13 Funny Team Building Activities

Laughter in the workplace is a quiet luxury. It turns meetings into moments, colleagues into companions, and offices into places where ideas breathe rather than merely exist. The truth is simple: when people laugh together, they work better together.

The best team building activities achieve this naturally. They are not forced workshops about synergy or trust; they are shared experiences that replace polite smiles with genuine amusement. It might begin with a game, a contest, or a collective act of silliness, but the effect endures far beyond the afternoon.

Below are thirteen ideas that combine play with poise, suitable for modern teams who prefer wit to worksheets.

1. Sixes Cricket: Play With Style

Every great corporate gathering needs an element of surprise — something that takes people out of their usual rhythm while still feeling refined. Sixes Cricket is precisely that.

It takes Britain’s most traditional sport and turns it into an interactive, high-spirited experience that works as well for seasoned players as it does for those who barely know which end of the bat to hold. Digital batting nets invite each guest to step up, swing, and compete as cheers echo around the room. The atmosphere is friendly, boisterous, and ever so slightly competitive.

Between innings, guests gather for plates of modern British comfort food and drinks that strike the perfect balance between indulgent and intelligent. Conversations begin over shared laughter, teams bond naturally, and for a few hours, the corporate hierarchy dissolves into friendly rivalry.

What makes Sixes exceptional is tone. It is energetic without chaos, polished without pretence. Every successful team event depends on that balance — and here, it’s instinctive. The laughter feels earned, the hospitality quietly luxurious, and the memories linger long after the scoreboard fades.

2. Office Olympics

There is something irresistibly funny about watching grown adults take ordinary office supplies and declare them Olympic equipment. Paper aeroplane javelins, chair-spinning relays, and wastepaper basketball all have the potential to turn a dull afternoon into a comedy of competitive errors.

The trick is to treat it seriously — with mock opening ceremonies, homemade medals, and national anthems sung off-key. Colleagues transform into athletes of the absurd, and the shared absurdity creates the very cohesion that formal training sessions fail to achieve.

Encourage creativity: let teams invent their own events, design flags, or create commentary for each round. In the end, everyone wins, because the true prize is the laughter echoing through corridors that once only heard the hum of printers.

3. The Great Bake Off Challenge

A baking contest always reveals character. One colleague approaches it with laboratory precision, another with wild artistic flair, a third with blind optimism and no measuring tools.

Divide teams, assign themes — biscuits in the company’s logo shape, cakes decorated as departments — and let the flour fly. Kitchens turn into stages, and icing becomes the medium of comedy. Someone will forget sugar, another will mistake salt for it, and at least one masterpiece will collapse heroically.

Hold a tasting session with mock-serious judges and theatrical commentary. The laughter, aromas and gentle chaos build camaraderie faster than any management manual. It’s a tradition worthy of its own place beside afternoons at the British Museum café — civilised, creative, and just the right amount of messy.

4. The Mystery Quest

This is part puzzle, part theatre. Turn your indoor team building into a landscape of clues, riddles, and intrigue. Hide messages behind photocopiers, inside envelopes, or even within harmless spreadsheets.

Teams must decode, deduce and cooperate to uncover the final solution. The beauty lies in transformation — familiar corridors become secret passageways, ordinary desks turn into landmarks, and everyone rediscovers curiosity.

Add subtle drama by appointing a narrator or “mystery guide” who drops hints with exaggerated seriousness. Think of it as a nod to the suspense and mischief of the London theatre scene, only performed in loafers instead of costume.

It’s a story built on collaboration, misdirection and laughter, with the final revelation greeted not by applause but by the universal office sound of laughter mixed with disbelief.

5. Lip Sync Showdown

There are few sights more unifying than an entire team watching their manager mime to a pop classic with impeccable sincerity. The Lip Sync Showdown is pure joy disguised as performance.

Each team selects a song, plans choreography, and performs with as much theatrical abandon as they dare. What emerges is not embarrassment but collective courage — that rare workplace quality that says, “Let’s just have fun.”

Costumes, props, and minimal rehearsal are encouraged. A cardboard guitar, a stray feather boa, and a poorly timed spin often steal the show. At the end, declare winners based on enthusiasm, not accuracy.

This is the kind of event that becomes legend. Long after, someone will whisper, “Do you remember Marketing’s version of ABBA?” and the laughter will return instantly.

6. Mock Awards Night

Turn the quirks of daily office life into a red-carpet ceremony. Categories might include “Most Dramatic Email”, “Champion of the Coffee Queue”, or “Fastest to Hit Reply All.”

Treat it like an event at the Royal Albert Hall. Have presenters, trophies, and music cues. The humour must always remain affectionate — laughter with, not at.

Guests can dress formally or ironically, acceptance speeches should be brief and witty, and the overall tone should mirror the self-deprecating elegance of a British gala. It’s a wonderful reminder that professionalism and humour can share the same stage.

7. The Great Escape

Whether hosted in a professional escape-room venue or staged in-house, the premise never fails. Teams are given a scenario, a set of clues, and one hour to “escape” by solving puzzles together.

What makes it funny is the dynamic: mild panic, overconfidence, accidental sabotage, and sudden breakthroughs that lead to exaggerated triumph. The person who once refused to share a stapler becomes the hero of the final riddle.

This activity teaches communication, problem-solving and composure under pressure, all wrapped in laughter. It also reveals the hidden truth of teamwork — that the best leaders are often the best listeners.

8. DIY Film Festival

Give each team a phone, some props, and a challenge: create a one-minute short film. It might be “A Day in the Life of Finance”, “The Thriller of Human Resources”, or a mock commercial for imaginary office gadgets.

The chaos that follows is half the fun. Scenes are shot in stairwells, props are stolen from stationery cupboards, and scripts are improvised with dramatic flair. When the films are screened later, the joy is palpable.

Awards for “Best Overacting”, “Most Unexpected Plot Twist”, and “Least Sensible Dialogue” ensure lasting laughter. It’s a celebration of creativity and camaraderie that feels like discovering beauty in a National Trust garden — unexpected, human, and quietly uplifting.

9. The Charity Challenge

Nothing bonds a team like collective silliness for a noble cause. Set a challenge where participants raise funds through ridiculous acts: a bake sale in fancy dress, a cycle relay in mismatched suits, or a “bosses make the coffee” day.

The laughter becomes the soundtrack to generosity. Employees discover shared compassion while gently mocking themselves, and the cause receives not just money but spirit.

When charity and humour coexist, morale lifts naturally. The event becomes a memory everyone recalls with warmth rather than weariness.

10. The Quiz Night Twist

Every office has its trivia enthusiasts, but to keep things lively, mix serious questions with playful ones. Include rounds like “Guess That Emoji Email Subject”, “Mystery Snack Challenge”, or “Name That Tune Badly Hummed by IT.”

Add theatrical hosts who read questions with mock gravitas, and throw in themed rounds — pop culture, geography, or a deeply unfair “Company History” section.

Prizes can be intentionally silly: gold paperclips, a “Lifetime Supply of Printer Access”, or a framed photo of the boss mid-laugh. The night ends with laughter that lasts longer than the answers.

11. Build It Better

Provide simple materials — cardboard boxes, rubber bands, tape, string — and challenge each team to design something absurd but functional: a machine that carries a biscuit, a tower to support a coffee mug, or a bridge made entirely of stationery.

Within minutes, debates about physics and aesthetics erupt. Someone insists on blueprints, another trusts “gut instinct”, and chaos reigns until an improbable success appears.

The results are never architectural marvels, but the laughter, improvisation, and problem-solving skills that surface are worth every toppled tower. It is the most charming way to learn that failure, shared in good humour, can be more productive than success in silence.

12. The Improv Session

Improvisation classes are not just for actors; they are playgrounds for collaboration. Under the guidance of an instructor, teams play word games, complete stories together, and invent scenes on the spot.

The exercise teaches acceptance, flexibility and listening. It replaces fear with laughter. Colleagues discover that saying “yes, and…” rather than “no, but…” can transform conversation and creativity alike.

It’s extraordinary how a few hours of spontaneous nonsense can reveal so much about workplace dynamics. By the end, the group feels lighter, closer, and oddly inspired.

13. The Talent Show Finale

Every workplace hides secret brilliance. Someone plays the violin, another tells perfect jokes, one can juggle office supplies with alarming precision. A talent show gives them permission to reveal it.

Set up a small stage, adjust the lighting, and let performances unfold. The result is a charming display of humanity: unexpected, touching, and very funny.

Audiences cheer loudly, and even the most reserved spectators find themselves clapping along. It’s not about judging; it’s about joy. The evening ends with applause and a shared sense that, beneath titles and to-do lists, the office is full of fascinating, ridiculous, wonderful people.

The Laughter That Builds Teams

Humour, at its best, is the great leveller. It dismantles walls faster than any management theory, and it does so quietly, kindly and without permission slips.

Whether teams find themselves batting at Sixes Cricket, baking improbable cakes, or performing improvised Shakespeare in the boardroom, the outcome is always the same — laughter, connection and the sense that work can, occasionally, be delightful.

When colleagues learn to laugh together, they have already mastered the first rule of teamwork: trust. And trust, as every leader knows, is the foundation upon which everything else is built.