DIY ice breaker activities for your offsite
DIY ice breaker activities for your offsite
BoomPop Team · 10/22/2022
We’re sharing some fun and easy ice breakers for you to use at your next company retreat.
There’s no better time to get to know your coworkers better than during a company retreat. While ice breakers can be rather cheesy and even anxiety-inducing for some, we promise the below options are fun and engaging. Plus, ice breakers are a great way to help your team feel more comfortable and start your meeting off on the right foot.
While planning every detail of a company offsite can be overwhelming, these easy ice breakers require no materials or prep. We recommend using them to kick off your next offsite or have them ready in your back pocket to pull out whenever there’s a lull between meetings.
Two Truths and a Dream
A new spin on the old classic “two truths and a lie,” this team ice breaker is a fun way to learn more about the people you work with, and gain a deeper look into their biggest dreams and goals!
You may be familiar with the version of this game where you tell someone two things that are true about yourself and then one lie without letting them know what’s what. Then, they have to guess which is the lie.
In this version, you’ll also tell two truths—but rather than a lie, you’ll give the group a dream. To make it more difficult, you could frame each one as a “dream,” knowing you’ve already accomplished two.
For example:
I’d like to do standup comedy one day.
I’d like to start rock climbing.
I’d like to visit Greenland.
So, two of these statements are true while one is an actual dream you’ve yet to accomplish. This is a great way to learn more about your colleagues and what they are interested in outside of the office. You might be surprised by what you hear.
The Hot Seat
While this ice breaker may sound ominous, we promise it’s a fun one! This works well in small to medium-size groups and is very simple. You’ll choose one person to sit on the hot seat—you can do a random draw or have people volunteer—and then everyone will get to ask one question. The intention isn’t necessarily to put someone on the spot, so be sure to keep it lighthearted and fun!
To make it easier, have a list of questions ready for people to choose from so that it doesn’t get too out of hand (depending on the culture of your team, of course). Also, it doesn’t have to be everyone asking a question each time; feel free to break it up how you see fit. Make it your own and have fun with it – the goal is to simply learn more about the people you work with and start your company retreat off feeling relaxed and comfortable with each other.
On A Roll / Dicebreakers
Similar to the last activity, this can be done in small groups or as one larger group, depending on the size of your team. Again, this easy ice breaker is meant to allow team members to learn more about each other in a fun, relaxed way. Simply grab a spare pair of dice and assign a question to each number.
If you’d like to make it even more interactive, you can have the group come up with questions together—they can be silly or serious, whatever you want! Just stay true to your team culture. Then, have each person roll and answer the corresponding question depending on the number they land on.
Examples of questions could be, “What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?” or “What famous person would you love to have lunch with?” This is a fun way to mix it up, rather than going around a room and having everyone answer the same generic question over and over again.
Find the Person Bingo
If you don’t mind a little planning, this is a great ice breaker to kick off any team retreat. This is also ideal if you have a smaller team so you don’t have to create a huge bingo board!
Grab any bingo template online, then fill in each box with a clue that corresponds to a person on the team. You can ask people to send in their clues or “fun facts” ahead of time so you can build the bingo board before the retreat.
Then, once you’re all together, the objective is for people to mingle and find each person; once found, the person can sign their square. You can make the rules in terms of how many squares equal BINGO! It could be a person just needs a row of signatures, or they need to find everyone before claiming victory.
Discover the best company offsite ideas and activities
Looking for more team building ideas and inspiration for your next company retreat? Explore 5 of the best team games or get in touch with our offsite experts today to get your planning journey started.
