Here is our list of the best online group activities for work.
Online group activities for work are games and interactive sessions that connect and engage remote employees. These activities happen on online communication platforms such as video conferencing platforms, like Zoom, or instant messaging software, like Slack. Examples include Skribbl, Jackbox, virtual charades, and Bingo. These activities aim to improve employee communication and interpersonal relationships, mitigate conflicts, and increase motivation.
These exercises are similar to virtual team building activities, Zoom team building, and online games for large groups.
This list includes:
- online group activities for the office
- free online group activities
- ideas for online group activities
- online group activities for employees
- online large group activities
- online small group activities
Here we go!
List of online group activities for work
Many remote teams struggle when it comes to team building. However, you can devise ways to make your employees interact and collaborate and form strong team dynamics despite the distance. Here is our list of online group activities for the office to build a fun working environment for your team.
1. Values Auction
A values auction adds an element of fun and strategy to group activities, and it helps colleagues get to know each other better.
Here is how to host this activity:
- Give each player a set amount of virtual currency and a list of company values.
- The host announces a company value from the list, like innovation, and players bet on it in an auction style.
- The player with the highest bid wins the value.
- The auction continues for the remaining values.
- After the auctions, teams can discuss why specific values were more important in the bidding.
Teams can use this activity to learn more about how their personal and company values align. Plus, companies can see if they need to adjust their core values.
2. Retro Job Description
When looking for fun icebreakers for your online gathering, consider retro job descriptions! You can send your team back in time by asking them to imagine their current roles in a different historical era. Whether folks envision themselves as a medieval writer or a ’20s gumshoe, their goal is to add a humorous twist to their job descriptions. You can encourage team members to consider how their skills and tasks would translate into the context of that era. This icebreaker sparks creativity and helps workers see their skills in a new light.
3. Dream Workspace Blueprint
Dream workspace blueprint helps teams use their creativity and design their ideal workspaces! Participants can draw or describe their dream setups. Factors like colors, decorations, and imaginative features can inspire each workspace. Participants can think beyond the usual office setting, including elements that bring joy and motivation. For instance, folks could add a hammock to their dream office design! Once teams are finished planning, they can share their dream workspaces. This activity helps team members get to know each other’s preferences. Plus, the process sparks a positive and imaginative discussion about the ideal work environment.
4. Wits & Wagers
Playing Wits & Wagers online is easy and a ton of fun! This game combines trivia and betting, so even folks who are not trivia experts can win by making smart bets.
Here is how to play:
- The host opens the Wits & Wagers site and shares their screen with the team.
- The site asks the group a trivia question, and players write their answers on paper.
- Players show the host their answers at the same time, and the host types them into the game.
- Players get to place bets on which answer they think is closest to the correct one.
- After all the bets are in, the site reveals the answer.
- Players earn points based on who guessed correctly or had the closest bet.
- The game continues with more questions, and the player with the most points at the end is the big winner.
This game mixes trivia with clever betting strategy, making it a blast for all players, no matter how much they know!
Play Wits & Wagers.
5. Digital Bookshelf Tour
Teams can go on a virtual journey through their bookshelves by scheduling a digital bookcase tour. On a Zoom call, participants can showcase the books on their shelves. Members can also share stories about their favorite books. From special editions to signed copies to meaningful novels, folks will get to see their colleagues’ collections. This activity helps teams learn about each other’s reading preferences and starts conversations about shared interests and recommendations.
6. Virtual Foodie Club
Setting up a virtual foodie club at work is a fun way to bring colleagues together and share delicious experiences. First, create a dedicated communication channel, like a group chat or email thread. Members can share food-related tips, recipes, and experiences through these channels.
You can schedule regular virtual meetings, where members can share pictures of homemade meals or recommend local eateries. Consider organizing themed events, such as a “comfort food night” or a “global cuisine showcase,” to add variety. From a simple lunch swap to a shared recipe challenge, the group’s goal is to share a love of food within the workplace.
7. Online Cartoon Team Mascot Design
An Online Cartoon Team Mascot Design challenge is a fun way to unleash creativity! Each team member can design a cartoon mascot representing the team’s spirit or shared values. Participants can use digital design tools or simple sketching. During a virtual reveal, team members can present their mascots. After teams see each character, they can vote on which design they like best. Hosts can give the winning artist an award and use that mascot in team materials!
8. Skribbl
Skribbl is among the best online group activities for employees to spark creativity. First, each member will go to the Skribbl website and log in to play the game. Then, all the participants will join the same server, where each member can display their drawing skills!
Skribbl is a guessing game where one member selects a word from three given options during their turn and draws the word the best they can. The rest of the participants must guess the word, and the player who makes the first correct guess earns the highest points. Then, each employee takes a turns drawing, and the artist with the highest score at the end wins.
Learn more about Skribbl.
9. Virtual Coffee Breaks
Virtual coffee breaks are excellent team building activities. During a virtual coffee break, remote colleagues get together on a short 15- to 30-minute video call to talk casually about non-work topics.
Donut is a great app to facilitate these breaks. You can connect the Donut app to a designated Slack channel, and the tool will randomly match and notify conversation partners on a pre-determined frequently, like biweekly. Then, the partners schedule a video call, meet up, chat, and get to know each other better.
10. Virtual Icebreakers
Virtual icebreakers are among the best activities to kick off online team meetings. These icebreakers will help you know your coworkers better and improve team building. You can all take turns answering personal questions. If you do not know what to ask, you can look up icebreaker questions online and select a few you find interesting.
Here are some examples:
- Share the weirdest fact you know
- What emoji do you think describes how you feel right now?
- What is the worst fashion decision you have ever made?
- Which actor would play you in a movie about your life?
Participating in virtual icebreakers is a great idea to interact with team members and boost confidence. These conversation starters can span vast topics and uncover some truly surprising tidbits about remote coworkers!
11. Something In Common
Something in Common is an online icebreaker to help kick off your meetings with a sense of connection and belonging. In this game, split the employees into pairs or groups in breakout rooms and set a specific time limit. The teams or groups must find five to ten shared traits within the given time.
Once participants finish, they share their discoveries with the broader group. You can do this activity multiple times with new groups.
Sharing your preferences and finding out with whom your preference matches build a friendly and professional relationship among employees.
12. Virtual Tea And Coffee Tasting
If your team has coffee or tea lovers, then this activity will be a hit! You must book a virtual coffee and tea-tasting event for this activity. After booking, you will have to wait for your coffee and tea bags to arrive. The company hosting the event will send out packages to each participant two weeks before the event. Your team will have to coordinate to schedule the call, and you’ll receive reminder emails as the event approaches.
On the day of the event, you will be introduced to a host in charge or guiding you. Your team will learn about the history of coffee and tea, the correct way to brew it, develop a palate to taste tea or coffee, and bond as a team.
You can also DIY this activity by sending participants shopping lists of teas or coffees or mailing pre-made assortments or care packages.
13. Online Wine Tasting
Like other food and drink-tasting activities, you must book a wine-tasting event. Your team will select a package and wait for your shipment to arrive. Or, teammates can buy their own wine. Then, group members will join a Zoom call on the day of the event.
The host or the winemakers will tell you the history of the wine, provide insight into the different blends and varietals, and give tasting notes and instructions. This online outing can be an educational and fun activity. Some companies will send you recipes or food pairings to match your choice of wine. You can also make your wine tasting activity more interesting by turning it into a pairing or cooking class!
You can also run this activity as a BYOB event, especially if participants cannot receive alcohol via mail.
14. Remote Book Club
A virtual book club is a perfect opportunity for like-minded coworkers to socialize. Like in-person book clubs, participants will read the same book at the same pace and discuss their thoughts.
However, selecting an essay, article, or novella would be a good starting point before you commit to a long novel. A short essay or article will help you decide whether you want to continue the club.
The team members will join a Zoom meeting and read an essay or article in this activity. Attendees can also make notes or highlight important points. When the participants have finished reading, they will discuss the essay and give their opinions. For example, if you are reading a long novel, then you can divide the chapters and discuss the main points after every chapter. The host can prepare some discussion questions or simply let conversation happen naturally!
15. Online Group Bingo
Bingo is a well-known traditional game that office workers love. This game is simple to understand, but you will have to bend the rules when playing virtually.
Simply split players into breakout rooms, encourage mingling, and see how many times players can get Bingo within ten minutes.
Virtual Bingo has actions that all members on the call need to mark off instead of numbers. You can customize a board template according to your company and inside jokes.
You will have to select a speaker to read out each action. Here are some interesting examples of what your board can include:
- Wears glasses
- Ran out of battery during a meeting
- Had a relative or pet walk in on a meeting
Virtual Bingo is a great game to boost confidence and reduce shyness among members of remote teams.
16. Jackbox
If you are looking for a fun and hassle-free game, then choose Jackbox. Jackbox has multiple games that require one of the members to download the game on their computer and stream it on a video call. Then, the rest of the players can use their phones or tablets and enter the server via a code they need to enter at a specific website.
The maximum number of members who can play Jackbox together is eight, which makes it ideal for a small group. However, if you still want to play this option, then you can divide the team into different groups and conduct more than one game to include all the players.
Check out Jackbox.
17. Guess The Emoji Sentence
Guess the Emoji Sentence is an exciting activity that will get a couple of laughs. You can get creative with this game.
Guess the emoji sentence is fun and engaging, but you will need to spend some time coming up with the starter prompts beforehand. To play this game, you need to choose a category, and all participants will answer the question in the form of an emoji sentence. The rest of the players will then guess the sentence.
For instance, if the category is your favorite animated movie, then you can use ? and ?? emojis for the movie “Ratatouille.”
18. Two Truths And A Lie
Two Truths and a Lie is a short, fun activity to help you get to know your coworkers better. This game takes less than 15 minutes to play, making it an easy, anytime activity. This icebreakers is adaptable for Zoom meeting.
This game requires all members to think of two truths and a lie about themselves. Then, everyone else must guess which statement is a lie.
Players can talk about different aspects, from childhood and college life to hobbies and interests. It is better to tell about things that excite or interest you the most to let your coworkers know more about you.
19. Guess The Image
Guess the Image is among the free online group activities that require no extra props other than the items you have at home. Before the call, participants take pictures of random objects around their houses. The pictures must be close-ups to make it challenging to decipher the object. The rest of the members take turns guessing what item is in the image, and the player who guesses correctly gains a point.
20. Baby Picture Game
This game requires a bit of digging into the past. You and your team will find their baby photos, preferably from when you were two to three years old. You will then share these photos in a Google Doc or slideshow. Then, all members will discuss or type in the chat who they think the person in each picture is. Everyone will take turns guessing the baby picture of their coworkers.
The player with the highest score at the end of the activity will win the game.
21. Virtual Charades
Virtual Charades are a great way to bring folks out of their comfort zone and interact with fellow coworkers. To play, you will divide everyone into groups. Each group will choose one team member per round as the actor. The host will privately message the actor the prompt and spotlight the actor so that they appear center screen. The actor then has one or two minutes to act out the prompt silently while their teammates guess the phrase. If the team fails to guess the prompt in time, other teams can steal by typing guesses into the chat.
22. Can You Hear Me Now?
This exercise is a fantastic online team building activity that relies on active listening and clear instruction-giving. In this game, one person acts as a ‘speaker,’ and the rest of the participants are the artists. This game requires random pictures, so either the speaker can prepare an image or you can use a random picture generator.
In this game, the speaker views an image and describes it to the artists. Based on the description, the artists will draw out the picture. Here is an example for the prompt “house”:
“Draw a large square with a large triangle on top of it. The triangle should be just as wide as the square. Next, draw a rectangle that is taller than it is wider at the bottom center of the square. The rectangle should be half the size of the square. Draw a small circle at the center left of the rectangle.”
You can also set a time limit to draw the pictures. Although you cannot make the exact image, the most accurate drawing will win the game. Even if players fail to guess the object, the game can generate some hysterical results!
23. Virtual Escape Room
Virtual escape rooms are among some of the best online large group activities.
To play the challenge, you will have to book an escape room. Every participant will get a link that will allow them to access the room through a video conference session. A game guide and a host will welcome you and your coworkers. The host will answer your questions and provide instructions and hints to help you solve the mystery. On the other hand, the game guide will perform any physical activity on our behalf, such as turning in different directions, picking up objects, and unlocking doors.
You can also find self-led online escape rooms where players solve riddles through a form or special platform. If you feel up to the challenge, then you can even create a DIY digital escape room puzzle.
24. Online Scavenger Hunt
You can play virtual scavenger hunts individually or in groups. This variation is different from an in-person scavenger hunt. In this game, the person in charge will ask the players to retreive specific objects from around the house. The requests will be random, and the group will have to find them in under a minute. The first player or team to show the objects onscreen wins points.
Here are some examples:
- A floral piece accessory
- A tennis racket
- Teddy bear
- Sock with a hole in it
- Anything frozen
- A DVD with an actor in it
- Selfie with your pet
Virtual scavenger hunts are energizing team building exercises that tend to prompt fun, laughter, and movement. These challenges also give coworkers glimpses and insights into each other’s environments beyond the frame of the Zoom screen.
25. Virtual Werewolf
Werewolf is a popular game, but unlike other activities, it can take time for players to understand the rules. This game works well for small and large groups since the number of players does not matter. However, Virtual Werewolf can also be a nice idea if you are looking for online small group activities.
There are five possible roles in the game:
- Werewolf: Has to eat the villagers (there can be multiple werewolves in the game)
- Villager: Has to discuss and vote on who they think is the werewolf (there can be numerous Villagers in the game).
- Master: Manages the game by giving instructions and announcing who is dead
- Seer: Can check the identity of individuals to see if they are a werewolf
- Medic: Can save a player from being eaten by the werewolf
In this game, the participants can either vote to choose a master who decides the roles, or you can use a random generator tool to send a random role to everyone in a direct message.
Once all participants on the call have their roles, the master will instruct everyone to close their eyes and ‘go to sleep.’ Then, the master will ask the werewolves to select a prey to kill. Next, the medic will be able to save a random member they think will be targeted by the werewolves. Lastly, the seer will directly message the master the name of the player they suspect is the werewolf.
At this point, all players will “awake” and agree upon a single participant to accuse as the werewolf. Then, the game will continue until either the villagers or the werewolves remain.
26. Personality Test
Personality tests are an excellent source of team building because they evaluate the employees’ decisions, emotions, and motivations. Such tests can help you find the right roles for each team member. Several tests exist, and the basic versions of many kinds are available free online. The most popular test is the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, commonly known as MBTI or 16 personalities test. This test classifies takers into combinations of four different categories:
- Introversion or extraversion
- Sensing or intuition
- Thinking or feeling
- Judging or perceiving
After taking the test, you can discuss results with coworkers, allowing them to understand you better and find your role within the team.
27. Guided Meditation
Guided meditation can be one of the best online group activities for work. These sessions can be as short as a minute or two or as long as twenty minutes. Simply find a guided meditation exercise video online and share the clip and audio, or reach out to an expert to lead your team live. It would be better if your team had meditation care packages that include scented oils or even candles. In addition, you can set a time limit and perform mindfulness activities to get a break from a hectic routine.
Conclusion
Online group activities for work are great for team building, improving communication and productivity, and breaking folks out of their shells. Most of the activities on our list are fun for everyone and do not require too much time, making them the perfect icebreaker for meetings. You can start with simple games to get to know your team better before moving on to challenging activities that require you to work together for problem-solving.
Next, check out free online team building ideas.
