A Spider Web of Who to Ask1. Everyone's name goes on a sticky note, and the notes go around the edge of a whiteboard in a circle.2. Name three things people ask for help with at work, and give each one a color.3. In each color, every person draws a line from their own name to the person they go to first.4. Read the web together: who has the most lines, and who has none.Setting: in person or on a call. Group: 3 to 20. Time: about 15 min. Needs: a whiteboard or shared whiteboard, sticky notes and three colors of marker. Debrief: Which line on the web surprised the person it points to?
A Team Costume From Five Homes1. In breakout rooms, each person has one minute to fetch one ordinary thing from the room they are in. 2. The room has four minutes to invent one costume that uses every item, and to name it. 3. One person models it on camera, or everyone holds up their item together. 4. Back in the main room, each team presents its costume in thirty seconds. Setting: on a call. Group: 3 or more, in breakout rooms of three to five. Time: about 10 min. Needs: nothing (whatever is in the room each person is sitting in). Debrief: Whose item was the hardest to fit in, and how did the room make it work?
Bones in Order, Head to Toe1. Hand each person a sticky note naming one part of a skeleton decoration: skull, jaw, neck, shoulders, ribs, hips, knees, shins, ankles, toes. Notes stay hidden. 2. Without showing the note or saying its word, people say where their part sits: "I am below the ribs." 3. The group lines up from head to toe. 4. Turn the notes around down the line to check. Setting: in person. Group: 3 to 10 in a line; a bigger group makes several lines. Time: about 5 min. Needs: sticky notes, each naming one part of a paper skeleton. Debrief: Which clue told you most quickly where to stand?
Carry the Mini Pumpkin on Two Rulers1. Pairs line up behind a start line. Each person holds one ruler by its end. 2. A mini pumpkin sits across the two rulers, and the pair walks it around a chair and back. 3. They hand over by lowering the pumpkin onto the next pair's rulers, with no hands on it. 4. A dropped pumpkin goes back on the rulers where it fell. Run the relay twice and let each team beat its own first time. Setting: in person. Group: 4 or more, in pairs. Time: about 10 min. Needs: two rulers or yardsticks for each pair, a mini pumpkin for each team and a chair to walk around. Debrief: What did your pair change between the first walk and the second?
Show all 28 activities (25 more)
Energizers, continued
The Creaky House, a Sound Each1. Give each person one sound: a creaking door, the wind, an owl, footsteps, a clock striking, a cat. In a large group, several people share a sound. 2. Read out a short story of your own about a walk through an old house, and pause at each cue. 3. Each sound comes in on its cue and stops when the next one starts. 4. Read it again faster, then let the group run it from memory with no reader. Setting: in person or on a call. Group: 3 or more. Time: about 5 min. Needs: nothing (a six-line story the leader makes up). Debrief: How did you know when to stop your sound?
Mummy the Office Chair, One Roll1. Each team gets an empty office chair and one roll of toilet paper. 2. It wraps the chair until no seat or back shows. The roll goes from hand to hand, and nobody wraps twice in a row. 3. Torn paper may be tucked in but not taped. 4. After three minutes, each team unwraps its chair into a recycling bag, in one piece if it can. Setting: in person. Group: 3 or more, in teams of three to five. Time: about 10 min. Needs: an office chair and a roll of toilet paper for each team, and a recycling bag. Debrief: Who noticed that the paper was about to tear, and what did they say?
One Flashlight, One Shadow Creature1. Each team gets a flashlight and a stretch of blank wall. Dim the lights and keep everyone standing where they are. 2. The team has five minutes to make the shadow of one creature from hands and things off a desk, with every member's hands in it. 3. Nobody needs to touch: hands held at different distances from the light overlap on the wall. 4. Each team shows its creature, and the others name it. Setting: in person. Group: 3 or more, in teams of three or four. Time: about 10 min. Needs: a flashlight or phone light for each team and a blank wall. Debrief: Who directed and who adjusted, and did that change along the way?
Thirteen, One Voice at a Time1. Everyone looks at the floor or closes their eyes, by choice. On a call, cameras go off. 2. The group counts from one to thirteen, one voice for each number, with no order agreed and no signals. 3. If two people speak at once, the count starts again at one. 4. Stop at thirteen or after five minutes, whichever comes first. Setting: in person or on a call. Group: 3 to 20. Time: about 5 min. Needs: nothing. Debrief: What changed in the round that finally worked?
Communication 7
A Spider Web of Who to Ask1. Everyone's name goes on a sticky note, and the notes go around the edge of a whiteboard in a circle. 2. Name three things people ask for help with at work, and give each one a color. 3. In each color, every person draws a line from their own name to the person they go to first. 4. Read the web together: who has the most lines, and who has none. Setting: in person or on a call. Group: 3 to 20. Time: about 15 min. Needs: a whiteboard or shared whiteboard, sticky notes and three colors of marker. Debrief: Which line on the web surprised the person it points to?
Everyone Fills Their Treat Bag1. Mix the candies and deal five to each person. Give each a goal card that reads "end with four of one color", with a different color on every card. Cards start face down. 2. People trade one for one by talking. Nobody takes: they offer, and the other accepts or not. 3. The team wins only when every goal card is met. 4. Stop after six minutes and count how many goals are still short. Setting: in person. Group: 3 to 8. Time: about 10 min. Needs: wrapped candies or paper slips in as many colors as there are people, five of each color, and a goal card for each person. Debrief: When did people start telling each other their goals?
Four Witnesses, One Report1. The detectives wait outside, or in a breakout room. Four witnesses watch a helper in a hat cross the room, move three things and leave, all in ten seconds. 2. The detectives come back and interview each witness alone for two minutes, taking notes. 3. They write one agreed report: what was worn, what moved and in what order. 4. The helper repeats the walk, and the team marks its report. Setting: in person or on a call. Group: 6 to 20. Time: about 15 min. Needs: a hat and three things to move. Debrief: Where did two witnesses disagree, and how did the detectives choose?
The Office Ghost Writes a Welcome Note1. Each team writes a five-line welcome note to a new hire from the friendly ghost who has seen everything in this office. 2. Each person writes one line in turn and may not change anyone else's. 3. Before a line is written, the writer says out loud what it will add to the note. 4. Teams read their notes out, and the group picks one line from each for a shared note. Setting: in person or on a call. Group: 3 or more, in teams of three to five. Time: about 10 min. Needs: a shared document, or one sheet of paper for each team. Debrief: How did the note change because nobody could edit a line?
One Shared Slide, a Room Each1. Draw the outline of a house with one empty room for each person, on a shared slide or a flip chart sheet. 2. Each person has three minutes to furnish their room of a friendly haunted house, with shapes and words only. 3. Then the doors: every room must connect to the rooms beside it, and neighbors agree where each door goes. 4. Walk through the house together. Each owner gives a tour in one sentence. Setting: in person or on a call. Group: 3 to 12. Time: about 15 min. Needs: a shared slide or whiteboard, or a flip chart sheet and markers. Debrief: Which door took the longest to agree, and why?
Trace My Flashlight Beam1. Each pair tapes a large sheet of paper to the wall. One partner holds a flashlight and the other a marker. 2. The one with the light slowly draws a simple shape with the beam (a pumpkin, a bat, a hat) without saying what it is. 3. The partner follows the moving spot with the marker. Nobody talks. 4. They compare the line with the shape that was meant, then swap. Setting: in person. Group: 3 or more, in pairs, with one group of three if the number is odd. Time: about 10 min. Needs: a flashlight or phone light, a marker and a large sheet of paper for each pair. Debrief: How fast could the light move before the line fell apart?
What's in the Box, in Three Words1. Cut a hand hole in a shoebox and put in one everyday object, such as a pine cone, a whisk or a sponge. Nothing sharp, wet or alive. 2. One person from the team feels the object and gives exactly three describing words, never its name or its use. 3. The team agrees on one written guess, then the box is opened. 4. Go again with a new object and a new feeler, and compare which words worked. Setting: in person. Group: 3 or more, in teams of three to five. Time: about 10 min. Needs: a shoebox with a hand hole cut in it and six everyday objects. Debrief: Which word helped the most, and which sent the team the wrong way?
Problem solving 7
Bounce the Flashlight to the Pumpkin1. Tape a paper pumpkin to a wall around a corner from a flashlight propped on a table. 2. The team gets three small mirrors and has to light up the pumpkin without moving the flashlight or the pumpkin. The beam stays on the walls, away from faces. 3. A different person holds each mirror. Anyone left over watches the pumpkin and calls the adjustments. 4. When the light lands, hold it for a count of ten. Then try with one mirror fewer. Setting: in person. Group: 3 or more, in teams of three to five. Time: about 15 min. Needs: a flashlight, three hand mirrors and a paper pumpkin for each team. Debrief: Who could see the whole path of the light, and how did they pass that on?
Bury One Skeleton From the Process Closet1. Each person writes one skeleton on a sticky note: an old workaround the team still uses and nobody has fixed. 2. The notes go up on the wall, and the group puts the ones that match together. 3. Each person marks the two they would most like gone. 4. For the one with the most marks, the team names a first step, an owner and a date. Setting: in person or on a call. Group: 3 to 20. Time: about 15 min. Needs: sticky notes and a wall, or a shared whiteboard. Debrief: Why has that workaround lasted so long?
Eight Straw Legs Hold a Stapler1. Each team gets eight paper straws, an arm's length of tape and one sheet of paper. 2. It builds a spider whose eight legs hold a stapler up off the table. 3. The team has ten minutes, and the stapler goes on only at the end. 4. A spider that holds for a count of ten passes. Teams then take legs away one at a time to find how few will do. Setting: in person. Group: 3 or more, in teams of three or four. Time: about 15 min. Needs: eight paper straws, an arm's length of tape, a sheet of paper and a stapler for each team. Debrief: What did the team test before the stapler went on?
One Door, One Kit, a Checklist1. Each team gets one door or cubicle wall and the same kit: ten sheets of paper, tape, one marker and scissors. Nothing else may be added. 2. Before anyone cuts, each member gives one idea, and the team picks a design that uses a piece of everyone's. 3. The team has twenty minutes to build. 4. Judge by a checklist, not a vote: only the kit was used, every member can point to their part, and nothing covers a handle, a window or a sign. Setting: in person. Group: 3 or more, in teams of three to six. Time: about 30 min. Needs: ten sheets of paper, tape, one marker and scissors for each team, and a door or a cubicle wall. Debrief: Whose idea changed the most between the plan and the door?
Paper Bats Through the Tape Web1. Before the session, string masking tape or yarn across an open doorway so that it leaves eight to ten gaps of different sizes. 2. Each person folds a paper bat (a paper plane will do) and has to send it through a gap without it touching the web. 3. A gap closes once a bat has gone through it: mark it with a sticky note. 4. The team plans who takes which gap. A bat that touches the web is thrown again. Setting: in person. Group: 3 to 10 at a doorway. Time: about 15 min. Needs: masking tape or yarn strung across a doorway, paper and sticky notes. Debrief: How did the team decide who got the small gaps?
Six Sealed Mystery Boxes, One Answer Sheet1. Seal six small boxes that look the same, each with one thing inside: coins, dry rice, a marble, paper clips, a sponge, nothing. Number them. 2. Give the team the list of the six contents. 3. The team may shake, tilt and weigh the boxes in the hand, but not open them. 4. It hands in one agreed sheet that matches each number to its contents. Open the boxes to check. Setting: in person. Group: 3 or more, in teams of three to six. Time: about 10 min. Needs: six small sealed boxes for each team, holding coins, dry rice, a marble, paper clips, a sponge and nothing. Debrief: Which two boxes were the hardest to tell apart, and what settled it?
Thirteen Glitches in the Shared Document1. Before the session, copy an ordinary team document and plant thirteen small errors: a wrong date, a total that does not add up, a name spelled two ways. 2. Share it. Each team has eight minutes to find all thirteen. 3. First the team splits the pages between its members, and nobody checks a part that belongs to someone else. 4. Teams keep one shared list of finds. Show the answers and count. Setting: in person or on a call. Group: 3 or more, in teams of three to six. Time: about 15 min. Needs: a copy of an ordinary team document with thirteen planted errors. Debrief: Which glitch did nobody find, and whose part was it in?
Trust 7
A Color, a Question, or Pass1. Write a card with one question for each of four colors: a time I asked for help, something a mistake taught me, a thing I am glad we stopped doing, a skill I would like to borrow from someone here. 2. Each person draws a candy or a slip without looking. On a call, the leader calls a color for each person in turn. 3. They answer the question for that color in one or two sentences, or pass. 4. Go around twice. Setting: in person or on a call. Group: 3 or more, in groups of three to six. Time: about 10 min. Needs: wrapped candies or paper slips in four colors, and a card that gives one question for each color. Debrief: Which question was the hardest to answer in front of the team?
A Group Costume Nobody Vetoes1. The team wants one theme for an optional group costume or a decorated team space. Anyone may suggest one. 2. Each suggestion gets a show of thumbs: up, sideways or down. A single thumb down removes it, and nobody is asked why. 3. Keep going until one theme has no thumbs down. 4. Agree the least each person needs to do to take part, and that not dressing up is fine. Setting: in person or on a call. Group: 3 to 20. Time: about 10 min. Needs: nothing. Debrief: What was it like to veto an idea, or to have yours vetoed, with no reason given?
A Mask With Two Sides1. Everyone gets a paper plate as a mask. On the outside they write three words for how colleagues probably see them at work. 2. On the inside they write one thing they would like the team to know about how they work best. 3. Each person shares the outside, and the inside only if they choose. 4. Listeners say "thank you" and ask no questions. Setting: in person. Group: 3 or more, in groups of up to six. Time: about 15 min. Needs: a paper plate and a marker for each person. Debrief: What did you hear that will change how you work with someone?
Here Lies a Good Idea1. Each person draws a paper headstone for a project, an idea or a habit the team ended this year. 2. They write its name on it and one good thing it taught. 3. The stones go up on the wall, and each maker reads theirs in one sentence. 4. The team picks one idea worth bringing back, or agrees to let them all rest. Setting: in person or on a call. Group: 3 to 20. Time: about 15 min. Needs: paper, markers and tape, or a shared slide. Debrief: Which ending still stings, and what would make the next one easier?
How Scary Is Too Scary: One Line1. Mark a line across the room from "no scares, thanks" at one end to "love a good fright" at the other. On a call, everyone types a number from 1 to 10 at the same moment. 2. People stand where they belong, and nobody comments. 3. Someone from each end and from the middle says one sentence about what they would like from Halloween at work. 4. The team agrees one rule for the week, such as no jump scares at desks. Setting: in person or on a call. Group: 3 or more. Time: about 10 min. Needs: nothing (two chairs mark the ends of the line). Debrief: What will the team do differently this week because of the line?
The Task That Haunts My List1. Everyone thinks of one small task that has sat on their list for too long. 2. Each person names theirs, with no explanation needed. 3. After each one, anyone may offer one concrete help: ten minutes, a template, a name to ask. The owner says yes or no thanks. 4. To close, each person names the day they will do it. Setting: in person or on a call. Group: 3 to 20. Time: about 10 min. Needs: nothing. Debrief: Which offer of help was the easiest to accept?
Unmask One Myth About My Job1. Each person thinks of one thing people often get wrong about their job. 2. They say it in one sentence, "People think I ...", and then what is true. 3. After each one, a colleague says one thing they will do differently now they know. 4. The team picks one myth worth correcting for everyone outside the team. Setting: in person or on a call. Group: 3 to 20. Time: about 10 min. Needs: nothing. Debrief: Which myth had you believed about a colleague's job?
How this list was compiled: An original list of October 2026: 28 cooperative activities for a team at work in the last week of October, in four types (energizers, communication, problem solving, trust). Nothing was copied from another list, and each entry is one way to run its activity, not a rule book. Group sizes and minutes are rough figures for planning, and no result of team building is claimed. The screen is this site's own rule and not a review by an expert: no gore and no jump scares, no costume anyone must wear, no alcohol, a lowered light only where people stand still, nobody lifted, caught, carried, held or blindfolded, paper slips wherever a card names candy, and anyone may pass. One fact was checked on 2026-10-14 at Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0): Halloween is held on 31 October, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween. Licence: own work
How it works
These Halloween team building activities for the workplace are made from mini pumpkins, flashlights, sealed boxes and paper. Nobody has to wear a costume, and there are no jump scares.
Read the full guide
Team building games with a Halloween theme, in four types
Each card is an energizer, a communication task, a problem or a trust activity, and One of each type deals one of each. The Setting line says in person, on a call or both: 15 of the 28 run on a video call.
For a team where not everyone likes a scare
Start with How Scary Is Too Scary: One Line, which ends in one rule for the week. A Group Costume Nobody Vetoes settles a theme without asking anyone for a reason. Carry the Mini Pumpkin on Two Rulers, Trace My Flashlight Beam and Bounce the Flashlight to the Pumpkin have no ghosts or monsters.
One Door, One Kit, a Checklist takes half an hour, and Paper Bats Through the Tape Web needs its doorway strung before people arrive.
Questions and answers
What are quick team building games for Halloween?
Thirteen, One Voice at a Time and The Creaky House, a Sound Each take about five minutes and need nothing. Bones in Order, Head to Toe takes the same with a pad of sticky notes.
Which Halloween team building activities work on a video call?
15 of the 28, such as A Team Costume From Five Homes, Thirteen Glitches in the Shared Document and The Task That Haunts My List. Choose On a call under the button to deal only those.
Are there Halloween team building games for teens?
Yes. Carry the Mini Pumpkin on Two Rulers, Eight Straw Legs Hold a Stapler and Bounce the Flashlight to the Pumpkin need a room and an adult to run them, not an office. More are on team building games for teens.