Ice Breakers

[PhiSigStrawbery]

What are some original ideas for ice breakers? So many things have been done over and over again, I am tyring to think of something new and fascinating...does anyone have any ideas?

[phisigcloud]

What kind of Ice Breakers do you want.
Know your name?
Get to know you?
Funny games?

I know of a couple.

[MooseGirl]

what are the icebreakers that you do over and over again? That way we don't just give you the same old ideas...


One interesting one, not for the faint of heart, is the shoe pass....

everyone takes off one shoe. They pass thier shoe to s/o else telling them their name and one interesting fact about themselves...then each person passes along the new shoe trying to rememeber the name and fact....do this for a few minutes til your sure everyone's gotten around. Then go around and ask ppl whose shoe they have and the fact about them...it is really funny since names and facts get all messed up...

Hmmm, i kno more just can't think at the moment....

[PhiSigStrawbery]

I am looking for ice breakers where we can learn names and find common interests. Something that can bring us together and really start conversations.

[SapphireSphinx9]

Ok, I have some ideas here... Now, I didn't make these up---I found them on this one website... So if they don't make sense, Sorry!

Bingo: Have a bingo type game where you have a grid and you write different interests in each box, then the participants have to find people who have those interests so they can fill their boxes to make a bingo.

Silent Identification: Each participant is asked to wither write words or draw pictures that describe themselves. This is done silently. They pin he picture on their chests, walk around and have everyone look each other over. Pictures are then shuffled and participants are asked to identify the person to which the picture belongs

Pairs Game: Make up pairs or group of people that go together (Mickey Mouse/Minnie Mouse, Barbie/Ken) You give each person a card with one of the group or pairs on it. The pairs or groups must find their match. When they find each other, they must discuss the best program they have been to and the qualities that made it a good program.

Name Game: Sit in a circle. one person starts by using an adjective starting with the same letter as their first name, followed by their first name (i.e. Clever Claire, Kind Karen) The next person and following has to repeat the first person's adjective and name and then add their own. it goes around the circle and the last person has to repeat all other names in order and end with their own

Human Knot: Have a group of 10-15 stand very close together. Tell them to reach out their arms so all hand are jumbled and intertwined. Tell them to grab one hand for each of their hands , but not the one of the person's next to them. Now they are a human knot and must use teamwork to untangle themselves into one circle without letting go of their hands

Toilet Tissue: tell participants to take a length of tissue. only after all have taken some, tell them for each panel of tissue they have to say one positive thing about themselves. (you could vary what they have to do or say for each tissue square: tailored to your objective)(variation: use M&M's-for each color they have to say one thing i.e. yellow: something sunny about themselves, red: an embarrassing moment, etc.)

Two True One False: go around group and everyone has to say two true statements about themselves and one false. The rest of the group has to guess which one is false

Web Game- take a ball of yarn and have the person who starts hold one end and rap it around their wrist. They throw the yarn around the room and either say something positive about the person you throw to or something they did to inspire you. then when you are done, you have bracelets of yarn that you are supposed to wear until they fall off.

Balloon Game #1- have everyone put one piece of information about themselves in a balloon, then blow up the balloon and throw the balloon in the middle of the circle of participants. then one by one, pop the balloons and guess to whom that piece of information belongs

Balloon Game #2-pass one balloon around the circle and have each person write a question on that balloon. then pass the balloon around the circle and each person has to answer three questions on the balloon.

Hug Tag-this is a cooperative version of "regular" tag. you should designate a few people to be "freezers". Then tell everyone else to scatter in all directions. the freezers count to ten, and then take off after the runners. once they tag a runner that person becomes one of the freezers. a player is safe from being tagged only when he or she is hugging another player.

Non-verbal birthday lineup- ask everyone to line up according to the month and day of birth without any talking. This should inspire some interesting means of communication towards a common goal.

Fast Lemon- this game is for players or more. First divide the group into two or more equal lines. then give the leader of each line a full length pencil and a full-grown lemon. as the teams line up single file mark a starting line and finish line on the floor(about 20 feet away at most) the object is to push the lemon with the pencil along the floor in a straight line-if you can. each player must push it to the finish line and back to the next teammate in line. the team to finish first wins. what you discover is that the lemon always keeps rolling, despite a slight wobble. you'll have trouble keeping it in your lane so be sure the furniture is pushed back.

Fruit Basket Turn Over- seat players in a circle. one person stands in the center. each player is given the name of a fruit. the person in the middle calls out the name of two fruits. the two people must quickly change seats. The person in the middle also tries to reach one of the seats. The one left standing then calls the name of two other fruits. He or she may also call "fruit basket turnover" and everyone must change seats

Life Saver Relay- divide group into two teams. give everyone a toothpick to hold between their teeth. place a life saver on the toothpick of the first person on each side. the game begins. the life saver is passed from person to person by lining up the toothpicks so that the life saver slides onto the next person's toothpick. no one can use their hands. should a lifesaver be dropped, that team begins again with the first person. the first team to relay a lifesaver to the end of the line is the winner

Banana Race- give each player a banana with the instruction to peel and eat it while holding one hand behind their back (they only need to take one bite of the banana) on a given signal they begin. the first one who takes a bite and then whistles, wins

Balloon Bust- have all players tie one balloon around each of their ankles. the object is to burst your opponent's balloons while keeping yours whole

Paper Bag Skits- first split your group into teams consisting of three to six members. give each team a paper bag filled with assorted objects. these can be almost anything, i.e. a wooden spoon, a screw, a bar of soap, a computer disk, etc... the object of the game is to present a skit using all of the props provided. the props may be used as they would be in normal life, or they may be imaginatively employed. give each group a topic to base their skit on. when all the skits have been planned and rehearsed they are performed for the amusement of all

Killer- walk around and shake hands. when the killer shakes your hand, you must fall to the ground and 'die' others must guess who the killer is. (the killer adds a tickle when shaking hands)

Black Magic- need two people who know the game. one person(who knows the game) leaves the room while the rest of the group decides what object that person needs to guess. they return and the leader (who know the game) ask "is this it?, is that it?" about many objects. The person who is guessing continuously says no until the leader points to an object that is black. the NEXT object is the one that the person needs to identify and say, "yes that's the object the group picked" play the game till someone figures out how it is done

Animal Match- upon entering the room ,everyone is given a card with an animal on it (make sure there are two of every animal) one the count of three everyone makes their animal noise and tries to find their partner

Backlash Relay- players pair off and stand back to back with elbows hooked. one player holds a balloon. pairs race to one end, transfer the balloon to the other person., without unhooking elbows and then race back

Caterpillar Race- line up behind each other bent at the waist and holding the ankles of the person in front of you. try to move forward as a team. if someone looses the ankle grip, the caterpillar must stop until everyone is intact

Icicle Hunt- hide icicles (strings of different lengths). Winner is the one whose icicles from the longest line when laid out end to end, not the one with the most icicles

Clothes Relay- players form teams of four people. They take off articles of clothing and try to see which team can make the longest line out of their clothes. sometimes girls will take off shirts and finish relay in bras!!!! any item you are wearing at the time, counts if you take it off and put it in the line

Same Letter- with each letter of the alphabet try to come up with a male name, female name, food, and place. (ex. A my name is Alfred, my wife's name is Angela, we grow apples in Atlanta.)

Sentence Game- Everyone splits up into groups and each group gets a sentence. Each group must make up a story that ends in that sentence. The crazier, the better!!! (Example: And that is why you can't trust an AZA an inch above the knee.)

Yerushalayem Game- when everybody walks into the room, you hand each person a paper with two cities on it, for example: Denver and Jerusalem. Every person would have one different name, but they would all have Jerusalem. They are not allowed telling anyone what's on their paper. So thy gather into a circle and hold hands. There is a storyteller who tells a story and mentions every single city name. The person who has Denver has to try and sit down and make his/her bum touch the floor. The other people have to hold her/him up. And in the end, Jerusalem is called out, and everyone drops to the floor

If you love me baby smile- Everyone sits in a circle, and one person goes up to somebody in the group and tries to make them smile by saying, "if you love me baby, smile" and they are not allowed touching the person at all. They may make funny faces or whatnot. If the person does not smile or laugh, they will reply, "I love you baby, but I just can't smile". And if the person succeeds, the person they made smile moves on, and if they lose, they have to go to another person

Movie Ball game- everyone stands in a circle and bounces a ball to somebody else, and has a five second limit to do so. But before bouncing the ball they must say a name of a movie. When somebody repeats a movie name, they are out of the game. It eventually ends up being a competition between two people, and then there's a winner. As a prize, you can give them a chocolate bar, or something else

Freeze- this game usually starts off with two people up on "stage". The other members give them a subject matter, and they have to act it out, as an improvisation. Then at an ideal moment, usually after a minute or two, another member can call out freeze, and both of the actors have to freeze on their spot. The member who called out freeze has go in and take the place (the exact position) of one of the members, and has to start a completely different and unrelated scene

Digging game- The members sit in a circle of chairs and there is one person standing and does not have a chair. The person in the middle asks a question, like "who has brown hair?" and everyone who does has to get up and switch seats. The person in the middle has to go and find a seat, which in turn will leave somebody else in the middle without a chair to ask a question. The catch is that the people changing seats (this applies to each individual round) cannot move to the seat on either side of them, or if they get up and can't find a seat, they cannot return to the seat where they just sat

Well I hope that helps out some... Good luck!

PSLAM~Beth

[PhiSigStrawbery]

Thank you SOOOO much!!! That really helps me...so many of them are just adorable. :-*

LITP!!! :-D

[White_Chocolate]

AAAAHHHHHH!!

The human knot!!!

We do that when there's a last minute Sapphire Sister party.

[SapphireSphinx9]

There's also this caterpillar type thing... (we use to do it during night rehearsals in marching band---with a regiment of almost 300 people!)

Ok, so you get everyone standing in one circle, shoulder to shoulder. Then you have everyone turn to their right... (Everyone's left shoulder should be facing the inside of the circle.) Once that is done, have everyone get closer, and make the circle as tight as possible. (You HAVE to have it almost unbearable) Then, tell everyone to sit down. Yep, they're going to sit down on the person behind them. (You don't feel anything but pressure... It's not heavy, like as if some one would just sit on you, while your sitting on the couch) Once everyone is sitting, tell everyone to walk... you're going to have to call out Right-Left-Right-Left, etc. It's really cool, because the big circle moves, and you end up on the totally opposite side. Once someone stands up, or falls out, the whole circle breaks, and everyone falls.

Ok, so it might not sound fun... But it is!

PSLAM~Beth

[PhiSigStrawbery]

Thanks for the ideas hun...you're all so helpful! :-D LITP!!!

[SapphireSphinx9]

You're quite welcome... Listing ideas is what I LOOOVE to do!

If anyone else wants me to list anything... Just holla!

LITP~Beth

[PhiSigStrawbery]

:-) I'm going to try them out at socials and I will let you know the outcome!

[amyleigh]

A site that features more ice-breakers is:
http://www.residentassistant.com/

see Games.
Also under social program are some ideas for COB or informal Rush events

[SapphireSphinx9]

ok, this thread is REALLY old, but let's bump it up - to get some more ideas flowing!!