Creating Community Spirit/ Warm-up Activities

The Question Web

Materials: a spool of string or wool

Procedure: Ask the children to stand in a circle. Hold on to the end of the string and throw the
ball/spool to one of the children to catch. They then choose a question from 1-20 to answer. A list
of 20 sample questions is given below. The questions can be adapted for the group. Holding the
string they then throw it to another member of the group.
The Aim: Eventually this creates a web as well as learning some interesting things about each
other! At the end of the game you could comment that we all played a part in creating this unique
web and if one person was gone it would look different.
In the same way it's important that we all take part to make the group what it is, unique and
special.
1. If you had a time machine that would work only once, what point in the future or in history
would you visit?
2. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
3. If your house was burning down, what three objects would you try and save?
4. If you could talk to any one person now living, who would it be and why?
5. If you HAD to give up one of your senses (hearing, seeing, feeling, smelling, tasting) which
would it be and why?
6. If you were an animal, what would you be and why?
7. Do you have a pet? If not, what sort of pet would you like?
8. Name a gift you will never forget?
9. Name one thing you really like about yourself.
10. What's your favorite thing to do in the summer?
11. Who's your favourite cartoon character, and why?
12. Does your name have a special meaning and or were you named after someone special?
13. What is the hardest thing you have ever done?
14. If you are at a friend's or relative's house for dinner and you find a dead insect in your salad,
what would you do?
15. What was the best thing that happened to you this past week?
16. If you had this week over again what would you do differently?
17. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think about God?
18. What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?
19. If you could change one problem in the world today, what would you like him to change?
20. What book, movie or video have you seen/read recently you would recommend? Why?
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Desert Island

Materials: paper, pencils/nothing

Procedure: Announce, 'You've been exiled to a deserted island for a year. In addition to the
essentials, you may take one piece of music, one book and one luxury item you can carry with
you i.e. not a boat to leave the island! What would you take and why?'
Allow a few minutes for the students to draw up their list of three items, before sharing their
choices with the rest of the group.
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Masks

Materials: crayons, paints, markers, scissors, white card

Procedure: Give each young person a piece of white card. Ask them to draw and cut out a lifesized shape of a face. They can also cut out eyes and a mouth if they wish. Each young person is
then asked to decorate their card face. One side represents what they think people
see/know/believe about them i.e. on the outside. The other side represents what they feel about
themselves i.e. things going on the inside, what people do not necessarily know or see.
Note: This is best used in an established group where the young people are comfortable and at
ease with each other.
Aim: good discussion starter on self-image and self-worth
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M&M/Skittles: Mix and Meet

Materials: bags of M&Ms

Procedure: Get each person to grab some M&M's. Tell them not to eat them. Assign a different
meaning to each colour:
Blue = family
Green = school
Yellow = friends
Red = hobbies
Brown = music/movies

However many M&Ms they have in their hands, that is how many facts they have to tell. For
example, if they have three blue, they would have to say three facts about their family.
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Secret Identity

Materials: post-it notes, sticky tape, pencils

Procedure: Have everyone secretly write down the name of a person on a small piece of paper or
a "post-it" note. It has to be a person that everyone in the room would know about - a famous
historical figure, an actor or sports celebrity, a politician, etc. Then have them tape the name on
the back of the person on their left. Everyone goes around and asks people yes or no questions
about who is on their back. They can only ask each person one question. The person who can do
it in the least number of questions wins.
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The Ultimate Quiz

Materials: laptop, play dough

Procedure: Divide the group into teams of between five and ten people. The game takes the form
of a general knowledge quiz with fun and interactive categories. There are usually five
categories, but there can be more or less than that. (Examples of categories are below) Get the
teams to come up with as many correct answers as they can for each category and add up their
scores at the end of the game. Needless to say - the team with the highest score wins.
Categories:
1. "Conundrum"- put up a long, unheard of word with four possible definitions, only one of
which is correct and get them to decide which they think is the correct definition. (5 different
words should be enough)
2. "A Moment in Time" - Project a picture of a famous moment in history and get them to guess
who the person, or group of people depicted is, what the event that they were at is, and finally
what year the event took place. (This usually works well with sports, but other events like the
Lunar landing could be used)

3. "Playdough pictionary" - get the teams to number each member in their team and ask the
number ones to come up. Give each of them a lump of play dough and a word that they have to
sculpt (nouns are easiest, adjectives are hardest) send them back to their teams and when they get
the word right player two runs back to get the next word to sculpt and so on. Give the game
about 8 or 9 minutes. A good team will get about 16 words in this time.
4. "What's that line" - Project the logo of a well known company and get the teams to write down
the slogan of that company. A hard slogan can carry more points than an easy one.
5. "TRL" - create a music track combining a few seconds of about 8 or 9 songs. Play the track
through and get the teams to identify as many of the songs, artists and, for bonus marks, albums
from which the songs come.
Categories can be modified, depending on the nature of the group, or some specific theme.
Duration: 30-60 mins
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Poetry in Motion

Materials: paper and pens

Procedure: Organize people into a circle or around a table. Give each person a sheet of paper and
a writing utensil. Have every one write the first line to a poem at the top of the page. Then pass
the page to the person on their right. That person reads the first line then writes a second line to
it. That person must then fold the paper back to hide the first line from view, so that only the
second line shows. The poets pass their papers to their right again. Each time they get the paper
and write a new line, they should fold back the previous line out of view. This continues until
you run out of room. The end result should be a strip of folded paper. Then have everyone open
the paper in their possession and take turns reading. The poems usually turn out pretty absurd,
but sometimes it's amazing how cohesive they can be.
Duration: 10-20 mins
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End of the World

Materials: a large rope

Procedure: Make a large circle with the rope on the floor, have the group stand in the centre of
the circle. Now simply pull the ends of the rope thus making the circle grow smaller. The group
must try to survive for as long as possible (They will fight for survival) Make a rule of no
pushing, however team work is the key, getting people on your back, making a human tower etc.
A person is out when they step over the rope.
Duration: 0-5 mins
It can be played outdoors.

Create a Commercial/Advertisement

Materials: paints, large papers, crayons, markers/ video camera

Procedure: Split your group up into teams and give each team a random object which they will
need to advertise or maybe something like a theme (ie. "education" or "tolerance") that they will
need to run with. Send each team off to prepare their commercial then either get each team to
individually present or act out their ad, or perhaps even film it.
Duration: 30-60 mins

Diversity Activities

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnDgZuGIhHs - Love Has No Labels

Multicultural, Cross-cultural & Intercultural Games & Activities

Hello in different languages

Materials:
None; although a list of hello in different languages is handy.
Time:
Approximately 10-15 mins.
Brief description:
This is a fun, warm-up, cross-cultural activity. The group tries to come up the
word(s) for "hello" in as many different languages as possible.

The goal of this activity is to heighten cross-cultural awareness, celebrate cross-cultural

knowledge, and to say "hello" in many different languages.

This can be used a fun, warm-up, get-to-know-you activity

with a cross-cultural theme.

Within a group, you may be surprised how much

knowledge there is of different languages for basic phrases.

Optional: Ask participants to see if they can guess how many people there are in the
world and how many different languages are spoken. (There are ~2800 languages and ~6
billion people. If an equal number of people spoke each language, that would be ~2
million people per language. You might relate this to local city/town size.).

Challenge the group to come up with as many different languages for "hello" as possible.
When somebody volunteers (e.g., Bonjour!), make sure they say it or repeat it clearly for
the rest of the group who then repeat.

Optional: Before people start making suggestions, ask the group to have a guess how
many collective languages the group will be able to come up with. Don't allow

discussion - just do a quick whip around each person's guess and take a rough average that's the group's estimate.

The group leader keeps count on his/her fingers.

Was the final number of "hellos in different languages" close to the group's guess? If the
group underestimated, they may not realize the knowledge within the group that might be
used to their advantage. If the group's guess was an overestimate, why did they
overestimate their knowledge resources? Discuss.

Optional - to make more difficult or to add variation, try asking for these basic phrases:
o Hello...Goodbye
o Hello, My name is...?
o Hello, How are you?
o Yes...No
o Please...Thankyou
o Do you speak English?
o Numbers 1-5 or 1-10

Optional, but recommended - have a list of hello in lots of different languages from
which you can read out (see Jennifer's Language Page). This is especially useful for
groups who don't know many different languages, as well as to learn, have fun, and
illustrate the range of different languages.

Variation: Can be run as a competition between groups.

Links:

Jennifer's Language Page: Lists basic phrases in lots of different languages.

Pronunciations: "Say Hello to the World": Provides pronunciation sound files for "hello"
in lots of different languages.

http://users.elite.net/runner/jennifers/index.htm

http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/hello/
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The Story of My Name

Materials: None
Time: ~30 mins
Brief description:

Where does your name come from? Share the story of where your name comes from and what
your name means. Everyone's name has a surprisingly interesting origin. Helps to build
intercultural respect and understanding.

What's in a name? More than we often realize.

This is an interesting, novel way for people to introduce themselves to others, especially
in ethnically diverse groups.

Ensure that an appropriate group atmosphere is established in which people have already
done some initial warm-up activities and name games.

Ask participants to turn to a partner and explain what your name means (if anything) and
where it comes from.

Most people reveal a surprising amount of interesting information about where their
name comes from and what it means.

The greater the ethnic and cultural diversity in the group, the better this exercise tends to
work.

Can be specifically used to help build intercultural respect and understanding or to more
generally help develop self-identity and open respect and sharing.

Optional: Ask each person to introduce his/her partner to the larger group and to explain
what his/her name means and where it comes from.

Optional: The activity can be extended into revealing the background behind other names
e.g.,
o

Nicknames

Pets

Alter-ego or "fantasy name"

Names of children - or what would you name your children if you have them?