Icebreakers, Energizers

1.All My Neighbors Supplies: Something to use as a place marker for each individual (a name tag, a napkin, a note card). Number of people: Works well in small or large groups (12-60 people). Directions: Ask participants to form a shoulder-to-shoulder standing circle and then have each person take a step back. Give each participant a place holder which they should place at their feet. The leader takes a place in the center of the circle. The facilitator says: This activity is similar to the game of musical chairs that you played as a child. As youll notice, there is one less place than people in the group. Thats why Im in the center of the circle. So, Ill begin in the center of the circle, but my task is to try and find a place on the outside of the circle and have someone else end up without a place. The way Im going to do that is to make a statement that is TRUE for me. For example, if I am wearing tennis shoes, I might say All my neighbors who are wearing tennis shoes. If that statement is also true for you, then you must come off your place and find another spot in the circle. I could also say something like All my neighbors who love to swim, and if thats true for you on the outside of the circle, you must move and find a new place. You may not move immediately to your right or left and you may not move off your space and return to it in the same round. Lets do this safely. No running. No body-checking, kicking or pinching. OK. Ill start. 2. Great Egg Drop Summary: A team building exercise in which groups build structures with the goal of preventing an egg from breaking. A judge tosses all structures (with the eggs inside) from a high elevation at the end. The winners are the groups that successfully protect the egg. Materials required: Raw eggs, several straws, masking tape, newspaper, and any other materials for building. Instructions: The Great Egg Drop is a teambuilding activity that involves creativity and problem solving given a set of resources. To begin, assemble groups of 4 or 5 and give each group various materials for building (e.g. 5-20 straws, a roll of masking tape, one fresh egg, newspaper, etc.). Instruct the participants and give them a set amount of time (e.g. 30 minutes) to complete building a structure, with the egg inside. When time expires, collect all structures and then dramatic finale in which the structures are dropped from at least 10 feet in elevation and then inspected to see if the eggs survived. The winners are the groups that were successful in protecting the egg. Many variations are possible additional constraints, for example. This activity is useful to illustrate the importance of team and to highlight aspects of project management. 3.Toilet Paper Costume Game Summary: Use toilet paper to create most original and creative costume! Goal: Have the most creative and entertaining toilet paper costume. Preparation: - 5 rolls of masking tape - 5 rolls of toilet paper - A judge How to Play Toilet Paper Costume Game: 1. Arrange everyone into teams of about four or five. Give each team a roll of toilet paper and a roll of masking tape. 2. Each team selects a volunteer from their group. The goal of the game is to wrap the person up in the most creative and original toilet paper costume (for example: Statue of Liberty). The teams have only 10 minutes to wrap the person up using only toilet paper and masking tape.

3. After 10 minutes, tell everyone to stop. Have the teams present their costume to the judge and convince the person to choose their costume. 4. The judge will have to decide who has the best-looking costume, and is ultimately, who is the winner. 4. Big Wind Blows Game Summary: Players sit in a circle, with one person in the center as the big wind. This person says identifies a characteristic that is true about themselves and then all players who share the same characteristic must find a new seat. Materials required: Chairs for each player, minus one. How to Play Big Wind Blows To set up the game, arrange several chairs facing inward into a medium sized circle. There should be one chair for each player, minus one. One person starts as the Big Wind in the center of the circle, with everyone else seated. The Big Wind raises both arms and spins around, while saying the following: The Big Wind blows _____. The blank must be filled with a true statement about himself or herself, such as The Big Wind blows everyone who has been to Canada or any other true fact. At this point, any of the players who share this characteristic (including the person who is currently the Big Wind) must stand up and quickly find a new seat. For each statement, no player is allowed to sit in the same seat or a seat directly adjacent to his or her previous seat. One person will be left without a seat. This person becomes the new Big Wind for the next round. 5. WHO STARTED? Time:10 or 15 minutes Preparation An empty space A watch or timer Instructions 1. Ask for a volunteer to leave the room. 2. Tell the rest of the group to stand in a circle. 3. Decide who is going to be the leader. Tell them to start an action (scratching their tummy, waving a hand, moving their head, simulating playing a musical instrument...) and tell everybody else to copy. 4. Tell the leader to change the action frequently and again everybody else must follow. 5. Call back the volunteer who left the room and invite them to stand in the middle of the circle and ask them to guess who the leader is. They can have three minutes and up to three guesses. If they do not manage they must pay a forfeit i.e. to do something funny. 6. If the person guesses correctly, the person who was leader leaves the room and the group chooses a new leader. And so on until the end of the game. Tips for the facilitator Since time is one pressure factor in this activity, it is important that you use it to speed up the dynamic of the game by saying things like "One minute has already gone and our friend looks confused", "will they manage to guess?", etc

6. Blanket Name Game Summary: A good get-to-know-you name identification game that can get pretty hilarious! Two people stand facing each other with a large blanket in between. The blanket drops, and the first person to correctly identify the other person wins the round. Materials Required: Blanket.

Instructions: The Blanket Name Game is a simple name recognition/identification game. Go around the room and make introductions (share your name and other information such as your hobbies, major, etc. if desired. Separate into two groups and have two people hold a large, thick blanket separating the two groups so that neither group can see the other. When the blanket drops, the first person to correctly call out the name of the other groups designated person wins the round (which typically means the loser of the round must leave the game, though if you prefer to avoid elimination then you dont have to do this). The group may strike different humorous poses to distract the attention of other groups person. As a variation, several people may be facing the other group with one person being chosen to call out the information of the other groups people. 7. The Tallest Tower Objectives: Participants work to build the tallest free-standing tower they can. Materials: Paper Cups, plates, bowls Popsicle Sticks or coffee stirrers Cheap pens or pencils Construction Paper or cardboard Team Strategy: Before the activity, you need to make a packet of supplies for each group. Divide your class into groups of 4-5. The key here is to divide the supplies unevenly, but put them in a closed bag or box, so that participants can't see that each group is getting a different set of supplies. Each group should have a lot of one supply, and only some of the other supplies. Planning the Team Building Activity: Begin by randomly dividing participants into small groups and organizing the groups in different areas of the room. Ask for a representative from each group to come to a separate space (center of the room or a separate room) to receive instructions and materials. Pass out one bag of supplies to each group representative. Announce that they have ~20 min to build, and let the building begin. 8. Noahs Ark Time: 15-20 mins Method: The goal of this game is for each participant to find their pair by making the noise of the animal they have drawn out. Before the game starts, the organiser will prepare 30 small pieces of paper (one for every participant). The leader must then identify 15 animals and write down the name of each animal on two pieces of paper. Participants must then select a piece of paper, and make the noise of their animal to find their pair. The final couple to pair up is the loser so participants must work quickly. No body language or additional speaking is allowed. (This is especially interesting in cross-cultural situations where the sounds of animals are mimicked differently)

9. Musical chairs Time: 10-15 mins Method: Have chairs in a circle facing out, with one chair fewer than the number of participants. The coordinator plays the music and all people must move in a circle around the chairs. When the music stops, participants must quickly find a chair and the last person standing is out. One chair is removed and the game continues until there is only one person sitting. This person is the winner. 10. Touch Blue Ask participants to walk around. When you shout touch blue, each player has to find something blue on another player and touch it. Then give other instructions: Touch . . . someone with beard, wearing glasses, something yellow, someone wearing sandals, etc. Each

time, participants must touch what the leader calls out. 11. Blindfold Birthdays: Focus: Nonverbal Communication There are many variations of this game. Begin by asking everyone to blindfold themselves (or close their eyes, but its oh-so-tempting to peek!). Then give them the task of lining themselves up in order of their birthdays. Variations include lining them up by height or weight or by allowing them to see, but not talk.