56 Fun Virtual Icebreaker Ideas and Games For 2025

Ice breakers can set the tone for the meeting, promoting a participatory culture. When individuals have an opportunity to contribute right at the beginning, they are more likely to stay involved throughout the meeting. This can lead to more fruitful discussions and better decision-making. Fellow is the only all-in-one AI meeting transcription and management software for remote and hybrid organizations.

Effective Icebreakers for Virtual Meetings

• Start this virtual icebreaker by inviting your team to an online whiteboard and draw a line resembling the ups and downs of a rollercoaster.
• Long walks at a local park are a low-impact way for members of all fitness levels to socialize, brainstorm, and improve cardiovascular health at once.
• The most interesting conversations that arise from this game are often about discussing the two truths that came up, rather than simply finding out if we’re right or wrong.
• Virtual icebreakers can be particularly helpful for new team members who may feel isolated or disconnected in a virtual setting.
• Instead of stating two truths and one lie in the first person, have your team members do it for a co-worker.

In Who are You, break the ice in a virtual meeting by inviting participants to imagine themselves as members of a pirate crew! Start by sharing the image of the crew of a pirate ship and ask each person to choose who they most identify with. Then ask everyone to share, either in the chat, verbally on in breakout groups. The Desert Island is an effective virtual icebreaker that allows your team to demonstrate their problem solving and collaboration skills. This icebreaker poses that age-old question of what we would do if stuck on a desert island while asking your team to think about what they would need to survive. Virtual icebreakers can be an effective method of kicking off a project, onboarding a new team member or enlivening your team meetings.

Quick Virtual Icebreaker Games

As your group story continues, it will get more ridiculous and laughable. It’s an easy way to help everyone have fun because there are no stakes or rules. There are numerous websites where you can make a poll and get a private link for it. Your coworkers could answer the survey in real-time during a meeting or before a conference call. Create your next session in minutes (not hours) with SessionLab.

• If your large team has many international members, using “Teambuilding on the map” is a great way to get conversations flowing.
• They need to share how they’re feeling by picking a movie title.
• In Who are You, break the ice in a virtual meeting by inviting participants to imagine themselves as members of a pirate crew!
• These are great rapid-fire questions to energize your participants and kick-start a conversation.
• How many times do you think great work goes unrecognized in the office?

The Office Manager then chooses another person to take their place, and a new round begins. In the first experiment, study participants took part in both a 50-minute videoconference and face-to-face meeting while wearing EEG and ECG devices. When team members are more comfortable sharing ideas and feedback, everything from productivity to employee retention improves. This freshly brewed variation on the classic virtual coffee break aims to find out. If you never agree on which is the best, great—that means you’ll have to keep looking.

This is a classic icebreaker that can easily be played virtually. To play, each person will share three things about themselves, two of which are true and one of which is a lie. Everyone else in the group then has to try to guess which of the three things is the lie. Tailor your questions and activities based on your audience and the nature of your online meeting. For anyone who finds it tricky to know when to jump into a conversation, especially in virtual meetings where social cues are harder to read, polls are a great solution. They give everyone a voice without the pressure of speaking up.

In the Four Quadrants activity fun game, each team member is given space for drawing the answers to four questions you’ll ask. You can run this using a virtual whiteboard or by asking participants to draw on paper and share their completed image with the whole team. If you have time, ask for a few people to share a story behind their shoes or even get people in breakouts to discuss in small groups.

Don’t laugh

Consider using dedicated software or a virtual event platform to manage your online meetings and take full advantage of these features. They’ll help keep your audience engaged and make your meetings run smoothly. Encourage everyone to turn their webcams on to humanize the experience. Seeing each other’s faces makes the virtual meeting feel more like an in-person gathering, which boosts engagement and participation. Long online meetings can take a toll on our bodies, especially our backs. Incorporating quick stretch breaks is a great way to alleviate discomfort and break the tension.

What are some online platforms for playing board games with my remote team?

They’re useful for getting team members to think on their feet and collaborate under a bit of friendly pressure. You can make this a recurring monthly activity by creating and encouraging the use of a shared gratuity journal. Have them write down just one or two things they’re grateful for, big or small. It might be their supportive coworker, their family or pets, or icebreakers for virtual meetings even the smell of coffee on their desk.

Coworker-led creative workshops let team members share their special interests while teaching their colleagues something new. Hiking, canoeing, or rafting demands teamwork, communication, and trust. Indoor rock climbing can challenge less outdoorsy people in a more controlled, safe environment.

Simple questions allow you to discover fun, silly or even interesting facts about people. Garden club can have remote team members spending more of their off time outside, or at least learning how to keep a houseplant alive. Bonds happen when they share progress photos, exchange tips, and learn more about different types of plants. It sounds too easy, but those familiar with AMAs know that it’s infamous for uncovering fascinating niche topics and anecdotes. The larger plans and activities are worth it, but the small habits that become part of your company culture count for a lot. If your virtual happy hours have been a bit awkward or boring, add trivia.

There are countless trivia games to choose from, like “Virtual Jeopardy,” “Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Make it into a quick 5-minute game at the start of an icebreaking session and keep tally on winning guesses. You’ll be bringing people together in a fun way and encouraging them to use their emoji-nation. Pick a category like “your pet,” “the view from your window,” or “something that brightened your day.” Ask each attendee to share their photo right at the start of your virtual meeting.

This ice breaker is not only fun but also tests your team’s creativity and interpretative skills. Remember the good old days of school when everyone looked forward to show-and-tell sessions? Ask your team members to bring an object that tells a story or holds significance for them and have them share its story. This activity can reveal fascinating insights about each individual and foster a deeper understanding among team members. If you’re using your icebreaker time for brainstorming, make sure to document the answers to use them later. Another perk of Fellow’s AI meeting assistant are the meeting summaries that automatically record the meeting and key points for efficient knowledge sharing.

You’re encouraging them to open up and potentially be seen in a new light. Unleash the inner detectives in your teams with an icebreaker session dedicated to a murder mystery. Someone in the “team” has met a fictional demise, and it’s up to everyone to find out who’s the guilty culprit. Jazz up the mystery with clues, riddles and fake accents, and they’re in for an icebreaking treat.