22 Team Building Activities for a Thriving Workplace in 2025

Team building activities are a great way to help employees build relationships, take a refreshing break from work, and feel more engaged. However, they can also feel like a distraction, a gimmick, or a waste of time if not done right.

Planning fun activities for work meetings or get-togethers after work doesn’t have to be a challenge. Read on to learn important team building considerations along with over 20 ideas of activities you can try!

Planning the Best Team Building Ideas for Work

The first thing any leader must do when planning the right company team building activities is to talk to their team and see what they would like to do. Instead of assuming everyone will enjoy the same thing, get some feedback and plan an activity around your people.

Another best practice is to adjust the activity based on the purpose or goal. For example, are you celebrating a big project’s completion and want something relaxing after work? Or do you want a newer team to get to know each other better? Keep the purpose of the gathering in mind when planning your team development activities.

Benefits of Team Building Exercises

Team building can have some great benefits for any team, such as:

• Increased productivity
• Increased creativity
• Improved communication
• Higher morale
• Increased trust

Not only that, but managers can also identify leaders amongst their team and discover the strengths and weaknesses of each contributor by watching them interact with each other and solve problems.

22 Team Building Ideas for Work

To help you find the right activity for your team, your purpose, and your timeframe, we’ve broken down this list into smaller categories.

Team Activities for Breaking the Ice

1. Get-to-Know-You Games

Whether you host a two-truths-and-a-lie activity, a game of Kahoot (or one of these free alternatives), or a person-interest bingo game, the goal here is to give everyone the chance to share a bit about themselves while learning about everyone else, too.

2. Office Trivia

For newer employees, office trivia can be fun and educational. Put together questions such as:

• How many steps from the team’s area does it take to walk to the breakroom?
• What’s the most consumed snack in the office?
• List all of the executives by name.
• Which conference room is the farthest south?
• Who has the longest commute on the team?

These are fun and lighthearted and can help new teams learn more about the office.

3. A “Speed Dating” Mingle

One-on-one conversations are the best way for employees to get to know each other—and this activity can help structure the conversation to eliminate any awkwardness or shyness. For this game, have each employee write down 3 questions that they can ask during one-minute meetings with each other teammate.

This is a short activity and can be done in person or digitally.

4. Favorite Things

Either have employees bring one of their favorite things to show everyone (show and tell) or have everyone buy something they love to give to someone else on the team (white elephant). This is great for employees to share their interests.

Team Activities for a Relaxing Retreat

1. Dinner and a Movie

There’s a reason this is such a popular first date idea! Talk to your team and learn what food and films they like, and then plan a day that fits as many people’s interests as possible. Plan enough time for everyone to enjoy a sit-down dinner and a fun movie.

2. Arts and Crafts Activity

There are many crafting activities that are great for team building. Do a paint-along with a Bob Ross video, go to a local pottery studio for a team lesson, take a cooking class, break the team into groups of three and have them build a tower with spaghetti and marshmallows, etc. Research local crafting businesses and think outside the box!

3. Classic Game Night

Once again, talk to your team to figure out whether they’d like bowling, an arcade, mini golf, board games, or other classic activities, and then have everyone meet up for a day of fun.

4. Volunteer Activity

Find a local charity where employees can work together to volunteer. Whether it’s a fundraiser, a charitable event, a 5k, or a bake sale, giving back to the community is a great way to boost well-being and happiness.

Team Activities for Collaboration

1. The Egg Drop

See how well employees work together by pairing them up and giving them the challenge of building an apparatus to catch an egg from 10 feet up. Everyone builds their own catcher with specific items, such as tissues, cardboard, tape, cotton balls, etc. Then test them with eggs and a ladder!

2. Escape Room

Escape rooms are a popular activity for large groups, and they’re perfect for team building. Find a local escape room, pick the scenario you want, and let your team work together to solve the mysteries and puzzles to escape!

3. Murder Mystery

Similar to escape rooms, murder mysteries are great for large groups to communicate and collaborate to solve a mystery. Many online tools exist, and digital murder mysteries exist, too, for remote teams.

4. Lego Challenge

Break the team into small groups, give each group some Lego pieces, then decide on an object everyone has to build. Then let each team do their best to recreate the object out of Lego! This is great for creativity, out-of-the-box thinking, and collaboration.

Team Activities for Burning Energy

1. Ax Throwing

Take employees to throw axes at wooden targets. That’s it. It’s simple, fun, and often includes food.

2. Rage Rooms

Rage rooms allow people to put on safety gear and smash things. It’s great for getting out energy and working through challenges with some good old-fashioned breaking things.

3. Scavenger Hunt

Plan a scavenger hunt either around the office or around the local area and break employees into small groups. Have them explore the area and take pictures of the clue’s solutions. Offer a prize to keep everyone excited.

Team Activities for Remote Teams

1. Show and Tell

It’s easy for everyone to show off something they like around their home. A favorite decoration, an article of clothing, a book, or a collectible—anything (work appropriate) is fair game!

2. Jackbox Games

Jackbox is a collection of fun and silly digital games that are perfect for remote teams. They’re great for teams of around eight people, but many games work for smaller and lager teams, too.

3. Virtual Lunch & Learn

Host a weekly lunch activity where employees give a small presentation on something they are passionate about. A hobby, an interest, a book they’ve read, or a lesson they’ve learned at work are all good ideas.

4. Personality Test

Online quizzes are a guilty pleasure for most, and personality tests are no different. It’s fun to learn more about yourself, and it’s even better to share what you’ve learned with others. Send a test to your remote team and have everyone share their results.

Team Activities for Work Success

1. Brainstorming Session

Brainstorming sessions can be fun activities for work meetings. Don’t give too many instructions or rules—leave the door open for any idea! Consider breaking the team into smaller groups in case some employees don’t feel comfortable talking in large groups.

2. Book Club

While book clubs are great for any type of novel, consider hosting a work-related book club. This way, employees can get together to chat about building good work habits, decreasing burnout, increasing creativity, or any other work-related books you’d like to focus on.

3. A Recognition Program

Recognition is the perfect way to improve culture and workplace results. A recognition program that allows your team to recognize each other based on team or company values is a great way to drive productive behaviors and spread feelings of appreciation.

Build Collaboration, Communication, and Cooperation With Team Building

We hope these team building exercises for the workplace will help inspire you in your efforts to create a fun, productive, and inclusive office space. Take the time to learn about what each of your employees would like, decide what the goal of the team building activity is, then plan something your people will love.

For help in building a recognition program or incentive to match your team building goals, contact Awardco.