Team-building ideas for work that will change how your team performs under pressure and connects with one another.
Startups, corporations, and small businesses on a budget—this guide on best team-building activities is for you. Get ready to have fun, build trust, and create unforgettable workplace memories!
1. cityHUNT: A Local and Custom Scavenger Hunt
Experience Oklahoma City like never before with cityHunt’s custom scavenger hunts! We craft unique adventures that transform your team building into an unforgettable journey through the city’s most exciting locations.
We can plan the hunt so your team can explore Bricktown’s vibrant streets for example, or discover the charm of Automobile Alley. How about venturing through the adventure district?
Our professionally designed challenges blend problem-solving with local culture. We also make sure to incorporate OKC landmarks, history, and hidden gems.
The team might decode clues at the Myriad Botanical Gardens, capture photos at the Oklahoma City National Memorial, or solve puzzles in the Plaza District. We can even customize your route to include strategic pit stops at local restaurants or end at your chosen venue!
Our Adventure Guides are there to make everything run smoothly. Our flexible format also accommodates groups and companies of any size.
2. Rowing and Kayaking in the Oklahoma River
For an exhilarating team-building experience, head to Oklahoma City’s vibrant Boathouse District. There your team can bond through exciting rowing and kayaking adventures on the Oklahoma River.
You can pick from single kayaks or team rowing boats. These water activities naturally foster coordination, communication, and trust among team members.
Challenge your group with friendly racing competitions or organize relay races that require strategic planning and synchronized teamwork. For added excitement, combine water activities with land-based challenges like the Sandridge Sky Zipline.
During breaks, groups can enjoy riverside picnics or team-building games on the shore. Overall, it’s an energizing activity to build confidence, develop leadership skills, and create lasting memories together.
3. Sign Up For a Cooking Class Together
Let’s transform your team-building outing into a delicious adventure with fun cooking classes in Oklahoma City. Your team will develop essential collaboration skills while creating mouth-watering dishes together.
The office can decide from hands-on pasta making, sushi rolling, or gourmet meal preparation. These interactive cooking sessions naturally encourage communication and problem-solving as teams coordinate in the kitchen.
Professional chefs will guide your group through culinary techniques while maintaining a collaborative atmosphere.
Teams can also participate in friendly cooking competitions or work together to create multi-course meals. With the proper teamwork, they can tackle any challenging recipe!
Can’t gather in person? Virtual cooking and mixology classes can be an excellent alternative so remote teams can connect while crafting cocktails or preparing dishes.
4. Hook the Team Up With VR Sets
There’s nothing quite like an immersive VR gaming session – and what better cutting-edge team-building activity is there than VR?
The latest VR technology creates exciting collaborative challenges for work teams. Groups can solve virtual puzzles or tackle action-packed missions together. VR exercises also strengthen communication as teams navigate the game side by side.
We recommend you choose multiplayer games that require strategic thinking and coordination. Your team can explore virtual escape rooms for instance or compete in futuristic sports. Such games can help break down barriers between coworkers easily.
Short sessions are best as they keep the energy high. Remember to rotate team members through different scenarios and games for the ultimate VR fun! And don’t fret if some people are beginners to gaming, VR tech appeals to various skill levels.
5. Build Your Own Mini Golf Course!
If you’re a creative company, why not use that creativity in a fun challenge by having employees design and build their own mini golf courses? Your artistic team can transform everyday office supplies and recycled materials into imaginative putting obstacles.
Make it more interesting by involving all the departments! Each department can create its signature hole with unique themes and challenges. For example, IT could use old wires and damaged spare parts to build theirs.
Remind them to add excitement to their course by incorporating ramps, tunnels, and barriers into their design. Teams can even compete for awards like Most Creative Hole or Trickiest Shot.
Once built, host a company-wide tournament where teams take turns through all the holes. This is the perfect activity for developing problem-solving skills and encouraging creativity. Plus, there’s nothing wrong with a little friendly competition!
6. Music Bus: Unleash the Team’s Inner Diva
This activity is perfect for creative agencies, marketing teams, or any company with an energetic culture that values self-expression. It’s especially great for breaking down barriers between departments and helping newer employees feel welcome.
Here’s what you do: rock the streets of Oklahoma City with a musical adventure that turns sightseeing into a rolling karaoke party! Your team should cruise past iconic spots like Bricktown Canal, Film Row, and the Paseo Arts District while belting out their favorite tune.
Between performances, your rented bus could stop at Instagram-worthy locations like the Scissortail Bridge, Myriad Gardens, and Wheeler Ferris Wheel. Tell them not to worry about their singing skills – it’s all about letting loose and having fun together.
Pro tip: Decorate the bus to match your company theme and have teams dress up for added entertainment. Alternatively, add themes like Decades Night or Broadway Hits to spice up the experience.
7. Throwback to Summer Camp Activities
Here’s an activity that’s highly flexible in that it can be scaled up or down depending on space and time available. It works brilliantly for start-ups, tech companies, and workplaces seeking to reduce stress through playful collaboration.
For instance, you can:
- Set up relay races using office chairs
- Create an indoor obstacle course with cardboard boxes and desk supplies
- Organize a competitive scavenger hunt through different departments
Want more easy-to-arrange activities? Those can be:
- Three-legged races using office scarves and ties
- Paper airplane competitions
- Marshmallow tower building challenges
- Divide the break rooms into “camping areas” with blanket forts and storytelling sessions
As a plus, you can also turn conference rooms into craft stations for friendship bracelet making or team banner design. You’ll only need simple supplies like rope, paper cups, balloons, tennis balls, and basic craft materials – all readily available and inexpensive!
8. Escape Room in Your Own Office
We believe that creating an office-based escape room can transform your boring everyday workspace into an exciting puzzle-solving adventure.
Teams can design challenges using existing office equipment, like finding codes hidden in filing cabinets, decoding messages using office supplies, or solving riddles on a computer screen.
It’s pretty simple. Set up multiple rooms with different themes and difficulty levels – perhaps the break room becomes a “laboratory” while the conference room turns into a “secret agent headquarters.”
Here’s a tip: Use sticky notes for clues, create simple lock combinations on cabinets, or design digital puzzles using shared drives.
This budget-friendly activity works especially well for analytical companies like accounting firms and software development teams. It’s also perfect for larger groups that could be split into smaller teams.
9. Explore Oklahoma’s History Through a Game
The Big Friendly has a rich history begging to be explored. So, put together a digital scavenger hunt that allows your employees to explore their culture.
Your team will navigate through historic landmarks, from the majestic State Capitol to the vibrant Deep Deuce district. You can have them decode Native American symbols at the First Americans Museum or solve math riddles at the Science Museum.
The 90-minute adventure keeps teams highly engaged and the scoring system is based on speed and accuracy.
This activity develops essential team skills like strategic planning, communication, and efficacy under pressure. It’s perfect for companies that value cultural awareness and innovative thinking.
10. An Intern-inspired Game to Welcome the New Blood
Introducing the ultimate onboarding experience: Office Jeopardy. It’s a dynamic team-building exercise designed to integrate new interns into an engaging workplace atmosphere. Believe us, this interactive game turns traditional introductions into a thrilling competition!
Make sure to create quirky categories, like “Office Goss” (company trivia), “Who’s Who” (colleague backgrounds), and “Company Lore” (historical moments). The questions can range from lighthearted (someone’s favorite office snack) to professional ones (company mission statement).
Existing team members will be your audience, placing playful bets on who wins. Potential rewards could include prime parking spots for a week, lunch with executives, or coveted project assignments.
11. Networking Bingo: Perfect for Big Events and Companies
Networking Bingo is an innovative twist on team-building exercises for work. It’s an activity that dispenses with traditional professional interactions. It also creates an interactive experience that breaks the ice and encourages meaningful connections.
Every employee creates bingo cards with squares featuring networking challenges such as “Find someone from a different department,” “Discuss a recent company innovation,” or “Learn a colleague’s hobby.”
Participants mingle throughout the event, seeking to complete their bingo cards to gain an exciting prize at the end. The game works brilliantly for large corporate events, conferences, and company-wide meetings.
12. Give Back to the Kids of Oklahoma
Why can’t team building involve a heartwarming charitable experience? As a team, you can construct bicycles and/or toys for children in Oklahoma City. Such an activity combines teamwork, skill-building, and community service in a powerful, meaningful way.
Your team collaborates to assemble things from scratch. Local organizations like Boys & Girls Clubs or children’s charities can partner with your company to distribute what you create to kids in need. They can also make sure the bikes/toys are safe.
Let team leaders divide and delegate different people to different assembly stages. If working on bikes, some can handle wheel attachments, others focus on handlebars and seats, while some add final design touches.
13. Remembering Our Soldiers Through a Volunteer Program
When your team wants to make a meaningful impact, care package assembly events can be a wonderful idea. If building bikes for kids is a bit too technical, your team can instead build care packages for our military personnel.
You need enough office space to set up the stations as well as plenty of boxes. You can team up with local volunteering programs to know exactly what deployed service members may need.
This activity builds empathy, highlights individual strengths, and connects your workforce through a shared purpose of gratitude.
14. Can Your Team Beat a Robot?
We’ve seen how big AI has become. In this competitive game, we pit human intellect against artificial intelligence in an exhilarating challenge against AI bots. Your team will be testing their knowledge across diverse categories like science, history, pop culture, and technology.
Heads up: choose a skilled host to manage the competition as they’ll be presenting questions to both the teams and their AI opponents. Teams earn points by being faster and more accurate than AI.
Naturally, this activity accomplishes multiple team-building goals. It encourages collaboration, sparks friendly competition, and is a neat way to show your team’s intellectual strengths. Tech companies especially will find this game remarkable!
Pro tip: preparation is key here. Choose categories that resonate with your team’s interests and make sure you have a reliable platform or AI interface.
15. Release the Stress With Paintball
Oklahoma offers premier paintball experiences at venues like Epic Paintball Park and OKC Paintball in Oklahoma City. This high-energy, team-building activity transforms workplace tension into strategic, adrenaline-pumping excitement.
Teams will learn from improved communication and practice their strategic planning. Each participant needs to develop quick decision-making skills while bonding through friendly competition.
Remind everyone to wear comfortable, dark-colored clothing, bring extra layers, and expect to get messy. Protective masks and basic equipment are typically provided by the venue.
16. Let It All Out By Throwing Axes
Looking for unique team-building activities for work that break the monotony of office life?
Bad Axe Throwing in Oklahoma City offers the perfect venue for corporate teams who want an unconventional bonding opportunity. Located at 1201 W Reno Ave, this facility provides specialized team-building packages starting at $450 for a two-hour session.
Their world-class instructors guide teams through technique, safety, and competitive throwing challenges.
So head down and let your team experience the satisfying thud of an axe hitting a wooden target. You can leverage this activity to break down communication barriers and encourage healthy competition.
Heads up: participants should wear closed-toe shoes and comfortable clothing.
17. Put Together a Murder Mystery Party
An immersive storytelling adventure is an interactive experience that brings out everyone’s inner sleuth, actor, and problem-solver – and nothing says immersive quite like a murder mystery party.
Key elements to prepare:
- Character Packets: Assign pre-written character backgrounds and secret objectives.
- Scenario Script: Choose a themed setting (1920s speakeasy, corporate retreat, western saloon)
- Props and Evidence: Create physical clues, fake documents, and investigative materials.
This activity develops communication skills, encourages creative thinking, and promotes collaborative problem-solving. As a bonus, you can also:
- Select a theme matching your company culture
- Offer small prizes for best actor and detective
- Provide costumes or host the party at historical venues
18. Host a Good, Old-Fashioned Game Show
For teams with limited budgets, an in-house game show delivers maximum entertainment with minimal investment. Using company knowledge, create your own “Corporate Trivia” or “Workplace Feud.”
Design multiple rounds testing different skills: general knowledge, company history, departmental expertise, and problem-solving scenarios.
No need for elaborate props either. Use whiteboards for scoring, small prizes to maintain excitement, and buzzers (smartphone apps work great). Make employees sign up for the host position and vote for who should.
While it’s a low-cost activity, it will still boost morale and create unforgettable, shared memories. Just remember to mix the serious trivia with humorous questions about workplace inside jokes and company culture.
19. Painting Class Anyone?
An in-house painting session is yet another low-budget activity that requires minimal materials.
You’ll need:
- Canvases (one per participant)
- Acrylic paints
- Paintbrushes of various sizes
- Easels or flat surfaces
- Disposable tablecloths
- Water cups
- Paper towels
Provide your teams with options on what to paint. That can be:
- Company logo reimagined
- Team landscape representing workplace goals
- Abstract representations of team values
- Individual interpretations of desk mates
Toward the end, employees can vote for their favorite artwork. Winners could receive fun prizes like a desk trophy, half-day off, or have their artwork featured in common areas.
With this activity, participants reveal their hidden talents and connect with other team members in a relaxed environment. No artistic experience is required—just enthusiasm and willingness to create!
20. Challenge the Team’s Core With Wall Climbing
Oklahoma City’s unique venues like the Silos at Scissortail Park offer perfect wall-climbing experiences for team-building adventures. This high-energy activity tests physical and mental limits. It also strengthens trust and communication among team members.
Local climbing facilities like Threshold Climbing and Riversport can provide expert instruction and equipment for beginners and experienced climbers alike. The benefits make it all worth it:
- Learning supportive communication techniques
- Ability to perform under physical and mental pressure
- Discovering hidden strengths
- Experiencing an adrenaline-pumping workout
