Tap into your team’s creativity with these virtual painting team building activities! We’ve rounded up 8+ experiences that are perfect for art enthusiasts as well as total beginners, ensuring everyone can enjoy these team bonding exercises.
Why host a virtual painting team building activity?
Engaging in a creative, art-based activity can help your team foster their creative problem-solving skills. Stepping outside your comfort zone can also help build confidence as well as your capacity for strategic risk-taking. In 2023, make creativity and connection a priority and create something beautiful with your team!
TLDR: in this list, you’ll find:
- inclusive virtual painting team building ideas
- virtual paint night ideas for groups and teams
- effective methods for virtual team bonding
- fun and inclusive art activities for groups
- creative ideas for corporate teams
- easy online painting ideas
1. Learn About the History & Culture of Street Art – One of Our Favorite Virtual Painting Team Building Activities!
Unexpected Virtual Tours’ Street Art virtual team building event is a DEI-focused experience that’s perfect for a creative workday break or virtual happy hour bonding. This activity combines trivia, hands-on painting activities, and lots of team-building challenges.
The session is guided by a live, knowledgeable, engaging guide who will teach your group about the history and culture of street art. During your session, employees will participate in fun, inclusive & interactive street art-themed activities.
Take a virtual tour to see the “Homage to King” public art mural in Atlanta, as well as Black History Matters murals around the city. You’ll learn about the history and culture of street art and the movements that shaped it.
Additionally, you can reserve virtual painting kits! Everyone will get to unwrap a box with a custom corporate card, decorate-a-cookie kit, snacks, water brush crayons and street art coloring pages from local artists. Kits are delivered to your employees’ homes and can be customized with cookies with your company’s logo, making this a fun combination of a gift and a team building experience.
Learn more about the Street Art Virtual Team Building activity from Unexpected Virtual Tours and book your session!
2. Host a Virtual Painting Party
A virtual painting party is a fun way to build camaraderie with your remote team. For those who don’t consider themselves “artists,” it’s also a way to break out of your comfort zone in a supportive environment. A painting party works best when everyone works on their own version of the same painting to ensure consistency. This is a fantastic activity and painting experience for virtual team bonding.
You can set up a SurveyMonkey poll to allow your team to choose the painting they like best. Employees can chat and share painting tips with each other during the session. No need to take it too seriously – the point is to relax and have fun together, not to create a masterpiece! After you’re done, everyone will end up with a unique keepsake. This activity is a great reminder that even when your team is working toward an identical common goal, everyone’s individual strengths and vision can shine through.
Check out Painting to Gogh to organize a virtual team painting party. Their packages include supplies as well as access to a recorded video tutorial.
3. Best Activity for Virtual Team Bonding: Attend a Virtual Art & Culture Event Together
Tour world-renowned art museums from the comfort of home. In 2023, it feels as though there are more virtual museum tour opportunities than ever before. Explore the Google Arts & Culture digital collection of artwork and virtual tours from around the world. Can you imagine wandering the halls of The Louvre with your coworkers? Sounds fantastic! With a virtual tour, you can.
For extra fun, organize a digital museum scavenger hunt for your team. Or, have everyone explore and share their favorite piece of artwork together on a video call. For fans of classical music, the Berlin Philharmoniker has made its digital concert hall free for everyone! Or, visit your local art museum’s website to explore their digital offerings and field trips. This is a great, inclusive alternative to online painting classes.
To extend the creative energy beyond one evening, check out Open Culture. Here, your company can access 1,500 free online classes, 700 free audiobooks, 300 free language lessons, and more!
4. Plan a Sidewalk Chalk Night – One of Our Favorite Virtual Team Building Painting Activities!
It might be years or even decades since you last drew with sidewalk chalk! This low-pressure art activity is a great way to exercise your creativity and tap into some childhood fun. Grab some chalk and meet your team at a local park for some sidewalk drawing. Gardening knee pads can help keep everyone comfortable. If you want to get fancy with your chalk art, grab some kitchen sponges, paint brushes, masking tape, and small buckets of water for blending.
Meet up at a local park or even outside your office for an evening of creative fun. Or, connect virtually with your team on a video call. Everyone can log in from their driveway, sidewalk, or their favorite outdoor Wi-Fi spot. You can also make this a family-friendly event and encourage employees to include their families, partners, or roommates.
This guide to hosting a small chalk festival is geared toward neighborhood groups. But, it has plenty of helpful tips for a corporate chalk event, too! Read the guide.
5. Virtually Paint by Numbers Together
For this virtual team building painting activity, everyone can choose their own preferred artwork and get crafty on a canvas together. Everyone can join a video call to chat and socialize while painting online. Each person will end up with a different piece of art that reflects their unique tastes and talents. You can even kick off the activity by having each person share which painting they chose and why.
Allow an hour or two for team painting and connecting. In many cases, a paint by numbers project may end up taking longer than a video call. Your team can reconnect over email in a week or two to share photos of their final pieces. Or, set up a second video call for everyone to show off their work! Many people are happily surprised by how realistic their final paint by numbers project turns out.
Discover a wide variety of paint by numbers projects – from nature landscapes to animals and classic still life scenes.
6. Try a Cool Painting Trend: Marble Painting
Marble painting has been a popular at-home painting trend for a few years. It’s a trend for good reason – it produces beautiful abstract results. Plus, this virtual painting team building activity is easy enough for anyone to create a beautiful piece of art. Marbling painting techniques create a swirled paint effect. There are a variety of ways to do it. And, despite the name, the process doesn’t necessarily involve marbles at all!
One popular method is to use shaving cream and watercolor paint to create a marbled look. The result is a beautiful, one-of-a-kind abstract work of art that’s uniquely yours. Encourage everyone to choose paint colors that speak to their personality and mood. Pro-tip – as the event organizer, consider preparing one painting ahead of time. You’ll learn how to do it step-by-step. This will help you become familiar with the technique. And, you’ll have a finished product to show the group for inspiration!
Do you want proof that this fantastic activity is truly for all skill levels? Check out this guide, titled How to Marble Paper with 6 Easy Techniques for Kids.
7. Paint a Functional Wooden Household Item
Host a virtual team building painting session while also giving your employees a functional household item they’ll use for years to come. Many arts and craft stores sell unfinished wood items designed for painting. The options are seemingly endless. During spring months, you could choose to paint a birdhouse. Or, ask each person on your team to choose an animal that most represents their personality. Then, have everyone paint a decorative figurine of that animal.
Another option is to paint an item for everyone’s home office, like a wooden pencil cupholder, paper tray, or even a clock. If you plan to keep your item outdoors, be sure to apply a waterproof or weatherproof sealer! You could convert this to a painting and sip event by having everyone drink a glass of wine, too.
Check out your local art supply store to see what kinds of paintable items they sell. Or, explore Target’s collection of wooden paintable craft projects – including this Forest Stewardship Council Certified birdhouse.
8. Watch an Art Documentary or Drama
Host an art-focused, creativity-boosting virtual watch party with your team. Wired’s guide to hosting a virtual watch party can help cover your tech needs. From there, you’ll find plenty of art documentaries and dramas on streaming services. On Amazon Prime, you can rent, Loving Vincent (2017). This film is a 1.5-hour-long drama detailing the life of Vincent van Gogh in the 1890s France. Or, stream Bomb It (2007), a 1.5-hour-long documentary about street art. This film details the history of graffiti, from ancient cave paintings to its modern-day rise in popularity around the globe.
To make this activity a treat as well as a learning opportunity, purchase a delivery dinner for your crew to enjoy during the movie. Or, send each employee a USPS flat rate box filled with some microwave popcorn bags and their favorite candy! This can be a great way to continually work on virtual team bonding.
Make it a double feature! This activity pairs perfectly with the Street Art Team Building in a Box activity mentioned earlier in this article.
Whether your team is made up of designers and creatives or you don’t know your Monet from your Manet, art activities can help your team connect in a rich, meaningful way.
Located in Atlanta? Check out Unexpected Atlanta Tours & Gifts