The best team-building activities for small groups focus on connection, collaboration, communication, and cohesion.
With specialised experience and unique qualifications, we’ve spent the last 5 years developing engaging, unique team-building activities.
Our programs and workshops excite and engage while delivering tangible results. If you’re looking for ways to inspire and connect your team, here are 18 of our favourite short team-building activities.
Our Top Small Group Team Building Activities
- 1. The Pathfinders Challenge
- 2. The Ascent
- 3. Championship Teams Workshop
- 4. Circle of Compliments
- 5. Negotiation
- 6. My User Manual
- 7. Add a Sentence
- 8. Welcome to My World
- 9. What’s the News?
- 10. ID Numbers
- 11. Trading Cards
- 12. Similarities and Differences
- 13. 4Ls Retrospective
- 14. Guess That Plot
- 15. Ways of Working
- 16. Team Quiz
- 17. Scavenger Hunt
- 18. Impromptu Speed Networking
1. Pathfinders Optus Stadium
Exciting and immersive, Pathfinders Optus Stadium is part problem-solving, part amazing race.
The group collaborates to tackle five different zones of puzzles, clues, and riddles to unlock the final mystery.
Local history and natural surroundings add depth and interest to this dynamic team-building game.
Group Size: 5 to 500
Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes (15 minute brief, 120 minute game time, 15 minute debrief)
Format: Innovative and engaging outdoor race/puzzle challenge
Focus and Goals:
- Collaboration
- Strategy
- Team unity
- Problem-solving
- Fun
- Conflict-resolution
- Communication
- Connection
- Creativity
2. The Ascent
The Ascent is a unique team-building challenge focused on inclusion, team spirit, and uncovering individual strengths.
This fun, creative challenge is one of our most popular offerings. Designed to engage all ages, the Ascent’s innovative approach is ideal for developing skills that seamlessly translate to the workplace.
Group Size: 5 to 600
Duration: Half day – 2.5 hours (Can be sped up or slowed to accommodate your needs)
Format: Indoor (Ideal for conferences, professional development days, team days, and offsite)
Focus and Goals:
- Discover and highlight the inner strengths of individual team members
- Develop actionable skills
- Foster collaboration
- Enhance work performance
- Promote team culture
- Build lasting memories and team relationships
- Develop new insights with real-world applications
3. Championship Teams Workshop
Championship Teams is a dynamic workshop designed to inspire your group members to push towards becoming a true championship team.
Designed to be energising and inspiring, we like to describe The Championship Teams workshop as “fun with a purpose”.
This scenario-based workshop promotes skills that will seamlessly transfer to the workplace and can be customised to suit your team’s objectives and goals.
Group Size: From as few as five people all the way up to hundreds
Duration: Half-day to full-day
Format: Facilitated indoor session with scenario-based challenges, with the option for some elements to take place outside
Focus and Goals:
- Build trust between colleagues
- Boost team morale
- Nurture team development
- Promote communication
- Define individual roles within the team
- Foster continuous improvement
- Promote collaboration
4. Circle of Compliments
This is one of our favourite team-building activities for many reasons. We’ve found it’s an incredible way to build camaraderie between team members without the need for any equipment or prep work.
This versatile small-group activity fosters appreciation and connection between team members and promotes a positive work environment.
To play, simply have team members sit in a circle. One team member is chosen as the focus of the circle. Each member of the circle takes turns sharing something they admire or appreciate about the ‘focus’ member.
Then, the next ‘focus’ member is chosen as team members again share positive traits or strengths about that person.
Group Size: 2+
Duration: 20 to 30 minutes
Format: Offline, Indoors or Outdoors
Focus and Goals:
- Develop a strong sense of team unity
- Build strong workplace relationships
- Transform team dynamics
- Promote appreciation
- Foster a caring, supportive team culture
- Highlight individual strengths
5. Negotiation
Negotiation (designed by Playmeo) is a no-prop activity that focuses on team cohesion and building consensus within a group. The activity starts by having teams go away to discuss and agree on one physical gesture they’ll perform. Round one begins when all the teams return to the common space and, on “Ready, Set, Go” perform their gestures simultaneously.
The goal is for every person to adopt the same physical gesture in as little rounds as possible. Team members are encouraged to observe others in action. Between rounds, teams can discuss their plan before the next round commences. No communication between teams is allowed.
The activity ends when either everyone has adopted the identical gesture, or eight rounds has been played.
Group Size: 15 – 30 people, evenly spread between 3 to 4 teams.
Duration: 30 – 45 minutes
Format: Offline, Indoors or Outdoors
Focus and Goals:
- Collaboration
- Team unity
- Consensus
- Goal setting
- Creativity
- Communication
6. My User Manual
Borrowed from Atlassian’s Team Playbook, My User Manual helps to create connection and build understanding between team members. Requiring a little prep-work, team members come to the meeting with a ‘user manual’ that captures facts about themselves. Team members can then share their use manuals with the team. It is important to ensure the meeting is set up to encourage a respectful and supportive sharing space, and that team members only share what they’re comfortable sharing.
Some light starter topics could include things like: working days or hours, communication preferences, learning styles, fun facts, conducive working environments etc.
Group Size: 2 to 10
Duration: 30 – 60 minutes (dependent on how many prompts and team members)
Format: Offline, Indoors or Outdoors, or Online
Focus and Goals:
- Build familiarity and connection between team members
- Promote team unity and bonding
- Build communication
- Strengthen team relationships
7. Add a Sentence
For an engaging, lighthearted team activity, try the “Add a Sentence” game. To play, one team member shares one sentence to start a story. The next team member adds the next sentence, and so on.
This activity is creative and fun while fostering desirable workplace skills, such as listening and communication.
Group Size: 4 to 5+
Duration: 20+ minutes
Format: Offline, Indoors or Outdoors
Focus and Goals:
- Creativity
- Team spirit
- Connection
- Communication
- Listening skills
8. Welcome to My World
Not familiar with what another team member does during their day? This game is perfect to connect new and existing team members and help them understand each others roles and responsibilities.
All that is needed is a flip-chart, markers and sticky notes. Have players pair up with someone they may not interact with on a daily basis. In pairs, team members have 5-15 minutes to draw how they see the other their partner’s workflow. When time is up, each partner shares shares and describes their drawing. Then in their pairs they can discuss the reality of their drawings and highlight any similarities, differences or points of note in each others drawings.
It can be a good idea to also invite volunteers to share to the wider group what they drew, and what they discovered during the exercise.
Group Size: 8 – 20
Duration: 30 minutes to 1 hour
Format: Offline, Indoors
Focus and Goals:
- Cultivate connections
- Enhance team cohesion
- Promote communication
- Creativity
9. What’s the News?
What’s the News is a simple game where team members share company news, headlines, or accomplishments.
Example topics to discuss include:
- Recent individual or team accomplishments
- Upcoming projects
- Company changes or news
- Deadlines or goals
Group Size: 2 or more
Duration: 20 to 30+ minutes
Format: Offline, Indoors
Focus and Goals:
- Highlight company values
- Promote team engagement and connection
- Energise team members with excitement for upcoming projects
- Cultivate strong workplace relationships
10. ID Numbers
A short and sweet team building activity to help team members connect and get to know each other through interesting insights.
For this activity, team members write on a palm card their name and a series of numbers and letters that represent interesting facts about themselves.
For example: 1989 – 2S – 10Y could represent a person born in 1989, has 2 siblings, and married for 10 years. Get the team to pin them to their shirts and iInvite everyone to network with each other and engage in conversations around their name tags.
For an expansion, keep the cards have the team add to them at the next meeting!
Group Size: 2+
Duration: 10 – 15 minutes
Format: Offline, Indoors
Focus and Goals:
- Build camaraderie between team members
- Promote team and company culture
- Strengthen relationships
- Foster a positive workplace atmosphere
11. Trading Cards
Trading Cards is a short icebreaker that encourages team members to introduce themselves in new and different ways to their peers. Perfect for any sized group, each team member creates their own personal “trading card” that includes a self-portrait, an interesting fact about themselves, and a nickname for their “player”, which is then presented and shared back to the group.
Materials include pens, small ‘trading card’ sized paper, or palm cards, or if doing this activity online; an online collaboration tool or whiteboard application.
Group Size: 2+
Duration: 10 to 15 minutes
Format: Online or Offline, Indoors or outdoors
Focus and Goals:
- Creativity
- Team unity
- Communication
- Strengthen relationships
- Connection
- Team culture
12. Similarities & Differences
A great exercise for creating connection amongst new teams, small groups set out to discover their connections and differences between each other.
One by one, each team member reveals a characteristic they believe the others in the group share. Team members then raise their hand if they share it. If the characteristic is not shared by everyone, the person tries again until they find a consensus, and that characteristic is written down. After everyone in the group has had a turn, all the groups come together and share what Similarities and Differences they’ve found.
Topics that groups can explore include: places traveled, personality traits, music tastes, things they want to improve, visions for their team etc. The theme can be adjusted according to the purpose of the meeting or the group preferences.
Group Size: 2-5
Duration: 10 – 30 minutes, dependent on the size of group
Format: Offline, Indoors or Outdoors
Focus and Goals:
- Team unity
- Creating connection
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Listening skills
- Creativity
13. 4Ls Retrospective
In the Agile methodology, a retrospective is a review that occurs at the end of a sprint cycle (a short time-boxed period where a team works to complete a set amount of work).
It is a useful tool that can be used to reflect on your project, an activity, or even a meeting and can be a framework to help identify what went well and what could be improved.
In the 4Ls Retrospective, team members reflect on what they “love”, “loathed”, “learned” and “longed” for in a project or an activity. This activity can be done using a whiteboard or large piece of paper. Team members can use sticky notes to capture their thoughts and ideas.
It’s also useful to have an additional column to capture “Actions” that may emerge from the team’s reflections.
Group Size: 2-8
Duration: +30 minutes (set aside longer for groups larger than 8)
Format: Offline
Focus and Goals:
- Build team cohesion
- Foster open communication
- Promote collaboration
- Continuous learning
- Ensure alignment
14. Guess That Plot
Guess That Plot is a fun activity ideal for brand-new team members or long-standing team members alike.
To play, simply choose a team member to narrate the plot of a movie. Their partner or teammates then try to guess the name of the movie or TV show as quickly as possible.
This laid-back, lighthearted game has a great way of putting team members at ease. We love activities like this one that create an atmosphere where participants can relax, open up, and connect with colleagues.
Group Size: 2+ people, broken into pairs or larger groups depending on the total number of participants
Duration: 20 to 30 minutes
Format: Offline, Indoors or Outdoors
Focus and Goals:
- Build a strong rapport between colleagues
- Promote collaboration
- Build team engagement
- Promote a positive, close-knit team culture
15. Ways of Working
Our Ways of Working program delivers easy to use tactical tools to enhance team dynamics through the DiSC model.
Using DiSC profiling and training, get a better understanding of yourself and your teammates that can enhance the level of communication and understanding in your team.
Group Size: 3 – 20
Duration: Half day to Full day, with and additional 1 hour pre-workshop online session
Format: Offline, Indoors or Outdoors
Focus and Goals:
- Building trust
- Connection
- Team unity
- Communication
- Team culture
16. Team Quiz
A team quiz promotes collaboration and highlight’s company history and current news. Build industry knowledge and promote teamwork by creating an interesting company quiz.
Create company-specific riddles, industry-related trivia, and questions that teams of 2 or more must solve together.
Group Size: Team of 2+
Duration: 30 minutes
Format: Offline, Indoors or Outdoors
Focus and Goals:
- Highlight company values
- Encourage team engagement
- Build camaraderie
- Promote a strong team and company culture
- Enhance communication between team members
- Improve problem-solving skills
17. Scavenger Hunt
This popular team-building activity takes a fair amount of prep work and creativity to pull off but the effort is worth it.
Team scavenger hunts are one of the most versatile team-building activities. They can be set indoors or out, designed for specific goals, and filled with riddles, clues, and tasks that require problem-solving skills and teamwork.
Looking for a scavenger hunt that is set up for you? Our Perth City Challenge is the ultimate scavenger hunt-style program.
Designed to promote professional learning outcomes, the Perth City Challenge encourages a healthy dose of friendly competition. The mix of strategy, problem-solving, fun, and time management is ideal for fostering team unity and communication.
Group Size: 5 to 500
Duration: 2 to 4 hours (tailored to your schedule)
Format: Offline, Outdoors
Focus and Goals:
- Tangible improvements in problem-solving skills
- Identify individual strengths among team members
- Real-world applications of skills gained
- Enhanced communication
- Stronger team connections and camaraderie
- Foster positive company memories
- Nurture team unity
18. Impromptu Speed Networking
A perfect opportunity to start, finish or enter back into a meeting after a break, Impromptu Speed Networking is a great activity to engage the small to large teams.
Simply pose a thoughtful question to the group, have team members reflect on it for a minute, and then set 5 minutes aside for participants to pair up and discuss their thoughts. At the end of the timer, have participants find new partners. Three rounds is ideal.
It can be useful to set some time aside at the end to have participants reflect on the process of networking in this way.
Group Size: Unlimited
Duration: 20 minutes
Format: Offline, Indoors or Outdoors
Focus and Goals:
- Strengthen team unity
- Promote collaboration
- Foster engagement
- Communication
Ready to Push Your Team from Good to Great?
The best team-building activities for small groups are dynamic, immersive, and focused on building connection and trust.
We create and deliver results-driven programs, events, and workshops tailored to the unique dynamics of small teams. We customse programs according to your company’s vision, mission, and values to ignite lasting, positive change.
Together, we can help you navigate the complexities of team development with confidence.
Ready to push your team from good to great? Partner with us today and get your free quote and personalised workshop recommendations by contacting our dedicated team building specialists.
