Icebreakers
Why Icebreakers? I don t know about you, but as soon as I hear the word icebreaker mentioned at the beginning of a training event or group meeting, my body shudders at the very thought. For many youth workers it tends to bring up similar feelings but yet it is something that we ask our young people to do at the beginning of most sessions. And there is a very good reason for that. Icebreakers are not only a great way to help young people get to know one another but they are also a great way to engage the group at the beginning of a session and can often be used to introduce a topic for the evening. Here are 10 Top Tips for planning and doing icebreakers: Be enthusiastic and do your best to smile. Try to avoid using the word icebreaker, it strikes fear in many people. Choose volunteers carefully and try not to cause embarrassment. Don t labour an activity if it is not working, move on. Use no more than 2 or 3 icebreakers throughout a programme. Finish icebreaker when young people are still enjoying it. Make your icebreakers age appropriate. All groups are different so be prepared for all kinds of responses. Think about your space and make sure you have the resources you need. As the leader, be positive and lighthearted. Remember that you are setting the tone for group participation so enjoy it! Paper Airplanes Everyone makes a paper airplane and writes their name and two questions to ask someone else. On cue, everyone throws their airplane around the room, picks up others airplanes, and keeps throwing them. The leader says stop after one or two minutes. Everyone must have one paper airplane. They must find the owner of the airplane they have and answer the questions on the airplane. Each person then introduces the owner of the airplane they have to the group. Silent I.D. Give each person a piece of paper with instructions to write words or draw pictures that describe themselves without talking. Then they are to stick their paper on their chest, walk around, and look at each other. Pictures are collected and shuffled and participants try to identify to whom each picture belongs. Two Truths and A Lie Have participants say three things about themselves. Two should be true and one should be a lie. Have participants guess which response was a lie and give their reasoning. Balloon Pop Have everyone form a circle. Instruct the participants to put one piece of information about themselves on a small slip of paper, fold it, and put it in a blown up balloon. Throw the balloons in the middle of the circle and then have people take turns popping a balloon, reading the piece of paper, and guessing to whom the information applies. 1
Movie Ball Everyone stands in a circle. One participant bounces a ball to somebody else after saying the name of a movie. There is a five second limit after the ball is bounced. The ball continues to be bounced to individuals in the group. A person is out of the game if they repeat a movie name or fail to say a name within the five second time limit. Eventually there is a competition between two people for the winner. (You could also choose a different topic, perhaps one that relates to your topic for the day) Hot and Cold Two members of the group are chosen to be it and sent out of the room. The remaining people choose a task for them to do (stand on the table, bounce a ball etc). When the chosen two return, it is the group s job to encourage them to perform the task. However, the only encouragement allowed is applause when they re hot and booing when they are cold. You can repeat this as many times as you wish. Sing Us A Song This game works great for a group who love drama, music and perfoemance. Divide the group into at least two teams. The facilitator suggests a word (like dance, sun, happy, love). Each group alternates turns singing a song that contains that word. The game continues until a team cannot think of any more songs. Songs cannot be repeated. Extreme Rock, Paper, Scissors You play this energizer in the normal rock, paper, scissors fashion with a fun twist. Have the group pair off. Once the winner and loser are established, the loser must follow the winner around for the rest of the activity chanting the winner s name. This continues until you are left with two people fighting with a large crowd of supporters watching. My Slogan This can be a lot of fun with a group of older teenagers. Start be explaining that many companies have slogans or mottoes which reflect their values. Then ask each person to write (or borrow) a slogan to describe him or herself and share that with the group. Chocolate Chomp An oldie, but it s great fun. Ask everyone to sit in a circle on the floor. In the middle of the circle place a large bar of chocolate on a plate, a knife, a fork and three items of clothing gloves, scarf and a cap. (Don't forget to remove the wrapper from the chocolate!) Each person in the circle takes a turn at rolling a dice. On throwing a six they run to the middle of the circle, put on the items of clothing and try to eat as much chocolate as possible. However, they can only cut it with the knife and pick it up with the fork. As soon as someone else throws a six, they run to the middle, put on the gloves, hat and cap, and take over. Backwards Clumps Divide group into pairs. Ask each pair to sit on the floor with their partner, backs together, feet out in front and arms linked. Their task is to stand up together. Once everyone has done this, two pairs join together and the group of four try to repeat the task. Keep adding people until your whole group is trying to stand together. A sight to behold! 2
Egg Escape Rocket This can be a lot of funny. Each team should fire an egg onto a landing area using an improvised, team built rocket. The egg must reach the landing area without breaking. The team must work together to build the safest rocket and the egg that lands closest to the landing area without breaking is the winner. (I suggest using hard boiled instead of raw eggs)! Electric Pulse Form two teams using whatever method you prefer. Have the two teams form lines facing each other. Instruct the teams to hold hands forming two long human chains. At the end of the two lines, place a chair with a small object on it a tennis ball works well, but you can use any object you have on hand. A referee stands at the other end of the lines, facing the chair. Tell everyone in the lines to close their eyes and downward face. The referee then flips a coin and quietly shows it to the first players on each team. If the coin is heads, the two people at the front of the lines squeeze the hand of the next person in line as quickly as possible. Each person, whose hand is squeezed, squeezes the person s hand next to him or her. The goal is to be the team with the electric pulse passing all away along the line first. The team that does so wins a point. If you are brave enough or think your group might have fun with it, the object on the chair can be a plastic cup with a small bit of water in it that is lifted and swiftly splashed in the face of the losing opponent. This can be a lot of fun but also a little messy. Act and React A funny icebreaker game, players use paper and pen to write down an event, or you can prepare papers ahead of time. Some examples you might include are: - Winning the lottery - Meeting a large, aggressive bear in the woods - You just got fired from your job - Your boyfriend just broke up with you Put the papers in a bag, box, or basket. Have players randomly select a piece of paper and react to the experience using words, gestures, and facial expressions. Players try to guess what happened. Set a time limit for the players to act out their event. You can give a point for each correct guess. You can also vary the game by making players act out their event without talking. This icebreaker can work with any group size and any age. M&M Game Using M&Ms, ask young people to take 4/5 sweets from the bag. Using the topic related to the colour of your sweets, share in pairs or small groups. Zip, Zap, Boing People sit round in a circle. One person begins by looking at the person to their left for right and saying 'zip' the next person then says zip and it continues round in a circle. The next command is boing (difficult to type, as in the sound a spring makes.) This changes the direction of the zip and so it continues back round in the opposite direction. Finally Zap. Zap throws the 'zip' across the circle. The person who says zap points to who they want to have the zip. The receiver then looks in the direction they wish to continue play and the zip begins to move again around the circle. Here comes the fun part! You can't boing a boing, you can't zap a zap, you can't boing a zap or zap a boing you can only zip a zap and zip a boing! Simple right! Fantastically fun game once people have mastered it! 3
Bus Stop A version of would you rather that asks the group their opinions on different things. Mark out a bus on the floor using string or rope or set seats up to look like a bus. Ask young people to take their seat on the bus. The leader then gives the group some choices and asks them to get out of the bus for one option or stay on for the other. After each go, everyone gets back on the bus. These can be simple choices such as day/night, chocolate/ crisps or more serious ones Ant/Dec etc. We hope you have found these suggestions not only helpful but we also hope you enjoy them and have some fun as you engage with these icebreakers. For more ideas check out youth work magazine that has great articles and resources. Or find them at http://www.premieryouthwork.com/resources/games Youth work resource is another website that may be useful for new ideas http://www.youthworkresource.com/youth-work/games/ 4