What are virtual team-building activities?

Virtual team-building activities are designed to help remote coworkers feel like a cohesive team. These activities might be helpful in the following situations:

• You have a fully remote business and need to create a sense of connection among employees.
• Your company offers hybrid work opportunities, making it challenging to get every team member in the office at the same time.
• You need to integrate freelancers into your in-person workforce without requiring them to visit the office or jobsite.

These activities have a deeper purpose of helping your employees learn about one another and discover the best ways to work together. Because they’re virtual activities, everyone can participate.

Benefits of remote team-building activities may include:

• Stronger virtual team bonds
• Improved collaboration among employees
• Increased team productivity
• Increased comfort working as a team
• Enhanced trust between coworkers
• Improved communication
• Boosted employee morale and engagement

16 ideas for remote team-building activities

If you want to enhance collaboration and build trust among team members, consider the online team-building activities below.

1. Virtual escape rooms

Participating in a virtual escape room lets coworkers engage from separate locations. This activity involves working together to uncover clues and solve puzzles.

Benefits of participating in a virtual escape room:

• Employees can take a break from work.
• Everyone has to work together to succeed, which may encourage teamwork.
• Team members can use the challenge to refine their communication skills.

2. Virtual happy hour

Remote team-building activities don’t have to be structured. For example, you might host a virtual happy hour or coffee hour once per week. You can prepare fun discussion questions or simply let everyone chat.

Some tools can connect members for virtual coffee meetups, giving employees more control over their collaborative efforts.

Benefits of hosting a happy hour:

• Informal conversations can help remote colleagues make connections and find shared interests.
• Personal connections may help teammates feel more comfortable with each other.
• One-on-one coffee meetups can encourage individual connections and deeper conversations.

Read more: Benefits of Work Happy Hour on Employee Morale

3. Work book club

If you start an employee book club, you may choose nonfiction titles relevant to your company. You might also create a book club for fun, letting employees vote for each month’s selection. If you have a large company with diverse reading interests, consider setting up multiple book clubs or other clubs related to interests outside of reading.

Benefits of creating a book club:

• Book clubs help coworkers bond over shared interests.
• Book discussions let team members share diverse viewpoints.
• Book-related discussions help improve each participant’s overall communication skills.
• If you choose business-related books, starting a book club can show your company values professional development.

4. Scavenger hunt

Create a scavenger hunt with items most people have in their homes and a few that are less common. Call out items one at a time and give everyone time to find that item in their home.

You can even limit it to items within arm’s reach to make it more challenging. Everyone who returns with the item within the time limit gets a point. You can also award extra points to the first person who gets back with the item.

Benefits of holding a virtual scavenger hunt:

• Virtual scavenger hunts encourage friendly competition between team members.
• Some items might spark interesting conversations as employees explain what an item is or why they have it.

5. Pancakes vs. waffles

This popular virtual game starts with a debate on whether pancakes or waffles are better. You can use any two items in your game (e.g., duvets vs. comforters, skis vs. snowboards).

The goal is to decide as a team if you keep pancakes or waffles. Team members state their favorite option and why it should be saved. Everyone votes to see which is the winner.

Benefits of playing pancakes vs. waffles:

• All team members learn to share their opinions over something lighthearted.
• The game helps coworkers learn to debate respectfully, see things from other’s perspectives and make decisions together.

6. Monthly challenge

Come up with monthly challenges for employees. For example, you could create several challenges related to health, such as drinking water, maximizing your daily step count or eating vegetables.

If you create a health-related challenge, modify it as necessary for team members with food allergies or medical conditions.

You could also have a photo challenge every month. Once you settle on a theme, give employees a week or two to submit a relevant photo.

Post the photos on one of your internal messaging systems, publish them to an internal web page or distribute them via email. Before the month ends, have everyone vote on their favorite.

Benefits of doing monthly challenges:

• Ongoing challenges encourage team members to support each other.
• Some monthly challenges, such as photo challenges, give coworkers a glimpse into each other’s lives, potentially making it easier to form meaningful relationships.

7. Show-and-tell

Bring back a childhood favorite with a virtual show-and-tell. Each person chooses one item that’s important to them or represents them somehow. Team members take turns sharing about the item.

Benefits of having show-and-tell:

• Sharing something that means a lot to them can help team members get to know each other.
• Understanding what’s important to coworkers can make it easier to interact in a professional setting.

8. Virtual celebrations

When everyone works remotely, you don’t get to share cake to celebrate monthly birthdays or congratulate them in person on a milestone anniversary. But you can still celebrate those special events virtually.

You can let the guest of honor know ahead of time or surprise them with a celebration when they log onto a scheduled team video chat. Plan games or simply share warm wishes for the milestone.

Benefits of virtual celebrations:

• Celebrating together adds a personal touch to team relationships.
• Individuals typically feel valued when their coworkers acknowledge important milestones.

9. Talent show

Encourage each employee to be the star of the show with a virtual talent competition. Each person chooses a talent and performs it via video call.

Benefits of having a talent show:

• Employees can share more of their personality.
• Giving employees a chance to get to know each other may help them form stronger bonds.
• You may discover that one of your employees has a talent or skill that could support their role.

10. Photo challenge

There are various types of photo challenges your remote employees can participate in. For example, you may ask employees to submit a photo of something that means a lot to them.

During your next team meeting, set aside time to ask each person to share their photo and explain why the person, place or object in the photo is so important.

Benefits of running a photo challenge:

• When team members learn about each other, they can connect on a personal level.
• If employees feel comfortable around one another, it may boost employee morale and productivity.

11. Cooking challenges

Choose a type of food, such as chili or grilled cheese sandwiches, and have employees cook their own versions. You can also choose a more general category, such as desserts or main dishes. Everyone can share their finished product over a video call, including details about their dishes’ ingredients.

All team members vote for the best version while enjoying the meals together.

Benefits of holding a cooking challenge:

• This activity lets people present their creativity.
• Competition can help remote employees bond with each other.
• The dining portion at the end of the challenge lets employees have informal conversations.

12. Put a finger down

On a video chat, everyone holds up a hand with all five fingers extended. One person lists off things that a person might do/have done. They say, “Put a finger down if you (fill in the blank).” Here are some examples:

• Put a finger down if you know how to knit.
• Put a finger down if you’ve been to Paris.
• Put a finger down if you have a pet bird.

The statements can all be related or random. The first person to put all five fingers down is declared the winner. Alternatively, the winner can be the last person with at least one finger extended.

If you have more time, run through several sets of questions to keep everyone engaged.

Benefits of put a finger down:

• Watching as people put their fingers down helps team members get to know each other.
• The activity requires minimal talking, so it’s ideal for learning about team members who don’t feel comfortable speaking during virtual meetings.

13. Online quizzes or trivia games

Online trivia platforms make it easy to set up friendly competitions between teammates. You can tailor the challenge to your team. Each employee answers the questions to see who gets the most correct.

Benefits of playing online quizzes and trivia games:

• The friendly competition encourages learning in a relaxed environment.
• When you have employees create the trivia questions or quizzes, they can assume leadership roles.

14. Off-topic messaging channels

If your team uses Slack or a similar collaboration platform, create special channels for off-topic or personal subjects. Examples include a channel to share pet pictures or humorous work-from-home stories.

Encourage employees to share and comment on photos and stories. This is a simple, ongoing bonding activity that’s easy to manage.

Benefits of creating off-topic messaging channels:

• Sharing personal photos and stories helps coworkers get to know each other.
• Since messages can be viewed anytime, team members in different time zones can easily connect with colleagues.

15. Guided drawing

This virtual game aims to get everyone to draw the same thing. One person is the announcer. They choose a random image, describe it without naming it or providing hints and give directions on how to draw it. Everyone else draws what the announcer describes.

When you’re done, everyone reveals their drawing, and the announcer shows the original image to see who was the closest.

Benefits of guided drawing:

• This activity requires accurate communication from the person giving the instructions and active listening from the people drawing.
• Guided drawing may show the importance of concise communication.

16. Praise train

If you have a small team where everyone knows each other or is familiar with each other’s work, start a praise train. As the leader, you start by complimenting someone for something specific. That person compliments the next person, and this process continues until each employee has praised someone else.

Benefits of doing a praise train:

• Focusing on what employees do well can create a positive organizational culture.

This activity can help employees feel valued and, as a result, potentially more committed to the team.