ICEBREAKERS
By Ron Tucci and Ksenia Babich
1) Name Game: Line up by First Letter of their Middle Name
Have the group line-up alphabetically by the first letter of their middle name. If they don't have a middle name, they can make one up.
2) Name Game: Pantomime
Have the group sit in a circle. Children take turns, go around, introduce themselves, and pantomime their favourite activity. The group must guess what the activity is.
3) Walk to End of Line in One Minute
Teens start in a line and must reach the other side in exactly one minute. Their hands are kept behind their back so they can't look at the time. When the minute has come to an end, the leader will announce it.
4) Race with a Tissue
Each member has a tissue, and must race from one end to the other keeping the tissue on the body without dropping it or using hands.
5) Look Up, Look Down
Leader stands in the circle with group and says "look up," or "look down." When "look up" is said, the campers must look at another person. If they are making eye contact with someone else, they are out; they must be looking at someone who is not looking at them. When "look down" is said, the campers must look down to the ground.
6) Count to Ten as a Group
Group stands in a circle and has to count to a number such as 10, with one person/one number at a time. If two people say a number at the same time, then start at the beginning.
7) Cross the Room
Divide the group into two lines, which stand facing each other at opposite ends of the room. The children must be standing in their line, shoulder to shoulder: The leader says to the group, “Cross the room if you like Chinese food." The children who like Chinese food, cross the room to the other line at the opposite end. The leader then continues calling out other things, such as "Cross the room if you are the youngest; cross the room if you have been out of the United States." To add more movement to this game, the leader can have the children cross the room in a variety of ways, such as crawling, skipping, or doing the crabwalk.
8) Name Game Race
Split up the group into two teams. (Girls against boys is good). Use a blanket or large canopy to separate the two teams so that neither group can see each other. Two volunteers will hold divider up. Both teams decide on one person to quietly go up to the very front of the divider and assume any position so long as it is right in front of the divider. On the count of three, the divider is dropped and the person to call out the name of the other person first is the winner. This game is great fun and allows for everyone to remember each other's name.
9) Name Tag Charades
This only works with a preregistered group. I knew that later on I would want the kids breaking up into groups, and I didn't want them to automatically group with people they already knew. On the back of their prepared name tags I wrote a word. I wrote the same word on the back of ten name tags, dividing the 150 kids into 15 groups.
When it came time for them to get into their groups, I told them all to split up. After a few minutes of hustle and bustle, I told them to stop. No more talking. I instructed everyone to remove his/her name tag, unfold it and look at the word inside. I asked them not to show it to anyone, but, without saying anything out loud to track down the other nine people in the group.
The words included "BUS," "APPLE," "SKYSCRAPER," "COMPUTER," etc. Charade-type words that can be acted out. It was hilarious!! Eventually, everyone got in a group and all were laughing; they didn't even realize they were separated from their friends because their newly formed group was already acting as a team to locate lost members. One of the teams went so far as to form a bus and "drive" around the auditorium, picking up the other "bus" people.
10) Guess The Name
Make up a card for each attendee with the name of a famous person, living or dead, fictional or real, and tape it to the person's back. They then must circulate throughout the room and ask people questions about who they are, asking questions by yes or no only, until they figure out who they are.
11) Centipede
In two teams, participants sit on the ground with their legs wrapped around the person in front of them and their hands placed on the ground. The group must try to work together to get from one end to the other. If the team separates, they must reconnect and start again.
12) Piggyback Pairs
E>ach pair gets into a piggyback position and the person on the back must climb around, over and under the person they are on without touching the ground; they try to get back to their original piggyback position.
13) Ancient Numbers
Place sticks in any kind of form and campers must guess what number it is. Now the trick is, the number is shown by you casually placing your fingers in front of your body. So, if you place three fingers, then the ancient number with the sticks is three. If you place nine fingers then the ancient number is nine.
14) Bing, Bing, Bang
Campers stand in a circle and the leader is in the middle. All campers stand like soldiers. Leader points to group saying "bing." When the leader says "bing" to a certain person, that person must raise one arm up and then down. Sometimes the leader can trick the group and say "bang," but, if anyone flinches his/her arm, he/she is out.
15) Ah So Koh
Campers stand in a circle and have an action that goes with each word. "Ah" (right hand on head with fingers pointing outwards to right or left), "So" (left hand under chin with fingers pointing outwards to right or left), "Koh" (point to someone). Now when one points to another, then that person must begin again starting with "ah." Depending on which way one is pointing, the person one is pointing to is next to say "ah," "so" or "koh." Once everyone has a grasp of the game, pick up the speed. If the campers mess up, then they are out. Then they must run around the circle shouting into the player's ears who is still in the game to try and get them out.
16) Toilet Paper Intro
Group sits in a circle and passes a roll of toilet paper around. Each person takes as much toilet paper as he/she would need if going to the bathroom, then must say that many things about him/herself per piece of paper. So, if Lisa took 5 pieces, she needs to say 5 things.
17) Name Game: Human Bingo
Make a bingo chart with some large squares. Instead of a regular bingo board filled with numbers, this bingo chart is filled with personal characteristics. Campers go around and try to find people who have done the following activities or have the characteristics and sign each other's bingo charts. The first person to get bingo wins.
18) Continuous Story
Group sits in a circle and goes around the circle telling a story. Each person adds new bits to the story to make it more and more interesting.
19) Multi-Personality BBQ
Each camper selects a wacky character out of the hat at that meal and must be that character for all that meal.
20) Can't Say "No"
Each participant is given stickers and must go around making conversation with others. No one is allowed to say "NO!" If one says "no," then his/her sticker is taken away. The person with the most stickers in the end wins.
21) Exciting Lives We Lead
Teens are in groups and they all have a list of crazy and wild things, such as "Who has been to a concert in the past year?"; "Who has met the band?"; "Who has more than one piercing?", etc. In each group you arrange how many points each person gets for each item. E.g ask each member in the group "Who has been to a concert in past year?" and give ten points for each person per concert, adding five points if he/she met the band. At the end of the game, tally up all the points, and the group with the most points wins because it has the most exciting lives. (Remind everyone to be honest and not to cheat.)
22) Novel Quest
Divide teens into groups, and leader has several tasks each group must do. Each group has a number and, when it performs the task, must hold the number up. The first group to do it gets the most points. E.g., one task would be to have groups make a pyramid. The leader leads this, while one of the staff is keeping points.
23) Rain Blow
Do this before to separate into groups. Pass out various colors of bubble gum to participants. Ask them to unwrap the gum and begin chewing until they are able to blow a bubble. Tell them to walk around the room and identify other people with the same color/flavor. Or if you do not want to use food, you can divide your group with the Body and Adjective game. Write on separate pieces of paper different body parts with an adjective. Each member takes a paper and must act out what is written in order to find his/her other group members. Some examples are "jealous kneecap," "tired finger" and "angry arm."
5-10 Minutes
1) Name Game: Line Up by First Letter of Their Middle Name
Have the group line up alphabetically by the first letter of their middle name. If they don't have a middle name, they can make one up.
2) Name Game: Pantomime
Have the group sit in a circle. Children take turns, go around, introduce themselves, and pantomime their favorite activity. The group must guess what the activity is.
3) Walk to End of Line in One Minute
Teens start in a line and must reach the other side in exactly one minute. Their hands are kept behind their back so they can't look at the time. When the minute has come to an end, the leader will announce it.
4) Race with a Tissue
Each member has a tissue, and must race from one end to the other keeping the tissue on the body without dropping it or using hands.
5) Look Up, Look Down
Leader stands in the circle with group and says "look up," or "look down." When "look up" is said, the campers must look at another person. If they are making eye contact with someone else, they are out; they must be looking at someone who is not looking at them. When "look down" is said, the campers must look down to the ground.
6) Count to Ten as a Group
Group stands in a circle and has to count to a number such as 10, with one person/one number at a time. If two people say a number at the same time, then start at the beginning.
7) Cross the Room
Divide the group into two lines, which stand facing each other at opposite ends of the room. The children must be standing in their line, shoulder to shoulder: The leader says to the group, “Cross the room if you like Chinese food." The children who like Chinese food, cross the room to the other line at the opposite end. The leader then continues calling out other things, such as "Cross the room if you are the youngest; cross the room if you have been out of the United States." To add more movement to this game, the leader can have the children cross the room in a variety of ways, such as crawling, skipping, or doing the crabwalk.
8) Name Game Race
Split up the group into two teams. (Girls against boys is good). Use a blanket or large canopy to separate the two teams so that neither group can see each other. Two volunteers will hold divider up. Both teams decide on one person to quietly go up to the very front of the divider and assume any position so long as it is right in front of the divider. On the count of three, the divider is dropped and the person to call out the name of the other person first is the winner. This game is great fun and allows for everyone to remember each other's name.
9) Name Tag Charades
This only works with a preregistered group. I knew that later on I would want the kids breaking up into groups, and I didn't want them to automatically group with people they already knew. On the back of their prepared name tags I wrote a word. I wrote the same word on the back of ten name tags, dividing the 150 kids into 15 groups.
When it came time for them to get into their groups, I told them all to split up. After a few minutes of hustle and bustle, I told them to stop. No more talking. I instructed everyone to remove his/her name tag, unfold it and look at the word inside. I asked them not to show it to anyone, but, without saying anything out loud to track down the other nine people in the group.
The words included "BUS," "APPLE," "SKYSCRAPER," "COMPUTER," etc. Charade-type words that can be acted out. It was hilarious!! Eventually, everyone got in a group and all were laughing; they didn't even realize they were separated from their friends because their newly formed group was already acting as a team to locate lost members. One of the teams went so far as to form a bus and "drive" around the auditorium, picking up the other "bus" people.
10) Guess The Name
Make up a card for each attendee with the name of a famous person, living or dead, fictional or real, and tape it to the person's back. They then must circulate throughout the room and ask people questions about who they are, asking questions by yes or no only, until they figure out who they are.
10-20 Minutes
11) Centipede
In two teams, participants sit on the ground with their legs wrapped around the person in front of them and their hands placed on the ground. The group must try to work together to get from one end to the other. If the team separates, they must reconnect and start again.
12) Piggyback Pairs
Each pair gets into a piggyback position and the person on the back must climb around, over and under the person they are on without touching the ground; they try to get back to their original piggyback position.
13) Ancient Numbers
Place sticks in any kind of form and campers must guess what number it is. Now the trick is, the number is shown by you casually placing your fingers in front of your body. So, if you place three fingers, then the ancient number with the sticks is three. If you place nine fingers then the ancient number is nine.
14) Bing, Bing, Bang
Campers stand in a circle and the leader is in the middle. All campers stand like soldiers. Leader points to group saying "bing." When the leader says "bing" to a certain person, that person must raise one arm up and then down. Sometimes the leader can trick the group and say "bang," but, if anyone flinches his/her arm, he/she is out.
15) Ah So Koh
Campers stand in a circle and have an action that goes with each word. "Ah" (right hand on head with fingers pointing outwards to right or left), "So" (left hand under chin with fingers pointing outwards to right or left), "Koh" (point to someone). Now when one points to another, then that person must begin again starting with "ah." Depending on which way one is pointing, the person one is pointing to is next to say "ah," "so" or "koh." Once everyone has a grasp of the game, pick up the speed. If the campers mess up, then they are out. Then they must run around the circle shouting into the player's ears who is still in the game to try and get them out.
20+ Minutes
16) Toilet Paper Intro
Group sits in a circle and passes a roll of toilet paper around. Each person takes as much toilet paper as he/she would need if going to the bathroom, then must say that many things about him/herself per piece of paper. So, if Lisa took 5 pieces, she needs to say 5 things.
17) Name Game: Human Bingo
Make a bingo chart with some large squares. Instead of a regular bingo board filled with numbers, this bingo chart is filled with personal characteristics. Campers go around and try to find people who have done the following activities or have the characteristics and sign each other's bingo charts. The first person to get bingo wins.
18) Continuous Story
Group sits in a circle and goes around the circle telling a story. Each person adds new bits to the story to make it more and more interesting.
19) Multi-Personality BBQ
Each camper selects a wacky character out of the hat at that meal and must be that character for all that meal.
20) Can't Say "No"
Each participant is given stickers and must go around making conversation with others. No one is allowed to say "NO!" If one says "no," then his/her sticker is taken away. The person with the most stickers in the end wins.
21) Exciting Lives We Lead
Teens are in groups and they all have a list of crazy and wild things, such as "Who has been to a concert in the past year?"; "Who has met the band?"; "Who has more than one piercing?", etc. In each group you arrange how many points each person gets for each item. E.g ask each member in the group "Who has been to a concert in past year?" and give ten points for each person per concert, adding five points if he/she met the band. At the end of the game, tally up all the points, and the group with the most points wins because it has the most exciting lives. (Remind everyone to be honest and not to cheat.)
22) Novel Quest
Divide teens into groups, and leader has several tasks each group must do. Each group has a number and, when it performs the task, must hold the number up. The first group to do it gets the most points. E.g., one task would be to have groups make a pyramid. The leader leads this, while one of the staff is keeping points.
23) Rain Blow
Rain blow: Do this before to separate into groups. Pass out various colors of bubble gum to participants. Ask them to unwrap the gum and begin chewing until they are able to blow a bubble. Tell them to walk around the room and identify other people with the same color/flavor. Or if you do not want to use food, you can divide your group with the Body and Adjective game. Write on separate pieces of paper different body parts with an adjective. Each member takes a paper and must act out what is written in order to find his/her other group members. Some examples are "jealous kneecap," "tired finger" and "angry arm."