Posts Tagged ‘ice breakers’

How Well do you Know Your Colleagues?

Here’s a fantastic ice breaker game to start off a training or team building program where the attendees know each other fairly well, or so they think!

Write down a list of qualities on a flipchart and get each person to fill in their qualities on a piece of paper. Qualities could be things like:

This person likes…

This person dislikes….

This person values….

Major achievements of this person……

Major goals of this person……….etc. etc.

Gather all the papers in and then call out the qualities. See if the rest of the team can guess who the person is. There might be some surprises and it will certainly give people some insights no matter how well they might think they know each other.

For tons more great ice breaker games and ideas to make your meetings and events sizzle, check-out our ice breaker ideas web-site

Many team building programs start by asking people to introduce themselves. This helps people to relax and to get to know each other quickly and many more meetings, group sessions, training programs and social functions would be much more engaging and enjoyable for the participant if they too were able to experience the magic of a simple ice breaker at the beginning of an event.

• the place where they were born
• their favourite holiday destination
• if you had a $million what would you spend it on?
• favourite food
• hobby

And a bit more daring you could ask people to describe:

• their favourite joke
• if they were an animal what would it be?

These simple techniques bring a bit of fun to the group and allow people to get to know others in a non-threatening way. They give people some basic and interesting information about others in the group, making it easier to make connections and talk together.

It’s easy to make up your own ice breakers too! But for tons of ice breaker ideas for your next meeting, training program, social activity or party check-out our ice breaker ideas web-site for instantly downloadable ice breaker games.

Everybody can use ice breaker games!

Games can become a way of life! Once you play ice breaker games with your groups and see them work their magic – they’ll be with you forever and will be an indispensible tool to call upon for all occasions. It’s so useful to be able to play these games, not just for work situations in meetings and for training programs, helping people relax and get to know each other quickly, but in social situations, for parties, youth groups, committee meetings etc.

Who learns how to use and gain the benefits from an ice breaker game? Everyone – business groups, spots clubs, business leaders, conference organisers,college groups, school teachers, guide and scout leaders, social and youth workers, party organisers, church group leaders, families, vouluntary groups etc. etc. The list is endless…

Planning your Christmas party for home, office or club? Then you should think about including an ice breaker game or two. Check-out our ice breaker ideas web-site for tons of fabulous ideas to make your Christmas festivities a time to remember

I attended a very good training program last week. The program ended with a little closer that was so simple but so effective. Seated in a circle all participants were given a few post-it notes and asked to write down:

1.           1.Their most memorable moment
2.           2.The main learning point they will take away

In turn the participants were asked to come forward and place their 2 post-it notes on the 2 flipcharts which were headed with the above statements whilst explaining their choices.

Everyone listened intently for funny and meaningful moments on the program; some were moved to tears with some of the insights and thoughtfulness of others. It was a nice way to say thank you publicly to some people and above all it was a very simple exercise that worked very well.

At the end of the closer the tutors had a record of all that was said, ready to take away and record if necessary.

For tons more magical icebreakers, energizers and openers and closers for training and meetings  download our Incredible Ice Breaker Games & Ideas collection for corporate groups. Based on 20 years experience of running excellent team building, training and corporate events – you can’t be without it!

Incredible Ice Breaker Games & Ideas - Corporate Collection

Electrify your events and corporate meetings with our best ever collection of over 50 incredible icebreaker games and ideas. Used the world over for training, away days, team meetings, conferences, fun days and team building.

Just got back from doing an experiential leadership program at the local university. I really enjoyed it and it was great to be on the other side of the fence – the receiving end for a change.

 To kick-start the program we did an icebreaker outside. It was a version of our “Ball Toss” icebreaker… Everyone stood in a circle and the leader holding a ball, introduced herself. As she threw the ball to someone she asked for their name and on catching it they replied “thanks …..(name) ” and then asked someone else for their name and on it went until everyone had been introduced.

After a full round of introductions we were asked to do it again exactly as we had done before – no prompts this time. As we were going around the circle the leader introduced ball after ball, cuddly toys etc. All you had to do was concentrate on the person who was throwing to you but soon it was chaos and nobody did anything about it. This was the first lesson ….to take responsibility!

The icebreaker worked – everyone had fun and suddenly the tension had disappeared.

For more instantly downloadable icebreaker games and ideas visit the ice-breaker-ideas web-site

Teachers, does going back to school fill you with joy or dread? A new set of pupils, colleagues, head and a new set of curriculum, forms and administration?

I’m not a teacher but it must be really difficult having had a long period of time off over the summer months and then face a new school year. We always think about the trials of pupils but what about the teachers?

I’m all for having fun wherever I work or study – it makes learning so much easier. I love the experiential nature of our team building games and events and the ice breakers we employ at the start. So it doesn’t surprise me that many teachers employ a good ice breaker session during their Induction Week. Pupils can have fun reconnecting and new pupils will really enjoy getting to know the others through a simple ice breaker game.

At the residential youth centre I worked in, we used to run a whole evening of youth group icebreakers with every new residential group. A couple of hours of ice breaker games really helped the kids to relax and get to know each other quickly. They set the tone for the whole week and they set the tone for your high school year.

Try some for yourself this Induction Week and you’ll see the remarkable effect they can have on your students. We have lots of tried and tested, fantastic ice breaker ideas games and ideas on our web-site ice-breaker-ideas.com

What’s a good ice breaker I’m always being asked?

 First we find out who the ice breaker is for; is it  a corporate ice breaker or for a work group? Or is it for a party, youth group or family reunion? Is it for a group who do not know each other at all or a group that know each other a bit?

This is useful to know as you can take more risks with with a group that know each other and even more with groups that know each other well. Play safe with groups that don’t know each other at all. An ice breaker is meant to help people relax and get to know each other and should never make people feel uncomfortable.

Once we know about the group we then look at what we’re trying to achieve with the ice breaker. You might be looking for quick and easy fun introductions or something related to the topic of the day or something that will not forget!

You will find after a few goes of using ice breakers that they will become second nature and you will soon develop favourites. Particularly ice breakers are ones that can be used for many different types of groups.

A word of warning though; you should never trial your ice breakers on a group without carefully thinking them through. Better still, try them out on your family and friends first!

A good ice breaker therefore, carefully matches your target group, is non-threatening and allows people to have fun together.

A good ice breaker that we use a lot with corporate groups is “Speed Dating” – arrange 2 long row of chairs according to the number of people attending. Have them facing each other so people can sit face to face and get everyone to sit down. Announce that you have a minute each to introduce yourselves. Blow a whistle after each minute and then after each couple have introduced themselves, instruct all participants to move to the seat to the right. Each person will get a new partner to talk to. Carry for as long as you have time or until all introductions have been made.

Learn how to play this fun, fast, ice breaker and hundreds more at ice-breaker-ideas.com

Don’t have just an ordinary event – make it memorable with ice breaker games.!

The summer holidays are drawing to a close and soon thoughts of returning to school will be foremost in our minds.

Most children look forward to going back to school to see friends – like my daughter – but unfortunately there are also some who dread the thought – like my son.

If you are a teacher why not ease your pupils back into the new term with a session of ice breaker games? Ice breakers help new pupils integrate into the class and quickly get to know other pupils. They help them bond with others in a way that would take a long time otherwise.

For pupils who are not so keen to return to school, ice breakers will inject a sense of fun into the curriculum and help them re-connect with friends and others that they have not seen for weeks.

Above all, as a teacher, you want your pupils to integrate quickly and easily so you can get on with the job of teaching, motivating and inspiring them for the coming term. Youth group ice breakers work like magic and will help you have fun with your pupils and really engage with them, so the job of getting them to concentrate and look forward to the rest of the term will be  a lot easier.

Many of the schools we work with have Induction Weeks at the start of the new school year and give alot of time over to helping pupils settle in – I can think of no better way for Ice breaker games to be utilised than in this setting.

For hundreds of inspiring ideas for your back to school induction week take a look at our web-site -  Incredible Ice Breaker Games and Ideas.

On Friday we will be enjoying the last few days of the school holidays with friends – we’re off to the theatre in Cardiff with friends who have 2 children, similar ages to ours.

Everytime we meet up the kids insist we play an ice breaker game we have played with them since they were small. We know it as “Killer” but you might know it as “Wink Murder” or some other name. It’s a great party ice breaker!

They find it so much fun, that even though they are now 13 and 14 years old, we still have to play it. Here’s how it goes:

How to Play Killer:

Tear a peice of paper into strips, enough for each person in the room. On one peice write Policeman and on another write Killer. Fold all the strips of paper up and place in a bowl. Pass the bowl round and get each person to take a peice of paper. Without saying anything each person looks at the paper, folds it back up and places back in the bowl.

When asked the policeman reveals themself. The killer keeps quiet. The object of the game is for the policeman to catch the killer before the killer, kills all the players. How does the killer kill all the players? By winking at them!

Everyone is silent during the game apart from the policeman who is the only person who can speak when trying to identify the killer -if they get it wrong the killer has won.

When a player has been winked at by the killer they can let out a blood curdling cry as they slump to the floor or silently crumple! Obviously the killer has to try and wink at people when the policeman is not looking at them and it helps if you sit in a circle!

Give it a go and let me know your favourite ice breaker game.

Don’t forget we have hundreds of “killer” ice breaker games and ideas on our web-site and many can be instantly downloadable in formats for youth groups, parties and corporate groups.

Are your children celebrating a birthday this summer? Our youngest is going to be a teenager tomorrow – the youngest of her friends and the youngest in her school class.

How will she celebrate?

A day on the beach is beckoning – full of teenage fun and lots of games. It’s a good job we’ve got stacks of ice breaker games and team building ideas to choose from, to keep the girls happy.

Although it’s our trade - running team building events and ice breaker games for corporate groups, schools and public companies – we find we are always using them for various fundraising events, parties and social gatherings too. Having a stock of ice breaker games to call upon is such a useful resource. You will never be without some form of entertainment and you will always be in demand at parties.

Learn how to keep your kids entertained this summer , whether you’re on the beach or at a friend’s BBQ. Our instantly downloadable ice breaker games collections are full of fun ideas and a definite must-have this summer.  All 3 collections for corporate groups, parties and youth groups are all interchangeable and work across all groups really well. Check-out our website for great ice breaker ideas.