person in front to trust the person behind to catch them. You can make the gap smaller or larger depending on how much trust both participants have. Explanation: Similar to the trust fall. This requires one participant to stand in the middle with the other participants forming a circle within touching distance of the person in the middle The Willow.
The willow will then fall in random directions and be pushed around by the outside members. Explanation: Everyone sits in a circle and the team leader asks questions relating to the group. Then each person will then answer the question in turn.
Your participants might find new areas of commonality or simply get to know each other better. Explanation: Line your teams up and the groups have to pass the balls between themselves in a juggling motion. The team which can juggle all the balls the fastest wins. Explanation: This icebreaker challenge is a great way for groups to learn the names of members in their team. Line the group up, half on one side and the other half facing them.
The first person must then throw the ball to someone whilst trying to remember their name. If they guess correctly they carry on, if wrong they start again and change the order of the participants. Explanation: This challenge is far more difficult than it sounds, trust us! The group must find a way to pick up a sheet and turn it over. However, the participants are not allowed to step off the sheet or carry anyone on the sheet. Good luck!
You can either make this an individual contest or form teams to compete against each other. Explanation: Participants have to dispose the toxic waste we suggest water using only the rope. Set up an obstacle course for your teams to manoeuvre their waste from the start to the end. Explanation: Tie the tire from the top of the tree and make sure it dangles waist high from the ground. The aim of the game is to get every member of the team through the tire in the quickest and safest possible way.
Place all the coins in the middle and flip one of them to see who starts. The team who begins then flips the coin and calls heads or tails. The winner then takes two coins, keeps one and then uses the other to flip for the second round.
The winner of the game will be the team which has the most coins at the end. Explanation: Time to build your tower. Either in teams or individually, create the tallest and most robust sculpture to win this task. After the towers are built, bring all the teams together to figure out which method was best and why. The person with the name must then ask Yes or No questions to try and figure out which celebrity they have on their head. Explanation: The aim of the game is to get everyone to stand up and say a number until no one else is left to say one.
One person will stand up at a time and if two people stand up to say the same number you have to start again. Explanation: The aim of the game is to work out the rule. The next person would say the same, start with Australia and then say another country, such as Romania. If they get it wrong, it carries on to the next person.
Whoever gets the game wrong the most loses. Explanation: Get everyone to sit in a circle and pass around the toilet paper. For each piece of loo roll taken, they have to tell as many truths or facts about themselves. Explanation: Get everyone facing each other in a circle.
They then must grab the hand of someone opposite them, no one directly next to them. Then with the other hand, they must do the same but not with the same person.
Giving the group a time limit, they have to escape the knot and become untangled. Benefits: Collaboration Skills. Explanation: This task is done anonymously. Every participant should answer 10 questions about themselves which are set out before the tasks begin.
Explanation: Split the group up into teams. They must then go back in time and reconnect with their younger selves in this Lego Challenge. Teams must create the perfect Lego house within the time limit. Benefits: Creativity. Explanation: Each participant must write down in order their most important life highlights, starting with birth all the way to the current day. The team will then come together and give a brief overview of their highlights.
Explanation: Possibly our favourite activity. Participants can not touch the floor or they will be burnt. Set them challenges to do as they make their way around the room without touching the floor. Take a jump over the lava to ensure safety from one area to another. Explanation: Time to get creative with your work murals. Design your painting and fill your paper full of colour. When everyone has finished their masterpieces, tape them all together and bring your creation to life.
Explanation: The old fashioned tug of war can create a competitive but fun atmosphere. Split the group into teams and get pulling. Benefits: Fun Competition. Explanation: One member of the team will play songs at random and the other member of the group will be listening.
The aim of the game is to be the first person to guess the title of the song and the artist. Explanation: Time to rehearse the lyrics of your favourite song. Participants will need to fill a balloon with helium and then give their best rendition of their favourite songs. The other members of the group will then need to guess the song title and artist name. Split the group up into two teams and number each team member from The referee will then call out a selection of numbers such as 1 and 3, who will then both go into the centre, pick up a stick and then try to score against the opposition.
When they have scored, change the numbers up. In turn, one member from each team will race their way around the office trying to be faster than the opposition. However, the participant must have a tennis ball between their legs at all times. When they have finished their lap, they must pass it onto their team mate before they start their lap. Whichever team gets all their members around the course first wins. Write every co-workers name on pieces of paper into a hat and then one person will pick out a name and place it on their forehead.
The contestant then has to ask yes or no questions to work out which co-worker they have. Explanation: One team member at either end of the table try to blow their scrunched up piece of paper off the end of the table. The team which blows the paper ball off the end of the table of the opposition wins. Explanation: Tie one end of the string around your waist and the other around the rubber at the end of the pencil.
Teams must battle it out to try and drop their pencil into the water bottle in the fastest time possible. By doing an online personality quiz, you can find out how members of your group work best. Explanation: The group must guide a marble from a high height down to the ground only using the pipeline.
Explanation: Time to pretend your team has crashed a helicopter on a desert island. They are only allowed to take 5 items with them from their immediate surroundings. Each member of the team must identify what they would take and why.
Explanation: Get your team to construct the tallest tower made from poker chips within a time limit. The team with the tallest tower which stands without help wins. Benefits: Teamwork and Problem Solving. Explanation: Play a sports compilation on YouTube and get the group to pay attention to all detail.
They can take notes and use them at the end. The main difference is that Lexulous has eight tiles in play at a time, and the value assigned to each letter is a little different.
You can easily include Lexulous in your options for online games to play with coworkers. You can keep track of points and total scores over a month, and award a Lexulous champion at the end.
Your refrigerator may be different. A fun game we could play together is Guess the Refrigerator. To play this game, everyone submits a photo of the inside of their refrigerator to one point of contact. That organizer then posts the photos to a channel where all participants can study the contents and make best guesses at which refrigerator belongs to who.
The players submit answers to the organizer, who then tallies up the scores and announces a winner. Sharing an inside view of your refrigerator takes a degree of vulnerability, which is a factor that contributes to the success of great online games for virtual teams.
To play, name one person as the Describer and the other players as Artists. The Describer must explain to the Artists how to draw an item like a sunflower, kite or calculator using only geometric terms.
You can play each round for as long as you like, and three minutes is usually sufficient. At the end of each round, the Describer gets one point for each Artist that guesses the object correctly, and each Artist that guesses correctly also gets one point.
Tally up points and award cool prizes to the winner. Five Clicks Away is a logic game for online team building. To play, you select a starting topic and an ending topic, which you can decide on your own or randomly generate.
For example, the starting point could be Blackbeard the Pirate and the endpoint could be grilled cheese sandwiches. Each player must start on the Wikipedia page for the starting point, and in no-more than five clicks reach the end point.
The idea is that Wikipedia has so many internal links that you should be able to follow a chain to reach the end point in less than five clicks. One of my favorite online team building games is a Typing Speed Race with friendly competition.
For the Typing Speed Race, you can use a free tool like typingtest. Then, each person posts their test results to Slack, email or another platform. The Typing Speed Race is a great way to encourage friendly competition with remote teams. You can make the experience more collaborative by doing a Typing Speed Relay, which requires forming your people into teams and then adding the cumulative score from each person to create a team total.
With the Typing Speed Race, everyone wins because typing quickly is an important skill for remote work. Chair Up! The game is played over email, messenger or conference call, and is specifically meant to counter the doom and gloom that sometimes guides conversations. For example, you could do yoga sun-salutations, clap your hands, laugh or have a small dance party. When you work from home, taking care of your health and fitness is especially important.
You can do squats and eat well, and also make sure you drink enough water. Water Shots is a game meant to fortify your team around healthy hydration. Virtual team building games that focus on building healthy habits are a great way to support company culture and development with remote teams. Charades is one of those games that nearly everyone plays at school or home while growing up.
With this proliferation of Charades, Virtual Charades has the advantages of being fairly familiar while also being fun. To play Virtual Charades, prepare a set of links that go to Google Image pages or use a random image generator.
Rinse and repeat until you are all out of fun. Here is a random charades word generator you can use for your game:. Instead, you can play with at least two teams, a series of trivia questions, and positive attitudes. Playing pub-style trivia online is similar to the in-the-pub version, with one crucial difference: you need an easy way for people to communicate.
Instead of mumbling across a table, we recommend using virtual breakout rooms so that each team can discuss the answers openly. Each team can then submit the answers via a web-form and the host can award points as needed. Here are more instructions on how to play virtual happy hour trivia , and a list of team trivia questions.
Pro tip: Playing virtual happy hour games like pub-style trivia give you a unique opportunity to include wildly different clues in the game.
The internet is your oyster for virtual group games. Werewolf is one of the best remote team building games, as it is full of cunning deceit and tactful manipulation.
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