8 Impactful Virtual Team Bonding Activities That Aren’t “Zoom Happy Hour”

We’ve all been cooped up at home for a few months by now, some by choice and others not so much. While work from home comes with some obvious perks (flexibility and loose dress code to name a few), it still takes a toll after a while. A common theme we have been hearing from our clients is that they miss their teammates and team’s bonding. And as a 100% remote team since March, we agree! As great as our modern technology is, nothing really beats face to face interaction.

So how can we all stay connected as a team even while working remotely? We all have heard, suggested, or done the old virtual happy hour but we can get more creative than that. We came up with a list of 8 impactful virtual team bonding activities that will shake off the WFH blues and bring you closer as a team. Try one, try them all!

1. Online Pictionary

Skribbl.io is an interactive game that challenges your teams’ bonding and artistic skills. Get your team into a game room and play Pictionary with up to 12 players. While one person is trying to draw the word, everyone is fighting to quickly guess what on earth the random lines and shapes mean! Pro tip: The minute your teammate draws a circle be sure to voraciously type in anything that looks remotely like a circle.

2. Team Netflix Party

You’re probably binging Netflix after a day of work – why not use the opportunity and make it into a fun team bonding activity. It’s quick and easy to organize a monthly or quarterly movie night. With the Netflix Party Google Chrome extension, your team can watch synced Netflix content together. The app even has a chatbox on the side of video screens so you can talk as if you were all in the same room.

3. Team Workout Sessions

A lot of us (including ourselves) can’t keep up the motivation to keep a regular workout routine while WFH. Team workout sessions are the best way to add some energy boosting exercise into your team’s day. Zoom group online classes are popular among many studios. If you’re doing this on a tight budget, playing a Youtube video for the team to follow can also be a hilarious experience.

4. Virtual Book Club

A more educational approach that is all about bringing like-minded people together. Instead of doing the traditional book club, we recommend picking a theme, like personal development, and having everyone choosing a book that they ACTUALLY want to read. As well as encouraging each other to carve in more time for personal leisure reading, through discussions you can get all the info from different books without actually reading the full thing.

5. Donut Conversations

Donut is a Slack extension that in a nutshell introduces people who don’t interact that much on Slack through direct messages. The app encourages the people paired up to spend time getting to know each other, and even follows up with you to check in. This is a great way to start to establish more personal connections with your teammates, especially for new joiners in a virtual environment.

6. Recipe Roundup: Virtual Cooking Class

Who’s running out of creative recipes to make at home? Organize a virtual cooking class and finish off with a Zoom team dinner! Not everyone is naturally gifted in the kitchen so get your best chef to lead in preparing their favourite dish. Or if that’s too easy, make it really interesting with a recreate challenge! As a leader, pick up a quick and easy dish to recreate, based solely on a picture, and get your team to work together to make it – not sure how much of the dinner is going to be touched, but it’s definitely good fun.

7. Heads Up!

A game famously known for having everyone shouting at their screens. Heads Up! is a word game app where players have to use hints to describe the word on the screen to the person holding the phone to their head. It’s a quick activity that gets everyone loosened up and energised! To spice up the game even further, use a “no talking” rule and describe the word with movements and expressions instead. Pro Tip: Be sure to turn on gallery view so that you can see everyone!

8. Workhap Team Bonding: Virtual Trainings and Team Building

If you’re looking to really bond and grow as a team together, look no further 😉 Our team of trainers have hosted virtual (and in-person) sessions to over 100+ clients all over the world. Forget the traditional style of lecture-based trainings, our Workhap trainings are game-based, interactive, and most importantly, FUN. Go on a mission and learn new skills in the process such as goal setting, communication, stakeholder management, storytelling, and more. Contact us to get more information.