ICEBREAKER GAMES
MAD HATTER'S TEA PARTY
Good as an icebreaker. You need an odd number of people in each group.
We used 7, but 5 would work as well. Three would really be too small.
Give each person in the group an open ended question like... "the
best thing that happened to me this week was..." or "I really hate
it when...", etc. Be creative and make sets of questions for each
group so each group has the same 7 questions, but each person only
has one question. Now have them line up their chairs so there are
3 down one side facing 3 down the other side, and have one person
at the top or "head" of the table, the Madhatter. The Madhatter starts
by reading her question out loud to the group. Then one side of the
"table" starts, and the 3 people on that side make eye contact with
their partner opposite them, and answer the question out loud. You
need one timekeeper for the whole room, who times one minute. The
room can get pretty noisy. The timekeeper yells switch, and the other
"side" of the "table" gets a turn to answer the question. Believe
me, they haven't had any time to think about their answer, because
they've been too busy listening!! After one more minute, the timekeeper
yells, "Teacups" and everyone moves one chair clockwise, which puts
a new Madhatter at the head of the table, and she reads her question,
etc., until all of the questions have been read and answered. Lots
of fun, very hectic, and VERY noisy.
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FAMOUS FOLKS
Good introductory game, especially for people who don't know each
other (trainings, etc.) Make up a list of famous pairs (Laurel and
Hardy, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, Lord and Lady BP, etc.) Make name
tags for each name. Pin a tag on the back of each person as they arrive
(make sure everyone has a partner!) They first guess who they are,
then have to look for their partner.
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MATCH THE FACT
This is a good one to use with adults, for trainings or the first
District meeting of the year. If you know the people, you can prepare
the cards in advance. Otherwise, have people fill in a card about
themselves as they arrive and then hand them out once everyone is
there. Make up a card for each guest/ participant highlighting an
interesting or unusual fact about them. hand out a card to each guest
upon arrival and have them try to match the fact on the card.
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CHAIR-SIT ICEBREAKER GAME
Everyone gets a chair and sits in a circle. The Guider has a list
of items she reads out. If any of them apply to you, you move the
appropriate number of seats clockwise. Examples: 1.Anyone with one
brother, move one seat clockwise. If you have two brothers, move two
seats. 2.Anyone with black hair, move one seat clockwise. 3.Anyone
who is a Rainbow, or has been a Rainbow, move two seats clockwise.
4.Anyone who lives in _____ Area move one seat clockwise. 5.Anyone
over the age of 21, move one seat counterclockwise. 6.Everyone wearing
brown shoes, move one seat. 7.Everyone in Guides, move one seat. etc.
The idea is to move all around the circle, and end up back where you
started. It becomes fun because if you move, but your neighbour doesn't,
you sit on her lap! Sometimes, you can have three people occupying
the same chair!! Make sure you have lots of categories so that everyone
gets lots of chances to move, e.g. all Branches of Guiding, all hair
colours (at different times, of course), and so on.
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ARTEFACT GAME
Ice Breaker (good with people
who know a bit about each other already) Each person is told ahead
of time to bring ten objects with some meaning to them to whatever
event you are doing this at. When they arrive, give them a bag with
a number on it and get them to carefully place their objects into
it. Then make sure each person gets someone else's bag. They have
ten minutes to write down ideas about what the person who owns the
objects is like, and to try to guess who they are. It is best if you
don't do the guessing until after everyone has had their say. This
would also work as an end of camp game, to see what people have learned
about each other.
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GETTING ACQUAINTED BINGO
Fill out a grid of 5 x 5 squares with things that you know at least
one of the girls could answer. Like, I have an older brother, I have
2 or more pets, I have brown hair, I have earned my Experienced Camper
Badge (that's Canadian so it won't help you, but you see what I mean?)
I have my 7 year service bar, or star, or whatever, I am more than
5 foot 3 inches tall. etc. They must go around and get the other girls
(and leaders if you'd like) to sign one square. The first one done,
can win a prize if you want.
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NAME BALL
Make a big circle. This works well for younger girls too. Have each
girl say their name (and you can have them say one thing that they
like too, if you'd like). After they have gone around the whole circle,
you toss a ball to one of the girls, while saying their name. The
girl whose name you call is the one who is supposed to catch the ball.
Try to encourage them to call on people that they don't already know,
especially if there are lots that aren't acquainted yet.
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NAME ACROSTICS
As people arrive, hand them a pencil and card. Ask them to print their
first name in capitals vertically at the left of the card. They move
about, trying to find persons whose last names begin with those letters.
For variation, use the monthly theme or other word along the left
of the card.
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TOILET PAPER GAME
Have you ever tried the one where you hand out a roll of toilet
paper and tell them to take as much as they will need. (This can be
quite hysterical watching) After you welcome them to the meeting,
You then ask the leaders and guests to tell one item about themselves
per sheet. This could take a while. We once had a leader take 34 sheets.
Some smart ones took one.
