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12 Fun Morning Meeting Games To Engage Teams and Fuel Productivity

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By Preethi Jathanna

Senior Writer for HR and Remote Work

12 Fun Morning Meeting Games To Engage Teams and Fuel Productivity

Help your staff shake off their forenoon fug with some entertaining morning meeting games. An energizing way to start the day, these daily icebreakers will tickle the brain and buoy the mood of the team, so that everyone starts the day with a smile.

There are all kinds of physical and intellectual pursuits that you can incorporate into the beginning of the workday. In this post, we’ve highlighted a dozen morning meeting games to get you started. Each one can be played both in person and virtually, making them suitable for in-office employees as well as hybrid workers.

1. How Do Morning Meeting Games Energize Team Members?

How Do Morning Meeting Games Energize Team Members?

Morning meeting games promote mental clarity and stimulate cognitive activity, waking up the mind so that staff feel ready for a full day of productive work. These games are also beneficial for mood, introducing a fun element to the start of business hours that can have a positive impact on performance for the rest of the day. 

In the long term, the cumulative experience of daily group activities develops a cohesive team atmosphere that translates into better office communication and collaboration.

2. Top Morning Meeting Games 

2.1. Simon Says

Simon Says is a classic children’s game that is just as good for perking up adults as it is for kids. The concept is simple: the meeting host gives a series of commands to the other people present. If the host uses the set phrase “Simon says” before their instruction, it should be obeyed. If they do not say the phrase, however, anybody who acts is eliminated. Gameplay continues until only one person remains. 

All kinds of actions can be incorporated into the game, including “Simon says rub your head” and “Simon says imitate a crow.”  

In addition to being a light-hearted way to start the day, Simon Says promotes concentration, as it’s surprisingly easy for people to get eliminated when they aren’t focused.

2.2. Morning Crosswords

Morning Crosswords

Crosswords can be beneficial for stimulating verbal skills, improving memory, and building vocabulary, making them one of the most advantageous morning meeting games for adults to start the day with.

Many newspapers around the world provide free daily crosswords online.There are also several websites built purely to offer free crosswords so remote teams can engage and also make the best of these. .Although it’s possible to give each meeting attendee their crosswords, completing these puzzles as a team has its own set of pros, including fostering group problem-solving and encouraging communication. 

2.3. Wave Yoga

Don’t let the name fool you, wave yoga isn’t just an exercise for the hands! Almost like a physical version of Simon Says, the idea is to emulate the body moves of other participants. To get started, designate each person a number. The first person performs a yoga pose that everybody else must then copy. Once everyone has held this yoga pose for a set amount of time, the second person transitions from the first pose into their chosen pose, with everybody else following suit. This continues until everybody in the group has had a turn.

Aside from awakening the body and getting the blood flowing, wave yoga is about paying close attention to the movements of the other people in the group, demanding concentration as well as flexibility. Just make sure to remind everyone that their poses should be suitable for every member of the team so that the activity is as inclusive as possible.

2.4. Guess the Breakfast

For something less physically taxing, Guess the Breakfast is a game where the team must intuit what everybody else in the room has had for their morning repast. Each person can be asked three questions to help narrow down the options. For example, “Is it a kind of cereal?”, “Was it hot or cold?”, or “Did you pick it up on the way to the office?”

While a byproduct of the game might be that people begin eating a more diverse diet to outfox their colleagues, the principal aim is to spark the analytical part of the brain to solve the brekkie mystery based on a limited data set. 

2.5. Morning Mad Libs

Morning Mad Libs

The self-professed “World’s Greatest Word Game,” Mad Libs is a party favorite that can be used to turn morning gatherings from snoozefests into laughathons. The first step is to download or create a Mad Lib form, which tells a general story but contains blanks that need to be filled in. Preprepared forms can be found for free online or via an app.

During the morning meeting, the designated storyteller asks each person in turn for an adjective, noun, verb, or other type of word to fill in the blanks on the form. Once all the blanks are filled in, the storyteller reads out the completed Mad Lib, usually to hilarious results. Mad Libs are a creative, amusing way to commence the day, lightening the mood and relaxing the team so that they can work with greater positivity.

2.6. Where Are You?

Another guessing-type game, Where Are You? is played by asking one member of the team to use Google Maps or another similar piece of software to pick a location somewhere in the world. The other participants then must guess where the location is solely by using the street view function. Make sure that people are instructed to pick places with recognizable visual clues, rather than the wilds of the Gobi Desert!

Alternatively, there are free apps like GeoGuessr that can be used to randomize the game entirely. 

Where Are You? Is a fun way for staff to travel the globe while also providing a geographical challenge, as they try to guess their surroundings from cultural landmarks.

2.7. Icebreaker Roulette

A good way for the team to get to know one another better, icebreaker roulette involves asking a random question to each member of the team in turn. These questions can be submitted by employees beforehand or generated by a website such as Wordwall. Questions can be anything from “Do you prefer to watch movies at cinemas or home?” to “What’s your favorite genre of music?”

Icebreaker roulette is one of the best morning meeting games for steadily improving team spirit. In addition to improving interpersonal rapport, staff will also feel increasingly comfortable expressing themselves in front of their peers, which can lead to more constructive work relationships.

2.8. Character Interview

Character Interview

Each meeting participant takes it in turn to pick a fictional or real-life character to portray. Everybody else then asks the person about their experiences, hobbies, or whatever else they want to try and determine the identity of the character. 

Spice the format up with a work-related twist and limit the interrogation to common job interview questions, such as “What would you say your greatest weakness is?” or “How do you handle conflicts?”

The Character Interview game allows employees to express their creativity when they are answering the questions. On the flip side, they must use problem-solving skills when they are asking questions. In both cases, it’s a great way to stimulate cognitive function.

2.9. Lighting Scavenger Hunts

Traditional scavenger hunts would occupy far too much time for a morning meeting. Instead, why not try a lightning-fast version? Each player is given a list of items to track down and photograph within five minutes. These items could include a teaspoon, something orange, or a stapler. Each retrieved object scores a point, with the person with the most points declared the winner. 

The physical side of dashing about is guaranteed to wake staff up, while attempting to find the necessary bits and bobs in such a short time requires careful thought rather than scattershot enthusiasm.

2.10. What’s New in My Office?

This game is best suited to a remote work team. In each morning meeting, every member of the team is tasked with introducing an item into their home office environment that is not usually there. These objects should be large enough that they can be seen on camera, but it’s up to the individuals whether they opt for amusing but obvious anomalies or subtler workspace additions. The new item could be a houseplant or a poster in the background, or a fluffy pen or Star Wars mouse pad in the foreground.

A kind of real-world spot the difference, What’s New in My Office? fosters observational skills. It’s also a nice little way to encourage a team to take a greater interest in one another’s remote work setups.

2.11. Team Trivia

Team Trivia

Test the general knowledge of your team with a quick pop quiz that will get the little gray cells firing. The topic can change regularly, ranging from movie trivia to sports facts, or incorporate a little bit of everything each time. The important thing is to keep it short and sweet, with around 10 questions sufficient in most cases. Save the longer quizzes for happy hour or company retreats!

A wake-up call for the brain, team trivia adds a competitive zest to the morning meeting that can motivate higher performance throughout the rest of the day.

2.12. Team Charades

One of the best team activities for building office relationships, charades is an engaging, energizing game that stimulates the creative centers of the brain. Plus, the physical aspect is a great way to get the body moving first thing in the morning.

Players take turns to act out a song, movie, or phrase without saying a single syllable. This can be randomly generated online or predetermined by the meeting host. The other players must guess the charade as quickly as possible. To ensure things don’t run over, set a one-minute time limit per charade.

3. FAQs

3.1. What is a morning meeting activity?

A morning meeting activity can refer to any game or pursuit that is designed to shake staff out of their lassitude at the beginning of the day. They can range from mental exercises such as trivia games or crosswords to physical exertions such as wave yoga or charades.

3.2. What are the 4 parts of a morning meeting?

The 4-part morning meeting is a concept that was first popularized in schools but has since been adopted by some businesses to provide a structure for their a.m. gatherings. It begins with a greeting that includes a fun activity. This is followed by the sharing of daily goals and a discussion of challenges, before concluding with any staff shoutouts or announcements.

3.3. How can I improve my morning meetings?

Games are one way to improve your morning meetings, but you can also introduce breakfast snacks to provide fuel for your staff. Create a clear structure and set a time limit for the morning meeting games, so that you can maximize the effectiveness without letting it run over into the rest of the working day.

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