10 Fresh Team Building Ideas for Small Groups

Team building for small groups of employees has never been more difficult.

According to research conducted by Forbes, over 40% of workers in 2023 are either full-time remote workers or in a hybrid work environment. With the rise in fully remote workers, you could potentially never meet your co-workers face to face, and that’s not only bad for morale, that’s bad for business.

To help kick start some team building brainstorming, we put together 10 fresh ideas for team building that you can use for smaller teams. So whether you’re working remotely, prefer the outdoors, or want to stay in the office, there is an option here for you. Let’s dive in.

10 Team Building Activities for Small Groups

Secret Symbol

Secret Symbol is an easy icebreaker game to start off team building with. It doesn’t require much material, all of which can be found around the office. It’s simply a variation of charades with a theme.

Number of Players: 10 or more.

Setup: You only need paper, pens, and well-known symbols (stars, asterisks). Create teams of 2. With larger groups create more teams or add more players per team. Cut the paper into the same number of squares as there are players.

Write a well-known symbol on each square. The team leader will shuffle and pass out 1 paper square per player, everyone keeps their symbol face down – you shouldn’t know what symbol you have.

Time Required: 15-20 minutes

Rules: 

• Pick a player to go first – they will be player 1, the player guessing their symbol.
• Player 1 shows the other player(s) on the team their symbol.
• Player 1 now asks as many yes or no questions as they need to guess their symbol.
• Player 2 simply answers yes or no to the questions from Player 1.
• Only yes/no questions can be asked – this makes it more challenging.
• After they guess, switch roles until everyone has gone.
• We recommend doing a demo round first so players can get an idea of the types of symbols. Optionally, switch out symbols for any other theme based on your team’s personality.

Why We Love This Activity: 

Secret Symbol is a fun activity with minimal setup, setting a positive tone for the rest of the team building activities for the day.

Online Games

For decades games have been the go-to fun team building activity, and if you want to see the competitive side of your co-workers, gaming may do just that.

Over the years, several popular classic and new board games have moved online. Here are some of the best ones.

Code Names

• 4-8 players recommended
• 30 minutes 

Each team has 1 spymaster who gives a single word glue per round. Using the one-word clue, the other team members from the spy master’s team guess which tile they are referring to, it could be one or multiple tiles. The first team to guess all their coloured tiles wins.

Gartic Phone

• Minimum 4 players - we recommend less than 10 players.
• 30 minutes for 4 players.

This is the online version of Telestrations where players need to provide a prompt for others to draw. Then each subsequent round, you are either drawing your version of the clue given to you or guessing someone else’s drawing. The game continues until everyone has had a chance to guess all the other drawings.

Skribblio

• Up to 20 players.
• Set your own time limit.

Skribblio is the online version of the classic Pictionary game. One person is drawing from a list of drawing prompts while everyone else is guessing. If you guess faster, you receive more points.

You can set your own time limit or simply play until everyone wants to move on.

Weavr

• Up to 5 players on the free version
• Set your own time limit

Get ready to test your GIF search skills. With Weavr, you are given a workplace prompt like “When someone sends you an email and cc’s your boss.” 

Your objective is to type in the search field to find the best GIF that matches that prompt. Later all other players will vote on the best GIFs per prompt.

Why We Love These Activities: 

There are so many advantages of online games:

• You don’t need to bring around board game pieces.
• Set up in a matter of minutes.
• Games can be easy to learn and hard to master, allowing for replayability.
• See a totally new side of your teammates.
• Games can require masterful critical thinking, communication, and creativity to do well.

Two Truths and One Lie

This is a classic activity to quickly get to know your colleagues. You can try this activity in person or over a remote meeting. It requires each participant to tell, you guessed it, two truths and one single lie about themselves.

Number of players: Up to 10.

Setup: There are no materials to set up for this activity. Simply show up to the meeting and bring your thinking caps.

Time Required: If you have around 5 members, we recommend two rounds, and if you have 10 members, we recommend 1 round so you can move on to other activities. The first person usually takes the longest; other participants can prepare their truths and lies while the current player thinks.

Rules:

• Only tell 2 truths and 1 single lie.
• Try not to use clues that your colleagues already know.
• Optional: add a theme on top, like “vacations,” to steer the conversation in a particular direction.

Why We Love This Activity:

This activity doesn’t require material, and you can learn a lot about someone in a relatively short period of time.

Even if you think you know your team well, this game almost always uncovers something interesting.

We recommend having the host kick it off with some really great and interesting facts to set an example for the rest of the group.

Pass The Hula Hoop

For outdoorsy teams that don’t mind physical activity, passing the hula hoop requires players to communicate and help one another as they pass the hoop around their bodies. It looks simple until the hoop comes to you.

Number of players: Up to 10.

Setup: A large-sized hula hoop and a large enough space that fits all of the players.

Time Required: This activity will take about 5-10 minutes per round.

Rules: 

• Have everyone join hands and stand in a circle.
• The hula hoop should be vertical and hung across the player’s hands.
• Keep hands joined during the hoop pass.
• Decide a direction to move the hoop, and using your body (ducking under the hula hoop etc), move the hula hoop so it moves across from one end of the team to the other.

Why We Love This Activity:

Physical movement gets everyone smiling and out of their comfort zone a little bit. This activity also facilitates team communication.

City Scavenger Hunt

This event aims to prepare clues for a scavenger hunt around or in a specific part of your host city. We recommend this activity if you bring in team members from around the globe. It will not only help team build, but you’ll quickly learn about other cultures and what to do in the city while visiting.

Number of players: This game will require two teams, try to split up the members that live in the host city such that they are not all on the same team.

Setup: Come up with 10 fun ideas for activities and challenges for each team to complete. Each activity should be completed within 10 minutes. Adjust the rules to make it easier or harder, depending on the teams' personalities.

Time Required: This event could take several hours, depending on whether you ask teammates to drive around the city or stay in an isolated area.

Rules: 

• Set a deadline for all of the tasks.
• The team that finishes first wins.
• Ideally, you give out a worthwhile prize at the end, as this event requires quite a commitment from both teams.

Why We Love This Activity:

This is one of the most engaging activities, encourages participants to team up with others they may not see often, and gives them a chance to show off their hometown.

At the end of the activity, you’ll also have photos and some great members for years to come.

Skills Bingo

Learn about the characteristics and experiences of your fellow team members with this skills bingo game. This game is most suitable for the office.

Create bingo cards with different characteristics or experiences as bingo tiles. Team members must find someone who matches each characteristic and have them sign the corresponding square on their bingo card.

Number of players: 4-14

Setup:

• Create bingo cards with several common characteristics. For example:

• Has travelled to more than three countries
• Speaks more than one language fluently
• Has a pet (specify the type, e.g., dog, cat, fish)
• Enjoys gardening or has a green thumb
• Is a vegetarian or vegan
• Enjoys hiking or outdoor activities
• Has run a marathon or participates in regular sports
• Is a bookworm or avid reader
• Has a collection (specify the type, e.g., stamps, vintage coins)
• Enjoys cooking or is a foodie

• Small groups should use a 3x3 bingo card.
• Larger groups can use a 5x5 bingo card.

Time Required: 30 minutes

Rules: 

• Pass out bingo cards to everyone.
• Each person needs to start a conversation with a colleague.
• Without specifically asking about a characteristic, try to steer the conversation around one of the topics on the bingo cardboard. For example, you could start talking about the topic of travelling to uncover characteristics of countries travelled and languages spoken.

• Asking characteristic questions directly makes the game short, making conversations less meaningful.

• Continue until you finish your bingo card.

Why We Love This Activity: 

This modified version of the game requires you to strategise your questions so that the questions are more natural and give you a chance actually to get to know your teammates.

Partner Draw

This game requires you to step up your communication skills. The game's objective is to have your partner communicate the diagram they see on their piece of paper. You can adjust the difficulty level by limiting the drawings to more basic shapes if needed.

Number of Players: Any even amount of players.

Setup: Four pieces of paper per team of two players. Prepare four sheets of paper with shapes on them. For example, you could draw a diagram of a rose that is made of diamonds. The diamonds would be situated in a specific shape and angle per diagram. Also, provide extra paper for the drawing portion of the game.

Time Required: 4 rounds of 5 minutes each.

Rules: 

• Divide the group into pairs.
• Each pair should stand back to back.
• Each player in the pair has 2 diagrams.
• Have the 1st player describe their diagram while the 2nd player draws it on paper.
• After 5 minutes, have the 2nd player describe their drawing while player 1 draws on paper.
• Alternate until all diagrams are complete.
• Compare everyone’s drawings and reflect on what went well and what was difficult during the communication of the shapes.

Why We Love This Activity: 

Communication seems easy when you’re just having casual conversations, but what happens when you need to achieve a specific objective?

This activity sheds light on how precise the words and how we communicate can be effective and ineffective depending on the context in which it is used.

Often players walk away from this game with a new appreciation of how they communicate and how their teammates perceive it.

To show the difference in the communication detail, instruct the players to look at each other’s diagram between rounds and encourage them to ask clarifying questions.

Guess the Baby

This fun game is best played in the office so that you can see your coworkers' reactions, but it can be adapted online. The objective is for everyone to bring in their baby photos and your colleagues to guess which baby photo belongs to whom.

Number of Players: Any number of players.

Setup: Ask all of the players to bring in a baby photo.

Time Required: No limit. This game is best played until everyone has guessed correctly.

Rules: 

• Only one rule, guess who each photo belongs to, simple!
• To adapt this game online, use a digital whiteboard tool like Miro.

Why We Love This Activity: 

While not a traditional team building activity, this event allows you to ask questions about where your colleagues grew up and get to know them better. Besides, who doesn’t love looking at cute baby photos?

Team Crossword

This is an easy ice breaker that focuses on team collaboration by having them work on crossword puzzles together. You can personalise the theme to match your organisation.

Number of Players: No more than 5 per team. You want a diverse team so they can cover many topics in the clues.

Setup: You’ll need to prepare 10 to 20 crossword puzzle clues.

Time Required: 20 minutes, though the puzzle's difficulty is completely in your control, so adjust the time accordingly.

Rules: 

• First team to complete the entire puzzle wins.
• We recommend splitting teams up so they cannot hear each other’s discussions.

Why We Love This Activity: 

This activity requires very little explanation, and you can add your own personal touch if you create your own crosswords. You’ll also learn about your colleagues, who have different experiences to help solve the various clues. As for the team leader, this really tests their creative thinking skills.

Create a Book Club

While not a traditional team building activity, we love a good book club, and there are multiple ways you can start one today.

Number of Players: Any number.

Setup: See if your organisation has the budget to purchase a set of books for the team every quarter. Otherwise, have everyone find their nearest library to pick up a copy of the book of choice.

Time Required: 10-20 minutes each night to get through a good page turner.

Rules: 

• The rules should really be customised for your club. You’ll want to discuss genres of books to choose from and whether you want each member to select a book or have someone run the entire club.
• The only rule most book clubs have is that they decide a due date on when the current book should be read. This is important so you can have a meaningful discussion on the book after everyone has read it.

Why We Love This Activity: 

Everyone can get behind a book (or audiobook), and there are numerous studies and articles written about the benefits of reading. The discussions of a book club can also give you insight into your colleague's personalities and help you identify what matters to them most.

Create a Collaborative Mural

This activity is for the artist in us all. The objective is to create a large mural together by dividing pieces of the mural for all of the members to paint.

Number of Players: Any number, though you’ll need to decide how large of a mural you can find when planning this activity.

Setup: Check your local art store for canvas sizes against your company budget. You’ll want to divide each mural evenly among participants. If there are 10 painters, consider 2 large murals of 5 members each.

Time Required: 1-2 hours. You may want to consider breaking up this activity into smaller sessions or leaving it out and having an open paint room.

Rules: No rules, just paint and have fun!

Why We Love This Activity: 

Painting is an incredibly calming activity. What is great about this activity is that you’ll naturally get to know your colleagues as you paint. It’s a win-win.

What are Team Building Activities

Team building activities are designed to bring together entire teams, foster better communication, and enhance problem-solving skills, and oftentimes, just to have fun

The main purpose is to improve how our teams work together and bring everyone together through our shared experiences.

You’ll want to include as many team members as possible if you are located together. Alternatively, online activities are available for fully remote teams. You could recommend some of these ideas as part of your onboarding process to get your team acquainted.

While you would typically include workshop activities or games, we don’t want to limit our imaginations. Activities like creating book clubs are also effective in building teams over a longer period of time.

Why are team building Events Beneficial

Team building activities offer several benefits to players and organisations. Here are a few advantages: 

Communication: Certain games require detailed communication and listening skills. Specifically, games that require precise direction. This helps other teammates understand how each of us communicates with one another so we know how to work together best.

Enhanced Collaboration: By participating in team building activities, employees can develop stronger relationships, trust, and a sense of camaraderie, which leads to better collaboration.

Increased Motivation: Engaging in fun and interactive team building activities can boost employee morale, team spirit, and job satisfaction. Employees who feel valued and connected to their team are more likely to perform their best.

Better Understanding of Roles and Responsibilities: team building activities help team members know a person outside the work context, which can lead to a better understanding of each other's strengths, weaknesses, and interests. This understanding helps them better together.
Improved Problem-Solving Skills: Many team building activities are designed to challenge teams to think creatively, solve problems, and make decisions together. These experiences can help team members develop their problem-solving skills, which are essential for success in the workplace

Make Sure To Have Fun

With a larger portion of the workforce moving to a remote team environment, it has been more difficult than ever to create opportunities for teams to connect.

The ideas we presented today are just the start. We encourage you to try your own activities or modify the ones we’ve presented to match your organisation's culture. 

By embracing these creative approaches, employees can proactively support team building, bridge the gap between cross-functional teams, and cultivate a positive work culture that ultimately improves morale, contributes to overall employee satisfaction, and benefits the business.