.
Students work in groups of 4-6. One person starts, identifying and performing a small task (i.e. “Clap hands three times”). The next person repeats and performs the same tasks, then adds on one of their own (i.e. “Clap hands three time, stick out tongue”). Play continues around the group, with each person performing and adding a new task to the mix. Students who cannot complete the sequence correctly are out until the next round.
This game requires students to follow directions, focus, listen carefully, and utilize memory skills.
Start with all of the players in a circle, with one person holding a ball. The starter throws the ball to the person directly across from them. That student then throws the ball to the person to the left of the starter. Play continues the same way, which each person throwing the ball to the person to the left of the person they got the ball from, until all players have touched the ball.
Now a pattern has been established, and the game starts. The ball will be thrown around the circle in the same way, with each person always getting the ball from the same person, and throwing the ball to the same person. Once the group has found its rhythm, add another ball into the mix without breaking the momentum. Add several more balls and see how long the group can go without dropping the ball. For an added challenge, use balls of varying sizes.
The goal of this activity is for kids to line themselves up in order according to predetermined criteria. For example: shortest to tallest, alphabetically by last name, chronologically in order of birth date, etc. Start with the easiest ones first to help alleviate any hesitancy to participate, and to give kids a sense of success. This game gives kids the chance to utilize communication, cooperation, and problem-solving skills. You might also want to watch carefully to see which students seem to take charge, and which need prompting to get involved. For a real challenge, have students perform tasks without verbal communication.
All students begin the game standing. The leader calls out a characteristic, and all students who possess that characteristic remain standing while the others sit down. For example: has an older sibling, has a dog, likes math, has toast for breakfast this morning. Get creative. The last person standing, gets to run the next round.
This game is a great way for students to learn about each other in a fun way.
Ahead of time, make up four by four grids with four letters of the alphabet across the top, and four categories down the side. Subjects can be school related (school supplies, something you find in school, etc) or general (TV show, lunch food, girls’ name, etc.) Divide students into groups of four or five and give each group a copy of the same grid. The groups’ task is to fill in each of the sixteen blocks with one answer that fits the category and also begins with the proper letter. (For example, if the category is “something you find in school” and the letters are C, L, T, and B, students could write cafeteria, lockers, tables, and books.) Groups score points only for having answers that no other group came up with, which encourages groups to work more quietly. This activity forces kids to think, practice group decision-making, and to work together. Subject teachers can make the categories pertinent to their content area (i.e. famous author, art supplies, math term, etc.) Kids LOVE this game!
Summary: Autograph Bingo is a simple icebreaker that asks people to mingle and find people that match interesting facts listed on a bingo card. The game is useful in that it causes players to discover interesting and humorous facts about each other.
Ages: 12 and up. Recommended # of people: Larger groups of 24+ people. Messiness Factor: No problem. Materials required: bingo cards prepared in advance and writing utensils. Recommended Setting: Indoors.
Autograph Bingo is a fun way to help both new acquaintances and old friends discover facts about each other. The goal of this icebreaker game is to mingle and obtain the signatures of people who have the facts listed on their bingo card. Just as regular bingo rules, once a player successfully obtains a full row (5 in a row) on his or her Bingo sheet, whether obtained horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, he or she shouts “BINGO!”
Setup
Prepare a table with 5 rows and 5 columns (5×5), with interesting facts inside the boxes. These facts can include humorous or bizarre things. For example you can use facts such as:
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Speaks more than two languages
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Enjoys walking in thunderstorms
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Likes anchovies

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Has been to Alaska
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Has gone skydiving before
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Has more than three sisters
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Has gone without a shower for more than three days
Try to be as creative as you can. Like traditional bingo, you can mark the center square as a “Free Space”. After you are finished preparing the table, print out enough copies. You are ready to play!
Instructions for How to Play
Pass out pens and the bingo cards to each player. Explain the game along with the following rule: each person you talk to may only sign your sheet once (so that people can interact with as many people as possible). When everyone is ready, say “Go!” and begin the game!Once a player shouts “Bingo!” everyone returns to the center and the person must introduce the people who signed his or her sheet. If desired, you can ask each person to explain their fact.
Summary: A high-paced, messy relay race in which players pass a banana using their feet and the last person must eat the mushy fruit.
Ages: 10 and up. Recommended # of People: Teams of 7-10. Messiness Factor: Quite messy! Materials: Bananas, at least 1 per team. Setting: Outdoor.
The Banana Pass Game
The banana pass is an outdoor action game that is essentially a messy relay race. The “baton” is a banana — except the catch is that you can only use your feet to pass it! Eww..
How to Play
Players lie down on the grass, head to toe in a straight line with each person’s toes about 2 feet away from the next teammate’s head. When the game begins, the first people in line grab hold of the banana with their feet and pass it over their heads to the next person’s feet. The next person receives the banana with his or her feet and passes again until the entire team is done. When the banana has been passed to the last person, this person must peel the banana and eat it (ewww!). After eating it, the person then must run back to the starting line, finishing the race for the team.
Summary: A good get-to-know-you name identification game that can get pretty hilarious! Two people stand facing each other with a large blanket in between. The blanket drops, and the first person to correctly identify the other person wins the round.
Ages: All. Recommended # of People: 10-20. Messiness Factor: No Sweat. Materials Required: Blanket.
Recommended Setting: Indoors.
Instructions: The Blanket Name Game is a simple name recognition/identification game. Go around the room and make introductions (share your name and other information such as your hobbies, major, etc. if desired. Separate into two groups and have two people hold a large, thick blanket separating the two groups so that neither group can see the other. When the blanket drops, the first person to correctly call out the name of the other group’s designated person wins the round (which typically means the loser of the round must leave the game, though if you prefer to avoid ‘elimination’ then you don’t have to do this). The group may strike different humorous poses to distract the attention of other group’s person. As a variation, several people may be facing the other group with one person being chosen to call out the information of the other group’s people.
Summary: A group team-building activity in which people identify common things that everyone has in common, along with interesting characteristics that are unique to a person in the group.
Ages: 12 and up. Recommended number of people: Groups of 5-8. Messiness factor: No sweat. Materials required:
Two sheets of paper and a pen for each group. Recommended setting: Indoors.
Form groups of five to eight people and give them two sheets of paper and a pencil or pen. The first part of the activity is Commonalities, where each subgroup compiles a list of the things they have in common. In order for it to make the list, it must apply to everyone in the subgroup. You want to avoid writing things that people can see (e.g.

“everyone has hair,” or “we are all wearing clothes”). Try to get them to dig deeper. After about 5 minutes, have a spokesperson from each subgroup read their list.
Then, depending on your goals for the session, you can have half of each subgroup rotate to another group for
Uniquities or you can leave everyone in the same group. On the second sheet of paper have them record uniquities, meaning that each item applies to only one person in the group. The group tries to find at least 2 uniquities for each person. After 5-7 minutes, you can have each person say one of their uniquities or have a person read them one by one, having others try to guess who it was. (Again, you want to go beyond the superficial, avoiding those things that people can readily see). This is an excellent team-building activity because it promotes unity, gets people to realize that they have more in common than they first might realize. The awareness of their own unique characteristics is also beneficial in that people can feel empowered to offer the group something unique.
Summary: A hilarious copycat game in which people try to imitate one leader’s actions, and the person in the center attempts to identify who is the originator of the actions (the leader).
Ages: 8 and up. Recommended # of People: A group of 8 to 16 people. Messiness factor: Might break a sweat.
Materials: None. Setting: Indoors or outdoors.
Follow the Leader (also known as the Copycat Game) is an action game that serves as a good energizer or warmup activity. It can be pretty hilarious watching people mimic the leader, especially if the leader does some wacky movements. There is no preparation needed for the Follow the Leader game. Find a large open space, either indoors or outdoors, and you’re ready to go!
How to Play
Ask everyone to stand and arrange the group into a circle, facing inwards. Ask one person to leave the room for a minute. This person will be the guesser for the round. While he or she is gone, the group decides who should be the
“leader.” The leader will be the one who sets the movements for that round. When this person is chosen, invite the guesser to come back. The guesser stands in the very center of the circle.
When the round begins, everyone starts swinging their arms up and down. The leader will eventually begin to do other movements, and everyone else mimics the leader’s actions, without being too obvious to reveal who the leader is. The leader can do just about anything he or she wants, such as:
 clapping
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 making a kicking motion with his or her leg jumping up and down
 singing a line from a song
 patting his or her own head
 a dance move
Everyone in the circle should be careful to avoid prolonged eye contact with the leader, so the leader’s identity is not given away. The guesser must keep turning his or her head to try to figure out which person is the leader (the person who is starting of all the group’s movements). The guesser is allowed to make up to three guesses. If the guess is incorrect, the round continues. If the guess is correct, the leader becomes the new guesser for the next round. If all three guesses are exhausted and the leader is not correctly guessed, the round ends and you can either keep the same guesser or switch it up.
This action game tends to be hilarious, as people try to copy the leader’s silly movements.
Summary: An icebreaker / action oriented game good for medium and large sized groups. Similar to a game of rock, paper, scissors, two teams face off and decide to become either “giants,”
“wizards,” or “elves.” Giants defeat elves, elves defeat wizards, and wizards defeat giants.
Ages: 10 and up. Recommended # of People: 20 and up (large groups work fine too!). Messiness factor: Might break a small sweat! Materials Required: None. Recommended Setting: Indoors or Outdoors.
Giants, Wizards, and Elves is a fun, silly icebreaker game that is a good way to break the ice at meetings or in classrooms. It’s a simple game based on the classic game of rock, paper, scissors.
Setup
Teach everyone how to become three characters: the giant, the wizard, and the elf. Each character features hand motions and a noise.

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For the giant, each person stands on their tippy toes, lifts up their arms, and makes an angry growling noise:
“Roooar!”
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For the wizard, each person crouches a little bit, flutters their fingers as though they are casting a spell, and they make a magical noise: “Woooo!”
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For the elf, each person gets down very low on their knees, cups their hands around their ears, and makes a high pitched elf noise: “Eeeeee!”
Practice each motion together a few times. Divide everyone into two teams and have them separate into opposite sides of the room. The game involves several rounds. For each round, the following takes place:
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Each team forms a huddle and decides to become a giant, wizard, or elf.
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Both teams then line up and face each other, about 5 feet apart.
 The facilitator says “3..2..1..Go!”
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Each team acts out the giant, wizard, or elf (whatever they decided to become).
As soon as they act out their character, the winner tries to grab the loser and pulls as many people over to their side as they can. The loser tries to run away, back to their side, in order to be safe. The winner of each round is determined by the following: the giant defeats the elf because giants “squash” elves. Elves defeat wizards by outsmarting them, chewing at their legs.
The wizard defeats the giant by “zapping” them with a magic spell. Identical characters are a draw (no one wins).This process keeps repeating for multiple rounds until one team is entirely consumed (or when time runs out.)
Summary: A good icebreaker or teambuilding activity for new people to learn to work together – in close physical proximity! The goal is to figure out how to untangle the human knot without letting go of hands.
Ages: 12 and up. Recommended number of people: 7-200 (group sizes of 10 are ideal). Messiness factor: Might break a sweat – (close proximity – hope you’re not claustrophobic!). Materials required: None. Recommended setting: Both indoors or outdoors.
Goals of the Human Knot Game:
Team building and communication
Problem solving
Ice-breaker or get to know others better
Setup
This game is versatile in that multiple group sizes can play. Form groups of about 10 people each. Have each group standing, facing towards each other, in a circle. Each person should be standing shoulder to shoulder. First, instruct everyone to lift their left hand and reach across to take the hand of someone standing across the circle. Next, have everyone lift their right and reach across to take the hand of another person standing across the circle. Make sure that no one is holding hands with someone standing directly beside the person.
How to Play
To play, the groups must communicate and figure out how to untangle the knot (forming a circle of people) without ever letting go of any hands. If you wish, this icebreaker can be played competitively, in which the facilitator says
“Ready.. Set.. Go!” and has all the groups race to become the first group to finish. If any group member lets go of a hand (breaks the chain), then the group must start from the beginning, or you could impose a penalty/punishment for that person (e.g. wear a blindfold).
This game typically takes 15-30 minutes to complete. You can impose a time limit if you wish to make the game more challenging. When you are done with the Human Knot activity, you can ask some debrief questions if you wish, such as “How well did you group work together? What strategies did your group adopt? How did it feel to solve the game?” etc.
Variations
To increase the difficulty level, you can either (1) blindfold some of the players or (2) require that the game be played silently (no talking).

Summary: A simple icebreaker useful for introducing people to each other and helping people learn names. This game is especially useful when there are new people present.
Ages: 10-21 years old. Recommended # of People: 5-20. Messiness Factor: No Sweat. Materials Required: A fun attitude. Recommended Setting: Indoors.
How to play
The Name Game (also known as the Adjective Game) starts with one person in the room picking a word that describes himself or herself as a person. The catch is, that the word must start with the first letter of their first name.
For example, my students call me Miss Velasquez. I would say “Hello! My name is Vivacious Velasquez.” The person after me must say my adjective and name before saying theirs. So they would go, “Hello, Vivacious
Velasquez, my name is Silly Sam.” Then the third person would go, “Hello, Vivacious Velasquez, and Silly Sam, my name is Easy-going Edwin.” This continues on until all of the students have gone. Being last is hilarious in this game, because they must remember everyone’s name AND adjective before stating theirs.
Additional comments and suggestions
I’ve played this game in college and, of course, used my first name. I said, “Hello, my name is I-love-you Irene.” It was funny because everyone after me had to say “Hello, I-love-you Irene, I’m (insert witty adjective and name here).” This is neat because you don’t necessarily have to pick a single word that describes you. In fact, it doesn’t have to be an adjective at all. Notice, however, that the first word of my phrase started with the letter “I.” This is the only rule that cannot be broken. The more creative you are the better and more humorous the game will be. This game will help students that may not already know each other to get to know one another better. When students pick their adjective (or phrase) it will also double as a great “tip” for the next person if they get stuck and cannot remember the other student’s name.
Summary: An action oriented icebreaker that works especially well with large groups of people. A game of quick reflexes and passing on the pulse!
Ages: All. Recommended # of People: At least 40 people. Messiness Factor: Might break a small sweat. Materials
Required: A coin, a chair, and any small object like a tennis ball. Recommended Setting: Indoors.
The Pulse Game (also known as the Electric Current Game or the Electricity Game) is a great way to break the ice, especially if you have a large group people. In a fast paced action game, two long lines of humans resemble a fast moving electric current!
Setup
To set up the Pulse Game, you need to form two teams of equal size. The easiest way to do this is probably to have each player pair off with another person. When you’ve divided the group evenly, have each team member face the same direction, and have each team facing each other. Instruct each team to hold hands to form two long human chains. At the end of the two lines, place a chair with a small object (e.g. a tennis ball) on it. The referree stands at the front (see picture below).
Playing
To play the pulse game, have the two players at the front of the line watch the referee. Have everyone else close their eyes and face downward. Instruct everyone to be silent. For each round, the referee does the following: Flip a coin and quietly show it only to the first two players at the front of each team. Whenever the coin shows ”Heads,” the two people at the front of the line must squeeze the hand of the next person in line as quickly as possible.
Whenever that player’s hand gets squeezed, he or she quickly continues to “pass the electric current” by squeezing

the next person’s hand, and so on. As the “electric current” transfers along the line, the goal of the game is to be the first team to grab the object (the ball) on the chair. If heads was flipped and a team successfully grabs the ball, that team wins a point. On the other hand, if the team grabs the ball but heads was not flipped, then the point goes to the other team. After each coin flip, wait several seconds and then flip again. Keep flipping until the coin shows
“Heads.” For a short game, the winner is the first team to score 10 points. For a longer game, you can increase the number of points.
. Summary: An icebreaker where all players throw a shoe into a big pile. Grab a random shoe and find out three new facts about the person.
Ages: All. Recommended # of People: 10 and over. Messiness Factor: Smelly. Materials Required: None.
Recommended Setting: Indoors.
Instructions
Everybody takes off a shoe and throws them in a large pile on the floor. On the count of three, each person grabs a shoe from the pile, then find the person with the matching shoe in their other foot and find out their name and three things about them they didn’t already know. Works best with larger groups. After everyone has found their person and asked them the questions, then go around the circle and have everyone introduce the person they talked to and tell the three things about them. This game is a good large group game, though it can be somewhat smelly.
Summary: 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.
Ages: 10 and up. Recommended number of people: 25 and up. Messiness factor: No sweat. Materials required:
None. Recommended setting: Indoors.
Instructions: 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/book; salty/sweet; dress up/casual; inside/outside; be on the stage performing/in the audience watching, etc.
The second part, the Mingle game, is also interesting and effective as an icebreaker; You throw out a general category and the group has to mingle around to find others that have the same answer and they clump up. After about thirty seconds to one minute, you then have each group call out their answer. It’s okay if someone doesn’t have anyone else who has the same answer. Just try to avoid two groups with the same answer (means they didn’t mingle very well!) Some examples of mingles: your favorite dessert; the type of toothpaste you use; if you could attend one huge event (e.g. the Superbowl, Oscars, World Series, Nascar Opening Day, etc.) what would you choose; your least favorite chore growing up as a kid; if you could be the very best at something, what would it be?
Summary: An icebreaker / stationary game in which a person acts out an action only for the next person in line, who in turn acts out for the next person. The acting typically becomes distorted over time and hilarious, as the last person in line tries to guess what the original clue was.
Ages: 10 and up. Recommended # of People: 5-6. Messiness Factor: No Sweat. Materials Required: None.
Recommended Setting: Indoors.
How to Play
The Telephone Charades Game (also sometimes called ”Charades Down the Line”) is an icebreaker/stationary game that is a hilarious blend of the classic “telephone down the line” and “charades” game. This group game is fairly simple to play. Select five to six participants and ask them to leave the room. The audience chooses an action that is specific, silly, and obscure to act out (e.g. “a nerd’s romantic first date”, “washing an elephant”, “going skydiving”, etc.). Once the clue has been decided, bring in all the participants and instruct them to face the right side. The moderator reveals the clue to the first person, who taps the second person on the shoulder and acts out the topic using charades rules (no talking allowed, no noises). The second person then taps the third person and acts out his or her understanding of what was acted out. This continues until it reaches the last person in line, who must guess what

the action is. This game is funny because the action mutates and changes based upon each person’s interpretation of what is going on, often leading to confusion and silly motions.
Summary: A team building activity centered around trust. A leader gives verbal or nonverbal instructions to navigate a blindfolded partner to avoid obstacles.
Ages: 14 and up. Recommended number of people: Pairs. Messiness factor: Might break a small sweat. Materials required: Blindfolds. Recommended setting: Outdoors, in a location with no dangerous obstacles.
The Trust Walk Activity is a team building activity involving leadership and lots of trust as people navigate each other around obstacles.
Instructions
Find a good location with some obstacles, but nothing dangerous. Some good locations may include the woods or a large field. Form pairs. Ask one partner to be the navigator (guide), and the other to be blindfolded. When the blindfolded partner is ready, slowly spin the person around a few times so that they do not know which direction they are headed. From this point on, the guide should not touch the partner at all, but rely solely on verbal cues (e.g.
“About five steps ahead, there is a branch. Step over it slowly.”)
The guide is solely responsible for his or her partner’s safety. He or she should be navigated to avoid obstacles. In this way, participants learn valuable lessons related to teamwork: the guide learns about the challenge and responsibility of caring for another individual’s well being, while the blindfolded partner learns to trust and rely on another person. Ask participants to reflect and share upon their experiences.
Sample Questions to Ask During Debrief
To help participants reflect and learn upon their experiences, the following are some good sample questions to ask following the Trust Walk team building activity:

What do you think is the purpose of this team building activity?

What was it like to be the guide, responsible for the safety of your teammates?

Did you have any difficulty trusting your partner while blindfolded? Why or why not?

Why is trust in your teammates important?

How did it feel when you and your teammate successfully trusted each other to accomplish something challenging?

How does this relate to _______ (fill in the blank with the current scenario of the participants, such as class, a sports team, employees working together on a project, etc.)?