Fun and Engaging Ice Breaker Games For Work

1. Word Association

Up for a really quick, simple way to get people laughing and comfortable? Well, this is the best icebreaker game for you! Firstly, get a group of people in a circle or a video call if you’re doing this virtually. Choose someone to start the challenge who will kick it off by saying a random word. If you’re doing this in person, the person to the left of them in the circle then needs to say an associated word as quickly as possible. The person to the left of them does the same and you go around the circle for as long as you can. Each person has three seconds to respond – this gives the challenge added pressure which always make things interesting. If you’re doing this virtually, you can do it in alphabetical order or choose another way to make it clear whose turn is next. 

2. That Reminds Me

Very similar to Word Association, ‘That Reminds Me’ is an interesting ice breaking activity that’ll give people an opportunity to get to know their colleagues a little better. Simply give everyone a prompt or choose someone to provide a prompt – this could be a place, a person or a moment in time – and everyone then shares something that reminds them of the prompt. 

Example prompts could be:

• Home
• Work
• Childhood
• Summer
• School
• Holiday

This is a light-hearted way for your team to get a window into the personal lives of their colleagues. It’s fun, simple and easy to do – what’s not to love?

3. Quizzes

Quizzes are a classic team icebreaker that bring colleagues together through a sense of teamwork and healthy competition. You can create a quiz in a relatively short space time of (thanks, Google!) and deliver them in-person and virtually, meaning they’re great for a range of purposes whether that’s introducing new starters or building cohesion within existing teams. 

We recommend choosing a relatable topic to maximise engagement across the team. It could be about general knowledge, films and TV shows, music – the list goes on! You could even make it extra interesting by making the quiz about the people taking part. This is a great way to use the quiz as a way to help people get to know their colleagues better while also breaking the ice.

5. Two truths, one lie

A classic! Two truths, one lie is a quick, easy and brilliantly fun team activity that helps colleagues get to know each other and tests their existing knowledge too. If you haven’t done it before, it’s pretty self-explanatory, really! Every person in the group submits three statements about themselves – two have to be true and one has to be lie. Other people in the group then have to guess which statement is the lie. This is a light-hearted, amusing ice breaker that’ll be sure to get some laughs, give an insight into individual’s personal lives and help people show different sides to their character. 

6. “If you..” questions

This team icebreaker offers an alternative, quick-fire approach to getting employees to show more sides of their personalities. You simply need to come up with a hypothetical scenario and ask people how they would deal with it. Example questions could be: 

• If you had to eat the same meal for the rest of your life, what would it be? 
• If you were a colour, what colour would you be?
• If you could choose your own name, what would you choose? 
• If you had to do one sport every day, what would you choose? 
• If you had to swap lives with a celebrity, who would it be?

You can choose one question for a recurring meeting, for example, so there’s always a quick ice breaker to get people interacting straight away. The questions can also link to any kind of theme or topic, making it a truly interesting ice breaking activity. But try not to make it too obscure… you want people to feel comfortable to get involved!

8. Drawing activities

Adding an element of creativity to your ice-breaker activity is a great way to make it more dynamic, engaging and, ultimately, fun! Drawing activities are a great choice and bring in an element of collaboration that helps break down barriers. Options you could try are: 

• Blind-folded drawing – Give people an object, person or animal to draw blind-folded within a set amount of time. You can then all enjoy the reveal and the hilarious creations that result! 
• Pictionary – Choose one person to draw a specific object, person or animal at a time. While they’re drawing, people have to call out what they think is being drawn. People can work in teams or individually, depending on the size of your group. 

Fancy giving it a try?

9. Who am I?

This team icebreaker revolves around individuals being assigned the name of a famous person or well-known character. They then need to ask yes/no questions to their colleagues to help them work out who they are. When done in-person, you can utilise sticky notes, give everyone a name at the same time and take it in turns to ask a question. If you’re doing this virtually, select one person to have a name assigned to them and privately message all of the other participants the name so they’re aware. The named individual then asks their questions during the call and the game will play out in the same way. Easy, right? The benefit of this ice breaking game is that it gives every person the opportunity to speak and interact with their colleagues, helping break down barriers and drive colleague connection.

11. Would you rather?

This ice-breaker game requires a bit more forward-planning, so it’s definitely worth utilising this for an event or meeting that’s already planned in the diary. It’s super simple – you just come up with a series of two scenarios and ask individuals which one they would prefer. To ensure this activity does its intended job of encouraging people to talk and helping them feel comfortable to be themselves, it’s best to choose light-hearted scenarios that everyone can relate to. Here are some examples you’re welcome to use: 

• Would you rather get stuck in traffic every time you drive but always find the perfect parking spot or never experience traffic again but always struggle to find a place to park
  
• Would you rather eat 100 chocolate bars in one sitting every Friday, or do 50 press ups every time you sneeze?
  
• Would you rather be invisible for one day a week or have an unlimited supply of your favourite food every day?
  
• Would you rather only be able to listen to Christmas songs for the rest of your life or only listen to music of your choice for five hours every five years?

12. Whose story is it?

Want to get people laughing and sharing their own funny stories? ‘Whose story is it?’ is the best ice breaker game. All people need to do is anonymously submit their funniest or silliest story and then each story is read out at random so people can guess who the story belongs to. Similar to other ice breakers, this activity prompts people to share something personal in a relaxed, casual environment which brings the group together, familiarises individuals and gives people a platform to form an affinity. 

13. The Quotes Game

Another great way to break the ice with colleagues is the Quotes Game. Individuals split into teams and write down quotes from popular films, books, TV shows and songs on separate pieces of paper. They then read them out and the opposing team(s) need to guess where the quote is from. Teams get one point for every correct answer, and the team with the most points wins! This ice breaking activity requires collaboration and teamwork, with a healthy sprinkling of competition, which helps form connections.

14. Photo Throwback

Nostalgic and heartwarming, this ice breaker requires individuals to anonymously submit a childhood photo. Team members must then review the photos that come in and guess who is in each one. You could make this a quiz and put people into teams if you’re in a big group, or simply get people guess on the spot. Either way, people will naturally share personal stories that relate to the photo, giving their colleagues a chance to find out more about and connect with them. Lovely stuff! 

16. Emoji introductions

This simple but fun ice breaker activity is a great way to introduce new team members without the classic but anxiety-inducing question of ‘What’s an interesting fact about you?’. Individuals simply have to share five emojis that best describe themselves. This can be shared interactively through an online tool like Miro or the Microsoft Teams whiteboard feature, or people can simply describe the emojis if you’re in person. This is an effective way to prompt natural conversations and get people to connect on a more personal level. 

17. Line up

If you’re looking for a quick way to get people working together as a team, this is the ice-breaking game for you! Simply separate your group into teams and, ideally, mix people up so they’re with colleagues they don’t usually spend time with. You then need to choose someone to be the caller – this is the person that instructs people to line up in a certain order. The caller shouts out their instruction and the teams have to quickly get themselves into the appropriate line. Examples include:

• Line up in alphabetical order by first name with the earliest letter first.
• Line up according to the number of siblings you have, with the least first.
• Line up in height order, with the shortest person at the front.
• Line up in order of your birth months, with the first month of the year first.

We recommend deciding the order prompts before the session, so each prompt is easy to understand. Otherwise, you may be stuck thinking of something on the spot! Although, that does add to the fun…

18. Mindfulness exercise

Not all ice-breaking activities have to be high energy! A calm and relaxing ice breaker like this mindfulness exercise will help employees reflect and check in with themselves. This will help the meeting or event that follows to have more meaningful moments and instances of personal connection. 

In your group, ask each individual to take a moment to check in with themselves and write down five things that they’re feeling. This could be physical – like feeling the floor underneath their feet – or mental – like feeling motivated for the day ahead. Give people time to do this activity so they have the opportunity to reflect. Once ready, you can ask people to share a few things that they’ve captured, if comfortable, with the group. 

20. Recognition snowball

Are we saving the best ‘til last? We think so! Recognition snowball is a personal favourite of ours at BW HQ because it’s an ice breaker that not only sparks fun and enjoyment but gets people to take a moment to appreciate others in the room, aligning with our mantra to #RecogniseRepeat – make appreciation part of every day! This ice-breaking activity is best done in a big group as it creates real energy and enthusiasm. All you need is people, paper and pens! 

First, split your group into smaller teams, either sat at different tables or positioned in different parts of the room. Then get every individual to recognise an individual by writing their name on a piece of paper and the reason why they’re recognising them. After that, they simply scrunch up the paper into a ball. Give people 5-10 minutes to do this activity, writing one person per piece of paper. Then, when everyone is ready, they have one minute to throw their snowballs around the room! After the snowball throwing is done, people then need to gather the snowballs near to where they are and read the recognitions. Get someone from each team to stand up and read out some of them too, so people can hear and feel the appreciation in the room. 

 Ice breaker games: Bring your team together and boost morale

Ice breaking activities provide a great way to boost morale, build colleague connections and support workplace culture. While they’re often seen as something to only use for specific events or introducing new people, ice breakers can also be a really valuable tool for existing teams, to nurture relationships, break down barriers and just have a bit of fun!

But, as with anything, there’s isn’t a single golden ticket for success when it comes to boosting morale and driving employee engagement – there are other ingredients that need to be brought into the mix. Your business’ employee reward and benefits programme plays a pivotal role in this and leaves a far more lasting impact than any ice-breaking activity will. With the right programme in place, one that’s tailored to your business’ unique needs, offers personalisation and is, crucially, easy to access and use, you’ll see benefits far beyond boosted morale. 

And doing just that is what we’re committed to here at Boostworks. For over 22 years, we’ve been working with brilliant UK employers to boost morale, build connections and drive a thriving workplace culture. By working with us, you get the perfect blend of our emotional intelligence and technical intelligence. Yes, we deliver meaningful benefits and rewards through our mobile app and web platform, but we also provide real human support in the form our expert team and care about the real boosts that happen as a result of our support. We get people, and we’re here to help your people thrive!