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Human Resource Development
Use these activities to promote social connection, engagement, and wellness in a remote workplace. These Zoom-friendly activities are designed to improve trust, inclusion, and comradery among staff.

Family Feud Online

Guess Who



Heads Up!

Locate the Lair

Name That Tune

Pictionary

Scattergories

Show and Tell



Something in Common



Virtual Meditation

Where Am I?

Online Activities

  • It doesn't get any easier than Bingo. You can use a website like My Free Bingo Cards to play a traditional game with a virtual caller, or you can play a custom Bingo game that revolves around a movie or hobby your group likes. You could even offer small prizes for Bingo winners.

    Watch the How To Play Virtual Bingo video at https://myfreebingocards.com/virtual-bingo.
  • Nominate one person to be the speaker and the rest are artists. The speaker uses a random image generator you can find online to source a suitable image, and the goal is to describe that image in such a way that the artists can draw it successfully. The one guideline that makes this task challenging is that the speaker must only use geometric shapes. For example, you could say "draw a large circle and then three equidistant triangles" but not "write the letter E."
  • Charades is a basic game that translates easily to Zoom. Split your group into two teams and use a charades idea generator to choose your words and phrases. The person who's acting out the charade uses the Zoom "spotlight" feature, and their team has one minute to figure out the phrase.

  • Go to Codenames online and select the ‘CREATE ROOM’ button. Next, send the given URL to your guests. Decide who will be the Spymaster and who will be Field Operatives for each team. The game will automatically decide which team begins first. The Spymaster chooses one word that can relate to either one or more codenames in the grid. Type the chosen word and the number of cards within the grid it can match with. This number indicates the number of guesses your team has within their turn (i.e. if you have a card that says “marriage,” and you have two cards that relate to marriage you could say “Ring, 2”). Teammates can then use their Zoom windows to discuss which words they think match the given codename. The round is over and passed to the next team if the other team incorrectly guesses any of their words. The game is complete once one team has correctly guessed all of their team’s words on the grid.

  • Come together as a team as you create origami together.
  • Work together on a puzzle in real-time from the comfort of everyone's home offices. Tons of different multi-player puzzle designs to choose from here!
  • Create a list of 10 different items for players to find in their house in under 3 minutes. Have whoever found the most items or all 10 show their items to the group to confirm their victory! You can also create small teams and the first team to find the list wins. Examples of list items include something red, a dictionary, something shiny, a piece of fruit, or something that's alive.
  • For round one, your team must decide on whether the world is going to keep pancakes or waffles, and the other is to be obliterated from existence. Anyone can advocate for a favorite choice, and ultimately you must have a vote of majority to make the decision. After one of the delicious breakfast foods is eliminated, you add a new competitor. For example, the game may become Waffles vs Pumpkins, and then Waffles vs Puppies, and then Puppies vs Kittens, and then Kittens vs Romantic Relationships, and similar. Typically, the longer you play, the more intense the conversation gets, and the more team members will share their values. The game mechanics are helpful for virtual team building because the initial conversation of Pancakes vs Waffles is low stakes, and it only gradually becomes more personal as you get to later stages.
  • Learn teamwork as you create art together. Create Google doc and add a code to the sheet that will automatically replace numbers with a color fill for that cell. You can then use these colored cells to "paint the numbers" and create pictures of animals, landscapes and similar. For virtual team building activities, you can do a short-term or long-term competition to see who on your team produces the best work of art.

    Pixel Art Example

  • Doing Polls can be a fun way to increase engagement and get to know one another. Polls can also work as an icebreaker or conversation starter at the beginning of a meeting. Whoever scheduled the meeting/the host can create multiple choice questions before the meeting in their zoom settings and easily launch them anytime during the Zoom. Here are 20 of the best poll ideas!

  • The person who is “it” mutes their microphone and repeats a short phrase. Other participants try to read their lips and guess what is being said. The first person to correctly guess the phrase wins! Phrase examples: April shower brings May flowers, Sorry to burst your bubble, Piece of cake.

  • It can be a challenge to create the same dish such as pasta or leave it open to each anything
  • Work together to match the correct Capital to each of the 50 States before the time runs out. Play here.
  • Take a few minutes to bring your department together for a daily stretch break. Faculty and staff will be able to take time to get their muscles moving, increase their energy, and improve their posture. This can be at any time throughout the day and can involve any type of stretching! You can make it fun by asking getting to know you questions while you stretch or having everyone share their favorite type of stretch.

    *Stuck on what kind of stretches to do? Invite one of the Wellness Coordinators to come and give a presentation all about stretching!
  • The Caption Game is one of the most creative interactive Zoom games.
    To play:
    1. Create a Google Form consisting of random pictures and a field below each for players to write a caption. 
    2. Drop the link to the form into the chat. 
    3. Give players three to five minutes to fill out the form. 
    4. Share your screen to show the pictures while reading the captions out loud. 
    5. Ask players to vote on the best caption for each photo. 
    Teams can play in breakout rooms and come up with captions together. Or, if your group is small, then you can play as individuals.
  • An individual called “The Post” picks something to be. Everyone else starts asking questions the first being, “Is it more like a tree or Bob Ross?” If the answer is tree then the next questions is, “Is it more like a tree or ____?” Until you guess it correctly.
  • To play trivia on Zoom, open this random trivia generator and start asking questions. Have each person send their answer in the Zoom chat at the same time. Random quizzes can be generated in six different categories. You could also create a Kahoot game for Trivia that players can join with the game code and compete.
  • Challenge your team by having a typing speed race.
  • This game is similar to Scattegories in that you must name items within a category, however, with 5-Second Rule, you don’t have to use just one letter. One person calls out a topic. The person whose turn it is has five seconds—hence the name—to call out at least three items that fit the topic. A few category ideas include farm animals, ice cream flavors, candy bars, Disney movies, shoe brands.

    You can use this 5-second timer on YouTube and screen share to participants- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RTaIpVuTqE.

  • See who on your team can finish the maze first.

    Pre-made Maze

    Make Your Own Maze

Activities

5 Minute Activities
30 Minute Activities
1 Hour Activities
Zoom Activities
1-4 Week Activities