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Ice Breakers

Can be used for various ages

Circle Introduction:

Have the participants stand in a circle. They have two minutes to find out who the person to their left is and some interesting facts about them. Each person will introduce the person on their left to the whole group.

Do You Love Your Neighbor?

All group members form a circle with one person left in the middle of the circle. The caller (the person in the middle) says, "Hi, my name is...!" Everyone else repeats the caller's name aloud, (Hi...). Then the caller goes up to another member in the circle and asks the person their name. The person tells the caller their name, then the caller asks the person if he/she loves his/her neighbors (the two people on either side). If the person loves his/her neighbors, then he/she says, "Yes, I love my neighbors, but I don't like people who are wearing tennis shoes. (The person can name any type of characteristic they want for example, people who have brown eyes, people who are freshman, people who own their own cars, etc.) Then everyone whom the characteristic pertains to must move to a different spot in the circle at least two places away from their original spot. The caller's object is to get into someone else's spot so someone else is left in the middle. If the person does not love his/her neighbor then the person will say, "No, I don't love my neighbors" and then the two people on either side of this person have to change places before the caller gets in their spot. The person left in the middle in either situation is the new caller and the game continues. This will need to be done in a large area or outside. You need to keep your circle tight, shoulder to shoulder, so you can see where your empty spaces are, some groups will use chairs. Have fun!!

Getting To Know You:

Divide a large group of people into smaller groups and have them answer the following questions listed below and then have each group share their answers.

Personal:

- A moment in my childhood I'll never forget - What I wanted to be when I grew up, what I want to be now - The best time of my life was...

Organizational:

- My expectations of the group - What I can give to the group - Something that bothers me about the group - I will strive to...

Favorite Songs:

The object of Favorite Songs is to collect all of the songs that your group holds dear to them, for one reason or another, or that best represents them or the organization. For a surprise, this should be done with no explanation as to why. After all the music has been collected, put it all together on a cassette tape. Play the music for the group and have them guess which music belongs to which group member. Then have the group member explain why they chose that particular piece of music. As an added bonus, you may choose to have copies of the original tape made to give to your group after the fun is over. They make great gifts.

Frisbee Anyone?

Have a frisbee at the meeting. Throw it around the room and have people that catch it answer a question or tell about themselves to the others in the group. Once that person is finished throw the frisbee to someone else in the group.

Human Lines:

Have the participants line up according to some criteria. It could be according to the alphabet, length of membership, or height. Have each person introduce the person on their left to the whole group. Allow two minutes for the participants to gather information before starting the introductions.

Name Tag Game:

Introduce yourself to another person in the group and after conversing two minutes, exchange name tags. Then share the information about your partner with another member in the organization.

Name Whip:

Have the group sit in a circle. (Not recommended for groups over twenty.) Each participant will introduce themselves by saying their name and a word using the first initial of their first name. The topic from which the word is based is flexible. The facilitator would start by asking the group to think of a favorite food item, or some other topic, that begins with the first letter of their first name. Each person will be responsible to remember the names and matching items for every person that precedes him or her in the circle. The whip ends when the last person in the circle names everyone in the room and the item they like. The facilitator should then ask if anyone in the group can name everyone in the circle and the item they liked.

People To People:

Everyone is directed to pair off and an odd number is needed so there is one person left standing in the middle of the group. The person who does not have a pair then calls out directions for the partners such as nose to nose, finger to forehead, ankle to shoulder, etc. (body parts to body parts.) The partners will do whatever the person in the middle calls out (like Simon Says). The person in the middle gives between one to five directions and then calls out "People to People" and everyone grabs a new partner including the person in the middle, so you are left with a new person in the middle. The game continues. This game needs to be played in a large area or outside.

Scavenger Hunt

: Have each participant write down their name and an obscure fact about themselves that few people know about. These are then typed up on a sheet of paper, but with the names left blank. Hand out the sheets to all the participants and tell them that they are to match the obscure facts with everyone's name. This could be done in two ways, one way is to have everyone just guess and see how many they get right. Afterwards they could discuss first impressions and stereo typing. The second method is to have everyone work on the sheet throughout the meeting, week, or until next meeting and offer a prize to the person with the most correct answers. If there is a tie, have a run off to see who can remember the most without looking at his or her sheet.

Take As Much As You Think You'll Need

: Props: M & M's, peanuts, a roll of toilet paper, Skittles or anything else with lots of pieces (choose one) and small cups.

To begin, the leader passes around the bowl of M & M's or the roll of toilet paper. Each person is given the instructions to "Take as much as you think you will need." No further instructions are given until each person has received their M & M's. Once everyone has some, the first person begins by telling one thing about himself for each M & M or piece of toilet paper they have taken. When the first person has finished, you move on to the next person in the group. As an interesting twist, and to be sure that you find out some different information on each person, you may give each color M&M a different meaning or category. We suggest the following: (example using Skittles)

Red: personal information (name, major, school, age) Yellow: family information (parents, brothers, sisters, pets) Orange: free category- use it to say something fun about yourself or you don't have to say anything Green: dating experience (favorite date, worst date, significant others) Purple: hobbies, other interests (sports, dancing, talents)

Common Ground

Game Summary: Teams will race to create lists of things that all the team members have in common.

Game Supplies: You'll need paper and pencils.

Form equal-sized teams of three to six. Give each team a sheet of paper and a pencil. Tell teams their challenge is to list everything they can think of that all team members have in common. For example, team members might all attend the same school, prefer the same kind of music, or like the same brand of tennis shoes. The only rule is that they can't list similar body parts, such as "We all have two arms, a brain, and a nose."

Tell teams they have three minutes to create their lists, so they need to work quickly. (Groups of five or six may need more time, but don't allow more than four to five minutes.) To add to the urgency and excitement of the game, inform teams when there's one minute as well as 30 seconds remaining.

When time is up, find out which team has the longest list and ask team members to read the similarities they listed. Then ask teams who had similarities not already listed to share them. To conclude, have the entire group discuss the following questions. Ask:

• How easy was it to discover something in common with another team member? With every team member?

• What does this reveal about the extent to which we're alike? The ways in which we're all different?

• How can our similarities draw us closer together? How can our differences help us grow closer?

Variation Idea: Challenge teams to list things members don't have in common — things that make each person unique. For example, kids may have been born in different states, might go to different schools, or might like different music. You might also challenge your entire youth group to list as many things as it can that members all have in common.

Personal Parables

Game Summary: Kids will use objects found in the room or in their possession to tell stories about themselves.

Game Supplies: No supplies are required.

Ask kids to form groups of five or six based on whether they're "pack rats" or "throw-it-out types." Then tell group members to introduce themselves to each other (if needed) and tell one thing they own that they'd never throw out.

After several minutes of discussion, explain that Jesus taught profound spiritual truths by telling stories about everyday objects — by telling parables. For example, Jesus compared God's kingdom to a mustard seed to explain how something that begins small can grow to a great size.

Tell kids you'd like them to do the same thing by choosing and using objects from the room, their purses, or their pockets to each tell their group an important thing about themselves. For example, someone might choose a driver's licence and explain that she delivers pizzas. Someone else could use a library card to represent his desire to be a novelist. Encourage listeners to ask questions to learn as much about the speakers as they can.

After kids tell their parables, ask each person to tell the entire group about the person to his or her left by summarising that person's parable.

Variation Idea: Modify this activity to fit the topic of your lesson. For example, if the lesson is on family relationships, have kids use objects to tell about their families. If the lesson is on music, have kids use objects to represent their favorite songs or performers.

sent in by Donna

Who Am I?


On slips of paper, or 3x5 cards write the name of some famous person, or character.
Tape the name on each group member's back (make sure they don't see the name).
When everyone has a name taped on their back, instruct them to discover what name is written on their back by asking others yes or no questions about the person.
For example: Am I a real person? Am I an adult? Am I male? Was I born in the United Kingdom? By narrowing the answers down, they may discover "who they are" and if they are correct, you may choose to give them a token prize.

Me Am What Me Am!

Give everyone in the group one paper clip, before the meeting begins. Preferably, before structured activities begin, instruct them that for the duration of the meeting, if they use the word "I" their clip will be taken from them. If they hear someone say the word "I" they may take the paperclip and attach it to their own. Throughout the evening, kids (and adults) will catch others using the word "I" and may add more clips to their own. Even if they have a nice chain of clips, they could lose them all, if they are caught using the word "I". A special prize can be given to the person who has the longest chain by the end of the meeting.
This is not only a great icebreaker, but a way to communicate to the group how we often use the word "I" in our conversations. We often put ourselves ahead of others, or even Jesus Christ himself!

sent in by, Ed

Try some ideas around the theme of food. Let us know what you have done.

food


ARGUMENT ICEBREAKER

For this icebreaker, you will need to break your teens into groups of no more than seven, but no less than four.
BEFOREthe teen meeting, and IN SECRET, recruit one teen for each group that will be the one who will disagree. That teen is instructed that NO MATTER WHAT, he is to do his best to make sure that the group does not reach a unified conclusion.

As the teens gather into the room, form them into groups (with one "disruptive" teen planted in each group) and tell them that you will be teaching on unity this evening. The first group to come up with an agreed-upon decision will each win a prize. Tell them the subject of discussion is two-minutes long, and the discussion is to be about uniforms on kids in public school. Start your stopwatch for two minutes.

This is WHAT WILL HAPPEN:While the team tries to arrive at a unified decision, your "planted" teen will do everything to disrupt by changing his mind. Even if the group agrees with his disagreement, he is to change his mind. You will see that discussion groups will get hostile toward the teen and even personal.

After the two minutes, blow the whistle and tell the whole youth group the scheme. Many of your teens will be embarrassed as they realise they got too personal when they should have been objective. Ask each of the "spy" teens how they were treated when they disagreed, and how the rest of the team felt about it.

MONEY ICEBREAKER

This is an especially good icebreaker before you start a Bible study on stewardship and the use of money.

Divide the group into teams of three and give each team a piece of paper and pencil. Mention a local shopping centre and tell the teens you are going to play a simulation game. Each team gets to go shopping but can only 'buy' one item at each shop. You might want to give them a list of the shops, but don't give them prices - let them guess what some things would be.

The idea is to see who can 'spend' the most money. Each team is to write down the item that they would buy at each store, and the teams have ten minutes to do so. After the time limit, allow each team to stand and tell what they 'bought' along with the prices. Sometimes you will get hoots and hollers when the other teens realise that the team was way off on the price of an object. This is a fun, low-stress opener that lets teens be aware of money concerns.

OPINION POLL ICEBREAKER

As you open this Sunday's meeting , you can get your kids to share their opinions. Hand out photocopied papers that have questions that will evoke strong opinions, but rather than having essay answers, use boxes that say "Strongly Agree" "Agree" "Don't know or Don't Care" "Disagree" and "Strongly Disagree." You should have three or four adults who can quickly gather the polls and tabulate the answers into one sheet for you. By the time you finish your opening songs, the adults should have the sheets' final tallies so that you can read them aloud. Some of your questions could include:

* I believe that we should go to war to punish those responsible for terrorism.
* i believe we should find a peacefull solution to conflict
* If we went into conflict I would find a way to serve in my community to help the cause.
* If we went into conflict I would find a way to serve in my community to oppose the conflict.
* I believe that God is doing this to teach us a lesson.
* I believe that God is in control of all of this.
* Since this has happened, I have had a closer walk with the Lord.


Spend the first few minutes of the meeting discussing the results. Your Bible study can grow from this opening.

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