For the very beginning of the trip.. A Collection of Helpful Icebreakers Name Games 1. Rock, Paper, Scissors Cheer off- Play rock paper scissors. Losers become the cheerleader for the winner, continue play until one person is the champion. 2. Name Boogie- Standing in a circle, the facilitator starts by describing the activity and then demonstrating. Each person will say his/her first name followed by a dance move. The rest of the group imitates the move, while repeating the person's name 3 times (e.g. "Joe!, Joe!, Joe!" while doing the sprinkler dance - example video). The kinesthetic motion and repetition help people remember the names, and everyone ends up laughing. 3. Ice breaker- Give each participant a cube of ice to place in their mouth and say their name, where they from, and a fun fact all before they take out the ice. For the rides you think they are up for it Bus Games and Activities 1. Bus Songquest- Madrichim call out a word and whichever side of the bus starts signing a song that with that word first gets a point 2. Bus Scaveneger Hunt Madrichim call out an item (i.e. Yankee hat) and first side to get the item to the front wins. 3. 2 Truths and a lie- Have a participants say 2 true things and 1 lie about themselves and have the bus try to guess which is the lie. 4. Bus Idol participants take turns singing karaoke, telling jokes, etc. 5. Hebrew word of day- Hebrew words of the day beyond just yalla, sababa, besder etc. Hey guys look at this cool house on your right, don t you think it would be cool to bayyitt? Bayit- House, House-Bayit Get it? There are many puns like this you can use. 6. Birthright Mad Libs- Depending on the group dynamic, the staff may choose to only have one letter completed by the group as a whole, or split the participants into groups and have each group produce a mad libbed letter. One person in the group holds the letter, not letting anyone else view it, and asks the other members to provide an adjective, noun, adverb, etc. They write the suggestions into the blanks, again without telling anyone how the suggestions fit into the overall sentence. Then, when all the blanks are filled, they read the letter out load, hopefully to the amusement of everyone!
To get the group comfortable with each other. Goofy Activities 1. Ninja- All participants stand a circle facing each other with their hands in front of them. Everyone strikes a ninja pose. Once they have chosen a pose, everyone except the lead player must stay frozen. One participant will then try to hit another player's hand in one swift motion. They must freeze in the position they were in at the end of their attack. If they hit another player's hand, that player is out of the game for the rest of the round. The "attacked" participant may move out of the way, but must re-freeze in their new position. Each person will take a turn going clockwise around the circle. Players may attack anybody and move anywhere they want as long as they remain frozen (unless they are attacking or being attacked). The game is over when there is only one player left! 2. Standing Ovation: One volunteer leaves the group. The group then determines one physical action (dance, sports activity, etc.) that it wants the volunteer to perform upon returning. Once the volunteer returns, he or she must try to figure out what the group wants without asking any questions or getting any clues. The feedback comes in the form of applause: when the volunteer is warm, the group will clap; when the volunteer is right, the group will give a standing ovation; if the volunteer is dead wrong, the group will just sit and stare. 3. Triangle game: Everyone walks in the space, then secretly selects a person a and a person b as the walking continues. Then everyone is asked to create, non verbally, an equilateral triangle with person a and person b Everyone walks in the space, then secretly selects a person a and a person b as the walking continues. Then everyone is asked to treat person a as their best friend (and get as close to them as possible without touching) and their person b as a serial killer (and get as far away from them as possible without leaving the space) 4. Awkward Orange Game- Split the group in half and form 2 circles. Give each group an orange and have them pass it around via there necks with no hands allowed. The first group to finish wins. You can play music and add oranges as it goes. 5. Who has the apple/cucumber? Everyone stands in a circle and except one person in the middle. Those in the circle passing around the apple or cucumber behind their backs and are trying to eat it before the person in the middle sees who has it. 6. Birthday Lineup: Instruct Group members to line up in order of their age without talking. Then repeat with actual birthdays. 7. Call of the Wild: This activity is good for dividing large groups up into smaller ones Each person receives a card with an animal on it (participants should keep their animal a secret).
Make sure for each animal, at least 2 cards are distributed. Participants 'call out' the noise that their animal makes, and try to find their partner(s) making the same noise. 8. Who s behind the sheet? Group splits into two, there is a sheet or blanket held up in between the two groups and one person from each side is sent to the sheet facing the other group, the sheet is then dropped (after the count of 3) revealing the other team s participant and the winner is whichever of the two can shout out the others name first. Get to know you activities So everyone can dig a little deeper and connect with each other. 1. How did you get here? Everyone sits in a circle. The facilitator asks the first person to their left How did you get here? After that person answers the question, the facilitator asks the next person the same question, and so on and so forth until the question is clear and people go around the circle answering the question. The question should go around the circle at least twice before the facilitator offers an answer of her own. The question ideally goes around 3 times. 2. Me too! Go around in a circle and have everyone say their name and fact about themselves, for anyone else for who that statement applies, they say me too! 3. Step into the Circle: Everyone stands in a circle facing in. The facilitator will read statements. If the statement is true for a participant, the participant should step into the circle for a moment, and then step back. It s important to note that everything that happens in the circle, stays in the circle. You can come up with your own questions, but some examples include (I have a dog, I am an only child, I am a Jew before anything else, I consider myself right/left wing, there is someone I love but haven t told them, I have lied. Etc. they can be chill or more serious depending on the group and where you are in the trip) 4. Move towards the object: Place an object in the center of the circle. Tell participants that to the extent they connect with the statement you say they should move closer to the object and to the extent they do not connect to the statement they should stand far away. (For example if you say sports are a passion of mine the avid sports fans will move close to the object and those who dislike sports stand on the outer edge of the circle.) You can use things like hobbies, food, music and movies, or move to more identity based questions such as being Jewish is important to me, it is important to take care of the environment, I consider myself extroverted, etc. 5. Where the wind blows: One person stands in the middle of a circle (seated or standing) and says The wind blows to those who... (insert something about themselves i.e. are Yankee
fans, only child, from the south, etc. ). Then anyone for whom that applies has to leave their spot and run to find another one. The person without a spot is the new person in the middle. 6. M and M game- Participants can take up to approx 5 m & ms. Then explain for each M & M, they need to share a fact about themselves. Each color can be a category. (i.e. favorite food, tv, musician, interesting fact, embarrassing story, etc.) 7. Human Bingo-Find people who share characteristics by writing their name in the bingo box which describes them. 8. Spectrum: One end of the room/space is agree and one end is disagree. Say a statement such as Dogs are better than cats. Then people stand somewhere in between or on either end. Progress from simple statements to more complex identity based questions. Pause for discussion after some of the statements. 9. Cinderella Dyadic Encounters: Have everyone take off one shoe and put it in the center of the room. Have everyone go pick one shoe that is not theirs and find the owner. Give them a sheet of discussion topics to get to know one another. 10. Where Have my Shoes Taken me: Have everyone share a story that happened in the shoes they are wearing. 11. Speed Dating- Participants form an inner and outer circle and are prompted with a question to discuss. They spend a minute or two discussing and then one circle rotates one person over. You can switch off between fun/random ice-breaker questions and "Jewish/Israel related" questions about what they're most looking forward to for the trip, or their favorite Jewish holiday, etc.)