Library of teambuilding games & icebreakers

How to play Jenga Questions

Ideal for small groups, this simple game involves taking Jenga blocks, writing a question on each one, and then setting up the Jenga tower as usual. You then take turns pulling out a block and answering whatever question’s on it.

The questions themselves can be totally random, work-related, or tailored to your interests. For larger teams, consider splitting up into smaller groups first and assigning a Jenga tower to each one.

Ready for a mini-adventure? In office quest hunt, teams race to solve clues and complete quirky challenges that lead them to hidden items around the office. It’s a mix of problem-solving, creativity, and—let’s be honest—a chance to snoop around desks in the name of fun.

This is perfect for getting everyone up, moving, and working together to crack the clues. Plus, it’s always funny seeing who takes it way too seriously.

How to play:

1. Hide items around the office and give teams clues to find them.
2. Teams race to solve clues and complete challenges.
3. First team to find all the items wins!

How to play Paper Plane Contest

Instructions: Each participant creates their own paper airplane using a standard sheet of paper. Measure the distance or time each plane stays in the air. The person with the longest distance or longest airtime wins.

Materials needed: Sheets of paper.

Prepare to fold, fly, and fiercely compete in the epic Paper Plane Contest. It's a creative extravaganza that will take your team back to childhood dreams of aeronautical glory. Bring your finest folding skills, unleash your inner innovator, and get ready to soar to victory in this friendly battle of airborne awesomeness.

Explanation:

‍Teams build different sections of a complicated Rube Goldberg machine. In-office teams work on physical pieces, and remote workers create virtual sections using online tools.

In-office workers can start by building something physical—like a series of dominoes or a ball rolling down a ramp—while remote workers come up with digital elements (animations or recorded videos of their contraptions). The challenge is to connect these sections into one long, wacky machine that works seamlessly together. Remote workers can submit their videos or ideas, and in-office teammates figure out how to physically incorporate them.

This brings remote and office workers together in a super creative way!

How to host Food drive competition or poll

There is great joy in helping the community around you, and your staff surely agrees. Invite your staff to bring in nonperishable food that counts toward a prize. You can make things really straightforward and provide small incentives for every item donated, or you can make things a little more fun. Setting up a “food pantry poll” is a fun idea that is more interactive. Create a poll about something that impacts everyone in the company, where they can share an opinion, and then have the non-perishable food items be “votes”.

So, for example, you might have a poll regarding where to hold the company holiday party. Offer a few choices, and then have people bring in canned goods toward their favorite option. Set up boxes with the choices written on them, and have people drop their items in the box. In the end, the box with the most items is the winning option. This is a fun way to make some non-critical decisions and a great way to help others.

The aim of this game is to boost your conflict resolution skills by diving into some video scenes that are bursting with workplace drama. We'll watch 'em, dissect 'em, and figure out the best ways to make things right. This is a hands-on, visual, and chatty way to boost your conflict resolution skills. Let's dive into those scenes, have some fun, and make our workplace a better, more harmonious space.

Materials needed

You won't need much for this - just some video clips that showcase different conflict scenarios, a way to display them (a projector or screen), and something to jot down your thoughts.

Instructions

1. First you need to choose your scenes. Think workplace disputes, customer service kerfuffles, or good ol' interpersonal clashes – scenes that you can totally relate to. Scenes from the movie Horrible Bosses or Steve Jobs could be perfect.
2. After the video's done, it's your turn to chat. We'll dive deep into the conflict we just saw. What caused it? How did emotions play a part? And what about those communication styles?
3. Split into groups or pairs and hand out some worksheets or notebooks. You'll use these to brainstorm your own ideas for smoothing out the situation. Remember, it's all about constructive conflict resolution.
4. Let's regroup and share what we came up with. We want to hear all about your ideas and strategies. Feel free to speak up – there are no wrong answers here.
5. We're not stopping at one video. Nope, we'll keep this party going with a bunch of different scenarios. Each one will have its own unique challenges and situations.
6. After we've tackled all the videos, we'll gather 'round and talk about what we've learned. What were the big takeaways? Any recurring themes? And most importantly, how can we use all this newfound knowledge in our daily work lives?

Here’s a fast-paced improv game that encourages creative thinking and imbues energy into the room. It’s ideal for those Monday morning meetings when everyone’s feeling sluggish, or as a warm-up exercise on a team-building retreat!

What Are You Doing revolves around miming – i.e. using gestures, body movements, and facial expressions to act something out. That’s one reason it’s so fun! It’s light-hearted, silly, and gets people moving.

How to play What are you doing?

To play, you get everyone to stand in a circle, then ask one person to imagine a certain action and start miming it. The action itself can be anything they want! Washing the dishes, taking the kids to school, throwing a baseball, brushing their hair, cleaning their teeth…the world is their oyster.

After a short while, someone else steps forward and asks, “What are you doing?”

The twist is that whoever’s miming must say a completely different action to the one they’re doing! Instead of cleaning their teeth, for example, they could say they’re putting their shoes on or amputating someone’s leg. Whoever stepped forward to ask what they were doing must then perform that action.

This process continues until everyone has had a turn miming. Try to keep the game moving and encourage people to be creative with the actions/responses.

Oh, and feel free to add another element to the game, whereby you decide who goes next. Rather than going around the circle or jumping in whenever they want, you could point at the next mime – or make eye contact with them.

Heads up, this game is best for smaller groups if you don’t have much time to spare. You want everyone to have a go miming an action, which can take a while when you have dozens of people on the team!

How to play Bad idea parade

In this activity, teams are tasked with coming up with the worst possible solutions to a business problem. Whether it’s “replace all employees with robots” or “sell ice cream in the middle of winter,” the goal is to think outside the box in the worst possible way. This activity allows people to bond through humor while also getting them to think creatively about real solutions. Reverse engineering these bad ideas often leads to practical and effective ones.

This is a fun twist on the traditional brainstorming session because it encourages people to loosen up and not be afraid of making mistakes. By focusing on what not to do, participants are more willing to take risks, which often leads to the discovery of innovative ideas.

How to play Interactive group map

In this engaging team warmup exercise, you have the group imagine the space that you’re in as a map. Their goal is to place themselves where they are from. The first few steps have the most energy, as people try to find relative geographies and move around the space and each other. This game can be played with teams of any size, but it tends to be more fun when people are from more diverse, spread out areas. If everyone is from the same state, simply scale down your map and have everyone stand in the town they’re from.

How to play Miniature problem solving

Teams use small objects like paperclips, rubber bands, or sticky notes to devise a solution to an everyday office problem, such as tangled wires or tricky door handles. It’s a playful way to encourage innovation while improving problem-solving skills. Plus, you might even come up with a practical fix for those annoying little issues!

Our next game involves drinking, so make adjustments according to the workday! There are a lot of videos for this game involving beer, but water and soda work just as well. The game works best with two teams facing each other on opposite sides of the table. The first member needs to successfully flip before the second member can go. It’s a race to the finish line!

Set-up:

1. Get your teams ready: Organize teams on either side of the table. In front of each player place a cup filled with any liquid (beer is optional!). Tell them the first player needs to down the liquid, then successfully flip their empty cup from the edge of the table, so that it lands upside-down.

2. Get flipping crazy!: Let the two players face-off. Once a team member lands a perfect flip, the next teammate downs their drink and races to do the same. Continue with each team member until the last player flips their cup at the finish line.

You’ll likely be creating a bit of a chaotic mess with this one, so whatever you choose as your drink, make sure it’s easy to clean up, and it doesn’t affect your work performance!

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.

Picture a world where all the lights go out and the only people on the entire earth that can see are your work colleagues! Enter "Blind Maze," a game that brings these skills to the forefront while adding an exciting twist. It's all about navigating blindfolded, relying on your team's guidance to find your way.

How to play

1. Direct your colleagues in a suitable office space or any area with enough space to draw a maze on a whiteboard.
2. Use the whiteboard to draw a maze with a clear starting point and a challenging path leading to the end. Make sure it's complex enough to require teamwork.
3. Choose one team member to be blindfolded. Give them the whiteboard marker.
4. The remaining team members take on the role of guides. They must verbally instruct the blindfolded person on how to navigate the maze without touching the walls.
5. Guides provide clear, concise instructions while the blindfolded participant listens attentively and follows the guidance.
6. The objective is for the blindfolded person to successfully navigate the maze and reach the end without hitting the walls.
7. After a round, switch roles so that everyone gets a chance to be the navigator and the guide.

How to play Celebrity matching game

This is similar to the childhood photo matching game, only instead of a photograph from their childhood, staff should bring in a photo of a celebrity they’ve been told they resemble. You can either post the pictures in a public space or pass them around and have everyone guess which photo belongs to which person.

Some of the best energizers are also the simplest. Case in point? Exercise. Well-known to perk you up, improve your mood, and make you feel more alert, getting the body moving can work wonders in the workplace. There are all sorts of ways to use exercise to your advantage too.

How to do group exercise

• Go for a short walk as a team each afternoon
• Encourage everyone to do some simple stretches/exercises at their desk
• Go into the hallway and run relay races together
• Clear a space and run around the office for 5 minutes, dropping to the floor to do certain exercises (e.g. push-ups, squats, or burpees) every 20 seconds

However you incorporate exercise into the workday, it’s almost guaranteed to have positive effects on people’s energy levels. Stress relief, improved physical health, and stronger social ties are a few other benefits to look forward to.

Get ready for a real-life puzzle adventure that could lead anywhere. In the Mystery Destination Chase, your team will follow a trail of clues to an unknown final stop. The catch? You'll need to put your heads together, strategize, and make decisions as a team to crack the code. This game isn't just about reaching the destination; it's about the thrill of unraveling a mystery together. With excitement building at each clue, you'll experience the joy of teamwork, the rush of discovery, and the satisfaction of navigating the unknown side by side.

Instructions

• Assemble teams with diverse skill sets for balanced gameplay.
• Kick off the chase with the first clue to ignite excitement.
• Decode each clue to pinpoint the location of successive checkpoints.
• Collaborate on decision-making to interpret clues accurately.
• Build anticipation by unveiling the final surprise destination and celebrate as a unified team.

Our final minute-to-win-it cup game is a hilarious way to round off the list. It also takes a steady hand and a surprising amount of patience! You’ll need a few rolls of toilet paper, some cups and refillable water. Here’s how to play:

Set-up:

1. Prepare your contestants: Each player should be given 1 roll of toilet tissue. At the end of a long table, place one cup per contestant. Fill the cups up (it shouldn’t be too heavy, as the paper will rip). Under the filled cups, place the end of the toilet tissue roll, and let the toilet tissue unravel all the way to the other end of the table.

2. Wind the cup towards you: On your mark, each player then carefully rerolls the toilet tissue, slowly dragging the filled cup toward them. Things can get really fun when a player is losing halfway through the race. They start to panic and speed up the rolling process. This often causes a bit of spillage, tearing the paper. When that happens, they need to clear up and reset their roll.

This super simple game is a barrel of laughs, so try it out with your teams today. It’ll bring team members closer together and keep everyone on a roll!

How to play the super story

This is another game focused on group wordplay, and one that can be done virtually as well as in person. It’s also really fun, so a great exercise for boosting team morale. To begin, let each person know they’ll take a turn as the story-teller. They should grab an object around them - like a pen or pad of paper - and spend one minute telling the most exaggerated story they can come up with around the object.

For example, if their object is a pen, they might talk about how this was the pen used to sign a deal for the most famous athlete in their city. It’s also a game that puts people on the spot and makes them come up with something under pressure, so it’s an especially helpful activity for management level team members.

Routine coffee breaks in brick and mortar offices provide the foundation for the development of employee relationships. Without this frequent interaction, remote teams can struggle to discuss topics outside of work.

How to play Virtual coffee breaks

That’s where virtual coffee breaks come in. Now, you can establish routine online coffee breaks for your employees, allowing them to unwind and socialise with their colleagues while sipping on their favourite hot beverage. You can use any kind of video chat software to do this such as Zoom, Google Hangouts, or Microsoft Teams.

Making a game out of training is a great way to get people more excited about the subject matter. And which game is better than Jeopardy? A quiz show format is an innovative way to introduce new material and understand how much your team has absorbed.

Here is how we suggest you play:

1. Find a Jeopardy template online using a site like Jeopardy Labs.
2. You’ll need five categories for questions related to your company. It’s best to stick with your company’s offerings or information like the organization’s mission, customer demographic, or latest marketing campaigns.
3. Use the premade questions from the online resource or come up with your own questions and answers. Make sure you’re able to share the screen with all your participants.
4. If you’re using a group format, let people discuss and share answers.
5. Proceed to gather everyone in a large space with a smart screen and ensure everyone can see, then divide people into either small groups (or individuals if the group is already small).

Ever feel like time is running faster than you can list your goals? Well, brace yourself for the whirlwind excitement of Speed Goal Sharing! Participants team up, and they've got a mere minute to spill the beans on their current goals to a partner. It's like goal-setting on fast-forward. Why? Because sometimes, brevity is the key.

This quick teambuilding activity isn't just a time crunch; it's a crash course in concise communication and prioritization. So, get ready to share your aspirations at lightning speed – clarity and alignment within the team await!

Top Tip for Facilitators:

• Keep the vibe upbeat and the clock ticking. Encourage everyone to channel their inner auctioneer – goals on the fly, people!
• Guide the conversations to make sure it's not just a blur of words but a meaningful exchange.
• This activity is like a goal-driven race, so set the pace, cheer them on, and let the concise communication marathon begin!

“It’s 11.30am on a midsummer’s day and your plane has just crash-landed on a remote desert island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Your task is to rank these 20 items that were salvaged from the plane in order of their importance to the survival of you and the team.”

That’d be one way to introduce the classic team and trust-building exercise called Desert Survival! A powerful way to demonstrate that teams outperform individuals and that collaboration’s key to success, this activity always goes down well.

There are three ways to play:

• With actual items that the team can hold and put in piles
• With pictures of each item or
• With items simply written down on a board or piece of paper

In any case, the team gets around 40 minutes to discuss each item, reflect on their respective pros/cons, and work together to decide what they’re going to keep. In the process, they’ll realize the:

• Need to speak up if they wish to make a point
• Problem with stubbornness in a collective environment
• Value of compromise and sacrifice in search of unity
• Gaps in their personal knowledge/reasoning that others can help fill

From a managerial perspective, the Desert Island scenario also reveals how well the team works together and how easily they find solutions to a problem. You’ll see how rapidly they approach a state of synergy – where collaboration enables them to leverage their individual strengths and become greater than the sum of their parts.

What you need:

• A selection of items to be used on a desert island (or pictures of them) – unless you choose to write them down instead.

How to play Who did it?

This game is helpful for learning about what your colleagues do outside of work. To begin with, everyone should get a piece of paper and pen, and write down one interesting thing they’ve done. Then, all the notes are placed in a container, and a facilitator pulls them out one at a time and reads them alive. Everyone else in the room should guess who the individual was who completed that activity. For example, if one prompt is “skydiving”, then everyone would guess who among them was most likely to have done that. The more creative people get, the better!

How to play Coat of arms creation

This creative drawing exercise helps everyone get to know each other better. Have each participant draw their own “coat of arms” that is unique to them, representing the characteristics or important accomplishments that make them who they are. When everyone is finished drawing, they should share with the group. For very large groups, it’s more effective to break people into smaller teams for sharing. For added camaraderie, create a coat of arms gallery in your office where everyone can display their creations.