Are you looking for staff bonding activities? Office life would be dull if employees lacked connection, sharing, and cohesion. Team bonding activities are essential in any business or company. It connects and empowers employees' motivation to the company, and also is a method to help increase productivity, the success, and development of an entire team.
So, what is team bonding? What activities promote teamwork? Let's find out games to play with co-workers!
Table of Contents
Why Team Bonding Activities Matter
The main purpose of team bonding activities is to build relationships within the team, which helps members become closer, build trust, improve communication, and have fun experiences together.
- Reduce stress at the office: Quick team bonding activities during working hours will help team members relax after stressful working hours. These activities even support them in showing their dynamism, creativity, and unexpected problem-solving abilities.
- Help staff communicate better: According to research from MIT's Human Dynamics Laboratory, the most successful teams demonstrate high levels of energy and engagement outside formal meetings—something team bonding activities specifically cultivate.
- Employees stick around longer: No employee wants to leave a healthy working environment and good work culture. Even these factors make them consider more than salary when choosing a company to stick with for a long time.
- Reduce recruitment costs: Company team bonding activities also reduce your spending on sponsored job postings, as well as the effort and time spent training new employees.
- Increase the company's brand value: Long-term employees help spread the company's reputation, boost morale, and support the onboarding of new members.
Icebreaker Team Bonding Activities
1. Would You Rather
Group Size: 3–15 people
There is no better way to bring people together than by an exciting game that allows everyone to talk openly, eliminate awkwardness, and get to know each other better.
Give a person two scenarios and ask them to choose one of them by the question "Would you rather?". Make it more interesting by putting them in weird situations.
Here are some team bonding ideas:
- Would you rather be in a relationship with a horrible person for the rest of your life or be single forever?
- Would you rather be more stupid than you look or look more stupid than you are?
- Would you rather be in a Hunger Games arena or Game of Thrones?
You can easily get it done with: AhaSlides - use the "Poll" feature. Use this feature to see your colleagues' preferences! Feeling the atmosphere is getting a little bit awkward? No one is really communicating? Fear not! AhaSlides is here to help you; with our poll feature, you can make sure everyone has a say, even the most introverted ones!
2. Have You Ever
Group Size: 3–20 people
To start the game, one player asks “Have you ever…” and adds an option that other players may or may not have done. This game can be played between two and 20. Have You Ever also gives chances to ask your colleagues questions that you might have been too afraid to ask before. Or come up with questions that no one thought of:
- Have you ever worn the same underwear two days in a row?
- Have you ever hated joining team bonding activities?
- Have you ever had a near-death experience?
- Have you ever eaten a whole cake or a pizza yourself?
You can easily get it done with: AhaSlides - use the "Open-Ended" feature. Best to use when some members of your team are too afraid to speak up, AhaSlides is an excellent tool to get as many answers as possible!
3. Karaoke night
Group Size: 4–25 people
One of the easiest bonding activities to bring people together is karaoke. This will be an opportunity for your colleagues to shine and express themselves. It is also a way for you to understand a person more through their song selection. When everyone is comfortable singing, the distance between them will gradually fade. And everyone will create more memorable moments together.
You can easily get it done with: AhaSlides - use the "Spinner Wheel" feature. You can use this feature to choose a song or a singer among your colleagues. Best to use when people are too shy, this is the best tool to break the ice!
4. Quizzes and Games
Group Size: 4–30 people (split into teams)
These group bonding activities are both fun and satisfying for everyone. Options like true or false challenges, sports trivia, and music quizzes encourage friendly competition while breaking down communication barriers.
You can easily get it done with: AhaSlides - use the "Pick Answer" feature. You can use this feature to create funny quizzes for your colleagues. Best used in any fun team bonding activities where people are too reserved to say anything, AhaSlides will help you erase any invisible walls that prevent your colleagues from speaking to each other.
Virtual Team Building Activities
5. Virtual Ice Breakers
Group Size: 3–15 people
The virtual ice breakers are group bonding activities designed to break the ice. You can do these activities online with your team member via a video call or zoom. Virtual icebreakers might be used to get to know new staff or to kick off a bonding session or team bonding events.
You can easily get it done with: AhaSlides - use the "Word Cloud" feature. You want to kick off a conversation between people in your company? No more silence in your team, get to know each other better using the word cloud feature in AhaSlides!
6. Virtual Team Meeting Games
Group Size: 3–20 people
Check our list of inspiring virtual team meeting games that will bring joy to your online team bonding activities, conference calls, or even a work Christmas party. Some of these games use AhaSlides, which supports you in creating virtual team bonding activities for free. Using just their phones, your team can play games and contribute to your polls, word clouds, and brainstorming sessions.
You can easily get it done with: AhaSlides - use the "Brainstorm" feature. With the brainstorming feature from AhaSlides, you can engage people in thinking about ideas or steps that help virtual team bonding become more interactive and engaging.
Best tool for the job: AhaSlides - Brainstorm feature. With the brainstorming feature from AhaSlides, you can engage people in thinking about ideas or steps that help virtual team bonding become more interactive and engaging.
Indoor Team Building Activities
7. Birthday lineup
Group Size: 4-20 people
The game starts with groups of 4-20 people standing side by side. Once in a file, they are reshuffled according to their birthdates. Team members are organized by month and day. No talking will be allowed for this exercise.
You can easily get it done with: AhaSlides - use the "Match Pair" feature. Feeling the team is too overcrowded to move around to play this game? Not a problem, with the match pair feature from AhaSlides, your team doesn't have to move an inch. Your team can just sit down and arrange the correct birthdates, and you, as a presenter, also don't have to move around.
8. Movie Night
Group Size: 5–50 people
Movie nights are a great indoor bonding activity for large groups. To set up the event, first select a movie, then reserve a large screen and projector. Next, arrange seats; the more comfortable the seating, the better. Make sure to include snacks, blankets, and only turn on as little light as possible to create a cozy feeling.
You can easily get it done with: AhaSlides - use the "Poll" feature. Are you unable to decide on which movie to watch? You need to create a poll, and people will have to vote. With the poll feature from AhaSlides, this step of creating a poll can be done as quickly as possible!
