Fun Office Activities to Boost Morale

Is your team stressed, tired, or feeling overwhelmed from all the hard work they've been doing? If so, they may be in desperate need of a fun office activity to boost morale and build camaraderie.

Some people might groan at the thought of a work team-building event, but if you prioritize fun when choosing an activity, your group will be happily entertained and bond naturally. 

Why Fun Activities Make a Difference in Your Office

According to Glassdoor's multi-country survey of over 5,000 adults, 77 percent said they would consider a company's culture before applying for a job there and over 56 percent said that when it comes to job satisfaction, company culture is more important than salary. Providing a workplace environment that is high-trust, encourages growth, provides flexibility, and has stress-reducing measures will help increase productivity and retain employees. 

Organizing a fun activity for your group can help boost morale, build trust between coworkers and leadership, and reduce stress. Remote teams in particular may feel disconnected from their colleagues which can have negative effects on employee satisfaction and company culture. Getting everyone together for a virtual game or social event is a great way to strengthen your team and improve communication by encouraging people to open up and build relationships.

GIF Battles

Everyone loves a good GIF – if you time them right, they can perfectly express a mood in a hilarious way. In a GIF battle, working in whatever conferencing platform your group uses, someone comes up with different categories that the group will submit GIFs for, for example, "Friday afternoon work mood." After everyone submits their GIF, the group will vote for the one they think represents the category the best. Giphy.com is a good source for finding a wide variety of GIFs. 

Virtual Pictionary

Put your drawing skills to the test and bond with your group in Virtual Pictionary, bookable through CourseHorse. Working in teams, you'll draw pictures on a virtual whiteboard while your teammates hurry to guess what it is. Don't worry if you're not an artist, the worse your drawing is the more fun your group will have! 

Two Truths and a Lie

In this simple but entertaining team-building game, everyone submits three facts about themselves, but one of them is made up; the group then has to guess which is the made-up fact. This game is a great way to get to know interesting facts about your coworkers and find out how well you truly know each other. 

Virtual White Elephant Team Gift Experience

Who doesn't love getting a gift? Treat your remote team with CourseHorse's Virtual White Elephant Team Gift Experience that makes gift-opening even more fun. After randomly determining the order of unwrapping, each participant will get to virtually unwrap a gift or steal from their coworkers. Don't be shy – stealing from others is the fun part of the game! 

Virtual Dance Party

Get up off your chair and move to the beat in a virtual dance party. Dancing is a great stress reliever and good exercise too. Make it a regular part of your week as a fun break and take turns choosing the music. Not everyone is going to love dancing on video chat, so make it camera optional! But keep your mics on to interact with the group and listen to your teammates say, "This is my song!" You might even choose a funny virtual background to dance in front of if you aren't too shy to let your moves be seen.

Virtual "MTV Cribs" Style House Tour

Get to know your teammates better by seeing where they live, what they eat, who they live with, and what their pets are. Your group can take turns giving a virtual tour of their homes – maybe even opening their fridge to show how stocked (or not) it is. Or maybe a family member happens to walk by and say hello. To make it even more fun, pretend you are a celebrity showing off your house "MTV Cribs" style ("Hello work team and welcome to my crib")! This game works best with a phone so that you don't have to walk around your house with your computer. 

Virtual Escape Room: the Office Holiday Party

Is your group looking for a fun game that involves solving puzzles and completing challenges? Try a virtual escape room as a great team-building game that encourages friendly competition. Get in the holiday spirit with Virtual Escape Room: The Office Holiday Party. In this escape room challenge offered by CourseHorse, your group will work in mini-teams in a race to see who can escape the room first. It's the annual mandatory holiday work party and as your team tries to head out, the doors are locked and your ID badges are deactivated. You'll be presented with clues in the form of character descriptions, virtual maps, and audio and video clips that your team must solve to escape the office party and finally begin your holiday break. 

Charades

Whether your team is in-person or virtual, charades is a highly entertaining classic party game that will have you rolling on the floor laughing. The game is simple: one person chooses a random word or phrase to silently act out (you can find charade generator websites or a coworker who won't be playing can create them) and everyone else races to guess what it is. This game can also be played in teams to encourage some friendly group competition between colleagues. 

What's on Your Phone

This fun game is like a scavenger hunt for your phone; everyone is given a list of items with varying point values, for example, a one-point item could be "Facebook app, " while a five-point item might be "picture with coworker." If you have the app, picture, song, text message, etc. on your phone, you can check off the item. In the end, everyone adds up their points and the highest total wins. Groups can easily play this game in the office or virtually.

Virtual Scavenger Hunt

For a game that gets your group out of their seats try CourseHorse's Virtual Scavenger Hunt. Whether in the office or at home, everyone can participate in this delightful challenge that includes solving riddles to figure out what items you need to find and creating fun projects. Working in mini-teams, you'll be given various prompts and will collaborate in breakout rooms before joining the larger group. The show-and-tell round at the end will have everyone laughing as they display what silly things they created and found in their homes or at the office. 

Shark Tank

Pitch your interesting ideas and inventions to each other in this fun collaborative game. Working in small teams, you'll be tasked with coming up with an imaginary business or product that you'll pitch to a panel of judges (choose three or four of your colleagues to be the "sharks"). Some groups might choose to present a detailed plan with marketing and financial data, while others might want to keep it more simple. After your pitch, the "sharks" can ask questions and ultimately decide if they want to invest in the idea or product. To play this game virtually, use breakout rooms to collaborate with your small team before joining the large group. 

Capture the Flag

Getting up and moving around can work wonders on boosting morale for a team. Organize a game of Capture the Flag at the office for your work team to play outdoors. To play, divide your group into two teams that will compete against each other to find the other's flag and bring it back to their home base. If you get tagged trying to get the flag, you'll be sent back to your side or put in jail. Teams will have to strategize and work together in this highly active competition for in-person work groups.

Virtual Mixology Workshop

Improve your drink-making skills and have a virtual happy hour in Virtual Mixology Workshop offered by CourseHorse. Your group will learn how to mix up three different cocktails in this low-pressure team-building activity including an Old Fashioned, a mint julep, and a ginger lime margarita. Ingredients will be shipped to you in a mixology kit that includes a gift card to buy your own favorite brand of spirits. Bonding with your group will come naturally as you make and sip your drinks together over Zoom. 

Virtual Private Trivia

A popular team-building game for work teams, Virtual Private Trivia includes a wide range of trivia topics to ensure everyone can participate. In this CourseHorse group experience, a high-energy trivia host will provide the questions and make sure everything runs smoothly as you collaborate in breakout rooms with your mini-team to come up with the correct answer. Don't worry if you're not a trivia master – the trivia is designed to be challenging without making you feel hopeless.

Watch Party

Your team can watch a movie or show together virtually or in the office as a relaxing, low-pressure activity. To amp up the fun, watch it with Teleparty (formerly Netflix Party), a browser extension that synchronizes your video playback and has a group chat function. This is a perfect way to discuss the movie with your coworkers without annoying those who hate interruptions.

Virtual Paint & Sip Party

Instead of just a regular happy hour, delve into your creative side with a Virtual Paint & Sip Party, bookable through CourseHorse. No previous painting skills are needed in this stress-free art class that encourages bonding among teammates. Guided through each step by a professional artist and instructor, you'll create a beautiful masterpiece while enjoying a glass (or two) of wine that is provided to you. This class works great for virtual teams and large groups looking to bring everyone together for a relaxing activity. 

Talent Show

If you have a unique or silly skill you like showing off, you'll love participating in a talent show with your coworkers. Even if you'd rather be in the audience, talent shows are a fun way for teams to bond and get to know one another. An office talent show can easily be held virtually as well as in-person. If you think you don't have a unique talent, don't be deterred – you can learn something new or you may already know how to do something you never thought of as a talent, saying the alphabet backward, for example. Or, sit back and cheer on others as they put on a fun show. 

Virtual Group Magic Trick Workshop

Learn how to wow your friends and family with classic close-up magic tricks. In CourseHorse's Virtual Group Magic Trick Workshop, you'll learn the secret to a wide variety of magic tricks from a professional magician. All materials will be shipped to you in advance including a pen through a bill, hot rod, two-card monte, deck of cards, and Svengali deck. Up to 500 people can attend this online workshop, making it perfect for large virtual or hybrid teams. 

Costume Contest

Whether in-person or virtual, work teams will have a blast putting on silly costumes and judging whose is best. This contest would be perfect for Halloween but can also work for any other time of year. Select a panel of impartial judges who will score each costume during the show and add up the points at the end to see who is the winner. To make it even more fun, have a prize for the winner, for example, an extra break, a gift card, the ability to come to work late one day, etc. 

Virtual Wine & Cheese Workshop

Groups can unwind with a Virtual Wine & Cheese Workshop offered by CourseHorse that will not only elevate their knowledge but be a great way to bond with coworkers. Led by a professional expert, you'll learn how different wines and cheeses are made and what makes the best pairings. Materials are included in the class and shipped to each participant including two bottles of wine and two types of cheeses. 

Baby Picture Guess Who

In this entertaining game that can be played in-person or virtually, each participant anonymously submits a baby or childhood picture of themselves to be shown to the group. Everyone will write down which coworker they think is in the picture, adding up points at the end to see who got the most right. To put a fun spin on it, submit three facts about yourself with your picture that the host will read as clues to the group. 

Virtual Team Olympics

Get in the competitive spirit and complete fun challenges with Virtual Team Olympics, offered by CourseHorse. In this one-hour virtual game, you'll participate in activities such as type-racing, Family Feud-style challenges, racing to build the tallest marshmallow tower, creating balloon animals, and playing the harmonica. You'll have plenty of time to bond with your coworkers in your mini-team of 4 to 5 people; half the time will be spent in your mini-team and the other half with the entire group. Participants will be shipped materials prior to class including marshmallows, toothpicks, medals (gold, silver, and bronze), a harmonica, and a tape measure.

Show and Tell

We all remember having show-and-tell at school – it was our chance to bring something fun or unique to class to show off to our peers. In this grown-up version of the game, participants can choose a meaningful item from home to show and talk about to their coworkers. Make it an ongoing series by having each Friday be a show-and-tell day with a different category for each week, for example, favorite t-shirt, item from a different state or country, or pet day. This game offers everyone the chance to talk about something they love and to learn a little more about their coworkers. 

Book Club

Joining an office book club is a great way to bond with coworkers over similar interests. Take turns choosing the book and hold weekly or monthly meetings to discuss what you are reading. Keep it running smoothly by assigning a leader to come up with topics beforehand to discuss. You can also prevent your book club from getting boring and feeling like homework by keeping books relatively short, playing fun games, incorporating themed cocktails or food, and asking fun, easy questions (if you could be any character in the book, who would you choose and why?)

Virtual Screenshot Showdown

Having a Virtual Screenshot Showdown is a great way to get your team to tap into their creative and playful sides. Perfect for virtual or hybrid teams, this CourseHorse game gives you the chance to be silly over Zoom as you take fun screenshots and apply them to your background. The host will provide prompts such as creating your best 1980s glamor shot, celebrity photobomb, travel/adventure shots, and other witty challenges. This one-hour game is sure to get your team laughing as they create lasting office memories and inside jokes. 

Name That Song

Name That Song is a fun, simple game to loosen up your team and boost morale. The directions are easy: the host plays the first five seconds of a song (choosing from a variety of genres) and everyone has to guess the song. To make it run smoothly on Zoom or another video conferencing platform, have everyone write down their answers and tally them up at the end to see who got the most right. If you are playing in-person (in an environment where you can make noise), whoever shouts out the answer first wins!

Virtual Brick Building Team Challenge

For a fun challenge that evokes creativity and childhood memories, try CourseHorse's Virtual Brick Building Team Challenge. Working in teams, an engaging host will provide unique challenges for you to complete with Legos® such as building a zoo scene, clones (everyone on the team builds the exact same structure), building the largest tower, and self-portraits. Participants will receive a package of over 200 Legos® before the event. 

Fantasy Football or "The Bachelor" Fantasy League

Starting a fantasy league (there are more than just sports leagues) in your office is a great way to get your group interacting and participating in some friendly competition. Fantasy leagues allow you to create your own team or group that you think will go the distance – in a sports championship or as the remaining contestants on a reality show, for example. Your group will love competing with each other as they draft and trade their way toward victory. There are numerous websites and platforms to help you organize your fantasy leagues such as Yahoo Sports (for sports leagues) and The Rose League ("The Bachelor" fantasy league).

Virtual Mochi Making

Making food can certainly be enjoyable, especially when you're making delicious mochi ice cream alongside your colleagues in a casual, low-pressure environment. In CourseHorse's Virtual Mochi Making you'll make your own mochi dough from scratch, then wrap it around your favorite ice cream, culminating in a mouthwatering treat that you'll want to make again and again. No need to worry about buying ingredients as they will all be shipped to you, as well as a gift card to buy the ice cream of your choosing. 

Virtual Googling History

In today's world, information is always at our fingertips; many of us can find the answers we are looking for in just a few seconds by googling it on our computer or smartphone. In CourseHorse's Virtual Googling History, you'll work in a small team to find the answers to prompts given to you by your game host. You'll be looking for obscure information on the internet in three fun rounds: image search, scavenger hunt, and debate round (your team will take one side of a hotly debated topic). Your team will also have the opportunity to share the interesting tidbits of information they found in a sharing session with the entire group.

Virtual Happy Hour

It's 4:30 on a Friday and you've just wrapped up a virtual meeting that went an hour too long. Instead of closing your computer for the afternoon, why not unwind in a virtual happy hour with your coworkers? The key to making it fun and relaxing for everyone? NO shop talk. Happy hours should be kept light and low-pressure – no grilling someone about the project they are working on. If you are still getting to know each other, having a few icebreaker questions (what do you like to do on the weekends?) is a great way to start conversations.