Library of teambuilding games & icebreakers

How to play Trading post

Understanding pricing and its effects on supply and demand is a natural skill in the business world. This game can help your employees to focus on this area in new ways. You can do this game for any length of time, so it’s perfect for fitting into most agendas. Start with two groups, a pile of fake money, and some simple items to trade like paper clips or pencils. Each group should have their own money and supply of items. The groups will need to decide what things cost and come up with trade terms.

Then, they should get busy buying, selling, and trading. At the end of the exercise, bring everyone together and see who came out ahead. Why did one group do better than the other? What did everyone learn? Supply and demand are pretty simple economic concepts that most people know, but this is a fun reminder and refresher.

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!

We all loved arts and crafts when we were kids, and this game brings out our inner child while encouraging problem-solving and creative thinking.

How to play: Split the group into two teams. Make sure you have enough space to place people to be apart or use a sheet to divide the space. Teams work together to construct one-half of a bridge, which will eventually be together. It’s essential for each group not to be able to see the other’s progress. The two groups can communicate verbally to ensure the design will result in a stable, “functioning” bridge.

Materials you’ll need: Construction materials, like newspaper, tape, legos, cardboard, etc. Make sure you have a device for measuring, like tape or a long rule—enough space for teams to work privately.

How many people: Small to mid-sized teams (8-16 people)

Fuel teamwork and competition by challenging teams to complete a jigsaw puzzle race.

Materials needed:

• Jigsaw puzzles of varying difficulty levels
• Timer or stopwatch

Instructions on how to play:

1. Divide the team into equal groups and provide each team with a jigsaw puzzle.
2. Set a timer and have teams race against each other to complete their puzzles.
3. Emphasize that each team member must contribute to assembling the final image.
4. Celebrate the first team to finish and acknowledge their teamwork.

Why it's a great team building game:

• Piece by piece teamwork: Requires collaboration and coordination to complete the puzzle.
• Friendly competition: Adds a dash of competition to energize the team spirit.
• Problem-solving practice: Enhances problem-solving skills in a fun and engaging way.

Top tip to help the game run smoothly: Choose puzzles that match the team's preferences and skill levels. If possible, opt for puzzles that relate to the team's interests to make it more engaging.

This game is a fun, chatty way to level up those conflict resolution skills. Let's dive into those scenarios, chat it out, and become conflict-solving pros!

Materials needed

• Conflict scenario cards (These are your secret weapons. You'll need to whip them up beforehand.)
• Some comfy chairs or a chill seating arrangement
• Optionally, someone to guide the game, like a facilitator or moderator

Instructions

1. First things first, create a set of scenario cards. Each one should tell a little story about a workplace conflict. Think of disagreements between team members, tricky client situations, or head-butting with colleagues.
2. Gather your gang in small groups. Aim for about 4-6 folks per group. But if you've got a cozy team, you can play all together as one big, happy crew.
3. Pass out those scenario cards, but keep 'em face down for now. The suspense is half the fun!
4. Once everyone's got a card, tell 'em to take a peek and read it solo. Each card gives a little story about a conflict situation – who's involved, what's going on, and why things are heated.
5. Now, it's time to dive into the drama. Get your group to chat about the scenario. Here's what they should tackle:
   

• What's causing this mess?
• What could be the reasons behind the conflict?
• How can we fix it in a positive, productive way?
• Are there different angles to consider?

6. After giving 'em some time to hash it out (about 10-15 minutes), ask each group to spill the beans. Share what you discussed – the insights, strategies, and solutions you came up with.
7. After tackling a bunch of scenarios, bring everyone together for a debrief session. Chat about common themes, what worked, and any challenges that popped up. Ask your crew to think about what they've learned.

How to play Kid photo guessing game

This game is pretty easy to put together at the last minute - everyone will just need time to print a childhood photo of themselves. To play, you’ll post each of the photos and then have staff guess which baby picture belongs to which employee. You can also pass around the photos and have everyone keep track of how many guesses they got correct. To make a competition out of it, announce a winner based on who got the most photo guesses right.

How to play "Steal the bacon”

A very competitive game, the goal of this activity is to steal an item from the middle of a group. How does it work? Divide a large group into two smaller ones, and assign everyone on Team A and Team B a number. For example, each person on both teams gets a number 1-10. Then have the teams stand opposite of each other with the object in the middle. Have a moderator announce a number randomly, and then that number from each team will attempt to grab the object and take it back to their side. This is a very physical game, so keep your team in mind when suggesting it.

Pictionary is a game of charades where players draw words instead of acting them out.

To get started, follow these steps:

1. Split the group into teams.
2. For every round, pick one team member to draw.
3. Provide the drawing team member a word.
4. Set a timer for up to sixty seconds for teammates to guess.
5. Use a point system where if the team guesses correctly, they get one point.

You can make things more challenging by giving teams the opportunity to steal or move onto the next team’s turn. This game is not only a good way to learn new vocabulary, but to help with visual skills as players connect a word with an image. You can also play this game virtually, so it’s perfect for almost any gathering.

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.

Take things easy with picnic power hour! Head to a local park for a relaxed team picnic, complete with blankets, snacks, and good conversation. It’s a casual way to bond outside of the office and enjoy some downtime together.

This low-key activity encourages relaxation, conversation, and unwinding as a team in a peaceful setting.

How to play:

• Pack up some food, drinks, and blankets for a team picnic.
• Head to a nearby park and enjoy a laid-back hour of chatting and snacking.
• Use the time to bond casually and recharge in nature!

How to play Bullseye

Another hands-on game, this is just what it sounds like - trying to hit a bullseye target. Put up a large bullseye target in the space that you’re working in, and have people throw foam balls to try and hit it. If you want it to be more “icebreaker-ish” then have each person announce their name and role before tossing the ball. Keep track and narrow down to a few winners that need to share a bit more information about themselves in order to get a prize.

Imagine you've just won the lottery. You're now sitting on a financial treasure chest that could fuel any dream you've ever had. What would you do? In this activity, team members get to explore their deepest desires and articulate the goals they would pursue with the newfound freedom that a winning lottery ticket provides. This one is about tapping into personal passions, aligning goals with intrinsic motivations, and thinking big.

Get ready to let your imagination run wild and uncover the aspirations that truly light your fire.

Top tips for facilitators

• Encourage Passions: Help participants focus on what they love and why it matters, ensuring their goals match personal values for lasting happiness.
• Facilitate Discussion: After sharing aspirations, guide a discussion to discover common interests, potential collaborations, or ways to support each other.
• Keep it Real: Dream big but add realistic steps for doable progress.

Many people might remember this game from their childhood. Commonly used as an exercise to get kids to enhance their listening skills, this simple yet effective game still works just as well in adulthood!

How to play:

‍Gather everyone on your team and have them line up or sit in a big circle. There is a group leader who whispers a sentence into the first person’s ear. That next person whispers that same (hopefully) sentence into their neighbor's ear, and the game continues as such.

This is a perfect game for large teams, as not much is needed, and it’s more challenging to get the message across perfectly the more people it goes through.

Materials you’ll need: Just your team and space to the lineup, or sit in a circle.

How many people: Small to large teams (8-25+ people)

Last but not least, we have Alphabets. It’s another improv game that’s as simple as it is fun, making it ideal for virtual meetings. All participants have to do is work together to create a story from scratch, contributing one line at a time. However, the complicating factor is that each line must begin with the next letter of the alphabet!

How to play Alphabets

For example:

• Participant 1: “A long time ago, in a distant land…”
• Participant 2: “Benjamin the Brilliant was building his next great invention.”
• Participant 3: “Crikey, said the inventor…”
• Participant 4: “Don’t people know the world is on the brink of collapse?”
• Participant 5: “Especially now that aliens have landed in America.”

Keep going until the end of the alphabet, or when everyone’s spoken at least once.

Oh, and encourage the team to be as creative as possible. The more random details and unexpected plot twists, the better. The exercise should be about having fun and getting everyone involved – not necessarily about creating a world-class story!

Consider setting a general topic to guide the task too. Maybe it should be a story about pirates, for instance, or dinosaurs…or the team’s next Christmas party.

You can also mix things up by giving people less and less time to contribute the next line. The added pressure keeps the game moving, stops it from getting dull, and requires your employees to think on their feet.

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.

Buckle up for a tech-infused journey through time in the Time-Traveling Tech Expedition. From ancient civilizations to futuristic landscapes, your team will delve into history's greatest technological milestones. But here's the twist: you'll also tackle hands-on tech challenges inspired by each era. As you leap through time and grapple with inventions past and future, your team's adaptability and innovative spirit will shine. It's a quest that transforms history into a playground for the tech-savvy.

Instructions

• Divide participants into tech-savvy teams.
• Assign different historical eras, each with corresponding tech challenges.
• Research and create puzzles inspired by technology of the past and future.
• Solve tech-related tasks and move on to the next era.
• Celebrate accomplishments and discuss how technology has evolved.

How tall can you go? In spaghetti towers, teams use dry spaghetti and marshmallows to build the tallest structure possible within a set time limit. It’s a challenge of creativity, problem-solving, and a little bit of engineering.

This game encourages teamwork, planning, and resourcefulness, as teams work together to build a stable tower. Plus, it’s hilarious to see which towers soar and which ones collapse in a heap of spaghetti and marshmallows!

How to play:

• Split into teams and give each team dry spaghetti and marshmallows.
• Teams must build the tallest tower possible within the time limit.
• The tallest (and most stable) tower wins!

The Human Spring teaches participants the value of trust, cooperation, and interdependence – three core qualities of effective teams. If your workforce appears divided, there’s been recent conflict, or levels of collaboration seem to be dwindling, then we highly recommend it!

Here’s how to play:

Divide the team into pairs (consider doing this for them in order to break up the usual cliques and encourage mingling), ensuring that partners are of a similar size.

Next, ask the pairs to face each other and put their hands up, with their elbows bent, and palms facing the other person. They then have to put their palms together (i.e. person A’s palms should be touching person B’s) and lean towards each other, bit by bit, until they’re holding one another up.

That’s the easy bit! The real challenge comes next, when they have to start moving their feet further and further back, while keeping their palms together.

The beauty of this exercise is that each rearward shuffle makes it harder to stay upright without the support of their partner.

Eventually, their feet should be so far back that they’re relying solely on their teammate to stay upright. The pair with the greatest distance between their feet is the winner. They should then swap partners and do it all again!

What you need:

• N/A

Office DJ challenge brings some rhythm to the office! Teams collaborate to create themed playlists—whether it's “Monday Motivation” or “Friday Chill”—then share them to boost morale and get everyone in a good groove.

It’s a fun, creative way to connect over music, brighten the office mood, and maybe discover some new favorite tunes along the way.

How to play:

• Teams work together to create a themed playlist (e.g., “best road trip songs”).
• Share the playlists with the office.
• Enjoy the music and vote on the best playlist for the day!

In this engaging game, sales reps work as detectives and try to uncover customer needs.

Here’s how it works:

1. Have everyone in the group divide into pairs with one detective and one customer.
2. Give every pair about ten minutes to get as much information as possible. The detective should try to understand as much as they can about the customer's needs.
3. At the end of the session, have each detective present what they’ve learned, with the person who acquired the most knowledge the winner.

This is a great activity for learning more about probing questions, uncovering the things that aren’t being said, and building rapport with prospects - all valuable skills in the sales process!  

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How to play The five-minute pitch

This exercise helps with marketing skills as well as presentation and communication capabilities. It’s a risk-free and comfortable way for even your shy team members to practice talking in front of others. Start by dividing your team into small groups or pairs, and then give each group a random object from around the office (such as a notebook or coffee cup).

Set a timer and give each group or pair 5 minutes to pitch the product to the room. If you want to add a competitive element, you can have a judge or panel of judges that will ultimately choose a winner. Otherwise, just let each team pitch with their allotted time and see how creative everyone can be.

How to play What would you do?

Another classic icebreaker, this game involves coming up with some scenarios that require brain power to address. Here are some prompts you can use with your group:

• What would you do if you were at the zoo and all the animals escaped?
• What would you do if you were the first person to find out about an upcoming zombie apocalypse?
• What would you do if you were in line for a really important item, and a person cut in front of you, getting the last item?
• What would you do if you were invited for dinner at the home of someone you really needed to impress, and the food was terrible?
• What would you do if an imposter that looks and acts just like you infiltrated your organization? How can you convince everyone that you’re the “real” you?

A memory wall is a space for spreading good vibes and positivity in the workplace. Here, you’ll create a collage of good memories that your team can appreciate every time they pass by.

Great for: Company culture, job satisfaction

Duration: N/A

You’ll need: Paper, various coloured pens

How to organise:

• Give each employee a pen and piece of paper and ask them to write down some of their favourite memories from previous experiences like Christmas parties and offsite retreats. These can be personal memories or experiences they shared with colleagues.
• Then, ask your employees to create colourful drawings of these memories. If the memory is shared with a colleague, they can pair up and make the drawing together.
• Collect the drawings and use them to make a colourful collage somewhere in the office. It should be in a shared space where it can be appreciated throughout the day.

Ah, Pictionary, the timeless guessing game that has brought joy and frustration to households for decades. But have you ever thought about playing it in the office? Trust me, it's not just a game for family game night.

How to play:

1. Split into teams.
2. One player draws a word or phrase from a container.
3. That player must draw the word or phrase, while their team guesses.
4. The team has a limited amount of time to guess correctly.
5. If they guess correctly, they earn points; repeat until all players have had a turn.

Not only does it encourage teamwork and communication skills, but it also allows for a fun and creative break from the typical daily routine. Plus, it's a refreshing change from staring at screens all day.