Library of teambuilding games & icebreakers

Imagine your team venturing into the wilderness, not just for a casual hike, but for an exhilarating Outdoor Survival Race. You'll rely on each other's skills to navigate the wilds, decode puzzles, and conquer challenges. This is more than teamwork; it's about trust, communication, and strategizing under pressure. As you tackle Mother Nature's obstacles together, you'll find yourselves delegating tasks, sharing ideas, and building unbreakable bonds.

Instructions

• Create diverse teams for varied perspectives.
• Equip each team with maps and survival tools.
• Progress by solving puzzles at checkpoints.
• Delegate tasks based on strengths and communicate clearly.
• Prioritize safety by sharing essential survival tips before setting off.

How to play Lucky Charms

Give all players a large bowl of Lucky Charms cereal. Have everyone sort the charm marshmallows into categories as fast as they can (for example, all hearts together and all clovers together). Whoever sorts through the most cereal in a minute wins.

Werewolf strategy is a hidden role card game where some players secretly take on the role of werewolves, and the rest must work together to figure out who they are before it’s too late. Bluffing, strategy, and teamwork are key as everyone tries to survive—or deceive!

This game is a fun way to mix logic with social interaction, and it often leads to hilarious accusations and unexpected alliances.

How to play:

• Players are secretly assigned roles as werewolves or villagers.
• Villagers work together to identify and eliminate the werewolves.
• The game continues until all the werewolves are eliminated, or they outnumber the villagers!

Did you ever play a drinking game at university called “never have I ever”?

How to play Spotlight

You sit in a circle, taking turns to say something you’ve never done that you think other people may have. Anyone who’s done the deed must then take a swig of their drink – revealing the fact they’ve done it and leading to ever-increasing levels of intoxication!

Spotlight is similar, although you wouldn’t (usually) be drinking at the same time. Instead, the entire team starts by covering or turning off their webcams. Then each participant takes turns saying fun/random statements that are true of themselves.

If it’s true for someone else in the group too, they have to uncover their camera.

Want a different way to decide who goes next? See who uncovers their camera! Instead of taking turns, whoever said the initial statement would pick someone who revealed their face. If only one person does so, then they’d go next. If nobody does, then you can choose someone at random.

We like Spotlight because it’s a more interesting way to get to know your teammates compared to typical networking events. It’s also super simple and accessible. The end result is a quick and enjoyable exercise that brings the virtual team together (if only in a figurative sense!).

Imagine you've just won the lottery. You're now sitting on a financial treasure chest that could fuel any dream you've ever had. What would you do? In this activity, team members get to explore their deepest desires and articulate the goals they would pursue with the newfound freedom that a winning lottery ticket provides. This one is about tapping into personal passions, aligning goals with intrinsic motivations, and thinking big.

Get ready to let your imagination run wild and uncover the aspirations that truly light your fire.

Top tips for facilitators

• Encourage Passions: Help participants focus on what they love and why it matters, ensuring their goals match personal values for lasting happiness.
• Facilitate Discussion: After sharing aspirations, guide a discussion to discover common interests, potential collaborations, or ways to support each other.
• Keep it Real: Dream big but add realistic steps for doable progress.

How to play Wordle

Another word game great for a motivational boost is Wordle. It can be played individually or with teams. Wordle is a letter-based guessing game, in which players need to guess a five-letter word within six attempts. Teams need to use letters of the alphabet to figure out what the chosen word is. Every guess needs to count!

There is usually a category to make things a little easier, like “films” “sports” or “animals.” A team chooses 5 letters from the alphabet, and the game host lets them know if they’re right or wrong.

After you guess a word, tile colors provide feedback:

• Green means the letter is correct and in the right spot.
• Yellow means the letter is in the word but in the wrong spot.
• Gray means the letter is not in the word at all.

Keep going for 6 total guesses and strive to find the Wordle of the game!

How to play Human snake

In this highly effective team-building game, players can focus on the value of trust and collaboration. The game requires people to follow the lead of the first player in a line to manage obstacles. This will require a large space that you can manipulate. Then come up with obstacles like books, chairs, or folded paper that you place on the floor. Have participants stand in a straight line to begin, and cover the eyes of everyone except the first player with a blindfold. The first player will walk through the space while other players follow in a line. The first person should help to guide everyone to avoid the obstacles and work as a team. If everyone successfully makes it to the end without stepping on any obstacle, the team wins!

Sharpen deductive skills! In Secret Noun, one person selects a noun, and the rest of the team uses questions to guess the word.

Instructions on how to play:

1. Choose one person to be the secret noun selector.
2. This person picks a secret noun and keeps it hidden.
3. The rest of the team takes turns asking yes/no questions to narrow down and eventually guess the secret noun.
4. Set a time limit for each round to keep the game dynamic.

Why it's a great team building game:

• Communication skills: Enhances the team's ability to ask strategic questions and deduce information.
• Team engagement: Fosters a collaborative environment as everyone works together to solve the mystery.
• Critical thinking: Challenges participants to think creatively and strategically.

Top tip to help the game run smoothly: Encourage the person with the secret noun to think creatively and choose a word that allows for diverse questions. After each round, discuss the team's approach and share insights on effective questioning.

One of the most important skills to be able to iterate and improve work is being able to focus on reflection. A Focus Funnel activity promotes these core values and lets teams work with an agile mindset, asking clinical questions as they go. Here’s the setup:

Set up:

Each team member first needs to clearly write a list of their current tasks and goals.

The focus funnel comes when applying a series of questions to help you narrow down and prioritize their list. Some example funneling questions could be:

a. “Which task delivers the most immediate value?”

b. “Which of these tasks can be delegated?”

c. “What can be simplified and removed?”

As the questions are applied your teams practice agile prioritization and bring high-value tasks to the forefront.

In match quest, everyone has the name of a famous pair (like “Batman” and “Robin”) stuck to their back, but they don’t know who they are. Players ask each other yes/no questions to figure out their identity and find their match. It’s a race to see who can complete their pair first!

This game is perfect for encouraging interaction and getting people mingling. It’s a lighthearted, playful way to break the ice and get the team laughing together, making it ideal for building connections.

How to play:

• Write the names of famous pairs on cards and stick one to each player’s back.
• Players ask yes/no questions to figure out who they are.
• The goal is to find your match as quickly as possible.

How to play What If?

Want to inject some energy into proceedings and trigger some silly, serious, and generally scintillating discussions at the same time? Play What If. A super straightforward question game, you simply take turns asking “what if” questions for your teammates to answer.

You may find that the best discussions come from questions people make up on the fly. Nevertheless, here are some great “What If” questions to get things started:

• What if you could travel back in time?
• What if the power went out for a month?
• What it there was no internet anywhere in the world?
• What if your high-school crush contacted you out of the blue?
• What if you stopped drinking coffee for a week?
• What if a famous director asked you to star in their next movie?
• What if you had 24 hours left to live?

How to play "Around the world” steps contest

As more companies focus on health and wellness, step contests have become popular. Step-counting competitions involve staff monitoring their daily steps and trying to beat each other or a certain number. You can put a more fun spin on things by leveraging a map or globe concept where the steps walked equate to miles. In this way, employees can work their way “around the world” by adding up more steps each day. It makes the most sense to use a 1:1 ratio where one step equals one mile. Every day throughout the contest, contestants will update their map to display their steps/miles.

For a little extra fun, have people pick “transportation” methods to move around their map, like a hot air balloon or a rocket ship. The race can last as long as you want it to, but a few weeks is probably best if you really want to see people make it “around the world”.

Test mathematical agility and strategic thinking! In 21, participants take turns adding 1, 2, or 3 to a running count, with the goal of avoiding reaching the number 21.

Instructions on how to play:

1. Participants sit in a circle.
2. The first person starts with a count of 1, 2, or 3.
3. The next person adds 1, 2, or 3 to the count.
4. Continue in order, with each person adding to the count.
5. The person who reaches the number 21 is out, and the game restarts.

Why it's a great team building game:

• Mathematical agility: Challenges participants to think strategically and make calculated choices.
• Team dynamics: Promotes a sense of competition and camaraderie as participants strategize together.
• Quick thinking: Enhances cognitive skills as individuals make decisions on the fly.

Top tip to help the game run smoothly: Keep the pace quick to maintain engagement. Encourage participants to strategize together subtly and have fun with the challenge. After each round, discuss strategies and celebrate successes.

How to play Broom Hockey

Broom Hockey is just what it sounds like! But, instead of playing with a puck and sticks, you grab some brooms from the cleaning closet and make a puck out of paper. Roll it up into a tight ball so that it rolls smoothly in the direction you want.

It’s best to have a designated open area to play this game, so use any break rooms or conference rooms, using the underside of a desk or a trash bin as your goal marker.

Scrabble is a household classic that has brought people together for years. After building a word, countless people have scrambled to check their dictionary, and shout to their opponent “There’s no such word!” It’s a word-building game that comes with more than a handful of strategic play.

How to Play:

1. 2 to 4 players set the board up
2. Each player gets seven letter tiles.
3. Take turns forming words on the board, building off existing words.
4. Rack up points by placing words on bonus squares for extra scores!

Get your thinking-caps on and your dictionaries on standby for this classic letter game!

How to play Birth map?

There’s a lot of value in knowing where people come from. This is especially true if your organization has several offices or a hybrid workforce that is scattered. For this exercise, have a facilitator place a large map in front of the room. Have plenty of pins available and have each person come up one at a time to place a pin on the city where they were born. If you want to expand the exercise into a dialogue, try asking some follow up questions like “Whose birthplace surprised you most?”. You can also leave the map up during the rest of the day as an interesting conversation starter.

How to play GIF challenge

This exercise is particularly fun for people who use communication tools like Slack. Provide the group with prompts, and ask them to find a GIF that demonstrates their reaction to it. Examples of prompts could be “How you feel when someone schedules a meeting at 4pm on Friday” or “When you figured out you stayed up too late binging Netflix before your big presentation.” The more creative, the better!

How to play Shout Out

In this game, members collaborate and contribute by shouting out some ideas. You’ll need some sort of white board or flip chart, and plan for 3 - 10 people in a group. First come up with a problem that you want to discuss. For example, “How can we reduce waste in our production process?” or “How can we bring that new product to market one week faster?” Give each person the opportunity to yell out an idea so that the whole group can hear. Once everyone has had a chance to speak, ask the group to come to a consensus on the best option, and then hold a discussion about it. Why is it the best idea? What makes it workable, etc? Also, did everyone feel listened to? How did the results from this process differ from just speaking to each other?

This gives your employees a chance to learn more about problem solving processes and cooperation, in addition to potential solutions to real business issues.

There’s nothing like a spot of mischief to bring colleagues closer together. With office makeovers, different teams within the company have the chance to “redecorate” another team’s space. From unraveling rolls of toilet paper to putting up posters of people’s favorite boy bands, the options are endless.

Set some ground rules beforehand to stop the pranks from going overboard though. The atmosphere should be light and full of laughter – not frustration at the state of your redecorated space!

In this fun icebreaker game, your team will need to read the lips of their teammates and guess the phrase.

Great for: Energisation

Duration: 5 minutes

Players: 8+

You’ll need: Nothing

How to play Read My Lips

Setup: Split your group into teams. The bigger the groups are the more difficult the game will be.

To play: The host provides the first player of each team with a simple phrase such as “I work harder than everybody else in my team.” The longer the phrase is the more difficult the game will be. Make sure the other players don’t hear or see what the phrase is. The first player then turns off their microphone and says the phrase, making sure their mouth is visible. The second player guesses what was said, turns their microphone off and says the phrase to the third player. Play continues like this until the last player has “heard” the phrase. The last player then guesses what the original phrase was. Teams that guess the phrase (more or less) correctly win a point.

Explanation:

‍Teams bid on fictional items by describing them in the most creative way possible. Whether it’s a "self-warming office chair" or a "never-ending snack drawer," the challenge is to sell these imaginary products with over-the-top descriptions.

In-office and remote teams come together to craft the most outlandish descriptions for fictional items. Remote workers might create wild product ideas (think: an "anti-gravity backpack" or "teleporting coffee") and in-office teams will take turns describing why their made-up product is the best one. The fun lies in the creativity and the bizarre backstories teams come up with to "sell" their imaginary items. The best (or most hilarious) pitch wins the auction, and everyone has a good laugh at the absurdity.

How to play Parachute Volleyball

Imagine playing an ordinary game of volleyball. However, there’s a catch: you can’t use your hands. Instead, you and your team are holding a parachute – having to work together to move around the court so you can catch the incoming ball and sling it back over the net at your opposition!

That, in a nutshell, is parachute volleyball. As you can imagine, it’s a recipe for pandemonium! But it’s also great fun, fantastic for team-building, and another unique sporting activity for your upcoming Field Day.

How to play Nature Collage

Want to do a creative Field Day activity? Try making nature collages. You’ll need glue, thin wooden boards (or pieces of card), and access to somewhere like a local park, forest, or beach – anywhere with an abundance of natural materials lying around, such as twigs, leaves, grass, and flowers.

Next, split into teams and spend 15 minutes gathering your items. From there, you can work together to design an attractive layout with them before sticking everything down onto the wooden boards (or cardboard, if you’re using lightweight items, like leaves). By the end of the activity, you should have a set of attractive natural collages to put on display at home or in the office.

Is bad weather at risk of spoiling your Field Day?

Don’t worry. You can take the fun inside and turn this activity into a tissue paper collage instead. For this version, you’ll need lots of colored tissue paper, large pieces of thick cardboard to act as the “canvas,” glue, paintbrushes, and scissors. After dividing into your teams, work together to cut out tissue paper shapes and then glue them to the card to create tissue paper masterpieces!

Archery is a classic game that also can be a little dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. Luckily, there is a way to play the game, office style, using a common stationary material: the rubber band.

How to play Rubber band archery

Instead of a bow and arrow, players use their fingers to pull back the band and shoot it at the target. Marking out a spot on the floor with packing tape, team members all shoot from the same location at the target, which can be anything that makes it evident that it was hit, like a bell or bowling pin.