20 Team Building Activities for College Students for 2021 (2023)

College is a transition that is unlike any other, where young adults have the opportunity to meet people from all over the country. As a campus staff member, facilitating this process can be both exciting and overwhelming. Organizing team-building activities to help students get to know each other and to step outside of their comfort zone while also having fun gives them a unique opportunity to meet new people.

Team Building Activity #1: Scavenger Hunt with Scavify

Hosting a scavenger hunt is a sure-fire way to get students engaged and connected in a team-building activity. Scavify has streamlined the process to connect students virtually while exploring the campus and connecting with one another. If you are planning a college scavenger hunt, using Scavify will help motivate the students while also encouraging a friendly competition complete with rewards on the app.

Team Building Activity #2: Board Game Night

Who doesn’t love a good board game? Spending time getting to know other students while playing classic board games is a great way to get to know new people while also playing nostalgic games. If you want to go all out when hosting a game night, you can include yummy snack food, themed decor, and even prizes for the winners.

Team Building Activity #3: Breakout Rooms

Breakout rooms are becoming one of the most popular social activities and for good reason. Participating in a breakout room is an exciting challenge that has you thinking quickly while also working with others to solve the riddles and clues. When you are working together towards a common goal, you are likely to break the ice quickly and end up both breaking out of the room and making new friends along the way.

Team Building Activity #4: Trivia

Everyone loves trivia, and hosting an event for trivia is a way to bring people who don’t know one another well together for a common activity. Form your teams randomly so that students will be paired up with people they haven’t met yet.

Team Building Activity #5: Mystery Bag Skits

If you are a fan of charades or skits, you will love this team-building activity. Group students in groups of 3-5 students per skit. Hand the groups a bag filled with random mystery objects. Tell students they will have ten minutes to prepare a skit using all of the objects in their mystery bag. Remind them that the funnier the skit, the better it will be!

Team Building Activity #6: Two Truths and A Lie

Two Truths and a Lie is one of the most popular getting-to-know-you activities out there. It is a great way to break the ice and get to know new and unusual facts about one another. As a leader, start off strong by making the game interesting and telling some of the most unusual things that have happened to you. To play, you tell the group three statements about yourself. Two should be true and outrageous, and the third should be a slight variation from the truth to make it somewhat believable. Whoever guesses the lie from your statements goes next.

Team Building Activity #7: Shark Tank, College Style

Shark Tank is a great way to get ideas flowing while also teaching teamwork and collaboration among peers. College students work together in groups of two or three to come up with a unique invention. They should prepare a sales pitch for the invention as well as a description of cost, purpose, and how to use the invention.

Team Building Activity #8: Back to Back Drawing

This activity encourages communication between students while also providing entertainment and a creative outlet. Students sit back to back, where one student will have a piece of paper with a simple picture on it and the other student will have a blank paper. The student with the picture describes what they are looking at and the student with the blank sheet tries to draw the description. Set a timer for a few minutes and then compare the two. This is sure to bring some laughs and new connections.

Team Building Activity #9: What Are You Doing

A favorite party game, “what are you doing” is a game of listening and being silly. The group of students stand in a circle and act out different motions. The first student to start begins with a movement. The student next to them says “what are you doing?” and the first student responds with a completely different action (for example they may be pretending to ride a bike but when asked they say they are jumping on a trampoline). The second student does the action described and it moves around the circle with each student asking the question but then acting out the response that was given. Get ready to laugh and be silly with this team-building activity.

Team Building Activity #10: Would You Rather

Another classic game, playing would you rather opens up the floor for both serious and silly discussions. You can play sitting down or standing up and moving to a side of the room depending on which response you give. Have some questions prepared beforehand to start off and then let others chime in with questions as you play.

Team Building Activity #11: The Ball and Bucket Challenge

Similar to passing an orange down a line of people, using tennis balls or ping pong balls in plastic buckets the goal is to move the ball down a line of buckets without using arms or hands. Students have to work together as a team to communicate and move the balls along the row of buckets.

Team Building Activity #12: Tied Tight

Students are tied together with rope or fabric at the wrist and have to work together to complete simple tasks such as brushing their teeth or writing a note. Students have to work together to get the tasks done while also enjoying the entertainment that comes from taking a simple task and making it a challenge with their wrists tied together.

Team Building Activity #13: One Sentence Story

This is a great creative acidity to get students talking while working together to tell a story. You start with one sentence and then go around the group as each student adds their own sentence to the story.

Team Building Activity #14: Newspaper Fashion

Split students up into teams and hand out multiple copies of newspapers. Students work together to create a fashion show with their team. When it's time to share, remind them that the more dramatic and creative the better!

Team Building Activity #15: Mingle, Mingle

In this team building activity, one person calls out a number and students quickly form groups of that size. Once in a group, they tell the group something unusual about themselves. Then the leader calls out a new number and they have to find other group members to make that number. The goal is to have as many different groups as possible and to always have different group members each time.

Team Building Activity #16: The Airport Game

The object of this activity is to land a pretend plane with your eyes closed. One student will be the pilot, two students will be the control tower and the rest of the students are obstacles. The control tower guides the pilot to the airport landing zone through the obstacles of the students. This promotes communication and teamwork with the students.

Team Building Activity #17: Cup Stack Challenge

Give students paper cups, a rubber band, and some string. The challenge is to work together as a team to stack the cups in a tower. The catch is that no hands can touch the cups. Students have to work together to communicate and figure out how to successfully complete the challenge.

Team Building Activity #18: Minefield

This team-building activity requires some setup beforehand but then turns into a fun challenge. Set up an obstacle course in the location where your students will be working. Group students together and have them close their eyes. They have to work as a team to get past all of the obstacles.

Team Building Activity #19: Egg Drop

This is a classic team-building activity where you design a contraption to protect an egg when it is dropped from somewhere high. Students work together to create the egg drop protector and then test out their design together.

Team Building Activity #20: Secrets in a Box

An easy activity that helps students get to know one another on a deeper level, students write something most people don’t know about them on a piece of paper then stick it in the box anonymously. Each person picks a secret from the box to read and then the group guesses who it might be about.

Helping College Students Meet Others With Team-Building Exercises

Helping students get to know other students in a fun and unique way will boost the morale and culture of your campus. Helping them step outside of their comfort zone will help them grow and open up the possibilities of new connections and friendships. As a leader, help them meet and get to know different people through these activities and embrace the fun of team-building games.