The following 'icebreakers' are all short,
fun activities to use for energising the group. They are
useful when you first start working with a new group to
develop a good group feeling and at the beginning of a session
to get people warmed up.
The activities have been divided into two
sections. The first is a collection of activities which
are for warming up and developing a good atmosphere within
the group and the second section contains others, which
as well as warming people up, will help them to get to know
each other and to start working with some of the issues
of the campaign.
It must be stressed that they are all intended
to be light hearted and fun in order to get people working
together before moving on to other activities in the pack.
They are only suggestions. If you know others and wish to
use them please do so.
If you are starting to use the pack with
a new group we suggest that after one or two icebreakers
you try one of the activities which help build the group
and work with images for example, 'Dreams'
, 'Odd one out', 'Me
too', 'Seeking similarities and discovering
diversity' or 'One equals one'.
If the group like playing games, then they
might like to work in small groups to invent their own games.
Look at 'Sport
for all' in Compass. This is a good activity to
help people to get to know each other and to learn to work
together. They will be active and should have a lot of fun
in the process.
Section 1.
The aims of the following activities
are to:
• Encourage interaction
• Get the group warmed up
• Develop communication skills
• Encourage people to work co-operatively
• Be fun
When the group is warmed up go
on to one of the other icebreakers or on to one of the activities
listed above.
Preparation
• Chairs one less than the number
of participants
Time:5-10 minutes
Group size: 20
-30
Instructions
1. Arrange the chairs in a circle.
2. Ask the participants to sit on the chairs
and the person without one to stand in the middle.
3. Tell the person in the middle to say
something like: "I bring a letter for those who ...
wear glasses (... have taken a shower that morning ... who
wear trousers ... for those wearing a watch, or whatever
according to their imagination).
4. All those wearing glasses must change
chairs, while the person in the middle uses this opportunity
to get a chair for himself/herself to sit on.
5. Tell whoever is left in the middle to
bring the next letter.
6. Stop the game after 5 or 10 minutes or
when everyone has had a turn to call and everybody has had
to change place.
Time:10-15
minutes.
Group size: 5
- 15
You need an odd number of players for this
game
Preparation
• Chairs, the same number as half
the number of players plus one.
Instructions
1. Arrange the chairs in a circle.
2. Divide the participants into two groups.
One should have one person more than the other.
3. Ask the people in the smaller group to
sit on the chairs (one of the chairs will be left empty).
4. Tell the people in the second group to
stand behind each of the chairs (the empty chair will also
have somebody standing behind it).
5. Now explain that the person sitting behind
the empty chair has to try to "call" one of the
people sitting on a chair by winking at them. The person
to whom the call is addressed must try to move to the empty
chair without being touched by the person who is standing
behind them. If they are touched, then they must come back
to their chair and the caller has to try to call someone
else.
6. If they do manage to leave, then the
person standing behind the now empty chair becomes the next
caller.
7. Explain one more rule: the person to
whom the call is addressed can't ignore it, they have to
try to move.
Tips for the facilitator
This activity is very funny if played quickly.
Time:Approx.
15 minutes.
Group size: 10
-20
You need an even number of players
Preparation
• An empty space
• The same number of chairs as participants
plus two
Instructions
1. Divide the players into two equal groups.
2. Arrange the chairs in two lines facing
each other, one or two meters apart. Each line must have
as many chairs as participants in the team, plus one extra.
The lines should both be the same length.
3. Fix a point in the room to be the finishing
line equal-distance from the two lines of chairs.
4. Ask each team to choose a line and tell
the members to each stand on a chair. The last chair, that
furthest from the finishing line, must stay empty.
5. Explain how to play: the person standing
nearest to the empty chair must pick it up and pass it to
the next person in their team who passes it to the next,
and so on down the line. The chairs must be passed from
hand to hand. When the chair reaches the last member of
the team they put it on the floor, stand on it and all the
other members of the team move forward one chair. Then start
moving the next chair down the line and repeat until the
race is won by the first team to reach the finishing line
with an empty chair.
6. Give a signal to start the game.
Tips for the facilitator
Players must stay on the chairs at all times.
If someone falls off, they are out of the game and their
team will have to pass two empty chairs.
Time:10 or
15 minutes
Group size: 10
- 20
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.
Group size: 10+
Time: 5 -10
minutes
Preparation
• Chairs, one per person
Instructions
1. Ask everyone to sit in a circle.
2. Explain that the rule of this game is
that 4 people should be standing at any one instant and
that no player may stand for more than 10 seconds, though
they may stand for less if they wish.
3. There should be no attempts to communicate
between players, but everyone in the group has to watch
what is happening and share the responsibility to make sure
that 4 people, no more, no less, are standing at any one
time.
Tips for the facilitator
It will take a few minutes for people to
get the hang of this game but once they do they will get
a good rhythm going of people standing up and sitting down
and all working together. It is very exciting and gives
a good feeling to the group.
You may like to ask players to say how they
knew when to stand up?
Section 2
The aims of these icebreakers is to:
• Get the group warmed up
• Help people to get to know each
other
• Encourage people to work co-operatively
• Introduce some of the ideas about
the campaign
• Encourage interaction
• Be fun
Time:20 minutes
Group size:
8+
Preparation
• Make copies of the question sheet
below, one per person
• Pencils - one per person
Instructions
Explain that the aim is for each person
to talk to as many different people as possible, to find
out something different about each one and to write a different
name in each box.
Human Bingo
Find someone in the group to ask 'are you
someone who...? '
Try to get a different name in each box:
• has recently painted or decorated
their home
• likes cooking
• has travelled to another European
country
• lives together with other members
of their family
• reads a newspaper regularly
• makes their own clothes
• likes football
• keeps animals
• can play a musical instrument
• has parents or grandparents who
were born in another country
• can speak any Esperanto
• has travelled outside Europe
Tips for the facilitator
If you want to have a brief discussion about
what people found out start by asking if people enjoyed
playing. Then talk about the diversity of skills and interests
in the group, and what cultural influences they can detect
in the way people replied E.g. Do equal numbers of men and
women cook and make clothes? But don't make it too heavy
- go on to another activity which will enable people to
look at the similarities and differences e.g. 'One
equals one'.
Time:15 minutes
Group size: 10+
Preparation
• Make copies of the sheet, cut round
the boxes and put the slips of paper in a hat.
• You will need one 'greeting' per
person.
Instructions
Ask participants each to take one slip of
paper then mingle in the middle of the room and greet each
other by saying their own name and using the action described
on the paper.
• Greet the other person by embracing
and kissing them three times on alternate cheeks
• Greet the other person by embracing
and kissing them twice on alternate cheeks
• Greet the other person by embracing
them and kissing them four times on alternate cheeks
• Greet the other person by placing
your hands together in prayer position and bow forward
• Greet the other person by rubbing
noses
• Greet the other person very warmly
with a big hug.
• Greet the other person with a very
strong, firm handshake
• As you greet the other person keep
a distance of about 2 foot between you and shake hands,
but only with a very light grip.
Tips for the facilitator
This is meant to be a light-hearted icebreaker
to use with a group of people who don't know each other.
We stress most strongly that it is not intended to reinforce
stereotyping. A short discussion about people's reactions
should counter any tendency to stereotype and could be a
useful step into the next activity. You could ask:
• Can you guess where the different
greetings come from?
• To what extent are they stereotypes?
E.g. do all German's have a strong hand grip?
• Which greetings did you feel comfortable/uncomfortable
with and why?
• Have you ever been in the embarrassing
situation when in another country, someone greeted you warmly
with three kisses and you fumbled and stepped back after
two because you didn't know the correct social code?
Then move on to an activity which explores
stereotypes such as 'First impressions'
Note: Players will ask where the
different customs come from. Ask them to guess, otherwise
suggested answers are:
• As you greet the other person
keep a distance of about 2 foot between you and shake hands,
but only with a very light grip.(England)
• Greet the other person by embracing
them and kissing them three times on alternate cheeks.(Netherlands/Belgium)
• Greet the other person by embracing
them and kissing them twice on alternate cheeks. (Portugal/Spain)
• Greet the other person by embracing
them and kissing them four times on alternate cheeks. (Parisians)
• Greet the other person by placing
your hands together in prayer position and bow forward.
(Japan)
• Greet the other person by rubbing
noses. (Inuit)
• Greet the other person very warmly
with a big hug. (Russia/Palestine)
• Greet the other person with a
very strong, firm handshake. (Germany)
From the Co-operative Studies Manual, Co-operative Union
Education Department, Stanford Hall, Loughborough, Leicestershire,
LE-125QR, UK
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