A FEW MORE ICEBREAKERS…

10- Fingers
This activity is great for the first day or just when ever your group has free time. It works best with more people,
and everyone should be honest when playing.
Have everyone sit in a circle or close enough to be able to hear everyone. Tell them to hold up all 10 fingers.
A facilitator can start off by stating one fact about themselves. For ex: "I have never been to Florida." or "I have
blue eyes."

Then the participants who have been to Florida, or don't have blue eyes, will put one finger down.

This will continue around the circle, having each person share one fact about themselves until someone is all out
of fingers.
*Its better to try and use less obvious, unique facts about yourself because there is a chance that more people
will have to put a finger down if they cant relate to your fact.

Who ever has the most fingers left at the end Wins!
This is a great way to pass the time and learn about each other while having simple fun.

Beachball Info (or Soccerball)

Get one or two beachballs. Write questions all over the beachball i.e. favorite ice-cream, most embarassing
moment etc. Have everyone stand in a circle and pass the beachball around the circle by throwing up in the air.
The person who threw the ball will then pick a finger i.e. left thumb. The person who caught the ball must then
read out the question and answer (questions nearest to left thumb).

Bubble Gum Art

Give each participant a piece of bubble gum to chew, a toothpick and an 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.

Four On The Couch

Have everyone write their name down on a piece of paper. Put the pieces of paper into a hat and mix them up.
Go around the circle making sure everyone receives a paper with a name on it. Everyone gathers in the circle
and sits down on their chairs, with an empty chair beside one person. There must be two guys and two girls on
the couch at the start of the game. The person to the right of the empty chair calls out a name and whoever has
that name on their paper goes and sits in the empty chair. Those two people then exchange names (papers). The
next person who is at the right of the chair that is now empty calls a name, but cannot call the name that was
just previously called, they must choose another name. Try to get either the two guys or the two girls off the
couch, and then get all four spaces on the couch filled with guys or filled with girls. The game ends when there
are four guys or four girls on the couch.

Have you ever?

Everyone stands or sits in a circle. The one person without a chair or a place marker is "it".
The "it" will say something about themselves. For example, "Have you ever gone swimming in the Atlantic
Ocean?"
Anyone in the circle that has that in common must move to a new spot in the circle. Each move has to be at least
two place markers or chairs from where they started.
Whoever is left without a place marker will be it and will tell something about themselves.

It Could be Worse
Set up the group in a circle or in pairs. The starting player says something innocuous, like "I almost overslept."
Next player says something like "It could've been worse. You could've been late." Then the next, or other, says
something worse, like, "It could've been even worse than that. You could've been in your underwear." And then
the next or other tries to find something worse than that. Or, the next person says "it could be better..." And so
it goes.

Sing it Loud Icebreaker

You start the icebreaker of by dividing the campers into groups of 5 or more. One leader is selected in each
group. One counselor yells out a word. The campers huddle up for 1 minute to pick a song that contains the
word. When the Counselor yells "stop", then times up. The counselor will point his finger at each group and they
sing the part of the song they picked that contains the word. If the group gets stumped...then they are out! 2
GROUPS CAN NOT HAVE THE SAME SONG!!!

Example: Counselor (YELLING): Heart!

Group 1: "QUIT PLAYING GAMES WITH MY HEART!"
Group 2: "YOU'RE TEARING UP MY HEART WHEN I'M WITH YOU!"
Group 3: "MY HEART WILL GO ONNNNNNNNNN!"
etc....

The tried and true… 2 Truths and a Lie

Ask each person in the group to think of two true facts about themselves, and one lie.
Each person in the group takes a turn telling the group their three facts.
The group then has to agree on which fact they think is a lie. Once the group announces their decision, the
speaker tells the group the correct answer. The group then can talk about any of the interesting things they just
learned about the new person.

On Common Ground
Divide your group into smaller teams of 3. Give them an allotted amount of time to come up with one thing that
they all have in common and one thing that makes each of them unique. Ask them to present their findings to
the rest of the group.

Learning from Experience

Have participants introduce themselves and explain one thing they have learned the hard way about a particular
topic. Post the learnings on a flip chart and refer to them throughout the discussion.
We OU an Answer - Questions
Have each person write a question they want answered in the training on a Post-it note or card. During or at the
end of the meeting, ask the group to answer the questions.

Role Models
Have each person identify someone who is a role model for the topic being discussed. Have them share the
person’s name and the qualities or characteristics that make them a good role model. Post characteristics on a
flip chart.

Dos and Don’ts

Have participants introduce themselves, sharing their name, department, and either a "Do" or a "Don’t" tip for
the topic being discussed. Post tips on a flip chart.

Collective Knowledge
Have participants work in teams to identify five rules for dealing with difficult people (or the topic under
discussion).

Acceptance Speech
Have participants introduce themselves and thank someone who has contributed to their development. They
should thank the person as if they are receiving an Academy Award. You may need to limit speeches to 30
seconds.

Brain Teaser
Use a quiz as an icebreaker. Ask questions that we should all know but may not. Ask members to answer
individually, then give them a few minutes to work in small groups to finish answering the questions. The groups
should be able to answer more questions than any one individual. This is a good demonstration of synergy and
can lead into a discussion of the concept. Sample questions:

What are the names of the planets, starting from the one closest to the sun?
What is the most populous state in the U.S.?
What 8 states begin with the letter "M"?

Good or New
Ask each person to share something good or new they have experienced in the last 24 hours.

I’m Unique
Ask each person to share one thing that makes him/her unique.

My Slogan
Explain that many companies have slogans or "mottoes" which reflect their values. For example, Ford Motor
Company uses the slogan, 'Quality is Job One.' Ask each person to write (or borrow) a slogan to describe him or
herself and share that with the group.

What Kind of Team?

Divide the team into small groups of 4-6 people. Have each group discuss and identify an analogy for their team.
For example: "We are like a 3-ring circus -- because we have many things going on at once and it feels chaotic at
times." Allow 10 minutes to discuss; then have teams share.
Fears
Ask each person to share his or her greatest concern about college. Post fears on a flip chart. At the end of the
session, revisit the list and ask the group to share whether their fears were realized.

What Do You Know?

Divide the group into teams of 3-4 people. Assign each team a different flip chart. Explain that each team will be
assigned another team about which to share information. For example:

Team A: Mary, Chris, Pat and Terry

Team B: Jane, Frank, Phil and Sharon
Team C: John, Mike, Andrea and Larry

Team A is assigned Team B; Team B is assigned Team C; and Team C is assigned Team A.
Have the team divide their flip charts into sections, one for each person in their assigned team. Allow them 5
minutes to record everything they know about the people on their flip chart (both work and non-work related).
After 5 minutes, have teams rotate flip charts and add information on their new flip chart. Continue rotating
until they come to the flip chart with their own names on it. Have each person comment on what was written
about him/herself.

Guess Who
Prior to the session have each participant complete and return to you a survey with 5-7 questions about him or
herself. For example: Favorite type of food, Best all-time TV show, Last movie you saw, Last book you read,
Dream vacation. During the session, read the clues and have the rest of the class guess which person is being
described.

Picture Perfect
Have each person on a team draw a picture or series of pictures to represent their current view of the team.
(They can draw on pieces of paper or flip charts posted around the room.) Allow 5 minutes; then have the rest of
the group explain what they see in each other's pictures.

Something New
On the second day of a team building meeting, ask each person to share one thing they learned about someone
on the team in the last day. Have the rest of the group try to guess who is being described.

Talking About Myself

Goal: To learn about others; to begin to put faces and names together; to share information about yourself.
Instructions: Put your index finger in the air, as if to sing the OU Chant. Keep it up. Look around until you find
someone whom you don’t know, whose finger is still up, and touch your finger to that person’s finger. Keep
them up until everyone has found a partner. If you can’t find an available finger belonging to someone you
don’t know, say so and someone will switch with you.

Now shake your partner’s hand and introduce yourself.

ROUND ONE
You and your partner have 2 minutes to answer a question about yourselves. You tell your partner you answer
while he or she listens intently, and then he or she tells you his or her answer, while you listen intently.
Who talks first? The one with the longest hair.
The question? What is something you have done that you are really proud of?
ROUND TWO
Now find a new partner. Fingers up!
Now shake your partner’s hand and introduce yourself.
Who goes first? The one whose phone number ends in the higher number. (tie -- the next to last number)
The question? Tell about a person whom you admire, living or dead, someone whom you actually know or
someone you know about, who has been a role model for you.

ROUND THREE
Now find a new partner. Fingers up! Now shake your partner’s hand and introduce yourself. Who goes first?
The one whose birthday is closest to today’s date. The question? Share something funny that has happened to
you since your arrival at OU or something that has surprised you about your experience at OU thus far.

ROUND FOUR
Now find a new partner. Fingers up!
Now shake your partner’s hand and introduce yourself.
Who goes first? The one whose first name starts with the letter closest to “A.”
The question? Identify something you really like about yourself and explain what and why.