Group Games / Icebreakers

Icebreaker Games

Dress the Mummy

Required: Rolls of toilet paper Players: Small to large groups

Set up teams with 2-4 players on each team. One person on each team will be the mummy and each team will be given 2 rolls of toilet paper. They will have 5 minutes to complete the game. The team players are to circle around the mummy and pass the toilet paper to each other while wrapping the mummy in it. The leader of the group will be the judge and decide which team has created the best mummy design.

Frozen T’s

Required: Plastic storage bag, freezer and large size T- shirts Players: Small to large groups

For each team you'll need one T- shirt and one plastic storage bag. Place one nicely folded T-shirt in each bag then pour in about 2 cups of water and freeze all of them overnight. If this wasn't done where the event is taking place bring the T-shirt in a cooler filled with ice to keep them frozen. Instruct the teams that they'll be playing an Ice Breaker game. Then hand out the bagged T-shirts to each team. On "Go" the teams will have to get their T-shirts thawed out so that one person from their team can put the T-shirt on. Teams will get creative in their attempts to win. They could run the shirts underwater, put them in the microwave and even pounded the ice out of them. The first team to come back with one person in the T-shirt is the winner.

Gum Art

Required: Bubble gum, toothpick and index card Players: Small to large groups

Give each participant a piece of bubble gum to chew, toothpick and index card. Allow them 10 minutes to chew the gum, place gum on index card and then design something on index card using only the toothpick as a tool (No Hands). The person with the best and most creative design is the winner. If you have quite a few players you can have several categories of winners, like “most ingenious”, “most creative” and of course the “What is that?” award. Please send in your ideas of award names and even pictures of your groups playing these games.

King Boe Boe’s Ring

Required: Vaseline or mayonnaise (or anything mushy), chair, stool and blindfolds
Players: Small to medium groups
From the group select a number of persons that you would like to play this game. Send them outside. Have some one (preferably a man) that has a very ugly toe, sit on the chair with his foot on the stool. Put some mayonnaise or Vaseline on his thumb. Let him bend the thumb and you put it on the jointed area. You also put some on the big toe that is on the stool. You then invite one of the persons that have already been blindfolded to come in with his/her hands behind him. It must stay behind him as long as he/she is approaching the king. They are asked to bow before the king in respect (keeping hands behind). Take them very close to the king where they can actually kneel right in front of the toe that has the mayonnaise or Vaseline on it. They bow as to kiss the king ring and the king puts his finger out so that the person kisses the finger instead of the toe. The king then puts his hand behind him leaving the toe as the visible object that has been kissed. The blindfold is now taken off and the person sees the toe and thinks that he/she has kissed this ugly toe. (Make sure that you keep adding more Vaseline to the finger as it will be kissed off, also make sure that enough is on the toe) Continue with the next person until all have come in. Do not tell the person what has happened but encourage the person to watch and see what has happened. He/she will laugh at himself. The other players must be locked away so that they have no clue as to what is happening, they will hear the laughs and will be curious and anxious to come in. No one in the room is to tell them anything. The last person usually does not know what is happening. You may tell him or her if you choose to.

Memory Game

Required: Subjects for memory, tray, paper and pencil Players: Small groups
Pick a subject like foods you would eat or crave. Lay them all in a tray for viewers to see and have participants pass tray around. Remove tray from sight and have participant’s list what was on tray. The person that lists the most objects is the winner. You can give extra points or break ties by asking specific questions like what flavor sucker and so on.

Moo Game

Required: Just people Players: Small to medium groups

Pick three people to stand outside while the rest of the group gets ready. Form a circle large enough for someone to stand inside. Tell the group that They are going to pick someone from outside to come in and stand inside the circle and when you count to three everyone has to “MOO” as loud as they can. Then tell them on the last time, when the third person comes in to fake a “MOO”. Everyone should look like they are going to “MOO” but don’t. Pick someone from outside and tell them that they are to listen for the person who “MOOed” the loudest. Count to three and everyone “MOOs”. The person in the middle will then pick who “MOOed” the loudest and whomever they pick will be correct. Then tell that person that they have to “MOO” as loud as they can on the next round but to not “MOO” at all on the third round. Now the 2nd person comes in and you "MOO" and they pick who was the loudest and they are of course correct. But don't tell the 2nd person to not “MOO” on the last round. Now the third person comes in and you tell them to pick the loudest “MOO”. You count to three and everyone pretends like they are going to “MOO” except the 2nd person that came in who “MOOs” really loud all by him or herself. It’s really funny. You may have to explain the joke to the third person though.

Rumor

Required: Blackboard & chaulk (paper & pencil will do) Players: Small to large groups

Game of the Month 2/99

The first person from each team is to go out and make up a message together. This message will be used by all teams. Once signaled to start, the first person on each team is to whisper the Rumor to the next person on their team. They will whisper the Rumor to the next - and so on. The last person to receive the Rumor will run to the black board and write the message. The team that is the closest to the correct Rumor wins.

String Toss

Required: Ball of string or yarn Players: Small to medium groups

Set up small groups of 8–12 players and have them sit in a circle for this icebreaker. One person is given the ball of yarn and finds the end of it. They will toss the ball of yarn to anyone within the circle while they are still holding the end of the ball of yarn. Now ask the person that caught it one or two questions. If this is a new group that doesn’t know everyone they are to introduce themselves first before answering the questions at the beginning of the game. Here are some ideas as to what questions to ask; What is your favorite color, music group, the person that has influenced you the most, what are you afraid of, your favorite food, time of the year, or any other question to might pertain to this event. That person then holds part of the yarn and then tosses the ball of yarn to anyone that hasn’t received the ball yet. You repeat this until everyone has had the ball of yarn and you will notice that you have created a unique web that has connected all the players together in one way. You can pass the ball again to ask one – two more questions from each player.

Talking Behind Your Back

Required: Piece of paper, washable markers, tape, pencils Players: Small to large groups

Game of the Month 11/05

Each person writes his/her name on a piece of paper lightly in pencil; then help one another tape the piece of paper on each persons back (NAME NOT SHOWING). Using (washable) markers, each person must go around the room and write something about that person on their back. (Children need to be instructed that the comment must be positive - funny is OK, too) Leader removes all the papers and lays them out for everyone to view. How well do you think you know yourself or what others think about you? What would they say behind YOUR back? After reading them, participants may predict which one they think may have been on their back. Then, everyone can turn them over and find their own, and hopefully keep it, feeling great about what others had to say about them “behind their back”.

Who Am I?

Required: Name tags Players: Small to large groups

Pre-make tags with each tag having one famous person on it, mainly divas that everyone would know. These tags will be placed on the back of each guest as they arrive. This is done without them knowing who they are. They are to go around the room asking questions as to who they might be. Questions like “am I a singer?” They can only ask one question and make only one guess as to Who they are with each person that they talk to, then they have to move on to another person. They can come visit previous players once they've visited another player.

Stations

Required: Just willing participants Players: Small to medium groups

Everyone sits in a circle and is given a destination (name of a town) and in the middle, the station master stands with all the destination names on a card. He/She then chooses certain names; for example Bradford/Leeds. The two corresponding people then have to get up and exchange seats. In the meantime the station master has to try to jump into one of these seats. More than two destinations can be called out and the ultimate “All Change” when everyone has to change seats is a great laugh. Can be played for hours and there is no ultimate winner or loser. Suitable for young and old. Can turn out rather rough, make sure that nothing breakable is nearby.

Skittle Game

Required: Container, 2-3 pkgs. of Skittle candies, score sheet, paper and pencil Players: Small to large groups

Find a deep, clean, non see through container to pour in several bags of skittles. Make a point chart on paper or blackboard for the different colored Skittles. An example is purple 5pts, green 10pts, yellow 20pts, orange 25pts, and red 30pts. Divide into teams and have one person at a time from each team, draw out a Skittle. The team is awarded the points for the color that is pulled out. The drawer gets to eat the Skittle. The first team to reach 500pts is the winner.