Library of teambuilding games & icebreakers

Got You! is a rapid icebreaker designed to lighten the mood for the day ahead. The idea behind the game is simple, catch the other person finger while avoiding the other person from catching yours.

How to play Got You!

To play the game, arrange your group into a circle with a little space between each player. Next, ask each player to stick out their left palm towards the player to their left with the palm face up. Then, ask the players to rest the index finger of their right hand onto the palm of the player to their right. When the moderator shouts “Go!” the players must attempt to catch the index finger of the player to their left while avoiding the player to their right from catching theirs.

A vital part of effective team collaboration is communication. Yet to be a strong communicator you also have to master the art of listening.

That’s one reason Group Counting’s such a popular improv game. Aside from being fun and strangely addictive to play, it requires participants to pay close attention to each other; to get on the same page by listening intently from the outset.

How to play Group counting

The game itself couldn’t be more straightforward. The team stands in a circle, closes their eyes, and works together to count to 21. However, there’s a catch: only one person can speak at once. Not only that, but if more than one person says a number at the same time, the group starts again from 1.

It might sound easy enough, but you’d be surprised how long it can take to get to 21! And remember that everyone has their eyes shut, which stops them from using hand signals and other gestures to pick who’ll speak next.

Instead, they’re forced to listen – to try and pick up on verbal cues to see if someone’s about to yell out the next number.

Expect light-hearted frustration mixed with laughs as the team proceeds from 1 to 21, followed by shouts of glee when they finally finish the game. By then, they’ll have bolstered their sense of group mind and become a closer team in the process.

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.

How to play Statue challenge

This game is full of silly fun, but can encourage more observational skills and makes people aware of their colleagues. This game is really ideal for people working in larger open spaces. The first participant that you choose is the “statue” leader. At some point in the day, they’ll freeze - it should be random. As other players notice the “statue” they will also freeze. This continues until there is only one person left, and they lose. This is an entertaining game that also offers a bit of stress relief during busy times, and is great to plan when tensions are high in the office.

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 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!

This Pencil Drop activity ticks all the right boxes. Short and sweet? Check. Fun-filled from start to finish? Check. Great for breaking the ice and boosting bonds between colleagues? Check!

Oh, and it’s nice and easy too…

How to play Pencil drop

All you need is a ball of string, a bunch of pencils, and some empty water bottles. With the supplies sorted, you can crack on with the task itself.

Start by dividing your team into pairs and asking them to stand back to back. Next, tie one end of both pieces of string around the eraser end of a pencil and the other end around their waists. They then have to walk forward (i.e. away from each other) until there’s no more slack in the string and the pencil’s suspended in the air.

Now the fun can begin! Their job is to work together, walking backward in a bid to lower the pencil into a water bottle that you’ve placed on the floor between them. To make things trickier, they’re not allowed to use their hands.

Want to add some fuel to the fire? Make it a race! Pit 2+ pairs against each other at the same time, awarding prizes to whoever wins.

What you need:

• Ball of string, cut into enough lengths for each pair to have two pieces
• One empty water bottle and one pencil between two people

Challenge your team to think on their feet as they make up a story on the spot! In Swedish Story, the storyteller must make decisions quickly as they’re bombarded with random words.

Great for: Public speaking, decision-making

Duration: 5-10 minutes

Players: 4+

You’ll need: Nothing

How to play Swedish Story

Setup: Divide your group into teams of about 4-5 players then ask each team to pick one person to be the storyteller.

To play: The storytellers are given a topic to talk about. As they start to tell their made-up story, the other members of the team chip in with random words that the storyteller must incorporate into their story. For example, if the storyteller is talking about a hurricane, the other players might call out words like “cow,” “combine harvester,” or “Elvis Presley!” The aim is for the storyteller to maintain their composure as they incorporate irrelevant words and phrases. When the time runs out, you can end the game or play again with a different topic and storyteller.

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 Group Art Project

If you want to be a little more active and collaborative, try coordinating an art project like a mosaic for the group. An activity like this can cater to people who are more introverted and not naturally chatty.

First, provide everyone with a workspace and the proper materials. Choose different mediums like paper, paint, magazines, glass pieces, or even computer graphics you printed. Come up with some guidelines such as “draw a team crest” or “come up with a goal for your team”. Then set a timer for a specific amount of time and let everyone create their art! You can have everyone do this as a large group or break people into smaller groups. If there are smaller groups, allow everyone to show off their creation to the larger group. If you need more ideas for icebreakers for introverts, check out our past post.

How to play Paper boat race

If you are able to visit a location by water, you can try this really fun activity. In this fun and creative exercise, participants build a small boat with paper (and other supplies) and then race them in a small body of water like a pond or stream. The boats are usually made by folding paper into a boat shape, but you can also try offering cardboard, balloons, popsicle sticks, or other crafty materials.

You’ll also want to supply materials for decorating so that everyone can really have their creation stand out. Obviously the person who reaches the finish line first is the winner, but you can offer a few other prizes just for fun, like most beautiful boat or best effort. Make sure to check out our article on other creativity and innovation games, too.

How to play Drama-freeze

Best for small groups, this option can be really interesting. You start with pairs of two and a supervisor. The first team will act out a spontaneous scene without discussing it beforehand. While they do so, the supervisor of the game calls out “freeze” (any time they want). At that time the acting team must remain still. Then the next team of two begins and will start upon the supervisor saying “action”. They need to come up with a scene entirely different from the one from the pair before them. This will go on until each team gets a turn to act and freeze.

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.

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.

How to play Faux job interviews

This is a fun game for anyone who considers themselves a smooth talker. Within your group, pair everyone off into groups of two. Have one person come up with a job, and the other person should share reasons why they are the perfect candidate in a fake interview. The sillier the job title, the more fun the responses.

For example, a job might be “ice cream taster” or “dollhouse interior decorator”. Which traits does the other person have that would make them ideal for that role? This is also a fun way to learn more about your coworkers special talents and characteristics.

On the subject of intimate activities, here’s another quick trust-building exercise that packs a punch. This time, all each team member has to do is maintain eye contact with a colleague for 60 seconds.

Give it a shot! Although it can feel a little awkward in the beginning, the simple act of looking into someone’s eyes can have profound effects. According to Healthline, for example, eye gazing has been shown to:

• Evoke feelings of love between strangers
• Increase the sense of connection between people (lifting the boundaries of “self” and “other”)
• Build trust between people (you’re more likely to believe someone who’s looking straight at you)

How to play Eye contact

This exercise could also be useful – not to mention challenging – for team members who are shy and struggle to hold people’s gaze. They should start to feel more comfortable making eye contact, which is a surefire sign of confidence.

At the end of the 60 seconds, follow the activity up with a discussion about the experience. What thoughts were they having throughout it? How did people feel? And how did they feel about the person they were looking at? Can they take anything from it to apply in the workplace?

Top tip: if you want to stretch this exercise out, you could have people repeat the process with a few additional teammates!

What you need:

• Stopwatch

How to play Name that tune (whistle edition)

You know how to play Name that Tune - but can you identify songs from someone whistling? Take turns having people whistle a song of their choice and everyone else will need to guess what the song is. Give everyone a pen and paper so they can keep track of their correct answers. The person with the most correct answers wins!

How to play Lip Sync Battle

Instructions: Divide participants into teams. Each team chooses a song and choreographs a lip-sync performance. Each team takes turns performing, and judges or fellow team members select the winning performance based on creativity, stage presence, and enthusiasm.

Materials needed: Music player, microphone (optional).

Lip Sync Battle allows team members to showcase their creativity, performance skills, and sense of humor. It promotes camaraderie, boosts morale, and creates a fun and entertaining atmosphere where everyone can participate and enjoy the performances.

How well do your team really know each other? Team Trivia is a fun and simple game that will put your employee’s relationships to the test.

Great for: Interpersonal bonding

Duration: 10 minutes

Players: 6+

You’ll need: Nothing

How to play Team Trivia

Setup: Before you can play Team Trivia, you need to compile interesting facts about your employees. The easiest way to do this is to send out a survey designed to extract as many cool facts as possible.

To play: Team Trivia can be played online or in person, making it a great solution for remote teams. Bring your team together and start asking questions to your team. These can be things that they might already know, like, “Who is the tallest member of the team?” Or things they will need to guess at, like, “Who in the office has eight siblings?” The player with the most correct answers is the winner!

How to play 10 things I do well

Another version of simply sharing information about yourself, ask people to come up with a list of ten things they do well. It’s a good idea to have a pen and paper at each place setting in advance so that people can brainstorm. Have everyone stand up and share their list with the group. This is actually a really powerful way to understand group dynamics and who is best for what, which is important for collaboration in the workplace. Plus, it’s a sort of forced reminder for individuals about what they are good at, which is a confidence builder.

Here’s a game that demands timing and cat-like reflexes. It’s a rework of musical chairs, something that we’ve all played in childhood at least once. The game is fast-paced and competitive, making it a perfect team energizer. You’ll need a group of 4 to 10 people, a table and an amount of cups that is one less than the number of players you have. Basically, one person is going to be eliminated each round!

Set-up:

1. Get the music started! Get your Bluetooth speaker and an upbeat playlist ready. On the table place a number of cups that is one less than the amount of people playing. Most people will recognize the rules instinctively; you play the music and each player walks around the table clockwise. When the music stops, each person needs to grab one cup with lightning-fast speed. Whoever is without a cup at the end of this round is eliminated. Remove one cup and move to the next round.

2. Whittle down the competition: Continue eliminating one player per round. Make the music more intense and crazy as each round passes by. Eventually, only one person will be left standing (and sipping!), so crown this person as the winner of Musical Cups!

Cups can be full or empty as people play, and as with our other drinking games, choose a beverage that’s easy to clean up and applies to your work setting. Organize it during a work happy hour to get the party started. We’ll say cheers to that!

How to play:

‍Set up a Jeopardy-style game board with categories related to workplace safety (e.g., "Fire Safety," "PPE," "First Aid"). Create questions of varying difficulty and assign point values. Divide employees into teams and let them choose questions to answer for points.

Safety jeopardy extravaganza transforms safety training into an exciting game show experience. It’s an effective way to review safety policies and procedures while fostering a competitive spirit. Channeling their inner Alex Trebek, participants can both learn and have fun.

Another activity utilizing an online whiteboard, the Four-Step Sketch develops scrum skills and rapid ideation as teams work together to find solutions.

Set up:

Step 1: Present a challenge (e.g., design an app dashboard). Each member sketches their own solution.

Step 2: Break into teams, share and discuss sketches in breakout rooms.

Step 3: Teams combine the best ideas into one refined design.

Step 4:Reassemble to present and explain final solutions, focusing on iterative improvement.

Scrum values are promoted when everyone comes together to share their sketch and innovate a new solution.

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Example challenges:

‍a. Design a user-friendly app dashboard‍

b. Sketch a creative marketing campaign

c. Design a remote team-building activity

d. Visualize our sprint workflow

How to play My Superpower

This activity is great for bigger groups as well as teams that don’t know each other very well. Each participant will state his/her name and then share what their “superpower” is. This can be a special skill, a curious fact about their lives, valuable knowledge they can share, etc. You can choose to make it more professional, or keep things more personal as a way of getting to know each other better.

To make it even more fun, use a ball to signify which person is speaking. The person will then toss the ball to another player at random, keeping things spontaneous as the game progresses.