Let the group know that team A will be subjects while team B will be artists. Hand team B some drawing materials and then give them 15 seconds to begin drawing a portrait of the person in front of them. After 15 seconds, shout “rotate” and have each person on team B move one space to the left. The new artist then continues drawing the portrait of the new person in front of them. Object Meditation is a calming and mindful way to open a meeting and encourage everyone to be present. They say “A Calm Mind is an Effective Mind” and with a calmer mind, you can better explore those challenges in life with calmness and centered awareness.
One Word Association
- By getting everyone in the room participating in the same goal, this icebreaker can quickly help everyone “arrive” in the session.
- Short, fun, energizing team activity that helps groups get to know each other better.
- For teams looking for a more in-depth activity, the 9 Dimensions icebreaker activity is a great way to share strengths, weaknesses and preferred ways of working with the group. newlineChat Waterfall is an effective virtual icebreaker that enables you to get contributions from everyone in a large group with ease.
Great for the awkward five minutes while you’re waiting for latecomers. When the paper planes are done, have a competition in a long hallway or outside to see which plane flies the farthest. Not everyone may be comfortable opening up at first, so be sure to lead with vulnerability and make everyone in the room feel safe about sharing their moment.
Office Trivia Challenge brings the fun of a quiz show into your virtual meetings. The host prepares a series of trivia questions related to office culture, company facts, or random fun topics. Participants compete individually or in breakout room teams, answering questions via chat, poll features, or live responses.
Problem Solving Games
The competitive structure keeps energy high, and the collaboration required to solve puzzles means people actually have to talk to each other — not just exist in the same Zoom. Confetti’s Virtual Escape Quest is professionally hosted and built for teams who want something that actually feels like an event. These 32 large group games work for remote and hybrid teams with 20 to 150+ people. All of them are better than another icebreaker that makes everyone want to fake a connection issue.
Icebreakers are the strategic antidote to this challenge, and their impact is directly tied to business outcomes. One of the best ways to see the person behind the Slack avatar is to have everyone confess a guilty pleasure. This might be a show they binge-watch or a snack they can’t resist. You’ll start conversations while reminding everyone they share more in common than they might think. It’s lighthearted and offers a glimpse into everyone’s home life. These small moments of authenticity build empathy and make remote meetings feel warmer.
Playful start in which the participants will start to communicate with and come to know each other, directing the thinking toward the topic of the day. While many of the icebreakers above can be adapted for any group size, these activities are especially effective when working with groups of less than 15 people. The Team Jigsaw Puzzle is a great way to get larger teams working together collaboratively while breaking the ice. Give each a very different jigsaw puzzle (with equal difficulty & number of pieces). Each group has the same amount of time to complete the puzzle.
Pictionary is similar to charades, except that people draw pictures instead of acting out the phrase or word assigned to them. To make the game more interesting, have all of the prompts be related to your company, industry, or event theme. Let’s explore the special benefits of incorporating icebreaker exercises into virtual gatherings. These games are perfect for kicking off a daily stand-up or re-energizing the team during a long meeting. The rise of remote work has eliminated the spontaneous, informal interactions that build the foundation of a strong team culture.
The Magic Box icebreaker encourages players to think creatively and share with the group in response to an object they pull from a box. Begin by having all participants create an avatar on a piece of card with a self portrait and name. The Trading Card Icebreaker is an effective way to creatively break the ice and let your team share their personalities with the group. Be sure to put in items that require a wide range of skills and thinking and diverse personalities to be completed successfully. The secret twist is to switch up a few pieces with the other jigsaw sets beforehand!
Start Minefield by setting up harmless obstacles on the floor of the meeting room you’re in. Use things like squeaky toys, bubble wrap, books, cushions and other soft objects you don’t mind getting stepped. Everyone in the group then takes turns to move through the course while blindfolded, guided by their teammates. Would You Rather is a lighthearted icebreaker activity that sparks interesting conversations and reveals participants’ preferences.
Each resource was created by a Confident Counselor who has navigated this virtual counseling world. Interactive art tools can be used in virtual counseling sessions in various ways. Explore the sites below to use art as a tool for expression, coping skills, and more.
Start by having everyone stand in a circle with one person in the middle as the ‘sheriff’. These people must quickly crouch and those on either side of them have to quickly ‘draw’ their weapons. If you are too slow, you switch places & become the sheriff. Begin this icebreaker by simply asking participants to stand in a circle and pass a ball to their left. Debrief and ask how the task went before asking participants to try again while moving the ball faster. Introduce further complexity until the game becomes a mess!
For large groups, this works because people self-select into the game they want to play rather than everyone needing to do the same thing at once. Confetti’s Virtual Casino Night staffs dealers and manages up to 150+ people across stations, so it actually runs like an event. If your team members have a few causes they’re truly passionate about, consider making this a monthly or quarterly event. You can also rotate the charities that you’re helping out to accommodate your team’s different interests. When the time is up, ask your teams to gather their eggs and egg cages to drop them out of the window.
The best icebreakers have the power to strengthen coworker bonds, stimulate better brainstorming sessions, and create an atmosphere of inclusivity. First, have everyone choose an object that is close to them and invite them to close their eyes. Next, ask the group to notice how they feel and to consider any feelings that aren’t serving them right now. Invite them to transfer these feelings into the object they are holding for the duration of the meeting and then come back to the room. Stress Balls is a fast-paced icebreaker that helps highlight the importance of communication and teamwork while also encouraging lots of fun. In this short exercise, a group must count up to a certain number, taking turns in a random order, with no two people speaking at the same time.
Have your team create a mind map together to brainstorm ideas for your next in-person event, product launch, campaign, or anything else. Try using a virtual whiteboard like Miro or Witeboard to make it easy to work together virtually. This activity delachat.com can spur collaboration and bonding amongst people in remote teams as they get a chance to know each other more meaningfully. These simple icebreaker activities can work for just about any type of virtual event. According to this stat, 49% of marketers say that audience engagement is the biggest contributing factor to having a successful event. Since icebreaker aims to engage and entertain remote participants that is why it must be a part of the virtual event you plan.
Emoji Check-In is a quick and playful way to start a virtual meeting by encouraging participants to share how they’re feeling—using only emojis. Everyone posts their chosen emoji(s) in the Zoom chat or uses reaction buttons to express their current mood, energy level, or mindset. Count Up is a deceptively simple yet engaging icebreaker that challenges teams to count sequentially from 1 to a set number—but with a catch. Participants must say the numbers one at a time, in random order, without speaking over each other or establishing a pattern. If two people speak at the same time, the group starts over. With Airmeet, it’s easy to make every attendee feel like part of the show.
Share Your Role Model
For larger group meetings or company-wide gatherings, use icebreakers every time, even if brief. These happen less frequently, so the investment in connection is crucial. The best icebreaker games create psychological safety—the foundation for high-performing teams. When people feel they can be themselves without judgment, innovation and productivity naturally follow. Family reunion games do more than fill time—they spark joy, laughter, and connection.
Large group games work when they’re designed for virtual, not retrofitted from an in-person playbook. The ones that succeed give people multiple ways to participate, move fast enough to hold attention, and put someone capable in charge of keeping the energy up. Give everyone two minutes to grab an object from their space that means something to them — a mug, a plant, a weird trophy — and share the thirty-second story behind it. Use breakout rooms for actual sharing, then bring a few stories back to the main room.
Have people sit in pairs, ideally with colleagues that they don’t directly work with on a day-to-day basis. Determine the time limit (say 3 minutes for each conversation) and set a timer. When it starts, each pair has to start speed networking & find out as much professional information about the other as possible. It’s a fun and visually engaging way to get everyone involved instantly, especially in larger groups. Chat Waterfall adds a burst of energy to virtual meetings and creates a shared moment of surprise and laughter.
In a virtual environment, you could ask them to write a haiku about work-life balance, their goals, their favorite hobby, or what makes a great leader. The tail of someone’s cat or dog peeking into the far corner of the Zoom frame is far more interesting than discussing the last quarter’s numbers. Invite team members to introduce their pets (or a favorite comfort object, if they don’t have a pet) on camera. The way the game works, you split the employees into two teams. Then, give them prompts, either a survival scenario or a stranded-on-an-island kind of situation.