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Indoor, remote, outdoor, hybrid, and more.
It’s important to adapt to the needs of your team in order to provide them with all the benefits related to team building games for indoor events.
For instance, small and medium-sized in-office teams and virtual teams are better suited to enjoy the benefits of engaging in fun activities for employees indoors.
Let’s unravel and discover the potential of these fun and captivating 15 indoor team building activities for small groups right away.
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What Are the Benefits of Indoor Team Building Games?
Team building games and indoor activities train team collaboration skills, improve team bonding, boost the development of communication skills, and power the creative problem-solving abilities of work teams.
One of the main advantages of indoor team games and activities is the fact that, in most cases, this type of team building event fits both in-office and remote teams alike.
Oftentimes, work teams are happier when they work remotely (according to Buffer), but research shows that remote workers often struggle to collaborate properly with other team members.
Therefore, the implementation of great indoor team building events that can be played indoors helps in-office, remote, and other teams to feel happier inside work environments.
How to Choose an Indoor Team Building Activity: 3 Tips
It’s important to think about the purpose of the indoor team building ideas before choosing one of them.
On top of that, there are three things we should consider before choosing team building games and indoor activities.
1. Consider the Duration of the Activity
Some indoor team activities are short, and some others will take you up to three hours.
Make sure to check your team’s schedule, and if there’s something that might interfere with the activity (such as a team meeting, for example), choose other team building games and indoor activities that take less time.
2. See if the Indoor Activity Fits Your Whole Team
Not all indoor team building activities for small groups will fit right into your entire team.
Some groups will prefer to play a fun game that does not require much physical effort, whereas other groups will be happier if they do indoor dancing lessons, for example.
Balancing your team’s needs is key to choosing team building games and indoor activities that fit them all.
3. Check the Materials, Planning, and Organization Required to Perform the Activity
Some indoor team building activities require more materials and planning than others.
In order to enjoy the benefits of indoor team building ideas (such as improving problem-solving skills, creative thinking, and team spirit), it’s vital to plan ahead and ensure the adequate performance of the team building games and indoor activities chosen by you.
15 Best Indoor Team Building Activities
Managing and guiding a small in-person or remote team to success is not an easy task, mostly if their jobs require them to be constantly focused.
Therefore, let’s check the 15 best indoor team building activities for small groups to encourage participants to strengthen their trust, bonds, and relationships.
1. Game Show
Ready for a game show challenge like no other? Our Game Show is here to save the day.
In “Game Show,” teams will split up to answer general knowledge questions and demonstrate their capabilities.
Game Show is a game suited for teams if you are looking for something interesting to keep your team members engaged.
- Best For: all group sizes (in-person).
- Average Duration: from 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Materials Needed: Teamland’s Game Show software includes everything you need to start playing, such as a game tailored to your team, an expert host ready to assist you and projector slides.
- How to Play: a wide number of questions will be asked to team members. The survey questions are popular and common knowledge about topics such as history, sports, and music. The team with the most points wins the game show!
2. Team Meal or Cooking Class
Team meals are great indoor team building events because everyone works together to achieve a single goal: have a delicious meal with all other team members.
Try to go one step beyond and forget about traditional recipes - let’s embrace food from other cultures and countries.
- Best For: small and medium-sized in-office teams.
- Average Duration: from 1 to 2 hours.
- Materials Needed: choose a recipe to follow and gather the ingredients required to cook it. The whole group need to collaborate by bringing ingredients and cooking materials.
- How to Play: set the perfect time to prepare the team meal and start cooking with all the group members. There is no competition here - it’s all about having fun.
3. Board Game Contest
There are tens of different indoor team building games that team members can play indoors. You might go for a classic game of chess, or solve puzzles together alongside the entire team.
In this case, it’s better to previously agree on a single board game that the entire group likes.
- Best For: in-door small groups.
- Average Duration: from 45 minutes to 1 and a half hours.
- Materials Needed: a board game.
- How to Play: organize each team member based on the board game’s rules and start playing.
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4. Indoor Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger hunts are fun activities for employees indoors. Some teams create their own rules for Scavenger Hunts, and this certainly helps to improve team bonding.
This game can be played inside medium-sized parts of offices, such as the conference room.
- Best For: medium and smaller teams.
- Average Duration: between 1 and 2 hours.
- Materials Needed: set up the rules of the Scavenger Hunt.
- How to Play: divide participants into two teams and make them follow the rules of the game. For example, they might be asked to retrieve certain office objects or complete small tasks, such as drawing the company’s logo or describing another team’s space.
5. Memory Wall
Sometimes, work environments are so fast-paced that team members forget iconic moments that they have lived inside their workplace.
Memory Wall is a game that boosts creativity and strengthens team bonding, and it can be quickly played without a lot of planning.
- Best For: all team sizes.
- Average Duration: from 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Materials Needed: a piece of paper or a place to write a fun memory.
- How to Play: ask participants to write down their favorite or most iconic in-office moments. It can be the funniest office moment or any other thing - then, ask them to say this memory out loud.
6. Charades
Playing charades is always fun, easy to do, and will keep teams of all sizes entertained.
Choose a topic that your team likes, such as music band names or inside jokes in the office, and let other participants guess the word.
- Best For: small in-office and remote groups.
- Average Duration: from 1 hour to 2 hours.
- Materials Needed: imagination and a list of acceptable words to play.
- How to Play: set the topic of the charades game, and split team members into small groups. The first team to guess the word earns one point, and the team to miss the word earns half a point (or nothing, depending on the rules set by you).
7. Human Chess
Why would we play classic old chess when we can play human chess?
In this game, team members will act as the chess pieces and will move along independently. Human chess requires communication and coordination in order not to fail.
- Best For: medium-sized and large in-office groups.
- Average Duration: from 1 to 2 hours.
- Materials Needed: there are no materials needed, but the experience can be improved by having hats or pieces of clothing to differentiate the “chess pieces.”
- How to Play: divide your team into two groups and assign them the role of a piece of chess. This game shall be played inside a large room, so consider this before choosing this indoor team building activity.
8. Indoor Carnival Games
Popular carnival indoor team building games are really fun and can be played indoors, provided that the office or workplace has enough space inside.
Some of the most popular carnival games are ring-toss, giant Jenga, spin the wheel, and three-legged race.
- Best For: small and medium-sized in-office teams.
- Average Duration: from 1 to 3 hours.
- Materials Needed: materials vary depending on the carnival indoor team games you decide to play.
- How to Play: select a set of carnival games that can be played indoors and follow the classic rules of these games. Usually, you should set a time limit to properly determine winners and runners-up.
9. Terrarium Making Workshop
Indoor gardens bring peace and serenity to the office, and experiencing a terrarium-making workshop with your teams will surely provide them with the relaxing time they seek.
Creating small terrariums is a great indoor team building activity that does not take much time, and everyone can perform.
- Best For: all group sizes.
- Average Duration: from 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Materials Needed: plants, plant pots, and all the instruments and tools required to create an in-office terrarium.
- How to Play: learn how to create a terrarium or hire professionals to guide you through the terrarium creation process.
10. Online Gaming Session
Online gaming never gets old, and there are many interesting video indoor team building games that you can choose to engage your remote, or even in-person team, in a friendly competition.
For instance, you could choose a classic video game, such as Mario Kart. There are no boundaries when it comes to online gaming sessions, and participants will most likely have a great time together.
- Best For: remote teams.
- Average Duration: from 1 to 2 hours.
- Materials Needed: a video game that your team members like and the console or game platform to play it.
- How to Play: choose a video game that each team member knows how to play and set the rules for the online gaming session.
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11. Virtual Escape Rooms
Escape Rooms are really fun activities for employees indoors to engage in with all sizes of teams, but if you cannot afford to go outside, then there’s a solution for you: virtual escape rooms.
Virtual escape rooms are essentially video indoor team building games that consist of escaping from certain facilities, such as prisons or spaceships. They are imaginative and very dynamic, and remote teams surely love them.
- Best For: remote teams.
- Average Duration: from 45 minutes to 2 hours.
- Materials Needed: a virtual escape room provider.
- How to Play: complete all the challenges of the game and escape from the facility or prison by working as a unified team.
12. Desert Island
What would you bring with you if you were marooned on a desert island?
This simple yet smart game is a classic of team building activities indoors, and the best part is that you can easily play it in indoor environments just by using your team’s imagination.
- Best For: all types of teams.
- Average Duration: from 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Materials Needed: a piece of paper or somewhere to write down a list.
- How to Play: ask each team member individually their top 10 objects that they would bring with them to a desert island. At the end of the game, the whole team needs to agree on a single list of objects.
13. Indoor Maze or Obstacle Course
Mazes and obstacle courses can be played indoors too! An indoor maze or indoor obstacle course is a great physical game that will test your team’s intelligence and cooperation efforts to the limit while also having a lot of fun.
- Best For: small and medium-sized in-office teams.
- Average Duration: from 1 to 2 hours.
- Materials Needed: a large room to create an indoor maze or DIY obstacle course.
- How to Play: gather your team inside a large in-office space and make them complete the maze or obstacle course that you have designed for them.
14. Movie Night + Trivia
Watching movies with your team never gets old. All you need to watch movies together is a room with enough space, or an online platform to share the same movie together if you are running virtual teams.
Add some flavor to this activity by including a trivia session related to the movie. Each correct answer adds a point to team members!
- Best For: all types of teams.
- Average Duration: from 2 to 3 hours.
- Materials Needed: a movie to watch together - preferably, a movie that hasn't been watched by anyone on the team yet.
- How to Play: watch the movie alongside your team and craft some trivia questions to be completed after the movie ends.
15. Dancing Classes
Taking dance classes at work has many great benefits that your team can easily enjoy if they are up to it.
Keep in mind that not all team members might be on board with taking dancing lessons, but if they all are, then go for it - this fulfilling activity will forge some of the most beautiful memories inside the workplace.
- Best For: small and medium-sized teams.
- Average Duration: from 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Materials Needed: a dance instructor or an online dance class to follow.
- How to Play: set up a room to perform the dance class and enjoy yourself with your team members.
16. Keep the Balloons Up
Keeping the balloons up is a silly yet highly enjoyable indoor game that we all have played with our siblings at some point or another.
Playing this game is quite easy, but it is important to establish the game rules before deciding to play it.
- Best For: small in-office teams.
- Average Duration: from 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Materials Needed: a bunch of balloons and a room with enough space to play.
- How to Play: inflate a set of balloons and divide team members into two groups. When a balloon touches the floor, the other team earns one point. Set a time limit, and the team with the most points wins!
Final Thoughts
Building a team is best done continuously, even on dull days or during the harshest of seasons. As teams can be in more need of a morale boost during these times, team building games and indoor activities may be successful to help put the team in a good place both mentally and physically.
You can organize meaningful indoor team building events and high-energy games in almost any setting. Teams can have a great time playing indoor games, coming up with creative ideas, and working out without ever leaving the workplace or going to a local indoor attraction.
FAQ
Do Indoor Team Building Activities Help with Professional Engagement?
Yes - indoor team building activities are great for team members to feel more committed and perform better at work. A study by OnRec shows that 62% of employees who did not take sick days in the previous three months were constantly having fun at work. Since team building games and indoor activities are fun and engaging, team members will boost their productivity over time by participating in them.
What are the benefits of team building activities indoor?
Team building activities indoors can foster stronger bonds among team members, improve communication skills, enhance problem-solving abilities, and boost morale in a controlled and comfortable environment.
What are some good ideas for Indoor team building activities for small groups?
- Escape room challenges
- Collaborative cooking or baking classes
- Problem-solving games like "Pictionary" or "Taboo"
- Building challenges with Lego or building blocks
- Team trivia competitions
- Indoor scavenger hunts
- Role-playing exercises or simulations
- Improv workshops
- Puzzle-solving activities like jigsaw puzzles or brain teasers
- Group storytelling or creative writing exercises
What are indoor team games?
Indoor games encompass group games and exercises conducted indoors. Examples include team meals, museum tours, and indoor ropes courses. These activities facilitate team bonding for employees and small groups in work environments where outdoor options are limited.
