An online team activity should give people a chance to interact in a way their usual meetings rarely allow. That could mean solving a problem together, learning something about a colleague, or taking a welcome break from a demanding week. The right choice depends on your team and what you want the hour to accomplish.
The 12 virtual team building activities below include short exercises you can run yourself and longer sessions you can book with a facilitator. Each comes with a purpose, a simple way to run it, and a consideration that can save you from an awkward call. Some are particularly good for a year-end gathering or a fresh start in January, though teams can use them throughout the year.
Choose the activity your team needs
| Your goal | Good starting point | Time to allow |
|---|---|---|
| Help a new team get acquainted | Teammate trivia or a shared cooking session | 15–60 minutes |
| Improve how colleagues work together | Decision challenge or handoff exercise | 30–60 minutes |
| Bring energy to a distributed team | Trivia, creative workshop, or laughter session | 20–60 minutes |
| Give an overloaded team room to pause | Guided breathing or a team reset | 30–45 minutes |
| Support managers through recurring pressure | Facilitated leadership practice | Several sessions |
| Mark a milestone or start a new year | Cooking, astrology, or a team reset | 30–60 minutes or a recurring program |
These times are planning estimates for choosing a format, not promises about a listed Plentiful experience. Check each experience page for its actual duration, group size, and price.
Activities for connection and energy
1. Teammate trivia
Best for: Colleagues who know each other’s job titles better than they know each other.
Ask everyone to submit one light fact before the event: a place they have lived, a skill they learned outside work, or a song they know by heart. Turn the answers into a multiple-choice quiz. After each reveal, let the person add a brief story if they want to. Keep the questions kind and avoid anything that requires someone to share family, health, or financial information.
Make it work: Use small teams so people talk through their guesses. Ask a facilitator to rotate who speaks; the quickest person on the call should not answer every question. For a hosted version with custom trivia and optional dance breaks, explore Plentiful’s Virtual Team Building Games.
2. Cook the same meal from different kitchens
Best for: A year-end celebration, a team milestone, or a welcoming event for new colleagues.
Send the recipe and shopping list ahead of time. During the call, let a host guide the team through the same dish while colleagues cook in their own kitchens. Build in a moment to show the results, swap small kitchen discoveries, and eat together if schedules allow. A shared task gives people something to talk about without asking them to disclose personal details.
Make it work: Give colleagues enough time to obtain ingredients and ask about allergies, dietary needs, equipment, and reimbursement before the event. Offer an option to watch and join the conversation without cooking. Plentiful’s Butter Masala Cooking Workshop is a 60-minute virtual session with a recipe and ingredient list; the listing says the host can adapt the dish for vegan and allergy-related needs. Confirm those arrangements with the host for your group.
3. Explore birth charts as a conversation starter
Best for: A team that enjoys astrology and wants an unusual, lighthearted group event.
An astrologer can introduce the symbols in a birth chart and invite colleagues to discuss what resonates with them. The session gives a group a new set of prompts for conversation at a year-end gathering or early-year get-together. Treat the interpretations as a personal, optional experience. A birth chart does not establish someone’s abilities, personality, or suitability for a role.
Make it work: Ask the team whether they would enjoy this format before booking. Plentiful’s Astrology Workshop for Team Building Events is a 60-minute virtual session for 4 to 50 people. The host’s listing says she requests each participant’s birth date, birth time, and birth location in advance. Check with the host how those details will be collected, used, and handled; give colleagues a genuine choice about sharing them. Do not use the session to assess colleagues or assign work.
4. A creative session with something to take away
Best for: Teams that want to make something together without needing an artistic background.
Try a shared drawing prompt, a six-line story written in turns, or a simple card-making session. Give the group enough structure to begin, then leave room for individual interpretation. The finished object gives people something concrete to discuss, even when they work in different disciplines.
Make it work: Tell participants about any materials in advance and offer a digital alternative. Plentiful’s Create a Greeting Card with Doodle Art is a live virtual group workshop if you would rather have an artist guide the session.
5. Laughter As A Tool: a short, facilitated team session
Best for: An energetic ending to a year-end meeting, a quarterly review, or a team celebration.
Give people permission to step away from a slide deck. A host can lead group laughter exercises with a clear beginning and end, letting colleagues share an experience that does not depend on knowing company trivia or speaking about their private lives. Tell the group what to expect so the unusual format feels like an invitation.
Make it work: Leave room for people to observe or participate at their own pace. Fall In Laugh offers two virtual formats: Laughter As A Tool is a 30-minute group session for a short shared activity, while Laughter As An Ally is a 60-minute workshop with more time for exercises and discussion about using laughter in everyday situations. Choose the shorter or longer format to suit your gathering. Neither replaces action on an unsustainable workload.
Activities for collaboration and communication
6. A decision challenge with incomplete information
Best for: Teams that need to make decisions across functions.
Give each group a realistic scenario: a customer problem, an unexpected budget cut, or a project that must launch a week early. Assign each person one piece of useful information. Allow ten minutes to ask questions and choose a course of action, then five minutes to explain the choice.
Make it work: Discuss the process after the decision. Who had information the group did not request? Who noticed an assumption? What would the group do differently in a real meeting? Keep the scenario fictional if actual tensions could put someone on the spot.
7. A better handoff exercise
Best for: Teams whose work passes between departments, time zones, or shifts.
Give pairs a sample task. Person A has three minutes to write a handoff message containing the objective, deadline, owner, work completed, open question, and next action. Person B reads it without asking for context, then identifies what they would still need to know. Swap roles and try again.
Make it work: Turn the exercise into a short shared handoff template the team can use next week. A fun call has limited value if the underlying handoffs stay confusing.
8. An assumption swap
Best for: Colleagues who collaborate frequently but interpret the same request differently.
Present a common workplace phrase such as “Please send this by end of day” or “Let’s get feedback before launch.” Ask people to write what they think it means: which time zone, whose feedback, what form of approval, and who makes the final call. Compare answers in pairs before the full group discusses them.
Make it work: Pick an example with little personal blame. Finish by rewriting the request so it has an owner and a clear next action. The exercise gives people a practical way to catch misunderstandings before they delay a project.
9. A team working-agreement workshop
Best for: A newly formed team, a hybrid team, or a group whose routines have grown frustrating.
Ask each person to write one thing that helps them contribute and one recurring friction point. Group similar answers. Then agree on a few behaviors the team can test: when to use chat instead of a meeting, how long a decision stays open, or how to flag a blocked task. Write down the agreements and name a date to review them.
Make it work: Invite examples but avoid turning the session into a public complaint about specific colleagues. A manager should participate and commit to the same agreements. Google’s research on team effectiveness identifies psychological safety, dependability, and clarity among the dynamics associated with effective teams in its own organization. A single workshop cannot create those conditions by itself, but the agreements give a team something specific to practice.
10. A values-to-decisions exercise
Best for: A team with stated values that rarely appear in day-to-day choices.
Select one real value, such as candor or customer care. Present a plausible trade-off: the team can meet a deadline by skipping customer interviews, or it can delay the launch to hear from users. Ask small groups to make a choice and explain what the value requires in this case. Compare where interpretations differ.
Make it work: Close with a decision rule the team could use again. “We ask three customers before changing this workflow” is more useful than “We value listening.”
Activities for recovery and ongoing support
11. A guided team reset
Best for: Teams that want a pause during a demanding period and practical ways to manage pressure during the day.
Ask a trained facilitator to lead an accessible breathing or attention exercise, then give participants time to notice what helps them regain focus. Participation in personal discussion should be optional. Give people a quiet way to step out, and avoid promising that one session will fix burnout or an overloaded workload.
Make it work: If your team would benefit from a recurring practice, Plentiful’s Monthly Team Reset includes six live, 45-minute virtual sessions over six months for groups of 10 to 50. January can be a natural time to start, though the program is useful whenever a team needs room to pause. It has a different purpose from a one-time social event, so set expectations accordingly.
12. Facilitated leadership practice
Best for: Managers who need to respond well when conversations or decisions become difficult.
Give managers a familiar situation, such as a missed deadline, a disagreement between colleagues, or a team member who has gone quiet. Let them practice how they would open the conversation, ask a question, and make the next step clear. A skilled facilitator can help the group examine choices without turning the exercise into a performance test.
Make it work: Practice over several sessions when the aim is to change daily habits. Plentiful’s Leadership Presence Intensive runs four virtual sessions over two months for 5 to 12 managers. An early-year launch can help managers put new habits to work, while a midyear start can address pressure as it arises.
Compare six hosted experiences
| Experience | What your team will do | Format | A useful occasion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laughter As A Tool | Take part in guided group laughter exercises | One 30-minute virtual session | An energetic close to a year-end gathering |
| Laughter As An Ally | Try laughter exercises and discuss their everyday use | One 60-minute virtual workshop | A longer gathering with time to reflect |
| Astrology Workshop for Team Building Events | Explore birth charts and talk about the interpretations | One 60-minute virtual session; 4–50 participants | A playful gathering for an interested team; birth details are requested in advance |
| Butter Masala Cooking Workshop | Cook a dish together with a host | One 60-minute virtual session | A shared celebration; ingredients and dietary needs require planning |
| Leadership Presence Intensive | Practice ways to handle demanding moments at work | Four virtual sessions over two months; 5–12 managers | A new-year leadership development plan |
| Monthly Team Reset | Learn and revisit breathwork and stress management practices | Six virtual sessions over six months; 10–50 participants | A recurring pause during a busy season |
These are different sorts of gatherings. Choose one of the first four when the group needs a shared occasion; consider the longer programs when the goal calls for practice over time. Check each live listing for price and availability before inviting colleagues.
Plan for year-end and the start of the year
At year-end, make space for appreciation. A celebration should let people enjoy one another’s company. Cook a meal together, play custom trivia, or end a demanding review with a short laughter session. Keep recognition specific and voluntary: invite people to name a contribution they appreciated, without asking every colleague to make a speech. Send ingredients and event details well before holiday schedules fill up.
At the start of the year, make the next step clear. Run a working-agreement exercise if your team needs better ways to communicate. Choose a facilitated leadership program when managers need practice with difficult moments. If people are coming back to a heavy workload, a Monthly Team Reset can establish a recurring pause. Avoid turning the first team gathering into a list of ambitious promises that no one has time to keep.
During the rest of the year, respond to what has changed. A new hire may make teammate trivia useful in May. A difficult cross-functional launch may call for the handoff exercise in August. The calendar can give you a reason to gather, but the team’s situation should determine what you do together.
How to choose the right virtual team activity
Start with one sentence: “After this session, I want our team to ____.” “Know two newer colleagues better” suggests trivia or show-and-tell. “Write clearer handoffs” suggests a practice exercise. “Have space to pause each month” points toward an ongoing program. A single activity can make a useful opening; it should not carry the burden of fixing a structural team problem.
Then check the practical details:
- Group size: A conversation with eight people needs a different format from a company event with 80. Use breakout rooms if everyone should contribute.
- Time zones: Choose a reasonable meeting time, or rotate inconvenient times across a recurring series. Send any preparatory prompt early.
- Access: Offer a way to participate without video, movement, or speaking to the full group. For video-based sessions, ask about captions; the W3C’s guidance on captions explains why captions matter for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
- Preparation: Tell people what they need and whether sharing a personal story is optional. Keep the request small.
- Facilitation: Decide who watches the clock, explains the rules, includes quieter voices, and handles technical problems.
- Follow-through: If you practiced a work habit, agree who will try it and when you will revisit it.
A simple 45-minute plan: Spend five minutes explaining the goal and giving people a choice of ways to participate. Use 25 minutes for the activity, ten for small-group discussion, and five to decide what happens next. For a purely social event, the last five minutes can simply be for thanks and a good ending.
What to check before you book a facilitator
Ask what participants will actually do, how the session changes for your group size, and whether colleagues can join with cameras off. Confirm whether the facilitator supplies the video link, what preparation is required, what a session costs for your group, and how rescheduling works. A cooking event needs an ingredient plan; an astrology event needs a clear, voluntary process for handling birth information. For a multi-session program, ask how the later sessions build on the first.
Plentiful’s team building experiences include games, cooking and creative workshops, wellbeing sessions, and programs for managers. Check the details on each listing before you book. If you need help matching an experience to your team, use the enquiry form on the team building page.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good virtual team building activity for a small group?
For a group of five to ten, try teammate trivia, an assumption swap, or a short decision challenge. Everyone can contribute without much setup. Pick one goal and leave time for people to discuss what happened.
What works for a large remote team?
Use small breakout rooms with a clear prompt and a short report-back. A hosted trivia or creative session can work well when someone needs to manage the pace and technology. Check the listed group limits with the facilitator before booking.
How can I avoid making participation feel forced?
Tell colleagues what the activity involves in advance. Offer choices about camera use, movement, and personal sharing. Use prompts about objects or work experiences when a group does not know each other well. Invite people to pass on a question without explaining why.
Can a virtual game improve teamwork?
A game can give colleagues a pleasant shared experience and reveal how they communicate. Lasting changes in handoffs, trust, or decision-making require attention in everyday work too. If you want the activity to develop a work habit, name that habit and decide how the team will practice it afterward.
How often should a remote team hold a team building session?
There is no universal schedule. A new team might benefit from a few short sessions early on. An established team may prefer occasional social events and a regular review of how it works together. Ask the team what feels useful and adjust the frequency.
What is a good virtual team building activity for year-end?
Choose a format that gives colleagues time together without making the event another performance review. A cooking class, a trivia session built around the team, or a short facilitated laughter session can suit a celebration. Ask about schedules, ingredients, and access needs early enough for people to plan.
What should we do at the start of a new year?
Start with the change your team needs. Use a working-agreement workshop for clearer collaboration, a recurring reset during a demanding stretch, or leadership practice for managers facing new responsibilities. A playful event can also welcome colleagues back; the new-year date does not require every gathering to become a planning session.
Bring your team together
The right activity fits the people in the room and the problem you want to solve. Browse Plentiful’s team building experiences to compare formats and find a session your team would welcome.
