Icebreakers
Icebreakers are the activities and games that are played at the beginning of a meeting or event to get everyone to relax and get to know each other a little better. We've all played them at one time or another ("hi my name is Claire and I like Cake" "Hi my name is George and I like gummi bears"). Here are some suggestions of excellent icebreakers to help get your meeting off on the right foot!
Bingo
Use the template in this toolkit or create your own BINGO card with different personal characteristics written on it. Ask each participant to interact with others in the room and get them to sign their name on a square that applies of them - but they can only sign one square per card! The first person to get a line of completed squares yells BINGO! Be sure to go over who has signed which square in order to learn some interesting new facts about your group mates. Download a pdf example.
Skills Steps
Ask each participant to write one skill that they possess on a sheet of regular 8 ½ x 11 paper. Collect these sheets and lay them out like stepping stones, leaving a foot or two in between. Ask the group to go stand on the stepping stones; one person per piece of paper. Their feet should not be touching the floor. Now, the group must attempt to get all of its members from one end of the path to the other - but when they leave their stone, they must pick it up and take it with them. If anyone steps off the path, they and their stone are removed from the game. Encourage participants to help each other cross.
After, look at the skills that participants wrote down. Discuss how each contributes to the functioning of your group. What happens when one of your group is "disqualified" and a skill stone is removed? After, be sure to review the skills your group members submitted and why they chose to acknowledge that specific skill.
Marooned!
Separate your group into smaller groups of not more than 5 people. Ask: "If you were stranded on a desert island, what 3 items would you bring with you?" Be sure that participants explain their suggestions to the group. Have the groups go back to the larger group and explain what tools they would bring with them, and why.
This exercise can give you insight into how your group members think. It is also an exercise in group decision-making as participants have to discuss and debate what objects to bring.
Interview
Have each participant pair up with someone that they don't know. Give them three minutes to interview each other - you may wish to provide a number of questions for them to ask. (eg. What is the favourite job you've ever had? Do you have any children/pets?) Go around the room and have each interviewer present their interviewee to the group. Be sure to ask the interviewee if they have anything to add at the end of their partner's short presentation.
Finish the Sentence
The simplest way to start off a meeting with everyone feeling like they are involved is to ask each person to finish a sentence. For example, start off with: "I came to this meeting because ..." or "A project/theme that I am most looking forward to tackling is ...." Try to find a statement that is both positive (I like/I am looking forward to/I am good at) and interesting - the point of this exercise is to learn about one another!
Guess the Lie
Go around the room and ask each participant to give three facts about themselves. Two must be true and one must be a lie. Then have fun trying to guess which are true and which is false! Ask group members to think of particularly unusual or unknown facts about themselves in order to throw you off the trail!
All About Who?
Give each participant an identical slip of paper. On it, ask them to write their name and some of their favourite things. Choose your own categories - they might include favourite food, movie, colour, place to visit, book, etc. Collect all the slips and distribute them again randomly. Have each person read out the favourites on their paper and see if the group can guess who they belong to!
Where Do you Stand?
Create four large signs that read: Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree and Strongly Disagree. Tape them up in different corners of the room. Read out statements to the group and ask participants to stand under the sign that corresponds to their response. For example "Our group can change the world" or "Creativity is the most important quality a group can have."
Human Knot
Have the group stand in a tight circle. Ask each participant to raise their right hand and grab the right hand of another circle member - but not either of the people immediately beside them! Then, repeat the process with left hands. You have now created a massive human knot. The group's job now is to untie the knot without letting go of each other's hands. If done properly, you will all end up in another circle, though some will be facing out and some facing in.
Jigsaw
Bring in a small jigsaw puzzle - it should have roughly the same number of pieces as people in your group. Check out second-hand stores or toy stores for inexpensive, simple kid's puzzles. Give everyone in the group one puzzle piece. Tell them that their mission is to put the puzzle together as a group, but there are two rules. 1) They can only touch the puzzle piece that they are holding in their hands - no others. 2) No talking. Watch to see how your group creatively communicates and problem solves.