The 50 Best Indoor Team-Building Activities for 2026

Key Takeaways

Indoor team-building games can deepen the connections among your team members, help build a positive company culture, boost team morale, and contribute to higher rates of employee retention. They provide a welcome respite from day-to-day work while building bonds that will last well beyond the activity.

Team building exercises have long been a part of staff meetings, retreats, annual meetings, and other corporate activities. They can be designed to achieve specific goals or reinforce various skills that need strengthening.

In this post, we will discuss why your organization should prioritize team-building activities. We’ll also provide 50 suggestions for team-building activities of various sizes, durations, and development goals.

Why should your organization prioritize team building? 

Team-building activities are an effective way to develop and strengthen teams, as well as deepen employee engagement.

Team building indoors is a particularly good way to bring employees together. The activities do not need to be expensive, time-consuming, or complex. Whether it’s an icebreaker or an off-site team-building event, the impact can be powerful.

Here are some benefits of team building:

Improved communications

Many activities encourage teams to communicate clearly and effectively with each other. With improved communication comes fewer misunderstandings and mistakes.

Increased employee engagement

When employees are engaged, they have deeper connections to the company’s mission and values. They are also more invested in each other and team success. Building effective teams leads to better quality products and improved customer experiences alike.

Better collaboration

Think of group activities as mini-practice sessions that reinforce skills. Collaboration is at the heart of many of these activities, providing employees with the opportunity to work together. Often, these activities will pair employees with coworkers with whom they do not frequently work. Connections made during activities carry over to work.

Higher retention rates

With teams that are stronger and more connected, there’s usually less employee turnover. By retaining employees, companies can hold onto institutional memory and experience. It also reduces the costs of posting jobs, hiring, and training replacements.

50 team-building activities to do indoors 

Below are 50 fun team-building activities that can be done by small groups or one large group. For each activity, there’s a recommendation for the number of team members and the time needed. It also lists which skills are developed, including problem-solving skills, communication, and employee engagement.

Each of these indoor team-building activities is interactive and immersive and can be accomplished easily on-site or using a nearby space. They are an effective way to improve employee engagement and build a positive company culture.

1. Board games 

Number of People: 2–16

Time Needed: 30 minutes–2 hours

Skills Developed: Teamwork and team bonding

Directions:

There’s nothing like taking a little bit of downtime during the workday to play a favorite board game. While many games pit players against each other, others are team-based competitions.

Fill a conference room with some of the team’s favorite board games. Most classic games are inexpensive to purchase. You can also ask people to bring in their own board games.

The break can be a welcome distraction that allows people to put their work away and relax for a few minutes. You can also hold ongoing tournaments that allow the team to compete and declare a champion.

Good games to consider include Monopoly, Parcheesi, chess, checkers, backgammon, and cribbage. 

2. Escape rooms 

Number of People: 4–20

Time Needed: 2 hours

Skills Developed: Teamwork, collaboration, and communication

Directions:

Escape rooms are a series of challenges that require teams to work together to find clues and solve problems. Many escape rooms have a theme, such as a murder mystery, a pirate’s treasure, or a crime investigation.

There are many private providers of escape room experiences. The team size will vary depending on the facility. Staff will help facilitate the experience and help out the group if they get stuck.

3. Office pen pal

Number of People: Unlimited

Time Needed: 5 minutes

Skills Developed: Communication and team-building

Directions:

Imagine getting a handwritten note from a coworker. Handwritten notes themselves are rare these days. This activity helps team members get to know each other and can be done with an in-person or remote team.

Everyone in the group is randomly assigned a pen pal. Each participant is asked to spend five minutes writing a letter to their pen pal. The topic can be themed or about whatever they choose.

One way to build connections is to ask participants to share something personal with a coworker. It might be their favorite television show, memories of their first day at work, or career aspirations. The intent is to get people to communicate with each other in an atypical way and connect them with a coworker.

Once done, players can share their letters with their coworkers (or email them if remote). Give players a few minutes to read and reflect on the letters.

4. Paper tower

Number of People: 4–20

Time Needed: 10–30 minutes

Skills Developed: Collaboration, communication, and problem-solving

Directions:

This activity asks people to build the tallest paper tower using only paper. There’s no tape, glue, or other building materials in this one.

Divide the participants into groups of about four players. Each group is given 20 sheets of paper and 20 minutes to see how high they can get their paper skyscraper.

It’s difficult to get the paper to stay together. That’s why creativity and communication are essential. Teams will need to experiment with different methods before finding something that works.

5. Company cook-off

Number of People: 4–15

Time Needed: 45–60 minutes

Skills Developed: Competitiveness

Directions:

This competition is all about bragging rights. It’s designed to determine which office mate makes the best cookie, chili, casserole, brownie, bread, or other dish.

Decide on a theme for the competition and ask each person to bake at home. Alternatively, if there are enough ovens in the workplace, you can have folks make their dishes at work. You can even rent a commercial kitchen if you want to get fancy with the activity.

Those employees who would prefer not to participate can be appointed judges. They will vote on their favorites. Alternatively, you could have everyone taste everything and vote.

6. Team meal

Number of People: Unlimited

Time Needed: 60 minutes

Skills Developed: Team bonding and camaraderie

Directions:

Having dinner together is a time-honored classic way to build team connections. The format and theme of the meal can vary. Team meal ideas can range from a potluck Friendsgiving to an indoor pizza party.

The purpose of the meal can vary, too. Supervisors might want to cater a Chinese food buffet after a team completes a major project. Or teams may create a tradition of a monthly lunch outing to a new restaurant.

When sharing a meal together, teams can engage in casual conversation about themselves and their work. Collectively, these opportunities provide a rich experience for everyone involved. They forge and reinforce connections.

7. Indoor scavenger hunt

Number of People: Unlimited

Time Needed: 60–90 minutes

Skills Developed: Teamwork, communication, and problem-solving

Directions:

An indoor scavenger hunt is a fun way to get teams working together. With an indoor hunt, teams must complete tasks and find objects, both common and unique. Teams win points for completing tasks and finding listed items.

Split the group into even teams and provide them with a list of activities and items. Set a time limit and send teams off.

Here are a few ideas for tasks to challenge the teams:

• Draw the company logo with your non-dominant hand

• Give the receptionist or security officer a compliment

• Buy a colleague a snack from the vending machines

• Bring a chair from the breakroom and sit in it, without talking, for five minutes. Then put it back.

And here are a few objects to gather:

• Three different-colored whiteboard markers and an eraser

• A coffee mug 

• Five staplers

• A bobblehead 

• An umbrella

• A company brochure that’s more than 5 years old

8. Office trivia

Number of People: 8–88

Time Needed: 30–60 minutes

Skills Developed: Company Knowledge

Directions:

Trivia games are a popular activity for group outings. This version of the classic, fun game comes with a twist. Here, the content of the quiz will be information about the company itself.

Prepare a group of questions about the organization ahead of time. Questions can include details on the company’s history, its founders, policies, procedures, values, and goals. Use a mix of lighthearted and serious questions to keep it interesting. Questions about coworkers are also acceptable as long as they are not too personal.

You can either call out the questions and award points for the first to answer, or, you can pit players against each other and ask questions one at a time to participants.

9. Lucky penny

Number of People: 5–20

Time Needed: 20 minutes

Skills Developed: Communication and team-building

Directions:

Grab a bunch of pennies and place them in a hat or other container. People will each select a penny and take turns sharing something about themselves. The catch is that the story needs to have taken place in the year that’s on the penny they’ve picked. If the penny is from a year before they were born or very young, they can choose another. You can also select a theme for each round of this game, such as a holiday story, a vacation story, or a professional story.

10. Memory wall

Number of People: 5–20

Time Needed: 30–45 minutes

Skills Developed: Community-building and camaraderie

Directions:

This exercise will spark conversation and build connections among teammates. It helps team members forge deeper bonds with each other through shared or different experiences.

Place large pieces of paper (giant sticky notes) on walls in a conference room. On each sheet or section, post a topic. Topics could be “first day on the job,” “funniest office memory,” or “my greatest success here.”

Ask participants to review the topics and write down an answer for each one. After a few minutes, ask people to affix their answers to the wall. Encourage people to review the posted responses.

Once everyone has had a chance to complete their posts, select a few to read aloud. Ask the person who posted each one to share a bit more about their entry.

11. Crazy eights

Number of People: 6–12

Time Needed: 20 minutes

Skills Developed: Recollection and collaboration

Directions:

Ask participants to sit in a circle and toss a bean bag to one person (the starter). The bean bag must be thrown to each person in the circle, and it cannot go to any person more than once—except the starter. Once completed, the last person tosses it back to the starter.

Next, the group must reconstruct who tossed the bean bag to whom and in what order. Members can help each other solve the puzzle and recollect the order.

To add a level of complexity to the task, don’t share the reconstruction part until after the cycle has been completed. This activity is a good way to kick off a session focused on teamwork and collaboration.

12. Founders

Number of People: 4 or more

Time Needed: 30–60 minutes

Skills Developed: Creativity

Directions:

Break the group into several teams. Announce that a parcel of land has been discovered somewhere in the globe that has never been inhabited. It belongs to no country, and your group has been appointed as the founders.

Your task is to create a country, including the name, language, currency system, voting system, culture, flag, and official animal or flower. Teams then work together for 30–45 minutes to create their country. Taking turns, teams will present their country and explain why they chose the answers they did.

13. Movie day

Number of People: Unlimited

Time Needed: 90 minutes – 2 hours

Skills Developed: Team-building

Directions:

This one is pretty easy. Book a conference room, screen, and projector. Choose a movie and give everyone a break from work to enjoy a timeless classic.

You can survey the staff beforehand or give them a list of 4–5 options to choose from.

14. Turning carpets

Number of People: 3–6

Time Needed: 10 minutes

Skills Developed: Teamwork and communication

Directions:

Have everyone fit themselves onto a carpet. If one isn’t available, you can use a blanket or a small tarp. The group objective is to flip the carpet over so that everyone is still standing on it. People cannot step off the carpet during the activity. The first team to turn their carpet wins.

15. What’s my name?

Number of People: 4–20

Time Needed: 15–20 minutes

Skills Developed: Communication, team-building, creativity, and problem-solving

Directions:

Each participant writes the name of someone well-known on a nametag. It could be a celebrity, athlete, politician, or coworker. The nametag is then placed on another player’s back. No one can see their own name tag, but everyone else can. As people mix or mingle, they can ask each other yes-or-no questions about their identity. When they correctly guess the name of the person, they can remove their nametag and help the remaining players to guess.

16. Ultimate dinner party

Number of People: 4–20

Time Needed: 30–45 minutes

Skills Developed: Creativity and team building

Directions:

Ask everyone the following question: If you could invite anyone in history (alive or dead) to a dinner party, who would it be? Ask everyone to submit their names and post them, one at a time, on a screen for all to see. Ask each person to share why they chose their guest.

17. Back-to-back drawing

Number of People: 6–16 in groups of two

Time Needed: 20 minutes

Skills Developed: Communication and collaboration

Directions:

This activity is bound to elicit laughter when drawings are presented. It’s an effective way to encourage strong, detail-oriented communication between two participants.

Split the group into pairs and have them sit back-to-back. One person is the speaker and the other is the listener.

Each speaker is given a picture (it doesn’t need to be the same for everyone). Each listener is given paper, pens, pencils, crayons, or markers.

The speaker describes the picture without saying what or who it is. The listener draws what they think the picture is, based on what the speaker says. 

At the conclusion, the pairs share both the original picture and the drawing. They can discuss the process and what was easy or challenging. If time permits, run the activity twice and have the pairs switch roles.

18. Never have I ever

Number of People: Unlimited

Time Needed: 15–20 minutes

Skills Developed: Team-building

Directions:

This activity will be a clean version of the popular party game. For each person who has done a particular activity, you can reward them with a piece of candy or a trinket. It’s a great way to learn who has done what in the office and have them share stories.

Compile a list of “never have I ever” questions. These can be outlandish or common, but the more unique, the better. Here are a few ideas:

• Gone skydiving

• Been to Alaska or Hawaii

• Traveled alone

• Visited Europe, Asia, or Africa

• Broken a bone

• Driven manual transmission

• Been in a helicopter

19. Two truths and a lie

Number of People: Up to 20

Time Needed: 30–45 minutes

Skills Developed: Creativity, problem-solving, and team building

Directions:

This classic icebreaker helps teams get to know each other better and figure out who’s fibbing about what.

Ask each person to write down two true things about themselves and one lie. Each person then shares, one at a time, their three items. The remaining players need to guess which “facts” are true and pick which they think is a lie.

The submitter then reveals the lie and can take a few minutes to share a story about one of their truths. Sometimes, players submit a lie that’s close to the truth, e.g., “I got food poisoning in Amsterdam”—when actually they got food poisoning in Prague.

20. Minefield

Number of People: 6–20, in teams of 2

Time Needed: 15 minutes

Skills Developed: Communication, listening, and teamwork

Directions:

Divide the group into pairs and ask players to choose whether to be blindfolded or to lead.

Teams are brought to a room with multiple soft objects placed around it. The objects, such as Nerf toys, stuffed animals, pillows, or even pieces of paper, are scattered.

All players begin at a starting line. At the start, the leads must instruct their players verbally with no touching allowed. The blindfolded players must follow instructions to navigate the course and make it to the finish line.

The first team to finish wins. If time permits, run the game twice so all players play both roles.

21. Team bulletin boards

Number of People: Unlimited

Time Needed: Ongoing

Skills Developed: Communications

Directions:

One might wonder why a bulletin board could be a team-building activity. However, there’s a reason why bulletin boards have long been a staple of break rooms. They are an effective way to share information, provide reminders, and add character to a workplace.

Give each bulletin board a theme and let workers use them at their leisure. Bulletin board themes can include:

• Post a recipe

• Compliment a coworker

• Hangman

• A shared crossword puzzle

• Question of the month, with room to answer

This is a good way to build camaraderie at a leisurely but ongoing pace.

22. Team wellness activities

Number of People: Varies

Time Needed: 30–60 minutes

Skills Developed: Employee wellness and engagement

Directions:

By providing indoor wellness activities for your team, you’re promoting healthy living and shared experiences. These activities should be optional as some employees may not be comfortable doing these activities in a work setting. Poll your employees for options to offer, including:

• Yoga

• Meditation

• Mindfulness

23. Minute to win it

Number of People: Up to 50

Time Needed: 5–10 minutes

Skills Developed: Friendly competition and team building

Directions:

This activity can be a series of short activities, each of which is done in 60 seconds. Each person is asked to complete an activity—and all participants must be provided with the same materials. The person who does the most or does the activity fastest wins that round.

Here are some fun ideas:

• Keep two balloons from hitting the ground without holding either

• Move as many beads as possible to a container using chopsticks

• Move mini marshmallows to a container using only a straw

• Thread as many needles as possible

• Stack as many pennies as possible using your non-dominant hand

• Transfer ping pong balls from one bowl to another with a spoon but no hands

• Write down as many state capitals as possible

24. The barter puzzle

Number of People: Up to 30 in groups of 3–4

Time Needed: 30–60 minutes

Skills Developed: Teamwork, persuasion, and negotiation

Directions:

Divide the group into small teams and give each group its own different jigsaw puzzle of equal size and difficulty. Each team is tasked with solving its puzzle the fastest. The challenge is that some puzzle pieces will be with the other team’s pile of pieces.

Teams must convince others to give back their pieces through bartering, trading players, or giving time to competitors.

25. Code break

Number of People: Unlimited, groups of 2-6

Time Needed: 2-3 hours

Skills Developed: Teamwork, critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, strategy, collaboration

Directions:

Divide your teams into small groups of two to six people. They’ll work together to solve a series of puzzles, riddles, and codes that each unlock the next stage—all before the clock counts down. You can do this virtually, in-person, or host a Code Break game yourself. 

26. Blind drawing

Number of People: 2-20

Time Needed: 30-60 minutes 

Skills Developed: Teamwork, problem-solving, communication

Directions:

Break your group into pairs or groups of three or four. One person—the “artist”—will wear a blindfold and draw an object using only verbal instructions and clues from their team. The common goal is to beat the other team by drawing the most accurate image. 

27. Murder mystery

Number of People: 8-20 

Time Needed: 30 minutes-2 hours 

Skills Developed: Communication, collaboration, problem-solving, leadership

Directions:

Murder mystery, sometimes called Mafia or Clue, is a fun way to loosen people up and bring some drama to the workplace. You’ll start by designating a facilitator who will walk everyone through the fictional murder or crime. From there, assign everyone else roles. 

Some people will be townspeople, while others will be the killer, victim, police officer, or judge. Once everyone has their assigned roles, they have to work together to gather evidence and identify the suspect, all while dealing with the threat of being voted out of the game. 

28. Team timeline

Number of People: 5-8

Time Needed: 30-60 minutes 

Skills Developed: Teamwork, communication, collaboration, trust, creative thinking

Directions:

Working together, your group will build a timeline of their team, incorporating each team member’s own work milestones and significant personal events. You’ll need a large whiteboard or paper where the team can start with a date, then fill in key timeline events. Think: when the company was started, when each team member joined, family expansions, etc. 

This exercise helps everyone understand each other’s backgrounds, life experiences, and work contributions on a deeper level. It’s a great opportunity for some storytelling and comparing career journeys. 

29. Human knot

Number of People: 5-8 

Time Needed: 15-20 minutes 

Skills Developed: Teamwork, communication, trust, and patience 

Directions:

A small group stands in a circle and reaches across to grab the hands of two different people at random. From there, the entire team has to work together to untangle the “human knot” they’ve created until they’re back in a circle again—but without breaking their hand-holding. The result: lots of silliness and cooperation.  

30. Everyday items sales pitch

Number of People: 4-12

Time Needed: 30-60 minutes 

Skills Developed: Teamwork, communication, critical thinking, collaboration

Directions:

Have teams of two or three work together to pitch everyday items to a panel of judges—without showing or telling what the item is. Using just their powers of persuasion and positioning, teams will have to convince the judges to take a risk on their item to win. 

31. Jeopardy

Number of People: 16, 4 teams of 4

Time Needed: 30-45 minutes

Skills Developed: Problem-solving, teamwork, communication, critical thinking

Directions:

Similar to the game show, one person in each group will act as the captain and be in charge of the buzzer. Everyone else in the group will collaborate to answer questions from different categories, which could be related to the workplace or industry, or be completely random. Contestants have to answer the questions in the form of a question, like on Jeopardy, and get a certain number of points or “dollars” for each right answer. The team with the most points wins!

32. Charity bike buildathon

Number of People: Unlimited, teams of 2-4

Time Needed: 45 minutes-1 hour

Skills Developed: Problem-solving, teamwork, communication, leadership

Directions:

Teams have a set amount of time—say, an hour—to build a children’s bike from straight from the box. Then they have to decorate and present their bike to the rest of the groups, before donating them to a local children’s youth group or charity organization. 

33. Goodie bag assembly

Number of People: Unlimited, teams of 2-4

Time Needed: 20 minutes-1 hour

Skills Developed: Collaboration, communication, team bonding 

Directions:

Partner with a local non-profit organization, like a women’s shelter or youth group, to make and donate goodie bags. Supply your team with the materials they need to fill and create a certain number of bags. This is a great, low-key way for people to connect and give back at the same time. 

34. Cookie bake-off 

Number of People: 6-20

Time Needed: 45 minutes

Skills Developed: Collaboration, communication, teamwork, critical thinking, creative thinking 

Directions:

The bake-off is the perfect opportunity for teams to test their memory, experimentation, and communication skills—and crack up along the way. Supply each team with the same baking supplies needed to make chocolate chip cookies, then challenge them to make the best version possible. The catch? They don’t get a recipe to work off of. At the end, taste test each team’s cookie and determine which one is the best!

35. Think tank

Number of People: 4-10

Time Needed: 30-45 minutes

Skills Developed: Problem-solving, communication, teamwork, critical thinking, leadership, creative thinking

Directions:

Give your teams a specific business/workplace challenge, and encourage them to act like a think tank to solve it. This could be anything from ideating a new product or developing a more innovative marketing campaign to addressing customer complaints. Have your team come up with solutions and ideas, then present them to the rest of the group.

36. Charades

Number of People: 5-20

Time Needed: 30-45 minutes

Skills Developed: Communication, teamwork

Directions:

Play a good old-fashioned game of charades, where teams have to take turns acting out an idea, movie, or book—no talking allowed—until their teammates guess what they’re acting out. You could make the charades workplace-themed or specific to your industry, or do categories. 

37. Quiet collaboration

Number of People: 5-10

Time Needed: 30-45 minutes

Skills Developed: Communication, teamwork, problem-solving, collaboration

Directions:

Give your team a series of challenges to solve together—in total silence. They can’t talk to one another to collaborate, so they’ll need to get out of their comfort zone to use visual clues and other ways of sharing information. The challenges should be doable but difficult without verbal instructions: order yourselves according to birthdays, coordinate a group jumping photo, build a house of cards, etc. 

38. Taste tests

Number of People: 5-15

Time Needed: 15-30 minutes

Skills Developed: Collaboration, decision-making, team bonding

Directions:

Pick a category of food that’s universally loved but has a million variations—think: chocolate chip cookies, tortilla chips, brownies, pizza—and bring in 4-5 different brands/versions. Have someone outside the team set up a blind taste test, so the team won’t know which version of the food is which. Together, they’ll have to try the different varieties of the food, grade each one on several factors they come up with (flavor profile, consistency, taste, etc), guess at the brands/types, and rank them in order of best to worst. 

39. Sudoku competition

Number of People: Teams of 2

Time Needed: 15-30 minutes

Skills Developed: Problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration

Directions:

Break your team into pairs and assign each one a Sudoku puzzle to complete, then set a timer. The duo that finishes it the fastest wins!

40. Crossword contest

Number of People: 20, teams of 4

Time Needed: 20-45 minutes

Skills Developed: Problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration, creative thinking

Directions:

Similar to the Sudoku challenge, encourage teams to complete a tricky crossword puzzle (like The New Yorker) together. The first to finish wins. 

41. Fish bowl

Number of People: 8-15

Time Needed: 30-45 minutes

Skills Developed: Collaboration, teamwork, humor, and team bonding

Directions:

For this game, you’ll situate everyone in a circle and hand them three scraps of paper each, where they’ll write a person, place, and thing of their choosing. Then fold up the papers and toss them in a bowl. Teams are every other person in the circle. 

One by one, each person will stand up and pick a scrap of paper from the bowl. For the first round, people have to describe the word on the paper, similar to Catch Phrase. If their team guesses the word in under 30 seconds, they score a point. 

Once all the scraps of paper have been fished out, you put them back into the bowl for round two. For this round, teams won’t be describing the words—they’ll be acting them out charades-style. After you cycle through the papers once again, put them back in the bowl for round three. During this round, you can only say one word related to what’s on the paper. The good news is that by this point, everyone has heard all of the words on the papers. Whichever team has the highest number of points at the end wins. 

42. Would you rather?

Number of People: 5-15

Time Needed: 30-45 minutes

Skills Developed: Collaboration, communication, team bonding

Directions:

Each person will come up with two “would you rather?” questions—either workplace-related or random (e.g., Would you rather deal with a broken AC in the office or a broken coffee machine? If you had to develop one daredevil talent, would you rather learn to skydive solo or skateboard off ramps and pools?) and write them on a piece of paper. Similar to doing icebreaker questions, each person picks a piece of paper from the bowl and poses the question to the group, and one by one, everyone has to answer and explain their choice.

It’s a good opportunity to laugh, learn about one another, and debate preferences. 

43. Spelling bee

Number of People: 5-20, broken into teams of 2

Time Needed: 30-45 minutes

Skills Developed: Communication, engagement, collaboration

Directions:

For some serious nostalgia, break the group into pairs and have them compete together in a spelling bee. You can generate challenging words at random or choose jargon from your industry. Go round by round, giving each team of two one new word a round. Whichever pair misspells a word is out of the competition. 

44. Office Olympics

Number of People: 8-40

Time Needed: 1-2 hours

Skills Developed: Problem-solving, communication, engagement, collaboration

Directions:

Come up with a series of office Olympic-style events or games. Depending on your workplace and employee demographic, these events could be as athletically inclined as running a mile race around the building or doing an indoor obstacle course, or as easy and straightforward as restocking the office pantry. You can break the group into teams of four and have them nominate different individuals for certain events or compete together. 

45. Mini PowerPoint presentation

Number of People: 6-20, teams of 4

Time Needed: 1-2 hours

Skills Developed: Communication, creative thinking, public speaking, leadership, collaboration

Directions:

Give teams 30-45 minutes to work together to assemble a mini PowerPoint presentation on a funny topic of their choosing, which they’ll then present to the rest of the teams. Topics can be breakdowns of niche pop culture moments, deep dives into TV shows or movies, hobby 101 seminars, how-to guides (make the best coffee, organize your email inbox, etc.), life lessons, and more. Teams can be creative and personal, showing off their sense of humor and interests outside of the workplace. 

46. The minister’s cat

Number of People: 5-12

Time Needed: 20-30 minutes 

Skills Developed: Communication, collaboration, quick thinking

Directions:

Everyone will sit in a circle and agree on a wide-ranging category to start. Think: breakfast foods, countries, or musical bands. Going around in a circle and clapping to a simple 1-2 beat, each person has to name something from the chosen category that starts with the letter A. When someone can’t name an A-letter word, they’re out—and the rest of the group moves on to letter B. And so on through the alphabet, or until there’s one winner left. 

47. Madlibs

Number of People: 4-8

Time Needed: 20-30 minutes 

Skills Developed: Communication, collaboration, team bonding

Directions:

Break your group into teams of two, and give everyone a Madlibs sheet you’ve made for the occasion. You can do an office-themed one that tells a story of a typical day, or one related to the next upcoming holiday or the season you’re in (like fall). Have pairs complete the Madlibs sheet together, then read them aloud to the rest of the group for lots of laughs. 

48. Word scramble

Number of People: 4-10

Time Needed: 20-30 minutes 

Skills Developed: Communication, collaboration, problem-solving

Directions:

All you need for this is a whiteboard and some eager participants. Have teams of two face off against one another to unscramble a particularly long word. The word could be something your team hears day in and day out, or something less familiar (if you go this route, make sure to set them up with a clue or two to get started). Whoever comes up with the correct word in the fastest time wins. 

49. Numbered news

Number of People: 4-12

Time Needed: 20-30 minutes 

Skills Developed: Communication, collaboration, problem-solving

Directions:

Give each person in teams of three or four a different number on a card. Using one or two clues, they’ll have to work together to figure out what kind of news the series of numbers represents. For example, the numbers could correspond to quarterly projections, Christmas bonuses, sales figures, paid time off, or something else. 

50. Desk development

Number of People: 4-16

Time Needed: 30 minutes 

Skills Developed: Communication, collaboration, problem-solving

Directions:

Break the group into teams of 3 or four, and have each person collect any three items from their desk. Then, tell the teams they have 20 minutes to use their collection of items to build a structure or object of some sort. You can provide a handful of other materials, like tape, blocks, and string, to make their jobs a bit easier. 

FAQ

How do you plan indoor team-building games for small teams?

Planning indoor team-building games for small teams comes down to intention and execution. Start by thinking about what you want to achieve with team-building. Connection? Fun? Collaboration? Once you pinpoint your goal, pick an activity and date, then send an announcement to your team via email or Slack. 

What problem-solving activities work best for indoor team-building?

The best types of problem-solving activities for indoor team-building include Escape Rooms, Scavenger Hunts, and Paper Towers. 

Which indoor activities help improve communication and trust?

Almost every indoor team-building activity helps improve communication and trust, but there are different types of communication. Activities that depend on communication for problem-solving include Escape Rooms, Turning Carpets, and Minefield. Activities that involve communicating about yourself include Two Truths and a Lie, Never Have I Ever, and Team Bulletin Boards.  

How can you run inclusive indoor team-building exercises for all abilities?

You can absolutely keep indoor team-building exercises inclusive for people of all abilities and strengths. If movement or walking far distances isn’t an option, for example, stick to stationary activities. If some employees have vision or hearing impairments, you can tailor the activities to provide them with support and options. When in doubt, don’t be afraid to ask employees directly about their needs and preferences, so they feel heard and cared for.

Team building activities can do a world of good for participants and the organization. By deepening connections and shared participation, these activities will carry over into the workplace.

At Gusto, we understand the importance of strong teams. Our solutions help companies of all sizes build stronger HR, benefits, onboarding, and talent management programs. To learn more about how Gusto can enhance your teams, contact us today.