What are Ice Breaker Questions?

Ice breaker questions are questions that are asked at the beginning of a group meeting to facilitate an introduction. Good ice breaker questions are designed to enhance familiarity among group members. These questions delve into the inner thoughts and personality of an employee. 

When it comes to onboarding new employees, ice breaker questions are one of the easiest ways for the group to find common ground. At the same time, ice breaker questions help in breaking any kind of communication barriers that the group may face.

The ice breaker questions not only act as a way of calming the participants but also encourage effective communication. Asking ice breaker questions can make a boring meeting exciting by making everybody comfortable. Ice breaker questions can also be used at team event days or the beginning of an interview process.

Ice breaker questions can be a fun and engaging way to get acquainted with your coworkers and team members. New hires can feel comfortable when asked ice breaker questions in the initial phase. Funny ice breaker questions can also ease the stress level of new hires.

 Ice breaker Questions for New Hires

1. What is the most astonishing fact that you know?
2. What is the one app or website you wish existed?
3. What is a clever advertisement you’ve seen recently?
4. What is your favorite car that you want to own in the future?
5. What is one subject that you wish was taught in schools?
6. What challenges are you facing these days, and how are you trying to cope with them?
7. What is the one thing that tells you the most about a person?
8. What is the best event that you’ve been to?
9. What was the one assumption that you held onto that came out hilariously wrong?
10. What is the longest road trip you’ve been on?
11. What are some movies or TV shows that would make it on to your top 10 list of movies and TV shows of all time?
12. What was something you thought would be easy to accomplish until you tried to do it?
13. Have you thought about any work or activity that you would do when you retire?
14. What do you do after a complicated and hectic day at work?
15. Do you prefer spending time at home alone or with other people?
16. Where did you grow up as a child?
17. What are the top three things on your bucket list?
18. What is the one thing that you do not like about working from home?
19. What was the first book that you read?
20. What weird food did you like to eat during work?
21. Is there any skill that you want to have when you wake up tomorrow?
22. What are some of the podcasts that you often listen to?
23. In your opinion, what is the most amazing animal?
24. What is your all-time favorite song?
25. Are you watching a movie or a show right now?
26. What was your favorite subject in school?
27. Which restaurant is your favorite and why?
28. What is the one language that you want to learn other than your native language, and why?
29. Is there any particular meal or dish that you would cook for someone you are trying to impress?
30. What do you prefer: coffee or tea?

Team-building Ice breaker Questions

A set of well-executed, team-building ice breaker questions can help organizations improve employee engagement. Here are some team ice breaker questions for work that can help teams build deeper bonds.

1. Which is the last book that you read?
2. Tell us about one person from the team that you admire the most.
3. What is the best movie that you have seen lately?
4. What is the family tradition that excites you the most?
5. What is the one thing that can facilitate remote teams to work effectively?
6. What is the one thing that you like about your team?
7. Among all the team-building activities, which one is your favorite?
8. Who would be the one team member you would want to work with for the rest of your life, and why?
9. Who is the one team member that would be invited back multiple times in a talk show?
10. If one of your team members claims to be a spy working for aliens, who would that team member be?
11. What is the one team-building activity that you do not like at all?
12. What are the things that you have learned while working in a team?
13. What is the first thing you will do with your team members once the pandemic is over?
14. What is the one thing that made you smile recently?
15. Are there any phobias that you would like to overcome?
16. Do you have a habit of collecting things?
17. If you had a time machine, what year would you visit in the past or future?
18. Who is the one person in your community who makes a big difference?
19. What does teamwork mean to you?
20. What is your biggest accomplishment as a team member?
21. How much of a team player are you on a scale of 1-10?
22. What is the definition of an ideal team for you?
23. Do you have any memory of working in a team at school?

Fun Ice Breaker Questions 

Funny ice breaker questions for work can make meetings lively and interactive. The following funny ice breaker questions can help employees loosen up.

1. Are you willing to go to space knowing that you could not come back to Earth again?
2. What song can you think of right now that appropriately describes your life?
3. Which apps would you hold on to if you had to delete all but five apps from your smartphone?
4. What way would you prefer to be cooked if you were a potato?
5. If you had to choose one meal that you had to eat every single day for the rest of your life, what would it be?
6. If you are given a choice to watch a movie once again for the first time, what would it be?
7. Who would you invite as your first guest if you were to have your talk show?
8. Where would you go if you could teleport anywhere?
9. If you were to meet a famous historical personality, who would you choose to meet?
10. How would you spend your time if you were wealthy and did not have to work?
11. If you were to select one song that you can listen to all day long, what would it be?
12. What is the most embarrassing thing that you have ever done?
13. Where would you prefer to be if you could be anywhere in the world right now?
14. What was the last video that you watched on YouTube?
15. What was your biggest dream when you were a child?

Quick Ice Breaker Questions for Work

Some quick ice breaker questions at the beginning of any meeting can get rid of the awkwardness and create the right atmosphere for a compelling conversation. Here are some quick and easy ice breaker questions to create a comfortable environment.

1. What is your middle name?
2. What are your hobbies?
3. Are you a good listener or a good talker?
4. What is your dream job?
5. What would be the one other language that you want to speak?
6. Is it OK sometimes to waste time?
7. What would you do if you were given a billion dollars?
8. Do you prefer books or TV shows?
9. What was the best day of your life?
10. Do you prefer summer over winter?
11. What do you prefer: Cats or Dogs?
12. Describe yourself in a single word?
13. What was your first job?
14. Describe your cabinet in one word?
15. Are you a tea person or a coffee person?
16. What was the last movie that you watched?
17. Do you prefer vegetables over fruits?
18. What are your favorite games to play?

Interesting Ice Breaker Questions

Interesting ice breaker questions for work can act as a team-building exercise. These questions can also improve friendship and goodwill among employees. Every organization can benefit by adopting these interesting ice breaker questions for work.

1. If you were a fruit, what would it be?
2. What is your favorite color, and why?
3. Are you sunrise, daylight, or night? Tell us why you chose any of the three as your time of day.
4. If you were to be of the same age forever, what age would you choose?
5. What movie would you choose if you could be in the film of your choice?
6. What character would you play in your chosen movie and why?
7. Do you have or have you ever had an imaginary friend?
8. If you were chocolate, which chocolate would you be?
9. Think of one quote that describes you and why?
10. If one day you awoke as a flower, what flower would you choose to be and why?
11. Tell us about a material object that you already own and how it facilitates you on a day-to-day basis?
12. If you were stuck on a desert island, what are the five items you would want to take with you? 
13. What is your present smartphone wallpaper?
14. Take something out of your pocket or wallet and describe the importance of the object in your life.
15. If you could meet any person for a chat over coffee, who would you choose and why?
16. Do you have a go-to dance move? Show us. 
17. If you could choose one hobby that you wanted to include in your life, what hobby would you choose?
18. What is the greatest challenge that you have overcome in your life?

Funny Ice Breaker Questions

Funny ice breaker questions can engage everyone at work. You can reduce tension and nervousness to a great extent with funny ice breaker questions. It is easier to get connected with new hires and employees when they are happy, and these funny ice breaker questions help. In that sense, ice breaker questions can get rid of the nervousness and facilitate a healthy environment.

1. Is a burger a hot dog?
2. Do you have any good jokes to tell?
3. Can you share your worst dating experience?
4. Have you ever lied to impress someone?
5. Have you ever been in a situation where you needed to use a fake name?
6. What animal do you want to be?
7. If you could get rid of one food, what would you choose?
8. What are your favorite foods?
9. Have you ever worked from bed?
10. What bands do you listen to?
11. Describe the meaning of life.
12. What is the worst advice you have ever given someone?
13. Tell us about your funniest talent?
14. What would be your entrance theme song if you were a wrestler?
15. Tell us something that caused great trouble to you as a kid?
16. What breed of dog would you like to be?
17. Is there any type of food that you would never eat again?
18. What attracts you on a date?
19. What is the worst food that you have ever eaten?
20. Explain what scares you the most.
21. What would you do if you were invisible?
22. Have you ever used a pick-up line?
23. What is your favorite book, and why?
24. Which actor do you like the least?
25. What is the scariest story you’ve ever heard?
26. Which fashion trend would you want to kill?
27. What was the biggest fashion blunder you’ve made?

Ice Breaker Questions for Virtual Meetings

Team members can feel isolated and disassociated with their coworkers in work from home situations. The morale and performance of the employees can start to diminish in the absence of casual conversations. Here are some fun ice breaker questions for virtual meetings.

1. If you were to be reborn as an animal, which one would you choose?
2. What is a new hobby that you want to try if you know you could not fail?
3. Who do you think is your celebrity doppelganger?
4. What is the meal that you do not want to eat again in your life?
5. You’re next up for karaoke! What song do you pick?
6. What is your favorite way to kill time during quarantine?
7. Apple or Samsung?
8. Describe your dream holiday if you had no budget constraints.
9. What is your goal five years from now?
10. What talent would you like to develop?
11. Where would you want to build your dream home?
12. Do you prefer thriller or comedy movies?
13. What is the one thing that you earned while in quarantine?
14. What breed would you be if you were a dog?

Ice Breaker Questions for Work

Ice breaker questions for work help reveal elements of individuals’ personalities in your team. They can also help new teams to get along with each other. Ice breaker questions for work focus on the idea of working as team members. Here are some ice breaker questions for work that can help to get a conversation going. 

1. What was the one thing that you always had in your locker?
2. How do you like your eggs?
3. What is the one part of your daily routine that you would want to skip and why?
4. Have you ever had a random encounter with a celebrity?
5. What is the one unusual thing that you do regularly?
6. Which fictional character resembles you the most?
7. What are your favorite drinks?
8. Pick one thing that you have on your table and make up a story about it.
9. What is your favorite snack?

Ice breaker questions can seem easy on the surface but they’re hard to collate. We hope that this list helps you facilitate team building in these trying times.