Games and links!!!

- Summary
Games
Do you use games in your training and if yes what kinds of games do you use?
(Icebreakers, teambuilding, role-plays etc.)

General:

 Most people use games in their training, but there has to be a reason for doing the
game.
 Break down our inhibitions and allow us to express ourselves a bit more
 Games should be related to the topic if used as a part of the session and not “clear
or prepare your mind games” (e.g. Some Icebreakers & Wakeup games).
 Remember that in a multi-cultural organisation as IFMSA, not everybody likes
close personal contact. Therefore remember to inform about the game on forehand
and tell people that if they don’t feel like it, they don’t have to participate.

Icebreakers:

 Making the group trust one another.

 Starting the session with a smile, because happy people learn more!!
 Increases “the flow of creativity” ® better brainstorms later.
 Can increase the participant’s awareness about the importance of the topic.

Teambuilding games:

 Shows people how it is to work in a team. Makes them realize that teams can
achieve more than individuals, as long as all are committed to work against the
common goal.
 There has to be a good feedback afterwards.

Wakeup games (Energizers):

 It is very difficult for the human being (even medical studentsJ) to concentrate for
more than 20 min.
 Again happy people learn more!!

Role-plays:

 Powerful but difficult tool to use, have somebody to go through your role-play
before using them in your sessions.
  In some sessions the trainer can play the role and in some sessions the participants
can play the role.
 If you use games please describe the topic you use it for and why you think it is
useful for that topic.
 Most people think that games if used well can be used for any topic. (“Just let
creativity be with you”)
 In teambuilding session’s games are good to show each step of the way. A game
for each step is very good but takes a lot of time.
 In a creative process games can really be a boost.

Please explain your favourite game and why you think it is so fantastic

Moongose & Karibu:

Everyone sits in a circle. The leader passes an object (anything) to person A on his left
and says, “This is a mongoose”. Person A responds: “a what?” to which the leader says “a
mongoose”. Person A says “oh! A mongoose!” Person A passes the mongoose to person B
and says, “this is a mongoose”, to which person B responds “a what? ”. Person A turns to
the leader and says: “a what? ”, to which the leader responds: “a mongoose”. Person A
turns to person B and says “a mongoose”, person B says “oh! A mongoose” and passes
the mongoose on to person C.... Once the mongoose is on its way, the leader turns to
person Z (on the opposite side of the leader to person A) and passes him another object,
with the words: “this is a karibu” and the same exchange goes on as with the mongoose,
but obviously it’s a karibu instead. The Karibu works its way round the circle in the
opposite direction to the mongoose until they both come back to the leader. And yes, they
meet each other on the way!!!

Spider-Web:
You need a long rope and 2 trees or similar. You build a web-structure between
the trees that leaves several holes that are big enough for a person to pass
through. The group stands on the one side and needs to get to the other side.
But every hole is only to be used once/twice. (Depending on the group size)
Of course there are some holes to high up to pass through without help....
(Ok, It’s a game that requires body contact....)
Teambuilding game

Head, shoulder, knees and toes:

Everybody stands in a circle, and everybody repeats:
”Head, shoulder, knees and toes, knees and toes”
At the same time touching the part of your body that is mentioned, this is repeated but
with increasing pace.
Wakeup game
Building a Building:
Participants are divided into groups (depends on how much the number of participant is)
and the trainer provides them with straws and tape. Each group is asked to make a
building by using those straws in 15 minutes. The building has to be high, strong
and beautiful. After the two teams finish their buildings, we'll see which building is
higher and more beautiful. As for the strength, Team A will try to blow the building of
Team B with paper and vice versa, the building that stands after the "hurricane" is the
winner. This is a team building game, but you can modify the rules, for example for the
topic communication you can tell the participant not to talk during the construction of the
building.
Teambuilding game.

Dean in a lift:
Students work in pairs.
- One student is a Dean/new student/sponsor/parent or someone else who has never heard
of IFMSA and needs to be convinced how good it is.
- The other is themselves, wanting to promote their project or get some particular help.
Then the two imagine that they got in a lift. The student has 5 minutes to work their
magic! They then swap roles.
Afterwards, each gives feedback on what they thought "in role" (e.g. "this student is
wasting my time") and then gives constructive ideas on how to improve. Then they both
have another try.
It can be quite embarrassing at first, but can build a lot of confidence and give new ideas
to both.
Presentation skills & fundraising (and with a little twist others as wellJ)

Lies:
Limited participants only, no big groups. Everybody is up to pick
three brief stories about him/herself. Two stories are true, one is false.
After the participant told his/her stories, the group has 90 seconds to ask questions and
afterwards they have to decide which story was a lie.
Icebreaker

Chin on the table:

Just a funny game for breaks to reactivate circulation.
Everybody gathers around a preferable round table, get on his/her knees and
places his/her chin on the surface of the table. Only two rules exist.
First: You must not laugh. If you laugh, you have to go down under the
table, finish your laughing bussiness and come up again.
Second: You must not close your eyes.
The game ist over, as soon everybody finds each other under the table
laughing.
Wakeup game
Self-punishment:
Let the group invent punishment for those that does not following the rules of the social
contract. This is great, you have no idea how funny and efficient it is bringing
participants back from breaks in time. Giving hypothetical situations, combined with
role-plays or not, is also very useful and funny.

Links
This is where you type in any link you think might be useful for the training team. Please
try to explain in a few words the contents of the link

www.training-youth.net

Training kit on all kinds of topics. (Excellent resources, check out the T-kits)

www.veldhuyzen.net/projects

Materials for project trainings.

www.scoutbase.org.uk/activity/games/idx/bvrgames.htm

A lot of games here (icebreakers, teambuilding, wakeup games)

www.peopleandplanet.org/groups/

This is the group’s page of People and Planet, a UK student organisation which campaigns on trade justice, the environment and generally

promotes social justice. The resources on here are excellent - setting up and running student groups, recruiting, campaigning etc etc. Well

worth checking out.

www.sovereignty.org.uk/features/activistinf/interv.html

Effective interview technique - how to handle media interviews, including

tactical tips and tricks
www.sovereignty.org.uk/features/activistinf/dealmedia.html

Very similar but contains some additional rhetorical hints

www.bbyo.org/bbg/ideas/mixers.html

Have a lot of games

www.impactfactory.com/gate_articles.shtml

Has a great varied of resources, have to sign up for them (free)

www.salto-youth.net/find-a-tool

A toolbox where you can search for the tool you need.

Since nobody else mentioned it we will J:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/ifmsa-training/files/

Here you can find materials used by the IFMSA training team. We hope to update this in
the near future to make it more transparent and more updated