Library of teambuilding games & icebreakers

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.

Searching for another indoor team-building game that demonstrates the virtue of clear communication? Try this one. To play Descriptive Artist, start by pairing teammates up and giving each duo some paper, a pencil, and a picture (making sure only one of them sees the picture).

Sitting back-to-back, one person describes the image while the other tries to draw it based on that description! After 5 to 10 minutes, the activity ends and the artist has to guess what they’ve drawn. You’d then tell everyone to swap roles, hand out new pictures, and repeat the process.

High-fives and pats on the back make everyone smile. Positive feedback isn't just about saying "good job," it's a morale booster that powers up motivation and helps colleagues shine even brighter.

Positive feedback activity - Kudos circle:

• Gather participants in a circle.
• Start by tossing a soft ball or object to one person, offering them a specific compliment or recognizing a recent achievement.
• The person who received the compliment then tosses the ball to another colleague, offering their positive feedback.
• Continue until everyone has received and given compliments.
  ‍

Kudos Circle generates a positive atmosphere, boosts self-esteem and reinforces a culture of appreciation. Try this team-building activity outdoors for extra enjoyment!

How to play Name that tune

This classic never gets old. Play five-second snippets of 12 songs - this will total one minute. Have players write down each song they think they heard. Whoever has the most correct answers wins! You can streamline this process by creating your one-minute compilation in advance, so you don’t have to keep stopping and starting music.

How to play Sound and movement

Have everyone stand in a circle. One volunteer should go into the middle of the circle and make a sound and a motion. For example, they might stop their feet and say “clomp, clomp”. That particular sound and movement should be repeated by everyone in the circle. Then a new person should enter the circle and do the same thing, until everyone has had a chance to come up with their own sound and motion for people to repeat. It’s usually easiest to go in a clockwise order, but you can also have people volunteer for a turn at random.

How to play One Must Go

One Must Go is a fun question game that’d be a fantastic warm-up activity before team meetings or on your next work retreat. We love it for its ability to stimulate light-hearted conversations and help co-workers get to know each other.

How it works is simple: someone comes up with three to four options in a particular category and then asks the group to decide one option to get rid of. For example, “One must go: your favorite drink, your favorite item of clothing, your favorite song, your favorite food?” Or, “One must go: mustard, mayo, ketchup, bbq sauce?”

Everyone knows the classic TV phenomenon of Wheel of Fortune. Add your own corporate twist onto it to bring TV show vibes to the event.

Set up:

1. Wheel it up. You’ve got to get craft and create the biggest, most standout wheel you can. Add workplace pictures to it too.
2. Create your list of winning answers, and make them workplace-themed, or popular mottos among your staff Use some brain teasers for SOS clues.
3. Create teams and get spinning. Your teams can shout out letters to fill in the blank space letters in the answer.
4. Add the occasional bonus round for double points, and create your finale with a one-on-one showdown. Who will wager big and take home the ultimate prize?

How to play:

Create a word search puzzle using safety-related terms (e.g., "first aid," "PPE," "emergency"). Distribute the puzzles to employees and offer a small prize for the first person to complete it.

This quick office game is a simple yet effective way to familiarize employees with important safety vocabulary. It’s a relaxing activity that can be done during breaks, reinforcing key terms and concepts in a fun way. The satisfaction of finding that last hidden word is a great bonus.

Instructions:

1. Begin by researching and finding a leadership style quiz on the internet.
2. Allow your team to read through the questions and ask them to choose the answer that best reflects their leadership approach.
3. Once they have completed the quiz, review their results and take note of their leadership style.
4. Engage in a group discussion about the different leadership styles and how they can be applied in various situations.
5. Share insights on how to adapt leadership style to different scenarios.
6. Encourage open communication and active listening during the discussion.

Who doesn't love personality quizzes? This activity helps team members to understand their unique leadership style and explore different approaches. By delving into the nuances of leadership styles, you'll gain self-awareness and learn how to adapt your style to different situations. It's like discovering your leadership superpower and unleashing it to save the day!

How to play Night watchman

Both small groups and big groups can benefit from this exercise. The game involves players imitating a statue under the watch of a “night watchman”. They should try to move without getting caught. You’ll have to choose a night watchman at the beginning of the game; this person can move about freely while everyone else should behave like a statue. Players can try to take steps, but the night watchman must not see them move. If they see someone move, that person is out of the game. In some variations, the night watchman can do things to make the players move, but they shouldn’t touch them directly. You can also make this a no-winner game where the last person caught moving becomes the new night watchman.

Here’s another awesome improv game that involves groups of 3 people performing to an “audience”. This time, though, you’re back to using your bodies to imitate objects! With an element of mime, a sprinkle of role play, and oodles of silliness and fun, we can’t recommend “I Am a Tree” enough!

How to play I am a tree

The first step is to divide the team into groups of three. As always, you can pick the teams or let them choose their partners. From there, take turns to “perform”.

As the name of the game suggests, one person in the trio might stand up and proclaim, “I am a tree” – sticking their arms out to resemble branches and swaying in the breeze to prove it. Then a second person jumps in, pretending to be a different object that fits with the first (e.g. “I am a bird”).

The final group member then completes the scene. In this example, they might say something like, “I am a cat” and drop to all fours as they pretend to hunt the bird.

Then it’s the next trio’s turn! They can either continue the scene or start a brand new one. Whatever happens, you keep going until everyone’s had a try. Of course, you can also decide to create one giant scene that involves the entire team! You could then take a picture of the final result, framing it as a memento of the event.

We recommend “I Am a Tree” for various reasons.

Firstly, the fact you aren’t expected to say anything is a big plus for employees who don’t like the limelight. Secondly, teammates have to work together to create a cohesive scene. And thirdly, it speaks to the reality of teamwork: that sometimes you have to perform tasks and play a role purely in support of your colleagues.

How to play Knowledge-based quizzes

If your company is especially reliant on customer loyalty, then anything you can do to increase dedication is a smart move. You can put together a quiz for your biggest fans to take to prove they know your business better than anyone. For example, an athletic shoe brand may have a timeline of shoe designs going back 20 years, and whoever can properly label the timeline is a winner. Or, a television show might put together a quiz about the TV characters and their history.

Though radio is not as popular as it once was, many stations used to engage in a form of this loyalty testing by sharing codes throughout the day. If someone could call in with all the codes (to prove they listened all day), they were a winner. This adds another layer of fun and excitement for customers, and works particularly well for consumer goods that tend to have high degrees of repeat business.

Random Acts of Kindness is a mobile app that challenges your employees to perform as many good deeds as possible within a given time limit. This large group game is a fantastic way to get employees out of the office and interacting with the local community.

Great for: Company perception, well-being, interpersonal bonding

Duration: 1 hour

You’ll need: One smartphone per team with the Random Acts of Kindness mobile app installed

How to play:

• Separate your group into even teams and provide each one with a smartphone with the RAOK app installed.
• Once the teams launch the app, there’s little more for you to do. The app will set a time limit and then present a series of challenges like helping somebody pack their groceries or assisting an elderly person to cross the road.
• The winning team is that which has completed the most challenges when the time runs out.

Bring on the cuteness with pet parade party! Team members show off their pets (or favorite stuffed toys, if they don’t have pets) in a virtual showcase. Whether it’s a dog, cat, or even a pet rock, everyone gets a turn to introduce their little (or big) buddy to the team.

This is a fun, lighthearted way to bond over something everyone loves—adorable animals. Plus, who doesn’t love a chance to show off their furry friends?

How to play:

• Each team member gets a turn to show off their pet (or stuffed toy).
• Introduce the pet and share a fun fact or story.
• Enjoy the cuteness and some laughs as you meet everyone’s pets!

You can discover even more fun team-building activities to bring your team together in our full guide.

How to play Story cubes

Another worldwide classic game that has stood the test of time is “Story Cubes.” There are hundreds of variations of stories available, from simple daily scenarios to extravagant and epic fantasies.

The game is open-ended and revolves around a collection of cubes. Each side of a cube has an idea that continues a story, in a chain of events. Scour online resources for some templates, or create your own. Sometimes, the more random, the better!

How to play Suddenly” story

This is a fun game that brings out lots of creativity and improves communication. Have your team sit in a circle and instruct everyone that they will get to share 3 sentences only. Choose a person to start, and they’ll share their 3 sentences. Once finished, they should say “suddenly!” and then the next person in the circle takes their turn.

This cycle continues until you reach the last person in the group, who should conclude the story. For a twist, you can have people make up a completely fictional story, or include real-world information to form a realistic narrative. This makes it amusing but also helps with overall story-telling, which is a key part of effective marketing

In back-to-back sketch, one person describes an image while their partner, sitting back-to-back with them, draws it based solely on the description. No peeking allowed! It’s a great way to test communication skills—and usually leads to some very entertaining (and often unrecognizable) drawings.

This game encourages clear instructions and active listening, with plenty of laughs thrown in.

How to play:

• Pair up teammates to sit back-to-back.
• One person describes an image while the other draws based on the description.
• Compare the final drawings with the original image for some laughs!

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 are given a random office item and must come up with a full marketing campaign and product launch strategy for it within one hour. It’s fast-paced, creative, and hilarious as teams scramble to sell everyday objects as the next big thing.

In the hybrid version, both remote and in-office teams are handed the same random office item, like a stapler or sticky notes, and they must collaborate to create a complete product launch strategy. Remote workers can handle the digital aspects, like designing an online ad or social media campaign, while in-office workers take on in-person tasks like creating a mock product display or filming a funny promo video.

At the end, each team presents their campaign virtually, showcasing how they turned something ordinary into the next office must-have.

It’s a great way to get everyone thinking on their feet, no matter where they are.

In this physical activity, there will be a facilitator instructing the larger team. You’ll also need ample space so make sure you are in a location that can accommodate a large group moving around. Have the facilitator start by instructing people to do some simple, engaging activities. For instance, they could start by saying “stand up”. Then, the facilitator says “stop” and then the instruction is flipped to its opposite. So, if they say “stand”, that really means “sit”. If they originally had said “walk”, that would now mean “stand still”.

As you can imagine, this leads to pure chaos and a lot of laughter. This is helpful for getting more physical but also in encouraging people to communicate better throughout the day.

Not every team-building activity needs to be carefully choreographed. Sometimes, organic bonding activities like Company Potluck build stronger relationships.

Great for: Interpersonal bonding

Duration: 1–2 hours

You’ll need: N/A

How to organise:

• Set a time and date for your team to come together for a group meal.
• Ask each team member to arrive with a snack or dish which they prepared themselves. For the more culinary inept employees, shop-bought products are also acceptable.
• Everybody arrives at the event with their offerings and spends the afternoon eating and mingling with their colleagues.
• To prevent lots of people from bringing the same product, you can pin a paper to the staffroom wall for people to write down what they intend to bring.

When the whole gang's aiming for the same bullseye, see it as though it’s a motivational magnet. Shared goals keep everyone on track, turning coworkers into the dream team who want to see the best in you.

Shared goals activity - Vision board creation:

• Set up a creative station with magazines, newspapers, scissors, glue and large poster boards.
• Instruct colleagues to create individual vision boards by cutting out images, words and phrases that represent their career goals, aspirations and values.
• Encourage participants to share their completed vision boards with the group and explain their choices.
• Discuss common themes and goals that emerge, showcasing the team's shared aspirations.
  ‍

This visually engaging activity strengthens the sense of unity and purpose among colleagues.

Do you have a keen eye for detail? Are you a spot-the-difference wizard? Then Sneak a Peek could be the game for you. In this game, your employee’s observation and communication skills will be put to the test as they attempt to recreate a structure with their team.

Great for: Observation, communication

Duration: 10 minutes

Players: 6+

You’ll need: A few sets of building blocks i.e. Lego Duplo

How to play Sneak a Peek

Setup: Using your building blocks, start by constructing a complex structure. The structure should be hidden from the players and positioned at an equal distance from each team. Then, divide your group into even teams and provide them with the necessary building blocks to recreate your structure.

To play: When the game starts, one player from each group will approach the hidden structure and observe it for 10 seconds. Then, upon returning to their teams, the observer has 25 seconds to explain how to recreate the structure. After one minute of attempting to recreate the structure, another observer gets up and looks at the hidden structure for a further 10 seconds. The game continues in this pattern until one of the teams successfully replicates the structure.

How to play Treasure mountain

Treasure Mountain can be played with teams of 4-6 people, a team captain is chosen to enter the game and share his/her screen with the rest of their team. The teams then race against the clock, completing challenges and solving riddles in the pursuit of gold.