Team games and activities

Select a charity your company would like to contribute to. Then, set a reasonable donation goal for the company to reach. If your team is able to achieve the goal by the end of the month, then treat your team to celebratory drinks or pizza parties. Here are ideas for virtual fundraisers you can do, and a list of community building activities for work.

For this game, request team members submit photos of their desk setup. Once the photos are in, post the pictures in a shared space where everyone can see. Then, ask your team to turn in guesses on whose desk is whose. The person who guesses the most number of desks correctly wins. If your team is hungry for new recipes to try, then My Next Meal is the activity for you to try. At the beginning of the week, a different member of the team submits a photo of what is inside their refrigerator.

Then, other team members present creative recipes using the ingredients seen in the photo. Everyone votes for the best recipe, and the recipe with the most votes wins. My Next Meal reduces the pressures of meal prep and also helps bring team members together through a love of food. Has your team ever considered dabbling in low-budget filmmaking?

Prior to the festival, split your employees up into filmmaking teams. Give the teams 48 hours to write, shoot, and edit a five-minute film. Then, invite everyone to watch the short films together by holding a film festival. Team Film Festival is an amazing team building opportunity because filmmaking is a team activity that requires a lot of planning and cooperation, which are treasured skills in the workplace. Dance Off is a fun game that lets your team express themselves through dance.

As the name suggests, the objective of Dance Off is for your team to compete and see who the best dancer is. Create a playlist of danceable tunes and clear a space for your team to move freely. Then, have your team make a circle and begin playing music.

Each team member gets a few minutes to show off moves in the center of the circle. Everyone votes for the most impressive dancer, and whoever gets the most votes wins. Dance Off lets your team cut loose and stay active, which is great for stress relief.

With the mental health benefits of plants becoming more well-known, Plant Babies is an office game that encourages your team to grow plants at their desks. For this game, team members should each adopt a plant to care for.

Then, as the Plant Babies surpass certain milestones, such as growing to certain heights or developing flowers, team members receive points. The team member who earns the most points by the end of every three-month period wins.

Plant Babies invites your team to cultivate nurturing spirits and lets your coworkers create a more enjoyable office environment together. Team building games are a great way to liven up the workplace and do something fun with your team.

Next, check out our list of virtual game night ideas , this one with morning meeting games for employees , these fun question games , and this list of games for large groups.

We also have a list of ideas for executive team building , one for outdoor team building , one for indoor team building , and the best team building questions. Unsure about what constitutes a team building game or why you should engage in one? Here are some common questions about team building games to help you. Team building games are competitions whose main goal is to promote productivity and cultivate friendships between team members.

These games are usually low-stakes and focus on fun, and are not cutthroat matches. These benefits are all great reasons why your team should invest in team building games. Not only will your team work better, but your coworkers will also have fun and be happier while working. The best corporate team building games for the office are designed to feel like a break from work, and provide opportunities to socialize with your team members.

Feel free to alter the rules to better tailor the games for your team. Need to throw together a quick and easy team building game? Here are some games that you can play without materials:.

These games are simple to put together and do not require a huge amount of commitment to host. Using a laptop and video conferencing service, all these games can also be played remotely with your team. Team building content expert. Skip to content This page includes our list of the best team building games for work.

Specifically, this list includes: fun team building games for the office free team building games without materials corporate team building games indoor team building games for employees team games for work office team games DIY team building games So, check out the list! List of team building games From games that keep you on your feet to ones that test your knowledge, these surprisingly fun team building games are sure to be a hit at your office.

Murder Mystery Party For fans of murder mysteries like Knives Out, a murder mystery party is a role-playing team building game. Codenames Codenames is traditionally an in-person board game. Like traditional bingo, the first player who collects enough signatures to form a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line across the board wins the round Here is a game board you can use, and you can also use this icebreaker Bingo generator.

Remote Work Bingo Remote Work Bingo is an engaging team building game for remote teams that turns everyday virtual working experiences into something shared and fun. Line Game The Line Game brings teams together by showing colleagues unexpected commonalities. Items Needed: None. Goal: Create an interesting story one sentence at a time. To do a Conducted Story, groups stand in a circle. One person may act as the conductor, who is responsible for moving the story along.

The first person starts the story with a sentence like, "Mike went to the supermarket because The conducted story is a listening exercise that requires every team member to pay attention to what the others have said. It also stresses the importance of telling a seamless story and that unity and strong communication are needed to do that. Goal: To tell an entertaining story while incorporating team suggestions.

This is another activity that combines storytelling and teamwork but with a twist. People work in pairs or small teams of no more than four. One person is the storyteller while the others are the word givers. The word givers start off by giving a title that the storyteller must start talking about. Then, as they are speaking, givers yell random words that storytellers must incorporate. The key is that the words should be unrelated to the topic to make it more challenging and interesting.

For instance, in a story about, "Visiting the City," word givers should avoid relevant words like, "taxi", "skyscrapers", and "subway". Instead, they shout out unrelated words like, "coconuts", "T-Rex", "Big Foot", or "lumberjacks".

You can see a combination of Swedish Story and Conducted Story here:. Storytellers will be put on the spot and have to think fast. It drives them to actively listen to the words the other members say and insert them into the storyline. Did coming up with a story come naturally or did you find it to be a struggle? Goal: Complete a goal while team's hands are tied together. In this activity, divide groups up into teams of 2 to 4. Form members into circles facing each other and use rope or shoe strings to tie their wrists to their neighbours wrist.

Then, give them a task that they must complete together with their hands tied. Because everyone's hands are tied, it will require the effort of each person to complete the task. The constraints can increase their creativity and push them to think outside-of-the-box. This will also require good and constant communication. Number of Participants: 2. Items Needed: 1 smart phone for 2 people. Goal: Complete a dance with another person.

Bounden is a mobile dance game designed to be played with partners with choreography by the Dutch National Ballet. A pairs holds a smartphone or tablet while instructions appear on the screen. Holding opposite ends of the device, you tilt the phone around a virtual sphere following a path of rings, resulting in players swinging their arms and twisting their bodies.

Sensors in the phone detect if the right moves are made. This can be used as a great icebreaker for small groups. It also requires people to pay close attention and follow the instructions. As they continue, the moves can get more fast-paced or difficult, so they'll have to stay in sync and keep communicating to win. Was there anything you picked up on from your partner's non-verbal communication?

Items Needed: Various random objects, one per each participant. Goal: Come up with alternative uses for everyday objects and have team members guess said uses. Each participant is given an object and must demonstrate an alternative use for it.

You can use anything from a basketball or plastic bag to a hula hoop or stapler. Give the participant one-minute to silently act out their alternative use for the object; for example, a stapler could be used as a fork or a trumpet. While they're acting, others in the group try to guess what they're mimeing. Every person who correctly guesses the alternative use gets a point. Once the minute is over, the next person will do the same and so on.

The Game of Possibilities is a great way to bring out your team's creativity and quick thinking as well as a fun way to boost team creativity and innovation. Time: 30 minutes. Goal: Closely mimic movements of dancers to get points. Although one of the most effective and quickest ways to bring someone out of their comfort zone is to get them to dance, dancing can be uncomfortable for people who shy away from attention.

Dance Party solves this issue by having up to 4 participants dance at once. You can download the Dance Party app from the App Store and set it up in your office. Players mimic the dance moves that the avatar performs on the screen. Encourage members to form teams and compete.

Dancing as a group takes the pressure and embarrassment out of dancing. Dance Party fosters healthy competition and energizes teams. Plus, the physical activity can help reduce feelings of stress and anxiety. Items Needed: Smartphone. Goal: Guess the word displayed on participants phone. You may have seen "Heads Up!

It is a mobile app available for download on Android and iOS devices, in which one player puts the phone on their forehead, the rest of the players can see the word, celebrity, or other category on the card, but it is hidden from the person holding it. He or she has to guess the item on the card based on clues from their team.

Although it is a fun app usually associated with parties, it can be perfect for office team-building. The best part about the game is that you can use the preloaded decks or you can create your own decks. Make a deck that relates to your company or industry and test their knowledge while having some fun. Items Needed: Blindfold, masking tape, random assortment of items for the mine field. Goal: Team members must guide a blindfolded person through a minefield with only their words.

Minefield can be set up inside or outside, but make sure to clear the area to avoid any accidents. Place "mines" or objects in an obstacle area and mark a finish line with masking tape.

Mines can be anything from styrofoam cups to cones, as long as they are soft with no rough edges. The member that is going through the field, or obstacle area must be blindfolded. The other members of the team direct them through the minefield by giving them verbal instructions.

If they hit an object, they must start over. The first team with all members across the minefield wins. It can be difficult for some to trust their team members or to rely on someone else to help them reach a goal. Some may think they have to do it on their own. Minefield is an activity designed to foster trust in teams. It can help members that are resistant to collaboration become more open.

What was the most difficult part about giving instructions? What about receiving instructions? What style of communication was the most effective? What didn't work? Items Needed: Tarp, Balls. Goal: Guide a ball around tarp without letting it fall into a hole. Thought it may remind you of an activity you did in gym class, Hole Tarp can be a lot of fun, even for adults. It can be done with a tarp or plastic sheet and a few tennis balls. First you must cut one or a few holes into the tarp.

Once this is done, place your team evenly around the tarp. Have each member hold the edge with both their hands. Instruct your team to shake the tarp so it begins moves around like a wave.

Once it is moving, throw in a ball. Participants must navigate the ball around the tarp for the longest possible period without having the ball fall through one of the holes. If the ball falls through a hole or off the side of the tarp, your team must restart the game. Alternatively, you can have the team guide the ball, circling each hole.

The team wins the game when they successfully navigated the ball around the circumference of each tarp without having it fall into any of the holes. Everyone on your team has to keep moving to keep the ball rolling. If someone stops, the ball will drop. This game relies on constant communication to achieve its final goal.

Was there any forms of communication that worked better than others? Did you assign a leader formally or informally? Did that help or hinder your progress? Time: 25 Minutes. Items Needed: Items that can be used as platforms milk crates, fabric square, tires, baseball base , 2 ropes or 4 cones. Goal: Cross the floor or ground by maneuvering across different objects.

If the phrase "the floor is lava! Lava Flow, also called River Crossing, is a game in which a group must cross the river of lava by jumping and maneuvering across different objects.

It's the team's task to figure out how to get the entire group from one side of the lava field to the other without touching the ground. The group should be given a limited number of objects, 2 or 3, that way they have to be moved and shared each time someone crosses. If someone touches the floor at any point, then they will get burnt and must start over.

The first team to cross the river with all members intact are the winners. Time: Hours. Items Needed: Scavenger hunt list, smartphones optional. Goal: Gather as many items on the list within a set period of time. Scavenger hunts are one of the oldest ways to get people to interact and collaborate.

But, there are still one of the most effective and fun. Smartphones and apps have made it possible to do scavenger hunts anywhere. You can even add in photo or video challenges and share an album within the organization. You can do a simple scavenger hunt and keep it in the office or take it outdoors, which can be much more exciting.

Create a list of items that groups must collect or tasks that they have to complete. They can be goofy, as long as it's possible to complete. Some examples are: "Take a selfie with someone wearing a cat shirt" or "Grab a take-out menu and a fortune cookie from a Chinese restaurant. Time: 40 Minutes. Goal: Get everyone through a web of rope without touching the rope. Do you remember all those spy movies with the intricate laser security systems people had to maneuver through?

Spider Web is kind of like that. Create a maze of lines and shapes by stringing twine between vertical 2 poles. The end result should resemble a spider's web with some larger, easier holes and some smaller more difficult gaps. Teams must cross the spider web to reach the other side without touching the string or going in the same shapes as anyone before them.

The challenge gets harder as more people cross to the other side and requires everyone to remember and communicate with each other. Goal: Submerge a ballon in a bucket of water using only the supplies given. Balloon in water is a great way to see how your team solves problems together, particularly when faced with limited resources.

Each group must immerse an inflated balloon in a bucket of water for a minimum of 5 seconds. They can only use the provided materials to complete the activity. The brick goes in the bottom of the bucket of water. Teams have a minute to strategize and flesh out their plan and only 5 minutes to do the activity. Only the provided materials can be used during the challenge. The 3 binder clips and inflated balloon given to the team cannot be altered in any way. Come up with several scenarios in which a person would be chosen to do something.

For example, it might be a new job hire, marriage, leading an organization, or commanding an army. Have each team member write their question down. When all scenarios have been covered, discuss the questions as a group and see what each team member thinks would be the perfect question. Purpose: Team members quickly learn how each other thinks differently. The perfect question that each comes up with will reflect their motives and what they think matters the most.

This is an excellent way to lead into a discussion on how team members determine who is capable and who they will follow or trust. Collect a variety of objects and put them in the center of a table. The broader the variety, the better e.

The goal is to collect items that, at first glance, have no apparent connection. Break the team into groups, giving each group a sheet of paper and pen. Make sure they have a clear view of all the objects. Instruct them to classify the objects into four groups, writing down the groupings on their sheet of paper. They should not let the team groups hear what they are doing. When the time is up, have a spokesperson for each group reveal how they classified the objects, and why. Reasons might vary, from the function of the object to how it looks, or the material it is made of.

Purpose: This exercise promotes teamwork and creative thinking, but it also encourages your team to rethink how they view everyday objects. They are forced to look for commonalities in otherwise unconnected objects. This leads to a discussion on how to work outside the box for solutions to problems that seem wholly unrelated. Bring in four objects or multiple sets of four objects of the same type e. Write up a conversational scenario for each set that outlines what the perfect item would be, in the order of preference.

While none of the four objects is an exact match, each have qualities that reflect that perfect list. Read this scenario to your team, and instruct them to order the objects from best fit to worst fit. When all object sets are done, have team members explain why they ordered the objects that way. Purpose: This exercise helps your team break down a scenario or problem and figure out which things are the best fit.

This dovetails directly into discussion on current projects or challenges facing the group, in which you can, as a group, write a scenario for an actual project you are working on and decide which solutions are the best fit. Bring the team into the room, and divide evenly into groups of at least two. Tell them they have thirty minutes to come up with a group problem-solving challenge that would make use of: teamwork, creativity, communication.

When the thirty minutes is complete, the team will choose from one of the problem-solving challenges and actually do the activity. A variation is to use all of the challenges over a period of time so that your team-building activities come directly from your team itself. Purpose: This team building exercise puts leadership responsibilities back on your team, showing them that they have the potential to come up with solutions, too.

It also gives your team a chance to challenge other team members in ways they might not otherwise find the opportunity to do so in regular workday activity. Bring your team in for what they think is just another staff meeting. Have a long document filled with mind-numbing but coherent jargon-filled speech that talks vaguely about sales and marketing goals. Sprinkled in the document are sentences which say something else entirely. These sentences should contain instructions or information that they will be quizzed on after you are finished.

Begin reading it to your team in monotone. The goal is to get them to tune you out. When you are finished, hand out paper to each team member. Then, ask them to write down what they thought you talked about. If your real sentences contained random information, quiz them on that. Discuss who heard what, and see who was able to actively listen. It shows the importance of listening to verbal communication, but also non-verbal communication.

They can discuss why they tuned you out, and what you could have done to keep them tuned in. Create a card deck that has images or words related to your company or brand. It might be logos, products, photos of your team, and so on.

Whatever route you go, keep the images related. For example, use all photos of your team, or all photos of your products. Divide up into teams and see which team can match the most pairs in the least amount of time. You might set additional rules, such as requiring the name of the person to be said aloud when the card is flipped over, or some other related bit of information connected to the image on the card. Purpose: To learn the names, information, and visuals associated with your company.

This is particularly effective if you have a lot of new team members and you want everyone to learn their name and something about them. Teams can get a point for matching up cards, but they can get two points if they choose to successfully debate and argue why the two cards the turned over are associated.

If the majority of the room agrees with their reasoning, they receive the points. If not, they lose a point. It also forces them to decide what is worth debating or not, as well as whether or not someone has provided a good argument. Place the name stickers in a container, and have each team member draw a name sticker out without being able to see the adjective.

Have them stick the name tag on their shirt and wear it for a specific period of time, instructing them that all of their responses and interaction for that time must reflect the adjective on their name tag. You can use this in several ways. Your team could wear them during a typical meeting or brainstorming session to show how good and bad attitudes affect outcomes.

They could wear them for a typical work day and then discuss how they felt. Or, you could have them wear a name tag half of the day, and switch with someone for the second half. If they switch name tags, they will see how behavior and action often defines feeling, and not the other way around. Give each team member a piece of paper. Have them draw a simple drawing on the paper, without talking to anyone else. Each person then passes the paper to their right. Each team member looks at the drawing they now have, fold the paper in half, and write at the top what they think the picture is of.

The paper is passed to the right again. Each person reads the description, folds the paper over to hide the words, and draws a picture of that. This continues, where each pass alternates between determining what the picture was and drawing what was described. It is important that each turn only reveals the words or picture from the previous round. It works best with smaller students.

Have your students stand in a big circle. Ask all the other students to join hands to close up the circle. The objective of the game is to pass the hula hoop all the way around the circle without unclasping hands. Students will have to figure out how to maneuver their bodies all the way through the hoop to pass it on. This is a great activity to support nonverbal communication skills. Choose ten students to participate in the first round. The others can gather around the edges and watch.

Designate a player one. To begin, player one makes eye contact no words or hand motions with another player player two and gives them a signal that means go.

When player two says go, player one starts moving slowly toward them to take their place in the circle. Player two then makes eye contact with another player player three and gives them a signal meaning go and starts moving toward them. After the first round, switch out the teams until everyone has had a chance to play. In this game, your students stand in a circle and raise their arms with only their index fingers extended.

Tell the students they must maintain a fingertip on the hula hoop at all times, but are not allowed to hook their finger around it or otherwise hold the hoop; the hoop must simply rest on the tips of their fingers. The challenge is for the children to lower the hoop to the ground without dropping it.

To make this more challenging, you can place communication constraints on the children—no talking or limited talking, for example. Watch the video for a demonstration. This activity is good for encouraging kids to mix it up. Students must break into groups of that size. The goal is to form different groups of individuals every time.

If a person tries to join a group with whom they have already partnered, they must find a different group. After a few rounds, the process may take a bit of rearranging. This is a fun name game that requires quick thinking! Students stand in a large circle. One student comes to the middle.

That student walks around the inside of the circle, stops in front of one person, and gives them a direction. The student who was given the direction races to say the name of the correct person before the student finishes the phrase. This activity requires coordination and communication. Divide students into groups of between four and six people.

Have the students in each group stand in a straight line with their right hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them and their left leg forward so that the person in front of them can hold their ankle.

The group then sees how far they can hop along together without toppling over. Once groups get the hang of hopping, you can hold a competition to see who can hop the farthest or longest. Source: Nick Cornwell. This hands-on group challenge is an exercise in patience and perseverance, not to mention a total blast!

Decide how many students you want in each group and tie that number of strings to a single rubber band, making one for each group. Each person in the group holds onto one of the strings attached to the rubber band, and, as a group, they use this device to pick up the cups by expanding and contracting the rubber band and place them on top of each other in order to build a pyramid.

See detailed instructions here. This activity helps students negotiate and work together toward a common goal. Make a list of tasks on chart paper, assigning a point value for each job. For example: Do 25 jumping jacks 5 points ; make up a nickname for each member of the class 5 points ; get every person in the class to sign a piece of paper 15 points ; form a conga line and conga from one end of the room to the other 5 points, 10 bonus points if anyone joins you ; etc.

Make sure you list enough tasks to take up more than 10 minutes. Divide your students into groups of five or six and give them 10 minutes to collect as many points as they can by deciding which tasks from the list to perform. You need a large open space for this game. Have students spread out and guide them through a few rounds of forming letters with their bodies.

Start with two-letter words, then three, then four. If students want a challenge, come up with a phrase that will take the whole class to complete. Form groups of between three and five students. One person from each group the finder steps out of the classroom.