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Icebreaker

  • Alka-Seltzer Duel

    January 14, 2010

    icebreaker

    You may play this game as a quick up-front game or even as a 4-person tournament. 2 contestants, each armed with a squirt gun, will take five paces and turn to duel. On each of their foreheads, you will have attached an Alka-seltzer tablet with double stick tape (possibly use big rubber bands if tape doesn’t work). They draw and shoot the water at each other, the first one to dissolve the tablet on the other's forehead wins. Use swim goggles for each to protect their eyes. The tablet will fizz and foam all over the place.

    Have towels close by for clean-up. A cheesy western song (think Clint Eastwood or Lone Ranger) and some “cowboys” or “cowgirls” add to this one.

  • Rock, Paper, Scissor Splits

    January 12, 2010

    icebreaker

    Can be used in a large or small group.

    Have everyone in your group pair off into twos.

    Make sure pairs are evenly spread out around the room.

    To start, each person needs to face their partner and place their left foot behind their right foot, 3-5 inches apart.

    Then at the same time all groups play rock-paper-scissors. The winner of each pair has to say one fact about him/herself. The loser of the pair takes one step back with his/her left foot. Their right foot does NOT move.

    During the next round the winner still says a fact about him/herself. If the winner lost the previous round, he/she has a chance to move his/her left foot forward a step. The loser still moves one step back with his/her left foot.

  • Who (What) Am I?

    January 11, 2010

    icebreaker

    Materials needed: sheets of paper, marking pens, tape.

    A sheet of paper with the name of a person, place, or thing written on it (ie: 'Thomas Edison' or 'Giraffe') is attached to the back of each participant.

    As each name is different from another, the individual participant does NOT know what person, place, or thing is attached to his or her own back; and, therefore, the participant must mill about the room asking only yes/no questions of the other participants to try to learn who is taped to his/her back.

    The other participants can only answer 'yes' or 'no'  to the individual's questions.

    Example questions the individual participant might ask are: 'am I a basketball player?' ... 'do I live in America?'... 'am I a place?'.

  • Sorts and Mingle

    November 16, 2009

    icebreaker

    An icebreaker that gets the group to move towards various parts of the room and to find others with shared interests and preferences, based on various interesting categories.

    The first part of the game is the "Sorts" game.  You will throw out two contrasting choices and the group has to move either East or West of the room (e.g. "Do you prefer Target or Walmart?").  Then you throw out two more choices and have them move South and North.  That way, they are all having to move somewhere and can't get "lost" in the crowd.  Sorts that work well include:  movie or book; salty or sweet; dress up or casual; inside or outside; be on the stage performing or in the audience watching, etc.

  • The M&M Game

    November 16, 2009

    icebreaker

    This icebreaker is a simple way to help people introduce facts about themselves.  It's very flexiable and adaptable - and (if you have a sweet tooth) delicious too!  The M&M Game goes by other names:  The Skittles Game, the Candy Game, the Color Game, among other names.

    Setup - Pour M&M's or any other multicolor candy into a bowl.  Have everyone in the group grab as much or as little as they like from the bowl.  Make sure that no one eats their candy right away.  Depending on the size of your group it might be best to break up into several smaller groups in order to have the time for everyone to share.

  • Trainwreck

    September 18, 2009

    icebreaker

    Every person should have a chair except one person. The chairs should be set up in a circle facing the middle.  The person without the chair will start.  He/she will say something true about him/herself (I am wearing a blue shirt, I have a sister, etc). If this is true for anyone else sitting in a chair, they must get out of their seat and find a new seat. The person in the middle who was just in the middle is also trying to find a seat.  The last person who does not find a seat turns into the person in the middle.  The tricky part is that you must move at least two (or three, depending on the size of your group) chair over.  You cannot move over just one chair.

    This game can last as long or as short as you want it to.

  • Balls Under Boxes

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    There is quite a bit of setup to make this work right, but it is really funny. Place a couple of tables or card tables beside each other (leaving 8 inches between them) and cover with table cloths that hang down to the floor. Overlap the table clothes together leaving just enough space for someone’s head to come up between the two tables. Place four boxes on the table and ask one person to kneel on the ground between the two tables (now slightly spread apart) with their head above table level under one box. Put different kinds of balls under the other three boxes.

  • SH! When’s Your Birthday?

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    There are no materials needed for this icebreaker. Just have everyone stand up and arrange themselves in order of their birthdays from earliest birthday to latest (month and day only). The trick is, no one can talk. They can only use gestures. Give them a time limit. 

  • Banana Eating Contest

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    Choose four contestants and tell them that the object of the game is to eat as many bananas as they can in one minute. They will be competing against each other and the clock. But to add more of a challenge, blindfold each contestant. Once the contest begins, remove 3 of the blindfolds. This leaves one person still blindfolded eating bananas as fast as they can. Have everyone cheer this person on to victory! 

  • Snowball

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    Before the session begins, provide a piece of paper and a pen for each person. Everyone gets to write down one question they have always wanted to ask. Then each person crumples up the paper into a snowball and they all proceed to have an all-out snowball fight for 30 seconds. At the end each person should have one snowball. They are to open it up and answer it according to what they believe. Then try and bring it back to the Bible. 

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