Home

Ice Breakers and Name Games

Venture Store
books, kits, puzzles

Whether you're teaching a class, instructing a sports session, hosting a group, or holding a staff meeting, getting to know the others in the group can be either a struggle or very fun.  Icebreakers are a great tool for getting individuals to learn about each other. They are ideal for breaking down barriers and nervousness as well as providing a positive atmosphere. The best time to use these activities is when the group first meet. By doing some of these simple tasks, you help your group develop trust and rapport, which in-turn will lead to more of a positive experience for the participant during the main activity.

Descriptions of Ice Breakers and Name Games

Name Game

Form a circle, the first person to go will state and a word that describes themselves that starts with the first letter of their name followed by their first name (i.e. Giant George or Footie Fred). The following people to go will need to state all the previous people's names and finish up with their own name. If someone messes up, the previous person that went has to repeat their turn and the game continues from there. The last person to go will need to state everyone's name and then finish up by stating their name.

Animal Name Game

Participants sit in a circle, someone starts by saying their name, and animal that begins with the same letter as the first letter in their name (i.e. Chris the crocodile).  The next person in the circle would say, ‘Chris the crocodile’ and then add their own name and animal. This carries on all the way round the group until the last person has to state everyone’s name and animal and then add their own.

The Last Line

Split everyone up into groups and give them a silly sentence on a piece of paper. Tell the group that they have to make up a story, act it out, and have the story end with the sentence that you have given them.

Who am I?

Write the names of famous people (or places) on post-it notes and put the post-it notes on the back of the participants. Have the participants go to different people and have them ask each other yes/no questions to figure out who their person is. The person who finds out who they are first wins.

2 Truths and a Lie

Go around the room and have each child state two true statements about themselves and one false statement. After each person says their statement, the other participants in the group have to try to figure out which one they made up. The group are allowed to ask the speaker a limited amount of questions to figure out which statement is the lie.

Toilet Paper Game

Pass a roll of toilet paper around the room and tell everyone to take as much as they want (or you could tell everyone to take the amount of toilet paper that they use in an average day). After group members have taken at least one square of toilet paper, have them go around the room and share one fact about themselves for each square of toilet paper they have taken.

Interview and Introductions

Have group members pair up (if there is an odd number of people the leader can pair up with someone). Each person will take around 3-4 minutes interviewing their partner and at the end of the allotted time, everyone will introduce the person that they interviewed to the rest of the group.

Animals

Write down the names of animals that makes a distinct noise on different slips of paper. Give the slips out to everyone and tell them that they have to find the people that have the same animal without talking. Most members will start making animal noises and/or gestures. This is a fun way to put participants into groups for other activities, games or ice breakers.

We have all this in common

Divide the participants into smaller groups of 3-5. The task of the group is to find 5 things that each member of the group has in common with each other. (A restriction you may want to put is that you're not allowed to list obvious or common human characteristics i.e. I drink water, I have teeth, or I am wearing socks.) After the time is up, each group will go around and share their list of common items to everyone else.