This post was last updated on April 1st, 2022
Many of us have become accustomed to working from home. And while it has certain benefits (can’t beat the shorter commutes!), there are also some pretty big drawbacks.
One of them, as shown in numerous studies and surveys, is the feeling of loneliness.
In addition to team chats or shared virtual coffee breaks, team-building exercises and team bonding have become essential in order to prevent this from occurring. And with a little creativity, team-building activities can also be a huge success for remote teams – and a lot of fun!
We’ll walk you through our favorite 17 quick team-building activities that will boost team morale and help build relationships in the office – remote or not – in no time!
Table of Contents
No prep-time team-building exercises:
- 1. 10 things to do in life: The ultimate bucket list!
- 2. Never have I ever (plus our Free template!)
- 3. Pancakes VS Waffles
Easy and quick team-building activities for remote teams:
- 4. Trivia quiz
- 5. Typing contest
- 6. PowerPoint Challenge
- 7. Virtual scavenger hunt
Creative but quick team-building games:
- 8. Escape Game
- 9. Draw the picture
- 10. MacGyver
Fun virtual team-building ideas:
- 11. Two truths and one lie
- 12. Guess the artist
- 13. The aliens have landed
Fast virtual team-building challenges to get to know your team better:
- 14. Team member focused questions for a fun remote quiz
- 15. Baby Pictures Challenge
- 16. Employee-inspired Bingo
- 17. Whose emojis’ tab is this?
FAQ: The basics of team-building activities
- What are team-building activities?
- What are the benefits of quick team-building exercises?
- Can I organize a remote team-building activity for a virtual team?
- What are some good team bonding activities?
- What is a fun virtual team-building activity?
- What are the 4 main types of team building activities?
- What is the key to planning successful quick team-building activities when team members work from home?
Need help creating a cohesive team? We’ve got you covered!
No prep time team-building exercises
1. 10 things to do in life: The ultimate bucket list!
This game is perfect to get to know the wishes, dreams, and passions of your employees.
Each co-worker draws up a list of 10 things they really want to do in their lives and introduces them to the team.
You just never know what might happen. There may be links in terms of objectives or shared interests.
Consider a scenario where one team member wants to skydive, and another knows someone who has a sky diving school. It all comes down to connection.
This is a great virtual team-building exercise since it may quickly break the ice and entice team members to talk about themselves.
2. Never have I ever…
Some people may know this game as a drinking game, but of course, that wouldn’t be suitable for a team event. Let’s keep it light, people!
Luckily, you can also play it without any alcohol involved. Instead, just think that each participant has three virtual lives.
Whether it’s during in-person events or virtual meetings, the first step to starting this game is to ask a team member to mention something they have never done before, e.g., “Never have I ever climbed a mountaintop.”
All team members who have already done it lose one of their virtual lives. The last participant with a life – wins.
This game is suitable for close-knit teams that want to know each other even better. But even sworn-in teams who know each other well can have a lot of fun here (then it will be even more exciting)!
If you struggle with finding inspiration for the question you would ask, you can simply show our free Never have I ever template below and go over the list altogether. We hope it helps!
3. Pancakes VS Waffles
The rules are very simple: all team members will have to debate and choose between two alternatives, keeping one element on earth while the other would disappear.
It all starts with Pancakes VS Waffles. The team decides which one to keep and which one must disappear. Any team member can go of their arguments.
Once it’s done, one of the team members will choose a new “word opponent.”
Say the pancakes won the first round. Then, one person can suggest another word like “butterflies”. So, you would go to the second round: Pancakes VS Butterflies. And so on.
The goal of this team-building game is to communicate as a team effectively. In other words, Pancakes VS Waffles is a great way to get your team working on their problem-solving skills!
Easy and quick team-building activities for remote teams
4. Trivia quiz
How clever is your remote team? Find out together in a trivia quiz.
Before your meeting, create questions on general knowledge, pop culture, etc., or research trivia quiz questions on the Internet.
All co-workers can play for themselves if you’re part of a small group. With large groups, divide your participants into two teams or groups of 2/3 people.
If you’re animating this trivia quiz remotely, make sure the teams communicate aside from the main virtual meeting.
The quizmaster then asks the questions to the whole team.
The groups consult each other in private (don’t forget to turn off the micros in the team meeting room if you are playing online) and announce their answer to the whole group.
At the end of the game, make sure you come up with a nice reward for the winning team with the most correct answers. Prizes are always appreciated.
5. Typing contest
Ready, set, type!
For this quick team-building activity, you’ll invite your team for a typing contest. Within 1 to 10 minutes, they will be able to test their typing skills during a friendly competition.
To do so, you can use the website typingtest.com which will estimate the speed of all competitors. May the fastest win!
6. PowerPoint Challenge
A lot of improvisational talent and creativity is required here.
Split your team into smaller groups and assign each team a random PowerPoint presentation found on the Internet. They’ll have to give a short presentation, without any preparation, and there within lays the surprise!
These can be work topics from other departments, but presentations from entirely different areas of life are amusing.
Have you ever heard your boss talk about the challenges of biological shrimp breeding?
7. Scavenger hunt
Rules are simple: whether you play a virtual or an offline scavenger hunt, the first team to complete all the predetermined tasks wins.
If you play an indoor scavenger hunt in the office, they might have to get random objects from the company’s kitchen or their desk.
If you play a virtual scavenger hunt, you can choose from ideas online, such as finding a specific picture on Google and posting it on the virtual team meeting platform or, give them some challenges and objects to find at home.
So that employees do not have to fumble around, number all items for the scavenger hunt in advance and a team captain can delegate them to different people.
Creative but quick team-building games
8. Escape Room
Escape games are very popular activities for team outings. It is no wonder because they promote teamwork, critical thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving skills.
For a virtual version with no props, you might want to check out a team-building company that specializes in virtual escape rooms, such as The Escape Game.
If you’re looking for an in-person activity, there are many escape rooms to check out across the US!
But, if you feel like investing more time, you can create your own and even personalize it to your company’s story!
9. Draw the picture
Draw the picture is a quick team-building activity that will enhance your team members’ creative thinking and communication skills.
How does it work? One person describes with words a specific picture, while the others draw what they hear.
For virtual team-building, either you draw directly on Paint and then share your screen or reach for pen and paper to finally hold the work up to the camera.
This game is a fun way of building healthy competition. It often ends up in very diverse masterpieces and can be a great way to break the ice in what may be a long boring meeting!
10. MacGyver
Great to promote creative thinking and problem-solving skills, this quick team-building activity will require the entire group’s imagination and plunge them into a different setting for a few minutes.
The moderator or virtual team manager determines a secret scenario with specifications before the game. This scenario can be any disaster, such as a zombie apocalypse, a sinking ship, an attack of killer bees, etc.
First, say aloud the presets, like “Take three things from your desk” or “Choose five items from your kitchen.”
Second, let the disaster “begin”! Inform your entire team of the context.
Then, your team must now deal with it, helped by the several random objects they previously chose. They must find ways to survive the disaster and save the group!
Fun virtual team-building ideas
Are you tired of the same old conference calls? Need to organize something quick, fun, and effective?
Try out these quick team-building activities for your remote team that will boost collaboration skills, communication, problem-solving skills, and make any face-to-face or virtual meeting fun.
11. Two truths and one lie
The two truths and one lie game is a well-known icebreaker. To play, each employee has to think about three stories, two of which are true and one is a lie.
All employees take turns telling those stories. One team member starts, and when they finish narrating their stories, the other participants can guess which of the three facts is false.
Get ready, because, in this unexpectedly fun game, spectacular things about your colleagues might come to light!
12. Guess the artist
For this team-building event, ask the entire group to take a picture of themselves, dressed as a famous artist. Every employee then uploads a picture or video and sends it to the whole team.
Let everyone have a guess at who is the artist represented in the picture is.
This is an excellent excuse to get dressed up and a fun way to enjoy everyone’s creativity to easily build camaraderie among the team.
And why not transform this activity into a virtual dance party in the evening?
13. The aliens have landed
In this game, employees are divided into small groups. Aliens are landing on planet Earth and would like to know what this company is actually doing.
Unfortunately, they do not speak your language.
To explain themselves, the different virtual teams have to resort to image language: they have to explain the core of the company’s work using five images, symbols, graphics, etc.
Let’s see what each team has to present. You might be surprised by the creative solutions they can come up with!
Click here for more fun breakout session ideas.
Fast virtual team-building challenges to get to know your team better
Here are some quick team-building exercises that will help small groups to get to know each other better.
Preferences, past experiences, or personal information, get ready to uncover lots about people you work with.
14. Team member focused questions for a fun remote quiz
Trivia questions about individual employees – baring their consent, of course – can be funny.
You can ask questions like “What employee’s middle name is “Hubert”?” or “Who from the team owns a cat named Mia?”.
These questions encourage participants to get curious about who they work with. After all, your co-workers are the people you might see the most during the week, so it’s important to get to know them and build strong relationships. Work will only end up being easier and more pleasant afterward!
15. Baby Pictures Challenge
The Baby Pictures Challenge can be an online team-building activity or an in-person one, which consists of sharing on a slide or a paper board the baby pictures of all team workers.
The host unveils the pictures submitted by guests, and then participants try to match the cute babyfaces to the current team members during the meeting.
Once time is up, everyone can reveal who they are and share baby stories of themself.
If you want to make it a friendly competition, ask everyone to write down their answers on a piece of paper. Tally up correct answers and whoever has the most – wins!
16. Employee Bingo
Employee-inspired Virtual Bingo is a fun twist to the classic Bingo game.
So, get your bingo board ready, and see if you’ll be the first to get a full line crossed!
Statements (or squares) can be inspired by physical aspects of the group itself such as “Wears a mustache”. It could also be related to work activity such as “This team member has been on project X since day one”.
Go over each square, and cross it off if you feel you can relate.
Good luck!
17. Whose emojis tab is this?
Emojis can help to give the tone and to enhance emotions in digital conversations. They have become a major part of our phone’s keyboards and they sometimes can tell a lot about who is using them!
This last quick team-building activity invites your team to send a screenshot of their “frequently used” emoji tab to the coordinator of the meeting.
This person will then show those tabs to the full list of attendees and their goal would be to recognize what tab comes from who!
It’s a fun and light game, that can end up being a great conversation starter!
FAQ: The basics of team-building activities
What are team-building activities?
Team building activities are exercises carried out by a team to strengthen the relationships between its members and improve communication.
They can be as quick as 5-minute team-building games or hours-long virtual town halls.
What are the benefits of quick team-building exercises?
Team-building games and exercises are important because they help team members communicate effectively, build relationships with other team members, and develop their teamwork skills even further.
They also:
- Create trust amongst smaller teams.
- Bring large teams closer together.
- Enhance company culture.
- Motivate employees.
- Assist candidates with job interviews and promote more effective hiring practices.
The results of effective teamwork may be anything from improved productivity to greater employee satisfaction.
Considering all those positive aspects, why not try for yourself?
Can I organize a remote team-building activity for a virtual team?
If you can’t arrange in-person team-building events, don’t worry! The majority of team-building activities can be conducted online.
So if you’re working with a remote team, make sure to read these few quick team-building activities listed above to inspire your next team-building online event.
What are some good team bonding activities?
Great team bonding activities allow teammates to talk, laugh, and do something as a group.
For this purpose, we could recommend a live cooking class, a virtual scavenger hunt, or a draw the picture game, which are all great to bring a team closer together!
What is a fun virtual team-building activity?
A fun virtual team-building activity you can do to build strong remote teams is Two truths and a lie.
This game is perfect for a video call. Doesn’t require prep time. Challenges the creativity of all the participants by thinking of a lie, all the while revealing a surprising fact about each player.
You wouldn’t imagine what your co-workers can hide from you!
What are the four main types of team-building activities?
The four main types of virtual team-building activities are:
- Problem-solving activities encourage participants to develop their critical thinking skills
- Creative activities aim to stimulate creativity and imagination
- Social activities, so your team can bond and build relationships through fun interactions
- Communication activities help facilitate professional relationships and foster public speaking skills.
What is the key to planning successful quick team-building activities when team members work from home?
In the long run, remaining innovative when planning these activities is critical for successful in-person or virtual team-building events.
As you can see, there are a lot of ideas that can be implemented for entertaining your virtual team using little effort. And some take little to no preparation time.
In the end, you’ll quickly see how important it is to include team-building activities for employees in your business routine today -whether they’re remote or not.
Be it your office staff working from home or virtual workers you have never met, having fun is always refreshing and can boost morale and motivation over time.
Moreover, these activities don’t even have to be expensive at all. We suggest that you invest some time brainstorming ideas that will correctly suit your team members’ personalities.
Need help creating a cohesive team? We’ve got you covered!
Don’t hesitate to contact us for any questions or help planning your next virtual team event. We’d be happy to help you!
If you’re short on time, try one of these DIY quick team-building activities, or try out an unforgettable custom virtual team-building experience with us.
We’ll take care of everything. This way, you can just book and enjoy with no hassle at all! 🙂
