25 Team Building Activities That Actually Help Build Better Teams
Workhuman Editorial Team
15 min read
Table of contents
- A quick comparison of all the activities mentioned in the list
- What factors make team-building activities effective?
- Indoor team-building activities
- Virtual team-building activities
- Icebreaker team building activities
- Outdoor team-building activities
- Community-based team-building activities
- Tips for leaders planning/running virtual events
- FAQs
- Conclusion
The idea of team building can cause some eyes to roll, but the reason why so many companies try activities and initiatives focused on teamwork is that when they work, they really work.
Strengthening the bonds between your team members improves collaboration, relieves workplace stress, and makes the employee experience a whole lot better.
Combined with improved engagement, these effects make for more productive teams, too. In fact, a Teamstage report shows that fully engaged workforces can double a company’s revenue.
One of the best methods to apply these techniques in a workplace is through team-building activities, and that’s where this guide comes in handy.
In today’s guide, you’ll find a comprehensive list of activities, whether indoor, outdoor, or remote, that can help you build better teams. Let’s dive in!
A quick comparison of all the activities mentioned in the list
| Activity / Event / Game | Entertainment level | Effect | Difficulty | Number of players | Estimated duration |
| Paper chains | High | High | Low | 6+ | 5 to 10 minutes |
| Trivia night | High | High | Medium | 15+ | 20 to 30 minutes |
| Pictionary | Medium | Low | Low | 5+ | 10 to 15 minutes |
| Charades | Medium | Low | Medium | 4 to 10 | 2 to 3 minutes per player |
| Book club | Medium | Low | Low | 3+ | 10 to 30 minutes |
| Connect the bridges | Medium | High | Medium | 8 to 20 | 30 to 45 minutes |
| Improv class | Medium | High | Low | 5 to 10 | 10 to 20 minutes |
| Pairs | Medium | Medium | Low | 10+ | 15 to 30 minutes |
| Hack day | Low | High | Medium | 10 to 30+ | 1 to 8 hours |
| Puzzle race | Medium | Medium | Low | 3 to 15 | 10 to 20 minutes |
| Recreate a game show | High | High | High | 6 to 15+ | 30 to 60 minutes |
| Show and tell | Medium | Medium | Low | 5 to 10 | Around 30 minutes |
| Virtual break rooms | Medium | High | Low | Unlimited | Ongoing activity |
| Two truths and one lies | Medium | Medium | Low | 3 to 10+ | 1 to 2 minutes per participant |
| Four-question mingle | Medium | High | Medium | 10 to 20+ | 2 minutes per round |
| Roses and thorns | Low | High | Low | 4 to 8 | 5 to 10 minutes |
| Team dinner/lunch | High | High | Medium | 3 to 15 | 60 to 90 minutes |
| Scavenger hunt | High | High | High | 10 to 50+ | 90 to 120 minutes |
| Movie night out | High | Medium | Low | Unlimited | 90 to 180 minutes |
| Escape room | High | High | Medium | 5 to 20+ | 20 to 60 minutes |
| Company events | High | High | High | Unlimited | ~1 day |
| Stay Healthy | Low | High | Medium | Unlimited | Ongoing activity |
| Random acts of kindness | Low | High | Low | Unlimited | Ongoing activity |
| Employee recognition shoutouts | Low | High | Medium | Unlimited | Ongoing activity |
What factors make team-building activities effective?
The success of your team-building activity depends on a handful of factors. Without proper planning, the activity will feel out of place or irrelevant because your team doesn’t know its purpose or how it’ll benefit them.
Here’s a quick look at what you need to focus on while planning one:
Having a clear goal/intent
The first and most critical aspect to consider while planning a team-building activity is ensuring that your team understands the “why” behind the activity.
Having a clear goal helps your team align their efforts with yours, which makes the project more effective and prevents participants from straying far from the main intent of the activity.
Addressing team issues
While there are tons of team-building activities out there, you need to choose an activity that targets a particular aspect your team is lacking.
For example, if your team is suffering a communication issue, having a non-verbal activity won’t address the real problem.
In that case, the activity may seem like a success, but it won’t help reduce the impact of poor communication among team members.
Healthy inclusion
Team building activities are also meant to help your team feel included and recognized, which is very important for the success of businesses.
For that reason, an effective team-building activity is one designed to target and accommodate the whole team and not a small fraction of it.
Keeping the activities interesting
A lot of studies associate engagement with improved performance and strategic thinking, and team-building activities are no exception here.
Keeping the activity interesting, exciting, and engaging will encourage more team members to actively participate. This helps the activity achieve its intended goals.
Establishing trust
Team-building activities are meant to encourage the team to complete certain challenges and tasks together. For that reason, an effective exercise must establish trust from both sides.
In other words, team members must ensure that the activities’ main purpose is to improve the team without any personal agendas or ulterior motives.
Also, leaders must practice what they preach by participating in these activities to set an example for their team.
Indoor team-building activities
1. Paper chains
Paper chains can be played anywhere but it’s highly optimized for an office environment because you’ll need plenty of paper sheets, scissors, tape, and other office supplies for the game.
To play it, you’ll need to split the participants into two equal teams and allow them to pick a team leader.
The goal of the game is to create the longest paper chain using the provided sources within a time limit. However, some twists make the game more challenging, such as:
- Players only have 2 to 3 minutes to build the longest chain
- Players are not allowed to talk once the game starts
- Players can only use one hand while playing
This means that players also need to split their 60 seconds between explaining the game to the leader (who must leave the room as the game is explained) and preparing a strategy to build the chain. This is a time for critical thinking and problem-solving skills to shine.
The game relies heavily on communication and collaboration between coworkers, the building blocks for strong connections at work. A recent study shows that developing social connections like this between employees can massively boost overall team productivity.
The reason this is one of the best team-building activities for large groups is that it’s far more challenging with more players involved.
2. Book club
Book clubs are excellent for building relationships and encouraging interaction and communication among team members.
To help establish this simple team-building activity, you should dedicate a space for group meetings or allocate time in the case of remote teams. You can also help kickstart the club by providing a few books and ebooks. Smaller teams could enjoy longer sessions discussing favorite books and giving feedback and reviews of the books they read.
A super large team could benefit from a “5-minute book club” format, which is more fast-paced and focuses more on exchanging books than discussing them. The team-building activity is suitable for both small and large groups. However, the nature of the club may vary depending on the number of participants.
The friendly setting of book clubs encourages healthy relationships,, bonding, and trust among team members, which increases productivity and fosters a more stable corporate culture.
3. Hack day
A hack day can be anything from a field-related project to an off-site brainstorm. As a result, this activity can target various aspects, such as critical thinking, innovation, and problem-solving.
To do a Hack day, you’ll need to come up with a few ideas for the hack day tasks. Then, you’ll need to decide on the departments participating in the event.
The planning, goals, and results of that hack day could even be stored on Workhuman® Conversations®
The point of this activity is to break out of the daily routine and encourage teams and even different departments to cooperate together on something new.
A lot of studies found that collective thinking and collaboration between teams help them solve more complex issues, surpassing the sum of individual abilities of the same teams.
Here's an example from Collective Campus that shows how successful a hack day can be if it’s properly implemented.
4. Pictionary
Since everyone knows how to play Pictionary, it’s always a great choice for a simple team-building activity, especially since you’ll only need a whiteboard, markers, a wiper, a scoreboard, and a timer to play the game.
If you find it hard to come up with words, there are various random Pictionary word generators out there that can help you with that task.
If you’re working with a remote team, there are several online alternatives to the game that you can play from a computer or a smartphone.
The best thing about this classic game is that it’s easy to play and generates a lot of laughs, making it perfect for both small and big teams.
The fun team-building activity encourages communication and helps the team bond and interact with each other.
5. Charades
Charades is one of the most versatile team-building activities because you can play it indoors, outdoors, and even virtually.
It’s also a game that almost everyone knows how to play right away, so it’ll save you the hassle of explaining the game rules to team members.
Similar to Pictionary, you can also use random word/idea generators to come up with words if you can’t think of any.
Since the game involves a lot of body language and gestures, it’s an excellent game for improving the non-verbal communication skills between team members and building relationships.
According to a university study, over 55% of all our communications are through body language, so the game taps into a highly under-valued area in team connections.
6. Trivia night
Trivia nights can be played everywhere, but you might need a projector and a microphone for larger teams. You can prepare the list yourself or seek the help of random trivia generators.
This kind of activity can encourage the team to interact more in the future and learn more about each other. You can also add an incentive to win by using Workhuman Team Awards® to give shoutouts to the top performers!
You should also make sure that the office trivia involves an element that works the team’s problem-solving and critical analysis skills.
If you split the participants into multiple teams, it will encourage them to interact, communicate, and collaborate. This can be great for overall morale, bonding, and improved workflow!
7. Connect the bridges
To play Connect the Bridges, you’ll need some necessary items to build the small bridge, such as building blocks, cardboard, legos, etc. You’ll also need rope and sheets to separate the teams.
Set up the separating sheets in the middle of the room and split the team into two equal groups so that each team cannot see the other. You can also use two rooms and connect them through an audio call.
The two teams’ task is to work together to build a bridge within 30 minutes, but there’s a catch. Each team can only build one half of the bridge without seeing what the other half looks like.
The two teams are allowed to talk to each other through the sheets to agree on the building design and to exchange ideas for 5 to 10 minutes before they start working on the project.
Add an incentive to win, such as a shoutout on Community Celebrations®, or introduce an element of competition by splitting the group into multiple teams to award the first to complete the task.
Connect the Bridges is a highly impactful team-building activity that works on various aspects of teamwork like collaboration with other departments, communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving.
According to a report by Forbes, companies that encourage collaborative efforts among their teams could increase their performance by up to 500%.
8. Improv class
Improv classes kickstart imagination and the core tenant of "yes, and" helps create a feeling of agreement and idea building within teams.
An improv class for a team could include various exercises that work on a participant's communication, listening, and supportive skills.
Although team members are encouraged to avoid breaking character, funny situations, and laughs are inevitable, which helps in developing a stronger bond. That's science!
Improvisation can have a remarkably positive impact on the team’s overall innovation and creativity.
9. Pairs
All you need for this activity is a few sticky notes and markers. Write down some popular pairs on these notes so that every note has one part of the pair.
Commonly used pairs include “salt and pepper”, “Tom and Jerry”, “Peanut Butter & jelly”, etc.
Stick individual notes on the backs of every participant so that they don’t know what their label says.
The team is then allowed to mingle around and ask other teammates questions to help them figure out what is written on their backs. Of course, they’re not allowed to ask direct questions like “What is on my back?” or “Spell what’s written on my back”.
Once the player figures out what’s written on their note, they should try to find the player with the matching note. The first pair to identify each other wins.
What’s great about Pairs is that it encourages the team to communicate and interact together.
A report by Forbes shows that engagement between employees has a deep impact on profitability, which can increase by up to 21% among well-connected teams.
The same report also reveals that teams that engage with each other have better wellness and satisfaction scores.
10. Puzzle race
Another great team-building activity that you can do indoors is organizing a puzzle race. Puzzles are an excellent exercise for concentration, problem-solving, and attention to detail.
There are multiple ways to enjoy a puzzle race. For physical puzzles, you should go for jigsaw puzzles of similar difficulty. You can also introduce challenging puzzles for bigger prizes to spice up the competition and encourage more players to engage in the activity.
You can optimize this activity depending on the number of team members you have. For example, if you have a large team, you can divide them into multiple groups to compete against each other. This makes it double as a cooperation exercise as well.
There are also various websites that offer a way to play, such as Jigsaw Planet and Jigsaw Explorer.
Some studies found that puzzles can improve brain functions, build relationships (in the case of team puzzles), and relieve stress.
11. Recreate a game show
Games shows are designed to be as entertaining and interesting as possible, so recreating them in the workplace will be a great mood lifter and stress reliever for everyone.
There are plenty of game shows out there, and some of them are surprisingly easy to replicate, such as Jeopardy, Family Feud, Name That Tune, The Price is Right, and more.
You can also use the help of a team-building company, that can easily manage and organize these events for a reasonable fee. Organizing a full event and recreating a game show can be a lot of work but it’s easier if you have the right resources for the project.
The enthusiasm and engagement levels reaped from this activity are definitely worth the effort.
A recent study shows that higher levels of engagement contributed to a boost in employee satisfaction and retention, which reduces recruitment costs and increases revenue.
Virtual team-building activities
12. Show and tell
Show-and-tell events are a great way to learn more about every team member and their life outside work. Members could talk about anything from their interests and hobbies to personal achievements, which is a great way to build connections and boost overall team morale.
Organizing these activities is fairly easy, thanks to its versatility. The show-and-tell event could be a 30-minute session every week when one or more team members participate and talk about their accomplishments or things they have been working on the side.
Talking about personal stories of success strengthens the bonds between team members and helps them feel more connected and on the same track.
Additionally, sharing your thoughts with team members boosts your self-esteem and contributes directly to the well-being of team members.
13. Make your own commercial
The premise of this activity is quite simple. Ask each team member to choose an item in their vicinity and create a quick sales pitch or a commercial ad for it.
This activity can work through Zoom calls or in person. For larger teams, you can divide the participants into teams and ask them to create a commercial of the same item.
You can also make the activity a little more challenging by introducing some conditions for the commercial, such as a particular theme, a limited number of props used, a random word to be included, etc.
This team-building activity targets a wide range of advantages and team-building aspects. For starters, every team member gets to share their thoughts and ideas, which helps in boosting their self-esteem and encourages them to engage and interact with others.
Additionally, creating a commercial is all about creative thinking and innovation, so it’ll encourage participants to think outside the box while choosing a theme for the commercial.
Moreover, this activity is a great way for employees to exercise their presentation and upselling skills, which are essential for various departments, such as sales and customer service.
14. Virtual break rooms
One of the biggest problems that remote workers suffer from on the job is the lack of engagement and loneliness.
This is mainly because remote teams don’t get to communicate with other employees about any topics other than professional ones.
This strictly professional relationship makes it very hard for teams to understand and trust each other. This reduces productivity for employees by up to 32%, according to some studies.
One of the best ways to overcome this issue is by creating a “virtual break room” to encourage employees to hang out and strengthen their bonds.
You can establish a virtual break room by creating a separate communication room/channel on your preferred communication service. Invite other members to this channel and organize events or challenges every few days.
Team members are also welcome to share interesting posts and non-work-related situations in this room, which can spark interesting and deep conversations.
Icebreaker team building activities
15. Two truths and one lie
As the name of the game suggests, each team member must state three facts about them. However, one of these facts is actually a lie.
The important thing is that this false statement should be believable, interesting, and match the same energy as the two true ones.
Each participant then tries to guess which one of these statements is false, and the one with the most correct guesses wins.
Despite the name, some people like to increase the number of statements to make the activity more challenging and interesting. A lot of team leaders and coaches use this fun and quick activity to give the team a chance to learn more about its members.
In addition to building stronger relationships, two truths and a lie allow employees to exercise their communication and public speaking skills outside work.
According to many studies, teams that know more about each other find it a lot easier to cooperate and engage for better performance and innovation.
This doesn’t only apply to face-to-face teams but also to remote teams as this game is suitable for virtual teams as well.
16. Four-question mingle
The lack of a “conversation starter” makes it awkward and difficult for some employees to communicate, and that’s where this game shines.
This activity is excellent for newly formed teams, but you can also use it to encourage established teams to know each other better.
To play this game, you’ll only need some sticky notes, a timer, and markers. Invite the team to a room and provide each one of them with markers and four sticky notes. Each member then must write one question on each of these notes.
Once all the questions are ready, every member has two minutes to meet with coworkers and choose one question to ask them.
The two participants then swap their questions with each other, so they have to use new questions in the following round.
According to a report by Teamstage, 69% of employees stated that improved communication at work can enhance their output, which makes activities like this one highly impactful.
17. Roses and thorns
“Roses and Thorns” is a relatively quick icebreaker that encourages the team members to open up to each other through communication and support.
In this activity, roses represent things/moments/thoughts that are pleasant, while thorns represent negative aspects related to them.
Each participant is invited to talk freely about one positive and negative aspect of their life. Participants can discuss any topics, whether they’re work-related or not.
For example, it can be something they’re grateful for and another that is posing a great challenge for them.
This activity is seemingly versatile, as it can be planned online/offline and take as many participants as you want.
However, it’s best used among small office-based teams as this encourages more participants to open up and discuss their thoughts.
Sharing things you feel strongly about, no matter what they are, helps people feel close to each other, and workers of all kinds are no exception to this rule.
In fact, one study associates sharing of vulnerabilities with emotional well-being and better mental health.
Outdoor team-building activities
18. Team dinner/lunch
There are several ways to get the team to connect over food. The most common way is to have the company host a dinner in a convenient location/restaurant for the team.
Another variation of team dinners would be a dish party. In this variation, team members gather at the company’s break room with each bringing home-cooked goodies to share with others.
Every approach to team dinners has its unique advantages and they always yield plenty of conversation starters and topics.
Many studies show the impact of food on culture and psychology. For instance, one report by NPR one report by NPR found that eating with others is a great way to make friends and boosts the group’s cohesiveness and trust.
For that reason, taking the team out for dinner or lunch is one activity that every leader must try once in a while, especially for companies that rely heavily on cooperation and interactions between employees.
19. Scavenger hunt
You can organize the scavenger hunt indoors, but it’s usually more fun outdoors. The more elaborate the hunt is, the more exciting and interesting it will be for the team.
However, this also means it’s usually a high-budget activity that requires plenty of organization. A successful scavenger hunt requires clues, challenges, a team of organizers, and props/items to locate.
What makes scavenger hunts work is that they’re a test of various essential qualities among team members, like problem-solving, detail analysis, and critical thinking, all the while being tons of fun.
Since most scavenger hunts are played in groups, it’s also a superior activity for conversation and collaboration with other team members.
20. Movie night out
Another great activity that encourages employees to interact and strengthen the bonds between them is going out to enjoy movies together.
Movie night sessions are as simple as planning an outing with your friends. The budget mainly depends on the size of the team, but it’s typically a medium-budget activity.
Make sure that you involve the team in the process of choosing a movie to watch using survey platforms.
For remote teams, you can use free apps that allow you to host a watch part and enjoy streaming services content together with the team.
Besides being a laid-back activity and a nice change of pace, one study shows that watching movies and discussing them also improved the communication skills of a team of nursing students.
Like a book club, movie nights can spark deeper conversations among team members.
21. Escape room
When it comes to problem-solving and collaboration, there aren’t many team-building activities that can beat escape rooms.
Escape rooms range from medium to high budget. Also, some rooms may have a particular limit to the number of participants per session.
You can even create your own office escape. For that, all you need is a few props and challenges, along with an interesting background story to tie things up.
In addition to physical escape rooms, remote teams can also try virtual escape rooms available online.
To escape these rooms, the team must collaborate, communicate, and share possible solutions and ideas together. This makes it a great activity for almost all kinds of teams
22. Company events
Company events and outings can take a variety of forms. Field trips to a local park or a party in the office can be equally effective.
Remember to also prepare some optional games and activities to keep everyone engaged during the grand event.
Events like this are ideal for helping your team unwind and chill while still forming strong bonds and improving essential skills like communication.
This one is also a great way to get out of the office environment and reduce work stress, which eventually improves productivity and performance.
Community-based team-building activities
23. Stay Healthy Challenge
The “stay healthy” team challenge explores a variety of advantages of team-building activities, such as improving the wellness of the team members and encouraging them to strive towards a mutual goal.
These challenges are great for company culture and promote camaraderie. You should optimize and adjust the challenge so that it’s fair for all participants. These can be anything from setting personal goals to a certain number of active minutes for the week. The most important aspect here is to keep inclusivity in mind while optimizing the activity.
You can also set harder challenges for higher points and diversify them. Adding a competitive element with proper rewards can go a long way in those activities.
24. Random acts of kindness
Establishing a “random acts of kindness” challenge is fairly easy. First, you’ll need to prepare a list of random tasks and assign them specific points depending on their difficulty and impact on society as well as the rest of the team.
After that, you should choose the format in which the challenge goes. For example, you can make it an ongoing challenge and offer rewards to the highest point earners by the end of the month.
Alternatively, you can set a short time limit for the challenge (for example, 60 minutes), and the team member who scores the most points within that time wins.
This activity is perfect for creating a deeply interconnected team by encouraging employees to offer kindness and compassion toward each other.
Additionally, it can also improve company culture and overall morale by giving back to the community through recognizing and occasionally rewarding selfless acts.
25. Employee recognition shoutouts
Many organizations nowadays use employee recognition platforms to create a system where employees feel appreciated for their work.
The planning, goals, and results of that hack day could even be stored on Workhuman® Conversations®
You can use the platform to provide shoutouts, reward top performers, or create a virtual “recognition wall”.
(Extra tip: Uniting the team over a particular cause and donating together is also a great ongoing activity to create a strong sense of team identity. It also works very well for both office-based and remote teams.)
These systems could focus on awarding professional performance, giving back to the community, or both.
Tips for leaders planning/running virtual events
Now that you know more about team-building activities, here are some vital tips to plan an effective remote team-building activity.
Favor quality over quantity while planning activities
A simple and impactful team-building activity is much better than frequent activities with little to no effect on the team.
You should also avoid stretching events so that team members don’t lose their interest in the long run.
Collect feedback about previous activities and experiences
Always remember to ask your team to share their thoughts and ideas about the previous sessions/activities through surveys and polls. This way, you can better address the team’s preferences and concerns in future rounds.
Choose the timing and frequency of the activity wisely
Picking a suitable time and duration for virtual team-building activities can be quite tricky, especially if your team works from different locations and time zones.
Involve the team while choosing a suitable time for the event. This ensures that everyone feels appreciated and encourages them to actively engage during the sessions.
Use a balanced mix of fun, effective, and efficient for the best results
Some team-building activities are more entertaining than others, while others might be more effective but less entertaining (as explained in the table above).
To achieve the best results, avoid focusing on one aspect while ignoring the others. Instead, use a balanced mix of these activities to keep your team engaged while also improving their skills and bonds.
FAQs
How often should I plan a team building activity?
There isn’t a particular schedule that you need to stick to while creating a team activity. Also, the frequency may vary depending on the type of the activity itself.
A good rule here is to host stress-relieving activities after lengthy and exhausting projects to boost team morale and provide a change of pace. On the other hand, challenges and activities meant to encourage team members to engage should be hosted more often, especially the ones that take a shorter amount of time. Including your team in the schedule is also a great way to make them feel heard and appreciated while picking what’s best for the team.
Can you use a remote team activity for an office team?
Implementing remote activities for non-remote teams can work if the company doesn’t have enough time to host the activities during office hours. In that case, you can host these activities and meetings through video conference apps, but remember to keep the activities relevant and beneficial to your team.
Conclusion
When it comes to team-building activities, the sky is truly the limit. Depending on the activities you pick, these activities could be a great way to build a more cohesive and engaging team.
Additionally, these exercises could help team members learn more about their colleagues. Working on these aspects can greatly improve the team's performance and develop strong relationships between team members.
Not only that, but you can also adjust and customize many of these activities to match the nature of your team and make them more personalized and effective.
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