Library of teambuilding games & icebreakers

How to play Nerf ball break

If you need a break that’s a little more physical, set up some buckets of nerf balls in an outdoor space at your venue. Have everyone stand in a circle and choose one person to have the ball initially. When they have the ball, they answer the question that you chose for an icebreaker. For example, “What are you excited to do or learn about today?” They answer, and then throw the ball to someone else, who also answers. Once everyone has had a turn to share, you can head back inside.

How to play Secret word

Insert some fun and laughter into your everyday office work by playing this silly game. To play, start by writing down any word on a piece of paper (An object or action is usually easiest). Choose your first participant and have them place the paper on their forehead (without looking at it). It’s key that the player doesn’t know what word they are displaying! Other players should gesture to try to get them to guess the word without actually speaking. The person with the card will try to guess the word based on the actions of everyone around them.

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.

Extreme rock, paper, scissors takes the traditional playground game to a new level. This time, Instead of battling it out in pairs, your employees will attempt to overthrow the competition in teams.

Great for: Energization

Duration: 10 minutes

You’ll need: Plastic hula hoops (approx. 15)

How to play:

• Lay the hoops in a line on the ground and leave a gap of 50cm between each one.
• Divide your group into two teams and position them at either end of the line of hoops.
• When you shout “Go!” one player from each team starts hopping through the hoops towards the opposition.
• When they meet in the middle, they play rock, paper, scissors.
• The loser exits the hoop and jogs back to their team. Meanwhile, the winner continues hopping forward towards the opposition and a player from the other team steps in to replace their fallen comrade.
• When the two players meet, they play rock, paper, scissors again.
• Play continues until a player reaches the opposing team’s starting hoop. The first team to land in their opponent's starting hoop wins.

How to play March madness

Take advantage of a competition that’s already going on! Build off of the energy of March Madness and encourage staff to participate. Have people create brackets and keep track throughout the series. You can take things to a new level by adding in a few other themed challenges like a desk decorating contest or make your own jersey day. If you go this route, you can assign points for each challenge to go along with bracket performance.

This game is all about mental energy. Easy to play and can be done anywhere from a break room, to the office common space, mental gymnastics can be any type of quick trivia game, even including Pictionary if you have a lot of artists on your team.

Perfect for teams, trivia encourages employees to work together, relying on their smarts and pop culture knowledge. You can even make the game workplace specific and test how much your team knows about one another, ultimately bringing them closer together.

How to play:

Write down various safety scenarios on slips of paper (e.g., "using a fire extinguisher," "performing CPR") and place them in a hat. Divide employees into teams and have them take turns drawing a slip and acting out the scenario without speaking, while their team guesses what it is.

Safety charades showdown adds a playful twist to learning important safety procedures. It encourages teamwork and creativity while reinforcing vital safety knowledge. Watching coworkers try to mime "emergency exit plan" is always entertaining.

How to play duct tape three-legged race

The three-legged race is the ultimate teamwork game. Players are taped together by their ankles, using their outer legs and a single middle leg to move as seamlessly as possible to the finish line.

If you have an outdoor area, this is a great place to host this game, as it is best played with enough space to make the race challenging. If you’re playing inside, find the widest open area between the starting and finish points. If you have teams that are larger than two people, you can split up into groups within the same team.

How to play Top ten things

In this quick and easy exercise, you simply go around the (virtual) room and have everyone list the first ten words that come to mind based on a prompt. You can pick really straightforward subjects or get more creative. For example, if the topic is “Top vacation destinations”, have each person list their top ten places they’d like to visit. Or, maybe you ask for top ten names for a new puppy, or the ten worst date night destinations.

In this game, players will need to work together to untangle themselves without letting go of each other’s hands. It’s a fantastically simple game for improving communication and collaboration skills.

Great for: Communication, problem-solving

Duration: 10 minutes

Players: 5-8

You’ll need: Nothing

How to play Human Knot

Setup: Ask your group to stand in a circle, shoulder to shoulder, facing inwards. Then, ask each player to reach out their left hand and take hold of somebody else’s hand opposite them. Repeat this action with the right hand. Players should not take the hand of the person to their immediate left or right.

To play: Players must now work together to untangle the knot without letting go of each other’s hands. To do this, players will need to turn, twist and step through each other’s arms.

How to play DIY Disc Golf

Disc golf is a sport where you sling flying discs (AKA Frisbees) at special targets made of metal chains and buckets. Like golf, the idea is to get your disc in the target in the fewest possible throws.

When it comes to Field Day games for adults, disc golf is awesome. But unless you have an actual disc golf course on-site, you’ll want to do things the “DIY way.” Create your own course by making targets out of big buckets of water (washing baskets also work) and placing them at different points around a playing field. You can then proceed around it, taking turns throwing Frisbees at the targets.

The goal? Get your Frisbee in the bucket with as few throws as possible! Each throw represents a “stroke.” Keep track of how many strokes it takes to hit each target, and then add them up at the end. The lowest score wins.

Mix up the usual routine with a community impact day. Instead of the office grind, teams head out to do some good—whether that’s cleaning up a park or helping out at a local charity.

Not only does it feel good to give back, but it’s a refreshing break from the usual. Plus, nothing says team bonding like rolling up your sleeves and making a difference together.

How to play:

• Organize teams for a community service project.
• Tackle tasks like clean-ups or volunteering.
• Enjoy the good vibes from making a real impact!

In this speedy activity, the team carry out a rapid pulse-check on recent work, honing in on the focus of continuous improvement, even when time is short. Here’s how to set this one up quickly:

Set up:

Hand every employee three sticky notes, and set a timer for one minute. Have them think about their last project or sprint period, and jot down one thing they think went well, one area for improvement, and one quick idea for moving forward. At the end of one minute, they stick their notes to your board, and you reflect on common themes or action items. Quick, simple, and to the point.

How to play Bucket list sharing

Don’t let daily drudgery drain your big dreams. As a leader, you can help encourage your entire team to keep sight of those bigger life goals. Start your next event or meeting by asking everyone to share one of the items from their bucket list, with a brief explanation of why. You can encourage dialogue by asking if they think they’ll ever accomplish that goal, or how they might go about it. This is a great way to learn about what the people you work with really value and what matters to them outside of work.

While not a group activity per se, this technique is great for allowing employees to practice goal setting in their own working time. The Pomodoro Technique is a disciplined time management method that encourages working in focused, concentrated bursts, separated by short breaks. Here's how it works:

• Choose a task you want to work on. Set a timer for 25 minutes (this is one "Pomodoro").
• Focus solely on the task at hand until the timer rings. Avoid any distractions or interruptions during this time.
• After 25 minutes, take a short break of 5 minutes. Use this time to stretch, take a walk, or do something enjoyable.
• Repeat the process. After completing four Pomodoros, take a longer break of 15-30 minutes.

The Pomodoro Technique is like your best friend for productivity and discipline. It can start to feel like a game, especially when you’re racing against the clock, meaning that it may not even feel like work sometimes. Plus, it’s a game that gives rewards! Those short breaks are vacations for your brain and great incentive to get work done.  So, if you're aiming for setting and reaching goals at work, Pomodoro is the technique for you!

How to paly Gibberish conversation

Two people have a conversation in “gibberish” (essentially made-up, nonsense language), and each person must try to understand what the other is saying.

If you're a younger team with an appetite for video games, this might be worth a try!

Among Us is an online game where an ‘imposter’ attempts to eliminate members of the ‘crew’ without being discovered.

How to play Among us

The game can only be played by a maximum of ten players, so you might want to consider putting together a league if you have a larger workforce.

How to play Red ball game

A group of people pass around an imaginary red ball and must come up with a story about where it has been. You can change the color of the ball or even the imaginary object, the point is to mix up the start and stop of the story and get creative.

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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!

Ready to turn setbacks into stepping stones? Welcome to the Failure Analysis Workshop, where we don't just talk about success – we dissect failure, pull it apart, and find the golden nuggets within. Participants gather around the metaphorical "lessons learned" table, discussing past hiccups, pitfalls, and fiascos.

Make people understand that learning from failures isn't just a skill; it's an art. This exercise transforms the not-so-great moments into valuable insights, fostering a positive attitude toward setbacks. It’s also the perfect chance to learn from past mistakes in order to prevent future mishaps, a perfect aim for goal-setting!

Top Tip for Facilitator:

• Be the guide, not the judge.
• Encourage participants to share openly and guide the discussion towards extracting lessons rather than dwelling on the negatives.
• The goal here is not just to analyze failure but to turn it into a powerful tool for future success.

Tight-knit teams need to understand how their colleagues like to work. Who likes to work in silence and who likes to exchange ideas? Who likes to take phone calls and who prefers emails? By creating Personal User Manuals, new and existing employees gain a deeper understanding of their peer’s workplace preferences.

Great for: Onboarding, company culture

Duration: 5 minutes

Players: 4-15

You’ll need: Nothing

How to play Personal User Manuals

Setup: No setup required.

To play: Ask your employees to record a short video of themselves that can be used as a Personal User Manual. In the video, the employee should introduce themselves, tell an interesting fact and discuss their workplace preferences. Once everybody has recorded a video, you can upload them to your company intranet or knowledge hub.

How to play Virtual bingo

Bingo in a virtual setting can be just as fun as doing it in person. Lots of online virtual bingo cards have cropped up over the last few years, with fun boxes to tick, like family members walking in the background and dogs heard barking on the mic.

Virtual bingo is a great virtual teambuilding activity that adds a light-hearted touch to your remote meetings.

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In What's My Name?, team members use clues to help a participant guess the famous person's name on their forehead.

Instructions on how to play:

1. Write the name of a famous person on a Post-it note for each participant without letting them see it.
2. Place the Post-it note on each participant's forehead.
3. Team members provide verbal clues without saying the actual name, helping each participant guess who they are.
4. Rotate turns until everyone has guessed their famous persona.

Why it's a great team building game:

• Communication and collaboration: Encourages effective communication and collaboration in providing clues.
• Fun and engagement: Adds an element of excitement as participants try to decipher the clues and guess the famous person.
• Icebreaker: Facilitates conversation and laughter in a light-hearted setting.

Top tip to help the game run smoothly: Choose a diverse list of famous people to cater to different interests within the team. Encourage creativity in providing clues and celebrate the humor that arises from the game.

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One wrong move and you’re out of the game! Blind Retriever hones your employee’s listening skills as they attempt to retrieve the object and avoid objects while blindfolded.

Great for: Listening and communication

Duration: 10 minutes

Players: 4+

You’ll need: One blindfold per team, various soft-edged obstacles

How to play Blind Retriever

Setup: Find a large open space. At one end of the space, place the object that your teams will need to retrieve and at the other end indicate some sort of start line. Then, position various soft-edged obstacles between the start line and the object. Avoid using any objects that could cause harm if somebody were to walk into/land on them. Finally, divide your group into small teams of about 2-4 players, allocate one person per team to be the Retriever and position everybody behind the start line. The Retriever is then blindfolded.

To play: When the game starts, the non-retrievers of each team must guide their blindfolded retriever to the other end of the room to collect the object using only verbal commands. If a retriever makes contact with any of the obstacles in the room their team is eliminated from the race. The team whose retriever collects the object first without touching any obstacles wins.