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Resources>Games>Ice-breakers
Games
Ice-breakers
Micro Meetings of the Mind
Have all players make two lines of chairs facing each other, so that your knees are almost touching your partner's. The leader tells the group they will have 30 seconds to share information with the person opposite them. After each question, one line stands up and moves one seat to the right, or the other line stands up and moves one seat to the left. Sit down, introduce yourself by first name to the new person, then take turns responding to the leader's question. For the leader, you'll have to watch the time and get people to stop talking, stand up and move on to the next. This is a good way for a large group to start to get to know one another. Here are some suggested questions for people to share in their "micro meetings"
- What is (or was) your favourite subject at school?
- When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
- How did you get here (to this gathering that is)?
- What movie have you seen in the past couple of months that you have really liked?
- What's your favourite food?
- If you were an animal, what would you be?
- What's the best thing about your home town?
- Share one thing that you are really terrible at (I can't.....)
- Share one thing that you are really good at ( I can...)
- Share a something that happened to you today that you really liked
- What is one fun/cool/weird thing you or your family do at Christmastime?
- Where does your first name come from (Why are you called...)?
- and.....(think up additional ones before you play the game)
Lying
This is a good "first game" or ice breaker game for a group, whether or not they know each other (it's better if they don't know each other too well). The group sits in a circle and each person has a paper and a marker. Everyone writes down on their paper three things about themselves, two that are true, one that is a lie. Give people about 2 minutes to do this. Encourage them to be creative and try to make it difficult for everyone to determine the lie. Take turns around the circle showing everyone what is on your paper. The group has to guess which one is the lie (spouses and siblings are usually requested to remain silent!). This game helps people to reveal interesting things about themselves in a fun way. At an "Ask and Imagine" conference, one person said "I'm a ski jumper" (of course, we all thought that was the lie, but it was true!)) and another "I'm an actor". It was fun to find out things about each other. For some reason, the older the players are, the better this game works. Young teens don't seem to "get it" and tend to come up with too obvious lies and not very interesting facts. Self consciousness of early adolescence? Perhaps. Anyway, use this one with older groups.
If it is a large group (over 20) you might want to divide into two groups if time is an issue
Data processing
This game gets the players to line up in a particular order, and then signal all together when the line up is complete (when the data is processed). For example:
- Line up according to birthdays
- Line up from shortest to tallest without talking
- Line up alphabetically by first name
- Line up by shoe size
- Line up by ... (can you think up some more?)
And each time you get all lined up, to show that you're done:
- Join hands, or
- Put your hands at the waist of the person in front of you, or
- Put your hand on the head of the person to your right, or
- Put your left ear on the hip of the person to your left, or
- All sit down, or
- Touch your left toe and the right toe of the person beside you
- Grab one foot behind you to stand like a stork
- Or....
Where the Wind Blows
Make a wide circle of chairs with one less chair than there are people. Everyone sits, one player stands in the middle of the circle. She calls out "the wind blows everyone who_____________". Fill in the blank with anything--people wearing white socks, people who have a dog, people who play an instrument, people who like broccoli, etc (use your imagination). Those people stand up and must change places with someone else who is standing. While they are doing this, the person in the middle tries to sit in an empty place. The odd person out is in the middle and the game continues. Youth Group Tip: When playing this with younger teens, ask them to avoid saying things that suggest status (a few years ago, we had two or three kids in our youth group who loved to say "The wind blows everyone who has Nintendo" knowing full well that they were the only kids in the group who had one).
Who Started the Motion?
The object of the game is for a designated player to figure out who started the motion that everyone is doing. All players sit in a circle. One person is sent out of the room or out of sight of the group. The leader silently points to one person in the group. That person is the motion-starter. She starts a motion such as snapping fingers, rubbing her head, slapping knees, etc. and everyone copies her. Once the motion is started, the person outside comes back and stands in the middle of the circle. The motion starter can change the motion any time and as the other people in the circle see the motion change, they change too as quickly as possible. The person in the middle uses keen observation and has three guesses as to "who started the motion".
Remind the group not to all look directly at the motion starter--otherwise they give the game away!
Prui
You can play this game with 10 - 100 people! One person is the Prui (pronounced Proo-ee). Players scatter in the playing area and all close their eyes except the Prui. On the word go, everyone tries to find the Prui. Wander around the playing area (game leader, make sure no-one wanders the wrong way). As you bump into someone, say to them "Prui?". If they respond "Prui?", they are one of the other players. The only person who remains silent is the Prui. Once you have found the Prui, join hands. You become part of the Prui and if anyone bumps into you and says "Prui?" you now remain silent. Play continues until everyone is part of the Prui.
This is a good game to play before a discussion on community building or group dynamics. Also play "Sardines" (a hide and seek game where everyone has to find the same hiding spot and get in!) and read Robert Fulghum's reflection on God the Sardine player in "All I ever needed to know I learned in Kindergarten".
Electric Chain (also known as "CARIBOU")
Game equipment: An even number of people, a quarter and a set of keys!
Another game for 16-60 people! Players make two equal teams, facing each other in two long lines. If you have an odd number, add an adult helper to fill in or one of the players could take the game leaders' place. Everyone sit down cross legged (for an older crowd, you could sit in chairs). The two lines should be about 4 feet apart. The game leader sits at the head of the line. This game is played in silence. (yes, it works) All players join hands with the person beside them. Everyone closes their eyes except the two players sitting by the leader (the lead players). When everyone has their eyes closed and is silent, the leader flips a coin in between the two lead players. Heads, do nothing. Tails, (a caribou on a Canadian quarter) the lead players squeeze the hand of the person beside. The squeeze passes as quickly as possible (remember, eyes closed) down the line. When the last person feels the squeeze, she grabs for the keys which are placed in between the last two players. The team who gets the keys rotates...the head player goes to the end and everyone shuffles up one spot. If it was a false alarm, (accidental squeeze of the hands - no calling out "OOPS" allowed!) it doesn't count. Game continues until one team has been completely through its' lineup and the original head player is back at the head of the line.
(I think this was the favourite game of Ask and Imagine 1999)
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