Icebreakers

-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. Ali Baba And The 40 Thieves Girls line up shoulder to shoulder. The leader of the game is one of the end girls. The whole group chants "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" over and over again. The leader begins an action on one chant (such as clapping her hands). At the next chant, the girl next to the leader picks up the first action, the leader starts a 2nd. On the next chant, the 3rd girl in line picks up the first action, the 2nd girl picks up the 2nd action and the leader begins a 3rd action. And so on... Artifact Game Each person is told ahead of time to bring ten objects with some meaning to them to whatever event you are doing this at. When they arrive, give them a bag with a number on it and get them to carefully place their objects into it. Then make sure each person gets someone elses bag. They have ten minutes to write down ideas about what the person who owns the objects is like, and to try to guess who they are. It is best if you don't do the guessing until after everyone has had their say. This would also work as an end of camp game, to see what people have learned about each other. Chairs Everyone gets a chair and sits in a circle. The Guider has a list of items she reads out. If any of them apply to you, you move the appropriate number of seats clockwise. Examples: 1. Anyone with one brother, move one seat clockwise. If you have two brothers, move two seats. 2. Anyone with black hair, move one seat clockwise. 3. Anyone who is a Spark, or has been a Spark, move two seats clockwise. 4. Anyone who lives in _____ Area move one seat clockwise. 5. Anyone over the age of 21, move one seat counterclockwise. 6. Everyone wearing brown shoes, move one seat. 7. Everyone in Guides, move one seat. The idea is to move all around the circle, and end up back where you started. It becomes fun because if you move, but your neighbour doesn't, you sit on her lap! Sometimes, you can have three people occupying the same chair!! Make sure you have lots of categories so that everyone gets lots of chances to move Circle Tag This game needs lots of space. Arrange the girls in a circle with everyone holding hands, except for two. This pair is "it". They run around the circle until they feel like tagging someone. The runner on the inside tags a pair of hands, and these two girls come out of the circle run in the opposite direction around the circle, trying to get back into their spot before the first pair gets there. If they don't succeed, they become "it". They have to keep holding hands through this process.

Common Link Divide the group into teams of three or four. Each team has to come up with 5-10 different traits that are common to all members in the team -- brown hair, an older brother, been in GS/GG more that 10 years, etc. After five minutes or so, the teams share their common traits with the group. Points are scored for each trait that isn't also on someone else's list. So if two teams listed that everyone in the team wore glasses, neither team would get a point for that trait. The team with the most points wins, but so does everyone else, as you've all discovered some pretty interesting things about one another! Cosmic Catch Form a circle. Have 2-4 (or more if you're brave) items to throw (e.g. Koosh ball, stuffed animal, knotted bandana, etc). Before you throw to someone you have to say their name. Each person can only be the catcher 1 time. The last person would throw it back to the starter. Once you have gone trough the circle once, the trick is to repeat the sequence and *add* more items so there are several items being thrown at once! Each person has to remember who to throw to and who threw to them. To make it really interesting, *reverse* the direction of throwing, so each person would be throwing to the person who had thrown to them in the previous round. (Be nice - let people know *before* you start the reverse round!) Dark, Isn't It? Tell the audience that this is a test of intelligence, coordination, and the ability to follow directions. Have each person raise his/her left hand and point left index finger to the right, parallel to the floor. Then have them raise the right hand and hold right index finger on a level with the left finger, pointing in the opposite direction. Then raise the left hand 2 inches and lower the right hand 2 inches. Now ask them to close their eyes. After a moment, remark innocently, "Dark, isn't it?" Dizzy Dance Divide the people into their patrols and then line them up (lines spaced about 2 arm's widths away) facing a position 6 metres away. In front of each line (at the 6m position), make a mark on the ground (chalk or drawn on the ground). When a whistle is blown, the first girl in each line must run as fast as she can to the mark on the ground, and keeping her index finger on the mark, turn around 15 times. After this, she must run back (if she can!!) to her line and touch the hand of the next person, who then does the same. The first team to get all their girls back is the winner. This game makes you EXTREMELY dizzy, so make sure there is enough room to move around in! All the Guiders who played this ended up on the floor in a heap! This is a very good ice-breaker, as well as a stomach muscle exerciser (from all the laughing). Dr. Mix-Up All stand in a circle, holding hands. Select one or two persons to be "Dr. Mix-Up"... they leave the room for a moment. When they're gone, everyone else does their best to get tangled up, by climbing over arms, under legs etc., without letting go of their neighbours' hands. When the circle is suitably tangled, everyone yells "Dr. Mix-Up! Come and fix us!". The Dr. Mix-Ups then come in and try to untangle the circle by directing individuals to go under arms, around bodies, etc. I Like People Who... Everyone needs a placemarker to stand on - tape, rubber spot or even a chalk mark. Everyone forms a circle and stands on their spot. One girl is in the middle, her spot is removed. She calls out "I like people who . . ." Suggestions: like camping, eat cereal for breakfast, love Brownies. Anyone who falls into that category must change places with another person in the circle to whom the statement applies. "It" tries to get a spot also and the person who is left in the middle makes the next statement. You may not take a space next to you! Know Your Neighbour This game helps the players learn each other's names and at the same time have some fun. It's a good 'ice-breaker' for the first night at camp. One player is designated to be IT. He takes his place in the centre of the players, sitting in a circle in the dark. IT suddenly flashes his flashlight on one of the players and asks "Who are your next door neighbours?" And then he flashes the light on the nearby neighbours. If the player who was asked the question, can't name both neighbours correctly, he becomes IT. If he does name them correctly, IT asks him "How is So and So?", naming either of the

players. If the reply is "OK", the players remain seated, but if the answer is "Not so good", all players must change seats. While everyone is shifting IT tries to get a seat. If he succeeds the one without a spot then becomes IT. Note: Until everyone is sure of the names, IT must give them time to learn the names of their neighbours before they shift. Mena Mega (NAME GAME) Take the letters in your name (first, last, whatever works) and scramble them to form a new word. Then make up a definition of your new word which describes you. For example, the name "Denise" can become "siende". "Siende" in this case meant understanding, because Denise felt she had a knack for understanding what others are trying to say, and rephrasing their words so everyone else can understand, too. The group can then share what their new names mean. Mingle Mingle Another ice breaker we've used for younger girls is Mingle - basically everyone is slightly bouncing in a group (kind of like a bunch of electrons) saying "mingle mingle mingle" and then a leader calls out a number. The girls have to get into groups of that number. You do this several times. We then do something with the last group that gets formed - quite often you make a human sculpture. Sometimes we have the other groups guess what it is and others we give them a theme i.e. monsters. Name Acrostics As people arrive to your event, hand them a pencil and card. Ask them to print their full name in capitals vertically at the left of the card. They move about, trying to find persons whose last names begin with those letters. For variation, use the monthly theme or other word along the left of the card. Name That Song Give each person a plain white paper plate (more sturdy than paper) and have crayons available. Before passing them out, you should number the plates on the back. Ask each person to draw a song (no words, just pictures). Then the plates are passed along while each participant writes the name of the song on a sheet of paper with the corresponding number. At the end you go through them one by one. You'll get lots of laughs over wrong guesses and funny drawings! Network If you have enough time (this can take awhile), this is an activity that could set everyone up to "network" over the summer: Give each person a sheet of newsprint/flip-chart paper and a marker. Ask them to write, on the top half of the paper, three things they are good at (craft skill, people skill, hobby, ...). Then have them draw a line to split the page and write three things they would like to learn more about or need help with. Then everyone mills around reading others' lists and 1 - signs up (with name/phone#) to teach/help others items on the bottom half of their list or 2 - signs up (with name/phone#) asking to learn about items on the top half of their list. Everyone takes their own paper home with the promise to try to reach out over the summer. Quirks Everyone is asked to tell the group three of their personal quirks, either past or present. Two must be true and one is false. The rest of the group must decide which quirk is false. This was a hoot! We played three rounds: personal quirks and idiosyncracies, pet peeves and dislikes, and the most bizarre situations you've ever been in. For example: I once pulled all the muscles in my knee because I was running around in swimming flippers. I once knitted a scarf on a pair of "legs" from a flamingo lawn ornament. I once was really late for school because I locked myself in a garage. Which of these do you think is false? :-) Smarties This game is great for a small group of adults who have come together for a training or meeting. Ask each person to pour themselves a small handful of Smarties. Then from their handful, ask them to put aside a candy with each of their three most favourite colour. Once everyone has chosen their colours, put up a poster with the following questions on it: Red: If you were a girl member, what is your favourite memory? If not, what got you involved in Guiding as an adult?

Yellow: What do you enjoy most about being a Guider? Purple: Tell us a little about your family. Green: Tell us a little about your hobbies and interests outside of Guiding. Blue: Tell us a little about your work (past or present) or schooling. Orange: Is there anything you've never done, but would like to try someday? Brown: What do you enjoy most about the age group you're currently working with? Pink: If you could go anywhere in the world for free, where would you go? Then go around the group and have each person tell the group their answers for each of their three coloured Smarties. Note: we used Smarties instead of M&M's because in their manufacture, M&M's have most probably come in contact with peanuts at some point. The Great Shoe Dive This game works best with lots and lots of players, at least 30-40. Get everyone to take off their left shoe. Put all the shoes in a pile. At "Go!", everyone dives for the pile and grabs a shoe, any shoe. The object of the game is then for each player to find the person who has their shoe and reclaim it! The Name Game Sit all the girls in a circle. One of the girls (or a leader) starts off the game by saying "Hi! My name is...". Then the girl next to her continues by saying "Hi! My name is... and sitting next to me is...". This continues on around the circle, until the last girl to introduce herself also has to introduce the entire circle! This is a great way to learn names, especially for leaders like myself who have a terrible time remembering more than three things at a time! The Name Jive Sit everyone in a circle. Leaders have a special role to play in this game, so make sure they participate too! The goal of this game is to learn everyone's name by making up a silly rhyme. Following around the circle, each girl has a chance to make up a silly rhyme about herself. Once she's said her rhyme, everyone repeats it. Meanwhile the leaders must quickly think up a second line to ther verse. Here is an example: Girl 1: "Bouncy Becky plays ball." Everyone: "Bouncy Becky plays ball." Leader: (totally sponatneously) "She plays it in the spring and fall!" Everyone: "She plays it in the spring and fall!" Girl 2: "Kooky Carrie kicks the couch." Everyone: "Kooky Carrie kicks the couch." Leader: "She holds her toe and then says OUCH!" Everyone: "She holds her toe and then says OUCH!" Proceed around the circle in this fashion. Once everyone has had a chance to make up a rhyme for themselves, go around the circle again as fast as possible, trying to remember both parts of everyone's rhyme along the way. This is a GREAT game! In fact, this is the ONLY icebreaker game I've played where I've actually remembered a good portion of the girls' names afterwards! Toe Bash ...many thanks to my friend Katherine Lariviere from Ottawa Area who sent me this game! Everyone sits in a circle,with their legs out towards the center.One person is designated to start in the middle. The person in the middle is given a rolled-up newspaper or any other harmless "basher". A name is called to start the game, usually by the leader, or a designated person. The toe-basher must then hit the person who's name has been called, before this person calls a new name. This recently named person must then name another person, and so on, until the toe-basher succeds in hitting someone's feet before they can call someone else's name. Then the two switch places. The person who was in the middle must call out a name before sitting down again, or they can be "bashed" by the new person in the middle. And the game continues. If the name of the person in the middle is called, the person who called it must take his place. The game can last up to half an hour, depending on the group size and dynamics... but can be stopped at any time. Toilet Paper Quiz Thanks very much to Kathi Sheridan for posting this great idea to the WAGGGS-L Mailing List!

Have someone standing with a roll of toilet paper at the entrance to your event/meeting. Ask everyone entering to take as many pieces as they will need. After opening your meeting, ask everyone to tell one item about themselves for each piece of toilet paper they took. Note: This could take a LONG time if people take a lot of paper, but it's funny! SPUD All you need for this game is a bean bag. Gather all the girls together in a standing circle, close enough that everyone touches elbows. Pick someone to stand in the centre of the circle with the bean bag. This girl then throws the bean bag up into the air and calls out someone's name. Everyone scatters as far and as fast as they can, except the girl whose name has been called: she grabs the bean bag. Once she has the bag, she yells "Freeze!" and everyone freezes in their tracks. The girl with the bean bag then picks someone to be her "target". She is allowed to take as many steps toward her target as there are letters in the target's name, spelling the target's name as she goes (don't worry too much about misspellings). Once she has taken as many steps as she is allowed, she throws the bean bag at her target. If she hits her intended target, that girl picks up a letter "S". This girl then becomes the next to stand in the centre of the circle and toss the bag up in the air. The game continues until someone has accumulated enough letters to spell the word "SPUD". Suck and Blow You will need an ordinary playing card Gather all the players into a circle. The goal of the game is to get the playing card all the way around the circle by sucking on it and then blowing it to the next person. No hands allowed! The first player puts the card against her mouth and sucks air in to "stick" the card in place. The next player presses her lips to the other side of the card: at this point, the first player blows air out and the second player sucks air in. If everything works right, the card should now be stuck to the lips of the second player. It is quite a challenge to get the card all they way around the circle. This game is perfect for co-ed events with older girls. Switching Hats You will need a hat or headband for every player, paper, and markers. This game works best when adapted to a theme, and at an event with at least 20-30 people. I will describe how we played it at a Pathfinder Spring Break Camp, which is an annual Pathfinder event held in the Ottawa Area. The theme for this camp was "cartoons". On each hat or headband, attach a name tag with the name of one of the participants and the name of a cartoon character. Hand the hats out randomly to all the participants. The first thing that everyone has to do is find their own hat! Once a girl finds her own hat, the next thing she must do is find other cartoon characters (in this case) who belong to her group. For example, we had Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Ren and Stimpy, Pinky and the Brain, the whole Simpson family, etc. etc. Once all the members of a cartoon group have been found, the group should sit down together and introduce themselves! Wedgie (also known as Bomb Drop) You will need a largeish coin ("loonies" or "twonies" work well) and a paper target for each team. Divide your group into teams and have them line up at one end of your playing area. Place a paper bullseye target or other receptacle at the other end of the playing area. At "go", the first girl in each line takes the coin, wedges it between her bum cheeks, and shuffles as fast as she can to the target! When she arrives, she has to drop the coin onto the target, aiming for the center! You can have someone to keep score if you like. This game is a hoot! What's Your Age/Shoe Size? This is a silent game. The object of the game is for the whole group to arrange themselves by age or by shoe size without talking! If you meet in a gym, you can make the game more difficult by making the group arrange themselves as above while staying on one of the painted lines on the floor. At camp, try using a campfire log instead! Who Am I? You will need paper, markers, and safety pins. This is another game that works best with a theme. Again I will describe this using the "cartoon" theme. For each player, write down the name of a cartoon character on a piece of paper and pin it to the player's back. The goal of the game is for the girls to figure out what cartoon characther they are by asking other girls questions. They can only ask each girl one question!

Animal Sounds The Hares from Norway play this game. Animal sounds: 2 groups, picture of animals two of each. One set of pictures per group. Try to find the other person with similar picture by making the animal sound. Hunt the Ladybird The Ladybirds from Ireland play "Hunt The Ladybird". Cut out lots of ladybirds on small pieces of card and scatter around the playing area. Girls hunt for them and bring them home. Sing "Ladybird, ladybird fly away home" before starting the hunt. Alternatively, scatter matching pairs of ladybirds e.g. same number of spots, a nibbled leaf, same red colour, same yellow color, in flight etc. When the card is found Ladybird then tries to find whoever has the matching card. Mexican Traffic Police Divide the girls into teams. Each team is given the same number of beans, so that each girl has 2 or 3 beans, depending on how many girls per team. The girls run in every direction, pretending to be cars, buses, trucks, horses, donkey carts, fire engines, etc. Feel free to yell out Spanish words! (Ole! Adios! Burrito! La Cucaracha!) The traffic in Mexico City is very busy & very noisy. One girl (or Guider) is the Traffic Police Officer. When the Police Officer holds up her hand, all the traffic must stop. Any vehicle that is caught moving must pay a fine of 1 bean. At the end of the game, the teams count their beans & the team with the most beans is the winner. Tips - It helps to get the girls into the spirit if the Guider makes lots of traffic noise. The traffic police officer can catch more girls off guard if she varies the length of time the traffic is allowed to move. A sudden stop will catch more vehicles! Mr.Bear You'll need at lease three peple, a place for "home", and the bear's den. One person is Mr. Bear. He is trying to sleep in his den. The other players sneak up to Mr. Bear and whisper, "Mr. Bear, are you awake?" Mr. Bear pretends not to hear them. Then the players yell, "MR. BEAR, ARE YOU AWAKE?" This makes Mr. Bear furious! He chases them all and tries to catch them before they reach home, which is the safe place. Everyone tagged by the bear before reaching home becomes Mr. Bear's cubs. They go back to the den with Mr. Bear. When the remaining players come back to wake up Mr. Bear again, the cubs help Mr. Bear catch them. When everyone has been caught, Mr. Bear picks someone else to take his place. Muckluck This Inuit game should only be played by older girls. You need 2 socks and a bunch of girls (10-15 is perfect). All the girls except one sit in a tight circle with their knees drawn up. The other girl stands in the middle. One sock is stuffed inside the other so you have ball at the toe of the sock. Then the sock is passed under the knees around the circle. The person in the middle tries to figure out who has it (other girls are continually faking passing it to confuse her) but the fun part comes in when a girl has the socks and the girl in the centre's back is turned, she can whap the girl with the socks on the butt or legs. The girl in the middle continues to try and find the sock. when she does find it she can use any means nescessary to get it (ie tackling is permitted) and if she gets it the girl who lost it to her is in the middle. Rabbit Without a House This Brazilian game is best when you have at least 11 people. Pick someone to be "it" (the rabbit without a house) and someone to be the caller. Divide the others into groups of three. Each group makes a rabbit in a house by two girls holding hands (the house) and one girl (a rabbit) standing inside. The caller yells out "Find a house" and all the rabbits, including the one without a house, have to run to find another house. The rabbit left without a house becomes it. Guess Who (moderate/icebreaker) Equipment: pieces of paper with names on them, tape Each player needs a name taped to their back. The object of the game is to figure out who you are. Everyone goes around and asks the other players questions. The players can only answer yes or no. This game is great when a theme is incorporated. (ex. cartoon characters, book characters )

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Jelly Roll (icebreaker) This game is ideal for groups that either don't feel completely comfortable with one another, or are difficult to assemble quickly. Divide the large group into smaller groups by means of colour of clothing, birthdays or counting to group them together. Have them get into these groups, hold hands in one long line and then roll from one end to the other into a "jelly roll" and sit down. This can be used when you need to explain something , break them into groups quickly etc. All you need to do is yell "jelly roll". Name Train (moderate/circle/icebreaker) The players form one circle. The leader begins to meet people by shuffling like a train across the circle, stopping when he or she comes face to face with a player. The leader will say to the player for example, "Hi, my name is Al". The person facing the leader returns with, "Hi Al, my name is John." The leader raises one arm and then the other saying "John,...John,...John, John, John, John, John." The leader turns and John now holds on to the back of Al and both shuffle out across the circle. Keep repeating until everyone has joined the circle. Pompadour (cooperative/icebreaker) Equipment: Name tags Players must find another player with at least four letters in their name that are the same. Join hands. Idea is for the entire group to be joined at the end of the game. Quack (icebreaker) This game is played in the same formation as jamaquacks. The group forms a circle and about six players are chosen to go into the middle of the circle, where they bend over and grab their ankles, and walk around backwards. If they bump another player then they must introduce themselves by sticking their head between their legs and shaking the other player's hand. Who am I? (moderate/icebreaker) Each person has pinned on his back a picture or name of a famous person. By asking questions to the other people that can be only answered "yes" or "no", he must figure out who is on his back.

Cheeky-Cheeky
Required: Lipstick, small washablegrease pencil or markers Players: Small to large groups Depending on the number of participants, you may want to pick a few helpers for this icebreaker game. The helpers will all have a small tube of lipstick in their pocket or hidden in their hands before the game starts. They can pretend at the last minute that they decide to join in the game; this helps them to find the person that they would like to stand next to. Have all participants line up in a straight line, side by side, instruct them that they have to look forward and they cant turn their heads. Tell them that youre playing the Cheeky-Cheeky game and everyone is to repeat what you do but must not move. Give them an example by lightly pinching the persons cheek on the right of you and say CheekyCheeky. You should be at the beginning of the line. Note to them that that person is to do the same and then the next person all the way down the line until it reaches the end. Once demonstrated start out with Cheeky-Cheeky but this time behind your back you have lipstick that you put on your fingertips. After youve done Cheeky-Cheeky and the movement has gone down the line then do nosey, nosey. After that do chiny-chiny, eary-eary, heady-heady and right eary-eary. Each time add more lipstick to your finger tips without them noticing. In the process the person next to you should end up with

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lipstick all over their face. Pick a person that is a good sport to stand next to. If youve planted helpers in the line, a few other people should end up with lipstick on their faces also.

Dress the Mummy

Required: Rolls of toilet paper Players: Small to large groups Set up teams with 2-4 players on each team. One person on each team will be the mummy and each team will be given 2 rolls of toilet paper. They will have 5 minutes to complete the game. The team players are to circle around the mummy and pass the toilet paper to each other while wrapping the mummy in it. The leader of the group will be the judge and decide which team has created the best mummy design.

Gum Art
Required: Bubble gum, toothpick and index card Players: Small to large groups Give each participant a piece of bubble gum to chew, toothpick and index card. Allow them 10 minutes to chew the gum, place gum on index card and then design something on index card using only the toothpick as a tool (No Hands). The person with the best and most creative design is the winner. If you have quite a few players you can have several categories of winners, like most ingenious, most creative and of course the What is that? award. Please send in your ideas of award names and even pictures of your groups playing these games. Submitted by Amy Sandison, GoTel Ministries

Gum Game
Required: Clean garden gloves, packs of gum Players: Small to large groups Set up teams of five. Each team will receive one pair of new garden gloves and one pack of gum (5 pieces per pack). On go, the first person in each team is to put on the garden gloves, open the package of gum, pull out a piece, unwrap it, chew it, and then pass the gloves to the next person. The first team to complete the task wins. You can choose to have two packs of gum per team so that they would have to go around twice.

Ha Ha
Players: Small to large groups Teams competing lay down side by side on floor or ground. The first person lays back of hand on next persons stomach and that person lays back of hand on the stomach of the next to him and so on. The first person in line is to laugh one HA. The next person in line is to laugh HA HA (two times). The third person is HA HA HA. And so on. Any person that breaks out into a giggle is out of the game and must get up and the hole is filled in. The last one to giggle, wins.

Ice Cube Hunt

Required: Ice cubes, food coloring and winter weather Players: Small to large groups Make up several ice cubes trays with food coloring in water. Once you have made ice cubes, distribute into search area. The person to find the most colored ice cubes is the winner.

King Boe Boes Ring

Required: Vaseline or mayonnaise (or anything mushy), chair, stool and blindfolds Players: Small to medium groups From the group select a number of persons that you would like to play this game. Send them outside. Have some one (preferably a man) that has a very ugly toe, sit on the chair with his foot on the stool.

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Put some mayonnaise or Vaseline on his thumb. Let him bend the thumb and you put it on the jointed area. You also put some on the big toe that is on the stool. You then invite one of the persons that have already been blindfolded to come in with his/her hands behind him. It must stay behind him as long as he/she is approaching the king. They are asked to bow before the king in respect (keeping hands behind). Take them very close to the king where they can actually kneel right in front of the toe that has the mayonnaise or Vaseline on it. They bow as to kiss the king ring and the king puts his finger out so that the person kisses the finger instead of the toe. The king then puts his hand behind him leaving the toe as the visible object that has been kissed. The blindfold is now taken off and the person sees the toe and thinks that he/she has kissed this ugly toe. (Make sure that you keep adding more Vaseline to the finger as it will be kissed off, also make sure that enough is on the toe) Continue with the next person until all have come in. Do not tell the person what has happened but encourage the person to watch and see what has happened. He/she will laugh at himself. The other players must be locked away so that they have no clue as to what is happening, they will hear the laughs and will be curious and anxious to come in. No one in the room is to tell them anything. The last person usually does not know what is happening. You may tell him or her if you choose to.

Memory Game
Required: Subjects for memory, tray, paper and pencil Players: Small groups Pick a subject like foods you would eat or crave. Lay them all in a tray for viewers to see and have participants pass tray around. Remove tray from sight and have participants list what was on tray. The person that lists the most objects is the winner. You can give extra points or break ties by asking specific questions like what flavor sucker and so on.

Similarities
People sit in a circle on chairs. Everybody has a chair except one person in the middle. He really wants to sit ! So this person names a property like "I have black trousers", "I live in Amsterdam", "I have a sister", or even "I have two eyes". All people who can say that too have to change seats, the rest stays seated. The person who was in the middle will try to sit on one of the chairs, and one person remains. This person now asks the next question.

Gordian knot
The name refers to some ancient story. Who knows the story ? Mail me ! Uh, people get very close here. Everybody stands in a small circle. Eyes closed. Hands in the air, make a fist of your left hand. Now all right hands seek a fist. If everybody is connected, let them open their eyes and try to unravel the knot. Good for the group process; because people actually touch, and they have to cooperate and listen to each other.

Queen Eugenie
The big army of Queen Eugenie was marching to a distant war. They wanted to take a break but the fields were wet. So they invented this new way of sitting. Whilst humming a soldiers marching song they got into a circle, faces all to the right. Then they slowly sat down on each others knees. It seems to be more easy to sit on the knees than on the hips/lap. Now the trick is to start walking in a circle ! In 1978 2500 people managed, on a Spielfest (Gameparty) in Essen (Germany). A variation by Mark: whilst humming this silly song, you first walk in a circle. Then you get less shy and hold the shoulders of the person in front of you. Polonaise. Tadam Tadadadadam, you walk on this way. But hey, you like this, so now you hold the middle...shoulders of the person one step further. Then you are so close that it is pretty easy to sit. But to keep sitting during the walk.....

Goofy ?
Eyes closed, limited area. One person is Goofy, but nobody knows who. People walk around in a limited area. When you meet someone, you shake hands and both say: Goofy ??? If the other stays

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silent, (s)he is Goofy. But to be sure, check again: Goofy ? If Goofy remains silent you have found him. What happens then ? Dunno. Maybe you hold hands with Goofy, and form a growing line ?

Alien
An Alien is amongst us ! You can't see it but it likes to suck itself onto peoples face ! Very extremely dangerous of course ! So when the alien is on you, you have to use all your strength to get rid of it. Pull it with both hands from your face, and throw it away in someone else's direction. Now the next person has the problem !

Famous couples
Make name tags of famous pairs (each name separate) (they can be any type pair). As group arrives, place one name on his/her back. The person cannot see his own name. While they are mingling, they may ask questions about the person on their back (real person/character, male/female, married/not,etc), however the other person may only answer yes or no! The first pair to find each other wins. It is lots of fun, plus it gets everyone energized.

Living chairdance
(I bet there is a better name in English) In stead of dancing around chairs, the boys dance around the girls (or the other way round). In the center the girls dance with the music. Aroud them the boys dance, and there is one more boy than there are girls. When the music stops, the boys quickly have to find a girl. One will be left - he has to leave. One girl is also send out for the next round.

A longer icebreaker is Secret Friend

Every participant gets a note with the name of one other participant. His task is now to spoil that person, without letting this person know. Like; bringing tea., carrying luggage etc. (For some age groups this can be too confrontational)

Piling with cards

(for in the evening) People sit ina circle on strong chairs or benches. Everybody gets a card from a game of cards, and remember whether it is hearts, diamonds, club or spades. Now someone takes a deck of cards and turns the upper card. When it is hearts everybody with hearts moves one chair to the right. If that chair is occupied you sit carefully on this persons lap. After turning some cards, the piles can get quite high ! (if you have somebody on your lap you cannot move)

Chase Your Tail

A children's game that is fun for all ages. A great warm up activity. Have the group stand in a line and wrap their arms around the waist of the person in front. You can name the creature just formed any animal you want. Animal sounds add to the fun. The last person in line dons the "tail", a bandana tucked into the belt or waistband. The object of the game is for the head to capture the tail (grab the bandana). When this happens the head becomes the new tail and the second in line becomes the head. People in the middle of the line can decide to help either the head or the tail and can switch allegiance at will. Larger groups can form more than one animal and each animal can chase its own tail or the tail of another animal. No See Em's (icebreaker) Equipment: tarp and blanket Group is divided in half (no, not each of them!). Leaders hold up a tarp so that the two groups are unable to see each other (hence the name no see em's). One person from each group crawls up to the tarp and puts their nose up to it. The leaders drop the tarp and the two people must shout out the other person's name. The person who says the correct name first takes the other person to their team.

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