Games for bonding

Instructions: Remember baseball or Pokemon trading cards? Give out large-scale index cards and markers to each team member. Ask them to create a personal trading card of themselves, with their name, self-portrait, nickname, and one fact about them that everyone is less likely to know about. Then have the cards go from one person to another in no particular order. The exercise is great because it gives everyone a visual snapshot of each player while triggering conversations on the go. Instructions: It might be difficult to start working on a project without properly knowing your colleagues.

To loosen up the atmosphere in a short time, gather coins with listed years on them so that you have one for each member.

Then drop them in a box or bucket. Remember to check every coin so that the dates are not older than the youngest team member. Finally, have each team member draw a coin and share a memorable moment from their lives that happened in the year when the coin was minted.

This brings a sense of familiarity among them and smoothens out future conversations. Their aim is to foster a shared team identity by looking into how your employees perceive the company and what influences their opinions. To do this group team building activity, divide people into teams of 3 or 6, preferably by department.

Give each team a newspaper and ask them to come up with headlines about what they think the company or the department will achieve in the upcoming future.

There are no rules in particular. They can either take newspaper clippings and paste them or write the headlines directly on the whiteboard.

The exercise is great for spotting hidden opportunities or threats. Like in the previous activity, divide your team into groups of 3 to 6, then grab a copy of your mission statement for each team so they can replicate it. The team that comes up with the most authentic mission statement wins. Create a deck of cards with photos or words about your company. These might be photos of your team, logos, products, or value statements.

Face all the cards down, then split the group into teams. Each team has to take turns and lift only two cards at a time to see if they match. The one that finds all the pairs in the shortest time wins. The activity is ideal for new hires who need a fun, yet quick way to learn more about the company.

Old hires can brush up their knowledge and stay up to date with the latest organizational changes too. Instructions: On the pinboard, draw a blank timeline. Make sure to date it back to the year when your oldest employee was born or when the company was founded.

Add years to it, then write down on paper slips the most important company dates like when it was founded, merged, etc. Pin them to the corresponding year. Next, ask your team members to think about 3 or 4 events that marked their lives like graduating college, moving abroad, having a child, etc.

The activity brings into perspective the gap between generations. Getting your team to work together in a productive manner is not a walk in the park. To help them get out of their comfort zones and strive for a common goal, decide on problem-solving activities. Some of them require little logistics and time. Others are more elaborate and involve prolonged states of focus. Instructions: Break the group into teams of equal numbers.

Then have each team form a web of wools, the more intricate the better. Here comes the best part: switch the teams so everyone has a different web than their own. Each team should then blindfold a team member and have them untangle the web following only their verbal instructions. The first team to do it wins. Sounds easy, right? You have to give concise advice and be receptive enough to follow your colleagues and instincts — should you be the blindfolded one. Instructions: This murder mystery team building activity combines an engaging challenge with a twist!

When the session starts, the Event Manager will brief the group virtually, providing intel about the murder. Teams then use their smartphones to work their way through the evidence by tapping on the interactive map and objects. Whilst picking up clues, participants must also use video and augmented reality on their smartphones to collect intel and figure out who the killer is.

The winning team will be those who find the killer and score the most points. Instructions: Before entering into meetings that require serious brainpower, warm up with this game. Split the group into two teams. Then explain how they each have to build half of a bridge with the materials provided.

When you work from home, taking care of your health and fitness is especially important. You can do squats and eat well, and also make sure you drink enough water. Water Shots is a game meant to fortify your team around healthy hydration.

Virtual team building games that focus on building healthy habits are a great way to support company culture and development with remote teams. Charades is one of those games that nearly everyone plays at school or home while growing up. With this proliferation of Charades, Virtual Charades has the advantages of being fairly familiar while also being fun. To play Virtual Charades, prepare a set of links that go to Google Image pages or use a random image generator.

Rinse and repeat until you are all out of fun. Here is a random charades word generator you can use for your game:. Instead, you can play with at least two teams, a series of trivia questions, and positive attitudes. Playing pub-style trivia online is similar to the in-the-pub version, with one crucial difference: you need an easy way for people to communicate.

Instead of mumbling across a table, we recommend using virtual breakout rooms so that each team can discuss the answers openly. Each team can then submit the answers via a web-form and the host can award points as needed. Here are more instructions on how to play virtual happy hour trivia , and a list of team trivia questions.

Pro tip: Playing virtual happy hour games like pub-style trivia give you a unique opportunity to include wildly different clues in the game. The internet is your oyster for virtual group games. Werewolf is one of the best remote team building games, as it is full of cunning deceit and tactful manipulation.

The game relies primarily on the spoken word, which makes it perfect for remote teams. To play this game virtually, nominate one person as the narrator and then randomly distribute the following roles to players:. To play, first distribute the roles via private message or email the players in advance.

For a group of five people, you should have 1 werewolf, 1 medic and 3 villagers. For each additional five people add 1 werewolf, 1 special role, and 3 villagers. The ratios are flexible, so can modify them to suit your needs. The narrator then puts the werewolves back to sleep and has the medic and seer wake up in sequence. If the medic selects the same player as the werewolf, then nobody dies during the night.

When the seer points to a player, the narrator can answer yes or no to whether that player is a werewolf. All players can open their eyes, and then debate on who the werewolf might be. To end the round, all players vote on one player to eliminate from the game or can pass and wait until the next round.

Any player that is eliminated either by the werewolves or by vote becomes a friendly ghost that is not allowed to speak for the rest of the game but may observe it in quiet frustration. To play, divide the attendees of your virtual conference call into groups of four or five people and then give the groups 15 minutes of prep time. After the 15 minute breakout session, bring everyone back to the main virtual meeting and have the teams present their creation.

Vote on the best one with thumbs up and cheers. Spreadsheet Wars is one of my favorite virtual team building games to play with coworkers. Like other games on this list, Spreadsheet Wars is a combination of fun and skill-building, which makes it perfect for remote teams and offices. The best tool wins, and really everyone wins because you are getting better at using one of the most powerful free tools on the internet.

Growing up, one of my favorite games to play was Risk, the game of global domination that meshes perfectly with my own aspirations. Risk is a game of cutthroat collaboration, friendly competition, resource management and other strategic dynamics that make it perfect for team building online. The most flexible way to play Risk-like team games online is to use one of the many clones, for example Conquer Club , which provides a free browser based game.

Here are more online board games to play at work. In the early s, Sudoku took the world by storm; inspiring nerds everywhere to complete numerical logic games instead of the daily crossword.

Today, you can play a version of Sudoku for online team building called Sudoku Throw-down. For Sudoku Throw-down, you can easily up the competitive spirit by including prizes for the top three finishers. I recommend nerd-friendly prizes like more Sudoku puzzles, science kits and white boards.

Here are more problem solving games. Something in common is an icebreaker game that works on video conference calls and similar. See our list of virtual coffee break ideas and topics. If you have a large team, then planning virtual birthday parties may become redundant. Instead, you can unite the April babies around the shared birthday month, and the same for the other 11 groups too. Here is a list of ideas for virtual birthday parties.

These parties generally occur during work hours, and include video team building games and activities. Learn more about virtual retirement parties. Virtual field trips are excellent virtual team building activities for teachers, students and kids, especially during quarantine.

Check out our list of virtual field trips. One way to build morale with employees is to choose a meaningful cause and raise funds or donations for it. For example, many offices are familiar with doing a food drive or a community sponsorship. I recommend partnering with a donation platform to help facilitate the transactions and add credibility to the collections. For the cause, anything that resonates with your team can be a good fit.

Here is a list of virtual fundraising ideas. Virtual team building activities are a great way to make virtual meetings fun, boost morale and build community.

These virtual activities include free and paid options, and can take anywhere from 1 minute to several hours. Next, check out our lists of virtual event ideas , virtual game night ideas , and this one with virtual games to play on Zoom with coworkers. Virtual team building is the process of forming bonds and collaboration skills with remote employees. These efforts can include team building activities for conference calls, scheduling virtual team events and similar.

The goal of these activities is to improve skills like communication and collaboration, while also boosting engagement and job satisfaction. Team building virtually is relatively easy. Like in-person, you need to plan fun games and activities for your group.

You can use an event planner, or host your own virtual team building events. An easy activity to get started with team building online is icebreaker questions.

There are hundreds of virtual activities to choose from. An easy way to make a virtual meeting more fun is to include virtual team games and activities that are not work. For example, you might include trivia questions or a quick dance party. Virtual team building is important because it helps build happy, engaged and productive remote teams. Employees that work from home often struggle to feel connected with coworkers and the organization, and even more so during quarantine.

By investing in remote team building activities, you can not only model the engagement of teams that work in offices, but actually exceed it. The most successful way to bond with a remote team is through shared virtual games and activities that are not lame. One way to create a team remotely is to invest time and attention in doing virtual team activities.

Give your people fun shared experiences and they will give you a successful team. For the greatest impact, you need to improve both group dynamics as well as one-on-one dynamics. So, you can plan virtual team building events like virtual happy hours and virtual holiday parties, but also paired opportunities like Mister Rogers Calls. The best remote team building activities teach work competencies without seeming lame. Ideally, a remote employee should learn more about his or her company, role, and coworkers as a result of the exercise.

Some games are made for virtual platforms, while others can work with adjustments. A game like Werewolf works well for team building online because it is mostly speaking and listening. Virtual team building ideas are ways to connect with employees and coworkers online. Examples of these virtual activities include Bingo, scavenger hunts, and Blackout Truth or Dare. The purpose of these virtual team games and activities is to build remote work culture and connections.

Virtual team building games are fun games played via Zoom, Webex, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and other virtual conference platforms. The purpose of these games is to entertain and engage remote teams, and to build community with remote workers. Virtual team building challenges are spirited competitions or games you play with a remote team. These challenges are meant to boost friendships and team bonding with remote workers. For example, these challenges might include doing exercise for 30 days or a typing speed race.

Virtual team building exercises are online group activities that sharpen skills and strengthen coworker bonds. You can think of these exercises as a workout for your teamwork.

CEO of teambuilding. I write about my experience working with and leading remote teams since Engaging and stimulating, video games are proven to boost business morale and improve productivity even in adults.

This fun drawing-based game will make a great addition to the next board gaming night at the office. Googly Eyes is similar to Pictionary and requires you to draw, but comes with a silly twist — you have to wear goggles. How to play: Players are required to get to the finish first by winning the drawing challenges. Each player wears goggles that blur their vision while guessing what their teammate is drawing.

This game is easy to learn, yet it will bring your team lots of laughs. A simple, yet meaningful team building game that will set the tone for the event and build consensus on shared values. In this activity, teams list what matters to them on a whiteboard. Each participant tells the group what makes this event or seminar meaningful or pleasant.

Record the notes on the whiteboard with sticky notes. The activity builds mutual trust and establishes group values. Perfect for the start of an event, seminar, or a workshop.

Going down the memory lane is a great way to get team members to bond with each other. However, not everyone will recall an event in the same light as others. One team member shares a negative experience from that experience, while the other team member shares the same experience, but focuses on the positive aspects of it. Then they switch, the latter telling a negative memory, while the former tells a positive one to counteract it.

This team building activity reframes experiences, improves morale, and shifts perspectives. This team building activity will let people appreciate their differences, and at the same time find something in common to improve team bonding.

How to play: Create a list of odd pairs of objects that go well together — salt and pepper, Sonny and Cher, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, peanut butter and jelly, etc.

Write down the objects on separate pieces of paper. The participants then mingle with the group. When the players have figured out what they are, they have to find the other half of their odd pair. How to play: The group stands in a straight line side by side.

The goal is for the participants to organize themselves in order by their birthday month and day without any talking. If they do start to talk, they need to start from the beginning. If you want to add an extra challenge to this activity, try blindfolding a couple of participants. Practices problem solving, cooperation and non-verbal communication skills.

Have the team stretch their creativity and communication skills by having them plan, script, direct, and perform their very own cinematic masterpiece. How to play: Disclaimer: you will need specific equipment for this team building activity cameras or smartphones with decent inbuilt cameras, tripods, computers with video editing software, TV. Split the participants into smaller teams — each of them will create their own movie. Each team picks a mystery envelope containing a film genre or theme.

The final cut of each movie will need to reflect the genre. Set a deadline for each final cut for the film premiere normally hours after you begin the exercise. Now, the production starts! Each team member should have a specific role — the director, the producer, video editor, actors, etc.

At the end of the activity, all the films are watched, and the best ones receive awards. Popcorn and drinks for the final screening will be a nice touch! How often do we stop to compliment our coworkers on a daily basis? Probably — not often enough. Improving self-esteem is a team building activity that will boost confidence in your team.

How to play: Everyone writes down their name on the top of a piece of paper. They pass the paper to the person on their left. Each person must then write something they admire about the person whose name is on the top of the page. The papers are passed around to the left until each sheet ends up back with the person named on the top.

Number of players: Preferably up to 24 people split into teams of players. How to play: Participants are divided into teams of people. Each team has to come up with an imaginary product and develop a pitch for it. The pitch must include a brand name, slogan, business plan, marketing plan , financial data.

Each team then presents their pitch in front of the sharks. The sharks must ask questions and evaluate the pitches as if they were real businesses. The team that gets the most investment wins.

This team building activity promotes unconventional thinking, collaboration, entrepreneurship, and teamwork. Participants sketch their shared work memories and place them on a memory wall to create a welcoming environment and reaffirm a positive work relationship with other employees. How to play: Each player writes down positive memories of shared experiences and moments on a sheet of paper. They then draw a few of these memories on fresh sheets of paper.

The participants tape their memory drawings to the memory wall, while other participants approach the wall to expand on the memories with additional drawings. How to play: Divide the group of people into pairs and have one person of each pair blindfolded.

Make sure to mark the start and finish line. Have the unblindfolded person lead their partner through the obstacle course using verbal guidance only. The goal is for the blindfolded person to make it out on the other side without having touched any of the objects.

The first person to cross the finish line wins. This is one of those fun team building activities for outdoors where players get to practice creative thinking and problem-solving. The purpose of the game is to build a structure that prevents an egg from breaking. How to play: Assemble groups of three to five people and give each team various materials for building paper straws, a roll of masking tape, one fresh egg, newspapers, etc. In a set amount of time for example, 15 minutes , each team has to complete building a structure, with the egg inside.

When time expires, all structures are collected, and a judge tosses them from at least 10 feet in elevation.

The structures are then inspected to see if the eggs survived. The winners are the groups that successfully protected the egg. Boosts teamwork, creativity, problem-solving, and time management. Although this team building activity requires a lot of preparation, it is a timeless classic that works in any situation, location, or team size. You can run it indoors as well, although being outdoors will give your employees a much-appreciated change of scenery and pace.

How to play: Create a list of activities and align them with the purpose of the hunt. If you want new employees to connect with senior employees, design team-focused activities that will force them to collaborate. Assign a point system for each activity, based on the difficulty level. Divide the group into equally-sized teams. Leave minutes for the actual hunt. Once the time is up, evaluate which team completed the most activities and has the highest points. A team building activity outdoor that inspires collaboration, problem solving, teamwork, and is very fun.

Laser tag is a recreational team sport where players attempt to score points by shooting infrared-sensitive targets usually with an infrared-emitting targeting device. It is entirely safe and will provide a fun-filled bonding for the employees. Each player gets their laser tag gear and enters the arena.