24 Fun and Engaging Virtual Team Building Activities

If you manage a remote or distributed team, you know it’s a challenge to engage everyone. Without the face-to-face interactions that naturally occur in an office, team members might feel disconnected. And when everyone works in different locations or time zones, it’s easy for people to drift apart and get bogged down in their individual tasks.

Fortunately, there are countless fun, interactive activities you can use to bring your team together. Let’s explore a few of the best virtual team building activities for boosting morale and encouraging collaboration.

What is virtual team building?

Team building is about developing trust and cooperation among colleagues so they can collaborate more effectively. In a traditional office setting, these connections form naturally through casual conversations, team lunches, or brainstorming sessions. But when your team is spread out across different locations, it’s harder to establish those bonds — and camaraderie is just as crucial for distributed teams as it is for those in a physical office. 

Virtual team building is the solution to this conundrum. By creating opportunities for interaction and collaboration, you help your remote employees connect meaningfully. As a result, they feel more engaged and motivated to work together, which makes your company more productive as a whole.

The 24 best virtual team building activities

When it comes to distributed team building, choosing the right activities can make all the difference. The goal is to pick activities that encourage connection, communication, and, of course, a little fun. 

But not all team building games work for every group. For example, some teams might thrive in a friendly competition, while others may prefer a more relaxed activity. To help you find the perfect fit, here are 24 options to choose from for your next team meeting. These activities are organized by how long they take, so you can easily select one that fits your team’s schedule — whether you’ve got 10 minutes or a full hour to work with.

Quick activities (5-20 minutes)

Icebreaker questions are a classic way to get your team talking and laughing. But if you’re running out of ideas for icebreakers, try some of these activities:

1. Native language vocabulary

If your team is distributed globally, this is a great way for everyone to celebrate and learn from each other’s cultures. Each team member says a word or phrase in their native language, and those who don’t speak that language try to guess its meaning. To double the fun, use Otter to capture everyone’s guesses and add another layer of amusement when the meaning is revealed.

2. Around the world in 80 seconds

This game is another way to celebrate diverse cultures. Have each team member share a fun fact, tradition, or personal story from their home city or country. The twist is that they only have 80 seconds to share their tidbit, which keeps things fast-paced and exciting.

3. Favorite things quiz

This activity requires the meeting facilitator to do a little homework first, but it’s well worth the effort. Before the meeting, ask everyone about their favorite things — their go-to comfort food, guilty pleasure TV shows, and so on. Then, have the group guess which answers belong to whom. It’s a simple way to help teammates learn more about each other’s personalities and interests.

4. Would you rather

Another fun way to help your team get to know each other is with a round of “Would You Rather?” Pose fun, thought-provoking questions like, “Would you rather always be 10 minutes late or 20 minutes early?”

5. Virtual background competition

For this game, everyone chooses a creative virtual background — the more surprising, the better. Then, the team votes on the best one (often the one that gets the most laughs). You can set a theme, like “dream vacation,” “sci-fi adventure,” or “throwback nostalgia” to add an extra challenge.

6. Trivia competition

Host a short round of trivia. A little friendly competition encourages teamwork, problem-solving, and engagement while keeping the mood light and entertaining. Make sure to ask a variety of questions so everyone has a fair shot at winning, and for extra motivation, offer a fun prize (or even just bragging rights) to the winner.

7. Read my lips

In this game, one person mutes themselves and says a short phrase while others try to guess what they’re saying by reading their lips. This adds humor to meetings — and as a bonus, it strengthens communication skills in an entertaining way.

8. Highlights and lowlights

Want to foster empathy and emotional support? Have each member share a recent highlight and lowlight from their work or personal life. This is a great way to encourage open communication within the team.

9. Emoji check-in

Put a new spin on traditional check-in questions: Have your team drop an emoji that represents how they’re feeling today in the meeting chat or on Slack. Then, take a moment to discuss some of the responses. It’s a quick way to gauge team morale, and you might find yourselves astounded by some people’s ability to use emojis creatively.

10. Meme contest

Ask team members to submit the best meme they’ve seen this week (or even create their own). Share them during a meeting, then have everyone vote for the funniest or most relatable one. There’s no better way to connect than over a shared sense of humor!

11. Two-minute life story

In this activity, participants must tell their life stories in just two minutes. This strengthens people’s personal connections and storytelling skills while giving teammates insight into each other’s backgrounds.

12. Photo caption challenge

Get your team’s creativity flowing with a quick photo caption contest. Share a funny or unusual image — pictures of pets are always a safe bet — and have everyone submit their best caption. Then, vote on the most clever or hilarious one.

13. Name that tune

Want to boost your team’s energy before a long meeting? Play a short clip of an upbeat song and see who can guess the title and artist the fastest. Races (even mental races!) always get the blood pumping.

Mid-length activities (20-40 minutes)

Got a little more time to fill? Try one of these longer team building activities:

14. 2 truths and 1 lie

This classic icebreaker is a fun way to learn more about your teammates. Each person shares two truths and one lie about themselves, and the rest of the team has to guess which statement is the lie. It’s effective because it gets people talking about their experiences in a relaxed, humorous way.

15. Charades

Charades is a classic favorite for good reason, and you don’t have to be in person to play it. Choose a category, like movies or animals, and have team members act out the clues while others try to guess what they’re miming. Don’t hesitate to get creative — the more exaggerated the gestures, the bigger the laughs.

16. Remote scavenger hunt

Send your team on a scavenger hunt to find certain items around their home office. Set a time limit, and whoever finds the most items wins. This activity is fun because it gets people moving around and sharing little pieces of their personal workspaces.

17. Virtual office tour

An alternative to the remote scavenger hunt is the virtual office tour. Have team members give everyone a sneak peek of their workspace. It’s a great way to bond over shared setups, design preferences, and maybe even a little home office envy.

18. Show and tell

Remember this game from elementary school? Bring a little nostalgia to your meeting by having everyone share something meaningful to them — like a favorite book or a quirky memento. This gives teammates a glimpse into each other’s personal lives, building a closer team dynamic.

19. Pictionary

Break out your drawing skills for a game of Pictionary. One person draws a picture representing a word or phrase, and their team guesses what it is. Boost creativity and share a few laughs.

20. Story chain

In this game, you start a story with one sentence and have each team member add a sentence to continue. The result is a hilarious, unpredictable story that reflects the creativity and humor of your team.

Long activities (40+ minutes)

If you want to dedicate even more time to team building, here are a few options:

21. Virtual happy hour

Want to unwind with your team after a busy week? Virtual happy hours give everyone the chance to relax and chat about something besides work. Whether you’re sipping coffee or something stronger, it’s a great way to get to know each other in a laid-back setting.

22. Online Bingo

Take your team on a nostalgic ride with online Bingo. Customize the game with quirky work-related prompts and see who can fill their card first. To make things a bit more interesting, offer a fun prize for the winner — like a gift card or company merch.

23. Talent show

Hosting a virtual talent show allows your team to express their creativity and appreciate each other’s impressive skills. It also encourages everyone to step outside their comfort zones, which enhances bonding. From singing to magic tricks and stand-up comedy, the possibilities are endless.

24. Whodunnit?

Put your team’s detective skills to the test with a virtual game of Whodunnit. Everyone becomes a character in a mystery story, working together to solve a fictional crime. (You can make the crime as work-friendly as you want, of course — for example, pretend that someone stole a cookie from the virtual cookie jar.) This activity is perfect for sparking collaborative, creative problem-solving.

Foster even more collaboration with Otter.ai

Don’t let the fun stop when your meeting ends. Otter can take notes on your team building exercises so you can continue to share laughs and insights into each other’s lives. 

Otter also helps your team collaborate by transcribing and summarizing meetings. It’s the first AI meeting agent that auto-joins, auto-shares, and auto-summarizes meetings. Otter can also participate live in meetings and draft custom content like follow-up emails, saving professionals and teams an average of 4 hours a week and increasing productivity by automatically generating action items, summaries, and follow-up emails. Try Otter today!