This icebreaker game involves to teams and requires no special materials to play.  It works both indoors and outdoors, so go ahead and have fun!

Setup for Giants, Wizards, and Elves

This game involves two teams who will act as one of 3 characters: giants, wizards, and elves. When a player acts out a character, he or she does the specific hand motions and also makes the noise associated with the character.

• Giants.  Stand on your tippy toes, raise your arms like a giant, and make a menacing growling noise: “Rarrr!”  
• Wizards.  Crouch slightly, as wizards are a bit shorter.  Wave your fingers as though you’re casting a magical spell, and make a magical noise: “Shaazaam!”
• Elves.  Crouch down very low, cup your hands around your ears, and make a high pitched elf noise: “Eeeee!”

Make sure everyone knows the motions and sounds.  Feel free to practice until everyone knows how to become each character.  Split everyone into two teams and divide them into separate sides of the room. For each round, both teams huddle and choose to become a giant, wizard, or elf.  When ready, both teams then line up and stand facing each other, about five or six feet apart.  At the start of each round, the leader says “Three, two, one, go!!”

At this point, each team acts out the character they chose (giant, wizard, or elf).  As soon as they do this, the winner tries to grab the loser — as many people over to their side as they can.  The loser tries to retreat back to their own side to be safe for that round.  If captured, a person now belongs to the other team.  The following determines who beats who:

Giants beat elves, because giants are able to “squash” elves.  Elves beat wizards because they outsmart them.  Elves chew at their legs.  Wizards beat giants because they are able to zap them with a magic spell.  If both teams show the same character, no one wins.  Rounds keep repeating until one team wins (the other team is completely captured).

Share This

Instructions for Good Icebreaker Questions

In terms of facilitation, a great way to help people get to know each other is to ask them fun questions that allow them to express their personality or interesting things about them.  Here is a list of fun, useful icebreaker questions to help break the ice:

• If you were a comic strip character, who would you be and why?
• What thought or message would you want to put in a fortune cookie?
• If you had to give up a favorite food, which would be the most difficult to give up?
• What is one food you’d never want to taste again?
• If you won a lottery ticket and had a million dollars, what would you do with it?
• You’ve been given access to a time machine.  Where and when would you travel to?
• If you could be any superhero and have super powers, which one would you like to have and why?
• Mount Rushmore honors four U.S. presidents: Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt.  If yuo could add any person to Mount Rushmore, who would you add and why?
• What award would you love to win and for what achievement?
• If you could transport yourself anywhere instantly, where would you go and why?
• In your opinion, which animal is the best (or most beautiful) and why?
• What is one item that you really should throw away, but probably never will?
• Growing up, what were your favorite toys to play with as a child? 

Share This

Setup for Four Corners

Distribute a pen and sheet of paper for each player. Each person divides the sheet into four boxes/squares either by folding the paper in half twice (vertically and horizontally) or simply by drawing a horizontal and vertical line that crosses in the middle. For each square, each person will describe themselves in the form of drawings. Choose these four topics in advance. For example, in the top left square, everyone could draw “favorite hobbies,” while in the top right, people could illustrate “favorite place on earth for vacation,” the bottom left could be something like “if you were an animal, which one would you be?” and the bottom right could be something like “what are the most important things in your life?” Feel free to be as creative, hypothetical, or deep as you like.

Allow five to ten minutes to draw. When everyone is finished, gather them together and share the drawings as a group. This icebreaker is an excellent way for students to show-and-tell what makes them unique!

Share This

This active game works best if you have between 8 and 15 people. It is a good indoor game, and although it does require some movements (mainly making animal gestures), there is no running involved. No special props are required – it’s pretty simple to play! The recommended age is 10 and up.

Setup for King Elephant Game

Not much setup is required. Instruct all players to have a seat and arrange everyone in a circle, facing each other. Each seat in the circle will be a different animal, arranged in order from the top of the food chain (the King Elephant) down to the bottom of the food chain (a slimy worm). Designate one person to be the King Elephant and then assign the other animals in order. If you wish, you can let players choose their own animal and invent their own gesture for the animal. Otherwise, typical motions for the animals are:

• King Elephant – hold one arm out, extended away from your nose, while the other arm wraps around and holds your nose.
• Bird – join both of your thumbs together and flap your hands like a bird flying
• Chicken – place your hands under armpits and flap your arms
• Alligator – extend your arms out in front of you, with one hand facing up, and the other down, and clamp them both together like an alligator’s jaws
• Bear – hold your two hands out like giant bear claws
• Lion – connect your hands above your head like a circle, make a growling face like a lion’s roar
• Snake – make a slithering snake movement with one of your arms
• Fish – clasp both your hands together and imitate a fish swimming upstream
• Monkey – puff cheeks, while pulling your ears out
• Worm – wiggle one bent finger

How to Play King Elephant

King Elephant is a rhythm game in that you must successfully stay on beat. Depending on the chair you are currently seated in, each person adopts an animal gesture (as described above, or you may create a new one). The task is to correctly do your animal signal when called upon, and then to make another animal’s signal to try to get that person to make a mistake.

The rhythm to maintain is set by the person who is King Elephant. He or she can alter the speed as desired. Everyone follows the rhythm of a 1-2-3-4 pattern, where 1 is a pat on the knee, 2 is a clap, 3 and 4 are left and right thumbs (or the signals). The person does his or her own signal (animal gesture and noise) first, followed by another animal’s signal. So for example, a round could look like this:

King Elephant starts rhythm: knee pat, clap, elephant signal (his or her own signal),
King Elephant signals a different player: knee pat, clap, bear signal (or anyone else’s signal),
Bear continues: knee pat, clap, bear signal (his or her own signal),
Bear signals another player: knee pat, clap, fish signal,
Fish continues: knee pat, clap, fish signal (his or her own signal)..

and so on. When people fail to keep the rhythm or make a mistake on their signal (e.g. do a signal when they aren’t supposed to) then they become the new worm and everyone else moves up by sliding up a seat. Those who change seats take on the role of a new animal. The goal is to try to be the King Elephant by knocking out anyone in front of you.

Great fun! Be sure to get everyone to make funny animal sound effects when they do their signal too.

Share This

This getting-to-know-you game usually does not take long, unless you choose to run it that way.  The recommended group size is small and medium groups, although with careful planning it might be possible to do this activity in a large group by splitting it into smaller groups.  An indoor setting is ideal.  This icebreaker is recommended for young children up through eighth grade.  It’s well suited for classrooms, camps, or other settings where people may not know each other very well yet.

Instructions for the String Game 

This activity needs a little bit of preparation work.  Purchase a big roll of yarn or string.  You can buy any color, or multiple colors if you wish.  Take a pair of scissors and cut strings of various different lengths — as short as 12 inches, and as long as 30 or more inches.

When you are finished cutting the string, bunch all the pieces up into one big clump of string.

To play, ask the first volunteer to choose any piece of string.  Have the person pull on it and separate it from the other pieces of string.  Ask them to introduce themselves as they slowly wind the piece of string around their index finger.   The funny part of this icebreaker game is that some of the strings are extremely long, so sometimes a person must keep talking for a very long time!  This is a good way to get everyone to start talking.  People might find out something interesting or new about each other!  Feel free to adapt this game according to your needs.  Have fun.

Share This

Instructions for Icebreaker Questions

A great way to help people open up is to ask them fun questions that allow them to express their personality or interesting things about them.  Here is a list of twenty safe, useful icebreaker questions to help break the ice:

1. If you could have an endless supply of any food, what would you get?
2. If you were an animal, what would you be and why?
3. What is one goal you’d like to accomplish during your lifetime?
4. When you were little, who was your favorite super hero and why?
5. Who is your hero? (a parent, a celebrity, an influential person in one’s life)
6. What’s your favorite thing to do in the summer?
7. If they made a movie of your life, what would it be about and which actor would you want to play you?
8. If you were an ice cream flavor, which one would you be and why?
9. What’s your favorite cartoon character, and why?
10.  If you could visit any place in the world, where would you choose to go and why
11. What’s the ideal dream job for you?
12. Are you a morning or night person?
13. What are your favorite hobbies?
14. What are your pet peeves or interesting things about you that you dislike?
15. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
16. Name one of your favorite things about someone in your family.
17. Tell us about a unique or quirky habit of yours.
18. If you had to describe yourself using three words, it would be…
19. If someone made a movie of your life would it be a drama, a comedy, a romantic-comedy, action film, or science fiction?
20. If I could be anybody besides myself, I would be…

Share This

Candy Introductions can work with any group size.  The icebreaker works best when the group size is limited to 12, so if you have more than 12, divide the larger group and run the icebreaker within the smaller sized groups.  This icebreaker works best indoors, and is well suited for classrooms or meeting rooms.  Materials required are: candy with about five different variations (color or candy type), and an optional chalkboard/whiteboard.

Setup for Candy Introductions

Purchase several variety packs of candy, enough for each person to be able to have at least five pieces.  They can be any candy type, but not too many choices (limit it to around five or six different varieties).  Alternatively, you can buy gummy bears, life savers, gum drops, skittles, m&ms, or any other candy that already has a variety of colors.

Instructions for How to Play 

Pass around the candy and tell each participant to choose anywhere from 1 to 5 pieces of anything that they want.  Instruct them not to eat it yet, though.  After they have chosen their candy, you will tell them what each candy type/color represents.

If there is a whiteboard or chalkboard present, write on the board the following:

• Red – Favorite hobbies
• Green – Favorite place on earth
• Blue – Favorite memory
• Yellow -Dream job
• Orange – Wildcard (tell us anything about yourself!)

If you don’t have the above colors, change the above to match the candy types that you have.  Each person takes turns introducing himself or herself, beginning with their name and then saying one fact for each candy type that they have.  This easy introduction game should go relatively quickly (assuming they weren’t greedy and that they didn’t take too many pieces of candy!)

Share This

This teambuilding exercise requires writing utensils, sheets of paper, and a hat. Allow about five minutes of writing time, plus one to two minutes per participant. The recommended group size is at least eight, but no larger than 20. It’s possible to run this activity with a large group, if the group is divided into smaller groups and if there are enough facilitators. This activity is for people ages 14 and up.

Setup for Fear in a Hat

Distribute a sheet of paper and a writing utensil to each person. Instruct them to anonymously write a fear or worry that they have. Tell them to be as specific and as honest as possible, but not in such a way that they could be easily identified. After everyone is done writing a fear/worry (including the group leaders), collect each sheet into a large hat.

Running the Fear in a Hat Teambuilding Activity

Shuffle the sheets and pass out one per person. Take turns reading one fear aloud, and each reader should attempt to explain what the person who wrote the fear means. Do not allow any sort of comments on what the reader said. Simply listen and go on to the next reader.

After all fears have been read and elaborated, discuss as a whole group what some of the common fears were. This teambuilding exercise can easily lead to a discussion of a team contract, or goals that the group wishes to achieve. This activity also helps build trust and unity, as people come to realize that everyone has similar fears.

Share This

React and Act is an active icebreaker game that can work with a variety of group sizes.  It can work for small groups of five people, or adapted for very large groups by selecting volunteers.  This game is best played indoors.  Materials required include paper, pens, and a bag.  React and Act works with all ages, including adults.

Setup for React and Act

React and Act involves some preparation; however, this is part of the fun!  Pass out sheets of paper and pens to the players.  Have each person write an event.  Tell them to be creative!  Examples of events can include:

• Being surprised by a large, aggressive bear in the woods
• You just won the lottery
• You have just been proposed for marriage with an engagement ring
• You just got fired by an incompetent boss
• Making the game winning pass to win the Superbowl
• You just fell in love

Once everyone writes an event, fold the paper once and place it into the bag.  Divide the group into two teams (or select five volunteers if it is a very large group). 

Instructions for How to Play

Ask five people on each team to randomly select an event from the bag.  Instruct them to react to this event, without explicitly giving away what the event is.  Choose a time limit (usually 30 seconds to a minute works well) and when you say “Go!”, have all five people to simultaneously react to their event using exaggerated gestures, facial expressions, and their voice.

For example, the person who has just won the lottery could raise his or her arms and scream excitedly, jumping up and down.  The person who has just confronted a bear might make a terrified look, shake in fear, and call for help.  And so on.  Each of the five actors can interact with each other, but they must stay “in character” and continue reacting and acting based upon what their sheet said.

After time expires, the other members of the team try to guess what happened for each person.  If you wish to keep score, each team gets a point for each correct guess.  This game is a great way to break the ice, while watching people act out silly (and usually hilarious) things.

Variations to Try

There are many variations to React and Act that changes the way the game is played.  Try experimenting with these and see whether you like them.

• No talking allowed, but noises are okay.  This increases the difficulty of the game by a lot, but it can be more hilarious. 
• Narrator explains the event before each person acts.

Share This

This get-to-know-you activity is best done indoors.  Any number of people can participate.  The recommended age is 7 and up.  Materials required are: several sheets of paper, pens, and colored pencils/crayons/markers.

Instructions for Fabulous Flags Activity

Pass out a sheet of paper, pens, and colored pencils, crayons, and/or markers to each person.  Explain the activity: “We’re now going to draw flags that represent or symbolize us.  Please design your own flag of you – include some symbols or objects that symbolize who you are or what you find enjoyable or important.”  You can show your own sample flag if you like.  For example, you could draw:

• a guitar (representing your passion for music)
• a tennis racket (someone who enjoys sports)
• a country like India (representing your affiliation with a country)
• a cross and a heart (representing Jesus and His love for the world)

Give everyone a set amount of time to draw (e.g. 15-20 minutes or so) and then reconvene.  Ask for volunteers to share their flags and explain the meaning of what they drew.  If it is a large group, you can divide everyone into smaller groups and ask them to share their flags with each other, or you can just ask a small number of volunteers to share.

Variations

After everyone has finished sharing the individual flags, as a big group you can ask everyone to brainstorm ideas on what to draw for a large class-wide flag.  Proceed to delegate individuals to draw certain parts of the class-wide flag.  Alternatively, you can collect the individual flags and paste them onto a board to create a “quilt” of individual flags, representing unity.

(credits: thanks Eunice!)

Share This