Library of teambuilding games & icebreakers

In memory lane wall, teammates write down their fondest workplace memories and pin them on a designated wall for everyone to see. It’s a simple but powerful way to spread positivity and reminisce about shared experiences that have brought the team closer.

This is a heartwarming way to boost morale and remind everyone of the good times they’ve had together in the office.

How to play:

• Provide a space for team members to write down their favorite workplace memories.
• Pin the memories on a shared wall for everyone to read.
• Enjoy the positive vibes and walk down memory lane together!

Who are we kidding? Everybody knows that working from home includes barking dogs, screaming children and make-shift offices. This activity is designed to discover the ‘working environment’ of your colleagues.

How to play ‘Welcome to my crib...‘

Colleagues will take it in turns to give a short tour of their house, showing where they work, where they go for lunch, etc. This builds more human connections between employees.

How to play Pitch tournament

An important part of selling is understanding customer needs: what they want or what drives them to buy something. Help your team to hone these skills by pitching items to you or another panel of judges. Pick a few regular objects, such as things from around the office. Then, pair people up (or work as individuals if your group is already small) and have them take turns pitching the item to your judges. Give everyone a few minutes to come up with a unique presentation and make sure they understand the product. Add a prize for the winner to up the ante a bit.

Got a team that likes to read?

Five Minute Book Talks is not only a great excuse to get the team together once a month, but it also develops their public speaking and presentation skills.

How to play five minute book talks

Every week or month, choose a member of your team to give a small presentation on a book they recently read, including a brief synopsis, positive and negative points.

How to play:

Sit in a circle and start a story with a few sentences. Each person adds a sentence to continue the story, building upon the previous contributions.

Materials needed: None

Benefits:

• Enhanced communication skills: Your team will be able to improve their ability to listen and build upon the ideas of others. It's like a symphony of words, where everyone gets a chance to play their unique melody.
• Team synergy on steroids: Witness the magic of teamwork as your team's contributions harmonize into a cohesive storyline. It's like a literary potluck where each person brings their secret ingredient to create a masterpiece.

You might be surprised how many workforces enjoy a game of chess!

How to play online chess club

Creating an online chess club is easy and free. Schedule regular games throughout the year and reward the winner with a small prize like a voucher or cash bonus - monetary rewards are a great incentive for driving online social interaction.

How to play:

Present a challenging problem or scenario to the team and ask them to generate as many creative solutions as possible within a given time limit.
Example: A customer is complaining about a refund they are not entitled to. How do you convey the bad news without losing her custom?

Materials needed: Whiteboard or flipchart, markers

Benefits:

• Harnessing the power of innovation: Prepare to be amazed as your team unleashes a storm of fresh and unconventional ideas. This activity encourages them to kick tradition to the curb and explore uncharted territories of creativity, paving the way for a culture of innovation that'll make your competitors green with envy.
• Collaborative excellence: It's time for your team to flex their collaborative muscles! Like a superhero squad, each member brings their unique superpowers and perspectives to the table, joining forces to create ingenious solutions that'll send your company soaring to new heights.

How to play Rice bowl

Everyone could use more practice with chopsticks. Have players use them to transfer as much rice as possible from one bowl to another with only one hand (and their chopsticks). If you want to make things more difficult, you can use uncooked rice, which is much harder to maneuver.

This fun and interactive game helps employees to collaborate and polish their problem-solving skills. If you want to make it even more challenging, then you can set up obstacles or choose materials that will be tricky to pick up.

Here’s how to play the game:

1. Break a larger group into smaller teams of 3.
2. Hand each team a bucket of water filled with small objects (to represent radioactive waste). Grab things like tennis balls, blocks, clips, etc.
3. Put a smaller bucket on a table a few feet away from each team.
4. Participants need to use a rope with a square knot (or whatever other method they work out) to transfer the “waste” from the larger bucket into the smaller one.
5. The team that moves all of their waste first, wins. If everyone is moving at about the same pace, then the winner will be the group who moved the most in the amount of time you allocated.

How to play Survival Plans

Prioritizing is an important mental exercise. You can work on this with a game about survival. Have everyone imagine they are stranded on a desert island, and they must decide the correct order to perform life-saving steps in. Have this list handy, and ask everyone to pair off or get in small groups and number the list according to the best likelihood of survival:

• Rest
• Find water
• Find food
• Set up shelter
• Look around the island
• Signal for help
• Create weapons for self-defense
• Build a raft for water
• Start a fire
• Select a group leader
• Find other survivors
• Anything else you think of!

The catch is that everyone must agree on the order of events!  That will typically involve discussion and coming to some sort of consensus. Once everyone is done with the exercise, have them present to the larger group and explain their reasoning. This exercise is good for team-building, communication, and problem resolution. Plus, you will be better prepared if you ever get stuck on a deserted island!

The devil is in the detail, they say. At the workplace, misinterpreting instructions or being unclear with your instructions can have detrimental knock-on effects. Copy Cat teaches your employees to listen more carefully.

Great for: Listening skills, comprehension

Duration: 5-10 minutes

Players: 2+

You’ll need: Various sets of identical office items, something to use as a barrier i.e a flipchart.

How to play Copy Cat

Setup: To prepare for Copy Cat, separate players into pairs and position them on either side of a solid barrier—the players should be able to see their partner. Hand each player a set of matching office items. You can use things like a wastepaper basket, stapler, pens, sticky notes, etc. In each pair, one person needs to be the Leader and the other needs to be the Copy Cat.

To play: When the timer starts, the Leader begins building his structure with the materials provided. The Leader is allowed to iterate his actions, saying things like “I’m going to lay the wastepaper basket on its side,” and “I’m sticking two sticky notes to the bottom of the basket.” Based on these comments, the Copy Cat must attempt to create an identical structure to that of their Leader. The Copy Cat cannot ask any questions, forcing the Leader to be precise with their commentary.

Picture your team exploring global cultures in a hands-on way. The Cultural Traditions Race isn't your typical history lesson; it's an immersive experience. You'll cook, dance, and dive into traditions from various corners of the world. The catch? You're in it together. As you step into unfamiliar shoes and embrace new customs, you'll learn to communicate across differences, adapt on the fly, and appreciate the beauty of diversity. It's like a crash course in teamwork that leaves you with a deeper connection and a broader perspective.

Instructions

• Form teams to represent a range of cultures.
• Dive deep into the assigned cultural traditions to truly understand them.
• Engage in activities like cooking, dancing, or crafting as indicated.
• Reflect on the experience and share insights as a team.
• Approach each tradition with respect and an open-minded spirit.

How to play Blindfolded Obstacle Course

Instructions: Set up an obstacle course with various challenges. Divide participants into teams of two, with one person blindfolded and the other providing guidance. The sighted team member must guide their blindfolded partner through the course using verbal instructions.

Materials needed: Obstacles (cones, ropes, hula hoops, etc.), blindfolds.

Behold the Blindfolded Obstacle Course, where communication, trust, and teamwork collide in a spectacular display of stumbling and fumbling. Your intrepid team must conquer this treacherous path through sheer collaboration, active listening, and the occasional hilarious misstep. It's a crash course in empathy, where understanding is gained one blindfolded blunder at a time. If you liked this game, make sure to check out more of our tips on how to improve team cohesion!

How to play Rock-paper-scissors challenge

Who didn’t play this game as a kid? Give this energizing grown-up version a try. People should play against each other in pairs until the first win. For added fun, have the people who become eliminated in each round stand in a cheering section for their favorite in the next round. Repeat the process until there are only two players, each with a large fan base. Since this game will get loud, it’s best to play outside in a large, open space. It’s a favorite because it requires no supplies and very little preparation, and gets everyone excited right away.

How to play Role reversal

This game is all about understanding conflicts from different perspectives. We're going to act out conflict scenarios and then swap roles to see how the other side feels. It's like stepping into someone else's shoes, but without the actual shoe-swapping part! It's a great way to build empathy and gain fresh insights on how to overcome teamwork challenges in the workplace. Get ready to embrace different perspectives!

How to play Three-Word Check-In

This isn't exactly an activity but rather a practice you can encourage your employees to adopt on a daily basis. People come to the office with varying moods every day. It could be due to a challenging workload that makes someone feel on edge and emotional, or it might be personal issues like a recent breakup that leave them feeling angry. In reality, it's not your role to pry into the reasons behind someone's mood unless they choose to share with you.

So, if they don't open up to you, how can you gauge how they're feeling? This is where the "Three-Word Check-In" comes into play. Encourage individuals to express their emotions for the day using just three words.

For instance:

Imagine Martin is having a particularly difficult day where everything seems to be going wrong, leaving him agitated and frustrated. If a co-worker asks him how he's feeling, Martin can simply respond with "Agitated, frustrated, sad." In this way, his colleagues now have a better understanding of his emotional state and can give him some space and support until he begins to relax.

This could be perfect for preventing a potential conflict and is great for team cohesion!

How to host Company quiz

Who knows the most about your organization? Come up with a quiz to find out. Put together a fun list of questions based on company mission, values, history, and staff. Grade the quizzes and the employee with the highest score wins. If you want to up the ante, have every team member write a question about themselves to incorporate into the quiz. Have them make it as challenging as possible!

How to play Movie elevator pitch

You may have heard of an “elevator pitch”, where people have a brief summary prepared in advance about what they do, or what their company does. This is an important skill for everyone to have for networking and connecting with other professionals. This game helps workers to practice these skills and get a little creative in the process.

Start by choosing a movie and then asking employees to create a short elevator pitch regarding something present in the movie. For example, they might want to create a pitch based on Batman’s mask or an engagement ring from your favorite rom-com. See how everyone incorporates innovative marketing strategies and descriptions into their elevator pitches.

How to play Blind square-build

This is a fun, problem-solving game that’s often used in business environments to support teamwork and critical thinking. To begin, tie a long piece of rope into a circle. Let attendees know that their job is to turn the circle into a square - while blindfolded. Break the session up into two, 15-minute sessions. In the first session, they can plot and plan but must not touch the rope. In the second session, they can work together moving the rope. This game is simple and effective and has materials that are easy to come across and cheap to buy.

How to play:

Provide materials for employees to create safety posters that highlight important safety messages or procedures. Display the posters around the workplace and have a voting process to select the best ones. Offer prizes for the top posters.

This activity promotes creativity and personal investment in workplace safety. Employees get to showcase their artistic talents while contributing to a safer work environment. The posters serve as ongoing reminders of safety practices long after the competition ends.

Otherwise referred to as “Life Raft”, this is a superb indoor team-building game that, at first glance, seems like nothing but a bit of fun. However, look closer and you realize everybody’s working together, laughing, encouraging one another, and using strong communication skills to complete the task.

Want to give it a shot? Start by making a square on the floor with strips of tape. That’s your life raft! When you call “All Aboard”, participants have to squeeze themselves inside the square as quickly as possible. To spice things up a bit, why not split the team into 2 groups to see who can do it first?

How to play Show your phone

A very simple and easy icebreaker involves asking everyone to share the latest “something” on their phone. The “something” could be their most recent photo, or the last app they had open. As long as it’s work appropriate, you can get creative about what you’ll ask people to show. A popular take on this game is to share the last 3 emojis you used, but you can get as creative as you feel comfortable. For a super fast and effective icebreaker, have each person stand up, introduce themselves, and share this tidbit of information based on your prompt.

How to play Shrinking circle

Adaptability and flexibility are huge in the business world. One way to focus on both of those items is by playing this simple and silly game. Start out by using a rope to create a large circle that everyone can fit in. Then, every few minutes, make the circle a bit smaller. Depending on how large the circle is in the first place, you can take away an inch or a foot each round. The challenge is for everyone present to stay inside the circle. This will require some serious innovation once the circle gets small, and lots of laughs almost always ensue. Note: People are likely to end up touching each other in this exercise. It’s difficult not to once the space gets small, like a game of Twister. You know your colleagues best - if that level of closeness would make anyone uncomfortable, it’s probably best to try a different exercise.

Paper Chains is a simple game that can be played by small or large groups. The aim of the game is for teams to build the longest paper chain without talking while using ONLY their dominant hand.

Great for: Communication, problem-solving, leadership

Duration: 5-10 minutes

Players: 6+

You’ll need: A4 paper, sticky tape, scissors

How to play Paper Chains

Setup: Separate your group into teams of 4-5 players and hand each team several sheets of A4 paper, a roll of sticky tape and a pair of scissors. Then, ask each team to allocate a team leader.

To play: Escort the team leaders from the room and explain the rules of the game in private. The rules are as follows: Teams must attempt to build the longest paper chain without talking while using only their dominant hand. Once the leaders understand the rules, they have 30 seconds to convey them to their team and devise a quick strategy. Then, teams have just three minutes to start building their paper chains. The team with the longest paper chain at the end of the three minutes wins.