All the Virtual Activities You Need for Building Community by TJ Reissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community en-us 2022-02-24 21:44:37 UTC 2022-03-16 17:35:56 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f91d.png Just you and Zoom in your room? treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065368341 No preparation required - jump right into Zoom and get started!]]> 2022-02-24 21:45:42 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065368341 Got some prep time? treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065368836 Put together a slide deck, or collect some information from participants before starting!]]> 2022-02-24 21:46:15 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065368836 Want a little outside help? treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065369173 External websites make these activities possible - and engaging!]]> 2022-02-24 21:46:34 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065369173 treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065371714 When you only see your peers’ faces for a few hours a week on your computer screen, it can be a challenge to build the kind of relationships that help your work thrive.  Each Thursday, various members of the Faculty Engagement and Development team meet over Zoom to socialize and connect informally to do just that.  The host changes each week, as do the activities they bring or create for us. This has resulted in the team amassing an impressive collection of activities that are great for building relationships.

All of the activities below have come from those meetings.  Whether you make them competitive with a scoring system or just play for fun, these activities are perfect for classroom settings, staff meetings, virtual happy hours, or any other social setting you can imagine. 

We've used all of them to help build our own community.  How would you like to build yours?]]> 2022-02-24 21:49:14 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065371714 AMA / Ask Me Anything treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065373001 A perennial favorite here at the FED Team, and one we do with every new hire.  The format is simple - ask one person…anything!  What’s your favorite ice cream flavor? What famous person, living or dead, would you most like to have a conversation with?

Can’t think of any questions?  That’s okay - the internet in general and SignupGenius in particular have you covered!]]> 2022-02-24 21:50:45 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065373001 Two Truths and a Lie treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065373612 This classic icebreaker asks participants for three statements about themselves - two of them are true, but one of them is a lie.  The challenge for other participants is to determine which statement is a lie.]]> 2022-02-24 21:51:22 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065373612 Holiday Wishlist treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065375680 In this activity you are asked to share the story of a memorable gift you've received or given.
  • When was it given/received?
  • What was the occasion?
  • Why is it memorable?
]]> 2022-02-24 21:53:40 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065375680 Would You Rather? treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065378578 Would you rather have telekinesis (the ability to move things with your mind) or telepathy (the ability to read minds)?
Take turns asking each other questions just like this, or put together a slide deck and ask your participants to use their stamp tool to make their choices!

See our example and make a copy here.]]> 2022-02-24 21:56:41 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065378578 Winter Traditions treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065399843 Whip up a mug of hot cocoa and cuddle up by the fire as you talk with your colleagues about your family's winter traditions. This can include the obvious, like holidays you might celebrate, and the not-so-obvious, like a favorite comfort snack you have when the days get short and the air gets chilly.]]> 2022-02-24 22:20:07 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065399843 Theatre / Improv Games treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065427606 In our team meetings, we've played two improv games:

One-Word Story: The team writes a story together by "going around the circle" and saying one word at a time.  Include the names of punctuation marks, and watch as hilarity ensues.  You can make use of Zoom's Follow Host's video order feature to ensure the "circle" is the same for everyone, or just determine an order and paste it in the chat.

Zip Zap Zop:  In person, the first player would look at another player, clap their hands and say "Zip".  The player they looked at would look at another player and say "Zap", and that third player would look at another and say "Zop", who continues with "Zip".  It's a test of concentration and memory, and the virtual adaptation is the add your target's name.  So if Bart, Lisa, and Maggie were playing a game on Zoom, you might hear something like this:

"Bart, zip!"
"Maggie, zap!"
"Lisa, zop!"
"Maggie, zip!"
and so on!]]> 2022-02-24 22:50:06 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065427606 Show and Tell treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065429668 It's a classic for a reason! Give your participants a moment to grab an object in their room or house that is special to them, and then talk about what that object means to them.]]> 2022-02-24 22:52:23 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065429668 Contour Drawing treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065430708 Give everyone a chance to flex their artistic muscles! 

Pair off in Breakout rooms (or have participants choose someone at random) and grab a piece of paper and a pen/pencil.  Without taking your eyes off your screen or your pen off your paper, draw your partner!  Show off those finished works of art on camera or even send them to each other for a lasting memento of your time together.]]> 2022-02-24 22:53:47 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065430708 Pictionary treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065434298 Divide your participants into two teams, and send one team member a word in a private chat.  
That participant uses the Whiteboard to silently draw something that reflects that word, and their team members try to guess the word!]]> 2022-02-24 22:58:17 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065434298 Exploration Stories treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065435238 Think back, share, and enjoy some previous travel or exploration that you've been fortunate enough to have done.  Find one fun photo of a happy memory from any adventure you've had - be it overseas or at the edge of your block and share your screen with a brief story.  This isn't bragging time, just a time to share some fun travel stories.]]> 2022-02-24 22:59:32 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065435238 Favorite Costumes treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065436851 A great one for Halloween - bring pictures from past favorite costumes that you or someone else has worn, or dress up in those favorite costumes!]]> 2022-02-24 23:01:37 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065436851 Read My Lips treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065438927 The host will grab a word from randomwordgenerator.com and private message it to the person who is going. Muted, they will say the word. Others will guess what they're saying by reading their lips.]]> 2022-02-24 23:03:52 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065438927 Warm and Fuzzy File treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065440355 Take a moment to reflect on the good things you've done and the things that make you smile and create a document, slideshow, or some other record to look back on when you need a little pick up. Pet photos are always a great place to start!]]> 2022-02-24 23:05:42 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065440355 Pop Culture Debrief treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065442184 If you've been watching the latest pop culture sensation, join together for a in-depth discussion on your thoughts and insight. If you haven't completed the series and have time to watch before you attend please do so. Squid Games was all the rage at the time we did this activity, but any time a new media trend takes hold, chatting on the topic can lead to some interesting conversations!]]> 2022-02-24 23:08:08 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065442184 Team Coloring Activity treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065449278 Find coloring pages online.  Share your screen and annotate to color the page together, then save the finished product.

https://www.online-coloring.com/ has tons of images.  You can color individually right on the website, or save some black and white .pdfs to share with colleagues.]]> 2022-02-24 23:16:29 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065449278 Question Reveal Game treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065450888 Create a document or slideshow with a list of ice breaker questions (i.e. What is your favorite vacation spot?) spread out on the page. Cover each question with a colored box or other shape. Each person takes a turn choosing a color or shape to "reveal" the question underneath, and answers it.]]> 2022-02-24 23:18:12 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065450888 State Facts treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065453461 Which US State is the only one to have hosted both the Summer and the Winter olympics?  California!

Create a document or slideshow asking participants to discuss which state is described by the interesting or unusual facts you list.

There's plenty of lists online, but this can get you started!  https://www.insider.com/one-weird-fact-about-every-state-2017-9

See our example and make a copy here.]]> 2022-02-24 23:21:24 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065453461 Team Riddle Challenge treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065455309 Put together a slideshow of riddles and split your group into two (or more) teams.  Each team is given the same list of riddles to solve together. 
The first team done (and correct!) is the winner!

See our example and save a copy here.]]> 2022-02-24 23:23:35 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065455309 Music Trivia treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065458385 Put together a document or slideshow with questions about lyrics to well-known songs, and have participants answer those questions.

See our example response sheet, and the answer key/presentation here, and make copies.]]> 2022-02-24 23:27:13 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065458385 Excel/Sheets Pixel Art treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065465886 Grab some clipart images and have your participants re-create them by filling in cells in Excel or Google Sheets.

See our example and make a copy here.]]> 2022-02-24 23:32:06 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065465886 Little-Known Facts treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065467704 Everyone sends the host 3 interesting facts about themselves, and it’s up to participants to match those facts to the person to whom they belong.  If you’re feeling really fancy you can put the facts on a slide deck so participants can annotate who they think the facts refer to!  Bonus Tip: The ‘More’ button on your Zoom toolbar includes the option to Hide Names of Annotators, so participants can’t narrow it down by seeing who hasn’t responded!

We played a variation of this that was called “Senior Superlatives” where everyone sent in facts specifically from their High School days, but you can easily adapt a wide variety of potential themes - favorite foods, ideal vacation destination, number of siblings - the only limit is your imagination!
]]> 2022-02-24 23:34:23 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065467704 #culturetags treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065474918 Guess the pop culture acronym:  IWPBAR

Put together a document or slide deck with several acronyms.  Our host split them up into three categories, and had one person on each team giving clues (they were not allowed to say any of the words in the acronym while giving clues).  Teams had two minutes to guess as many tags as they could, with the team that guessed the most at the end of those three rounds winning.

Someone giving clues to the clue above, for example, might say "opening line from the theme song from young Will Smith's television show" so that their teammates will come up with:

"In west Philadelphia, born and raised."

See our example and make a copy here.]]> 2022-02-24 23:43:15 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065474918 Hollywood Squares treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065476998 Trivia tic-tac-toe! Move nine squares of people ("celebrities") into the center with host and contestants underneath. Then select "Participants follow host video order" or if you can, use Immersive View. Contestants pick either the "No" (red X) or "Yes" (green check mark) reaction. Contestants choose a square (celebrity) that the host will ask a trivia question to. Celebrities can answer correctly or provide an incorrect answer. Contestant declare if they agree or disagree with the answer. If the contestant is correct, the square gets the contestant's corresponding icon. If the answer is wrong, the other contestant gets the square with their icon. The goal is to get three squares in a row. The center square and the winning square must be earned, they cannot be won by the other contestant getting the answer wrong. NOTE: Celebrities can be given the answers to all trivia questions in advance or may google their answer when asked. Contestants should have their hands visible so there is no googling.]]> 2022-02-24 23:45:51 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065476998 Scavenger Hunt treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065477735 Provide a list of items to collect, have team members take a screenshot of themselves with the item and place picture in a document or slide deck to share.  Or once the item is retrieved, just show and tell about it!

See our example and make a copy here.]]> 2022-02-24 23:46:46 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065477735 Personality Tests treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065480647 https://www.16personalities.com/

https://www.buzzfeed.com/jasminnahar/what-percent-competitive-are-you

https://psychologia.co/how-competitive-are-you/

We've used our connection time to take a number of personality test, linked above. Team members take the test and report on their "type" (and whether or not they feel the results are accurate!)]]> 2022-02-24 23:50:26 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065480647 Team Playlist treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065482224 Participants submit to the Host a song of their choice to play during the session.  The Host shares computer sound and plays the song on YouTube, Spotify, or any other preferred music app. Participants vote on who they believe chose the song.  These can just be songs they particularly like, or theme-based, such as "choose a song that best describes you."]]> 2022-02-24 23:52:19 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2065482224 Fibbage treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067029592 https://jackboxgames.com/fibbage/
What is Fibbage? Fibbage is the lying, bluffing, fib-till-you-win trivia game. Fool your friends with your lies, avoid theirs, and find the (usually outrageous) truth. (Costs $5 to buy)

Instructions:
Pair or group team members. Before the game, create a team name, and designate one person to take on the role of the person who inputs and chooses the answers for each trivia game. Use the link and code to enter the game room.]]> 2022-02-25 21:33:53 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067029592 Kahoot Quizzes treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067032426 https://kahoot.com/
Already a popular classroom tool, creating quizzes in Kahoot is also another great way of building community. Our Host created a Holiday-specific quiz, but as with most of these activities, you can customize yours to suit your individual and team needs! ]]> 2022-02-25 21:37:35 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067032426 Scattergories treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067036197 https://swellgarfo.com/scattergories/

Respond to the prompts in the time allotted with the same starting letter! 
For example, if the letter is "C":

Fruit: Canteloupe
Country: Chile
Game: Chess

The above link can generate a list of prompts and assign a letter so you can keep score on your own, but interactive online play is in beta there as well.]]> 2022-02-25 21:42:32 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067036197 Name That Tune treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067037374 Sharing computer sound only, one team member plays a variety of songs for people to guess. Fastest response for the song name and artist wins points. We awarded extra points to brave souls that were willing to sing the rest of the stanza.]]> 2022-02-25 21:43:57 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067037374 Werewolf treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067045602 https://netgames.io/games/onu-werewolf/

A social game of bluffing and deduction.  Each round has two phases - day and night. During the day the "villagers" discusses who they think is guilty, during the night players may use special powers and the werewolves make their "kill."  

An in-person game typically has a Moderator who narrates what happens and directs players as to what happens next - the link above provides all of those instructions live.]]> 2022-02-25 21:51:49 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067045602 Trello - Giphy Battle! treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067048243 https://trello.com

Trello is a web-based collaborative list-making application (similar to the padlet that you're reading now!).  

You can use it to collaborate on work projects

We used it to have a battle of gifs with the help of https://giphy.com/]]> 2022-02-25 21:55:19 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067048243 Future Me - Letters to Myself treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067051553 Futureme.org

This was a more reflective activity.  Each person used the above link to write themselves an e-mail that would be delivered in the future (you can choose 1, 3, or 5 years from now). We also wrote e-mails to each other, which will make this a nice activity to look back on down the road.]]> 2022-02-25 21:59:48 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067051553 The Game of Things! treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067054695 Inspired by this in-person game, the rules are simple:

1. Everyone adds a topic to the common pool - we annotated on a slide deck prepared by our Host.  The main guideline is that each topic must start with the word "Things" - for example, "Things my dog wishes he could eat for breakfast" or "Things we want to do during our next video meeting".

2. One person starts as the Host, and reads off a single prompt from the pool.

3. The other players then anonymously submit answers to the Host, which you can do via private message.

4. The Host reads the answers out loud, and then each Participant is given a chance to guess who said what.

5. If someone guesses correctly, the Host chooses how many points they receive.

6. Lather, rinse, repeat, and have fun!]]> 2022-02-25 22:04:24 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067054695 Digital Escape Rooms treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067055194 https://www.simplemost.com/free-digital-escape-rooms/

Work together to ESCAPE!]]> 2022-02-25 22:05:08 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067055194 Tiny Desk Concert treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067057730 https://www.npr.org/series/tiny-desk-concerts/

Pick some songs or take requests and have a tiny concert from tiny desk! ]]> 2022-02-25 22:08:56 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067057730 CrowdParty Games treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067059382 https://crowdparty.app/

A trivia alternative to Kahoot above, with a variety of categories to choose from. Custom games are also available with an account!]]> 2022-02-25 22:11:27 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067059382 Taking it to the Streets treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067060937 Using Google Earth Street View, share your screen and give your fellow participants a walking tour of the neighborhood you grew up in or another location you have fond memories of.  Give your colleagues into how these places helped shape who you are - some experiences you had, who you met there, or maybe a funny story from your last visit.]]> 2022-02-25 22:13:45 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067060937 Fishbowl Games treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067064430 https://fishbowl-game.com/

This virtual guessing game asks participants to submit a series of words, which teams will then take turns guessing. There are three rounds: Taboo (you can't say the word itself), Charades (act it out silently), and Password (give hints one word at a time. The words are all re-used each round, so memory is key!]]> 2022-02-25 22:19:03 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067064430 skribble.io treissner https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067065365 skribble.io

Just like Pictionary but all the work of selecting words and providing an interface is done for you. Head to the website, create a game, and start drawing right away! ]]> 2022-02-25 22:20:33 UTC https://padlet.com/treissner/community/wish/2067065365