Icebreakers/Mixers
-Have a bingo type game where you have a grid and you write different things in each box like "has green eyes" or "been to cltc before" then you go around and have to find the people who fits that box and have them sign it! when you are through with the boxs(usually like 15 boxes) you end up knowing alot of wierd facts about the other people and it is tons of fun scrambling to be the first one finished!
-Silent Identification: Each participant is asked to wither write words or draw pictures that describe themselves. This is done silently. They pin he picture on their chests, walk around and have everyone look each other over. Pictures are then shuffled and participants are asked to identify the person to which the picture belongs.
-Duck Duck Goose: all participants sit in a circle. The person "ducking" says a person characteristic about themselves as they go around the cirlce. The rest of activity works the same as Duck, Duck, Goose.
-Pairs Game: Make up pairs or group of people that go together (Mickey Mouse/Minnie Mouse, Barbie/Ken) You give each person a card with one of the group or pairs on it. The pairs or groups must find their match. When they find each other, they must discuss the best program they have been to and the qualities that made it a good program. Then they turn the card over, find heir new pair and then go through the same process of the worst BBYO program ever attended and the qualities of a bad program.
-Name Game: Sit in a circle. one person starts by using an adjective starting with the same letter as their first name, followed by their first name (i.e. Clever Claire, Kind Karen) The next person and following has to repeat the first person's adjective and name and then add their own. it goes arounf the circle and the last person has to repeat all other names in order and end with their own.
-Human Knot: Have a group of 10-15 stand very close together. Tell them to reach out their arms so all hand are jumbled and intertwined. Tell them to grab one hand for each of their hands , but not the one of the person's next to them. Now they are a human knot and must use teamwork to untangle themselves into one circle without letting go of their hands.
-Toilet Tissue: tell participants to take a length of tissue. only after all have taken some, tell them for each panel of tissue they have to say one positive thing about themselves. (you could vary what they have to do or say for each tissue square:tailored to your objective)(variation:use M&M's-for each color they have to say one thing i.e. yellow:something sunny about themselves, red:an embarrassing moment, green.........)
-Two True One False:go around group and everyone has to say two true statements about themselves and one false. The rest of the group has to guess which one is false. You may be surprised. you can learn some crazy things about each other!
-Web Game- take a ball of yarn and have the person who starts hold
one end and rap it around their wrist. They throw the yearm around the room and
either say something positive about the person you throw to or something they
did to inspire you. then when you are done, you have bracelets of yarn that you
are supposed to wear until they fall off.
-Balloon Game #1- have everyone put
one piece of information about themselves in a balloon, then blow up the balloon
and throw the balloon in the middle of the circle of participants. then one by
one, pop the balloons and guess to whom that pice of information
belongs.
-Balloon Game #2-pass one balloon around the circle and have each person write a question on that balloon. then passs the balloon around the circle and each person has to answer three questions on the balloon.
-Hug Tag-this is a cooperative version of "regular" tag. you should designate a few people to be "freezers". Then tell everyone else to scatter in all directions. the freezers count to ten, and then take off after the runners. once they tag a runner that person becomes one of the freezers. a player is safe from being tagged only when he or she is hugging another player.
-Non-verbal birthday lineup- ask everyone to line up according to the month and day of birth without any talking. This should inspire some interesting means of communication towards a common goal.
-Fast Lemon- this game is for players or more. First divide the group into two or more equal lines. then give the leader of each line a full length pencil and a full-grown lemon. as the teams line up single file mark a starting line and finish line on the floor(about 20 feet away at most) the object is to push the lemon with hte pencil along the floor in a straight line-if you can. each player must push it to the finish line and bck to the next teammate in line. the team to finish first wins. what you disconver is that the lemon always keeps rolling, despite a slight wobble. you'll have trouble keeping it in your lane so be sure hte furniture is piuhsed back.
-Psychiatrist- select four or five people from the group to be "psychiatrist" and them send them out of the room. the remaining members of the group chooses a 'problem' that needs to be solved. for example-each persn assumes the characteristics of the person to his or her right. for example, if asked the color of the "patients" hair, the person questioned would say blonde if that is the hair color of the person on his right. other 'problems' could be all are person on left, all are one person in the group, every other person, etc...
-Fruit Basket Turn Over- seat players in a circle. one person stands in the center. each player is given the name of a fruit. the person in the middle calls out the name of two fruits. the two people must quickly change seats. The person in the middle also tries to reach one of the seats. The one left standing then calls the name of two other fruits. He or she may also call "fruit basket turnover" and everyone must change seats.
-Life Saver Relay- divide group into two teams. give everyone a toothpick to hold between their teeth. place a life saver on the toothpick of the first peron on each side. the game begins. the life saver is passed from person to person by lining up the toothpicks so that the life saver slides onto the next person's toothpick. no one can use their hands. should a lifesaver be dropped, that team begins again with the first person. the first team to relay a lifesaver to the end of the line is the winner.
-Banana Race- give each player a banana with the instruction to peel and eat it while holding one hand behind their back (they only need to take one bite of the banana) on a given signal they begin. the first one who takes a bite and then whistles, wins.
-Balloon Bust- have all players tie one balloon around each of their ankles. the object is to burst your opponent's balloons while keeping yours whole.
-Paper Bag Skits- first split your group into teams consisting of three to six members. give each team a paper bag filled with assorted objects. these can be almost anthing, i.e. a wooden spoon, a screw, a bar of soap, a computer disk, etc... the object of the game is to present a skit using all of the props provided. the props may be used as they would be in normal life, or they may be imaginatively employed. give each group a topic to base their skit on. when all the skits have been planned and rehearsed they are performed for the amusement of all.
Human Machines- each group acts out a machine with sound effects (i.e. telephone, fax, washing machine, dryer, blender, typewriter, stereo, airplane)
-Improv- each group acts out a skit with different themes. (i.e. desert, solar system, north pole, wild west)
-Killer- walk around and shake hands. when the killer shakes your hand, you must fall to the ground and 'die' others must guess who the killer is. (the killer adds a tickle when skaking hands)
-Black Magic- need two people who know the game. one person(who knows the game) leaves the room while the rest of the group decides what object that person needs to guess. they return and the leader (who know the game) ask "is this it?, is that it?" about many objects. The person who is guessing countinuously says no until the leader points to an object that is black. the NEXT object is the one that the person needs to identify and say, "yes that's the object the group picked" play the game till someone figues out how it is done.
-Animal Match- upon entering the room ,everyone is given a card with an animal on it (make sure there are two of every animal) one the count of three everyone makes their animal noise and tries to find their partner.
-Backlash Relay- players pair off and stand back to back with elbows hooked. one player holds a balloon. pairs race to one end, transfer the balloon to the other person., without unhooking elkbows and then race back.
-Caterpillar Race- line up behind each other bent at the waist and holding the ankles of the person in front of you. try to move foward as a team. if someone slooses the ankle grip, the caterpillar must stop until everyone is intact.
-Icicle Hunt- hide icicles (strings of different lengths). Winner is the one whose icicles from the longest line when laid out end to end, not the one with the most icicles.
-Clothes Relay- players form teams of four people. They take off articles of clothing and try to see which team can make the longest line out of their clother. sometimes girls will take off shirts and finish relay in bras!!!! any item you are wearing at the time, counts if you take it off and put it in the line.
-Same Letter- with each letter of the alphabet try to come up with a male name, female name, food, and place. (ex. A my name is Alfred, my wife's name is Angela, we grow apples in Atlanta.)
-Sentence Game- Everyone splits up into groups and each group gets a sentence. Each group must make up a story that ends in that sentence. The crazier, the better!!! (Example: And that is why you can't trust an AZA an inch above the knee.)
- Yerushalayem Game- when everybody walks into the room, you hand each person a paper with two cities on it, for example: Denver and Jerusalem. Every person would have one different name, but they would all have Jerusalem. They are not allowed telling anyone what's on their paper. So thy gather into a circle and hold hands. There is a storyteller who tells a story and mentions every single city name. The person who has Denver has to try and sit down and make his/her bum touch the floor. The other people have to hold her/him up. And in the end, Jerusalem is called out, and everyone drops to the floor.
- Bridge game- There are 4 people acting as the bridge goblins. Two people are standing on the same side, about 4 feet apart, and then on the other side there are two people facing them. Now the point of the game is for the rest of the group to cross this bridge as many times as possible, without going off the bridge. The trick is that each person cannot walk the same walk, they each have to be different. And if they're not, the bridge goblins eat them.
- If you love me baby smile- Everyone sits in a circle, and one person goes up to somebody in the group and tries to make them smile by saying, "if you love me baby, smile" and they are not allowed touching the person at all. They may make funny faces or whatnot. If the person does not smile or laugh, they will reply, "I love you baby, but I just can't smile". And if the person succeeds, the person they made smile moves on, and if they lose, they have to go to another person.
- Movie Ball game- everyone stands in a circle and bounces a ball to somebody else, and has a five second limit to do so. But before bouncing the ball they must say a name of a movie. When somebody repeats a movie name, they are out of the game. It eventually ends up being a competition between two people, and then there's a winner. As a prize, you can give them a chocolate bar, or something else.
- Freeze- this game usually starts off with two people up on "stage". The other members give them a subject matter, and they have to act it out, as an improvisation. Then at an ideal moment, usually after a minute or two, another member can call out freeze, and both of the actors have to freeze on their spot. The member who called out freeze has go in and take the place (the exact position) of one of the members, and has to start a completely different and unrelated scene.
- Digging game- The members sit in a circle of chairs and there is one person standing and does not have a chair. The person in the middle asks a question, like "who has brown hair?" and everyone who does has to get up and switch seats. The person in the middle has to go and find a seat, which in turn will leave somebody else in the middle without a chair to ask a question. The catch is that the people changing seats (this applies to each individual round) cannot move to the seat on either side of them, or if they get up and can't find a seat, they cannot return to the seat where they just sat. This is a great way to "dig" up some information, on people you don't know.
- Space Leap- It starts off with one person in the middle, and they create a little scene for themselves. Then somebody leaps into the scene and starts a completely different scene. Then a third person comes in and does the same, ass does the fourth person afterwards. The scene had to find away to kick out the fourth person and then the scene has to change back to the scene that third person created. And then the same occurs, until all three of the members are kicked out and remains the first member doing the scene they started off with.
- Sports Broadcaster- you take two things, an object and a sport, like toothbrush and basketball. The sport now created is toothbrush basketball. There will be the offensive team and the defensive team. There will be a broadcaster for both. So the teammates have to play and act it out silently while the broadcasters interpret the game.
-Shoulda Said- there is a circle of people with two or three people in the middle. They are acting out a scene that the other members have chosen for them. And then at any point in their scene, the other members that are watching may call out "shoulda said" and the actor that it was called on has to say either the opposite of what he/she meant, or what they were really thinking. For example, I say "I love that dress you're wearing!" and somebody calls shoulda said on me, I could say "that dress would look much better on my pet rat". And of course the other actors in the scene will have not heard your extra comment. This is a really fun game!
- ZIPZAPZOP- everyone stands around in a circle and puts their guns together. Each gun has three bullets, a zip bullet, a zap bullet and a zop bullet. Now, the person who starts turns to person B and goes, Zip, then person B must turn to someone and say Zap and they must turn to somebody and say Zop. There isn't any specific order, and there may be rallying between two people. But the catch is that one may not hesitate or they will be out of the game.
- Movie word game- everyone sits in a circle while one person goes out of the room. They have to decide on a movie title. Take the title, "I know what you did last summer". Now each person in the circle is given a word from the title. When the person comes back in they all switch places. Then the person outside asks somebody a question, and that person has to answer with their word in their sentence. Example: if I have the word "Know" and I am asked what color my hair is, I could say, well I know that my hair is the color brown.
-The MOO game- this is sort of complicated, so hear me out. There is a group of people in a circle. One person goes out of the room and the game is explained to the others. What happens is when that person comes back they will be given three chances to figure out who the MOO leader is. The MOO leader is the person who is mooing the loudest of them all (in reality there is nobody the first time). On the third try, whoever the person says moos the loudest, he is automatically right. So then somebody else goes outside (person B), and the first person becomes the MOO leader, so he actually has to moo louder than everyone else. So person B comes back in and has three chances to guess who the MOO leader is. Person B is in on it the secret the whole time, so he does not choose the person the first two times. So the first two times, the MOO leader screams really loud. The third time (Everyone is told this while he was outside the first time, that on the third time, of the second round, nobody is supposed to scream EXCEPT for the MOO leader). Everyone pretends to scream, and then it is only the MOO leader who screams the loudest of everyone. In turn he becomes embarrassed, and everyone laughs! This is one of the funniest games possible.
From the original 1998–2005 site. Details, prices and links may be out of date, so check them against your own campus policies.