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Let's be friendsTop Tips
- Don’t be scared to try them, they work!
- Be sensitive to people’s needs and don’t coerce people into taking part.
- Use one half way through a meeting to ease tension or if it’s getting boring.
P&Pers enjoy the Rubber Chicken icebreaker at the Forum 2008
Image © Rich Lott
Icebreakers do exactly that - break the ice! They wake people up, encourage participation, and make sure you don’t all feel like a bunch of strangers. You need to judge the mood of your group, or it could fall flat - how cheesy do you think you can go? Sometimes a short break or stretch might be all you need. Here is a random mixture of more varied games to choose from…
1. Name volleyball
Use this in a group that has never met before. Everyone stands in a circle. A ball is thrown from one person to another, but the thrower must shout her name before she throws the ball. After a short time the thrower has to shout not her own name but rather the name of the person to whom she is throwing the ball. If you have no ball, use an imaginary one or something else.
2. The vampire game
Everyone stands in a circle with one person, ‘the vampire’, in the middle. The vampire walks towards someone with arms outstretched, as if to bite their neck! The victim must make eye contact with someone else and that person must then shout out the victim’s name before the vampire gets to the victim.
3. Mingle, mingle, mingle
Ask all the members of the group to dance around each other in no particular direction chanting ‘Mingle, mingle, mingle’. Tell them they will have to get into groups when you shout out a category. “For example get into groups of 3!” or “Get into groups with people with the same colour hair!”. They have to hold onto the people in these groups.
4. Tangle
Everyone stands in a circle with their eyes closed and their arms outstretched. All walk forward and grab two different people’s hands from the other side of the circle. Everyone opens their eyes and the group finds itself in a great big knot! The aim is to untangle the knot, but working as a team and climbing over/under arms in the way etc. IT’S GREAT FUN!
5. Touch blue
Have everyone touch something blue on someone else, something yellow, a knee, some glasses, etc. Call the next thing as soon as people touch whatever has been named.
6. Rain
A facilitator talks the group through this energiser. Get everyone to stand up. Start tapping your head lightly with your fingers imagining soft rain. Let it slowly get heavier the further you move your hands down your body. Let the rain turn into a thunderstorm on your calves. Clap them hard with your hands. Then move your hands back up you body, ending with soft rain on your head.
7. Fancy me
Everyone gets into pairs and then forms a circle with one of the pair squatting down in front of his partner. One person in the circle does not have a squatting partner, but tries to wink at one of the squatting people to entice her to come and squat in front of him. If you are winked at you must try to quickly get away before your partner behind you restrains you by tapping your shoulder. Once a player has managed to get away, a new space has opened up with a lonely partner who must decide who they fancy! Having two or even three lonely people in a circle increases the fun and alertness of the game.
8. Friend or foe
Each member of the groups chooses a ‘friend’ and a ‘foe’ without indicating who they have chosen to the other participants. When the leader indicates the start of the game each member must try to keep as close as possible to her chosen friend and as far away as possible from her foe. In practise this means that the participants constantly giggle and jostle around the room as they flee their foe and chase their friend.
9. Zip zap boing
Everyone stands in a circle. A MAGICAL ball of energy is used, which must be kept alive by moving it round the circle; the more energy the group puts into their actions the more energy the ball stores! There are only three ways to move the ball around the circle.
- You can ZIP the ball to the person standing next to you, using a big, sweeping gesture with one arm, either to the left, or to the right, saying “zip” as you do.
- You can ZAP the ball by putting your arms together outstretched across the circle to someone (you are not allowed to ZAP the person standing next to you), and saying “zap”.
- Or if you have been ZAPPED you can either ZIP the ball on or BOING it back to the sender (jump in the air and shout BOING). You are not allowed to ZAP if you have been ZAPPED.
You can always use more muted hand gestures if you don’t think your group will want to leap around.
10. Count to ten
In this game, you sit round in a circle, and attempt to count to ten as a group! Only one person can say each number, and anyone can say the next number at any time. The catch is that if two people say a number at the same time, you have to start again. No signalling is allowed between players, so it’s all down to good observation and concentration. It’s harder than it sounds! If the group manages to do this easily make it harder by asking everyone to close their eyes or getting the group to try to count to 20.
11. The sun shines on…
Form a circle and take one seat away. One person stands in the middle and calls out something like “The sun shines on everyone with green trousers”. Everyone with green trousers then jumps up and moves to a place vacated by someone else who has moved. The last person who is left without a seat remains in the middle to call out something else.
12. Something nice
Go round the circle with everyone introducing themself and saying something nice that they’ve done that day - a really positive way to start a meeting.
13. Trust Circle
Everyone forms a circle facing inwards. One person stands in the centre. They allow themselves to relax, and fall backwards, safe in the knowledge that their team-mates will catch them and then ‘bounce’ them gently round the circle. The tighter the circle the less risk of accidents!. Allow everyone that wants to, to have a turn.
