Ice Breaker Activities

ICE BREAKER HANDBOOK ICE BREAKER ACTIVITIES

Here are the instructions for a few icebreaker games which you might find useful for helping your group to get to know each other and build group cohesion and identity.

Persuasion

Materials needed for this activity are: chocolate bars (about one for every five people), or any similar prize.

The aim of this game is to test imagination and powers of persuasion. The procedure is to select three judges give them time to design a points system. Each student comes before the judges, one by one, and tries to convince them that he deserves a chocolate bar. Points should be awarded for originality and persuasiveness.

Variations include doing it in writing; make an improvisation where the judges are bribed, etc.

Things I Do Badly

The aims are self-disclosure, self-awareness, trust and building group cohesion. The procedure is as follows:

(1) In a round each person has a turn at saying the thing they do badly e.g. ' I am very bad at keeping my accounts straight'.

(2) The next round everyone says the thing people tell them they do well, e.g. 'People say I'm a very good cook'.

(3) The next round everyone says the thing they know they do well, e.g. 'I am very good at keeping my house tidy'.

(4) The leader asks everyone to exaggerate the thing they do well and everyone stands, mills around and when they meet someone they 'brag' about the thing they do well, e.g. 'I'm the world champion at ...... ’

(5) Follow with a discussion of the exercise.

NB. The leader should take the first turn in each round, setting an example of making the statement and then elaborating it for two or three sentences.

This is a good activity for confidence building. Stage 1 could be omitted.

Noise partner

This is a game to get the group listening to each other through play.

In partners, (A&B) they choose a noise (i.e. moo or beep beep).

A will close their eyes, whilst B finds a place in the room and starts to make their noise. When many people are making their noises this can become very confusing.

Keeping their eyes closed A must find his/her partner in the space by following the noise.

This is then swapped around and the exercise is repeated, but this time the noise is made in a whisper, making it harder to hear.

Hopes and Fears

This is a good activity for discovering anxieties and helping students realise that they are not alone in their fears. A circle seating arrangement is preferred but not essential. Students have two pieces of blank paper each. On one they write their own hopes for the course/group. On the other they write their fears. These are anonymous. The slips are placed in appropriate piles in the centre of the group (a box or hat may be useful). A student takes any slip, reads it aloud and then responds to this as they feel. This process is continued until all are completed. One can read either only hopes or fears or both together.

Back to front world

This is a world where everything is the wrong way round and back to front. Walk SLOWLY means FAST stand up means sit down; STOP means GO and vice versa etc. This is an exercise that defuses nervous tension and allows the group to be physical, whilst getting to know the space. It builds on listening skills and confidence.

1-10 game

All members of the group sit in a circle, facing outward (so they cannot see each other’s faces.) they have to count to 10 or 20 individually shouting out a number randomly, if there is any one number said by two people the group start again. This aids concentration and communication. The knot

All members of the group stand in a circle and hold hands. On the teacher’s count they create a human knot. Hold it and un-knot themselves. Builds team work and is good fun!

Body parts game

In teams of 3-6 the groups need to place the exact number of different body parts on the floor that the teacher calls out. For example: three elbows, two bottoms and four feet. The first team to do it wins the point. First team to get 5 points wins.

Name/truth game

All members of the group sit in a circle, going round the circle, each member of the group tells everyone their name and three things about themselves (life time ambition, hobbies etc). However, one of the facts told must be a lie. The aim of the game is for the group to spot the lie. This allows the group to develop relationships, trust and get to know each others’ names.

Poker faces

Two teams.

Take turns to make the other team laugh. Points go the team who can keep their ‘poker faces’.

Leading the blind

This activity consists of working in pairs, each taking it in turn to lead their (blind) partner around the space. Many variations of this game can be played depending on age of group and ability. It is nice to slowly link the entire group by the shoulders (and closing their eyes) until the group create a train, with only one leader, building team work and trust.

Find someone in the tutor group who

This activity is designed as an ice-breaker. The sheet on the next page needs to be copied and given to each student if required (change questions to suti!)

Each student then has to find a name that matches each of the criteria on that sheet e.g. they have to ask other members of the tutor group if they are a fan of ‘Big Brother’. Once they have found a name they write it in the appropriate box. Students cannot use the same name twice so they are forced to speak to other members of the group. Where there are small tutor groups, different rules can apply e.g. cannot use name more than twice.

The activity can take as little as 10 minutes.

FIND SOMEONE IN THE TUTOR GROUP WHO?

Find a DIFFERENT person in the tutor group who fits the following descriptions.

 Write their name in the appropriate box.  Work quickly as you do not have much time!  You cannot use the same person more than once.

Find someone in the tutor group who…

Speak two languages or more Plays a musical instrument

Has seen ‘Avatar’ Has a sister

Has visited 2 or more European Listens to Radio 1 countries

Watches ‘Hollyoaks’ Dislikes Pizza

Is a ‘Glee’ fan Owns a pet

Reads a ‘broadsheet’ (e.g. Guardian, Has read a book for pleasure over the Times, Telegraph) newspaper at least past 3 months once a week.

LONGER ICE BREAKER ACTIVITIES

Paper Chic

This ice-breaker needs some preparation, but is an excellent team-bonding activity that students tend to enjoy. The main ingredients of this activity are bits of waste paper, card and newspapers. There are many variations on this ice-breaker, to give you a flavour of the activity:

 Building a free standing tower out of paper  Building a paper structure that will provide a shelter for the team  Building a container out of paper that will protect an egg from damage.  Making an outfit.

Making an outfit draws on the students’ creative and innovative talents! To do this one you should split the group into teams of five or six at the outset.

The task is suitably large to involve all members in a group of five or six and once one of the ‘models’ starts to be ‘dressed’ a great deal of fun usually ensues as additions are made to the outfit. A paper tunic can be fashioned quite easily, as can a skirt, but it is with such garments as hats that students really seem to get involved. Bear in mind, of course that the students can quickly see the progress of the competitors and this really helps things along.

Tips for tutors are: bring in, or borrow a stereo for the catwalk presentation and give the students sufficient warning to supply a short piece of music; definitely have a camera available; and be prepared to judge each group.

Suggested criteria for the group work are communication and team-working, whereas for the actual garments consider creativity, durability, colour and marketability.

See task instructions on next page, to be photocopied for students if required. PAPER CHIC! INSTRUCTIONS

You should have the following equipment:

 Pile of old newspapers and magazines  Some waste paper and card (e.g. foil tubes, small boxes, paper plates, etc)  Pair of scissors  Roll of sellotape  Ball of string  Range of coloured pens, markers, etc

The Task

Imagine that you are a design firm with a flair for haute couture (exclusive fashion design). The industry is not moving very fast at the moment and firms are constantly on the look out for the next big thing. One idea that the fashion media has embraced, largely because of its environmentally friendly nature, is a radical idea that may catch on: Paper Chic!

Indeed, to see just how innovative design firms really are, one broadsheet newspaper has sponsored a catwalk show in which all the clothes must be made from paper, card and packaging materials. Can it be done? You believe that your firm can rise to the challenge and show that even out of the most basic materials you can fashion beauty.

So what does your team have to do?

 Select a model or models  Design a set of garments out of materials at your disposal, comprising at least one full outfit that can be worn and modelled without tearing.  Decide on a name and marketing campaign for your range.  Launch your range on the catwalk!

Good luck, and remember, this could be the future of fashion design! Setting the rules

All you need for this game is a few sheets of A3/A2 or flipchart paper, blue-tack and some marker pens for the students to share.

Split the group into a number of smaller teams and ask them, simply, to lay down the rules that they would like to see observed in the tutor group.

After ten minutes or so, you will ask each small team to make a small presentation on the rules that they have decided upon, which should be accompanied by a list of the main rules in bullet-points, on the team’s paper.

After each presentation, the paper will be collected from the team and fixed with blue- tack to the whiteboard or wall at the front of the classroom so that the group can see all of the proposed rules.

The tutor’s role is to observe the rule-making process as one that gives ownership to students, though also remind students that the teacher holds the ultimate veto.

At the end of all the presentations, the session becomes a plenary for the whole-group agreement of the rules proposed. Each rule can be debated and then accepted, or rejected, by voting.