We’ve fielded a lot of requests lately for Zoom icebreakers, virtual icebreakers, and online team icebreakers, so we thought we’d share some good icebreakers for Zoom office check-ins, virtual friend/family reunions, and pretty much any other online gathering of humans you may find yourself in. We hope you’ll discover at least an icebreaker or two that’s appropriate for whatever occasion has you logging onto a video chat!

Why do icebreakers?

Why even care about having virtual icebreakers at all? Well, at work, team icebreakers can be an incredibly important investment in workplace satisfaction. Icebreakers are also great to help prep students to be more comfortable and therefore successful in class. And if you manage to pick fun icebreakers that don’t leave everyone rolling their eyes at you in a more casual setting, it can help build community with just about anyone, which can contribute to our sense of purpose and belonging.

So without further ado, here are some of the best icebreakers we know of for video chats.

Zoom icebreakers

1. Rose-thorn-bud: This is an icebreaker that’s great for pretty much any setting. You go around and have each person share, in the following order…
   

   • A rose, or something good/fun/nice that’s happened to the person recently 

   • A thorn, or something difficult that’s happened to that person recently

   • A bud, or something that person is looking forward to

   
   This is one of the best icebreakers we know because it helps people really get to know what’s going on in everyone’s lives, while keeping the mood overall positive thanks to beginning and ending with something positive. Something that can help with this particular icebreaker is to allow for some built-in time where anyone who wants to can respond to someone’s rose-thorn-bud. In general, having people respond to everyone who shares something can make everyone feel a little more heard and validated– and sometimes that can be the difference between good icebreakers and the best icebreakers. So allowing for a little response time can really be worth it.
   
   

2. Show-and-tell: Ask people to bring and share a physical object (or pet) that they own that they like or find meaningful, and have them spend a little time explaining why. This can end up being one of the most fun icebreakers because the introduction of someone’s physical environment can make things feel more like they would be if they were in person.
   
   One thing to be careful of here is to be sensitive that not everyone may want to put their home on display, because their house may give cues about their socioeconomic class level or even mental health status that they may not want to divulge. So, it may be best if you either let this icebreaker be optional for whoever wants to participate, or you can alternatively let people know a few days in advance that you’ll be asking this at a particular Zoom meeting so that your guests can prepare accordingly.
   
   

3. One new thing: Ask people to share one new thing they did, learned, or experienced that week. This is one of our favorite virtual icebreakers for the pandemic, because with a relative lack of novelty in our weeks, it can be nice to focus on what novelty we do get to experience. It’s also a great way to get a look into people’s lives that you might not have otherwise, and this icebreaker gets bonus points for encouraging people to relive the excitement (however minor– it still counts) that they experienced when they first encountered their new thing.

Hope you can get some use out of our favorite Zoom icebreakers. If you want some other icebreaker hacks, you can check out our guide to creating good icebreakers here and some of the best icebreakers to use in any setting here. And of course, if you want a little help creating your perfect virtual team-building event, we got you.