travel themed ice breakers

22 Icebreakers for Travel

Traveling is a great way to see the world and learn new things. But it can also be a little daunting, especially if you’re traveling solo.

One of the best ways to overcome this and make friends with your fellow travelers is by using icebreaker conversation starters.

Here are 20 fun and easy icebreakers designed for travelers that you can use while on your next trip!

1. “What’s the best trip you’ve ever been on?” This is a great question because it can give you an idea of what kind of traveler they are. Do they like adventure or prefer to relax? Are they more interested in visiting new places or revisiting old favorites?

2. Where are you from? This is always a classic icebreaker question. It can help you learn more about their culture and where they come from.

3. What’s your favorite food? This is a great way to find out more about their culture and what kinds of foods they like. It can also lead to some great recommendations on places to eat while you’re traveling!

5. Do you like to travel alone or with others? This question can help you understand their comfort level with traveling and whether or not they’re looking to meet new people.

6. What’s your favorite thing about traveling? This question can help you understand what they enjoy most about traveling and get to know their passions.

7. What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you while traveling? This question can help you bond with someone over a shared experience, no matter how negative it may have been. It also shows that you’re interested in hearing about their travel experiences, good or bad.

8. Have you ever been to (insert country/city)? This question can help you gauge their level of travel experience and get to know where they’ve been.

9. What’s the best thing you’ve eaten while traveling? This question is a great way to get recommendations on local food and learn about different cultures. It’s also a great conversation starter if you’re both interested in food!

11. Do you have any funny travel stories? This question is a great way to lighten the mood and get to know someone’s sense of humor. It’s also a great conversation starter if you’re looking to laugh about your own travel mishaps!

12. What are some of your favorite travel apps? This question is a great way to get recommendations on helpful travel apps and learn about different ways to make your travels easier. Plus, it’s always good to have a backup plan for travel!

13. What’s the best trip you’ve ever been on?   This is a great question because it can give you an idea of what kind of traveler they are. Do they like adventure or prefer to relax? Are they more interested in visiting new places or revisiting old favorites? Where are you from? This is always a classic icebreaker question. It can help you learn more about their

14. How long have you been traveling?  

15. What’s the furthest place you’ve ever been from home?

16. What are some of your packing essentials?

17. Do you have any tips for budget travel? Have you ever volunteered?

18. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received for travel?

19. Do you have any goals for future travels ?

20. What are some of your favorite travel memories?

21. What’s the best trip you’ve ever been on?

22. Where do you want to go next?

So there you have it, 22 icebreaker questions to help you make new friends while traveling. Remember, the best way to make friends while traveling is to be open and friendly. Don’t be afraid to start a conversation with someone new, (and don’t be afraid to disregard this list and go with the flow completely) – you never know where it might lead!

What are some of your favorite icebreaker questions to use while traveling? Share them with us in the comments below!

Happy travels!

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As someone who loves to travel, I’m always looking for ways to bring that sense of adventure, curiosity, and connection to my events. One fun way to do this is by using Travel-themed “This or That” icebreaker questions. By asking questions related to different destinations, experiences, and preferences, you can help your guests get to know each other better, spark their imagination, and create a memorable shared experience.

How to incorporate Travel themed This or That questions

To incorporate Travel-themed “This or That” questions into your event, follow these steps:

Prepare a list of questions beforehand that are related to different destinations, experiences, and preferences. You can find inspiration from your own travels, online travel blogs, forums, or social media.

Print out the questions on cards or display them on a screen or a poster board. Encourage your guests to form small groups of 3-5 people and take turns asking each other the questions. You can also create a rotation system where each group moves on to the next question after a set amount of time (e.g., 2-3 minutes).

Make sure everyone has a chance to answer each question and listen actively to their responses. Encourage follow-up questions, comments, and discussions that build on the initial answers. You can also share your own travel stories and tips to keep the conversation flowing.

After everyone has had a chance to answer all the questions, gather your guests in a larger group and ask them to share their favorite or most surprising answers. You can also use this opportunity to highlight any commonalities or connections that emerged during the activity.

Consider using some of the insights or stories that came up during the “This or That” icebreaker as a springboard for further conversations and activities throughout the day. For example, you could organize a trivia game based on travel trivia or create a photo booth with props inspired by different destinations.

Ideas on different themes of questions

To keep your Travel-themed icebreaker questions fresh and engaging, you can explore different themes and categories that are relevant to the topic. Here are some ideas:

Destinations: Ask questions related to different places, cultures, and landscapes (e.g., “Beach vacation or mountain escape?” or “Which continent would you like to visit next?”).

Experiences: Ask questions about different activities, adventures, and challenges (e.g., “Would you rather go skydiving or bungee jumping?” or “What is the most memorable meal you’ve had on your travels?”).

Preferences: Ask questions that tap into people’s likes, dislikes, and habits related to travel (e.g., “Window seat or aisle seat?” or “Would you rather travel light or bring everything you need?”).

Culture: Ask questions that explore different customs, traditions, and ways of life in different parts of the world (e.g., “What is one cultural difference you’ve noticed while traveling?” or “Which country has the best cuisine?”).

Sustainability: Ask questions that raise awareness about responsible and sustainable travel practices (e.g., “Would you rather take a flight or train to your destination?” or “How do you reduce your carbon footprint when traveling?”).

By incorporating these different themes of questions into your Travel-themed icebreaker activity, you can create a fun and interactive experience that also fosters learning, understanding, and appreciation for the world around us. So why not give it a try and see how it can enhance your next event!

My favorite Travel themed This or That questions

• Beach vacation or mountain getaway?
• Road trip or plane ride?
• City exploring or countryside sightseeing?
• All-inclusive resort or Airbnb?
• Solo travel or group travel?
• Sightseeing tours or spontaneous adventures?
• Backpack or suitcase?
• Adventure vacation or relaxing getaway?
• Staycation or international travel?
• Campsite or hotel room?
• Packed itinerary or open schedule?
• Scenic train ride or drive through the countryside?
• Stay in a hostel or budget hotel?
• Cruise ship or ferry?
• Train travel or airplane travel?
• Travel by car or travel by bus?
• Hotel with a pool or beach-front villa?
• International cuisine or local delicacies?
• Tourist attractions or off-the-beaten-path destinations?
• Guided tour or self-guided exploration?
• Traveling in the fall or spring?
• Stay in a treehouse, yurt, or igloo?
• Theme park vacation or outdoor adventure?
• Stay in a historic property or modern hotel?
• Be immersed in nature or cultural experiences?
• Relaxing getaway or adventurous expedition?
• Stay in a luxurious hotel or quirky bed and breakfast?
• Visit popular hotspots or underrated destinations?
• Europe or Asia?
• Hotel with a rooftop bar or a cozy bed and breakfast?
• Sailing boat excursion or kayaking tour?
• Sightseeing or gaming?
• Stay in a treehouse or luxury villa?
• Visit popular cities or off the beaten path destinations?
• Tibet or Nepal trekking?
• Go on a beach trip or mountain trip?
• Road-travel or a journey by airplane?
• Travel to tropical or glacier spots?
• Indoor spa or outdoor trekking?
• Staycation or vacation abroad?
• Travel to city or country?
• Climb mountains or navigate through city streets?
• Airline seats or train journey?
• Travel with family or friends?
• Cliff-jumping or scuba-diving?
• Plan a trip alone or with travel agency?
• Walking tour or bus tour?
• Culture-trip or beach-trip?
• Stay in a hotel or camping?

About the author

Founder & Chief Icebreaker

I started Icebreaker Spot because I truly believe that strong connections are the foundation of successful teams. I wanted to create a platform that would make it easy for people to find and share icebreakers and team building activities, empowering them to build trust, foster collaboration, and ultimately, achieve greatness together.

We have always been committed to making our customers safety the utmost importance for Maritur DMC Mexico . If you want to take a look of the measures we have implemented click here.

PERFECT TRAVEL INSPIRED ICEBREAKERS FOR BUSINESS MEETINGS

We’ve all had those awkward business meetings. You’ve traveled across the country for a sales pitches or networking gathering and sit in a large room with a dozen other unfamiliar faces. Especially if you’re the meeting organizer, initiating some icebreakers to relieve the anxiety can be the difference in producing a successful trip.

Below are some travel related icebreakers suitable smaller meetings with 4-8 people or larger gatherings with a banquet-style arrangement where groups of 6-8 people are present at each table.

• The Coin Icebreaker  – Before entering your travel business meeting, collect one coin that will be distributed to each participant from a potluck draw. Make sure the coins have different dates and were minted in years when your guests were able to travel. Let each guest draw a coin from a jar and then describe their most memorable vacation, trip or travel experience in the year the coin was minted. Be prepared for a broad range of responses. This icebreaker will not only get your group interacting amongst themselves but will also position you favorably for your presentation.
• Favorite Restaurant Icebreaker  – Ask each meeting attendee to describe their most memorable restaurant experience while traveling. These could range from unexpected culinary experiences to some pretty wild wait staff misunderstandings. If your travel meeting attendees have enjoyed international fare, this icebreaker could reveal some pretty funny stories.
• 60-Second Travel Tips  – Ask each meeting attendee to present their favorite travel tip in 60 seconds or less and tell the audience how this tip came to help them in the past. As the meeting host, have your own travel tip ready to share to get the ball rolling. Make sure every participant tells a quick story. Then, call for a vote to determine which tip and anecdote were best.
• Good Sports Icebreaker  – Travel and sports are common interests that many people share. Ask the meeting participants to describe their favorite travel story that revolved around a sporting event. Set a two-minute maximum but try to ask a question that engages the entire group. Sometimes the best travel-related sports stories have little to do with the outcome of the game and are more focused on the travel experience.
• Describe This Country  – Write the names of different countries on several small notes (one on each). Fold each note and drop them in a hat. Ask each meeting participant to choose one folded note and read the name of the country. Then, ask for their off-the-cuff reaction to the country they were presented, even if they have never been there.
• Pass the Note  – This Icebreaker is sure to engage everyone. Give each meeting attendee a piece of paper with a pen and ask them to write the names of three national or international cities they have personally visited. Each attendee should sign their list. Put the sheets back in the hat. Mix the sheets, then pull them from the hat and read the three cities. Ask the audience to guess whose sheet you just read. After their guesses are identified, ask the person who submitted the list to stand. If you can encourage each participant to identify their favorite city of the three, you are on your way to a great travel business meeting.

Remember that the purpose of meeting icebreakers is to get everyone in the room interacting.

If you want to get more ideas for your meetings, follow us on  Facebook .

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Fun icebreaker questions and games for all teams

Icebreakers are a fantastic way to get team members acquainted with each other—especially if teams work remotely or there are new faces in the office. We often spend more time with our coworkers than family or friends. But teams don’t always know the best icebreaker questions or games. You can use these simple team-building activities to quickly help diffuse anxiety or awkward silences in meetings. Ice breakers are especially valuable for remote teams that conduct virtual meetings via video conferencing since team building is even harder when the whole team is distributed. Read on to find out how easy it is to create funny, insightful, and meaningful icebreakers.

• What are icebreakers?

Icebreakers are team-building exercises that aim to bond team members and facilitate collaborative work. They can ease team cohesion and even boost friendship and goodwill among the group. They can be questions that elicit profound answers, or fun games that help small groups connect through laughter.

Why businesses consistently use icebreakers

Every organization can benefit from simple and fun icebreaker activities. These team-building events can help whether you have a new team, welcome a new team member, or just want to work more closely together and facilitate team bonding. The best icebreakers allow attendees to warm up, understand each other, and face work challenges as a team. They are also super useful when you are starting remote meetings — they help the team bond and get ready for the task at hand.

Here is how you can use icebreaking games in your team:

To get to know each other

Getting to know your coworkers can be a powerful catalyst for better work results. Icebreakers are a lot more fun than just having everybody introduce themselves. They can help your team learn everyone’s names, understand each other’s backgrounds and interests, and then start a meaningful conversation.

To break down the “work” barrier

Many coworkers only interact with each other in a formal setting, which can lack the personal and human depth of regular conversation. Interactive icebreakers can significantly connect team members and help them feel more comfortable around each other. Humor and personal connection have long been used to “break the ice” in social settings. Laughter and sharing help us relax, whether we’re in the same room together or half a world away.

To interact with new faces

New member on the team? Maybe there’s a whole new team? An icebreaker can speed up the cohesion process so people feel comfortable and ready to work with each other. Interacting with new coworkers can be intimidating and challenging, but bonding over interests like sports or pop culture or family similarities comes easily using icebreaker questions and games.

To bond as a team

Icebreakers also provide a great opportunity for participants to voice expectations and concerns, and address the topics of meetings. They open up, empathize with their colleagues, and work together better. Icebreakers are a proven way to focus and motivate the team.

To encourage creative thinking

Icebreaker games help creativity to flourish. Coming up with fun stories instead of just following a meeting agenda sets the tone for the rest of the meeting. Participants are more likely to come up with good ideas, be more creatively confident, and express themselves without fear.

• Icebreakers are more important than ever

Icebreakers are especially important for virtual teams that can’t all physically interact with each other. They can reduce the inherent challenges of working in distributed teams in a fun, easy way. Remote team members may not know one another, and may not have shared office space or personal interactions. But a quick virtual icebreaker activity can start things off right!

• 12 great icebreaker questions to ask in groups

Icebreaker questions can be fun or funny, deep and meaningful—or both. People’s answers can be surprising indicators of values and personality. They can also show team members’ work styles, and how they collaborate with colleagues.

Here’s the full list of icebreaker questions:

1. What was your favorite childhood movie? 2. What is one item you couldn’t live without? 3. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? 4. If you were an animal, what kind would you be? 5. If you could have dinner with anybody in history, dead or alive, who would it be, and why? 6. What unusual or quirky things do you do regularly? 7. What’s your favorite 80s movie? 8. What’s your unusual talent? 9. If you were stranded on a desert island, what band or music would you want? 10. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? 11. What’s your biggest guilty pleasure? 12. What’s the greatest challenge you overcame?

1. What was your favorite childhood movie?

What did the movie make you think and feel at the time? This question can show what makes experiences memorable to the participant.

2. What is one item you couldn’t live without?

What made you choose that item? This is a great question to ask because it shows what participants value. It can also provide opportunities to discuss use and design.

3. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Answers to this question can reveal the breadth of participants’ tastes. They can also reveal how well they tolerate regular routines.

4. If you were an animal what would you be?

This is a great question because choosing an animal to identify with can reveal participants’ thoughts on what traits these animals have. Why are these traits desirable? How do they relate to us humans?

5. If you could have dinner with anybody in history, dead or alive, who would it be, and why?

By choosing a historical, literary, artistic, political, sports, or entertainment figure, this question shows the characteristics and achievements participants value. What is it about this person that inspires you?

6. What unusual or quirky things do you do regularly?

This probing question can show self-confidence in revealing vulnerabilities. It can also reveal characteristics uniquely suited to solving workplace issues.

7. What’s your favorite ’80s movie?

This question can show how participants spend time outside of work. Also, it can show their lighter sides, as well as how seriously they take themselves.

8. What’s your unusual talent?

What do you do better than anyone you know? This question can reveal how participants view themselves, and their strengths.

9. If you were stranded on a desert island, what band or music would you want?

Do you play music? This is a great question to find out people’s tastes and hobbies outside of work.

10. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

This question can reveal people’s breadth of travel and experience. In addition, it can show their openness to new cultures and people.

11. What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?

Answers to this question can reveal much about people’s values. It also can show how comfortable they are sharing their weaknesses.

12. What’s the greatest challenge you overcame?

What did you learn from it? People’s answers to this show their resilience, diligence, and perseverance.

• 10 great icebreaker games

Icebreaker games can be a fun way to refine goals and dissolve monotony in meetings. Employees may come in already stressed about work tasks. Using tools as simple as a piece of paper, a whiteboard, or a shared document, these quick games can help team members motivate and focus ahead.

Here’s the list of icebreakers games you can try:

1. Rock paper scissors tournament 2. Interview a partner for 5 minutes and then tell the group about them 3. Aliens have landed 4. The birth map 5. Mindfulness icebreaker 6. Two truths and a lie 7. A picture of your life 8. 10 common things 9. Scavenger hunt 10. Guess the artist 11. Marshmallow challenge 12. Line up 13. One-word exercise 14. Flat lay your desk 15. A tour guide

1. Rock paper scissors tournament

This twist on the classic game is played by two people. The losers of each game then go on to cheer for the winners who go on to the next rounds, until the final two compete to the cheers of everyone. It can show people’s reflexes, responsiveness, and spontaneity, and can even be a springboard for brainstorming. The game energizes the team and emphasizes teamwork and collaboration.

2. Interview a partner for 5 minutes and then tell the group about them

Ask about their hobbies, what especially stimulates or challenges them at work, and other important interests in their lives. Switch places and do the same for your partner. This game highlights listening and communication skills and can help team members discover common interests with one another.

3. Aliens have landed

This icebreaker can be useful for teams with remote participants with language and cultural differences. Tell the group to imagine aliens have landed on Earth and want to learn about your company. But since they don’t speak your language or understand your product, it needs to be explained with five symbols or pictures. Ask each participant to upload five simple images that best describe and communicate your company’s products and culture to a shared document/folder. Take a few minutes and look at all the images. Are there common themes?  Aliens Have Landed is a great game to play to break the ice with your remote team.

4. The home map

This is especially great for international teams. Print a map of the world or upload it to a shared document or visual workspace, like Miro. At the beginning of your meeting, ask everyone on your team to put a sticker or a pin on the map to show where they’re from. Then encourage everyone to share a short story about what they love most about that place. If they traveled around growing up, as which place they loved the most.

This great activity shows the diversity of voices represented on your team. It allows people to share their cultural values and reveals what everyone shares, no matter where in the world they live.

5. Mindfulness icebreaker

Participants write down ideas, thoughts, or feelings they’ve brought to the meeting. People often enter meetings stressed about tasks they’re working on or other issues. This helps them check in with themselves, and process these thoughts and feelings. They then rip up their answers, which allows them to maintain their privacy, and then focus on group tasks ahead.

6. Two truths and a lie

This popular game has team members guess which of your three statements is a lie. It can encourage colleagues to pay close attention to your personal traits and stories. As well as attention to detail, it also encourages focus on consistency.

7. A picture of your life

Add every member of the team to a shared document or an visual workspace before the meeting begins, and ask them to post a picture of something from their life. It can be anything that will tell a story about who each member is or how they work: a picture of the shoes each member is wearing, the view out their window or a photo of their desk. Then ask them to share the story behind their picture.

Here at Miro, we used this icebreaker game before a remote workshop about User Personas. The task was to share a picture of something on your desk that tells a story about who you are or how you work. In addition to this, we shared one thing we learned recently. It was fun and surprising in some cases, allowing us to get to know each other more and set the casual atmosphere we needed for the workshop.

8. 10 common things

This game is good for starting a brainstorming session. Divide your team into small groups and ask them to come up with a list of 10 things they have in common. If you prefer to keep the topic more business-oriented, limit the list to work or industry-related topics.

It can be as simple as, “We all wear shoes,” to something more specific like, “We were all hired in 2020.” Regardless of the answers, it will create a bond, generate discussion and laughter, and get the group thinking creatively. Allow time for each group of remote workers to share their list with the larger team in the visual workspace. This will create an electric, dynamic atmosphere, well suited to brainstorming.

9. Scavenger hunt

This versatile game often has fond childhood associations and can be done anywhere, whether in the office or outside. In many creative ways, it uses a variety of skills, strategic thinking, and problem-solving methods, to find the hidden items. It can especially help people who might have different styles or don’t normally work together and bond together as a team.

10. Guess the artist

Before your meeting, ask every remote employee to create an image or find a picture they can use to tell a unique story or fact about their lives. Everyone should upload their images to a visual workspace in advance. At the beginning of the meeting, everyone puts stickers on each image, guessing who each picture belongs to. Then you can start to figure out together which picture belongs to which person. When a correct guess is made, that person needs to share their story with the group. Include a video for the storytelling so everyone can connect the name, face, and story.

When a correct guess is made, that person needs to share their story with the group.

11. Marshmallow challenge

This well-known icebreaker game has teams build the tallest free-standing structure out of dry spaghetti, tape, string, and a marshmallow (which must be on top). It emphasizes group communication, leadership dynamics, collaboration, innovation, and problem-solving strategy.

12. Line up

In this game, participants must quickly line up without any written or verbal cues, or any other help. The criteria are predetermined and include factors such as height, hair color, or eye color. This game encourages nonverbal communication and teamwork, and tasks get more complicated as the team grows closer.

13. One-word exercise

Starting from your designated meeting topic, pick a phrase that relates to the central theme. Have participants write down a word that they associate with it. This game allows everyone to share hesitations and expectations, and then focus on the task ahead.

14. Flat lay your desk

This is a remote team-building exercise we picked up from 6Q team . “You could get your team members to take a flat lay of their desk and share it with the rest during your team meetings ,” they suggest, adding, “A flat lay is basically a photo of items from directly above, and these items are usually arranged or styled on a flat surface.” Sharing the story behind an object can also be a good way to learn more about your colleagues’ personalities.

15. A tour guide

When your team members are remote, it can be a great idea to schedule an actual tour of each remote employee’s location! They can show their office space, guide the team through their home, or co-working space, or, if technology allows, livestream from a place they love in their city or town. You can use a live streaming service or a social network like Snapchat or Instagram. This exercise is great for building empathy and giving each remote team member some context to understand their colleagues’ backgrounds (particularly great for international teams). Just make sure your team is on board and has access to the technology needed to do this game before attempting.

To learn more, check out Miro’s  Icebreaker Game Guide

Create icebreakers for your team.

Personal interactions are the key to building positive relationships and results. By facilitating strong connections with colleagues, you can increase employee fulfillment and ensure success at work. Icebreakers can work for any type of organization. Best of all, they don’t have to be complicated. With the Miro Icebreaker Template , you can make them easily!

• How Miro helps remote teams collaborate

The greatest projects are created when teams collaborate, and when individuals can share their creativity with ease. Miro’s visual workspace and templates and tools help create the most amazing products faster, by allowing remote teams to quickly understand how best to work together.

Whether you are an agile product team, UX and UI designer, project leader, marketer, or developer, you can collaborate with your distributed team in real time — just as if you were in the same room. You can use the infinite canvas and a wide range of tools to organize your teamwork in a visual way:

• Сreate agile boards (user story maps and retrospectives)
• Manage backlog
• Brainstorm and organize ideas
• Create wireframes and mockups
• Collect references
• Create flowcharts and diagrams
• Get feedback on visuals
• Work with sticky notes

You can also use collaboration features like simple sharing options, real-time collaboration, mentions, comments, and integration with Slack, JIRA, Google Drive, and other tools. Join thousands of businesses that use Miro to boost collaboration!

Try Miro Today!

Miro is your team's visual platform to connect, collaborate, and create — together..

Join millions of users that collaborate from all over the planet using Miro.

• Why businesses consistently useicebreakers

Keep reading

6 activities and templates to unite your cross-functional team.

8 agile games to boost team building & creativity

10 virtual games for your next team building meeting.

Work Life is Atlassian’s flagship publication dedicated to unleashing the potential of every team through real-life advice, inspiring stories, and thoughtful perspectives from leaders around the world.

Contributing Writer

Work Futurist

Senior Quantitative Researcher, People Insights

Principal Writer

7 icebreaker games to help your team build authentic connections

These deceptively simple exercises can build the framework for psychological safety.

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5-second summary

• Strong team cohesion – how bonded people feel to one another – is a key element for success in distributed teams.
• Icebreakers can be an effective way to help teams get to know each other and feel more comfortable collaborating.

“Icebreakers.” The very name elicits a frosty reception in many workplaces. The concept – short, simple games to prime our brains for planning and problem-solving – is often discounted or completely overlooked by managers. But there’s evidence that the benefits of icebreakers make them more than worth the time.

“Icebreakers, particularly within the remote workspace, are an incredibly good idea,” says Eugene Chung, an Atlassian team coach and advisor on Team Playbook . “Any time you’re collaborating with colleagues, a few short minutes spent on carefully chosen activities beforehand can seriously help you. Not just in terms of feeling more connected by learning new things about each other, but also in terms of getting comfortable with speaking up and actively contributing to the group.”  

That last point is crucial, particularly when the activity precedes a problem-solving or brainstorming meeting. Icebreakers foster what workplace experts call psychological safety In other words, they create an atmosphere in which colleagues feel free to speak up, question, contribute, and criticize – without fear of censure. 

The trick – as any hungry polar bear would tell you – is to break the ice in the correct fashion. 

How to choose the right icebreakers for virtual or in-person teams

One common mistake is assuming that every icebreaker serves the same purpose. On the contrary, there are many types and styles of icebreaker, each geared towards particular groups and outcomes. It’s smarter to think of them like a set of golf clubs, with each designed for certain scenarios.

To tee off, there are “introductory icebreakers,” where the participants are strangers at the start of the session, and the “ice” is simply the fact that they don’t know each other yet. In a remote working environment, these have become increasingly valuable tools. 

There are plenty of other picks to choose from too, ranging from “team-building icebreakers” for more established groups to “topic exploration icebreakers,” which help lay the groundwork for more targeted meetings. The common denominator is that all types of icebreakers can help build stronger team connections.

7 fun icebreaker games for meetings

1. exorcise the demons (10 mins) .

Best for: Topic exploration

How: Best for groups of three or more, this is one of the most popular icebreakers from Team Playbook. First you introduce the idea you’ll be brainstorming around in the main meeting. Then, using a shared space in Confluence or Trello, you all note down the worst ideas you can possibly think of. After a few minutes, step back – asking each person to share their favorite worst idea. 

Why: This juices up everyone’s neuropathways before brainstorming – and helps people to resist any temptation to self-censor when the real problem solving begins. This one also boosts psychological safety because, hey, every idea is automatically going to be better than whatever’s already on the page. 

2. True or False (10 mins) 

Best for: Team-building

How: Each person is asked to make three statements about themselves, one of which has to be false. The rest of the group then votes on which “fact” is actually falsehood.   

Why: Not only does this help the group get to know each other better and swiftly reduce stress levels, but it also sparks immediate interaction – as the group comes together to root out the red herrings. 

3. Three Things (5-10 mins)

Best for: Introductions

How: A quick-fire, fast-paced activity. Person A kicks things off by naming a category (for example, “types of dessert”). Person B rattles off three things that fit that theme, as quickly as they can. No judgment and no self-censoring. When they’ve finished, the entire group applauds, and then Person B names the next category. Continue until everyone has had a chance to name the category and the three things.  

Why: This is all about triggering fast, unfiltered thinking before a brainstorming session. It’s not about right or wrong answers, it’s about celebrating the weirdest, funniest contributions and letting your brains relax into a comfortable, accepting, and creative gear.  

4. Team Timeline (15 mins)

Best for: Team building

How: Each team member takes four slips of paper, jotting down an important moment from their life on each. When they’re done, people take turns showing the camera what they have written, and each is added to a shared timeline on a Confluence page or whiteboard.  

Why: This exercise helps show, in a visual way, the different experiences, priorities, and generations within your team. It leads well into talking about shared experiences, breaks down barriers and creates a mindset of authentic communication. 

5. One-word Icebreaker (15 mins)

How: Split participants into small teams (using breakout rooms if you’re on Zoom) and ask them to come up with one word to describe, say, your company culture, or a project you’re working on. Give them a few minutes to discuss amongst themselves, then let each team present their word, and the reasoning behind it. 

Why: This can reveal some surprising answers, with enlightening discussion to follow, which can easily segue into the meeting proper. Plus, starting out with small groups allows everyone the chance to participate in a meaningful way, which can boost their confidence about speaking up in the full session.

5 science-backed team activities that will actually improve performance

6. guess who (5-15 mins).

Best for : Team building

How: Beforehand, everyone emails the facilitator three light-hearted answers from a list of questions. These could be anything from “what was your first job” to “what’s your craziest-ever hair style?” During the icebreaker, the facilitator shares an answer, asking the group to guess who the response belongs to.   

Why: This is a classic team-building exercise for groups of three to 10 employees who have met or interacted before. It’s a fun way for teams to get closer and bond more. 

7. 10 Things in Common (20 mins)

How: Break everyone into small groups in separate rooms over Zoom, being sure to mix departments if possible. Task the groups with finding 10 things that all of them share in common (for example: places they have visited, movies they love, items of clothing they own).   

Why: This is an extremely effective way of encouraging cohesion and building solid inter-departmental relationships, leading to a happier, more committed and engaged workforce. 

Before you start…

While the many benefits of icebreakers are well documented, there are also a number of pitfalls to avoid, too. It’s always a good idea, for example, to start with more simple icebreakers in newly established teams and work your way up. You also want to avoid anything that is too personal or hot-button topics that will foster division instead of cohesion. And always be sure to state the objectives of the task at the start of the exercise, so participants understand what they’re doing and why. 

“One of the key elements of an effective team is cohesion ,” says Dr. Mahreen Khan, an organizational psychologist and emotional intelligence specialist, who’s also a senior qualitative researcher at Atlassian. “In other words, how bonded do you feel with each other? To maximize that cohesion, you need to get to know people on a personal level, and icebreakers can really help with that. People are feeling more disconnected now than ever before, so it’s even more important to use activities like this.”

Want even more icebreakers?

Grab a list of 20+ icebreakers questions in the Atlassian Team Playbook – a free online resource of simple, science-backed workshops that helps teams build on their strengths, troubleshoot difficulties, and encourage positive team dynamics. 

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Advice, stories, and expertise about work life today.

42 Ridiculously Fun Icebreaker Ideas, Games, & Activities In 2024 For Your Next Meeting

How much does a polar bear weigh? Enough to break the ice.

Don’t you feel better now that we’ve gotten that out of the way?

Productivity Pictionary Icebreaker ✏️

Instructions: Divide your team into pairs or small groups and give each group a list of work-related terms or challenges. Each team member takes turns drawing a term or challenge on a whiteboard or paper, while their partner or team tries to guess what it is.

This creative and collaborative game not only breaks the ice but also encourages team members to think on their feet and engage in a fun, productivity-focused activity.

⭐️ For more team icebreakers and conversation starters, subscribe to The Assist for free.

Icebreaker games make meetings better by loosening everybody up and getting them into “meeting mode.” Consider the icebreaker meeting warm-up, an exercise you need to avoid awkward cramps throughout a meeting.

Despite persistent cliches, icebreakers for adults do not have to follow any particular format, and they definitely do not have to be lame. You can use pretty much any game or activity you want to break the ice before your meeting, as long as it gets people talking and smiling. A well-planned virtual icebreaker activity can also be a great way to ease the tension before a conference call with coworkers.

And if you’re really trying to go for some bonus points, consider pairing your icebreaker activity with snacks for the entire team to get the energy in the room pumping.

Without further ado…

1. The Solve a Murder Icebreaker

Cue The Office theme song… Michael Scott enters… “There’s been a murder…”

In all honesty, Michael was actually on to something! Solving a murder mystery can be a great way to break the ice with your team. Check out Outback’s Virtual Clue Murder Mystery for all types of mystery games that are designed for both the physical and virtual workplaces that help to develop teamwork, communication, and culture building.

Remember… If all else fails… Finger guns galore…

2. The Virtual Icebreaker Template

A Virtual Icebreaker Template is a pre-designed set of prompts, questions, or activities that are meant to help team members get to know each other and feel more comfortable communicating and collaborating virtually.

These virtual templates can be used in a variety of situations, ranging from online classes and online meetings to virtual team building activities and remote social events. Typically, virtual icebreaker templates will include introductions, personal preferences, games, photo sharing, and group discussions.

The real benefit of using icebreaker templates is that it provides the right structure for participants to share info about themselves and their interests, bond with other team members, and participate in fun, interactive games and activities. These templates also ensure total group inclusion!

Looking to try one? Here is a list of a few templates to break the ice:

Kick off your online meetings and any other virtual activities with a Virtual Icebreaker Template!

3. Snack Time (5 Minutes for Everyone to Enjoy a Snack and Chat)

A snack time break in the workplace can boost productivity. Dedicate five minutes for everyone to enjoy a snack and engage in light conversation. In turn, employees can take a rejuvenating break and return to their tasks with renewed energy and focus. This brief pause in the workday creates a relaxed atmosphere, sharpening creativity and reducing the risk of burnout.

On top of that, snack time provides an opportunity for team members to connect on a personal level, strengthening team bonds and improving overall communication. The casual conversations during these breaks can even spark innovative ideas and collaborative solutions to work challenges.

Implement a daily snack time in your office and witness the significant impact it can have on productivity and workplace morale. Grab a snack , connect with your colleagues, and supercharge their productivity!

4. GeoGuessr

Integrating GeoGuessr into your workplace can revolutionize a typical break into an exhilarating and captivating experience. This online game immerses players into random locations on Google Street View, challenging them to guess their whereabouts. It’s entertaining and highly educational.

By playing GeoGuessr in the office, you encourage critical thinking and collaboration among team members as they combine their geographical knowledge and problem-solving skills to pinpoint locations.

It’s an incredible way to break the monotony of the workday, exercise team building skills, and stimulate the brain in fun and unexpected ways. The competitive element of the game adds excitement, fueling healthy competition among colleagues.

Schedule a weekly GeoGuessr challenge in your office to uncover who can become the ultimate geographical detective. Explore the world together, right from your workplace, and infuse an extra dimension of enjoyment and learning into our work routine!

5. The Movie Pitch Icebreaker

A favorite at Bonusly , split people into groups and have each group come up with a movie they want to make. Everyone should have a short pitch prepared within 10 minutes. (This film is The Avengers meets My Little Pony .) Let everyone make their pitch, and then have all virtual meeting attendees vote on which idea deserves “funding.”

The winners won’t immediately move to pre-production, but they might get a company-wide shoutout on the Bonusly platform for their creativity – next step… Hollywood!

6. Create a Themed Slack Channel

The SnackNation team set up a Gratitude channel!

Promote team camaraderie and enhance workplace dynamics through crowdsourcing team interests. Gather insights into everyone’s hobbies, favorite activities, and passions to create dedicated Slack channels that serve as hubs for both professional and personal engagement.

From bookworms and fitness enthusiasts to tech geeks and gourmet foodies, these specialized groups provide a platform for team members to connect, share, and discover common interests beyond work-related tasks. This approach breaks the ice and cultivates a more inclusive and engaging office culture.

By implementing interest surveys, you can form Slack channels that perfectly align with the interests of your team members.

7. The One-Word Icebreaker

I feel alpaca.

Assembly Icebreaker Template

The company culture leaders at Assembly (a free employee recognition software ) keep things simple by having everyone describe their current mood in one word. You can have people explain their one-word mood descriptor if you want to add more depth to your icebreaker activities, but you can also just go with the flow and enjoy how cryptic some of the answers can be.

The free Assembly Icebreaker Template allows you to :

• Design a quiz about any topic and personalize it for the specific occasion
• Engage employees in a fun and creative way while growing participation
• Gather interesting feedback or perspectives from the workforce
• Set different types of questions to keep things fun and interesting

8. The Friendly Competition Icebreaker

A Friendly Competition Icebreaker is an icebreaker activity that pits participants against each other in the throes of serious — yet super fun competition. This category of icebreakers is designed to stimulate team members and engage them, while allowing them to get to know each other on a deeper level.

The key benefit of these types of games and activities is that they gamify that early getting-to-know-each-other stage, so your team can bust right through it without even realizing it. You could try scavenger hunts, trivia games, two truths and a lie, pictionary, and charades.

Try out a few challenge-based activities to let employees bond together:

Break the ice with a little friendly competition!

9. The All-Inclusive Icebreaker

Virtual icebreakers are needed now more than ever. As the workplace is being reimagined, it’s looking like one or more days a week working from home or remotely is going to be the standard.

Having said that, the Fun Bundle For Adults is the perfect icebreaker idea for keeping friends, families, coworkers, and employees entertained. These 6 thoughtfully designed PDFs can help you spice up Zoom meetings or be used in just about any situation where you want people to get to know each other better!

10. The Virtual Game Icebreaker

What happens when you combine fun online games with built-in video conferencing technology? The ultimate Zoom icebreaker !

These Fun and Affordable Virtual Game Icebreakers were designed specifically with remote teams in mind. The games (trivia, charades, impersonations) will show you new, hilarious sides to your coworkers. For an extra layer of get-to-know-you goodness, each icebreaker activity integrates personalized player trivia into the game – how well do you know your teammates? You’re about to find out!

👉 Check Out The Library of Virtual Game Icebreakers 👈

11. The OMG Icebreaker 😮

Brought to you by The Assist , a free weekly email that delivers workplace culture and productivity inspo, this icebreaker activity will have your teammates dropping jaws and sharing laughs. Ask your colleagues this question:

“What is the craziest request you’ve ever gotten in your career?”

Be prepared for some major team bonding and left field answers like the one below:

Early in my career I was a Legislative Assistant to a local politician. I have a laundry list of inappropriate requests, but one that’ll always stand out to me is when she handed me and another staffer the keys to her State-issued vehicle and requested that we pick her granddaughter up from the holding cell at her high school! She was fighting and the school police arrested her. Needless to say, I didn’t spend much more time employed by her. Oh, she’s still in office. – Kendall H., The Assist Subscriber

12. The Budget Friendly Icebreaker

A Budget Friendly Icebreaker is an activity or a game that can be enjoyed with little or no equipment. Whether your team is looking to play two truths and a lie, a name game, scavenger hunt, group juggling, or human knot, you’ve got plenty of ways to execute this idea.

The best part about Budget Friendly Icebreakers is that they are inclusive, cost-effective, and can be adapted to different settings. On top of that, a smartly-designed icebreaker facilitates relationships and picks up the pace to develop deep work connections.

Start your next icebreaker on a budget with minimal setup and minimal materials!

13. The Online Quiz Icebreaker

Pop quiz! The folks at The Go Game created a really fun and easy-to-use icebreaker tool that will help your team get to know each other a little more each week through ice breaker quizzes and games.

Two Truths and a Lie

With a huge catalog of ice breaker options to choose from, you will be cracking up with your coworkers in minutes! Choose from activities as short as 5 minutes to longer activities where you and your colleagues can play multiple games via an online icebreaker showdown. Split into teams and participate in rapid-fire activities that are sure to break some ice!

Here are just a few of the icebreaker quiz games you can try out…

• 🙊 Two Truths and a Lie
• 🗣 Low Stakes Debate
• 🎤 Name That Tune
• 🙅‍♀️ Wrong Answers Only

To start quizzing your coworkers, get more information at The Go Game .

14. “Treat Yourself” Icebreaker 

What’s an even better way to break the ice than any ol’ icebreaker activity? A little online shopping! The folks over at Caroo provide an ever-expanding catalog of premium gifts, delicious treats, gift cards, and more that let you and your guests pick out a perfect gift to cap off your team event.

Simply send over the link, give everyone a few minutes to window shop, and their next treat will arrive at their doorstep. With Recipient Choice rewards starting at $25, this is the kind of icebreaker that your team members will remember!

15. The Marshmallow Challenge

This challenge from Tom Wujec , a business visualization expert, makes the perfect icebreaker and team-building hybrid. Break your meeting attendees into groups of four. Give each group 20 sticks of spaghetti, 1 yard of tape, 1 yard of string, and one marshmallow. Ask them to build the tallest freestanding structure they can. Sit back and see what happens. Here’s Tom Wujec talking about the team-building virtues of the Marshmallow Challenge:

16. Scream for Ice Cream

This Ice(cream) breaker will place your meeting guests in a fun and lively how-to icebreaker where your coworkers will learn how to make ice cream in a bag! Listen to some tunes, get to know each other a bit better, and shake your ice cream ingredients until everything is perfectly frozen. Yum! The folks at Unboxed Experiences can even provide pre-made kits to be sent directly to remote employees tuning in from home.

Cap off your icebreaker activity by cracking open a soda and pouring rootbeer, orange soda, or cherry cola over your fresh ice cream for a delicious float to sip on as you get down to business.

Pro-Tip: If you are scheduling a meeting for the afternoon, why not segue into a Virtual Beer & Cheese Tasting where you and your coworkers will learn how to identify matching flavors and aromas to create a perfect pairing of craft beers and gourmet cheeses.

Sample your next beer flight from home!

17. The Foodie Icebreaker

Who doesn’t love talking about food? Chopped, Master Chef, Cutthroat Kitchen, Top Chef, Cake Boss, Restaurant: Impossible… There is even a Master Chef Junior folks… Point is: food is a common ground that we all share and an excellent way to break the ice. 

Food can also be the perfect topic for a short icebreaker. Everyone eats, and most people love eating, so it’s a perfect opportunity to get out of the office in a group setting to learn more about each other.

“There’s many benefits about living and working in Los Angeles: the weather, the scenery, the fours days a year when there’s no traffic. One of our favorite things, however, is the food. World-renowned for the available cuisine, our team loves to take advantage by grabbing a bite to eat with a new hire or after a full day of work to unwind.” -Emily Hill on the Bambee team.

Break the ice by asking everyone what dish they would want to prepare for the team. Ask them how they learned to make it, why it’s significant to them, and what powerful memory they associate with it.

18. The Speed “Dating” Icebreaker

Have everyone sit near people they don’t work with. Tell everyone to look to their right and announce that they’ll be spending the next 5 minutes speed networking with the person next to them. The goal: 5 conversations in 5 minutes. Set a timer; every time the buzzer goes off, it’s time for people to find a new conversational partner.

Pro-Tip: Take this team bonding idea online and skip the awkward weather talk with this speed dating inspired corporate activity . Groups will be presented with an icebreaker, and randomly paired one-on-one with a coworker to answer the question in breakout rooms. Participants will then be brought back to the main room for a different question and re-randomized for another round. At the end, everyone will come together to share their most fun, interesting, or weird fact. Only rule is, you can only share someone else’s fun fact, not your own! Check it out here 👈

19. The Escape Room Icebreaker

Escape from prison, uncover ancient treasure, or even steal priceless art with this engaging icebreaker activity!

If you’re going to escape, you HAVE to work together. Escape rooms give your team a fun way to connect and learn about each other’s strengths and weaknesses. The experts at Team Building Hub have mastered the art of the remote adventure that will ensure your team bonds while also having a blast!

20. The Trivia Results Icebreaker

Water Cooler Trivia gives you and your team weekly trivia quizzes that spark conversation and competition. The trivia is super-customizable so you can choose the categories and difficulty that work for your team. You can even choose a “personalized” category like Coffee, NYC, or Tech that their professional question-writers will write just for you.

It’s like all the fun of pub trivia but without the logistics of coming up with questions or getting everyone together in the same room at the same time.

The best way to use Water Cooler Trivia as a meeting icebreaker? Set up the quizzes so that the results are sent right when your weekly meeting starts. Then your team can celebrate the winner and laugh at the funniest responses as a light-hearted way to break the ice. Thousands of companies use Water Cooler Trivia to make their work week more fun and there’s a free four-week trial .

“I’ve been having a ball. It’s interesting to compete with colleagues on the other side of the country I usually wouldn’t interact with.” -Investor at General Catalyst

21. The Holiday Icebreaker

Ho-Ho-Ho… The holidays are (practically) here!

Kick off your next virtual meeting this holiday season with an icebreaker activity that all Rudolph and Frosty enthusiasts will love. Break out the egg-nog, fire up the Zoom app, and get ready to experience one of these holiday-themed icebreaker games:

• 🎄  Holiday Jeoparty
• ⛄️  Frosty’s Original Game Show
• ❄️  Holiday Phrase Craze
• 🎁  Christmas Coworker Feud
• 🎅  Santa’s Holiday Hijinks

22. The ‘Start Happy Hour Early’ Icebreaker 

Mix things up with a fun virtual happy hour icebreaker to start the last meeting of the week off right. This online mixology icebreaker event includes a delicious beverage team members can sip on as they crush the big meeting and get down to business.

Star your Zoom call with an expert mixologist in the break room teaching you and your teammates how to prepare a delicious drink! Cocktails & mocktails will be crafted, your team will settle into the meeting, and you will get to enjoy your tasty drink as you hop into your agenda.

Sip, Sip, hooray!

Tip: Send everyone joining your virtual mixology get-to-know-you activity a box of snacks that pairs with their drinks.

23. The Office Charades Icebreaker

Kick off your meetings by playing a few rounds of charades where the presenters can pick only office-related things. If you’re rusty on your charades skills, here’s a quick refresher:

• Pick a “presenter” to start things off.
• Ask the presenter to think of an office item or activity. They can announce the category, but that’s the last time they can talk.
• Then have the presenter explain the item using only gestures. Any spoken words lead to an immediate disqualification.
• Laugh a lot. All charades manuals agree the game cannot be played without lots of laughter and yelling.

Pro-Tip: There is also an virtual version of office charades that can be found here .

24. Let’s Build a Story Together Icebreaker

We all love a good story, right? Building a storyline is one of the oldest and most fun ways to have a good laugh!

In this icebreaker activity, the meeting host begins the story with an opening sentence on Empuls (an employee engagement platform). They then tag one of the attendees and leave them with an incomplete sentence. The tagged attendee completes the sentence and tags another person to continue the story.

By the time all attendees have completed their turn building out the storyline on the Empuls discussion thread , you will have one crazy hilarious story that you can all read together. Quick, simple, and easy to set-up — this meeting icebreaker is a good mix of engagement and creativity for your group.

25. The Boss Q&A Icebreaker

26. Tea & Mindfulness

For teams looking for a slightly longer icebreaker, this 30 minute virtual session will refocus and destress your team members via a guided meditation and goal setting activity with Unboxed Experiences’ Guided Tea & Mindfulness Experience . Participants will also learn how to brew and taste 3-6 globally sourced loose leaf and flowering teas as they experience a guided mindful exercise and goal-setting meditation.

Guided mindfulness tastings are fun and can enhance collaboration amongst teams by creating shared experiences. This icebreaker might just be the perfect thing you schedule for your team on a busy day!

27. The Logo Love Icebreaker

• Hand out name tags and pens.
• Have participants write their names and draw logos they love.
• Have everyone share why they chose their logos. Share in a group, or have everyone share thoughts with their neighbors.

28. The Yankee Swag Swap Icebreaker

Did someone say swag ???

Here is a creative idea to try out during your next company meeting that will quickly help to break the ice and get everyone smiling:

• For every person that will attend, order one piece of swag  ranging in monetary value
• Throw all of the pieces of swag into a box or bag that you can hold up above their head
• When the event begins, assign everyone a number 1 through… X
• Start with person 1
• That individual proceeds to blindly  pick ( 3 seconds ) from the assortment of swag items
• The piece of swag that they pick becomes theirs… for now… Proceed to person 2
• This new individual now picks another item at random and… (this is when the REAL fun happens) … they can then choose to swap swag items with one of the revealed pieces or keep what they’ve selected
• Rinse and repeat until the final person picks the last item and they can keep or swap it
• You go home with what you have in your hand

Side-Note: this is also a great feedback mechanism to help you determine which pieces of swag people really want based on how many times they are traded. 

29. The Trading Card Icebreaker

• Hand out index cards and markers.
• Tell everyone to draw a self-portrait and write their names, their nicknames (real or imaginary), and a fun fact.
• Everyone jumps up and trades cards. People can trade as many times as they want, but they have to read each card they get before they trade.
• After a few minutes, have everyone announce the name on the card they ended up with. People can even ask questions of the card’s owner if they want.
• Let the conversations flow!

30. The Problem-Solution Icebreaker

31. The Shoe Icebreaker

32. Laugh Out Loud Icebreaker 

Break a smile to break the ice! Nothing warms up a group quite like shared laughter. What most folks don’t know is that laughing together also relieves stress, connects teammates and boosts productivity.

Laughter On Call has a variety of distinct and effective services that use a unique mix of Improv games and Stand-up prompts, led by a team of professional comedians. Starting off a big meeting, conference, or culture building activity with a laughter icebreaker can help settle everyone in and open up the lines of communication.

Also, because Laughter On Call started in the healthcare space all their programs put mental health first creating a space that is compassionate, inclusive and downright fun!

Whether your goal is team-building, improving communication skills, encouraging innovation or simply sending the message, “We care about your well-being,” LOC will customize a icebreaking workshop exactly right for you. Available virtual, hybrid and in-person.

Bonus: The Props Icebreaker

33. The Company History Icebreaker

SignUpGenius’s icebreaker helps employees learn some valuable company history. Make a list of icebreaker questions , pop them on the projector, and ask employees if they know the answers. (Individual buzzers could be totally cool if you have any on hand!) Here are some question ideas:

• Mission statement
• Founding year
• Biggest goal
• Founder’s name
• Number of employees
• Biggest competitor

34. Paint & Sip Icebreaker

This virtual icebreaker brings colleagues together to flex their creative minds and sip some bubbly in a relaxed atmosphere! Drawing and painting can keep employees engaged while taking them to a place free of competition and workplace pressures. Coworkers can bond through their shared creative journey, and walk away with a fun experience and a beautiful keepsake to remember after!

Pro-Tip: Try adding a theme to this icebreaker activity. Some of our favorites: Hawaiian luau Emo artists Pirates Silly accents Shakespeare Famous royals Food Network star

Paint Nite offers fun icebreaker activities and food/drink packages for in-person, remote, or hybrid teams looking to add even more flair and energy to the party.

35. The No Smiling Icebreaker

Govloop has a counter-intuitive icebreaker that actually leads to lots of laughter. Tell everyone they can’t smile during the first five minutes of the meeting. You’ll be amazed at how humorous some people become when they’re told not to smile. Get the camera ready to take some silly pictures.

36. The Instagram Icebreaker

Bonus: The Friendly Debate Icebreaker

• Which food is better: pizza or tacos?
• Would you rather go on a hike or to a movie?
• What skill is more valuable: creativity or logic?
• Which is worse: being bored or being too busy?

Have everyone physically divide into sides—pro pizza to the right; pro taco to the left. Let all the like-minded people discuss the virtues of their position for a while, and then have a representative try to sell the other side of the room. This will give everyone a chance to see things from different perspectives. It will open everyone’s minds for a productive meeting.

37. The Employee-Driven Icebreaker

This icebreaker takes the cake on ease. Have each meeting attendee bring their favorite icebreaker. This “icebreaker” can be a funny joke , a quote, a phrase, an activity—anything at all. This icebreaker works because it removes the “Why are you making me do this?”  factor. Everything employees do will be self-inflicted.

38. The Electric Fence Icebreaker

This icebreaker from Toggl gets employees up and moving as they build an imaginary electric fence and try to cross it without getting “electrocuted.” Make the fence by tying some string between two chairs. They can cross the fence however they like as long as they don’t go under it.

39. The Things-in-Common Icebreaker

This FairyGodBoss icebreaker helps teammates get to know each other on a deeper level by discovering what they have in common. Split people into groups and tell them to find out how many things they have in common.

The group who discovers the most things in common wins, so it pays to be persistent and thoughtful. (Physical features and clothing colors do not count!) Each group will announce what they have in common to the rest of the group. Have everyone else raise their hand if they also have the thing in common.

40. Conflict Resolution Role Play

Most people, especially in work environments, avoid conflict like the plague. That’s amazing right? Why shouldn’t we all just get along? Because just “getting along” isn’t that simple all the time. And if most people eschew conflict, then most people probably don’t know how to deal with it, or more importantly, resolve it, when it does come up.

This role-playing ice breaker deals out some conflict-resolution takeaways, and it also captures everyone’s attention and get them invigorated for your meeting. Why? Because this exercise involves drama, and there are few things people find more compelling than that. Start by selecting your conflict premise. You can make up your own based on your personal office experiences or use/borrow some of these for inspiration. Keep things simple by sticking to just two “characters.”

• Adam confronts Mimi, angry that she got the promotion he wanted.
• Agatha asks Martin why he shot down an idea they’d discussed many times before during an all-hands meeting.
• Andre asks Tim why he didn’t get a raise this year.
• Lena tells Mary she finds her recent work inadequate.

Create your discussion questions. These are the questions you’ll discuss as a group after the role-play skit is complete. Design questions that make people examine the success of the characters’ conflict resolution efforts and explore how things could have been handled differently. For example:

• How do you think each person felt after this exchange?
• What would you have said if you were Mimi?
• How do you imagine these two will behave around each other when they meet again?

When it’s meeting time, ask for 2 volunteers to play the characters. Tell them your premise and set a timer for 5 minutes. Make sure they know they can behave however they want and say anything they want. People will get the most from this 5-minute team building activity if it’s truly organic and open-ended. After the skit, set a timer for 10 minutes and pose your discussion questions with the group.

41. Play a Round of Spyfall

Spyfall is a role-playing and guessing game rolled into one. You can play it on phones or computers, and you don’t need any materials to get started. Game summary: The interface assigns each player an identity. One person is the “spy.” All the non-spies are in the same location (their identity assignments tell them what this location is). The spy’s identity assignment includes no location.

• The objective for the non-spies is to guess who is the spy.
• The objective for the spy is to guess everyone else’s location.

To play, everyone asks each other thoughtful questions until someone has enough clues to wager a guess. Spyfall makes a perfect icebreaker because it is the kind of group game that gets people thinking critically, talking to each other, and also getting unprecedented insight into how their coworkers’ minds work. It’s also incredibly fun. (Most games last less than 15 minutes.)

42. Thought Experiment Icebreaker

Warm up everyone’s active thinking muscles before your big meeting with a thought experiment icebreaker. Thought experiments prep people to challenge assumptions and status quos and to think outside the box. This icebreaker will be especially helpful before a brainstorming session. The Thiagi Group has a toolkit that will help you get started with some meeting-appropriate, quick thought experiments that get participants considering the work competencies and skills they value most in themselves.

Bonus #1 Peek Into Each Other’s Home Office/Workspace Icebreaker

An icebreaker for distributed teams, the good folks at Time Doctor recommend an exercise that encourages team members to open their home offices/workspaces to one another virtually. Each team member will make a short video showing off their home office/workspace and some of their favorite things.

This activity allows team members to get to know one another on a more personal level and can lead to feelings of welcomeness and friendship. This activity may be better suited for small teams, but it’s undoubtedly a great way to get the personal feel going. Another way to do this is by allowing one team member to show off their home office/workspace at the beginning of each week’s work meeting, on a team member’s birthday , or during a virtual happy hour cocktail kit experience.

Bonus #2  The Inspirational Speaker Icebreaker

Put meeting attendees out of the spotlight and invite an inspirational speaker to break the ice before your meeting. Pick someone with expertise in what your company does or what you’re meeting is about. Ask the presenter to make the talk super quick so there’s plenty of time for Q&A.

Bonus #3  The Personality Quiz Icebreaker

Make sure everyone has their smartphones. (We doubt this will be a problem.) Send everyone a link to a personality quiz you think they would like. Since there are probably over a million quizzes circulating, we know there will be one to pique your interest. Everyone can take the quiz and then reveal their results to the group. Have everyone explain why they agree or disagree with the results.

Bonus #4 The Toilet Paper Icebreaker

This idea from Lifehack requires minimal effort and minimal funds. To play, pass a roll of toilet paper around and have everyone rip off how much they would usually use. Everyone will probably think you’re crazy. When the toilet paper makes it all the way around the circle, have everyone count their squares. The number of squares each person took is the number of fun facts they have to reveal about themselves.

Bonus #5 The “5 Minute Vacation” Icebreaker

What better way to get to know your team than to travel together?

Grab your passport and join your fellow meeting attendees on a tour of the world. A quick virtual tour is a fun and informative way to learn about the world from the comfort of your desk. Plus, you can learn more about which countries and places your coworkers have been to before! This icebreaker encourages active collaborative participation from team members and gets them ready to engage before the next meeting.

Choose one person to be your “tour guide” and watch as you take a few minutes to uncover some of Earth’s wonders.

Tip: You can use a platform like Google Earth to make your virtual trip a success!

Bonus #6 The “Building Connections” Icebreaker

Hop into a gameroom and choose from a list of lighthearted or deep questions to get to know your teammates better. Or if you prefer, you can hang out over a game of cards, Werewolf or Draw It to let the fun times happen organically!

Brightful works with all video conferencing software. There is nothing to download or install.

Bonus #7 The Mindfulness Icebreaker

Meetings can sometimes fail because of what we bring to them, and we’re not talking about notebooks and cell phones. If meeting attendees feel stress, especially about the meeting itself, then tension will dominate the agenda.

Reduce stress by opening the meeting with a mindfulness icebreaker. Start with three minutes of silent contemplation, and then have everyone write down what is stressing them out. When everyone finishes writing, tell them to rip up their stress. Put all the scraps together in a bowl on the table.

Bonus #8 The Artsy Icebreaker

Prep your meeting table with art supplies. At the very least, provide 2 sheets of paper and 1 pencil for everyone. But if you think your team will be into it, then go ahead and go crazy with colored pencils, paint, glue, dry noodles, and anything else you can stick on paper.

Give everyone a prompt to avoid creative block. We love Artwork Achieve’s prompt, “Illustrate a cause or current event that you are passionate about.” Allow 10 minutes for creating and 10 minutes for sharing and discussing.

Bonus #9  The Minefield: The Obstacle Icebreaker

This classic classroom activity from TeachThought makes the perfect meeting icebreaker. Set up “obstacles” around the conference room table. (We recommend something harmless and funny, like squeaky toys.) Now everyone takes turns navigating the obstacles while blindfolded, guided only by the shouts and direction of their teammates.

(PS – Get more sh*t done with  The Assist — the #1 free weekly newsletter made for assistants by assistants. )

People Also Ask These Questions About Icebreaker Games

Q: how can icebreakers boost work productivity.

• A: Icebreaker games make meetings better by loosening everybody up and getting them into “meeting mode. With a quick 5 minute activity, employees will be energized to tackle the meeting with enthusiasm. The only tough part is finding the right activity for your team. To get you started, we have compiled our unique list of icebreaker games to try at your next meeting.

Q: What are some fun icebreaker games for work in 2024?

• A: The “Movie Pitch,” The “Logo Love,” and The “Foodie” are a few examples of the icebreaker activities you can learn about in our 39 Ridiculously Fun Icebreaker Games in 2024 For Your Next Meeting! Battle-tested by top performing companies, we are proud to share with you the best of the best.

Q: Where can I find good icebreaker games for my next meeting?

• A: The team at SnackNation spoke to hundreds of companies across our network to find the top 39 undeniably fun icebreakers for your next meeting. These icebreakers were handpicked to encourage team engagement and support your company culture.

Do you have any favorite fun icebreakers you want to share? Let us know in the comments below.

Motivating & Managing Employees Resources:

Thoughtful employee recognition & appreciation ideas for 2024 [updated], team building kits for boosting engagement, 141 inspirational and motivational quotes for work, 21 freakishly effective ways to motivate employees, 11 insanely powerful and motivational videos for your team, managing millennials in the workplace: stop making it complicated, 17 lessons most first time managers make the hard way, how to run a productive one-on-one meeting, 14 essential team management skills for first-time managers, 79 insanely fun team building activities for work, 31 things successful people do to increase their productivity at work.

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52 Comments

I have used a “Don’t Judge Me” Icebreaker before.

I had each team member anonymously write something they’ve done and felt guilty about during the week that they haven’t told anyone.

We had some funny ones like: I ate my kid’s last fruit snack and some others like: I accidentally banged my car door on someone else’s car (no damage though!).

Sometimes it’s best to free ourselves of something we’ve done that may be frowned upon. 🙂

Wow, it’s really nice!

Tremendous article. Thank you. I also found Alexis’ comment helpful. Much appreciated.

Any ideas for a conflict management training session? I found mindfulness icebreaker and problem solution icebreakers closer to my subject. I am looking at an icebreaker which will set the tone for the 2 day training program

Re idea for a conflict management ice breaker….

Get a two litre bottle of fizzy drink and pass it to someone. Ask them to say something that makes them feel really angry, they can say it in an angry voice and as they say it; they should give the bottle an angry shake.

Then ask them to pass the bottle onto the person next to them; and repeat with each person in the room.

When the bottle comes back to you, get a cloth and gently open the bottle releasing all the gas. You have choices in how you respond to anger, you can add more, or you can find ways to reduce tensions.

I LOVE This, Eric! There is a magic trick I perform called “Fizz Master” where people shake up a can of soda, and you transfer the combustion to another can. The secret is that the fizz calms down quickly in the shaken can and you squeeze the other can while you open it to act like it’s fizzy. I hope this contributes to you! (While this is a ‘magic secret’ these ice breaker secrets are just as valuable~

do you have any idea about icebreaker for a class that can be related to the topic we discussed?

Love the idea of – ‘ Movie Pitch Icebreaker’. Going to try it in my meeting. 🙂 Thank you for the idea.

I hope it’s a crowd favorite! Thanks, Annie!

Tremendous article! Thanks you!

These are some great ideas! I run a youth club, and I’m definitely using the trading card icebreaker tonight to kick off the year.

Glad to hear it, Rachel! I hope your icebreaker is a hit!

There is always the tried and true, 2 truths and a lie. Fun way to keep all involved and laughing. Sit in a circle and go around, each person introduces themselves the shares 2 truths and a lie. The rest has to guess.

A classic! Great add, Donna!

I’m actually new to being a supervisor and planning 2truths and one lie for our first meeting

This one is fun. Give everyone a coin. Ask each of the participants to tell the rest something about them that made that year memorable (if the coin is older than the person, swap it out for a new one!)

Love it! Great idea, Louise!

Great ideas. Enough to satisfy a range of meeting types. Some of these could be thrown in part way through the day too especially the One-Word ice breaker.

Am new to my supervisory role ,planning a learning & reflection session for my team , No smile Icebreaker ,man that’s going to be difficult ahahah

Can anyone suggest me an ice breaker session.. For the new joiners in the company so that they know get to know each other…. Apart from introducing themselves I am searching for something new… Please suggest if anyone has some ideas

How about getting to know you pictionary. Give them 2 minutes each with whiteboard and marker to draw as many things about themselves as they can for the others to guess…incentivise with biscuits!

I dont understand this. Can you please elaborate?

I need a health/wellness ice breaker about 5 minutes long before a meeting on Tuesday. Help please.

Hi Carole! A simple icebreaker you could do is to have everyone say what their favorite fruit or veggie is and how they like to prepare it. This could spark some great ideas and encourage team members to eat healthier in a new way!

I love this!

We use 2 ice breaks. First like you must say for what things you love the company. And second addition for first part. What feat is my company can do for me? Thanks you very mauch for article! Sorry my English.

A great ice breaker is a human bingo. create a bingo with things like: have a tattoo, hates chocolate, speaks two languages, has a broken bone etc. participants will mingle and write names of person in meeting who matches each slot. rule varies and can be that they cannot repeat names or can repeat only once.

I like this one!

Hi Ellis Wonderful idea. Can you please share some more questions to ask for this Human Bingo. I am having hard time coming up with questions. Thanks,

I do believe you get your arse kicked at any place I’ve ever worked for all of these except maybe the marshmallow one. Thank you for that one at least

Help me for an Ice breaker where we each of our team members can say thank you to our team. ☺️

Hi Krizel! As a part of our weekly team meeting, we start off with ‘Team Wins’ in which every person has the chance to call out another team member that did a great job that week. Hope this helps – we love it!

I have a presentation on how social media influences consumer behavior . Any tips ?

I am an Orientation leader at my community college and i have to get the Freshman coming in involved during our orientation session! One Ice breaker I use is cheap and simple! Go to your local Walmart or Dollar General and get a soccer ball, look up questions on the internet and fill in each section of the ball with a question, then throw the ball (gently, unless the person ate your lunch) at someone and call out a finger, where ever the finger is located on the ball is the question they answer! Its fun and a really good way to get to know someone!

Hey Cailee. Thanks so much for sharing! That sounds really fun!

What type of questions do you put?

We have used an inflatable beach ball for this one as well. You can get them at the dollar tree as well and they may be a little safer, lol. We typically tell them to answer the question at their right thumb (or choose a finger). This one is really fun. Questions can be anything, What was your favorite vacation?, What was your first car?, Where were you born?, What was your first or favorite job?, What is your dream job?, What is your favorite hobby?, What is your favorite restaurant?, etc……

Very good way to make the office atmosphere more harmonious，thank you for your sharing.

Ice Breaker Activity Title: Dum Dum Fun Time: 10-15 Minutes Type of Group it would be appropriate for: Educational/Discussion/Support Groups Population: Any Age: Any Materials Needed: Bag of Dum Dum Lollipops Explanation: Each member will be encouraged to choose their favorite flavor lollipop out of the bag/basket upon entry to the meeting. Once everyone has chosen, then the facilitator/leader will provide instruction. ‘Look at the wrapper of the lollipop you chose, take note of the flavor. Count the number of letters in the flavor name. Please be prepared to share that amount of facts about yourself. For example, if the flavor is -Cherry- please share 6 things about yourself with the group. They can be things like your favorite color, food, favorite place, restaurant, favorite time of year, or even how many pets you have’ Then after instruction the facilitator will provided 1-2 minutes for the members to come up with their ideas, then they will demonstrate, and then choose someone to begin. Benefits: The success of any group is based on the level of comfort each member has for the group. When entering a group of people you don’t know sometimes you can be shut off from building a relationship with them to establish any sort of comfort. This activity encourages you to get to know the members of your group. You, can discover that maybe you share the same likes or interests as another member which can lead you to feel more comfortable; and encourage you to open up more in the future. Attachments: None Considerations: May want to get sugar free lollipops for those who may be diabetic Precautions: limit each members share to about 30 seconds to a minute, discourage other members making comments on shares.

Good One. Will try this out

Thank you!!!

Did this at a meeting and it was a big hit.

Ahead of time, write several sentences on easel paper, replacing key words with blank lines, e.g. “Members of my team are _____.” “I like my______ because they are ______.”

Create a card for each removed word. Write the type of word on one side, e.g. group of people, noun, adjective, etc. Leave the other side blank.

Each participant should have a card placed face down on their chair. (This will determine how many sentences you need.)

Once you reveal the game, they can look at their card. They write a word that matches the category, e.g. elephant, blue.

You may want to ask if everyone knows what an adjective is. Don’t assume everyone does.

When time is up, ask “Who has a (noun? adjective?)” and fill in the blanks.

Reveal the sentences with the new words in them.

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Absolutely amazing list, thanks a lot for sharing. I would go for #4 – The Online Quiz Icebreaker. I love quiz games and I think it’s a great way to get to know each other. Thanks a lot for sharing these icebreakers and team-building methods with us!

I visited your. article! I really like it. Lots of good information. Keep it up.

My share is here,

simple icebreaker you could do is to have everyone say what their favorite food is and how they like to prepare it, it would encourage team members to collaborate, have friendly time & healthy eat together ! + spark at work place

These are some amazing fun activities! The No Smiling Icebreaker is my personal favorite. Really glad that I came across this blog.

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38 Icebreaker Games, Activities & Ideas for Small Groups

By: Jessica Chen | Updated: February 26, 2024

You found our list of fun  icebreaker games for small groups .

Icebreaker games are activities and exercises that prompt conversations from participants. Example games include Six Word Memoirs and Desert Island Intelligences. The purpose of these games is for small groups to get to know each other in a fun, informal setting, and to promote team building.

These icebreakers are a subset of team building games and indoor team building activities , and are similar to connection games and 5 minute team building activities for small groups .

This list includes:

• icebreaker activities
• ice breaker games for work
• ice breaking activities
• team building ice breakers
• small group icebreakers
• small group games
• team ice breaker games

So, here is the list!

List of icebreaker games, activities & ideas

When a group does not know each other well, it may be difficult for people to start talking. Here is our list of the most fun icebreaker games that let your team have a great time, while also providing shared experiences to facilitate future interactions.

1. Icebreaker Bingo

Icebreaker Bingo is one of the best games you can play for new introductions. The game is a familiar format, easy to learn and a lot of fun. Plus, the game format lends itself to prizes and other forms of recognition.

Here is a game board you can use:

And here is a free icebreaker Bingo card template you can play with.

2. Wolf/Chicken/Grain Riddle

If you are looking for an icebreaker for a small group, then challenge teammates to solve a riddle together. Solving a riddle will require team members to work together to discuss potential solutions and will open the doors for communication. One classic riddle to share is the Wolf, Chicken, Grain riddle.

Tell the group:

“A farmer is traveling with a wolf, chicken and bag of grain and comes to a river they need to cross. The boat only has room for the farmer and 1 other. The farmer can’t leave the wolf alone with the chicken and he can’t leave the chicken alone with the grain. How can he get them all across the river safely?”

Team members must work together to agree on an answer and explain their reasoning. For larger groups, it may be better to split the group into teams so that all teammates have a chance to participate.

By the way, here is the answer:

• The farmer takes the chicken over first.
• He brings the wolf second and comes back with the chicken.
• He drops off the chicken and takes the grain to the other side with the wolf.
• The farmer makes one last trip to retrieve the chicken.

Check out more riddles to do with teams .

Get our free team building toolbox

• icebreaker games
• bingo cards

3. Icebreaker Questions Activity

A quick and fun icebreaker activity you can do anywhere is asking icebreaker questions. For example, you might ask “your favorite movie growing up” or “the last book you read.” Theses questions help participants bond over shared experiences, and get more comfortable talking with each other.

Check out this list of icebreaker questions for more inspiration.

4. Desert Island Intelligences

One of the most intriguing theories in psychology is Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences , which proposes that people possess a variety of abilities and talents, known as intelligences. This icebreaker game for college students draws on Gardner’s Theory, and asks your team to vote people off a desert island based on how useful these intelligences would be for survival.

Gardner’s eight intelligences are:

• Visual-spatial
• Linguistic-verbal
• Interpersonal
• Intrapersonal
• Logical-mathematical
• Body-kinesthetic
• Naturalistic

In this game, eight individuals, each representing a different intelligence, are stranded on a desert island. Because the island has a finite amount of resources, your team must decide what order to eliminate the individuals in, in order to ensure survival. The debates stemming from Desert Island Intelligences are wonderful for learning about your coworkers’ priorities and thought processes.

For similar ideas, check out this list of problem solving games .

5. Speed Networking

While Speed Networking may seem better suited for large group icebreakers, this activity can also be reworked as an intimate icebreaker activity. This exercise provides a fast and easy way for teams to get to know each other.

To play Speed Networking, using a random team generator , pair your team into groups of two. Then, give each pair icebreaker questions and five minutes to make their way through as many questions as possible. After five minutes are up, switch up the pairs.

Since you are playing with a smaller group, you can cycle through the pairs more than once, so your colleagues can ask even more questions or simply chat about some information that came up in a previous question.

Need help thinking of ways to break the ice? Check out our list of icebreaker questions for some pointers.

6. Achievements Under 18

If you are looking for a free-and-easy way to know more about your team’s past exploits, then try a few rounds of Achievements Under 18. To participate in this icebreaker game for employees, ask all your coworkers to name an accomplishment achieved by age 18. These accomplishments can range from academic to personal, and you can play as many rounds as you like.

Achievements Under 18 is a terrific icebreaker game because each round paints a picture of the childhood your team had, and undoubtedly leads to questions about everyone’s personal triumphs. This exercise is a fun way to get to know each other, and breaks up the monotony of a slow workday.

7. Myers-Briggs Session

One of the most prominent personality tests is the Myers-Briggs Test, which matches people with a personality type denoted by four letters that reveals what you are like in relationships, the workplace, and as a parent. Myers-Briggs Session uses this test to initiate discussions that reveal more about your coworkers’ characters.

To begin a Myers-Briggs Session, send the Myers-Briggs test to your team to complete. Then, set a time where everyone gets together to discuss results. A Myers-Briggs Session is a fun activity to get people talking about themselves and how they work best with others.

8. Jenga Questions

Jenga Questions is an icebreaker game for students and other groups, where your team plays Jenga, while also answering questions. Depending on whether you have a standard or giant Jenga set, either write numbers that correspond with questions or the actual questions on each brick. As each team member withdraws a brick, answer the question associated with it.

Since an element of unpredictability exists with Jenga Questions, this exercise creates a spontaneous, easygoing way for employees to share information about themselves. This impromptu element elevates your team’s Jenga experience to beyond simply balancing blocks.

Here is a list of fun this or that questions you can use for the game.

9. Time Heist

Have you ever considered what you would do if you could travel back in time? Inspired by the events of Avengers: Endgame, Time Heist is a game where your team proposes outlandish schemes they would pull off if they could time travel.

To play, ask your team to write down time travel plans on scraps of paper, and place the scraps in an opaque container. Then, pass the container around and have each member of the team draw a paper and discuss what is written on it. Time Heist not only reveals your team’s creativity, but also provides an amusing way to learn more about each other.

10. I’m a Brand Manager

I’m a Brand Manager is an icebreaker for work that tests your team’s creativity.

Here’s how to play:

• Ask your team members to invest in an imaginary new business.
• Each group must decide how to market the new brand.
• Encourage your coworkers to come up with logos, slogans, and a basic color palette.
• Share and vote on the best marketing strategy!

This icebreaker game is a great choice for creative or design teams, but even if your team is not full of designers, I’m a Brand Manager is a great icebreaker because the competition inadvertently reveals what your team members are passionate about, and may unearth previously unknown design skills.

11. Six Word Memoirs for Small Groups

Six Word Memoirs is a stellar icebreaker game for team building guaranteed to spark discussions. To play this game, each member of your team brainstorms six words that summarize their life, and then shares their Six Word Memoir with the group.

Because the activity limits each participant to six words, your colleagues’ choices in words invariably lead to questions about why these particular words stood out. Your team will come together to play this icebreaker game, while also discovering interesting insights about each other.

12. Personality Shapes

If you are looking for quick icebreaker exercises, then look no further than Personality Shapes! This one-question personality test is a simple way to gain insight into your team’s mindsets. On a white board, draw a square, a triangle, a circle, and a squiggly line. Then ask participants which shape best matches their personality. Each shape corresponds to certain personality traits. Here are a few examples.

• Detail-oriented
• Hate clutter
• Hesitant to change
• Love to multi-task
• Self-Motivated
• Work best on teams
• Want to “fix” everyone else
• Reluctant to say no
• Empathetic and compassionate
• Adapt easily to change
• Idea generators
• Easily bored
• Love to try new things

Understanding how a coworker approaches a problem or new situation can be instrumental when working on a project together. For example, squares and squiggles may struggle to work together because one is hesitant to change, but the other gets bored quickly. Teammates can set expectations and be more prepared for conflict to arise when aware of these attributes.

Visit Connie Podesta’s site to learn more about the personality traits associated with each shape, and check out more personality tests .

13. Tic Tac Toe

The best icebreakers give teammates the chance to interact and learn information about each other. Icebreaker tic tac toe encourages both!

First, pick a theme for your game, such as hobbies. Next, ask each player to fill in the nine squares with specific personal hobbies. Then, set a five to ten-minute time limit. Next, participants walk around the room and share the grids. When two teammates list the same hobby, they initial each other’s grids. The first player to get three boxes in a row wins the exercise. You can have multiple winners by awarding one prize for a diagonal row, one horizontal, one vertical, and one full board.

One of the best parts of this icebreaker is that you can change the theme to cover any topic you would like to learn. For instance, ask employees to fill in the boxes with passions, personality traits, or favorite TV shows. The possibilities are endless!

14. Would You Rather for Small Groups

Would You Rather is one of the best icebreakers for small groups because the game can cover various topics. To play the challenge, come up with a list of questions that begin with “Would you rather…” and end with two options. For instance, “Would you rather have the ability to read minds or move things with your mind?” Then, have participants take turns answering and make sure respondents share the reasons for their choices.

This exercise is a fun game to play in a group as your team will learn more about each other’s preferences. Some players may even decide to change their answers as they hear from the group.

Here are some of my favorite questions:

• Would you rather be able to fly or breathe underwater?
• Would you rather be able to see into the future or relive a moment from your past?
• Would you rather lose all the memories you made this year or all the money you made this year?
• Would you rather spend a year with the same song stuck in your head or with an itch you can’t scratch?
• Would you rather live alone in the woods or in a studio apartment with 10 people?

Check out our list of the best Would You Rather questions for work .

15. The Marshmallow Challenge

The Marshmallow Challenge is one of the most fun team building and icebreaker games for work. To start the exercise, split your team into pairs and give each group 20 sticks of dry spaghetti, three feet of tape, three feet of string, and one marshmallow.

The instructions are easy, even if the task is not. Each pair has 20 minutes to build the tallest structure with the marshmallow on top. This activity requires teamwork, communication, and innovation. Once the challenge is complete, have the group discuss what part of the exercise was the most difficult, who failed at first, how they recovered, and what they thought of the other designs.

This Ted Talk shares insights into the lessons.

16. Who Am I?

Who am I is a fun group game that requires some preparation. You can create a list of well-known, real people and fictional characters. Write the individual names on note cards and tape a card to each person’s back. The card on someone’s back is who they become for the game, and their goal is to figure out who they are. They must ask each other questions to find the answers.

Some examples of questions are:

• Am I male or female?
• Am I real or fictional?
• Am I an athlete?
• Am I alive or dead?

The game ends when all participants guess the name on the card. You can choose a broad range of names or try to incorporate a theme. For example, during Women’s History Month you can choose important women throughout history. Here is a list with more ideas for Women’s History Month .

17. Guess Who

To set up Guess Who, give each team member three slips of paper and ask players to write a piece of personal trivia on each slip. Encourage participants to share unique, interesting, and surprising facts. Fold up the pieces, put them in a bowl, and read them out loud one at a time. Have the other team members guess the fact’s author. After all players make a guess, have the team member who shared that fact identify themselves and share some more information. This exercise can lead to entertaining discussions as employees learn little-known tidbits about each other.

Check out more get to know you games .

18. No Smiling

Being told you cannot do something usually leads to an obsession with that topic. If someone tells me not to think about pink elephants, then I can guarantee that I will picture pink elephants for the rest of the day. No Smiling is an icebreaker that plays on this instinct. The first step is to have your team stand in a circle with one person in the middle. Tell the person in the center they are not allowed to smile or laugh. Then, participants within the circle take turns telling jokes and trying to make the middle person laugh. This activity can lighten the mood and help team members loosen up.

19. Word Association

Word Association is a quick and easy way to learn more about how your teammates’ minds work. You will need a list of ten words, although you can change the number based on your needs. Next, have everyone write one through ten on a piece of paper and then read each word. Instruct employees that players must write down the first thing that comes to mind as soon as you read a word. Once the lists are complete, teammates share the response to each word. Employees can also explain the reasoning behind the associations. It is always interesting to see how folks make connections and understand their logic.

You can create your own list or use a random word generator like the one in this post .

20. Hometown Map

Hometown Map is an icebreaker game for work that is easy to set up. To start, pin a large world map to a bare stretch of wall and place a marker, small Post-It notes, and box of push pins nearby. Then, notify your team to use the push pins and Post-Its to mark birth places or hometowns on the map over the next few days.

Hometown Map is a great icebreaker because after everyone is done, you will have a lovely new piece of wall decor that shows important pieces of your employees’ pasts. When your team members walk past the map, the pins may prompt your colleagues to ask each other about experiences growing up in different places.

21. Common Ground

I love common ground because teammates learn so much about each other and there are so many ways to play! You will have your team play this game in groups. You can choose your groups based on how many people are on your team and how challenging you want the game to be. Once your groups are set, instruct participants to find a set number of things they have in common in a set amount of time.

If you want the game to be laidback, then have teammates work in pairs and find three commonalities in 10 minutes. If you want to make the exercise more challenging, then have the whole group work together and find ten things everyone in the group has in common. At the end of the activity, reunite the groups back together to share what they have learned about each other.

Pro-tip: Encourage participants to find unique areas of commonality. “We all ate the same variety of spaghetti growing up” is more interesting than “we all breathe.”

22. Psychology Masks

Psychology Masks is another icebreaker activity pulled from Psychology 101 that is especially suited for artistically inclined teams. To get started, order blank white masks and paints. Then, ask your team to fill the outside of the masks with images signifying what others think of them, and illustrate the inside with drawings that symbolize their inner selves.

When the masks are complete, display the finished products in the office. Because of the dual nature of the masks, the display is sure to stimulate discussion among your team members and provide a low pressure icebreaker game for employees to share more about themselves.

23. Geographical Guess

To play this game, each participant picks a place they have visited. Participants must then mingle and ask yes/no questions to figure out each other’s locations. This game is a geography-themed icebreaker that sparks conversations about travel and exploration, and is one of the best icebreaker games for small groups of adventure lovers.

24. Roll the Dice Confessions

In this exercise, each participant rolls a die, and based on the number rolled, shares a personal fact about themselves. The game adds an element of randomness and surprise to the usual sharing, creating a dynamic and open atmosphere. Feel free to play multiple rounds and reassign the numbers as needed.

Here is a list of get to know you questions you can use as game questions.

25. Invisible Object Show and Tell

This icebreaker is a quirky and imaginative twist on the traditional show and tell. Participants take turns presenting an “invisible” object, describing it in detail. Other players then guess the object based on the description. This activity is in some ways a more telling icebreaker than traditional show and tell because players can use items beyond what they have on hand and the choice of “invisible” objects can reveal insights into the sharer’s psychology.

26. Guess the Sound Safari

Each participant records a unique sound such as  tapping on a surface or whistling prior to the event. During the icebreaker, participants play the recorded sounds, and others try to guess the source. This exercise is a sensory and engaging way to learn about each other, and can be great fun. The stranger the sound, the better the bonding experience!

27. Parallel Universe Pictionary

Participants draw a scene from a parallel universe on a whiteboard. This exercise puts a twist on standard Pictionary because it centers on made-up objects and situations rather than real-world examples. Thus, players will need even better communication, teamwork, and problem solving skills to conquer the game. This icebreaker can be a great window into teammates’ imaginations!

28. That Reminds Me

That Reminds Me is an icebreaker game that is similar to Word Association. In this exercise, a leader gives a prompt, and players share the things that remind them of that prompt.

For example, if the prompt is “home,” then one player might name the scent of freshly baked conchas while another describes the smell of salt air that reminds them of their childhood home on the beach.

Here are some good prompts:

• Autumn (or any season)

This exercise is one of the most impactful icebreaker games for small groups because it gives insight into players’ backgrounds and mindsets and encourages anecdotes that create intimacy.

29. Special Snowflakes

Participants receive a paper snowflake upon entering the room. Throughout the event, players write compliments on each other’s snowflakes. At the end of the activity, participants gets to take home a unique snowflake covered in positive affirmations from their peers.

Pro Tip: You can play this game virtually by giving players a digital snowflake in Canva.

30. Snapshot Throwback

Prior to the activity, participants submit a childhood photo. Participants then receive a photo at random, and must find the person in the photo and learn about their childhood experiences. This activity is a nostalgic and heartwarming way to connect.

31. Mingle & Masterpiece

To do this activity, give participants art supplies and ask them to create a collaborative masterpiece on a large canvas. However, the artists can only contribute while engaging in conversation with others. This icebreaker fosters creativity and also prompts meaningful interactions as the artwork unfolds.

Pro Tip: To do this activity virtually, use a digital whiteboard.

32. Freeze Frame Storytime

Each participant takes turns sharing a snippet of an absurd or fictional story. The catch is that players must freeze in a dramatic pose at the end of their turn. The next participant then continues the tale from that frozen moment, resulting in a collaborative and comical story.

33. Theme Music

In this simple icebreaker, teammates choose theme music to suit different situations.

For example:

• To celebrate a work win
• When I want to motivate myself
• When I am angry
• Imagining I am a superhero

You can have participants name the song, play a short clip, or add the song to a collaborative playlist.

34. Fridge Art Throwbacks

This activity helps team members break the ice by sharing childhood masterpieces. Before the meeting, each participants find a piece of art they created when they were a kid. Players then take turns sharing and explaining those drawings or paintings to a group. This activity can inspire lots of laughs and invoke a sense of nostalgia, thus helping teammates bond.

If participants do not have any authentic kiddie art on hand, then they can share their children’s artwork or create a kid-style drawing.

35. Magnetic Poetry Mixer

For this easy activity, give participants magnetic poetry sets and a communal magnetic board. Team members create short poems together, rearranging words as they mingle. This activity is a tactile and collaborative way to express creativity through language.

Here is an online magnetic poetry game .

36. My Dream Emoji

In this activity, participants share the emojis that they wish existed. For examples, players might create a gingerbread cookie emoji or the words “JUST NO!” Participants can describe the emojis in words or submit a picture. Then, a leader shares the emojis one by one and players must guess which group member suggested which emoji.

Firsts is an icebreaker game that helps teammates share their first experiences. To prepare this activity, create a list of firsts and share it with players, giving the group three or four minutes to answer.

• First concert
• First vacation
• First apartment
• First friend
• First item bought with first paycheck
• First celebrity crush
• First time I ever heard my favorite song

Then, the group will share, compare, and contrast answers. When playing this game, be sure to avoid getting too personal and keep all topics work appropriate.

38. Doodle Duel Derby

Participants engage in a fast-paced doodle competition. Each person starts a doodle on a shared canvas, and every few minutes, they rotate to continue the doodle started by someone else. The result is a collaborative masterpiece. As a bonus, participants can guess which players added which parts to the doodles.

Final Thoughts

Icebreaker games are a fun way to get to know other people in a group quickly. These small group games can take just a few minutes at the beginning of a meeting, and provide immense value in improving communication and engagement. You can start with any of the fun icebreaker activities on this list as a way to bring your people together and build community at work.

Next, check out our list of improv games , and these ones with question games , getting to know you games and small group team building ideas . Plus, this list of energizers for meetings .

We also have a list of icebreaker activities for large groups , virtual icebreaker apps , conversation starters for work meetings , and Christmas icebreaker games .

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FAQ: Icebreaker Games

Here are some examples of commonly asked questions about icebreaker games.

What are icebreaker games?

Icebreaker games are activities you play with your team to help facilitate discussion among colleagues. These games are crucial for new teams that do not know each other very well, especially if team members are unaware of potential shared interests. These games are also known as “icebreaker activities”, “icebreaker challenges”, and “icebreaker exercises.”

What are the benefits of playing icebreaker games?

The benefits of playing icebreaker games include:

• Letting employees get to know each other
• Unearthing previously unknown skills
• Providing low pressure situations for colleagues to hang out
• Promoting communication among team members
• Learning about your coworkers’ interests and passions
• Revealing aspects of your team’s pasts or growing up experiences

By participating in icebreaker games, your team experiences a variety of benefits that create stronger bonds, and thus lets coworkers work better together.

What is an easy icebreaker activity to start with?

An easy icebreaker activity to start with is Hometown Maps because it is a low pressure activity that only requires you to prepare a blank map, Post-Its, and a box of push pins. Choosing Hometown Maps not only gives your office some new wall decor, but it is also an effortless way for coworkers to learn about each others’ pasts.

What makes icebreaker games for small groups work?

Icebreakers for small groups work if you:

• Set aside adequate time for everyone to participate
• Confirm participants
• Prepare materials before the game begins
• Run rounds more than once

Because you have a smaller number of players, you can take advantage of this fact by granting each participant more time. Giving more time creates a more intimate atmosphere, and lets team members get to know each other even more.

Author: Jessica Chen

Content Expert at teambuilding.com. Team building content expert. Jessica has a double major in English and Asian Studies, and experience working with teams across cultures; including 3+ years in Taiwan.

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35 Icebreakers Perfect for Virtual and Hybrid Meetings

We’ve all been there – the start of a virtual or hybrid meeting where there’s an awkward silence. But this can be a thing of the past when you introduce the humble icebreaker to get people talking and loosen them up.

Our list of  35 different virtual icebreakers and team-building activities for 2023 have all been tried, tested, and enjoyed by team Slido – even by the introverts among us.

We’ll enlighten you first on what exactly a virtual icebreaker is, and why it’s good to have one on hand for your next meeting. Breaking the ice has never been this easy!

What are virtual icebreakers?

Virtual icebreakers are small interactive activities that are used to lighten the mood, typically at the start of a meeting.

They are great conversation starters – they help energize people, drive lively discussions, and encourage the participants to be more active throughout the meeting.

With online and hybrid meetings , virtual icebreakers can help make your video conference call more personal and allow your colleagues to get to know each other better and enjoy some social time.

From quick icebreaker questions to longer ice-breaking games – pick your favorite ones!

• Quick icebreaker questions
• Short virtual icebreaker activities
• Icebreaker games & Team building activities

1. Quick virtual icebreaker questions

These are great rapid-fire questions to energize your participants and kick-start a conversation.

Read also: List of 200 Icebreaker Questions For Meetings and Tips On How to Use Them

#1. Mood barometer: How are you feeling today?

The classic “So, how are you folks doing?” usually gets you only a couple of reluctant answers. Ask your team how they are in a different way this time – try it with a poll .

For example, check the overall energy in the room by running a rating poll such as: “On a scale of 1-7, how are you feeling today?” Or, “What’s your energy level today?”

Everyone can contribute and so you’ll take an instant pulse check on how everyone is feeling before the meeting.

Use the poll results as a discussion starter: “I can see that not everyone is feeling at their best. Does anyone want to share their thoughts?”

Create your own poll in Slido and engage your audience. Sign up below and try it for yourself.

Sign up for free

#2. Would you rather…?

A would you rather virtual icebreaker question is guaranteed to spark a lively discussion at the start of your meeting and help with breaking the ice.

Simply ask your participants a thought-provoking ‘this or that’ poll question with two options to choose from. Then, drive a discussion around how people voted and why.

Here are some of our favorite would you rather questions:

• Would you live in the Arctic or in the Sahara Desert?
• Would you rather be always overdressed or underdressed?
• Have 2 meter long legs or 2 meter long arms?
• Time travel back to the past or to the future?

Read also: 101 Would You Rather Questions to Cheer Up Your Meetings

#3. Quiz question of the day

Or, why don’t you start with a little guessing game? Everyone loves quizzes as ice breakers and so a little brain teaser at the beginning of your meeting will perk your colleagues up.

This is an ideal virtual icebreaker for recurring meetings. If you and your team meet regularly, you can turn this into a tradition and run one quiz question at the start of every one of your meetings.

How to pull this off?

Simply create a quiz poll question in Slido and mark one option as correct. You can use our integrations with Google Slides and PowerPoint to insert the poll directly into your slides.

What’s more, you don’t even have to think up quiz questions. Our ‘magic cube’ random question generator will do that for you.

#4. Where are you joining from?

If your teammates are scattered around the world, kick off your meeting by sending a virtual hi to each one of them.

At the beginning of your conference call, run a word cloud with the question: “Where are you joining from?”

This is one of the best virtual icebreakers for large meetings or virtual events – the more locations, the better the word cloud will look.

As your colleagues post their locations, give them a special shout-out.

You’ll even be able to see if participants are still typing or not with Slido’s typing indicator feature when you’re in present mode – so that everyone gets their chance to participate before you move on.

Read also: 35+ Word Cloud Examples for Your Meetings and Events

#5. In one word, how would you describe…?

You can also use word clouds to pick up your team’s thoughts and feelings. Open your meeting with a question such as: “In one word, how would you describe the past week/month?”

This is one of the virtual ice breakers that will help you take a pulse check of the overall atmosphere in the team and detect possible downturns – especially handy in a virtual setup.

Or, you can even try something different like: “If you were to describe our company in one word, what would it be?”

#6. Good old times

If you need a guaranteed conversation starter, try a question that brings back childhood or teenage years memories – they provide an inexhaustible source of amusement.

You can use word clouds here as well.

• Which was your favorite candy you were hoping to get when trick-or-treating? (A perfect icebreaker to use before Halloween.)
• Which music band was your favorite growing up?

After people submit their answers, ask volunteers to share how they voted and why.

There will be a lot to talk about, maybe even some arguments about which candy or which movie is the best. You’ll start a meeting with some laughs and get your colleagues in a good mood before a meeting.

Read also: The Best 110 Trivia Questions for Team Bonding Quizzes

#7. Rank your favorites

Similar to the previous virtual icebreaker, you can engage people in ranking their favorite things, whether from their childhood or not – the possibilities are endless.

Use a ranking poll question, add as many options as you wish, and let your participants rank them.

Here are some ideas:

• Rank these 90s movies from your most favorite to your least favorite.
• Rank these Christmas movies from a must-watch to the most passable one.
• Rank these Harry Potter movies from the best to your least favorite.

After your participants are done voting, display the chart with the winners and the runner-ups. Expect a lively discussion – people tend to passionately root for their darlings!

#8. Say it with an emoji

Here’s another way to get a sense of how your team members are feeling – let them express it with emojis. For example, at the start of your meeting, ask your colleagues:

“Which emoji best describes your current state of mind?”

You can use a Slido word cloud for that, but instead of words, your participants will submit an emoji. This works best with larger meetings and events when a large number of emojis gets submitted.

Here are some other ideas for emoji icebreakers:

• Describe our team with an emoji.
• Use an emoji to describe your ideal vacation.
• Which emoji do you use most frequently?

This is an ideal virtual icebreaker if you’re looking for a simple activity that anyone can participate in, for example, as you’re waiting for others to join the meeting.

Read also: 80+ Best Poll Questions To Ask Your Online Audience

2. Short virtual icebreaker activities

These are great if you want to surprise your participants with a fun little activity and enjoy some bonding time.

#9. Draw your mood

Instead of verbally asking your colleagues how they are at the start of your meeting (which often results in a half-baked ‘fine’, or ‘okay’ here and there), ask them to draw how they are. It’s much more fun and you’ll spark creativity among your colleagues.

During our recent Brand Team meeting, our colleague, Sabine, shared a Zoom Whiteboard with us and asked us to draw our current mood on it. So we channeled our inner Basquiat and came up with something that remotely resembles art. But it was so much fun, we swear!

Note: Are you running your meetings in a hybrid setup ? Then make sure that each of your on-site team members joins the video conferencing call from their own device so they can participate in the activity.

#10. Highlight of the month

Here’s a great way to lift people’s spirits. Crowdsource your colleagues’ personal or professional highlights from the last week or month.

Thanks to this virtual icebreaker, you can see what other people have been up to and have experienced, and you can celebrate some of your top moments.

As you kick off your meeting, ask your teammates to post their highlights in an open text poll . Then, display the highlights on the screen, and give a shout-out to each one.

It’s good to remind people of all the remarkable work that they’ve done. For example, in our Slido marketing team, we share highlights as part of our monthly all-marketing meeting.

#11. Unsung heroes

This is not only an icebreaker but a morale booster as well. And we all need that now and then, especially when working in isolation.

Give kudos to the heroes in your team. Kick off your meeting with a word cloud poll such as: “Who was your silent hero this month?”

Acknowledging people for the effort they’re putting in is a wonderful way to start a meeting. Expect lots of hearty “awws”.

💡 Tip Combine the word cloud with an open text poll , so that people can also leave a heart-warming message for their nominated silent hero.

#12. What are you thankful for?

This ice-breaking activity is ideal, for instance, before Thanksgiving or as a morale booster during special team meetings.

Ask people to submit what they are grateful for or who from the team they would like to thank.

You may open your meeting with this question, either via word cloud or an open text poll , and wait for your team members’ submissions.

Then, display people’s submissions on the screen and ask your colleagues to share what they put in and why.

It’s a nice bonding moment and helps you start the meeting on a positive note.

#13. Team photo

A list of virtual icebreakers wouldn’t be complete without a group photo! This one’s as much fun through a video chat as much as it is in real life. And you can repeat it time and time again by taking a different picture each time — make funny faces, bring in your pets, do a crazy gesture, be creative.

Take inspiration from our Customer Care Team!

💡 Tip These photos also make nice content for your social media, internal newsletters, or Slack channels!

#14. Guess whose desk?

Get to know your colleagues a little better, and take a sneak-peek into their home work stations. This virtual icebreaker is a mixture of ‘Guess who?’ and a house tour.

Collect pictures from your colleagues of their desks at home and add them into Slido multiple choice polls with a question: “Can you guess whose desk this is?” and give several options.

Then, once at a meeting, let your colleagues guess away!

#15. Weekend photo contest

A slow start after the weekend? Run a quick weekend photo contest to get your teammates talking. Tell them to share a cool photo from their weekend – for example in a Slack channel.

You can then put people’s names in a Slido multiple choice poll and have your colleagues vote for the best shot!

#16. What’s the last picture that you took?

Similar to the previous virtual icebreaker, this one is probably even more fun: Ask your colleagues to go to their phones, and dig out the last photo that they took. Ask them to either post it to your Slack channel or simply show it to the camera. Then, ask them to share a story behind the picture (if it’s not a secret!).

It’s a sweet little activity to make people talk and get to know one another better.

#17. Random question of the week

Here’s another one from the ‘Get to know your colleagues better’ virtual icebreakers. Set up a new tradition and ask your team one random question each week or month.

For example:

• What’s the most useless thing you have in your home?
• What would your superpower be if you had one?
• What one thing should everybody stop doing right now?
• What’s one song or artist that you’re embarrassed to admit you like?

We actually started doing this as a weekly activity in our #random Slack channel. We’ve since learned so many cool new things about one another!

3. Virtual icebreaker games & Team building activities

These are great get-to-know-you games and longer team-building activities that will both entertain and bring the team closer together.

#18. Home scavenger hunt

Begin this team building activity by getting your colleagues out of their chairs. This virtual icebreaker is fun and you’ll all get a chance to move around a little. Give your teammates a little task such as: “You have 25 seconds to fetch something yellow,” or “Get the weirdest thing in your apartment, then bring it back to show us”.

You can even take it a little further and play a full-scale virtual scavenger hunt. We recently played it in our Brand team and it was so much fun. Our colleague, Nadia, gave us 5 minutes to fulfill 20 tasks such as:

• Take a picture of a view from your window and post it to Slack
• Find something smaller than your fingernail
• Bring the softest thing you own
• Change your background to your favorite movie set
• Bring an item that’s older than you are

And on a hunt we went.

When the time was up, we got back together on the call and shared funny stories behind the objects that we brought. We shared some good laughs together!

#19. Team trivia quiz

Using virtual icebreakers during your meetings also helps you get to know your colleagues better.

Try a fun trivia quiz with questions about your team. Collect interesting facts about each team member, then let other colleagues guess away. We’re sure you’ll dig out plenty of fun stuff!

We run this type of quiz when we introduce a new team member, or as a holiday fun activity.

Read also: 7 Awesome Quizzes for Your Virtual and Hybrid Meetings

#20. Background challenge

Share some laughs with your teammates on the call. Before your next all-hands or town hall meeting, set a theme and ask your colleagues to pick a virtual background image that, for them, represents it best.

Get creative. Favorite movie scenes, 80’s disco, memes, dream vacation places – the possibilities are endless.

Seeing each other’s backgrounds will break the ice and give you something to talk about during the first minutes of the call.

But virtual backgrounds do more than just entertain . They’re also great for hiding a messy kitchen behind you, or a trespassing family member!

If you need inspiration, visit this huge library of virtual backgrounds by Canva, or get more quirky ones here .

💡 Tip You can also let your colleagues vote for the best background through a Slido poll .

#21. Two truths & one lie

This fun game is great for introducing new colleagues or getting to know each other better. Collect three statements about each of your colleagues – two of them should be true facts and one should be a lie. Tell your colleagues to provide a lie that’s not so obvious so as to make it harder for others to guess.

Next, put all of the collected statements into Slido multiple choice polls , or you can make it a live quiz .

💡 Tip Don’t forget to ask the person who the poll is about to share at least one story behind the statements.

#22. Struggle sharing

Sharing is caring – and that should apply to both the good and the bad. Similar to sharing highlights (see point #10), it’s important to also give our attention to things that didn’t go so well; things that we can learn from, and move forward together.

It makes for a great team bonding experience.

Depending on the setup you’re in, divide your colleagues into smaller groups (if you’re in an online setup, use breakout rooms) and ask them to discuss their struggles. It can be both professional and personal.

Using an open text poll , encourage your team to share their failure or struggle in Slido as well so that people can see that they’re not alone in being imperfect. You can then regroup and open a discussion about lessons that people learned from their failures.

As a leader, don’t forget to contribute as well. Showing vulnerability is also a form of strength.

Read also: How Talking About Wins and Struggles Helped Our Team Bond

#23. Show & Tell

Inspired by the classic kindergarten exercise where kids bring an object to school and describe it to their fellow pupils, show and tell is a great activity for getting to know the team better.

Tell your colleagues to bring an object that has special meaning to them or that is tied to an exciting story. Give each group member 3-5 minutes to tell the rest of the group about it.

This virtual icebreaker is ideal for small teams (or done in groups) because people might not be willing to talk in front of larger crowds of people.

💡 Tip Don’t forget to give people enough time to think about their story and prepare for the short presentation. Not everybody is happy with improvising.

#24. Guess who?

This is another great get-to-know-each-other-better game, inspired by our Head of User Research, Neil Sharman.

In one of the meetings, he asked everyone to anonymously submit into Slido three brands they know they ‘love a bit more than is logical’.

Then, he displayed people’s submissions on the screen and the team guessed who is who just from the three brands. It’s fun to identify people, plus everyone gets to share something about themselves. You’ll definitely learn a lot of interesting stuff about each other.

💡 Tip It doesn’t necessarily have to be about brands. It can be music, hobbies, movies, etc.

#25. Coffee time

Have you heard of Fika ? It’s a Swedish word often interpreted as ‘a coffee and cake break’.

For Swedes, however, it is much more than that. It’s about taking a break from everything for a while and enjoying quality time with friends or colleagues over a cup of coffee or tea.

Take Fika to an online environment. You can call it whatever you like – virtual watercooler talks, virtual happy hour – it’s your choice.

But be sure to schedule an informal team catch-up from time to time just to chat with your teammates about something other than work. In remote times, it will help you feel less isolated.

#26. Visual brainstorming

Good productive idea exchanges make for great virtual icebreakers too. Instead of just shouting ideas at each other, try visual brainstorming.

Take advantage of one of the visual collaboration tools such as Mural . We tried it recently during our Brand team meeting and it was an hour well spent – productive, creative, and fun.

We set up a virtual whiteboard, and each of us was supposed to write our ideas on little stickers that we then posted on the board. It nicely simulated a real-life brainstorming session .

#27. Meet up in a virtual bar

If remote work or distributed team setup doesn’t allow you to enjoy an after-work beer with your colleagues, why don’t you go for a virtual alternative?

In our Brand team, we recently tried Kumospace – an immersive video chat that allows you to ‘meet’ your colleagues in a virtual bar (or other space), move around, or create smaller chat groups.

Oh, and don’t forget to get a drink. The app will even remind you when it’s time for a refill!

There are other apps that provide immersive team experiences, for example, Topia . With this one, you can even design your own virtual world. It’s good to have a change of scenery, isn’t it?

#28. Never Have I Ever

While you’re all hanging out together in this virtual bar (see point above), why don’t you play a game? If you’re familiar with Never Have I Ever, you surely know how much fun it is – especially with more juicy questions. It’s simple: Each of you will hold out your hand so everyone can see your fingers.

One of you will read questions such as: “Never have I ever gone skinny dipping.” Whenever one of you has done it, he or she will put one finger down.

This icebreaker activity is awesome for getting to know your colleagues better and have a good laugh together while sharing funny stories behind each finger down!

If you need inspiration for Never Have I Ever questions, find 250 of them here .

#29. Donut friends

When was the last time you randomly bumped into someone in a hallway in your office and shared a good chat with them? Or, had a deep conversation about life, the universe, and everything with a bunch of colleagues in a kitchenette or by the watercooler? Before we can enjoy this again, try Donut.

Donut is an app for Slack that randomly pairs two or three colleagues together for a scheduled video call. You can make use of that time however you like: Have a virtual coffee, a peer learning session, or a chat about a book that you recently read.

The best thing is that it gets you together with teammates with whom you wouldn’t normally talk or interact on a daily basis. Sounds like a nice way to foster new friendships in the workplace, doesn’t it?

#30. Online escape room

Need a full-scale team-building activity? Try a virtual escape room. If you’ve ever experienced the real thing, you surely know that it’s as much fun as it is nerve-wracking! It involves dealing with various challenges, finding codes, and completing puzzles in order to “get out of the room”.

It’s the ultimate team bonding experience – if your teammates love a good game, they’re going to be fans. There are plenty of escape room platforms out there, for example, Escape Live . You can choose from various different session types or themes.

#31. Virtual wine tasting

Even if you’re remote, you don’t have to give up the good old wine or beer-tasting sessions. Sure, it’s a bit harder to pull off in a virtual setting, but not impossible. Just agree on a brand or type – or buy a different wine each, so you can tell each other about the subtle tones you’re getting!

Our People team has recently done a wine-tasting call and it was a great team bonding experience.

It lets you enjoy some informal time with your colleagues, which, amid all the meetings is a nice change. Plus, you get to indulge in some fine beverages, what a treat!

#32. Pair & Share

This is a great virtual icebreaker that allows for more intimate conversations among your teammates. If you’re familiar with breakout rooms , you’ll appreciate this one.

Give your colleagues a thought-provoking question to ponder, then pair them randomly using breakout rooms (check whether your video conferencing tool allows for it).

Next, allow all groups a couple of minutes to discuss the topic before coming back to the main room to share what each pair talked about.

This is a great alternative to the ‘turn to your neighbor’ kind of exercise – it’s interactive, and allows for more in-depth discussion between people. Introverts will appreciate this, as it feels more comfortable to share something in a pair, compared to the whole team.

#33. Online games

Online team-building games are fun and social – they encourage interaction among coworkers and help bring back the camaraderie of a physical office.

The depths of the internet is full of options, but to inspire you, we recently discovered Bored – a suite of Slack games for remote teams. You simply add the tool to your company Slack and play fun games with your colleagues right in the Slack channel.

Apart from the ever-popular game of trivia, Bored has games in which you roast your colleagues, or play a game of accusations and deception. Recently, they launched ‘Icebreakers’ to help teammates get to know each other better by answering questions that are unconventional and fun.

#34. Name that sound

Looking for a more sophisticated guessing game? How about guessing the sounds? This is one of the most challenging virtual icebreakers, but it’s ultimately very satisfying!

It’s simple. You turn your cameras off, leaving only audio on, and then you make some sort of a sound close to the mic so that your colleagues are able to hear it, and guess where it comes from.

Here are the instructions:

#35. Group storytelling

Put your improvisation skills to the test. This virtual icebreaker is inspired by my colleague Sabine, who decided that since our team-building trip couldn’t happen this year, at least we’ll make up a cool story of how it went.

She created a slideshow of random travel pictures, started a story, and then called on one of our teammates to follow up on what she had said, based on what picture was currently up.

We took turns in telling crazy things we did during our imaginary trip and let me tell you, it was some ride!

Ready to break the ice at your meetings?

We hope you’ll try one of these virtual icebreakers at your next online meeting. Let Slido help you connect with your teammates, wherever they are.

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100 icebreaker questions to get the conversation started

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So… What’s your superpower?

Is it your ability to solve a Rubik’s Cube in 30 seconds? Or maybe make the world’s best lasagna? 

Whatever it is, is there a better superpower than watching your team bond over a couple of icebreakers you prepared before the meeting?  

Nope. We don’t think so, either. 

In fact, icebreakers help get the conversation going before any team meeting and even in classroom settings . They’re also wonderful activities to improve team communication and build team spirit.

If you’re looking for inspiration, we have 10 icebreaker categories to kickstart fun and productive meetings:

• Team-specific icebreakers

Get to know your team icebreakers

Funny icebreakers, would you rather icebreakers, thought-provoking icebreakers, fun and light icebreakers, seasonal and holiday icebreakers, world travel icebreakers, music icebreakers, company-themed icebreakers, 5 tips to help break the ice.

These four icebreaker tips will help you navigate the start of group discussions and get the team comfortable and excited to answer questions. 

• Whoever leads the meeting should answer the icebreaker question first. This helps break the tension and immediately opens up the conversation.
• Listen actively, and ask follow-up questions if necessary. The goal is to unite the team and give each person the opportunity to answer.
• Let people interact with one another. 
• Allocate enough time, and don’t rush the team-building activity.
• Consider the context of the meeting and the people involved when choosing your icebreaker question.

Team-specific icebreakers 

The benefit of using team-specific icebreakers is that everyone can have an open conversation about their thoughts and ideas regarding the dynamics and collaboration of a team. 

• What is your favorite team memory?
• Describe your team in one word.
• What is your team’s biggest strength?
• What are the top three must-have office items?
• Best professional development book you’d recommend?
• What is your most valuable soft skill for successful teams?
• What is your favorite tool to use for team productivity?
• How do you describe your job to a three-year-old?
• What is your go-to office lunch?
• What makes your team unique?

Our top pick: Describe your team in one word.

This question reveals what their team means to them and enables managers to spot the strengths of their team.

Related: Try these 25 icebreaker activities for virtual meetings

Use icebreaker questions to break barriers and understand the personalities and characteristics of each member. In the long run, it helps build compassion and relationships between team members, which results in improved communication and teamwork.  

These icebreakers are especially helpful when new employees join a team, as the questions enable them to meet each team member in a fun environment.

• Where did you grow up?
• What day in your life would you like to relive?
• What is the kindest act you have ever done?
• Describe yourself in three words.
• What was your dream job as a kid?
• What are the top three items on your bucket list? 
• What movie scene is worthy of an Oscar?
• Who would be the three guests at your dinner table?
• What is your proudest achievement?
• Five things that make you happy?

Our top pick: What is your proudest achievement?

This question unveils the events and achievements that are important to each individual. It gives insight into the personality and how each team member defines success.

Use funny icebreakers to lighten the mood. These icebreakers are great for Friday meetings ahead of the weekend or to bring laughter to the team after a rough week.

• Do you consider yourself a lemon or a lime? Why?
• What is your DJ name?
• What is your superpower?
• What three things would you do if you were invisible?
• What is the best prank you’ve experienced or planned?
• Tell us a weird fact you happen to know for no reason.
• If you could take one prop from any movie set, what would it be?
• Tell us your favorite joke.
• If your pet could talk, what would they say?
• If your life was captured in the “expectation vs. reality” meme, what would the two pictures be?

Our top pick: What is your superpower?

This is a fun way to ask your team members what their secret talents are and what they consider their strengths to be.

Would you rather questions are fun because they don’t put team members on the spot to come up with an answer; instead, they offer two options to choose from. This is helpful for teams that might be a bit shy or for new hires at the company.

• Would you rather get free plane tickets or free accommodations for the rest of your life?
• Would you rather spend a weekend in a tropical paradise or a snow haven?
• Would you rather speak 10 languages or play 10 instruments?
• Would you rather always be two hours early or 20 minutes late?
• Would you rather sail or van life around the world?
• Would you rather be able to control time or fly?
• Would you rather read the end of every book or always forget the story’s ending?
• Would you rather be a whale or a lion?
• Would you rather have every traffic light turn green or always have the best parking spot?
• Would you rather have slow internet or always forget your passwords?

Our top pick: Would you rather have every traffic light turn green or always have the best parking spot?

This question challenges employees to choose between practicality and patience. Both are important skills in the workplace and fun values to discuss. 

Thought-provoking questions are interesting ways to dig deeper into employees’ opinions and perspectives. However, they should only be asked when the team has already built a strong relationship with one another, as they require vulnerability and a safe space.

• Why do we create art?
• What subject do you wish was taught in every school?
• If you could know the answer to any question, what would it be?
• What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?
• When do you feel the most courageous?
• What piece of advice would you give to your 16-year-old self?
• When was the last time you tried something for the first time?
• What are the three values you treasure the most in a friendship?
• What is the best piece of feedback you have ever received?
• Where do you find inspiration?

Our top pick: If you could know the answer to any question, what would it be?

This is our favorite question as it reveals what deeper topics employees find interesting and what problems they'd like to solve. 

Fun and light icebreakers let employees bring out their creativity and have fun getting to know one another with questions that are unrelated to work.

• What is your favorite cereal?
• Which two companies would you like to be sponsored by?
• What was your last Netflix binge?
• If you could be a character in any movie, what character and what movie would it be?
• If you invented an ice cream flavor, what ingredients would it have, and what would it be called?
• If you could make an office rule that everyone had to follow for a day, what would it be?
• What is the best concert/ festival you have ever been to?
• A genie grants you one wish; what do you wish for?
• What would you title your biography?
• What three items would you bring with you on a deserted island?

Our top pick: If you could be a character in any movie, what character and what movie would it be?

This reveals what characters employees admire, which is a fun way to understand a person! 

Related: Try these icebreakers for smaller groups

Get your team in the holiday mood with seasonal icebreakers. These are great for celebrating the change of seasons and building holiday spirit in the workspace.

• What is your favorite season?
• What’s your favorite holiday?
• Do you over or under-decorate for the holidays?
• What is your favorite summer activity?
• What is your favorite winter meal?
• If you could add an additional holiday to the calendar, what would it be and when?
• Do you have any special traditions for the new year?
• Do you create a New Year’s resolution list?
• What is your favorite holiday movie?
• What is your favorite holiday song?

Our top pick: Do you create a New Year’s resolution list?

This is a great opener to discuss each individual's New Year’s resolutions and to create a team New Year's resolution list.  

After any vacation, travel icebreakers are a great way to bring out stories and understand what type of activities and experiences your team enjoys outside of work. 

• If you had to sleep on a beach anywhere in the world, where would it be?
• If you could live in a different country for a year, which country would you choose?
• What is your favorite travel story?
• What is the most underrated city you have ever visited?
• What country impacted you the most?
• What is your favorite travel hack?
• If you could organize a team retreat, where would it be?
• Who is your favorite travel buddy or group?
• What is more important for you when traveling, comfort and relaxation or energizing new experiences?
• Who is the most interesting person you’ve met while traveling?

Our top pick: What is your favorite travel story?

Traveling always creates new memories and stories. It's a great question to understand how employees overcome challenges, their goals during their time off, and how they learn from their experiences.

Music questions are helpful for teams in the early stages of getting to know one another because they are lighthearted and fun to share without needing to get too personal. 

• What song brings back childhood memories?
• Which artist would you like to meet?
• Which band would you join? And what would your role be?
• If you could name a band, what would it be called?
• What song has the most beautiful lyrics?
• How has your taste in music changed in the past 10 years?
• What is your go-to karaoke song?
• What movie has the best soundtrack?
• What song would be the anthem of your life?
• If you were a genre of music, what would it be?

Our top pick: What song would be the anthem of your life?

This is a creative question to see how your employees would describe their lives and to inspire discussions over the answers.

Company-themed questions are helpful and relevant icebreakers before any company event, like an all-hands meeting. They keep the attendees on track and focused on the company discussion.

• If you could swap roles with anyone at the company for one day, who would it be?
• What advice would you give a new hire at the company?
• What do you most enjoy about your job?
• How do you define success at the company?
• What is your favorite company value?
• What do you think is your company's biggest strength and weakness?
• Where do you see the company in a year?
• If you could change the company's name, what would it be?
• If the company had a mascot, what would it be and why?
• Who has influenced your work ethic the most?

Our top pick: What is your favorite company value?

This creates an insight into what value each employee finds the most important and chooses to live by. 

Now you’ve broken the ice...what’s next? 

Once the ice is broken, it’s time to get your team to collaborate through plans, strategies , and development. 

However, starting a meeting with an icebreaker doesn’t automatically mean your team will continue to collaborate effectively. They will still need the support of collaboration tools and continuous team spirit to maintain the trust they’ve built .

That’s where a tool like Mural can step in, helping facilitate teamwork with a collaboration platform to express ideas, share thoughts , and plan together. 

Take a peek at how our virtual whiteboards can bring your team’s imagination to life.

About the authors

Bryan Kitch

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170+ Fun Icebreaker Games & Activities Your Team Will Enjoy in 2023

Published: October 19, 2023

Tired of the same old discussions at the beginning of every meeting? Then this well-curated list of fun and insightful icebreaker games and questions is for you.

To help you get the most value out of your team bonding moments, we’ve compiled a list of the best icebreaker activities and games for the workplace.

Next time you get together with your team, use one of these games, and you’re sure to learn more about your team.

Let’s get into it!

Icebreaker Examples for Work

• Paint a Picture, Build a Story
• Guess That Drawing
• Alphabet Brainstorm
• Show and Tell
• Bucket List
• Share the Love
• Arts and Crafts
• What Do We Have in Common?
• Name That Tune
• Themed Meetings
• Guess the Childhood Photo
• Zoom Photo Ops
• Hobby Webinar
• Movie Pitch
• Stretch Break
• Rose, Thorn, Bud
• Frivolous Debate
• Would You Rather
• Accomplishments Before 18
• Two Truths and a Lie
• The Handshake
• Bad Joke Contest
• Say Your Name Backwards
• Random Talent Show
• Quick Portrait Gallery
• Emoji Storytelling
• Meet My Pet

Keep reading, or jump to the best icebreakers for your group:

• Zoom Icebreaker Games
• Icebreaker Games for Meetings

Quick Icebreaker Games

Fun icebreaker games, icebreaker games for large teams, icebreaker games for small groups, virtual icebreaker games for dispersed teams, would you rather icebreaker games, good icebreakers for meetings, icebreaker questions, choosing the right icebreaker questions and games for your team, purpose of icebreakers.

Interactions between people who aren’t close can be awkward, which is where icebreakers come in.

Icebreakers are typically used in group settings such as team-building activities, workshops, conferences, and social gatherings.

Icebreaker games serve several important purposes, such as:

• Breaking the ice . Icebreaker games help to break down social barriers and initial awkwardness by providing a structured and fun way for people to introduce themselves and interact with others.
• Building relationships . Icebreaker games promote bonding and relationship-building among participants.
• Energizing the group. Icebreaker games are often used at the beginning of an event to energize participants and create a sense of excitement.
• Encouraging participation . In large group settings, some participants may be hesitant to engage actively. Icebreaker games offer an opportunity for everyone to participate and contribute, ensuring that everyone feels included and welcomed.
• Enhancing communication skills. Icebreaker games can improve communication skills. Participants often have to listen carefully to instructions, convey information, and collaborate with others, thereby improving their ability to communicate effectively.
• Creating a memorable experience. Icebreaker games add an element of fun and enjoyment to any gathering. And we all remember moments where we had a lot of fun, didn’t we?

Overall, icebreaker games serve as a valuable tool to foster a sense of community, promote interaction, and create a welcoming environment for teammates to connect and engage with one another.

If done wrong, an icebreaker can turn out to be a waste of time. By choosing one of the icebreakers from our selection below, you can see results and discover a great way to open your event!

50+ Remote Team-Building Ideas

Tips, tricks, and templates to help you master team-building in the age of the remote workforce.

• Boost team morale
• Ice breaker games
• Activity proposal template

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Considerations for Using Icebreakers

What do you want to achieve with an icebreaker? Do you want to set the tone for the learning community or lead into course content in engaging ways?

Think of your population in choosing or designing an activity. This includes group size, demographics, levels of knowledge, extent to which they know each other, reasons for being in your group/class/meeting, and more.

For example, larger groups might need a simple activity and new groups may require a low-risk activity.

Think through the activity ahead of time and adapt it accordingly. Will the space you have suffice? Do you have all the needed supplies? Would the activity lead to issues of confidentiality? Does the activity accommodate varying abilities?

Icebreakers do not always go exactly as planned. Flexibility and willingness to learn are part of building a positive and open community.

Let's get started with some of the best icebreakers for teams using Zoom.

Zoom Icebreakers

1. paint a picture, build a story, best for: virtual fun.

Click the " Invite " button and share the link with your colleagues.

When the game starts, everyone will be prompted to write a fun sentence.

Everyone will receive someone else’s sentence and have the opportunity to draw it.

Everyone will receive someone else’s drawing and then guess what the original sentence was.

Enjoy the hilarious results!

2. Guess That Drawing

Drawasaurus is one of my favorite online drawing games to play with colleagues. Players get to choose from three random prompts to quickly interpret and draw their vision.

Other players can score more points for guessing the word the fastest and take turns going until the timer goes out.

• Go to https://www.drawasaurus.org .
• Enter a nickname (don’t worry, this won’t automatically start a game).
• Click " + Create a Room ."
• Set the room as " Private ," choose a room name, set a simple password, and choose the maximum number of players.
• Share the link from the URL bar with your colleagues.
• The game will start once everyone designates themselves as " Ready to Play ."
• One by one, everyone will choose one word to draw, and the others will get to guess the word.
• The person who guesses correctly the quickest earns the most points. Enjoy!

3. Alphabet Brainstorm

Each round, the game will highlight a random letter of the alphabet and let players come up with any noun or phrase that starts with said letter. The best part — players can dispute answers amongst each other to take the win.

This is a perfect icebreaker for your overly competitive colleagues.

• Go to https://scattergoriesonline.net/new-game.xhtml .
• Choose the categories you’d like for the game, such as "Animals," "Long words," and "Things with tails."
• Click " Create new game ."
• Choose the game letters (most will be pre-chosen), the number of players, and the number of rounds.
• Choose when a round ends (we recommend giving everyone 30 to 60 seconds).
• Under "Who can join," click " Invited friends ."
• Copy the link and share it with your colleagues.
• Everyone will have an allotted time to fill out several categories with words that start with a single letter.
• Play all the rounds and see which one of your colleagues has the most expanded vocabulary!

4. Show and Tell

Best for: team bonding.

A rather straightforward icebreaker, team members can share an object they love over Zoom. Whether it’s a prized collectible or an item that sparks nostalgia, there are plenty of stories waiting to be told.

• Let your team know ahead of time that you’ll be doing a show and tell.
• At the start of the meeting, give everyone 5 minutes to find the item that they’d like to show (Option: Have them turn their camera off).
• Start with a random team member or yourself.
• Have everyone popcorn to someone after they show their item, or go alphabetically.
• Enjoy seeing the eclectic items in your team members’ homes!

Quick note: If you've never "popcorned" before, this technique is a simple way to keep a conversation going. When popcorning, the first person to speak will choose the next person to speak in the group. Then they'll "popcorn" to that person by saying something like, "I'll popcorn it to [name]."

5. Bucket List

Outside of the workplace, your teammates are people with aspirations and goals you wouldn’t know about from the average coffee chat. Have team members share some bucket list items they want to achieve in the future.

Not only can these be inspirational, but they also open the floor for team members to encourage one another to pursue their dreams, too. It’s a particularly uplifting team bonding activity that will bring your team even closer together.

• You or your teammate will share one bucket list item.
• Have everyone popcorn to someone after their turn, or go alphabetically.

6. Share the Love

Best for: team building.

While dispersed teams may not have the chance to share a handshake or hug, you can still share the love with each other with this icebreaker.

Say something lovely to another team member, and it could be anything you want as long as it’s respectful and in good judgment.

For each person who receives a kind message, they will be the next one to share a message with a member of the group who hasn’t received one — ensuring everyone gets an equal amount of praise.

Shout them out for their helpfulness in a project, for the energy they bring to the team, or for their lovely smile.

• Let your team know ahead of time that you’ll be doing this activity.
• We recommend pre-pairing teammates in a spreadsheet so everyone can come prepared with something to say.
• Have everyone popcorn to someone else after their turn, or go alphabetically.

7. Arts and Crafts

• You or your teammate will hum, whistle, sing, or tap the rhythm of your favorite song.
• Team members should drop their guesses in the chat.
• The correct guesser gets the next turn. If no one guesses correctly, popcorn your turn to someone else.

10. Themed Meetings

12. Guess the Childhood Photo

In need of a wholesome icebreaker? In your next Zoom meeting, tell everyone to send the leader a cute (or hilarious) photo from their childhood and randomly throw them all into one slideshow.

When it’s complete, the leader will then share their screen and have the group guess which team member is in each photo. Try not to blush too hard when they get to yours.

• Share the presentation a week before the meeting so team members can add their childhood photos.
• At the start of the meeting, share your screen.
• Proceed slide-by-slide and have team members throw their guesses in the chat or write them privately on a notepad.
• At the end, have everyone share which slide belonged to them.

13. Zoom Photo Ops

In this icebreaker, you’ll first want to ask everyone involved if they’re comfortable having their photos taken before the meeting begins. I know I’d like a heads-up in case I was wearing an old band shirt instead of my usual business casual outfits.

You can try to get everyone to make silly or scary faces or even try to mimic the Brady Bunch title sequence. There are plenty of poses or facial expressions to capture, especially if you’ve got a kooky team to work with.

• At the start of the meeting, give instructions for the pose team members should take (Silly? Spooky? There are many options!).
• Take a screenshot of the Zoom window .
• Share the photo via your team messaging app and pin it for posterity.
• Enjoy the memories!

14. Hobby Webinar

During weekly video chats, you can choose one coworker to teach the team how to engage in a hobby they’re good at — something you don’t need to be in-person to do.

This could range from showing how to do quick origami, do a magic trick, or even giving a pointer or two on couponing from your coworker who always keeps an eye out for the latest deals.

• Connect with individual team members to find the most suitable instructor.
• Alternatively, create a running spreadsheet with team members’ names and their hobbies.
• Manually choose an instructor for the upcoming meeting, or pick a name randomly using a tool like this one .
• If supplies are needed, let your team know ahead of time.
• Have the instructor lead the meeting from the start, ideally with a time limit on the activity.

Icebreakers Games for Meetings

15. one word, best for: in-person team building.

The One Word icebreaker allows you to provide initial context into a meeting’s topic and get everyone in the right mindset for discussion.

For instance, let’s say you’re leading a meeting on culture. Tell the groups to describe work culture, or your office culture in particular, in one word. Once they’ve shared with their groups, you can invite them to share their word with the entire room.

This game encourages everyone to think about a certain topic in smaller groups ahead of time, which could increase participation during the meeting.

• Divide meeting participants into smaller groups.
• Tell them to think for a minute or two about the meeting’s topic.
• Have everyone share with their group one word that describes the topic, then allow them to popcorn their turn.
• Enjoy the diverse responses!

16. Pop Quiz

To successfully loosen everyone up, you might consider putting a short pop quiz on the board.

If your goal is simply to encourage team bonding, your quiz can be more fun — like, "Match the lyrics with this 80’s song." However, you might also use the Pop Quiz as an opportunity to introduce participants to the meeting’s theme.

If you’re discussing company changes, for instance, maybe you’ll start by quizzing team members on company history facts (e.g., "What year was this company founded?").

• We recommend not letting your team members know about this activity ahead of time.
• If you’re on Zoom, post the question in the chat or share it via your screen. If the meeting is in person, write it on the board.
• Allow team members to enter their answers in the chat or write it on a notepad.
• Whoever gets it right may get a small prize or bragging rights.

17. Birth Map

Best for: in-person team bonding.

• Choose a team member ahead of time to share their popular or unpopular opinion.
• Have everyone chime in one by one on whether they agree or disagree.
• Every team member should popcorn their turn, or you can go alphabetically.
• Have fun finding out who agrees with you (and who does not)!

22. Would You Rather

A classic game played at summer camps everywhere, "Would You Rather" is an excellent, quick workplace icebreaker.

Next time you’re settling into a meeting or team bonding outing, take turns going around the table and asking each person a "Would You Rather" question.

Here are a few "Would You Rather" questions to get you started; see further down in this post for even more:

• Would you rather only have summer or winter for the rest of your life?
• Would you rather go on a hike or see a movie?
• Would you rather never use social media sites and apps again or never watch another movie or TV show?
• Would you rather have a horrible short-term memory or a horrible long-term memory?
• Designate a team member ahead of time to share their "Would You Rather" question.
• Have everyone chime in one by one with their answer.
• Every team member should popcorn their turn, or you can proceed alphabetically.

23. Accomplishments Before 18

Accomplishments Before 18 is an engaging and unique way to encourage team members to share fun or interesting stories with one another.

Before a meeting, simply go around the room, and ask each person to share one accomplishment they had before they turned 18.

Undoubtedly you’ll get some of lesser importance, like "I bought a skateboard," but you never know what hidden skills you might discover in your colleagues.

24. Two Truths and a Lie

One of the more classic icebreakers on the list, Two Truths and a Lie can be used anywhere from family parties to company events.

For instance, I might say, "I once auditioned for the TV show Zoom . I have three brothers. I ziplined in Switzerland once." Coworkers can take turns guessing which is the lie.

Two Truths and a Lie is a fun and engaging game, and more importantly, it can help your team learn facts about one another, so they can begin forming deeper bonds.

• Ask each person to brainstorm three "facts" about themselves — two of the facts will be true, and one will be a lie.
• Have team members guess which is the lie.
• Whoever guesses correctly gets bragging rights.

25. The Handshake

Best for: in-person fun.

One of the first ways you get to greet somebody in the workplace is with a handshake.

This icebreaker lets individuals ease up and have a little fun without a hassle. It’s simple — everyone will create a fun, creative handshake.

If you have more time on your hands, have the pairs split up after showing off their super cool shake and make even more creative ones with new partners.

It’s hard to play these games without sharing a laugh, which is something we all could use in the workday.

• Divide the group into pairs.
• Have them make the most creative handshake they can in a couple of minutes.
• Have each pair show off their handshake to the group.
• If desired, have everyone rotate partners.

26. Bad Joke Contest

This icebreaker won’t take your team long to complete if you give them a heads-up to prepare. In the Bad Joke Contest, you’ll have everyone recite the corniest joke they can muster and have everyone vote on who was the most cringe-worthy.

Beware, some coworkers have impressively bad dad jokes saved up for these moments, so the competition will be fierce.

• Have everyone popcorn to someone after they tell their joke, or go alphabetically.
• Have everyone vote on the corniest joke either via Zoom poll or by keeping tabs on a notepad.
• Don’t forget to laugh — or cringe!

The list continues below — read on to find fun icebreaker games, icebreakers for large teams, and more.

27. Tall Tales

This icebreaker game will have everyone thinking on their feet. In Tall Tales, each player will make up three sentences to add to a running story. The third sentence has to have a plot twist starting with "suddenly…" before rotating to the next.

Every player will have a chance to put their own spin on the budding story and can even try to throw the next participant for a loop with an improbable situation.

• Begin with three sentences to set the scene for your story.
• After sharing your three sentences, go to the next person around the table or popcorn it.
• Continue going around until everyone has contributed to the story.
• Enjoy the fun, strange, and creative story your team can make!

28. Say Your Name Backwards

This game is pretty straightforward — or straight backward.

Every player will write their name on a slip of paper backward, fold it, and place it into a bowl. Once all the slips are collected, someone will draw one out of the bowl and read to the rest of the players what’s on the slip.

Whoever can guess their coworker's name correctly gains a point, and whoever has the most points at the end wins.

• Hand out slips of paper and writing utensils to everyone.
• Everyone writes their names backward on their paper.
• Then everyone should fold their paper once and place it in a bowl.
• One person reads out the backward names, and everyone else has to guess whose name it is.
• Whoever guesses their coworker’s name correctly first gets the point. Keep a tally of points or have each person keep track of their own.
• The winner is the person with the most points at the end!

Jenga is considered a classic game for a reason. It’s easy to play and put away. Have your team take turns pulling woodblocks out of your Jenga tower and share a laugh when it all comes toppling down.

• Have the Jenga game set up before your meeting begins.
• Take turns removing the wooden blogs from the tower and adding them to the top.
• The game is over when the tower topples down.

30. Frown King or Queen

Make it a competition to see which of your team members has the gnarliest frown, and bestow upon them the title of Frown King or Queen. Bonus points if you actually go out of your way to make a paper crown.

You’d be surprised how hard it is to maintain a frown when surrounded by your favorite colleagues, not to mention how funny they’ll look during the game.

• Two team members will compete at a time.
• The first pair stand back-to-back in the middle of the room.
• On the count of three, they will turn to face each other with the gnarliest frown they can muster on their faces.
• They must continue frowning until one person laughs, smiles, or breaks face.
• A new team member will compete with the winner, continuing until there’s only one person left standing. Crown them the Frown King or Queen!

31. The Envelope Please!

In this icebreaker game, have everyone write 10 facts about themselves on paper and place them each into their own envelopes. The envelopes are to be shuffled and chosen once at a time by the leader to read aloud to the rest of the group.

The rest of the players will then guess the identity of the envelope in hand — but they must be confident in their answer as each player only has one chance to guess per envelope.

• Hand out paper, pens, and envelopes for everyone to write down their 10 facts.
• Once everyone has put their papers in the envelopes, collect and shuffle them.
• One by one, read out the 10 facts and have everyone else guess whose it is.
• Have fun getting to know your coworkers better!

32. Random Talent Show

A talent show is one thing, but a random talent show is another. Have your coworkers take turns showing their cool party (or office) tricks.

And let’s face it, you’ve been trying to find the right opportunity to show someone you could lick your elbow for a while now.

• Announce at the start of the meeting that you’ll be having a random talent show.
• After showing off your talent, popcorn to someone else or ask for a volunteer.
• Have fun sharing your random tricks and skills and learning about your colleagues in this lighthearted "show."

33. Celebrity Impressions

For this icebreaker game, the leader will tape a label to each player’s back with a celebrity or household name.

Once that’s complete, every player will ask each other yes or no questions about their celebrity label's traits, recent news, or talents.

If players can identify their celebrity correctly, they can remove the label from their backs and continue mingling.

• Tape a label to each player’s back with a celebrity or household name.
• Players ask each other yes or no questions about their celebrity label's traits, recent news, or talents.
• Once players correctly identify their celebrity, they remove the label from their backs.

34. Quick Portrait Gallery

You don’t have to be Picasso to participate in this icebreaker. The instructions are simple. Every group member will be randomly assigned a different person to draw in a couple of minutes.

It’s a fun way to bond and share a giggle here and there over everyone’s work of art.

• Every group member is randomly assigned a different person to draw.
• Set a timer for a couple of minutes in which everyone has to draw their person.
• When time is up, everyone shares their portraits with the group — you can even have the other players guess before the artist shares the name of their subject.
• Enjoy the hilarious portrait gallery you’ve created!

35. Sound Ball

Best for: in-person fun, team wellness.

Sound Ball is an imaginative icebreaker that gives everyone a chance to get moving and energized.

In this icebreaker, the leader holds an imaginary ball in their hand and "throws" it to other players, making whatever sound they think would go with that gesture.

Whoever "catches" the ball next must repeat the sound made, then throw the ball to another person making their own unique sound. It sounds wild, but it’s easy to get into the flow of it.

Plus, it’s a great way to get everyone moving if you’ve been sitting too much.

• The leader holds an imaginary ball and "throws" it to other players, making a sound to accompany their gesture.
• Whoever "catches" the ball next must repeat the sound, then throw the ball to another person making their own unique sound.
• Continue as long as you want, trying to ensure each person gets a turn.

36. Beatboxing

This is probably one of the silliest icebreakers on this list, but it’s definitely worth trying. Have one team member start making a noise you’d hear in a song, like percussion, and have others gradually add to the beat.

Who knows, if the beat sounds good enough, you all could consider making an acapella group.

• One team member starts making a noise you’d hear in a song, like percussion.
• Others gradually join in, adding to the beat.
• Once everyone is participating, let the song go for a bit before ending the fun.

37. Just One Lie

This method is an adaptation of the well-known icebreaker "Two Truths and a Lie" to create an activity that can be run throughout a day of meetings or workshops.

• Participants mingle and ask each other questions.
• On a stack of Post-its they’re carrying, they will write a person's name on each Post-it along with one fact they learned about them.
• Most answers the participants give will be truthful; they must tell a lie only once.
• The Post-its for each person are then collected together and given to the person whose name is on them.
• Throughout the workshop, have participants read out the facts on their own Post-its and have everyone else guess which is the lie.

38. Human Bingo

Participants mingle and try to find people who match the descriptions in their bingo grid, encouraging conversation and interaction.

Icebreaker Bingo is a great way to bond with large teams because it can include as many people as you want.

You can use a free icebreaker bingo generator and personalize each of the squares on a subject you’re all discussing for the day or for anything everyone can feel included.

• Distribute pre-made bingo grids with unique descriptions in each square (e.g., "Has traveled to Europe," "Can play a musical instrument").
• Participants mingle and find others who match the descriptions, writing their names in the corresponding squares.
• The first person to fill a row or the entire grid wins.

39. The Great Wind Blows

Participants quickly find new seats based on a statement while one person stands in the middle.

• One person stands in the middle and makes a statement starting with "The great wind blows for everyone who..." and completes the sentence with a description (such as "...has a pet," "...likes pizza").
• Anyone to whom the statement applies must find a new seat, including the person in the middle.
• The one left without a seat becomes the new statement maker.

40. Speed Networking

Ever heard of or participated in speed dating? This is similar but with your colleagues in a totally platonic way. Participants engage in brief, timed conversations with multiple individuals to meet and learn about each other.

• Arrange participants in pairs or small groups.
• Set a timer for a specified duration (e.g., 2 minutes) for each conversation.
• Participants introduce themselves, share a bit about their interests, and ask questions about their partner.
• After the time is up, they rotate to the next person, repeating the process.

41. Beach Ball Toss

Participants answer questions or complete a task related to them after catching a tossed beach ball, encouraging quick thinking and laughter.

• Write different icebreaker questions or tasks on a beach ball ahead of time.
• Participants form a circle and toss the ball to each other.
• When someone catches it, they read and answer the question or perform the task facing the hand they caught it with.
• The ball continues circulating, ensuring everyone participates.

42. Emoji Storytelling

Participants create a story collaboratively, using emojis as prompts and encouraging creativity and collaboration.

• Distribute a list of emojis or display them on a screen.
• Each participant contributes by adding a sentence or two to the story, incorporating one or more of the displayed emojis.
• Encourage the use of imagination and creativity as the story progresses.

43. Human Knot

Best for: team building in person.

Participants work together to untangle a "human knot" by holding hands, promoting teamwork and problem-solving.

• Participants form a tight circle, randomly holding hands with two different people across the circle.
• Without letting go of hands, they must untangle the knot until they form a circle or a straight line.
• This requires communication and cooperation to solve the problem.

44. Who Am I?

Participants wear sticky notes on their foreheads or backs with the name of a famous person or character written on them. They must ask yes-or-no questions to others to figure out their identity.

• Write the names of various famous people or fictional characters on sticky notes and place one on each participant's forehead.
• One by one, participants must ask yes-or-no questions to the others to figure out who they are.
• The goal is to figure out their identity by asking strategic questions. You can limit the number of questions a person can ask for the sake of time.

45. Charades

Charades is a game fit for large teams, both in-person and remote. In this icebreaker, players need to communicate with team members to guess a word of a certain category.

• Prepare several slips of paper with a single word or use a charades word generator .
• Divide everyone into two teams.
• One player at a time pantomimes (acts out) the word on their paper for their own respective teammates.
• The teammates have to guess what it is within a given time (30 seconds to 1 minute). They get a point for every act they guess correctly.
• Whichever team gets the most points wins.

46. Red Light, Green Light

I bet anyone who watched Squid Games in 2021 is familiar with this game, and if you haven’t, the rules are simple (and the stakes are much, much lower.)

• The players in this icebreaker game will line up on one side of a room.
• A designated leader on the other side of the room will be instructed to say either "Red Light" or "Green Light."
• Players in line are to try and walk to the other side of the room when the leader says, "Green Light," but once the leader says, "Red Light," everyone must freeze or be kicked out of the game.
• The first person to make it to the leader wins and gets to be the leader for the next round.

47. Guess Who

Like Charades, Guess Who is a great icebreaker where you can mimic famous people — or even your coworkers.

• Have someone write down well-known names on sheets of paper and then hand them off one at a time to a team member.
• They’ll have to act out the behaviors, facial expressions, or even the iconic " I’m flying" scene from Titanic .
• Everyone else will guess who they’re acting out.

48. Hot Take

For this ice breaker, everyone can take turns sharing their hot takes and either bond with their coworkers who agree or debate their naysayers.

Of course, you want the topics to be fun and lighthearted, so keep them to topics that aren’t controversial and opt for statements like, "Cheese isn’t all that great."

• Make a statement about your "hot take" on a lighthearted topic.
• Everyone else can join in supporting you or disagreeing with you.
• Popcorn to the next participant and continue until everyone gets a turn sharing.

49. "Most Likely To ___"

Remember those high school superlatives? This is like that but a little less embarrassing.

• Have coworkers read through a list of "Most Likely To" titles and assign them to one another.
• During the game, everyone can chime in or give reasons as to why someone deserves the title, and the group consensus will be the final decision.
• It’s important to note that no one will have more than one title to ensure everyone is included.

50. Whisper Down the Lane

Whisper Down the Lane is an icebreaker game where team members form a larger circle and share a random message whispered into the ear of someone to their left.

This game can get funny pretty quickly, as a whisper down the lane can get misinterpreted over and over again.

• Everyone stands in a circle, and the person starting the message whispers it in the ear of the person next to them.
• That person then whispers what they heard to the next person, continuing until the message has made it all the way around the circle.
• The last person says what they heard out loud, and you can all laugh at how the message has changed through the course of whispering.

51. Simon Says

Simon Says was invented in the 19th century, but it never stops being fun.

The real trick is for the leader to confuse players by giving fast Simon Says commands, then giving them a command without saying the keywords.

This could work like, "Simon says touch your hips, Simon says hop on one foot, Simon says touch your nose — touch your ears!"

Whoever does the action (like touching your ears) will be booted out of the game because it wasn’t a Simon Says action.

• The leader of the group instructs players to do an action beginning with the words "Simon says…" like, "Simon says touch your knees" or "Simon says grab your elbow."
• Whoever doesn’t do the actions proclaimed is booted out of the game.
• The last person in wins!

52. Things in Common

Best for: first introductions.

This simple icebreaker is fit for groups meeting each other for the first time.

• All that has to be done is mingle with one another to find some things you have in common and try to form groups based on those attributes.
• Bonus points if you can learn the names of those whom you relate to, and brownie points if you can relay all their names when asked.

53. Team Jigsaw Puzzle Competition

For this game, you’ll need to prepare by purchasing two identical jigsaw puzzles. It’s a fun way to foster competition and work on communication and collaboration.

• Divide your large group into two teams.
• Set a timer to see which group can work together to make the most progress on their respective puzzles.
• Whoever made it the furthest when time is up wins!

This activity is great for loosening everyone up and creating a frantically fun environment as everyone scrambles to make clumps with a certain number of people.

• Have team members walk around and mingle amongst themselves in a large, open space.
• The leader of the icebreaker yells out a random number under 10.
• Every person mingling will then have to quickly form a clump of people with the number called. If someone doesn’t make it into a clump, they’re out.
• Continue until everyone has to exit the mingling space — the last person standing wins!

55. Fun Questions

Asking fun questions is an easy and effective icebreaker game. These questions serve two purposes — first, they allow your coworkers to get into a sillier, more creative mindset.

Second, they encourage conversation on topics typically reserved for outside the office, which enables members of your team to get to know one another on a deeper level.

Meg Prater , senior content marketing manager of the HubSpot blog, says:

"When I first started including icebreaker questions in our weekly team stand-up meetings, the experience was … cringeworthy. It felt like exactly what it was: organized fun. But we kept at it. I listened to feedback and tried to incorporate it into better icebreakers."

She continued, "For example, some folks on our team don’t watch a lot of T.V. and felt a little excluded when we’d fall down a rabbit hole of shows we were binging.

Keeping the icebreakers inclusive keeps everyone engaged. Now, our icebreakers can take 15+ minutes to get through and yield some of our biggest laughs and revelations of the week."

• To play, simply go around the room and have each person offer an answer to a fun question.
• The questions are up to you, but if you’re stuck, check out this list of icebreaker questions for meetings, teams, and more.

56. Personality Quiz

This icebreaker can promote team bonding, and it’s one of the easier options on the list. This game allows your team members to gain a new perspective on their peers, and it's also a fun and easy way to get an interesting conversation started.

• Simply choose a brief personality quiz on your phone or computer (if you’re stuck, here’s a list ), and pull it up on a projector or send the link to everyone.
• Once everyone has completed the personality assessment, have each colleague mention one thing they agree or disagree with from their results.

57. Who Is It?

This game is a simple and great way to get to know surprising new things about your teammates. It can be easily adapted for a virtual setting by having everyone send their fact through the chat or by answering a question in Google Form.

• Have everyone write a unique, strange, or unexpected fact about themselves on a piece of paper.
• Then, put the pieces of paper into a hat and mix them around. Pull from the hat and read each fact.
• Allow the team to try and guess who wrote it.
• After they guess, ask the employee who wrote the fact to identify themselves and give any further context if necessary.

58. Marshmallow Challenge

Tom Wujec, a business visualization expert, initially presented his Marshmallow Challenge on TED .

To play, you simply divide your team into groups of four and give each group 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and a marshmallow.

Whichever team can build the tallest structure wins — the trick is the marshmallow must be on top.

There are a few reasons this game works as both a great icebreaker and a team-building exercise. First, the most successful teams are groups of people who don’t spend time competing for power.

The game forces your colleagues to work collaboratively when brainstorming potential solutions. Second, the Marshmallow Challenge encourages people to think quickly and offer alternative solutions when their initial idea fails.

With the Marshmallow Challenge, you can strengthen your team’s brainstorming and problem-solving skills, and your team can also have some fun. A win, win.

• Divide participants into teams of four.
• Provide each team with one marshmallow, 20 spaghetti noodles, one yard of tape, and one hard of string.
• They have a limited time (e.g., 15 minutes) to construct the tallest freestanding structure using only the materials provided.
• The team with the tallest structure at the end wins.

59. Scavenger Hunt

At HubSpot, we conduct a scavenger hunt for new hires on the first day of their training. It's fun and encourages collaboration, but additionally, it can help employees learn their way around the office.

Fortunately, you can conduct a scavenger hunt for your team even if they‘ve worked at your office for years. A scavenger hunt is also an exceptional opportunity for cross-department interaction.

Consider contacting managers from other departments and creating groups of employees who don’t often get to work together.

• Simply split up your team into groups, and give each group a shortlist of items to find. If you work in a smaller space, maybe you can hide some funny items around the office ahead of time.
• The teams have a limited time to find all the items.
• The first team that finishes first wins. You might even offer an incentive for the winning team, like a $50 Amazon gift card.

60. No Smiling

This game is simple and meant to energize your team . This icebreaker can be helpful in new-employee or management training to lighten the pressure of starting a new job.

It can also be helpful as a way of lightening the mood on teams that regularly deal with stressful projects or situations.

• Get your colleagues in a circle and ask one volunteer to sit or stand in the middle.
• Tell the volunteer that they can not laugh or smile, regardless of what happens.
• Then have each other colleagues take turns telling the volunteer a work-appropriate joke.
• The goal of the volunteer is to hear a joke from every colleague around the circle, while the goal of the other team members is to make the volunteer laugh.

61. This is Better Than That

Best for: energizing your team.

Aside from being a fun team activity, this might be a great energizer for sales employees or others who regularly pitch, market, and sell products.

• Ask your team to find four to seven items around the office and bring them to one room. These items could be something they use daily, like a pen or a chair. However, you should encourage them to find items that are odd or unique. This will make the game more challenging.
• Line the items up and split the group into sub-teams. Task each team with picking an item they would use to survive if stranded on a desert island.
• Tell team members that they can’t pick more than one and that they must assume it's the only item they will have on that island. Allow the teams time to deliberate and then ask them to present the item they chose and why.

62. Choose Your Favorite

For this icebreaker, all you have to do is answer the question about your favorite things. This icebreaker helps your team get to know each other even when they work remotely and can spark conversation on what everyone likes or dislikes.

• Choose a different question to ask your team each week.
• Ask your team to choose their favorite movie, song, TV show, etc.
• Make sure everyone has a chance to share.

63. Trivia Game

If you‘re looking for a remote icebreaker that’s more of a game, you can host a trivia game.

• Kahoot is a trivia platform you can use for free (hosts up to 10 people). To get started, all you'll need to do is sign up for a free Kahoot account.
• Then, you can choose a featured trivia game to play.
• To run this remotely, you'll want to share your screen with your team.
• Everyone will need to have a separate device to use so they can enter the game and submit their answers.

64. Share an Embarrassing Photo

Best for: virtual team bonding.

This is one of my favorite icebreakers because it's a fun way to get to know your team. For this game, have everyone share an embarrassing photo and tell the story behind it. Doing this icebreaker is a great way to build connections remotely.

• Have your team members share their screens or send a file to the team leader to share with everyone.
• To make this more interesting, you can have people guess whose photo it is before your team member shares their story.

65. One Word Pulse Check

Best for: checking in on your team.

For this icebreaker, have everyone on your team go around and share a word or phrase that represents how they feel that day.

Christina Perricone , former senior content marketing manager on the HubSpot blog, says this is her favorite icebreaker:

"The person sharing gets to decide whether or not to elaborate, and everyone listens without response," Perricone explains.

She says the purpose of the exercise is to give people a chance to release or reveal emotional setbacks, obstacles, wins, highlights, or anything else that might be impacting how they show up to work that day.

"It provides a space for participants to bring their entire self to work, and it gives the team context for how to support that team member that day," Perricone adds.

• Have everyone on your team go around and share a word or phrase that represents how they feel that day.

66. Meet my Pet

Best for: virtual sharing.

Nothing fills a meeting with smiles like photos of colleagues’ furry friends. Those who don’t have any can either make a joke pet (the infamous pet rock) or share a dream pet they would have.

• Take turns showing off the cutest pictures and videos of your pet.

67. Let’s Make a Mixtape

This icebreaker works by asking your coworkers to choose one of their favorite songs from a certain genre. Not only is it fun at the moment, but then everyone has the chance to discover new artists and tunes they hadn’t heard of before.

• Everyone chooses a song and shares it with the group.
• One person compiles either a YouTube or Spotify playlist of everyone’s choices and shares the link with everyone in the group afterward.

68. Emoji Mood Guesser

This is a fun spin on sharing one word about how you feel that day.

• With this icebreaker, you ask everyone on your team to drop the most accurate emojis of their current mood or state of mind in a chat box (assuming they’re using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc.)
• Everyone can guess what adjective someone is trying to convey and can even share why if they want to.

69. Food Would You Rather Questions

You’d be surprised how passionate some of your coworkers can get over food. When asking "Would You Rather" questions, ask about various savory or sweet food staples and which they would prefer to eat forever.

Example: "Would you rather eat only cake forever or eat pasta forever?"

70. Travel Would You Rather Questions

There are plenty of destinations on your coworkers’ radar. Get to know them a little better by getting to know where they want to go and why.

Example: "Would you rather travel to only island destinations or mountainous destinations?"

71. Talent Would You Rather Questions

Explore more uncommon talents and see which your coworkers would like to have in this type of questionnaire.

Example: "Would you rather your special talent be opera singing or in playing the banjo?"

72. Super Hero Would You Rather Questions

There are hundreds of superheroes from Marvel and DC, and chances are your coworkers are familiar with them, too. Ask which hero they would like to be and why based on their stories or abilities.

Example: "Would you rather be Ironman or Captain America?"

73. Super Power Would You Rather Questions

On a similar note to heroes, find out what powers your coworkers would rather have and why. Bonus points if you ask them whether they’d label themselves as a hero or villain.

Example: "Would you rather have super speed or super strength?"

74. Sport Would You Rather Questions

Your coworkers may be involved in sports outside of work, and maybe they’re fans of different leagues and teams. Ask which sports they’d rather play and see which they’d prefer and why.

Example: "Would you rather play basketball for the rest of your life or football?"

75. Fashion Would You Rather Questions

Even if your coworkers aren’t tuned into NYFW, they’re sure to recognize some of the most popular clothing brands. Ask them which they’d prefer to dress in and why.

Example: "Would you rather wear only Louis Vuitton or Gucci?"

76. TV Would You Rather Questions

With tons of streaming services to choose from, your coworkers are bound to have some favorite TV shows. Ask questions like which shows they’d rather watch or be a part of.

Example: "Would you rather be a cast member in Euphoria or Ozark?"

77. Movie Would You Rather Questions

Movie fanatics across any team or department will enjoy questions about them. Ask coworkers which genres they’d rather watch or which they’d want to be in.

Example: "Would you rather be cast in a comedy movie or an action movie?"

Meeting ice breakers can help loosen people up for better idea exchange and connection. Whether your team is in-person, hybrid, or online, these icebreakers can help you bring your meetings to life.

Icebreaker Questions for Virtual Meetings

These questions can help begin conversations, promote engagement, and allow participants to get to know each other better in a virtual meeting setting.

78. What‘s the most interesting thing you’ve learned or experienced recently?

79. If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

80. Share one book, movie, or TV show recommendation that you've been enjoying.

81. What‘s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

82. If you could have dinner with any historical figure, who would it be and why?

83. What‘s the most memorable trip you’ve ever taken?

84. Share a time when you had to step out of your comfort zone and how it affected you.

85. What's your favorite way to celebrate a personal achievement or milestone?

86. If you could have a conversation with your future self, what questions would you have?

87. What's your go-to productivity tip or trick when working remotely?

88. Share a fun fact about yourself that others might not know.

89. If you could visit any country in the world, where would you go and why?

90. What's the last thing that made you laugh out loud?

91. Share one goal or intention you have for the upcoming week or month.

92. If you could instantly learn a new skill, what would it be and why?

93. What's your favorite way to unwind or relax after a long day?

94. What‘s the best concert or live event you’ve ever attended?

95. If you could have a conversation with your younger self, what advice would you give?

96. What's your favorite hobby or pastime outside of work?

97. Share a recent accomplishment or something you're proud of.

98. If you could have any job in the world, what would it be and why?

99. What's your favorite way to give back to your community or help others?

100. What‘s the most interesting or challenging project you’ve worked on recently?

101. Share a quote or mantra that inspires you and why it resonates with you.

Icebreaker Questions for Work

These questions can help foster a sense of camaraderie, encourage open communication, and provide insights into one another’s professional experiences and perspectives.

102. What’s one professional skill or area of expertise you would like to develop further?

103. If you could describe your work style in one word, what would it be and why?

104. What’s one project or accomplishment you’re particularly proud of from your time at this company?

105. Share a piece of advice you would give to someone starting in our industry.

106. What’s your favorite aspect of your job, and why does it resonate with you?

107. If you could switch roles with anyone in the company for a day, who would it be and why?

108. What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned from a past work experience?

109. Share a time when you faced a significant challenge at work and how you overcame it.

110. What’s one thing you appreciate about our team or company culture?

111. Do you have a favorite business book or podcast that has influenced your professional growth?

112. If you could attend a professional conference or event anywhere in the world, where would you choose and why?

113. What's one thing you think our company or team does really well, and how does it contribute to our success?

114. What's the biggest challenge you see facing our industry in the next few years?

115. If you could implement one positive change or improvement in our workplace, what would it be and why?

Meeting Ice Breakers for Hybrid Teams

As a flexible/hybrid company , HubSpot teams often use icebreakers to begin or set the tone for team meetings.

Keep reading for more fun icebreakers from the teams at HubSpot:

116. Would you rather feel hot all the time or cold all the time?

117. What’s your very first memory?

118. What is a chore that you dread doing?

119. What is your favorite way to eat potatoes?

120. What is something in your closet that you have too much of?

121. What’s the social media platform or app that you use/scroll the most? Which one would you give up?

122. What kinds of activities energize you?

123. What's your splurge morning drink (or food) of choice?

124. Where is one place you’d love to travel to & why?

125. Name a song that, if you listen to it while walking, always makes you feel like you’re the lead character in a movie.

126. What's your favorite thing you've bought this year?

127. What reality competition show do you think you could win?

128. You have to volunteer to present something for your department in 10 minutes and everyone will have to take a turn. Do you volunteer to present first, in the middle, or last?

129. What’s one song you have on repeat lately?

130. If you could have a LEGO set of any one thing, would it be?

131. What is your morning routine?

132. Show one thing on your desk or in your workspace that has personal significance to you.

133. Would you rather always be slightly late or super early?

Here are some fun icebreaker questions for building connections with friends or team members. Enjoy!

Fun Icebreaker Questions

These questions are designed to be light-hearted and encourage creative thinking, imagination, and personal anecdotes. They can be used in various social settings, such as parties, team-building events, or casual get-togethers, to break the ice and start fun conversations.

134. If you could have any fictional character as your best friend, who would it be and why?

135. What’s the most unusual food combination you’ve ever tried and enjoyed?

136. What’s your favorite ice cream flavor and why?

137. If you could have any animal as a pet, what would it be and why?

138. What's the most interesting piece of trivia you know?

139. What's your favorite holiday tradition?

140. If you could travel back in time, which era would you visit and why?

141. Share a funny or memorable encounter with a celebrity or famous person.

142. What's your favorite board game or card game and why?

143. If you could visit any landmark or tourist attraction in the world, where would you go?

144. What's the most interesting or unusual thing you've ever collected?

145. If you could go back in time and change one moment in your life, what would it be and why?

146. If you could instantly become an expert in any activity or hobby, what would it be?

147. If you were a professional athlete, what sport would you compete in and why?

148. What’s the weirdest or funniest thing that has ever happened to you on a vacation?

149. If you were a superhero, what would your superpower be and what would your superhero name be?

150. What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done or would like to do?

151. If you could live in any fictional universe, which one would you choose and why?

152. Share a memorable childhood toy or game that you loved playing.

153. If you were a character in a movie, who would play your role and why?

Team Building Ice Breaker Questions

These questions can be used during team-building sessions, team meetings, or retreats to promote bonding, encourage open communication, and help team members learn more about each other.

154. What’s your favorite team-building activity or exercise you’ve ever participated in?

155. Share one professional or personal goal you would like to achieve within the next year.

156. If you could swap jobs with someone on the team for a day, who would it be and why?

157. What’s one skill or expertise you bring to the team that others may not be aware of?

158. Share a team success or accomplishment that you’re particularly proud of.

159. What’s your favorite thing about working in a team environment?

160. If you had to describe our team dynamic in three words, what would they be and why?

161. Share one thing you appreciate about a fellow team member’s work or contribution.

162. If our team was a superhero squad, what superpowers would each team member possess?

163. What’s one thing you’ve learned from a fellow team member that has had a positive impact on you?

164. If our team had to solve a mystery, who would play what role in the investigation?

165. Share a time when a team member’s support or assistance made a significant difference in your work.

166. What’s one team-building activity or exercise you would like to try in the future?

167. If our team was a musical band, what instrument would each team member play?

168. Share a valuable lesson you’ve learned from a team project or collaboration.

169. What’s one way our team could improve communication and collaboration?

170. If our team was a famous sports team, which sport would we play and why?

171. Share one fun or interesting fact about yourself that most people on the team don’t know.

172. What’s one team-building activity or exercise you’ve heard about and would like to explore?

173. If our team was a movie, what genre would it be, and who would play each team member?

Icebreakers are more than just fun and games. It's true, they can improve connection and engagement. But it's also important to think about how specific icebreakers or games might affect your team.

Well-selected icebreakers will create or enhance an inclusive environment. Ideally, they'll help everyone on your team feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas. Keep reading for tips on how to choose the best icebreakers for your team.

Find Icebreakers That Work for Different Personality Types

Most teams will have a mix of different personality types. For example, introverts may prefer activities that allow for reflection and sharing at their own pace. But extroverts might be hoping for interactive and energizing games. It's important to balance your approach so that everyone feels included and comfortable.

To do this, support the needs of both groups whenever you can by:

• Offering different participation options
• Setting aside time for individual reflection
• Creating small group discussions
• Encouraging active listening
• Offering appreciation for team members who may be reluctant to participate
• Checking in after icebreakers if you notice anything feels off

It's also a good idea to plan for each activity in advance. This can help other team members feel more comfortable and prepared.

For example, say you're planning to play an online game during a meeting. Test the game in advance to make sure the features are intuitive. If they take some getting used to, share this information with the team. Then, build in extra time for everyone to get used to the software before starting your activity.

Update or Invent Games to Align With Your Team Culture and Interests

Not every game is a fit for the variety of cultural backgrounds, values, and interests on your team. Games that resonate with everyone's cultures and hobbies will be more engaging and enjoyable. They can also create a sense of unity.

So, take the time to learn about your team members' backgrounds, values, and preferences. Get to know their cultural traditions, hobbies, and shared interests. This understanding will help you choose games that are both inclusive and relevant.

Then, customize games or create new icebreakers to fit your team.

Set Specific Goals for Your Icebreakers

While icebreakers can be easy and fun, it's also a good idea to choose games that align with specific team goals. For example, if your team is getting to know each other, you may want to play games that help build trust.

Here are a few more ways to connect team goals to the types of icebreakers and games you choose:

• Improve collaboration: Choose teamwork games, such as Emoji Storytelling, Human Knot, or the Marshmallow Challenge.
• Increase engagement: To boost engagement, ask questions that energize and engage team members, try a Hobby Webinar, or do some speed networking.
• Strengthen communication: Try icebreakers that involve active listening and effective communication such as One Word Pulse Check, Rose, Thorn, Bud, or Charades.
• Build psychological safety: Encourage activities that create a safe space for vulnerability, such as Bucket List or asking relevant icebreaker questions.
• Promote creativity: Start out brainstorming or problem-solving sessions with ice breakers such as Alphabet Brainstorm, Movie Pitch, or Tall Tales.
• Boost morale: Motivate and cheer up your team with icebreakers and games like Share the Love, No Smiling, or Human Bingo.

Depending on the culture of your team, you may want to share icebreaker-specific goals before or after these activities. This can help you offer context to the team, which can further build trust, and gather feedback for the future.

Encourage Active Participation

Get active engagement from your team by creating a safe and inclusive environment. You can create a safe space by:

• Setting clear expectations
• Choosing icebreakers that make sure every team member has a chance to share and feel heard
• Using a variety of icebreakers for different preferences and communication styles
• Managing time effectively, so it's easy for everyone to take part without rushing or falling behind
• Leading by example and participating enthusiastically
• Offering structure and support so it's easy for everyone to join in

Have Fun and Laugh

Icebreakers have the ability to change the energy, create a more relaxed environment, and encourage team members to express themselves in entertaining ways.

Icebreaker activities can seem cringeworthy but are actually a great way to build trust within your team. So incorporate these games into your future meetings and kick off the fun!

Don't forget to share this post!

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The Ultimate List of Fun Icebreakers to Get Your Group Talking

Get ready for plenty of quirky conversation with these 140+ fun icebreakers that are perfect for all ages.

In any group setting, whether it’s a team at work, your book club, or even just a group of friends gathering for a party, getting everyone to open up and have a good time can be tricky. That’s where icebreaker questions come in!

If you’re looking for some fun icebreaker questions and prompts to get your group talking, look no further—we’ve got 140+ of the best right here.

These questions are sure to get the conversation flowing no matter where you’re at and who you’re with. So take a look, pick your favorites, and get ready to have some fun!

Get conversation flowing with team-building activities !

If you have ever added a large number of new hires, or just returned to the office after local lockdowns, you might notice that the workplace dynamic has changed. Break the tension with team-building activities ! We’ve created highly-rated exercises to help your staff bond and improve your company culture. When you reach out to our team , you’ll be able to sit back and let us plan an event that exceeds your expectations!

140+ Fun Icebreakers to Ask Your Friends, Family, and Coworkers

• If you could choose an imaginary friend, who would you choose and why?
• If you could sit on a bench in beautiful woods, who would you like sitting next to you on the bench and why?
• What skill do you think everyone should have?
• What superpower do you wish you had?
• Which celebrity would you pick to exchange lives with?
• Would you rather be a butterfly or an elephant?
• Would you rather get a paper cut every time you turn a page or bite your tongue every time you eat?
• What is your #1 personal productivity tip?
• What’s the most interesting place you’ve ever visited?
• What childish things do you still do as an adult?
• If you had to delete all but 3 apps from your smartphone, which ones would you keep?
• If you were given a million dollars that you had to spend in a week, what would you buy?
• What was the last movie you watched that made you cry?
• What do you want people to remember you for?
• Imagine you are a professional baseball player. What is your introduction song?
• What was your favorite childhood game or activity?
• If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?
• What was your least favorite food as a kid and do you still dislike it?
• Why was Cinderella thrown off the [your regional basketball team]? She ran away from the ball!
• If you were a brand, what would your slogan be?
• What’s one way to get even with an enemy?
• What is a guilty pleasure?
• What favorite color are you and how does being that color make you feel? (For any work that involves any type of design, this can be a fun ice breaker question to ask to discuss color options.)
• What’s your unusual talent?
• If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?
• Would you support “National Avocado Day” as a work holiday?
• What is your biggest pet peeve?
• Would you rather have to say yes to everything, or no to everything?
• Choose one famous person from history you want on your team during a zombie apocalypse.
• If you could choose your age forever, what age would you choose and why? (Discussions about the types of experiences people have at different ages can be valuable, especially in an industry like marketing.)
• Would you rather drive a really nice car or have a gorgeous home?
• Share a memorable event of your life with me.
• What is the best thing you have bought so far this year?
• What do you know about the “law of attraction”? What do you think of it?
• Do you know any good jokes? Or corny dad jokes?
• If you could have a conversation with any famous person, dead or alive, whom would you choose?
• What’s your favorite ’80s movie?
• What’s your favorite food/drink?
• Show something that’s on your desk and tell a story about it?
• What were you most afraid of as a kid?
• What game show would you like to be a contestant on?
• What unusual or quirky things do you do regularly?
• What is your idea for the next great invention?
• How do you make an egg laugh? Tell it a yolk.
• Would you rather give up your cellphone for a month or bathing for a month?
• Name or Show the strangest gift you have ever received.
• What’s the craziest dare you ever took?
• Would you rather have a horrible short-term memory or a horrible long-term memory?
• If a theme song played every time you entered a room, what song would you choose?
• If you had to be transformed into one household item, what would it be and why?
• What made you smile in the last two weeks?
• Do you believe in ghosts?
• Would you rather be able to run at 100 miles per hour or fly at 10 miles per hour?
• Would you rather speak to a huge crowd or hold a snake?
• Show the worst haircut you ever had.
• The zombie apocalypse is here! What 3 celebrities do you want on your side?
• What was your nickname(s) as a child?
• You are stranded on a remote desert island. Are you alone or with your worst enemy?
• What’s one important quality of a great boss?
• If you were a vegetable, what vegetable would you be?
• What is one of your favorite topics of conversation?
• What is your most used phone app?
• What has been the best day of your life so far?
• If you could have any celebrity over for dinner, who would it be and why?
• Which celebrity do you shamelessly follow in the news?
• Did you hear about the time the past, present, and future walked into a bar? It was tense.
• Which movie have you watched so many times that you know it by heart? Prove it.
• Whenever I meet new people, I start talking about global warming. It’s a real ice breaker!
• Which bathroom habit are you ashamed of?
• What would you do if you won the lottery? How would you spend the money for yourself other than giving some to others?
• Would you rather be taller or shorter than you are right now?
• What would you name an imaginary friend?
• What commercial song always gets stuck in your head?
• Which sandwich is “the perfect sandwich,” and why?
• Have you ever left a one-star review online?
• If you had all the money in the world, what would be your first purchase?
• Show us your phone background and tell the story behind why you picked this image.
• Would you rather only have summer or winter for the rest of your life?
• Have you ever lied about an interest or talent to impress someone?
• Would you rather spend a week in the forest or a night in a real haunted house?
• Someone farted in a small, confined space. Do you remain silent or call them out?
• What is your favorite cartoon, past or present?
• What’s the worst travel experience you’ve ever had?
• What fictional family would you most like to join?
• When I dance I look like ___. [Fill in the blank!]
• If you were stranded on a desert Island, what three things and three people would you take?
• If you were a candy bar, which candy bar would you be? Share why.
• Would you rather be invisible or be able to read minds?
• Would you rather wear dirty underwear for a week or dirty socks for a month?
• What is something that amazes you?
• What have you achieved this week that you feel proud of?
• What is your ultimate guilty pleasure song?
• If you were going to be frozen tomorrow for a one-way 1000-year interstellar voyage, what would you most want to communicate (and to whom) before you leave?
• Would you rather . . .travel back in time to meet your ancestors, or forward in time to meet your descendants?
• Do you have any insane roommate or housing stories?
• What strange food pairings do you love that no one else understands?
• Would you rather go on a hike or see a movie?
• If you could travel back in time to any single year or event then back again only once, what would you choose and why?
• Have you been told you have a celebrity doppelganger?
• If you had 25 hours a day, how would you use your extra time?
• Tell me about a memory from childhood that inspires your life.
• There has been a scientific breakthrough eliminating the need to sleep. What would you do with all the extra time?
• Do you fold your pizza?
• If music played every time you entered a room, what would you want your theme song to be?
• If you were to change your name, what name would you adopt going forward? Why?
• Tell us the weirdest thing you had in the room with you ever.
• If you could be any supernatural creature, what would you be and why?
• What is something you know really well?
• What’s your biggest guilty pleasure?
• If you were able to travel through time, either forward or backward, where would you go?
• What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you?
• If you could bring back any fashion trend what would it be?
• Would you pet a shark or stare down a tiger?
• Which Netflix show did you binge embarrassingly quickly?
• What three animals would you choose that describe your traits the best?
• What fictional TV family would you love to be in?
• Have you ever wished to become invisible for a day, when was it?
• If you could live anywhere on this planet and take everything that you love with you, where would you choose to live? (This ice breaker question can lead to further discussion about the types of experiences people value.)
• Who’s your favorite non-A list celebrity?
• If you’re stranded on a desert island and have the option of bringing three items with you, what three items would they be?
• What are your best talents?
• Dance up close with someone smelly or smell everyone in the room?
• What was your first job?
• What has been most influential in your life so far?
• If you were a city, which city would you choose to be and why?
• Would you rather never use social media sites and apps again or never watch another movie or TV show?
• Would you rather own a private jet or have the ability to teleport like in Star Trek?
• If someone came up to you and said, “Hey, do that thing you do!” What thing would pop into your head first?
• How would you rate your laugh out of 10?
• What’s the funniest thing that ever happened on your family vacation?
• What’s your favorite Scary Movie?
• What states have you visited?
• Are you sunrise, daylight, twilight, or night? Please share why you picked your time of day.
• What did you have for breakfast?
• What is the weirdest food you have ever eaten?
• What do you get when you cross an elephant with a kangaroo? Huge holes all over Australia!
• What’s your favorite season and why?
• Do you believe in aliens?
• What was the first way you made money?
• What kind of dog are you?
• What is your funniest talent?
• What smell do you hate that doesn’t seem to bother other people?
• Where would you visit if allowed: outer space or the ocean?
• What is the strangest thing you used to believe as a child?
• Would you rather . . .be the first person to set foot on a new planet, or be the first person to live forever?
• In a zombie apocalypse, how would you survive?
• What’s your biggest pet peeve?
• What celebrity do most people say you look like?

Use virtual games to reconnect !

If the kids are off at college or you haven’t been able to spend time with friends, you don’t have to make a special trip to catch up. Let’s Roam offers virtual game nights that are perfect for remote connections. Choose from a variety of categories and options, from geography trivia to emoji decoders. Do you like Pictionary? Our drawing games are a blast! There’s a little something for everyone, and you can play an unlimited number of games each month!

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Unlock the Fun This Summer with 150+ Icebreaker Questions

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Summer is the perfect time to make memories with friends and family as the days get longer and the temperatures rise.

But if you’re looking for something to kick off a gathering at work, why not try some fun summer-themed ice breaker questions? These icebreaker questions for work will help get team members talking in no time. Best of all, these will help with team building, especially with small groups and virtual meetings.

From vacations to outdoor activities, there’s something for everyone. Let’s dive into the best icebreaker questions below!

Types of Summer Themed Ice Breaker Questions

Random ice breaker questions.

These questions are sure to get everyone talking and laughing. Whether you're at the beach or poolside, here are some fun ideas to get everyone chatting:

• What's the best vacation you've ever had during the summer?
• What outdoor activities do you like doing during the summer?
• What's your favorite summer treat?
• If you could go anywhere in the world this summer, where would it be?
• What's the best thing about summertime?
• What is your favorite summer memory?
• How do you like to relax during the summer months?
• What's your ideal way to spend a hot day in the sun?
• What's the worst haircut you got during summertime?
• Who is your role model for living life to its fullest during the summertime months?
• What's the craziest thing you've ever done during the summer?

Questions About Vacations

Vacations are a great way to relax, explore new places, and make lasting memories. If you're looking for conversation starters at your next gathering, why not ask some fun questions about vacations? These questions will get everyone talking and may even inspire an upcoming trip or two! Here are some ideas to get started:

• What is the best vacation you've ever taken?
• Where do you hope to go on your next vacation?
• What type of vacations do you prefer - active or relaxing?
• Do you prefer domestic or international vacations?
• Are there any places that you would love to visit but haven't yet had the chance?
• Do you have any tips for making the most out of a vacation?
• Have you ever experienced culture shock while traveling abroad?
• What are the biggest challenges of planning a vacation?
• Do you take trips with family or friends more often?
• If you had a million dollars to spend on a summer vacation, where would you go and what would you do?

These questions are sure to get people thinking and chatting about their favorite trips and future plans! So why not give them a try at your next gathering and see how it goes!

Questions About Summer Activities

• What is your favorite summer activity?
• What is something new that you would like to try this summer?
• What have been some of your most memorable summer experiences?
• Do you prefer outdoor or indoor activities when it comes to summertime fun?
• Are there any beaches or trails that you always visit in the warmer weather?
• What type of music do you like to listen to when taking part in summer activities?
• What is the craziest thing you have ever done in the heat of the summer sun?
• What's one summer activity you enjoyed during high school that you still love doing today?
• Are there any classic films that remind you of summers past or present?
• Do you have any tips for staying safe while participating in warm-weather activities?

These questions are sure to get everyone reminiscing about their best times in the sun! So give them a try at your next gathering and see how it goes!

Nature-Themed Questions

Nature-themed questions are a great way to get people talking and learning more about the world around them. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• What is your favorite animal?
• Have you ever seen any rare animals in the wild?
• What plants have you grown or observed in your backyard?
• How do different environments affect wildlife populations?
• Do you prefer urban or rural areas when it comes to enjoying nature?
• What natural phenomenon fascinates you the most?
• Are there any conservation efforts that have particularly impressed you lately?
• How can we protect endangered species from extinction?
• Are there any outdoor activities that really bring the beauty of nature into focus for you?
• What tips would you give someone for observing wildlife safely and responsibly?

These questions are sure to stimulate everyone's awareness of their environment and all its wonderful inhabitants! So give them a try next time and see what conversations they lead to!

Beach-Themed Questions

• What is your favorite thing to do at the beach?
• What types of wildlife have you observed while visiting the beach?
• How would you describe the sound of the ocean?
• Have you ever gone on a boat while at the beach? If so, what was it like?
• What tips can you give someone for swimming safely in the ocean?
• Are there any beaches that have particularly impressive sunsets?
• Have you ever gone night swimming before?
• Have any conservation efforts been especially successful in preserving coastal areas?
• Do you prefer going to a busy beach or one that's more secluded and private?
• What types of sandcastles have you built before and what inspired them?

These questions are sure to get everyone talking about their past experiences and sharing their enthusiasm for all things beach-related! So give them a try next time and see where they lead!

Pool Party-Themed Questions

• What is your favorite pool game?
• Are there any unique poolside snacks that you prepare for parties?
• Have you ever jumped off a high dive before? If so, what was it like?
• What tips can you give someone for swimming safely in a pool?
• What type of music do you usually play at your pool parties?
• Are there any swimming tricks that have been especially successful when playing games in the pool?
• Do you prefer going to a crowded pool or one that's more secluded and private?
• What types of floats have you used before and what inspired them?
• Have you ever had a summer job as a lifeguard or pool attendant?
• Have you ever had a summer pool party? What was it like?

Barbecue and Picnic-Themed Questions

• What is your favorite type of food to grill?
• Are there any unique recipes that you prepare for barbecues?
• Have you ever made something special while grilling? If so, what was it like?
• What tips can you give someone for making tasty grilled foods?
• What type of music do you usually play at your barbecues?
• Are there any grilling tricks that have been especially successful when cooking on the grill?
• What's the worst summer food you've ever eaten?
• What types of sides have you served with grilled foods before and what inspired them?
• If you had to eat one flavor of ice cream for the rest of your life, what would it be?
• What's one summer food that's a guilty pleasure?

Music Festival and Concert-Themed Questions

• What type of music do you usually listen to?
• Do you prefer live performances or listening to albums?
• Have you ever seen any unique acts at concerts before?
• What type of bands would you like to see perform live one day?
• Do you have any songs that make you think of summertime?
• What type of musical experiences do you miss from past festivals and concerts?
• Are there any artists with upcoming music releases that you’re excited about?
• What was the best concert experience that you’ve had in recent years?
• Have you ever had a summer road trip with a music playlist? What were your favorite songs?
• What's your favorite summer concert memory?

Sports and Outdoor Activity-Themed Questions

Sports and outdoor activities are great ways to stay active and enjoy the summer. Here are some fun icebreaker questions related to sports and outdoor activities:

• What’s your favorite sport or activity to do outside?
• Are there any particular trails or parks that you visit regularly?
• Do you have any upcoming races or athletic competitions that you’re training for?
• What type of gear do you bring with you when exploring the outdoors?
• Have you ever gone on an outdoor adventure that was especially challenging?
• How do you like to spend your time when it’s sunny outside?
• Have you ever tried any extreme sports like sky diving or rock climbing?
• What are some of the most amazing views that you’ve seen while participating in these activities?
• What's the most memorable sports moment you've experienced during the summer?
• What's your favorite summer sports venue or location?

Asking questions like these will help everyone open up about their hobbies, experiences, and favorite outdoor spots! Give them a try next time and see how it goes!

Where to use Summer Ice Breaker Questions

Summer ice breaker questions are a great way to start conversations and get people talking with each other. They can be used in various settings, from teambuilding events to casual gatherings. No matter the context, these questions can help break down barriers, foster shared experiences, and create an atmosphere of connection and understanding between individuals.

Summer Ice Breakers for Meetings

Summer ice breakers help start conversations and create an open and collaborative atmosphere. Asking easy questions about summer hobbies or activities helps people get to know each other. These icebreakers make meetings more enjoyable overall.

• What's your favorite summer activity or tradition?
• Have you ever been to a summer music festival? If so, which one(s)?
• What's your favorite summer food or drink?
• Have you ever gone on a summer vacation? Where did you go and what did you do?
• Do you prefer the beach or the mountains in the summer?
• What's the hottest temperature you've ever experienced during the summer?
• Have you ever participated in a summer sports league or competition? Which one(s)?
• What's your favorite summer memory from childhood?
• Do you have a favorite summer-themed movie or book?
• If you could plan the perfect summer day, what would it look like?

Getting to know you icebreaker questions

• What's your favorite summer vacation destination?
• What's your go-to summer outfit?
• Have you ever had a summer job? If so, what was it?
• What's your favorite summer memory?
• Do you prefer spending your summer indoors or outdoors?
• What's your favorite summer hobby?
• Have you ever been on a road trip during the summer? If so, where did you go?
• What's your favorite summer holiday?
• What's one thing you want to accomplish this summer?

Group icebreaker questions

Good group icebreaker questions relate to topics that resonate with everyone. Examples include favorite sports teams or dream jobs. Keep the questions simple and engaging, so people feel comfortable opening up and having meaningful conversations.

Check out these fun group icebreaker questions below.

• What's your favorite summer activity to do with friends or family?
• Do you have a favorite summer holiday or celebration? If so, what is it?
• Have you ever been on a summer camping trip? If so, where did you go?
• What's your favorite summer beverage?
• What's your favorite summer game or sport to play?
• Have you ever taken a summer class or course? What was it?
• What's the most interesting place you've ever visited during the summer?
• What's your favorite summer memory with friends or family?
• Do you prefer to stay close to home or travel during the summer?
• What's your favorite way to beat the heat during the summer?

Warm up questions

Check out these good warm up icebreaker questions below.

• Have you ever gone on a summer road trip? Where did you go?
• What's your favorite summer dessert?
• Do you have a favorite summer movie or TV show? If so, which one(s)?
• What's your favorite thing about summer weather?
• Have you ever participated in a summer camp or program? What was it like?
• What's your favorite book or author?
• What's your favorite summer activity to do alone?
• Do you prefer the beach or the pool in the summer?
• Have you ever gone on a summer adventure or explored a new place? Where did you go?
• What's your favorite way to spend a summer evening?

Check-in questions

Great check-in questions go beyond surface-level topics. They can include deeper conversations about feelings and life events. Good check-in questions can ask about recent successes, current challenges, and future experiences. Take a look at the ice breaker check in questions below.

• What's one challenge you've faced recently? How have you been coping with it?
• What's something that's been bringing you joy or happiness this summer?
• What's one goal you have for the rest of the summer?
• Have you learned anything new about yourself this summer?
• What's one thing you're grateful for right now?
• What's one recent accomplishment you're proud of?
• What's one thing you'd like to change or improve in your life right now?
• Have you had any recent experiences that have made you feel more connected to others?
• What's one activity or hobby that helps you relax or unwind during the summer?
• Have you set any personal or professional goals for the upcoming fall season?

Quick icebreaker questions

Quick icebreaker questions can help to create a more comfortable and relaxed atmosphere in any group gathering. They are designed to get conversations going and help people get to know each other better. Icebreaker questions should be lighthearted and fun, and should avoid topics that could make people uncomfortable or cause negative feelings. 

Here are the best quick ice breaker questions for this Summer.

• What's your favorite summer drink?
• Do you prefer the beach or the mountains during the summer?
• What's your favorite summer food?
• What's one thing you're looking forward to this summer?
• What's your favorite summer activity?
• Have you ever gone camping during the summer? Where did you go?
• What's one summer tradition or event that you look forward to every year?

Tips for Crafting Your Own Ice Breaker Questions

Crafting summer-themed icebreaker questions can facilitate introductions and promote a sense of ease among individuals in a group setting.

Find summer icebreaker questions that are enjoyable, relatable, and allow for sharing personal information. Topics like favorite summer pastimes or destinations can work well.

Be sure to establish a secure environment where individuals feel free to express themselves without concern of criticism or mockery.

To create a welcoming atmosphere, it's important to keep the conversation positive and respectful. With careful consideration, you can come up with engaging icebreaker questions that fit the summer theme for your next gathering.

Crafting summer themed icebreaker questions can be a great way to bring people together in any group setting.

When creating your own icebreaker questions, aim for topics that all attendees can relate to, like favorite summer activities or places they’ve traveled during the season.

Additionally, remember to keep the conversation positive and upbeat, as this will help ensure that everyone feels included and respected.

Finally, make sure you create a safe space where everyone feels comfortable sharing their thoughts without fear of judgement or ridicule. With some creativity and thoughtfulness, you can craft fun and effective summer themed ice breaker questions for your next gathering!

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'Where in the World' Classroom Icebreaker

Three Clues to Your Favorite Place in the World

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• B.A., English, St. Olaf College

Technology and transportation in the modern world have given us the opportunity to learn so much more, often first hand, about the rest of the world. If you haven’t had the privilege of global traveling, you may have experienced the thrill of conversing with foreigners online or working side-by-side with them in your industry . The world becomes a smaller place the more we get to know each other.

When you have a gathering of people from various countries, this icebreaker is a breeze, but it’s also fun when participants are all from the same place and know each other well. Everyone is capable of dreams that cross borders.

To make this icebreaker kinetic , require that one of the three clues be a physical motion. For example, skiing, golfing, painting, fishing, etc.

Basic information about the Where in the World Icebreaker:

• Ideal Size: Up to 30. Divide larger groups.
• Use For: Introductions in the classroom or at a meeting, especially when you have an international group of participants or an international topic to discuss.
• Time Needed: 30 minutes, depending on the size of the group.

Instructions

Give people a minute or two to think of three clues that describe, but don’t give away, either the country they are from (if different from the one you’re in) or their favorite foreign place they have visited or dream of visiting.

When ready, each person gives their name and their three clues, and the rest of the group guesses where in the world they are describing. Give each person a minute or two to explain what they like best about their favorite place in the world. Start with yourself so they have an example.

If you want students on their feet and moving, require that one clue be a physical motion like swimming, hiking, golfing, etc. This clue may include verbal help or not. You choose.

For example:

Hi, my name is Deb. One of my favorite places in the world is tropical, has a beautiful body of water you can climb, and is near a popular cruise port (I am physically imitating climbing).

After guessing is finished:

One of my favorite places in the world is Dunn’s River Falls near Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We stopped there on a Caribbean cruise and had the marvelous opportunity of climbing the falls. You start at sea level and can climb 600 feet gradually up the river, swimming in pools, standing under small falls, sliding down smooth rocks. It’s a beautiful and fantastic experience.

Debriefing Your Students

Debrief by asking for reactions from the group and asking if anybody has a question for another participant. You will have listened carefully to the introductions. If somebody has chosen a place related to your topic, use that place as a transition to your first lecture or activity.

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Matador Original Series

10 Icebreaker Questions That Can Lead to Deeper Travel Relationships

M eeting fascinating people is one of the best things about traveling, but it takes time to develop a relationship — and that’s something you might not have a lot of if you’re on the road. The good thing about icebreakers is they can help you build rapport with strangers faster.

The best questions are original, or at least unusual. Greeting someone new with “how long have you been here” and “where next” is okay, but these openers can lead to some pretty repetitive conversation patterns because people use them all the time. It also leads the other person down an all-too-familiar route. Instead of using the same greetings as everyone else, take the plunge and offer a question that gives your new friend permission to open up in ways they haven’t done before. Asking something they aren’t expecting means you’ll get better thought-out answers, which keeps their energy level high and helps you work out if there’s chemistry.

So, next time you’re waiting for a late ferry or train, don’t let the opportunity pass you by. Strike up a conversation and try these 10 icebreaker questions for size. You might end up with a new friend for life.

1. What inspired you to visit [insert country]?

This is so much better than “how long are you here for?” which is what’s known as a closed-ended question (something that only has a one-word response and can’t go anywhere else). Instead, try asking your new friend what inspires them. This reveals more about their personality and it allows them to share their values or hobbies. It also gives you the opportunity to respond with your own personal details, which helps build closeness and trust.

2. How do you spend your time when you’re not traveling?

Asking someone about their day job could result in a fascinating response, but let’s be honest — the chances of you meeting a volcanologist versus an admin assistant are a million to one. Plus, if you get the latter (or similar), feigning interest will come across as disingenuous — and you’ll both know it. Some people don’t see their own jobs as particularly interesting and would much rather discuss what they do for fun, so instead, keep the question open-ended and let them decide what to share. That admin assistant might also be an amateur drag queen. If you’d focused on their job, you’d have missed out on this conversational gold.

3. What brought you here?

This is a no-pressure way to invite someone to discuss their personal life before they came traveling. Rather than diving straight in with “what did you do before you came here?” you’re leaving it up to them as to how much they share about their past. People travel for a multitude of different reasons — most of which are positive, but some not so (break-ups, redundancy, and a family bereavement are common stories you’ll encounter on the road). Keep your questions as open-ended as possible, and let the other person elaborate at their own speed.

4. What are you looking forward to next?

This is better than “where are you headed to next?” which usually results in a closed, one-answer reply. Asking about upcoming plans is a much broader question, and could include both a destination, as well as timeframes, activities, routes, and motivations. This keeps the conversation flowing and gives you a segue into sharing your own travel or activity tips with them. It’s also focused on anticipated joy, which instantly takes them to a happy place, keeping the talk high-energy and positive. And if they reply with “nothing,” then take it as a hint to move on.

5. If you could describe your week in a movie title, what would it be?

Asking “How’s your week been so far?” is okay, but the other person will usually respond with “pretty good” or something equally noncommittal. Why? Because this type of question, along with “how’s it going?” is considered more of a formality than a genuine request for information. Asking your new pal to describe their week with a movie title (or book, song title or emoji — your call) encourages them to really think about their week more specifically and have fun with their answer. They’ll also want to explain their choice, which opens the doors to more conversation.

6. If you could pick a day to relive, which one would you choose?

There are variations on this question, like “what’s been your favorite moment so far” or “what’s been your favorite place,” but phrasing it like this is more unusual, which encourages the other person to really consider their answer. It also means you get to hear more about what really matters to your new friend.

7. Where did you grow up?

This potent question packs way more punch than “where are you from” because it invites the other person to give you a mini autobiography and share as much or as little of their life with you as they want. People usually consider growing up a long process and will likely mention several places, milestones, and events — which is way more interesting than hearing (or talking) about a literal birth location.

8. Is there anything you need help with right now?

This is always a surprising and disarming question to be asked — especially if they’re not outwardly displaying any signs of distress or need. When questioned, people often realize there is something they could use a hand with after all, whether that’s you keeping an eye on their bags while they pop to the loo, some travel tips, or just someone to share a taxi with. When we help people out, we instantly build a level of trust — so asking this question is your shortcut to making that deeper connection.

9. What’s the strangest icebreaker question you’ve ever been asked?

This is a good one because you’re piggybacking off someone else’s work. You encourage the other person to share a weird event and you get to hear their response. It also means you get to answer the question yourself (if you want to) or upstage it with a weirder one.

10. What’s your favorite way to travel?

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