Using Nametags as Icebreakers

Transcription

1 Using Nametags as Icebreakers Add fun to your next party by using nametags! Not only do they help guests get to know each other faster (not to mention reducing the stress levels of those who have trouble remembering names), but you can use nametags as icebreakers. The possibilities are limitless, but here are a few fun ideas: Have guests add a descriptive adjective that starts with the same letter as their first name. Thus, your wild and crazy friend becomes Crazy Claudia. Your shy buddy becomes Bashful Bob. Your sky-diving pal becomes Daring Dan. The other guests have fun getting to know why each guest chose his or her adjective. Another idea is to pick a question and then have guests answer the question on their nametags. For example, the question might be, "What is your favorite travel destination?" Guests will have a lot of fun discussing places they've been or would like to go. Another question might be: "What's your favorite type of restaurant?" Guests will enjoy comparing notes on great places for Italian food or the new Thai restaurant in town. The question, "If you could be an animal, what would it be?", works well for both children and adults. Any question that can be answered in one or two words will help start a conversation. Another possibility is the number game. Guests pick a year where something important or memorable happened to them. Guests try to guess what happened. The keys to this game are that it has to be personal (the guest was involved in some way, like a marriage, the birth of a first child, the year they learned to drive a car, etc.) and it has to be appropriate for the audience! So remember, nametags aren't just for names anymore!

2 Candy Introductions Candy Introductions is a get-to-know-you game that helps people learn new facts about each other in an easy way. They select various pieces of candy from a bag, and each candy variety is associated with a fact about themselves which they will introduce to the others. This game also goes by other names, including the M&M game, Candy Confessions, the Skittles Game, the Gum Drop game, among others. Candy Introductions can work with any group size. The icebreaker works best when the group size is limited to 12, so if you have more than 12, divide the larger group and run the icebreaker within the smaller sized groups. This icebreaker works best indoors, and is well suited for classrooms or meeting rooms. Materials required are: candy with about five different variations (color or candy type), and an optional chalkboard/whiteboard. Setup for Candy Introductions Purchase several variety packs of candy, enough for each person to be able to have at least five pieces. They can be any candy type, but not too many choices (limit it to around five or six different varieties). Alternatively, you can buy gummy bears, life savers, gum drops, skittles, M&M s, or any other candy that already has a variety of colors. Instructions for How to Play Pass around the candy and tell each participant to choose anywhere from 1 to 5 pieces of anything that they want. Instruct them not to eat it yet, though. After they have chosen their candy, you will tell them what each candy type/color represents. If there is a whiteboard or chalkboard present, write on the board the following: Red Favorite hobbies Green Favorite place on earth Blue Favorite memory Yellow -Dream job Orange Wildcard (tell us anything about yourself!) If you don t have the above colors, change the above to match the candy types that you have. Each person takes turns introducing himself or herself, beginning with their name and then saying one fact for each candy type that they have. This easy introduction game should go relatively quickly (assuming they weren t greedy and that they didn t take too many pieces of candy!)

3 Block Party Group Activities and Icebreakers If you have people on your block who do not know each other well, an ice breaker is a wonderful tool to get people talking to each other and learning about each other. We have put together a list of some fun ice breakers to get your party going! Get the Group Talking: Ask neighbors to pair up with someone. Tell them to learn as much as they can about the other person in five minutes. Then have them introduce that person to the whole group. Friendly Competition: Tape the name of a famous person on each person's back. As people socialize, they can ask for clues about their famous person. The last person to guess the name on his or her back loses. For children you can use cartoon characters, characters from children's books and movies, and/or video game characters appropriate for their ages. ShowingYour Age: Break people into small groups and give each person a penny. Ask them to talk about what they were doing and/or what was going on in the world during the year on the coin. Trivial Pursuit: Put out trivial Pursuit cards where people will see them and automatically read the questions to one another. Human Bingo: Before your party make up a grid sheet or list with varied personal information or characteristics in each square. Examples might be "sings in the shower", "been to Asia", "watches a soap opera", "has met a famous person", "plays the lottery"; "speaks at least three languages", etc. Distribute copies of the grid sheet to your neighbors and have them go around and collect signatures of neighbors who have those characteristics. The first person to get all (or the most) squares filled in wins the game.

4 Did You Know? Bingo Did You Know? Bingo (also known as the Autograph Game) is an icebreaker that helps people learn interesting facts about each other. People walk around the room and mingle until they find people that match the facts listed on a bingo-style sheet. This game is a get-to-know-you style icebreaker. The recommended group size is: large or extra large. The game works best with a group of about 25 people. It can be played indoors or outdoors. Materials required are: printed bingo sheets and pens. Ages 12 and up. Setup for Did You Know? Bingo The objective of this game is for people to wander around the room and to obtain the signatures of people who have the facts listed on the bingo sheet. Once a person successfully obtains a full row (5 in a row), whether horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, he or she shouts BINGO! and wins. This game requires a little bit of setup. Prepare a 5 by 5 table, with interesting facts written inside the boxes. These facts can include funny or bizarre things. For example: Likes anchovies Has been to Hawaii Speaks more than two languages Has never been on a plane Has more than four brothers Has gone without a shower for more than three days Be creative! You can mark the center square FREE SPACE like traditional bingo games. After you have prepared the table, print out enough copies for the number of players you are expecting. Instructions for How to Play Pass out a sheet to each person, along with a pen. Explain the objective of the game and the following rules: (1) each person you talk to may only sign your sheet once, and (2) to win, you must get signatures to form 5 in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Say Go! and ask your participants to begin. Once someone shouts Bingo! everyone returns and the person must introduce the people who signed his or her sheet. If desired, you can ask each person to explain their fact. This icebreaker game is fun way to get to know humorous or unique facts about people. Enjoy!

5 Icebreaker Questions Icebreaker Questions is simply a list of 20 great questions that you can ask people to help them feel more part of a group or team. These questions are fun and non-threatening. You can use them as an icebreaker for meetings or classrooms, written on note cards and adapted for other games, or simply as a fun activity to help people get to know each other better. Instructions for Icebreaker Questions A great way to help people open up is to ask them fun questions that allow them to express their personality or interesting things about them. Here is a list of twenty safe, useful icebreaker questions to help break the ice: 1. If you could have an endless supply of any food, what would you get? 2. If you were an animal, what would you be and why? 3. What is one goal you d like to accomplish during your lifetime? 4. When you were little, who was your favorite super hero and why? 5. Who is your hero? (a parent, a celebrity, an influential person in one s life) 6. What s your favorite thing to do in the summer? 7. If they made a movie of your life, what would it be about and which actor would you want to play you? 8. If you were an ice cream flavor, which one would you be and why? 9. What s your favorite cartoon character, and why? 10. If you could visit any place in the world, where would you choose to go and why 11. What s the ideal dream job for you? 12. Are you a morning or night person? 13. What are your favorite hobbies? 14. What are your pet peeves or interesting things about you that you dislike? 15. What s the weirdest thing you ve ever eaten? 16. Name one of your favorite things about someone in your family. 17. Tell us about a unique or quirky habit of yours. 18. If you had to describe yourself using three words, it would be 19. If someone made a movie of your life would it be a drama, a comedy, a romanticcomedy, action film, or science fiction? 20. If I could be anybody besides myself, I would be 21. If you were a comic strip character, who would you be and why? 22. What thought or message would you want to put in a fortune cookie? 23. If you had to give up a favorite food, which would be the most difficult to give up? 24. What is one food you d never want to taste again? 25. If you won a lottery ticket and had a million dollars, what would you do with it? 26. You ve been given access to a time machine. Where and when would you travel to? 27. If you could be any superhero and have super powers, which one would you like to have and why? 28. What award would you love to win and for what achievement? 29. If you could transport yourself anywhere instantly, where would you go and why? 30. In your opinion, which animal is the best (or most beautiful) and why? 31. What is one item that you really should throw away, but probably never will?

6 Additional Activity Ideas 1. Shinny Hockey 2. Baseball 3. Flag football or touch football 4. Soccer 5. Volley Ball (water balloon volley ball) 6. Chinese Baseball 7. Tag and it s many variations 8. Water games (slip n slide, sprinkler, water fight) 9. Side walk chalk art 10. Skipping rope 11. Frisbee 12. Botchy Ball 13. Latter Toss 14. Obstacle courses

7 Get-to-Know-You Scavenger Hunt For each of the categories below, find a person in the group who fits the description. Make sure to introduce yourself before asking the question to a person you do not know. Write the person's name down next to the item that fits them. You can only use each person twice. The individual who gets the most matches wins! 1. Was born in February 2. Is an only child 3. Loves country music 4. Has been to Europe 5. Speaks another language 6. Likes to go camping 7. Likes to paint 8. Is from a different ethnic group than you 9. Has 6 or more brothers and sisters 10. Watches the same T.V. show you do 11. Likes to sing 12. Has been on a cruise ship 13. Loves purple 14. Has been to more than 2 continents 15. Has gone white water rafting 16. Plays sports 17. Likes Mexican food 18. Dislikes hamburgers 29. Has been to an art museum 20. Has had braces 21. Has met a movie star 22. Was born in the province where you are located 23. Was born outside the province where you are located 24. Has a twin 25. Flosses their teeth daily 26. Recycles 27. Is wearing something the same color you are wearing 28. Has eaten a whole pizza by themselves