Activities Book 1

Community English Club

Activities Resource Book - Cycle 1

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 Activities Book 2

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 Activities Book 3

Table of Contents
Section/Activity Page #
Introduction
Kinds of Activities 4
Doing the Activities 5
Processing the Activities 6
Materials 8
Community Building Activities
Symbolic Circles 10
Strengths 12
Get it Back 14
Mind Melding 16
Group Juggling 18
I’m Depending on You 20
Number Slide 22
Cliques 24
In Between 26
Tin Pan, Bang, Bang 28
Passages 30
Line Ups 32
Get Into Your Groups 34
Santicky, Fanticky, Lim Po Po 36
What would it be like? 38
Group Bid 40
Catching Fish 42
Fireball 44
Pair Up! 46
Poker Face 48
The Lock 50
Kings Corner 52
What it’s Not 54
Our Boat is Full 56
Full Value Ubuntu 58
Raging River 60
Orb-It 62
Animal Challenge 64
Stop and Start 66
Turning Over a New Leaf 68
Sentence Shuffle 70
Sticks, Stones, and Bones 72
Body Parts 74
Inner Compass 76
All for One, One for All 78
Energizer and Warm Up Activities 80
Printable Materials 100
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 Activities Book 4

The Kinds of Activities

We have divided the activities in this book into six major types based on their purpose. Each type is described
below and has a corresponding icon indicating the type. While many activities could be used for various pur-
poses, the type assigned is meant as a guide to the most obvious and straightforward purpose.

Icebreakers
These activities are best to use at the beginning of each session. They raise everyone’s ener-
gy level and get participants connecting with each other as a group.

Getting to Know You

These activities are best to use early on when participants may not know each other very
well. They help participants learn more about each other and form deeper connections.

Team Building
These can be used at many different points in a group’s development. They help participants
work together and overcome the challenges that teams often face.

Communication
Most of these can be used either to develop overall communication skills, in which case they
can be done in the participants’ first language, or they can be used to practice English skills.

Personal Growth
Personal growth activities, though done as a group, are designed to help participants learn
about themselves and grow as individuals.

Just for Fun

The primary purpose of these activities is fun. They have other helpful lessons in them, but
they don’t need much reflection and processing. You can use these as rewards or to fill time.

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 Activities Book 5

Doing the Activities

We hope that the youth will find these activities fun and easy to understand (even if sometimes it is hard to
reach the objective). Read the entire activity description thoroughly before you start an activity, and make sure
you understand what is going to happen. Sometimes the process can be difficult to understand just by reading.
Many facilitators find it helpful to try out the activities with a colleague, friend, or even family member.

Please consider all of the descriptions of these activities to be helpful guides, rather than strict rules. These
activities are written for a wide range of participants, so please feel free to adapt them to better fit your context
and your participants’ level. It helps to read through the Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations section of each activi-
ty to give you some ideas about how you can change them.

Cultural Appropriateness and Physical Contact

These activities have been chosen to be culturally appropriate as possible for as many contexts and cultures.
However no extensive list of activities will be culturally appropriate everywhere and for every group. Please
use your best judgment about which activities are ok to use, or consider ways to adapt them for your context.

The appropriateness of interaction and physical contact between the participants is something that varies a lot
between cultures and contexts (such as the ages, genders, and beliefs of the participants). For some of these
activities, physical contact with other participants is either a key part of the activity (Inner Compass), or is very
likely to happen (Turing Over a New Leaf). You will likely want to adapt these activities to suit your context.
One adaptation you may want to make is to ensure that pairs/groups are not randomly assigned, but are based
on age, gender, etc. For example, instead of doing a step of the activity with the entire group, have one group
for females and one for males. In other cases where there is physical contact between participants, try to find
creative alternatives. For example: Instead of youth following in a line with hands on each others’ shoulders,
have them hold onto a rope instead. If it will be too much of a problem to adapt an activity to be culturally ap-
propriate, it is perfectly OK to not do it.

Remember: It is good to challenge your participants and encourage them to try new things, but if you push
them to do things that are against their beliefs, they may feel disrespected and learning and development could
be lost.

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 Activities Book 6

Processing the Activities

The activities included in this book are all opportunities to learn. Simply doing the activity can be helpful to
youth, and they can gain a lot from them. However, studies in experiential learning, and our own experience,
shows that the most valuable learning comes from group discussions that occur after you have completed an
activity.
This is what we call processing the activity.

What? - So What? - Now What?

Processing the activity is done when the teacher/facilitator/leader, helps guide the participants, by asking them
questions which will get them thinking more deeply about what they have experienced. It usually begins simp-
ly by asking the participants to talk about what they noticed and experienced during the activity. Then ques-
tions move participants to start thinking about why those things happened, and what that says about them, their
team, their community, or even the world at large. Finally. questions should have participants think about
what this means for the future, and how they can use what they just learned. We call these the What?, So
What?, and Now What? questions.
 What questions ask things like: What happened her e? What did you obser ve? How did that make
you feel? How did the group do this?
 So What questions ask things like: Why do you think that happened? How does this compar e to
other situations? How does this relate to what you see in the real world?
 Now What questions ask things like: What can we lear n fr om this? How will you do things differ -
ently?

If done effectively, participants will not need to be told what the lesson of the activity is, they will figure it out
for themselves. More importantly, each participant will be able to think about what they learned as it applies
to their life and their experiences.

The Questions
For all of the activities in this book, we have provided processing questions that you can use after an activity is
completed. These are just suggestions, you do not have to use these questions. They can be helpful the first
time you do an activity, but it is more important to LISTEN TO YOUR PARTICIPANTS. Think about what
they need and what they are experiencing. Let their answers guide what questions you ask, while your ques-
tions guide them to the learning they need. Adapt the questions given, or make up your own questions.

Listen to the answers of whatever questions you ask.

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 Activities Book 7

Processing the Activities

Time Involved
Unless otherwise stated processing should happen immediately after the activity is complete. This can take
only a few minutes or it can take over an hour. We have seen activities that take only ten minutes to do, but
take two hours to fully process! How long the processing takes will change each time and depends on a lot of
different factors:
 The Activity - Some activities, especially the ones labeled FUN, don’t need as much time to process.
They are meant to be easy and fun and to get people energized. While they may also teach important les-
sons, those lessons are often not as deep, or maybe they are more obvious. Other activities are really de-
signed to have participants think deeply about who they are as individuals, as a group, and as a community.
The learnings from these can be very powerful, but they take a lot more time.
 The Participants - Every group will process an activity differently. This depends on the different person-
alities in the room, how well they know and trust each other, and how committed they are to learning and
participating. Remember that processing an activity is about helping the participants learn, if they need
more time, give them more time.
 You (The Teacher/Facilitator) - As the overall guide, you can decide how much time you want to spend
processing. If you want to just make it a quick discussion and move on to something else, you can. If you
want to really go into depth, you can do that too.
 Outside Factors - Sometimes things like running out of class time, a power outage, or even wild animals
(we have heard stories), can force a processing discussion to end sooner than you want. Be creative. If
you can find a way around this problem, great! But don’t worry if you don’t get as much time as you want.
Often the participants will still learn valuable things, even if you didn’t get to ask every question you want-
ed. You can always go back and review if you want.
Participant Participation
With each activity and with the processing questions, youth will participate at different levels and in different
ways. Some may be very enthusiastic about the activity, but others may withdraw. There may be many things
that keep a person from fully participating, from personal issues to health problems. We recommend that you
always encourage youth to participate, but never force them to. If they regularly choose not to participate, then
there may be a larger issue going on.
Language
Many of the questions and ideas that are discussed in the processing phase of these activities are challenging.
Because of this, in order to get the full value out of these, we encourage you to allow the youth to use their
home language whenever possible.—that is the language they use at home with their families. If you have
groups where participants have many different home languages then pick the language that best allows for
group discussions. The only exceptions may be the activities that are specifically designed for language build-
ing skills. For these, you can encourage the use of the target language, English.

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 Activities Book 8

Materials
Minimal Materials
We recognize that facilitators work in a variety of places and often with very few resources. Because of this,
most of the activities in this book require very few materials in order to do them. For the ones that do require
materials, we have tried to make them things that are easy and inexpensive to buy, find, or make. A few activi-
ties do require very specific materials (such as the Ubuntu cards), that we think they are important, and will
make sure that these are available.

Some materials are used in multiple activities, and would be helpful to have all of the time:
 Rope (or any str ong chor d that is similar ) - Have one piece that is about 5 - 6 meters long, and five piec-
es that are about 2 - 3 meters long. Usually these are tied into circles (use strong knots).
 Trash Balls - Any activity that calls for a soft, tossable object, can use these instead. Youth can make
them and they are free! Have the youth use old, (but still clean and dry) paper. Crumple them up into balls
a little larger than the size of two fists. Then wrap the paper balls in tape to keep them from falling apart.
Note - these do not roll well, so they cannot replace everything.
 Deck of Cards - A standard deck of playing cards.
 Ubuntu Cards - A special deck of 54 Ubuntu cards. There are cards that are specially designed for a wide
range of activities. They have a single image on one side of the card and a collection of six to eight images
on the other side. The images on the multi-image side appear to be random, but there is a secret to the Ub-
untu cards: One image (and only one image) on every card, connects to one image (and only one image)
on every other card in the deck. Don’t tell your participants this at first, but they will figure it out quickly.
Make sure you do the activity Common Bonds (pg. ??) with them first, since it requires that they don’t
know the secret. Note that the images on the cards were chosen for a United States context. This does not
matter for the majority of activities, though you may occasionally have to teach the name an object. Once
you get used to using these cards, we think you will love them.

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Community Building
Activities

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Symbolic Circles
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Ubuntu Cards  Peer Leader
 A clock or watch that can measure
seconds. Categories:
 Getting to Know You
 Team Builder

Procedure:
1) Give each participant an Ubuntu card, and explain that the activity will be timed.
2) Explain that the objective is to form a large circle in which every person’s card is connected by a matching
image to the person on their right and another matching image to the person on their left. (Using the side
with multiple objects).
3) Say “Go” and start timing.
4) When the group feels they have formed a circle with everyone matching the people next to them, have
them yell “Done,” and stop timing.
5) If you think they have not yet figured out the “secret” of the Ubuntu cards, then hand out new cards and
have them try it again to see if they can do it faster.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 This should be the FIRST activity that you do with the Ubuntu cards, because it r elies on the fact
that they do not know that every card matches every other card in some way.

Processing Questions:
1) How difficult was this activity?
2) How did you complete the task?
3) What strategies did you use?
4) Did anyone emerge as a leader? How did they show leadership?
5) Did you figure out the secret of the Ubuntu cards? [You can tell them now, if they haven’t figured it out.]
6) If you figured it out, how did you communicate this with the rest of the group?
7) Did people believe you?

Source: Ubuntu
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Symbolic Circles
Processing Questions:
8) What does this show you about our group?
9) Are our connections to other people easy to see? Why or why not?
10) What are some of the things that connect you as a group?

Further Thoughts:
Think about all of the people you are connected to in your life. What connects you to them? Blood, friend-
ship, love, duty, etc. Are there people in your life that you feel disconnected from? Why? How can you con-
nect or reconnect with these people? Why are these connections important?

Source: Ubuntu
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Strengths
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Ubuntu Cards  Facilitator
Categories:
 Personal Growth
 Team Building

Procedure:
1) Have the group sit in a circle with many (30+) Ubuntu cards spread out in the center, single image side up.
2) Have the youth study the cards and think about their personal strengths, things they are especially good at.
3) Every youth should choose a card whose image represents one of their strengths. For example, one person
may chose a stuffed bear because they are good at comforting people.
4) Once everyone has selected a card, have them find a partner who they do not know very well.
5) Share with their partner what card they choose and why.
 Encourage partners to ask each other at least 3 questions about their strengths and to learn as much
as they can.
6) Pairs should then come back to the larger group.
7) One by one, go around the circle and have each person say what their image is, but NOT say why they
picked it.
8) Now ask 2-3 other youth to say why they think the person choose that image, and what their strength is.
 For example: I think Onomen choose the record because he is a good singer.
9) After a few guesses, have the person’s original partner tell about why the person choose that card. For ex-
ample, Onomen’s parter would say, “He chose it because he loves to listen to music.”

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 If you need to save time, do steps 6-9 in groups of four (two pairs come together).
 When you collect the cards, separate those that youth choose for this activity from the rest of the deck.
You will use these cards for the activity Get It Back.

Source: Ubuntu
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itle
Strengths
Processing Questions:
1) What did you learn about other people that was surprising?
2) How accurate were you when trying to guess other people’s strengths?
3) How difficult was it to choose a card to represent one of your strengths?
4) Which do you think is more difficult, seeing our own strengths or seeing the strengths of others? Why?
5) Why is it important to know our own strengths?

Further Thoughts:
Think about other things you are good at. How did you become good at them? Did you practice? Is it natu-
ral? How do you use these strengths to help you in life? How do you use them to help others? What are some
things you would like to have as strengths, that you don’t think you have right now? How can you develop
them?

Source: Ubuntu
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Get It Back
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Student selected Ubuntu Cards  Peer Leader
(from Strengths)
Categories:
 Fun
 Team Building

Procedure:
1) Collect only the cards that were used in the activity Strengths, and shuffle them well.
2) Pass the cards out randomly to the youth, multi-image side up.
3) Tell youth to keep their single image side hidden from others, and that they may not talk during this activi-
ty.
4) Tell youth the OBJECTIVE is for EVERYONE to get their strength card back.
5) Now have the youth walk around until you signal them (say “go”, hit a drum, clap, etc.).
6) Then youth should turn to the person nearest them and try to find the image that both cards have—the
matching image.
7) When they find the match, partners should switch cards and secretly look at their single image side.
8) If they have the card with their Strength on it, they can go off to the side and cheer the others on.
9) Everyone left starts to walk around again.
10) Repeat until everyone has their Strength card back.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 If you want to speed up the game and make it more energetic, ignore Step 5. Have youth find a partner,
find the matching image, switch cards, check the image, then find a new partner as quickly as possible.
 If youth are struggling after several rounds you can encourage youth to try and help each other out. When
they look at the image on their card, they should try to remember whose Strength it was and try to pair up
with that person. (It is better if they figure this out on their own).

Source: Ubuntu
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Get It Back
Processing Questions:
1) How did you feel when you got your Strength back?
2) What strategies did you come up with during this activity?
3) Did these help?
4) Can anyone name the Strengths of five other people? Ten other people? Everyone’s strengths?

Further Thoughts:
What is it like working for the good of a group or community, rather than just yourself? How can you use
your strength to help this club? Your family? Your community?

Source: Ubuntu
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Mind Melding
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Ubuntu Cards  Facilitator
Categories:
 Team Building
 Fun

Procedure:
1) Give a card to every youth, but tell them to keep it secret through the whole activity. They will be using
the multi-image side.
2) Have everyone find a partner.
3) Tell the youth that they will now attempt to mind meld, or share the same brain, with their partner, in order
to guess the matching image on their card.
4) They should begin each round by studying their card (hiding it from their partner) for a moment. Then
they should count down together 3...2...1….
5) After 1 they should announce an image from their card at the same time.
6) If they say the say image then they have successfully mind melded! They should high 5 and find new part-
ners.
7) If they say different images then they just need to try harder!
8) Each pair has three rounds to successfully mind meld. If they don’t get it in three, they should change part-
ners.
9) Play long enough to give every person a chance to partner with at least three other people, or until you run
out of time.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 To make this more fun, you can set the mood for the activity by telling an elaborate and or funny story
about how you successfully mind melded with someone, in order to accomplish an important task/solve a
mystery/etc.

Source: Ubuntu
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 Activities Book 17

Mind Melding
Processing Questions:
1) What was it like to successfully mind meld with someone?
2) Did anyone mind meld on their first try with a partner?
3) How connected do you feel to other people after this activity?
4) Have you every felt so connected with someone, a friend, family member, etc. that it was like you were
thinking the same thoughts?
5) What was that like?

Further Thoughts:
Think about the people you feel closest to emotionally. Who are they? What makes the connection so strong?
Do you think alike or differently? Can it be good to think differently from your friends and family?

Source: Ubuntu
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 Activities Book 18

Group Juggling
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Three, or more, toss-able objects  Facilitator
(like trash balls).
Categories:
 Icebreaker/Warm-Up
 Fun

Procedure:
1) Have everyone (including the leader) form a circle. Take one of the objects and create a pattern by tossing
it (not throwing it) to someone across the circle from you.
2) Continue to toss the object around the circle, until everyone has caught and tossed the object ONLY
ONCE.
 Have participants cross their arms after they have tossed the object, so other participants know who
the can still toss to.
 Since you started the tossing, you should be the last person to catch the object.
3) Tell everyone to remember who tossed the object to them and who they tossed it to. Then repeat the pat-
tern of tosses to make sure everyone knows what they are doing.
4) Then start a round with the first object and add a second object following the same pattern.
5) Add the third object, then a fourth, etc.
6) Have the group set goals for themselves, such as: “We will not drop the object more than once.” or “We
will be three seconds faster than last time.”
7) Continue until you think the group has mastered it, or it has gotten out of hand.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 If you think they are not challenging themselves enough, add your own goals or rules, such as: “If an ob-
ject is dropped, we have to start over again.”
 Challenge: Instead of using the same patter n with each new object, cr eate a new patter n,. So you
will have two object going along two paths, then three, etc. Make sure the objects are different enough
(even if just a different color) so that participants can remember which object goes to which person.

Source: Games for Group

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 Activities Book 19

Group Juggling
Processing Questions:
1) What were some of the challenges you experienced?
2) How did you try to overcome these challenges?
3) Were you successful?
4) What happened when you tried to throw to someone who wasn’t ready for it?
5) How did you feel when someone dropped an object?
6) How did you feel when the group failed to achieve a goal?
7) How did you feel when the group succeeded in achieving a goal?
8) Do you think the group’s goals were not challenging enough, too challenging, or about right?
9) What makes a good goal?
10) What are some goals we have as a group?

Further Thoughts:
Think about your own goals. What do you want your life to look like one year from now? Three years from
now? Ten years from now? How do you think you can make that happen?

Source: ???
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 Activities Book 20

I’m Depending on You

Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 A strong piece of rope, 5-6m long,  Facilitator OR Peer
tied in a circle with a strong knot
Leader
Categories:
 Team Building

Procedure:
1) Have the participants (including the Facilitator) stand around the rope circle and hold it with both hands,
about should length apart, forming a circle.
2) Tell the group that each person is responsible for the safety of the entire group. This is accomplished when
everybody uses slow movements and works to follow each other.
3) Ask the participants to slowly start pulling the circle until it is tight.
4) Then have them start increasing the tension by slowly leaning back and stretching out their arms.
5) Explain that W e can have balance when we can depend on each other. Everyone must cooperate and must
have the same group goal. If one person doesn’t cooperate, everyone has a bad result. We depend on
each other.
6) At this point give a pull on the circle (gently at first, then harder, but don’t pull the circle over). Everyone
will feel the change in balance.
7) Explain how even those people on the other side felt what happened.
8) Tell the people on both sides of you that you need to step away from the circle and they should help take
over the pressure on the circle. Slowly start releasing your tension and let the participants next to you take
over the pressure.
9) Once you have released completely let go of the circle, explain how good communication is important
when you need to make a change.
10) Tell the participants that you are ready to come back in, and have them slowly let you back in.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 If the group is ready for it, once you are done with everything above, you can have the group slowly move
in unison to a squatting position, or even a full sitting position.

Source: Games for Change

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 Activities Book 21

I’m Depending on You

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations (continued):
 This is a good activity to use early on when the participants start to work together as a team.
 It can also be good to repeat this activity later if participants are having trouble working together as a team.
 If the Peer Leaders have done this activity before, then you can encourage one of them to either get is start-
ed, or lead the entire thing. The Facilitator should still lead the processing.

Processing Questions:
1) What did you experience while you were in the circle?
2) Were you able to trust the team enough to really risk leaning back?
3) Did the “ripple effect” surprise you when the leader pulled back on the rope?
4) What did you experience about the team’s interdependence?
5) How did this activity remind you of relationships in your everyday life?
6) What did this activity teach you about yourself? About others?
7) Circles are important symbols in many cultures. Why do you think this is?
8) What do circles mean to you?
9) What does it mean to be connected to everyone else in your community? Your country? The world?

Further Thinking:

Source: Games for Change

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 Activities Book 22

Number Slide
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Deck of Cards  Facilitator
Categories:
 Icebreaker/Warm-Up
 Team Building

Procedure:
1) Split up the deck by suit and remove the Queens and Kings.
2) Divide the participants into groups of 3-5.
3) In front of each group lay out one suit of cards as two rows of four cards and one row of three cards: Make
sure the cards are NOT in numerical order, but are well mixed up: e.g.
10 3 9 Jack

7 6 5 2

1 4 8

4) The OBJECTIVE of the game is to put the cards in order from 1 to 11 (Jack) by sliding one card at a time
into the empty slot in the row of three cards.
 Cards my only move up/down or left/right, they may not move diagonally.
 Only one card can move at a time.
 Every group member must move at least one card.
5) Don’t specify or answer any questions about which order the cards should go in, let them figure it out.
There is no wrong answer (the cards can go left to right across each row, they can go up and down, they
can make an “S” shape, they can spiral, etc.)
6) The game is over wen all the groups are done.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 If this activity takes too long, you can stop whenever you feel is appropriate and process at that point.

1)

Source: Playing with a Full Deck

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 Activities Book 23

Number Slide
Processing Questions:
1) Did all of the groups come up with the same solution?
2) Did the directions say how the “order” had to go?
3) Why did you choose the order you did?
4) How well did you communicate as a group?
5) Did anyone in the group try and do it a different way? How did the rest of the group react?
6) How did you resolve the difference of ideas?
7) Did you feel like this was a race?
8) How did that affect the way you worked?

Further Thoughts:
What does it mean to “think outside the box”? How often do you think in new and creative ways? What are
can be some of the positive consequences of thinking in new and different ways? What are could be some of
the negative consequences? Is outside the box thinking something you can practice? How?

Source: ???
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 Activities Book 24

Cliques
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Five rope circles that are big  Facilitator
enough for 4 people, with only a lit-
tle bit of extra room. Categories:
 One facilitator copy of Appendix 1  Getting to Know You
 “Are You More Like…”
 Community Building

Procedure:
1) Ask youth to get into groups of three. Let them choose their own groups.
2) Then have groups get together with both feet inside of a rope circle. (They should be close enough that
they may be a little uncomfortable).
3) Have youth introduce themselves to each other.
4) Ask the groups one of the questions from Appendix 1 “Are You More Like…” sheet and have them use it
to start a conversation.
5) Let the groups talk for a little while, then call out “Change,” and have student move to different groups.
6) Repeat the same process of introductions, ask a question, conversations, “change.”
7) After a few rounds, start taking away a rope circle every time you say “change.”
 This forces youth to get into larger and larger groups, but make sure everyone still has both feet in
the circle. They may be challenged about how to do this but encourage them to come up with
SAFE and creative solutions.
 If they are really having trouble you can offer suggestions, such as sitting down with their feet in-
side.
8) Stop the activity when the youth can no longer all fit their feet into the rope circles.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 Be observant of participants’ safety as they start to crowd together more and more.
 Encourage good conversations from the questions, and make sure everyone in a group has a chance to con-
tribute, but don’t let them go on too long. Keep the activity moving steadily.
 The more mature your group is, the more you may be able to ask them to crowd together.

Source: Games for Change

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 Activities Book 25

Cliques
Processing Questions:
1) Think about the first group you were in. Why did you choose this group?
2) What was comfortable about this group?
3) When you changed circles, did you stay with people you knew well, or did you get into a group with new
people?
4) What was your reaction to the circles being taken away?
5) What was it like getting to know people you did not know as well?
6) What did you gain by getting to know people outside of your regular friends?
7) What can we learn by getting to know people outside of our usual communities?

Further Thoughts:
It has been said that, “An enemy is someone whose story you do not know.” What does this mean to you?
Are there people you do not like, or consider an enemy? How well do you know them? Have you ever tried to
listen to their story? What would it be like to sit down with them and just listen? What would it be like if they
could listen to you and hear your story?

Source: Games for Change

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 Activities Book 26

In Between
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Deck of Cards  Peer Leader
Categories:
 Fun
 Communication

Procedure:
1) Randomly distribute one card to each person, but tell them not to look at it.
2) Tell them that there is not talking during this game.
3) The OBJECTIVE is to get into groups of three as quickly as possible. Within each group, youth must ar-
range themselves, so that the person whose number is in between the other two numbers, stands in between
the other two people.
4) Tell the youth that when you say “Go!” they should put the card face out on their forehead, so they cannot
see it, but other people can, then get into the groups.
5) Say “Go!”
6) When they think they are in the correct order, the group can raise their hands.
7) Collect the cards, shuffle them quickly, and redistribute them. Youth should still not look at their card.
8) Repeat with groups of four, and have them arrange from smallest to largest.
9) Repeat with groups of five, seven/eight, and then everybody.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 Focus on having them arrange themselves as quickly as possible, and not spending too much time shuffling
cards between it round. This will keep the energy high and make it more fun.
 After each round you can tell them to remember who is in their groups, and use those for activity/
discussion groups later in the day.

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 Activities Book 27

In Between
Processing Questions:
1) How did you feel while doing this activity?
2) Did any problems or disputes arise?
3) How did you deal with them?
4) What strategies did you use to communicate?

Further Thoughts:
None, this activity is mostly just for fun!

Source: Playing with a Full Deck

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 Activities Book 28

Tin Pan, Bang, Bang

Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 metal pan and spoon (or something  Peer Leader/Facilitator
else that can make a loud noise)
Categories:
 Icebreaker/Warm-Up
 Personal Growth

Procedure:
1) Explain that the object of the game is always to be in a group, and if you are left out of a group, you will
have to leave the game. The size of the group will be determined by the number of times you bang the
pan. (i.e. three bangs = groups of three).
2) Have the youth spread out enough that they are not in any groups, then pick a number and bang on the pan
that many times. (Start with a number less than six).
3) Let everybody get into groups, check to make sure the size of groups is correct, and make sure those who
were not part of a group, move off to the side.
4) Bang the pan once to get everyone out of groups.
5) Repeat with different sized groups. When you only have two people left, the game is over.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 If a Peer Leader leads this activity, you can do less processing and just make it fun. If the Facilitator leads
it, spend more time on the processing questions.
 Pay attention to see how participants are getting into their groups and resolving conflicts. If things get out
of hand you may have to step in and make final decisions.
 Keep the pace up and don’t let the game drag on too long. If you think it went by too quickly, you can
play again.

Processing Questions:
1) What was it like to be “out” of a group?
2) What was it like to be “in” a group?

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 Activities Book 29

Tin Pan, Bang, Bang

Processing Questions (continued):
3) Did anyone get pushed out of a group? What was that like?
4) Did anyone get pulled into a group? What was that like?
5) Where do we form groups in life?
6) How hard do you work to fit in to these groups?
7) How do you decide who will be a part of your group and who won’t?
8) How do you decide what group you want to be a part of?

Further Thoughts:
Think about the groups you find yourself in. These may be family groups, friend groups, communities, etc.
Did you choose to belong to this group? Why or why not? What groups do you know exclude people who are
not “like them”? Why do you think they do this? How do you think your groups could benefit from welcom-
ing others in?

Source: ???
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 Activities Book 30

Passages
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 A large open space  Facilitator
 A variety of objects to use as ob-
stacles Categories:
 Rope or something else to mark  Team Building
boundaries
 Communication
 Blindfolds for half the group

Procedure:
1) Create a boundary around a large open space.
2) Fill put a variety of objects into the space to act as obstacles.
3) Mark a spot to be the destination (see notes).
4) Pair up the participants however you like.
5) Partners then decide who will be blindfolded, and who will be the guide.
6) The OBJECTIVE is for the sighted partner to guide the blindfolded partner to the destination, but they may
only use verbal commands.
 If the blindfolded partner touches any obstacle, they must begin again.
 After a pair has completed the objective have them switch jobs and try again.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 This can be done either in in English, or in the participants’ first language, or both. If you do both, use the
local language first.
 If using the participants’ first language, this can be done early on to help build trust. Try making
the obstacles as complicated as possible.
 If using English, wait until participants have developed some trust in each other. Try keeping the
obstacle simple at first, while they practice the English phrases they need, then you can make it
more and more complicated.
 Destinations:
 Try starting the blindfolded person on one side of the space and put their partner on the other. The
guiding partner is the destination and can greet their partner warmly.

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 Activities Book 31

Passages
Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations (continued):
 Destinations
 Make the destination a collection of messages of affirmation or special quotes. The blindfolded
partner must get there, get a message, and return, before they can read their message.
 Make the destination an important or special object the participant must collect.
 Get creative with the obstacles, and use what you have. Something like two chairs with a string tied be-
tween them makes a great obstacle.
 If you have multiple (or even all) the pairs going at once, makes it more challenging, because the blind-
folded partners will have to carefully listen to just their guide.
 Adding a time limit or a limit to the number of times a person can touch objects will make this more chal-
lenging.

Processing Questions:
1) What was difficult about this activity?
2) How did you and your partner communicate? How effective was it?
3) What did you learn about communication?
4) How did the guide feel when their partner touched an object?
5) Was the trust level affected when the blindfolded person touched an object?
6) How did you react when either you or your partner touched an object?
7) Was there any goal setting before the activity?
8) What was it like to achieve or not achieve your goal?
9) What was your level of trust with your partner before? What is it now?
10) Why is trust important?
11) What things keep you from trusting other people?

Further Thinking:

Source: Games for Change

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 Activities Book 32

Line Ups
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Deck of Cards  Facilitator
Categories:
 Communication
 Getting to Know You

Procedure:
1) Remove all of the face cards from the deck, so there are only numbers 1—10.
2) Tell youth that the next activity they will do without talking.
3) Now have them get into a line by their birthday (not year, just month and day). January starts on the left
wall and December is on the right wall and they need to communicate to get into the right order.
4) When they think they are lined up correctly, have them say birthdays going down the line from January.
Make corrections as needed. Notice if anyone has a birthday during the course.
5) Repeat with silent line ups for other things, such as: the time traveled to get from their home to here, hair
length, number of siblings, etc.
6) Now give each person a card and tell them to look at it, but keep it a secret from everyone else.
7) Youth must now close their eyes and line up in order from smallest number to largest. They still cannot
talk.
8) When they think they are in order, have them open their eyes and hold up their cards.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 During the “blind” version of this, remind youth to move slowly and carefully so they don’t hurt each oth-
er.
 You can adjust the length of this activity depending on how many different line ups you use in Step 5.

Processing Questions:
1) How easy was it to communicate without speaking? Without speaking and without seeing?
2) Which line up was easiest for you? Why?
3) What did you do to communicate?—if not already answered

Source: Lois Scott-Conley/Playing with a Full Deck

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 Activities Book 33

Line Ups
Processing Questions (continued):
4) What did you learn about communication from this activity?
 Possible answers—it helps to look at people, you can communicate a lot with your hands and face,
it helps to know what they might say/think, it helps to create some systems or group agreement.
5) How do we use non-verbal communication (communication without words) in our daily lives?

Further Thoughts:
Think about the messages you might be communicating non-verbally. How do your body and face look when
you are talking to your friends? Strangers? Authority figures? What are they communicating to you? Take
some time to watch other people as they interact. What do you think they are communicating with their bodies
and faces?

Source: Lois Scott-Conley/Playing with a Full Deck

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 Activities Book 34

Get Into Your Groups

Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Deck of Cards  Facilitator
Categories:
 Team Building
 Personal Growth

Procedure:
1) Have all participants stand in a circle, and give each person a card, but tell them that they are not allowed
to look at it.
2) Inform them that this is a no-talking activity.
3) Now have each person put their card, face out, on their forehead without looking at it.
4) Tell the participants that you are going to tell them what to do, but not how. Now say, “Please get into
your groups.” (If they ask questions about what to, write “Get into groups.” on the board but nothing more.
5) When they feel like they are in their groups, they can signal that they are done.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 You may want to ask the Peer Leader(s) to sit back with you and act as observers, so that they can com-
ment on what they saw, during the Processing Questions.
 Avoid helping the participants, unless some people start to get overly aggressive in organizing others. Oth-
erwise, just observe.

Processing Questions:
1) How did you get into your groups?
2) Who determined what group you would be in?
3) Did the groups change at any time during the activity?
4) Did you agree with the groups that were formed? Why?
5) How did you feel about the group you were placed in?
6) How did you resolve any disagreements?

Source: Playing with a Full Deck

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 Activities Book 35

Get Into Your Groups

Processing Questions (continued):
7) Ignoring the cards, what are some ways that we could form groups among ourselves? (Gender, where you
live, etc.)
8) In our larger communities, how do we usually get placed in groups?

Further Thoughts:
Think about the groups you find yourself in. These may be family groups, friend groups, communities, etc.
Are there any groups that you feel like you don’t belong in? How did you become part of this group? Did you
have any control over it? What would it be like to separate yourself from that group? Is there a group that you
really want to be a part of? Why do you want to be a part of that group? What is preventing you from joining?

Source: Playing with a Full Deck

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 Activities Book 36

Santicky Fanticky
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 None  Peer Leader
Categories:
 Icebreaker/Warm Up
 Just for Fun

Procedure:
1) There are three kinds of participants in the activity: one guesser, one leader, and everyone else is a follow-
er. It can help to write these on the board—and add their goal.
2) The OBJECTIVE for the Guesser is to try and figure out who the Leader is. The GOAL of the Leader and
Followers is to keep the guesser from figuring out who the Leader is.
3) Have everyone stand in a circle, then ask for a volunteer to be the Guesser. The Guesser then stands in the
center of the circle.
4) The Guesser closes their eyes, and then the facilitator points to someone to be the Leader. Make sure eve-
ryone (except the Guesser) knows who the Leader is.
5) The Leader then starts doing a simple body movement (such as patting their own head), while everyone
chants, “Santicky, Fanticky, Lim Po Po.” —it may help to write this on the board.
6) Once they hear the chanting, the Guesser can open their eyes.
7) Next, the Leader subtly changes the body movement and the followers immediate change along with them.
The trick is to do this as quickly as possible, while the guesser is trying to figure out who the Leader is.
8) Once the Guesser successfully figures out who the Leader is, then the Leader becomes the Guesser and a
new Leader is chosen. Repeat the game as many times as you want.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 You can decide whether you want to limit the number of guesses the Guesser gets, or let them keep trying
until they succeed. This may depend on how much time you have, and how many rounds you want to get
through.
 While this is categorized as an Icebreaker, you can use it to begin exploring ideas of leadership, being a
follower, etc. It can be used in the future as simply an energizing game, for example, after a break.

Source: Games for Change

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 Activities Book 37

Santicky Fanticky
Processing Questions:
1) What was it like to be the guesser?
2) What was it like to be the leader?
3) How did the followers impact the leader or the guesser?
4) If you could choose any of these three roles, which would you choose? Why?
5) Which role has the most control?
6) Why is being a good follower important?
7) What are some of the traits a good follower needs?

Further Thoughts:
Being a good follower can be very challenging. We follow not only the people who we see as leaders, but we
can also follow ideas and beliefs. These might be religious beliefs, political ideas, social norms (behaviors that
most people in a society consider normal), and moral beliefs. What are some of the ideas and beliefs that you
follow? Why do you choose to follow these things? Are you a good follower of these things? What are you
doing to try and be a good follower?

Source: Games for Change

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 Activities Book 38

What would it be like?

Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 One copy per pair of Appendix 2  Facilitator
 What would it be like?
 8 Trash Balls (see materials)
Categories:
 Getting to Know You
 Communication

Procedure:
1) Have youth partner with someone they do not usually talk to, and give one copy of Appendix 2 - W hat
Would it be like? and one trash ball to each pair. (Tell youth they should use their imaginations and that
the things are not likely to happen—that’s why we use “would” in the question. Review the conditional
grammar pattern needed to answer: It would be + adjective (It would be fun, because...) I would + verb…
(I would try very hard…)
2) Partners should take turns tossing the trash ball back and forth and asking each other one of the questions
on the sheet. They should try to answer the question with many details. AT LEAST 3 SENTENCES.
3) After one to two minutes have each pair find another pair to form groups of four. They can pass the ball to
anyone. This time they should answer in ONLY ONE complete sentence.
4) After one to two minutes have each small group join another small group to make groups of eight.
 This time they should answer in EXACTLY THREE words.
5) After one to two minutes have everyone come together in a large group. Now the facilitator asks the ques-
tions.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 Create your own W hat would it be like? questions that are more appropriate to your culture and context.
Write them on the board for anyone to use.
 Encourage the youth to make up their own questions as they play.
 Be prepared to explain any vocabulary or concepts that may be unfamiliar to the youth.

Source: Games for Group

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 Activities Book 39

What would it be like?

Processing Questions:
1) What were some of the most interesting answers you heard? Funniest? Most surprising?
2) What were some questions that were difficult to answer?
3) How difficult is it to imagine how new situations would be?
4) Did people usually imagine situations as being good/positive, bad/negative, or an equal mix of both?

Further Thoughts:
An optimist is someone who usually thinks that good things are going to happen. A pessimist is someone who
usually thinks that bad things are going to happen. Do you think you are more of an optimist or a pessimist?
Why do you think you are like that? Do you know anyone who is really optimistic? What is it like to be
around them? Do you know anyone who is really pessimistic? What is it like to be around them?

Source: Games for Group

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 Activities Book 40

Group Bid
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Deck of Cards  Facilitator
Categories:
 Team Building
 Fun

Procedure:
1) If you have one deck, separate the group into two teams. If you have two decks, separate them into four
teams. You need one deck of cards for two teams.
2) For each deck:
 Separate the cards by suit: all diamonds together, all hearts together, etc.
 Shuffle the diamonds and put them face down in between the two teams.
 Give the clubs to one team and the spades to the other. Teams may look at them, so they don’t
need to be shuffled.
 Set the hearts aside, you won’t use them.
3) The OBJECTIVE is to collect the highest total value of diamonds (Ace = 1, Jack = 11, etc.).
4) Turn the top diamond over. Now both teams have a chance to bid on the diamond.
5) They should quietly talk and decide which of their cards they want to bring forward to bid with. When
they have reached a decision, one team member should bring their card forward, face down.
6) Both teams reveal their card at the same time. The team with the highest card wins the diamond.
7) Once played (whether they won, lost, or tied) the black cards stay in the center and cannot be used again.
8) If it is a tie, neither team wins the diamond, and it is added to the next round (in other words, the winner of
the next round wins both diamonds).
9) Play until all of the diamonds have been won. (If there is a tie on the last diamond, flip a coin to see who
wins it).
10) Add up the values of all the team’s diamonds, and determine a winner.
11) If you are playing with two decks and have time, switch who each team is playing against and play again.

Source: Playing with a Full Deck

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 Activities Book 41

Group Bid
Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 You can simplify the scoring by just counting the number of cards won, not the value.

Processing Questions:
1) What were some of the feelings you had during this activity?
2) How did your team come to a consensus about which card to bid?
3) Did everyone feel like their ideas were heard and welcomed in the team?
4) If a second game was played: What did you do differently the second game?
5) If only one game was played: What would you do differently, if you were to play this again?
6) What is the difference between having someone make a decision for the group, and building consensus
(reaching agreement) as a group?

Further Thoughts:
Think about how you behave in a group. Do you prefer to make the decisions? Do you prefer to let someone
else make decisions? Do you prefer to try and build agreement? What are the advantages of each of these
styles? What are the disadvantages?

Source: Playing with a Full Deck

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 Activities Book 42

Catching Fish
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 A small ball (like a tennis ball)  Peer Leader/Facilitator
 A large tarp or sheet (about 3x4m)
with holes of different sizes cut in Categories:
it. The smallest should be a little  Team Building
larger than the ball you are using.
 Fun/Energizer

Procedure:
1) Have the group gather around the tarp/sheet.
2) Explain that different holes are worth different numbers of points (smaller holes are worth more), and they
will earn points by throwing the ball into the holes.
3) Give the game an imaginary context or purpose. “You are trying to raise money for your community pro-
ject. Earning points is like getting money, it is not easy, and you need a good plan.
4) Have the participants decide on the following rules:
 How much each of the holes is worth.
 How many times they can throw the ball.
 The distance between the thrower and the tarp
5) Then have the participants set a goal for how many points they want to earn.
6) Have the participants create a strategy for reaching their goal.
7) Have them put their strategy into practice. The OBJECTIVE is for them to reach their goal.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 There is a lot of flexibility with this activity. Participants can decide a lot of their own rules, such as: Can
they move the tarp around? Do they have to use the same thrower every time? Etc.
 As the game continues you can decide to put more or fewer rules on them.
 Once they have had some success, you can make this more challenging by blindfolding some participants,
and/or telling others they can’t speak. You can also have them set a higher goal if the first is too easy.
 This is a good team builder to play when they are in the planning phases of their community projects.

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 Activities Book 43

Catching Fish
Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations (continued):
 To make preparation easier you can have the participants cut the holes into the tarp.


Processing Questions:
1) What was difficult about this activity?
2) What strategies worked for you?
3) Did you come away feeling successful? How so?
4) How did you come up with these strategies? (Did you reach a consensus, or did someone just decide?)
5) How well did you work together to reach your goal?
6) How did this activity reflect how you have been working together as a team on your community projects?
7) What do you want to continue doing when you work together as a team?
8) What do you want to do differently as a team, from now on?

Further Thinking:

Source: Games for Change

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 Activities Book 44

Fireball
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 A trash ball (see materials) or simi-  Facilitator
lar small throwable object.
Categories:
 Personal Growth
 Team Building

Procedure:
1) Participants stand in a circle and throw the ball to each other. The rules are:
 Participants cannot speak.
 Participants cannot move except to throw or catch the ball.
 Participants cannot try to make a bad throw or catch.
 If a rule is broken, the participant must step out of the circle and kneel down. (sit can be an option)
2) Do not clarify the rules. If they ask, just say “It is up to you and only you.”
3) Explain that this is a game about honor and integrity—doing the right thing when you have a choice .
Write down and define words. Emphasize that it is the participants choice, whether they step out and kneel
down.
4) Play until only two or three players remain, then play again.
5) After a few games, add this rule: If the leader points to a participant, they must step out of the circle.
6) Play as many games as you think are necessary for them to “get it.”

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 Decide when in this process you want to talk about what honor is and what integrity is. Depending on the
group you may want to discuss it at the beginning to prepare them for the activity, or at the end to empha-
size what they have just experienced. You can also wait and not discuss it until the processing questions.
 As the leader, you can point to people who have not broken any rules. Just see how they react.

Processing Questions:
1) Why did you kneel down?
2) If you knelt down, did you lose? Why do you think so?

Source: ???
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 Activities Book 45

Fireball
Processing Questions (continued):
1) Was there someone who should have knelt down but didn’t? What did you do?
2) Whose choice is it, whether to kneel or not?
3) How did you feel/react when the leader pointed at you?
4) Why do you think the leader pointed at you?
5) How did you define these rules for yourself?
6) What are some of the consequences if people stretch or break the rules?
7) What is a reputation?
8) What is honor?
9) How do you obtain honor?
10) Why is honor important?

Further Thoughts:
Think about honor. Do you think you are an honorable person? Why or why not? What have you done re-
cently that could be seen as honorable? What happened as a result? What have you done recently that could
be seen as dishonorable? Why did you do it? What happened as a result?

Source: ???
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 Activities Book 46

Pair Up!
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Deck of Cards  Facilitator
Categories:
 Team Building
 English Language

Procedure:
1) First set up the cards, you will need one card for each participant:
If you have an odd number of participants, have pairs of cards of the same color and suit (e.g. three

of diamonds and three of hearts) for every 2 participants, plus the joker.
 If you have an even number of participants, have pairs of cards of the same color and suit (e.g.
three of diamonds and three of hearts) for every 2 participants, but the last two cards should not
match.
2) Give one card to each participant, and tell them not to look at it, but instead place it face out on their fore-
head.
3) Inform the participants that they may not speak.
4) The GOAL is for everyone to pair up with the person whose card is the same color and suit, as quickly as
possible.
5) Depending on whether you have an odd or even number of people, there will one or two people who can-
not pair up.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 To make a more language-based game out of this activity:
 Have youth look at their own card, but hide it from everyone else.
 Allow the youth to talk, but give them a list of taboo words: black, red, diamonds, clubs, hearts,
spades, king, queen, jack, ace, joker, and all numbers. This will challenge them to come up with
creative ways to express what their card is and find their pair.

Source: Playing with a Full Deck

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 Activities Book 47

Pair Up!
Processing Questions:
1) For the joker/unpaired - How did it feel to be left without a partner? How did others treat you, when they
realized you did not have a match?
2) What did it feel like when you found your partner?
3) Did you attempt to help others once you found your partner? Why or why not?
4) What are some of the ways you communicated without words?
5) Which was the most successful?
6) What were some of the frustrations you experiences around communication?
7) How is this activity similar to the way people interact in our societies?

Further Thoughts:
Think about how you can communicate with someone who does not speak any languages that you speak.
What have been your experiences trying to communicate with someone who you cannot speak to easily? What
were some of the challenges and frustrations you faced? What were some of the successes you had? Were
you able to be patient during the encounter? What do you think life is like for someone who does not speak
the language of the community they live in? How can you help and support people in that situation?

Source: ???
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 Activities Book 48

Poker Face
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Deck of Cards  Facilitator
Categories:
 Personal Growth
 Communication

Procedure:
1) Shuffle the deck well and give one card to each person, but tell them not to look at it.
2) Tell youth that this is a silent game, and that you will tell them what to do, but not exactly how to do it.
3) Youth put their card on their forehead facing out, so that they cannot see it, but everyone else can.
4) Now tell the youth, when you say go, they should walk around. They will see people’s cards and they
should act toward the person using the value of the card. For example, someone has a 3 and someone has a
9. Decide how to act toward a 3 and how to act toward a 9 using the value of the card. (Don’t explain, just
let them figure out what that means).
5) Say go.
6) After youth have had a chance to walk around and interact for a while, tell them to freeze, but not to look
at their card yet.
7) Have them go to one side of the room if they think they have a high card, the other side if they think they
have a low card, and the middle of the room if they think they are in the middle. Tell them not to help each
other out at this point.
8) Now have youth look at their cards.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 Make sure behavior doesn’t become too insulting or aggressive, especially towards people with low cards.

Processing Questions:
To the low cards:
 What were some of the things people did, to make you think you were a low card?
 How long did it take you to guess you were a low card?

Source: Playing with a Full Deck

48
 Activities Book 49

Poker Face
Processing Questions:
To the middle cards:
 What were some of the things people did, to make you think you were a middle card?
 How long did it take you to guess you were a middle card?

To the high cards:

 What were some of the things people did, to make you think you were a low card?
 How long did it take you to guess you were a low card?

To everyone:
1) After you realized what card you had, did it influence your behavior towards others?
2) How did it feel to be treated the way you were?
3) How is this activity like everyday society?

Further Thoughts:
Think about how you treat other people. Do you treat people differently because of their status in the commu-
nity? Their age? Their job? Their relationship to you? Why do you think this is? What are the benefits of
treating people differently? What are the problems with it? If you were to gain a high status in the future, how
do you think you would treat people who are like you are now?

Source: ???
49
 Activities Book 50

The Lock
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Ubuntu Cards  Facilitator
 Optional sheet or blanket for each
group—to put the cards on if it’s Categories:
not culturally appropriate to put  Team Building
them on the floor and there isn’t a
table big enough for them.  Fun

Procedure:
1) Divide the participants into 2-3 groups.
2) For each group lay out 12 Ubuntu cards in a circle about 1.5 meters in diameter, single-image side up.
Then place a 13th card in the center of the circle multi-image side up. This set-up is called the clock.
3) Make a start line 10-15 meters away from the lock, and have all group members stand behind the line.
4) The GOAL is for each group to learn and memorize the code as quickly as possible. The code is which
item in each of the outer cards matches the center card. For example: On the 12 o’clock card it is the scis-
sors that match, on the 1 o’clock card it is the butterfly, on the three….
5) One at a time the participants are allowed to cross the line to examine the clock. They may stay for as long
as they need, but remind them they are trying to be as fast a possible. They may not talk.
6) While they are at the clock, participants may flip over as many of the outer cards as they want and study
them. Before they go back to their group they must flip all of the cards back to multi-side down.
7) Once they are back across the start line, they may talk again. Repeat this with as many people as neces-
sary, until the group is sure they know the code.
8) When they are confident they know the code, the facilitator will come over to the circle and point to the 12
o’clock card. The group announces the matching item, while the facilitator check the multi-image side
against the center card. If the group got it right, move on to the 1 o’clock, and so on.
9) If the group gets an answer wrong, make sure all of the outer cards are multi-image side down, and let the
group return to sending one person at a time to look at them.
10) If the group gets all 12 matches correct, give them time to discuss strategies. Then “reset” the clock by
changing the center card (this means that all matches will be different), and let them try again for a better
time.
11) Start timing when the first participant crosses the start line, and ends when they have corrected said all 12
matches.

Source: Ubuntu
50
 Activities Book 51

The Lock
Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 The procedure for this game is a little complicated at first, so read through carefully, and consider doing a
practice run with the participants, so they are all clear about the rules and the objective.
 Don’t skip over the discussion time the par ticipants use between games. This is an impor tant fea-
ture, because it lets them work as a team to problem solve and improve.
 Remind participants that this is about improving on their own time, not about competing with each other.

Processing Questions:
1) How did you feel about this activity?
2) How well did you work together as a group?
3) What worked well to help you solve this problem?
4) What challenges did you face?
5) How did you overcome them as a group?
6) How well did you communicate with each other as a group?
7) What similarities did you notice about how you communicated here, compared with when you work on
other group projects? What differences?
8) What did you learn, that may be useful for you to work together in the future as a group?

Further Thoughts:
Think about how you act when you are under pressure or stress. How well do you control yourself? How do
you usually communicate with others at these moments? What are some things you do not do well, when you
are pressured or stressed? Which of these things is the most important for you to change? What can you do to
change it?

Source: Ubuntu
51
 Activities Book 52

King’s Corner
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Deck of Cards  Facilitator
 4 pieces of ≈ 3m rope or tape
Categories:
 Teambuilder
 Communication

Procedure:
1) Use the rope/tape to form a square on the floor.
2) Have everyone stand with both feet on the rope/tape, then shuffle the deck of cards and pass one out to
each person.
3) The GOAL is for youth to arrange themselves on the square in order from highest (king) to lowest (Ace).
 One suit on each side of the square, but they can decide which suit is on each side.
 Kings must be in a corner.
 You cannot step off of the rope/tape. (You can lift your foot, but you must put it back down on the
rope/tape).
4) You can decide penalties for when people step off the rope/tape (that person must go to a corner, everyone
must start again, the kings must move to the middle of a side, etc.).

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 This may take longer than anticipated. If it starts to run too long, you can add rules to help, such as: you
only have to have one foot touching the rope/tape, or just one person may step off completely and move
where they need to go.

Processing Questions:
1) What were some of the biggest challenges you faced with this activity?
2) What were some of the strategies you used?
3) How well do you think you communicated as a team?
4) Do you feel like all voices were listened to and valued?

Source: Playing with a Full Deck

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 Activities Book 53

King’s Corner
Processing Questions (continued):
1) Did anyone take one a more obvious leadership role?
2) How was that leadership determined?
3) How effective were you in completing the objective?
4) What are some other approaches you could have used?

Further Thoughts:
How do you usually solve problems when you encounter them? Do you think about the problem logically?
Do you go by your gut/instinct? Do you ask for advice from experts? Do you work with other people like
you? Why do you do approach problems this way? What are the strengths of your way of problem solving?
What are the weaknesses? Are there any approaches you want to try to use more? How can you do that?

Source: ???
53
 Activities Book 54

What It’s Not

Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Ubuntu (or standard deck of cards  Facilitator OR Peer
if you do not have Ubuntu cards)
Leader
Categories:
 Team Builder

Procedure:
1) Divide the participants in to smaller groups of 5-8 people. Divide the Ubuntu deck evenly between the
groups.
2) Have each group pull one card at random from their deck and place it multi-side image up. This is their
match card for the round. They can then shuffle the rest of their deck, then place it multi-image side down.
3) The GOAL is to guess which image on the match card will NOT be a match with any image on the next
card. The match card stays the same for the entire round.
4) One group member then guesses which image will not be the match. Once the member has guessed, they
should turn over the top card from their deck. If they were correct, and their image did not match, the
group keeps the card, and the next person makes a guess about the next card.
5) One round lasts until someone guesses wrong, or they make it though the entire deck without a mistake.
6) Have each group play three rounds, keeping track of how many cards they win each round.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 This is a good activity, just for fun. If you do it for fun, you do not need to ask many processing questions.
 If you have access to more than one Ubuntu deck, give each group their own.
 Variation for Group Decision Making: Play the same way as before, except that, instead of having the
group members take turns guessing, the whole group must reach a decision together for every guess. This
will change the dynamics of the activity, but that can be good.
 You can use this variation immediately after the original way, or on an entirely different day.
 You can process both variations, only one variation, or neither variation.
 To use a regular deck of cards, groups do not have a match card, but instead try to predict the rank (9, 10,
Jack, etc.) that the next card will NOT be. (e.g. “I don’t think it will be a four.” Then turn the next card
and see). Otherwise, play as normal.
Source: Ubuntu/Playing with a Full Deck
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 Activities Book 55

What It’s Not

Processing Questions:
1) (Individual Variation): Was it hard to make decisions on your own?
2) (Individual Variation): How did you feel when you guessed wrong?
3) (Individual Variation): How did you feel when someone else guessed wrong?
4) (Individual Variation): How did your group react when someone guessed wrong? Were they supportive?
5) (Group Variation): Was it hard to make decisions as a group? Why?
6) (Group Variation): How did you reach a consensus about each guess? Did it feel fair?
7) (Group Variation): How did you feel when the group guessed wrong?
8) How does this group react when one of you makes a mistake?
9) Is this a pattern you want to continue? Why?
10) What changes do you want to make in how you react to group members’ mistakes?

Further Thoughts:
Think about being wrong. What was a time when you have been wrong about something important? What
was the result? How did other people react to your mistake? How did you react when you realized you had
been wrong? How did you feel? What did you learn from that experience? Is being wrong always a bad
thing? Why?

Source: Ubuntu/Playing with a Full Deck

55
 Activities Book 56

Our Boat is Full

Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Deck of Cards  Facilitator
Categories:
 Communication
 Team Building

Procedure:
1) Set up the deck of cards so that you have one card per person, and an equal number of cards of each suit.
For example, if you have 15 participants you could have five hearts, five clubs, and five spades.
2) Divide the youth into the same number of groups as there are suits, then thoroughly shuffle and hand out
the cards. Have the groups stand far apart.
3) The GOAL is to get every group to have only cards of the same suit (only hearts in one group, only spades
in the next, etc.)
4) Youth may talk within their groups, but groups may not talk to each other.
5) Within each group, have youth look at each other’s cards and pick one person who must leave the group.
6) Then the facilitator says, “Go!” and those who have been picked to leave, must go to a different group, so
that each group loses one member but gains one different member.
7) Once a person leaves, they may no longer talk to their old group, only their new group.
8) Repeat until ever group has only members with cards of the same suit.
9) When a group is ready, they should say “Our boat is full!” They no longer lose or gain members, when the
facilitator says “Go!”
NOTE: At first youth may be confused. Tell them it’s OK and they will begin to see how to make plans to get
cards of the same suit.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 Make sure you are giving youth enough time to reach a decision each round, but still keep it going quickly,
so that the game does not get boring.

Source: Playing with a Full Deck

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 Activities Book 57

Our Boat is Full

Processing Questions:
1) How did it feel to be sent away?
2) Was it difficult to not speak to your old group once you had left?
3) Did anyone stay in the same group the entire time? How did that feel?
4) Who was the last person/people to find their group? How did that feel?
5) How did you make decisions about who to send out of your group?
6) How did you bring in new ideas/strategies as new members joined?
7) How did competition play a role in this activity?

Further Thoughts:
Think about a time when you have been excluded (left out) from a group or activity. What was the situation?
Did the group give you a reason for excluding you? Do you think they were telling the truth? If not, why do
you think you were really excluded? Did you agree with the reason then? Do you still agree or disagree with
the reasons? What are some legitimate reasons to exclude someone from a group? What are some illegitimate
reasons?

Source: Playing with a Full Deck

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 Activities Book 58

Full Value Ubuntu

Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Ubuntu Cards  Facilitator
 One Large Sheet of Paper (or five
regular sheets) Categories:
 Team Building
 Personal Growth

Procedure:
1) Have youth sit in a circle with all of the Ubuntu cards single image side up in the center.
2) Explain that the group is going to choose five values, that they think everyone in the group should follow,
and that these will become and agreement or contract that they make with each other.
3) Ask the Processing Questions below.
4) Now have the group select 5 cards that represent the values that the group selected.
 For example, if the group thinks that good communication is one of their values, then they may se-
lect the card with the phone.
5) On the piece of paper, for each value, write a word or two that describes the picture, and then write out the
value as 1-2 clear sentences. For example:
 Telephone - We think it is important to have clear communication, so that we can always know
what is happening with our group.
6) Hang the paper in the classroom, where you can see it and refer back to it, in the future.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 During the Processing Questions, have youth come up with more than five values, and then they can
choose the five that are most important to them as a group.
 Similar to the norms established at the beginning of the cycle, the group can use these values to help them
settle disputes and solve problems as they arrive.

Source: Ubuntu
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 Activities Book 59

Full Value Ubuntu

Processing Questions:
1) What is one value or characteristic that you think we should follow as a group and as individuals?
2) What would be the benefits of following this value?
3) What are some ways it could be challenging for people to follow this value?
4) What can we do to help people if they have trouble following this value?
5) Are there any objections to including this value?
Repeat these questions until you have more than five values.
6) Which of these values are the five we think are the most important to include in our agreement? Why?

Further Thoughts:
Think about the last time you made an important promise to someone. Did you keep that promise? Why or
why not? What made it important to the other person? What made it important to you? What was challenging
about keeping that promise? Why is it important to keep promises? When is it ok to break a promise?

Source: ???
59
 Activities Book 60

Raging River
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Two pieces of tape or rope  Facilitator
 Ten “stepping stones” (such as A3
pieces of paper) that people can Categories:
stand on.  Team Building
 Communication

Procedure:
1) Create a “river,” about 4.5 meters wide, using the two pieces of rope or tape as the edges of the river.
Make the river long enough that the two teams will not be in each others way.
2) Divide the youth into two teams.
3) Give each group five “magic” stepping stones.
4) The GOAL is to get everyone across the river.
 Every stepping stone must have someone touching it at all times. A stone in the water without
someone touching it will disappear. (Model this for the group.)
 If anyone touches the river, they all have to start over again.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 You can make this more difficult by assigning restrictions to team members, such as: one person is blind,
one person cannot speak, one person can only use one leg, etc. If you do the activity one day, you could do
it again another day and add the restrictions.

Processing Questions:
1) What did you find out about yourselves as you tried to work together
2) Who became the group leader? Why?
3) How did the rest of you feel about your leader?
4) Did everyone in your group participate? If not, why not?
5) What new skills did you discover in your teammates?
6) What new skills did you discover in yourself?

Source: Lois Scott-Conley

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 Activities Book 61

Raging River
Further Thoughts:
Think about a big challenge or obstacle (not necessarily a physical obstacle) you have had to overcome in your
life. What was the obstacle? Why was it there? How did you overcome it? Who helped you overcome it?
How did they help? Could you have done it without them? What would it have been like to try and overcome
it on your own?

Source: Lois Scott-Conley

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 Activities Book 62

Orb-it
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 A strong piece of rope, 5-6m long,  Facilitator
tied in a circle with a strong knot
Categories:
 Team Builder
 Personal Growth

Procedure:
1) Have everyone hold the rope circle with both hands. They may slide around on the rope, but unless they
are told to let go, they have to keep both hands on the rope.
2) The GOAL is for the participants to maintain the best circle that they can.
3) Have them try doing things like putting more pressure on the rope, or moving around in the space.
4) Now start having participants slowly leave the circle one or two at a time. Remind them that they still need
to maintain the best circle that they can. The people who leave should stay close as observers, but they can
no longer help or offer advice.
5) Keep removing participants until it impossible for them to maintain a circle (usually once they get down to
about 4-5 people).

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 Encourage participants to keep communicating and maintaining their circle. Remember that “the best cir-
cle they can” is a deliberately vague term to keep them trying.
 Remind them that they are responsible for each other’s safety as they do this activity.
 You can decide whether the people who leave the circle can still offer advice and ideas, or if they must stay
silent. Either way, they should stay close to observe what happens.

Processing Questions:
1) How did losing team members affect the circle?
2) How did you compensate as more and more people left the circle?
3) What is the hardest part of depending on others?

Source: Games for Change

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 Activities Book 63

Orb-It
Processing Questions (continued):
4) When did it become impossible to maintain a good circle?
5) How did it feel to be outside the circle and unable to help?
6) What did this activity remind you of?

Further Thoughts:
Our lives often change unexpectedly. Sometimes these changes are good, sometimes they are difficult. What
have been some major changes that have happened in your life? How did you react? When do you try and
keep things from changing, and when do you just let things happen? Why?

Source: Games for Change

63
 Activities Book 64

Animal Challenge
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 One copy, per Group, of Appendix 3  Facilitator
 Animal Challenge
 Scissors
Categories:
 Team Building
 Communication

Procedure:
1) Divide the youth into groups of five. Give them the a copy of Appendix 3 - Animal Challenge and have
them cut out the animal markers.
2) The GOAL is for each team to arrange their markers in a 4x4 pattern so that:
 No two animals are in the same horizontal row.
 No two animals are in the same vertical column.
 No two animals are in the same diagonal line.
3) The rules are:
 The group can only place the markers down four at a time, in a horizontal row.
 ALL group members must be in agreement about the order, before the four markers are placed.
 The group may go back and change any horizontal row, but only if ALL group members agree.
They may not change vertical columns or diagonal lines.
4) Have them stop after about 10 minutes, whether or not they were successful.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 Make sure everyone is staying involved in this process and that it is not just one or two people doing eve-
rything, while other group members sit out,
 This activity may be frustrating, so make sure that youth are using good communication and problem solv-
ing skills.
 If groups are becoming too frustrated, it may become necessary to tell them that, because they have limited
time, it is more important for them to work together effectively than to complete the objective.

Source: Games for Group

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 Activities Book 65

Animal Challenge
Processing Questions:
1) How well did your group do?
2) What were you feeling during this activity?
3) What were some of your group’s biggest challenges?
4) How did your group make decisions? Was this effective?
5) Did anyone feel that their voice was not heard? Was that resolved?
6) Is “Complete Agreement” always the best way to make decisions in a group?
7) When is it good to use?
8) When is it not good to use?
9) If you had to do this again, how would you do things differently?

Further Thoughts:
Think about how much control you have in your own life. Do you usually get a say in what happens to you, or
do you usually have to do what other people tell you? When should we let other people tell us what to do?
Why? Who should be allowed to tell us what to do? Why? When should we make decisions on our own?

Source: Games for Group

65
 Activities Book 66

Start and Stop

Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Ubuntu Cards  Facilitator
Categories:
 Team Building
 Communication

Procedure:
See the Notes section before you begin this activity.
1) Have youth sit in a circle and spread out the Ubuntu Cards in the middle, with the single image side up.
2) Ask the youth to think about how the group has been working together so far. Ask them to think about
what are some group behaviors that they think have been acting as obstacles to the group success.
 These must be internal obstacles that the group can change.
 It is OK to repeat a behavior that someone else has said, this can be valuable.

3) Once they have had some time to think, ask everyone to select a card whose image represents the group’s
behavior, that they think should change.
4) Now go around the circle and have each person explain why they chose the image they did, and what be-
havior they think needs to STOP.
5) Once everyone has shared, ask everyone to turn their card over to the multi-image side and choose an im-
age that represents a new, positive behavior that they personally will START doing to help the group.
6) Ask everyone to remember what was discussed.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 This activity could be challenging and have the potential to cause arguments. Remind them that disagree-
ment is OK, but that they should still be respectful and use the discussion skills they have learned.
 Have youth speak about behaviors that the group tends to do as a whole, rather than focusing on what they
think specific individuals need to change. For example:
 Good: “I notice that the gr oup usually takes a long time to get back fr om our br eak.”
 Bad: “(Participant Nam e) needs to be nicer to ever yone.”

Source: Ubuntu
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 Activities Book 67

Stop and Start

Processing Questions:
Most of the processing happens as youth share and explain their images, but you should ask follow up ques-
tions and encourage discussion. However when everyone has gone, you can ask the following questions:
1) What are some of the most common behaviors that people want to see change?
2) Do you think that we, as a group, can do better at these?
3) What do you think are some of the most important things that you as individuals can do to have more posi-
tive behavior?

Further Thoughts:
Think about the negative behaviors that came up during this discussion. Which ones do you think you do a
lot? Why do you think this is?

Source: Ubuntu
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 Activities Book 68

Turning Over a New Leaf

Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 A tarp or heavy sheet (about 1.5m x  Facilitator
2m)
 Black permanent markers Categories:
 Personal Growth
 Team Building

Procedure:
1) Have everyone sit around the tarp and think silently about one change they would like to make in their
lives.
2) On the tarp, have everyone write one word, phrase, or symbol that represents their goal.
3) Once everyone has written, turn the tarp over and have everyone think of something that might prevent
them from achieving that goal.
4) Again, have them write a word, phrase, or symbol that represents that challenge.
5) Once everyone is done writing, have everyone stand on the tarp (make sure it is still obstacle side up).
6) Explain in your own words: There is a common saying in English which is “turn over a new leaf.” This
means that someone is going to begin again, or make a new start. This may mean that you will no longer
do something that is causing you problems, or that you are going to start doing something that you think
will be beneficial. Now as a group, you are going to “turn over a new leaf.” In this case the tarp is your
leaf.
7) The GOAL is to turn the tarp completely over. But there are some rules:
 Everyone must be touching the tarp at all times.
 No part of you can touch the ground around the tarp.
8) Begin.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 If you want to make this more challenging, you can add other rules, such as: No talking, you may only use
your feet, half of the participants are blindfolded, etc.
 When you are done you can either hang the tarp up where participants can always see their goals, or you
can cut up the tarp and let youth take their goal with them.

Source: Games for Change

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 Activities Book 69

Turning Over a New Leaf

Processing Questions:
1) What was the most difficult part of this challenge?
2) Did you try something that didn’t work? How did this make you feel?
3) How did you solve some of the difficulties that came up?
4) How did it feel to finally succeed?
5) How does this compare to making changes in your own life?
6) What is the hardest part of sustaining change in our lives?

Further Thoughts:
Think about the goal you wrote on the “leaf.” Why is this goal important to you? How do you think it will
help you? How do you think it will help those around you? What are some steps you can take to start accom-
plishing this goal?

Source: Games for Change

69
 Activities Book 70

Sentence Shuffle
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Paper  Facilitator
 Pencil/Pen
 Deck of Cards
Categories:
 Communication
 Fun

Procedure:
1) Divide the youth into groups of three, give each group a sheet of paper, a pen/pencil, and 9 random cards
from the deck.
2) Explain that, for this activity, each cards has a Letter Value instead of a Number Value. This is based on
the first letter of the name of the card.
 Ace = A, Two = T, Three = T, Four = F, etc.

3) Have the groups use their cards to create sentences with words that start with their cards’ letters. For ex-
ample:
 4, Ace, 6, 5, 7 could be - Father ate soup for supper.

NOTE: Do not spell the words, just use the first initial of each word.
4) They should write down each sentence they create.
5) Sentences can be as long or as short as they want, but they should be complete sentences (subject and
verb).
6) After five minutes bring everyone back together and have the groups share their three favorite sentences.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 Q is a hard letter to use in English, so depending on their level, either:
 Let the Queens be “Wild Cards” that can be any letter. (Easiest)
 Remove the Queens completely.
 Leave the Queens as is. (Hardest)

 Challenge youth to come up with the longest sentences they can.

Source: Playing with a Full Deck

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 Activities Book 71

Sentence Shuffle
Processing Questions:
1) How many sentences did you come up with total?
2) What was the funniest sentence that any group made?
3) What was fun about this activity?
4) What was challenging about this activity?
5) How well did you work together as a team?

Further Thoughts:
None, this activity is mostly just for fun and practice!

Source: Playing with a Full Deck

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 Activities Book 72

Sticks, Stones, and Bones

Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 One SET for every two people.  ???
 One SET = Three Pairs of identical
objects. Such as: Categories:
 Sticks - Two identically decorated  Communication
sticks
 Stones - Two identical playing  Fun
cards, like two Jacks of Hearts
 Bones - Two dice

Procedure:
NOTE: This is easiest explained by modeling.
1) Have youth get into pairs, and have them sit back to back.
2) Give each pair of youth a SET of materials, and have each partner should take one of each object.
3) Each pair should choose one person to be the leader.
4) The leader then arranges their three object in front of them so that the other partner cannot see them.
5) When the leader has finished their arrangement, tell them to describe their arrangement to their partner.
6) The GOAL is for the partner to recreate the arrangement as exactly as possible.
7) The partner is not allowed to speak or look during the activity.
8) When the partner thinks they are done, they can both turn and look at how similar the arrangements are.
9) Have the partners switch roles, so the other person can serve as the leader.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 Getting the materials ready for this may take some time, and should be planned ahead of time. If it is diffi-
cult to acquire materials, be creative! You can always cut circles, squares, and triangles out of paper, and
have the youth decorate pairs of them identically. (It helps if the decorations are not symmetrical, so that
the orientation of each object matters more).

Processing Questions:
1) How did you do?
2) Did the patterns turn out the same? Why or why not?
3) When you were a leader, how did you feel when you saw your partner’s arrangement?

Source: Games for Group

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Sticks, Stones, and Bones

Processing Questions (continued):
4) What problems arose during this activity?
5) Did you and your partner figure out a way to communicate non-verbally?
6) How were things different after you switched roles? Why?
7) How would asking questions have helped the partner?
8) How would asking questions have helped the leader?
9) What usually happens when we are confused, but we don’t ask questions?
10) Why is it important to ask questions?

Further Thoughts:
Think about when someone, particularly an authority figure, tells you something. What kinds of questions
might you want to ask? What might stop you from asking those questions? When is it ok to question people
in authority? Why? When is it not ok? Why? What would happen if you never questioned what people told
you?

Source: ???
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 Activities Book 74

Body Parts
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Symbols of an eye, a heart, a hand,  Facilitator
a foot, and a brain.
 Written questions for each symbol Categories:
(see below)  Team Building
 Music (either a recording or your
own instrument).  Personal Growth

Procedure:
1) Lay the six symbols and their questions spread out in the space.
2) Take the number of participants you have and divide by 6 (round up), then tell the participants, that is the
largest number of people that can be at one symbol. (For a group of 15, the largest number that can be at a
symbol is three).
3) Tell participants that when the music starts they should dance or move around the space. Then when the
music stops, everyone should put a foot on one of the six symbols. There should be at least two people at
every symbol.
4) When everyone is at a symbol have each participant, tell the others in their small group their answers to the
questions at their symbol.
5) When everyone has answered the questions at their symbol, play the music again and have people move to
a different symbol.
 You may not stay at the same symbol, and you cannot go back to a symbol.
 Don’t travel in the same groups.
6) Repeat this six times, so that every participant visits every symbol once.
Symbol Questions
Eye - What is your vision for this team? What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of this team?
Ear - Does this team listen to each member? How can the team use their ears more effectively?
Hand - Who are the “worker bees” on this team? Does the team help each other when needed?
Heart - What is at the heart (center/core/soul) of this team? Is this a caring team?
Foot - Where is this team going? Who are the movers on this team?
Brain - Does this team think through decisions? Does this team act with reason?

Source: Games for Change

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 Activities Book 75

itle
Body Parts
Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 This activity would be good to do after the participants have completed a community project together. It
can be used as a starting point to help them reflect on how effectively they worked together on that project.

Processing Questions:
Most of the processing questions are the ones they have already asked each other, at each symbol, however it
is still helpful to bring them all back together as a large group. You can give them the Further Thought as an
informal homework assignment.
1) What are some of the answers you heard that were the most insightful or helpful?
2) What are some of the answers you heard that were the most surprising?

Further Thinking:
A body is made up of many parts and those parts all do different things. In the same way, groups and commu-
nities are made up of many different people. Those people all have different roles that they play in that group
or community. Some of these roles are formal, such as “teacher.” Other roles may be informal, such as “the
person people go to when they need advice about their friends.” Sometime on your own, think about the role
or roles that you play in this group. What about the roles you play in your family? Your group of friends?
Your community? Your world?

Source: Games for Change

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 Activities Book 76

Inner Compass
Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 A very large space  Facilitator
 20-30 items that can be dropped to
mark the group’s path (rocks, trash Categories:
balls, etc.)  Team Building
 Communication

Procedure:
1) Split the participants into two groups, one group will participate while the other observes.
2) The GOAL is for the moving group to move from point A to point B. Point B can be any destination
around 30 meters from point A. The groups should know where both points are.
3) Have the moving group select one person to be the Contact Person. This will be the person to make con-
tact with point B.
4) Rules:
 Everyone in the moving group must keep physical contact with each other the entire time.
 Everyone in the moving group must have their eyes closed the entire time.
 The observers cannot help in any way.
5) Once the moving group is ready (they are at point A, have contact with each other, and all have their eyes
closed), they should start moving towards point B.
6) One of the observers should follow the group and mark their path by setting down one of the items every 1
-2 meters.
7) When the moving group thinks that the contact person has reached point B, have them stop, but KEEP
THEIR EYES CLOSED.
8) After they have stopped, have everyone in the moving group point to where they think point B is located.
9) When everyone is pointing, they can open their eyes.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:


Source: Games for Change

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 Activities Book 77

Inner Compass
Processing Questions:
1) Movers, what did you notice?
2) Observers, what did you notice?
3) Movers, how did you feel when you finally saw where point B was, where you were pointing, and where
the group actually was?
4) What are some ways in
5) Movers, did you ever feel the need to move in a direction that was different from the group?
6) Did you feel right in the direction the group was heading?
7) How did the group decide which way to go?
8) Was your voice listened to?
9) How does this game mirror how your group works in your bigger projects?
10) Talk about the phrase, “Being popular, isn’t always right. Being right, isn’t always popular.”

Further Thinking:

Source: Games for Change

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 Activities Book 78

All for One, One for All

Materials/Space: Who should lead:
 Ubuntu Cards  Facilitator
Categories:
 Team Building
 Personal Growth

Procedure:
1) Divide the group into pairs.
2) Spread all of the Ubuntu cards out, single image side up.
3) Each pair should look at the cards and come to a consensus about which image they think best represents
the entire large group. Take that card.
4) Have each pair join another pair to form groups of four. Have each pair share which image they choose
and what their reasons were for choosing it. Now all four participants should talk and decide which of the
two images best represents the entire large group.
5) Have each group of four find another group of four to make a group of eight. Repeat the process or shar-
ing and discussing, until the group of eight has reached a consensus about which image best represents the
entire large group.
6) Now have the groups of eight come together (this should be the entire group, but if it is not, continue on
until everyone is in one group), and repeat the process until the entire large has reached a consensus on an
image that they think represents them all.

Notes/Suggestions/Adaptations:
 Use this activity late in the group’s time together, for several reasons:
1) The participants will have needed to see how the group works together.
2) It requires a lot of respect and community to be built up.
3) It relies on the participants’ having an understanding of how to have constructive conversations and
disagreements.
 This can be a challenging activity. It may be important to review discussion concepts, such as “Respecting
All Voices” and “Judging Ideas, Not People.” Monitor the conversations to ensure that participants are
following the group norms.

Source: Ubuntu
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 Activities Book 79

All for One, One for All

Processing Questions:
1) How easy or difficult was it for you to reach a consensus? Why?
2) What were some of the approaches you used to reach consensus? Which ones were effective?
3) Was it more challenging to reach a consensus in small groups or large groups? Why?
4) Was it hard to follow your group norms and the discussion principles that we have discussed? Why?
5) Was it easy to let go of your ideas and accept the ideas of others?
6) How did you support ideas that were different from your own?
7) How were ideas shared? Do you feel like everyone’s voice was heard?
8) What was the hardest part of this activity?
9) Are you ok with the result?
10) How did you handle disagreements? Were you able to solve them?
11) What does this tell us about reaching a consensus?
12) How can you use what you learned here in the future?

Further Thoughts:
Think about the communities you live in. How important is consensus and agreement to that community? Are
there times when you have let go of something you valued for the good of the group? What was that experi-
ence like? Are there times when you went against what the community believed and held on to your own be-
liefs? What happened? When is it important to sacrifice for the group and when is it important to hold on to
what we believe in?

Source: ???
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 Activities Book 80

Warm Ups and

Energizer Activities
We asked our colleagues to send us some their favorite warm up activities, and this is what
they gave us. Some are for English Language Learners, some can be for any class.
Choose the ones that you like best to use when youth come back from breaks and need to
get some energy before they get back to their lessons.

2-minute Square Dance

Inspired by 'Meaningful Musical Chairs'
Make a list of 6 discussion topics (i.e. home life, jobs, hobbies, favorite person, favorite food, etc.). Pair up the stu-
dents and have one of them role a die. The number showing decides the topic for the pairs to discuss for two
minutes. Change up the pairs and repeat the process. However, if the same number shows, they must role again.

7 Simple Name Games

1. Have each person describe him/herself by using the first letter of his/her name. For example: My name is Ste-
ve and I like Spaghetti, my favorite candy is Sugarbabies and my favorite animal is a Snake.
2. Say your name and what object in a Sears/JC Penney catalog that you are most like and describe why. (i.e. My
name is Jeni and I am most like a pair of work boots because I like to be comfortable and don't really care about
whether others like the fashion statement I make with them).
3. Throw a Koosh ball or pillow or another small non-threatening object to someone. That person says his name
and describe why he loves his Koosh ball (let them be as creative as they want to be!). He throws it to the next per-
son, who must introduce herself and the person who went before her, including the "why I love this Koosh" story.
Do this until everyone has been introduced.
4. Split the group up into pairs. Give them a few minutes to interview each other and then have them introduce
one another to the group. This allows two people to get to know each other quickly and form a friendship. It's of-
ten easier for people to talk about others than themselves.
5. Find a nice bouncy ball, like a four-square ball (this works best on an uncarpeted floor). First player says her
name and quickly bounces the ball to another while saying his or her name. See how fast people can keep the ball
moving. Try it with two balls if it’s not already too confusing.
6. Sentence From a Name. Have everyone pair up with someone they don't know. Each person writes his first
name on a piece of paper and exchanges it with his partner. After a minute or two getting to know each other, each
person makes up a sentence with words starting with the letter of the other person's name. For example: KEVIN:
Koalas Enjoy Vegetables In November.
Who's it? Best for smaller groups. Each student writes down on a scrap of paper a little-known fact about him or
herself (the more unusual, the better). These are then read and everyone tries to guess who it is. A prize can be giv-
en to the person who guesses the most correctly.

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20 Questions
Say, “I’m thinking of a famous person. You can ask me questions to find that person’s name but I can only say yes
or no”. Can be done in pairs sitting back to back. Can be done in three’s standing up. Can be done in pairs
standing 2 meters apart (very good energy builder).
Lots of variations: Ask about things (e.g. A chair, an apple, etc.)

Acting Adjectives
Call students to the front of the class, mostly at random. (You might want to use a more outgoing seeming student
first) Show the student an adjective, and they have to act it out for the other students to guess the word. No speak-
ing allowed by the student doing the acting.
I mix together easy and difficult adjectives so the student talking doesn't know what kind he or she is going to get.
Easy examples - fast, happy, cold, sleepy, short
Difficult examples - wet, rich, lazy, late, smart
I've used this with students aged 12 to mid-forties and it works quite well. The students relax and get a good laugh
out of it.

Advise
Inspired by 'New in Town'
Have your students take a moment to think about what they might tell a newcomer to their area about. Write the
following on separate sheets of paper:
*Places to visit/entertainment
*Areas to live
*Places to go shopping
*Good schools to attend
*Sports facilities in your town
Pair students up and give one of the sheets of paper to one of the students in each pair. Then have the students
give advice for the topic written on their piece of paper. As they complete a topic, have them pass the sheets in a
circle so that they get to work through all the topics. You can put a time limit on this.

All Your Eggs in One Basket

Elementary up
Large or small groups
Need several strips of paper for each student.
Aim: information gathering and presenting
Students write down information about themselves on separate strips of paper (e.g. married, university, tennis, etc.)
S's scrunch the strips of paper into eggs. Place all their eggs in a basket and distribute randomly. S's unravel an egg
at a time and search out the author. Elementary and Pre-intermediate by asking questions. Intermediate and ad-
vanced by word association.
First student to finish wins a chance to share information that they learnt about fellow students.
Part II
Students are then given a name of a fellow student {C} (e.g. the person sitting opposite them.) Asking everyone
but C, gather as much information as they can and return Cs eggs while introducing C to the class. Students may
ask more questions when the introduction is complete.

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All My Neighbors
A fun, moving-around activity that breaks the ice, pumps up the energy, and loosens people up.
Supplies: Something to use as a place marker for each individual (a name tag, a napkin, a note card).
Number of people: Works well in small or large groups (12-60 people).
Directions: Ask participants to form a shoulder-to-shoulder standing circle and then have each person take a step
back. Give each participant a place holder which they should place at their feet. The leader takes a place in the cen-
ter of the circle.
The facilitator says:
“This activity is similar to the game of musical chairs that you played as a child. As you’ll notice, there is one less
place than people in the group. That’s why I’m in the center of the circle. So, I’ll begin in the center of the circle,
but my task is to try and find a place on the outside of the circle and have someone else end up without a place.
The way I’m going to do that is to make a statement that is TRUE for me. For example, if I am wearing tennis
shoes, I might say ‘All my neighbors who are wearing tennis shoes.’ If that statement is also true for you, then you
must come off your place and find another spot in the circle. I could also say something like ‘All my neighbors
who love to swim,’ and if that’s true for you on the outside of the circle, you must move and find a new place. You
may not move immediately to your right or left and you may not move off your space and return to it in the same
round. Let’s do this safely. No running. No body-checking, kicking or pinching. OK. I’ll start.”
When you think people have had enough, simply say “OK, this is the last round.” Give a round of applause to the
last person who ends up in the center.

Alphabet Soup
This is a great activity for any age and gets people thinking quickly. It's also somewhat "active", so if everyone
needs a good stretch it gets them off their feet. If teaching ESL, it's a good exercise in vocabulary.
Have participants/students divided by table or into small groups.
Tell them that you're going to give them a certain amount of time (2 minutes maybe) to find an item within the
room (or their immediate surroundings) that begins with each letter of the alphabet, in order. They must form a
collection on their table of the items, and cannot reuse an item more than once. At the end of the time allotted, ask
each team how far they got (to which letter), and then go through the alphabet asking each team what they had for
each letter and to hold it up. The team that got the furthest, wins!

Alphabet and Hands

On the board:
L L R T L R T L R T
A B C D E F G H I J Etc
L – left hand
R- right hand
T – 2 hands together
Students chorally say the alphabet and raise corresponding hands.
This is so called Brain Gym to practice correspondence between movements and speech.

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Astounding Associations
This works best with large groups:
Start the group in a large circle while explaining the game.
Tell them that they must find others within the group which share their similarity.
For example: How many kids are in your family, including yourself? (it is important to be specific or confusion
will ensue!) Initially they will wander around, looking for someone yelling out "2!" but eventually, it turns to a loud
calling for "who else has 2 kids in their family?" It helps when the facilitator can start yelling "I have four kids in
my family, who else does?" while holding up four fingers.
I like this game especially because once they found their group, they feel a sense of belonging... everyone else in
their association group has something in common.
Continue the game by having them introduce themselves to that group and explain something about the associa-
tion... example: where in the birth order are you? For those who have no siblings, what is the best thing about be-
ing the only child? etc...
Continue with: how many pets? (then-- what kind) favorite color? (then-- why?) month of birthday? (what date?)
It is important for the facilitator to watch for those who might not have a group. Either locate their group, or ex-
tend a group to include that person. For example, if they have 9 kids in their family, perhaps make the group of
those with 6 kids in their family be "6 kids or more". Have fun, be silly!

Ball Toss – Topics

Turn on some music and toss a ball around the circle with each person making a short statement until everyone
has had a turn. Statements could be predicting things that will be studied in the upcoming module, important
points they remember from previous classes, things they want to know, personal tips they have.

Bananas!
Ok, this one is simple, but it results in tons of laughter. Best once a group knows each other well.
Basically, the teacher picks someone to be "it." The main goal of "It" is not to laugh or smile. Then the students in
the class ask "It" questions, but "It" can only respond with the word "bananas." (They shouldn't be yes/no ques-
tions!!)
For example: "What is your girlfriend's name?" Answer: BANANAS!
"What is your favorite sport?" --Bananas
It’s a great warm-up for class. My kids laughed hysterically

Basket-Case Teacher
When I have a new group of students coming in, I love to get them guessing as to who I am instead of me doing
all the talking.
On the first day of class I take along a huge basket filled with items from my house that can tell them something
about me...
family photos, an atlas, souvenirs from places visited, something in my favourite colour, jewelry, tapes, CDs, etc.
When class begins, apart from my name in English and in Chinese, I don't tell them anything. It is up to them to
guess!
I allow students to each choose something from the basket and leave them at their tables to discuss the possible
meaning of the weird hodge-podge I have thrown in.
After a reasonable time I begin to ask them what they have guessed about me from the items, and then we talk
about each thing they find out about me. eg. and atlas might lead them to where I come from (South Africa) but it
might also tell them where I have travelled (all over Asia).
I also like to take piles of photos along with me and round off the time by letting them look through the photos at
their tables and calling out questions which I then answer for the whole class.

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Beyond Introductions
This is an exercise that has worked well for me so far at Univ. de Bourgogne in Dijon, France, where it is hard to
get the students to talk. If you use the regular, worn-out interview pairs followed by introductions/present-your-
partner scenario, this is a sort of fun follow up.
Have the pairs then use the same interview questions to create a fictitious person. Then they present that person to
the class in the same way that they presented each other. Then, put two of the groups together and ask them to
come up with a 15 to 20 line dialogue between the two fictitious persons. Sounds too simple? Try it! It's really quite
fun…

Big Stick
Group makes a circle. One person in the middle (e.g., Dave) has a rolled up piece of flipchart paper – like a big
stick. One person in the group says another person’s name (e.g., Jane). Dave has to touch Jane, before Jane can
say another name (e.g, Tom). If Dave touches Jane before Jane says another name, Jane takes the stick and moves
into the middle of the circle. If Jane says another name (e.g, Bill) before Dave touches her, Dave has to try to
touch Bill. Etc. etc.
Great for an after lunch energizer when the group isn’t sure of each other’s names.

Big Wind Blows

Students arrange chairs in a large circle (with one less chair than there are students). One student stands in the
middle and says “The big wind blows for anyone who ___________” Any student for whom this statement is true
gets up and runs for another seat. They may not sit back in their own seat or in either seat directly next to them.
The student left without a chair then stands in the middle and announces whom the big wind blows for (i.e. “the
big wind blows for anyone wearing glasses”).

Breakdown First Day Barriers

My formula is simple, based on any set of circumstances when you meet someone you don’t know and want to get
to know- simply tell them something about yourself - write three subjects relating to you on the board - eg your
favourite book, place, artist or an achievement or place you've been the students then ask questions in turn to find
out what you're about - give the students 10 mins to think of things and let them take it in turns.

Call my Bluff
Tell the group that they will know 1 thing more about every person in the room at the end of this exercise!!
Ask them to individually to write down 2 things about themselves that the other in the group will not know about
them - 1 true & 1 false. You have these pre-prepared for yourself.
e.g.
I am a twin
I can speak Spanish
Once everyone has done.
Starting with yourself (trainer) tell your truth and lie.
The next person then speaks their truth and lie then has to guess the lie or the previous person. You continue
around the room in this manner.
As the trainer you can either guess the lie of the last person in the group or open it up to the group to guess the lie.
I have used this many times to great effect and remains one of my favorites.

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 Activities Book 85

Cards and Crossword--Two Day Icebreaker

This is my ice-breaker from Summer Session 2000. The first day, I used a deck of cards for my students to intro-
duce themselves. On each student's turn, he or she had to take a card from a deck of playing cards. (I left the joker
cards in). The instructions: use the value of the card to determine how many things to say about yourself. If you
pick the "ace," say one thing; two, say two things; a Jack is 11, Queen is 12, King is 13. If the student got the Joker
card, he or she could ask me questions instead.
I took notes on everything that everybody said, and then made up a crossword puzzle of student names. (To make
it harder, you could use other information about the student, such as place of work or native country). They com-
pleted this the next time that they had class. This was a nice way to remind people of who their class members are
and gave them material to start conversations ("Are you really from Transylvania?"). The activity goes more quickly
if students have name tags out. I think it's better if they have to ask each other for information.
Caveats: Be sure to spell students' names correctly! (My sign-in attendance sheet was helpful here). Make sure that
the clues you write about the students are accurate! Choose a boring clue if you're not so sure if something is true

Catch my hand!
Students stand in a circle. Students arrange their hands so their right hand is outstretched ready to grab the left
hand of the person next to them and their left hand pointing downwards and touching the right hand of the per-
son on their left. Teacher announces ‘key word’ (eg. Teacher). Teacher tells a story. Every time the Teacher says
the ‘key word’ Students must try to grab the hand of the person on their right and move their left hand so it is not
grabbed by the person on their left.

Celebrity 20 Questions
Materials: 20-30 A5 index cards; tape
This is a pretty simple variation of the parlor game '20 Questions'. Before class, I take about the index cards and
write names of celebrities on them with a magic marker.
In class, I explain to the students that they will have a name of a well-known person stuck to their back. They then
have to stand up and circulate around the room, asking each person a maximum of 5 yes-or-no questions about
who they might be. (I.E. 'Am I alive? Am I female? Am I a politician? Am I young?' Etc.)
Hopefully they will be able to figure out who they are. The only problem I have encountered is when I use movie
stars. I try to select people who my German students would know, but many don't frequent the cinema. But they
always giggle at the person who 'is' Helmut Kohl or Pamela Anderson!
I like this game a lot, since it gets them out of their seats and makes them talk to a large number of people, often
those who they wouldn't normally approach in the first lesson.

Change Identity Game

I haven't read all the activities on your list but an interesting one I have been using recently is the Change Identity
game. The idea of the exercise is for the students to mingle and introduce themselves to each other. The moment
they have finished introducing themselves they assume the identity of the previous person. That Keiko introduces
herself to John. After that John is now Keiko and Keiko is now John. Now the new John and Keiko move on to
other people. To add to this exercise you can add simple questions for them to ask. Stop the exercise after about
ten minutes and call the roll. It is quite interesting some of the answers you get and some you don't get. Anyway it
works for me.

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Class Heart Throb

A team building activity I like to do on the first or second day of class with my high school students (ESL and oth-
er classes alike) is to form a circle, outside weather permitting, and hold hands. The object is to see how quickly
they can "heart beat." They pass the beat by squeezing the hand to the left after they receive it from the right. We
try it again throughout the year and see if we get faster. It is a lot of fun and the kids are usually cheering when we
break our previous record. Some are squeamish about holding hands but with prompting I usually get 100% partic-
ipation.

Concentric Circles
Learners get into two circles, one inside the other, and face each other so that each person on the inside has a part-
ner on the outside.
They talk for a specified amount of time then change partners.
The topic can be a lead-in, what they know, or a review of what they learned.
They can have the same amount of time for each partner or the time can get shorter so that they are forced to con-
solidate what they know into the key points. For example, talk to the first person for 2 and ½ minutes, the second
for 1 and ½ and the third for 45 seconds.
You can assign one circle to speak while the partner only listens and shows they are listening then they change
roles. Or you can just give them longer time to both say what they have to say with less structure.

Crazy Basketball Madness

This is a good ice-breaker for the first or second day of class full of students who are too shy to participate or talk
in class. I write everyone’s names on separate sheets of paper, crumple them up into balls and hand them out at
random to the students, so that each student will have a sheet with the name of another. I have the students clear
out a place in the room and in the middle put a really small trashcan, box, etc. and have the students throw the pa-
per balls at it. The names that make it into the box have to come up, sing, dance, etc. etc., just to try and get them
more comfortable in front of the class. The students really enjoy having the chance of making their peers go up
and participate instead of going themselves and it makes for a more open and relaxed atmosphere.

Crystal Ball Prediction

This initial "getting-to-know" one another game loosens up your class with laughter and giggles.
Supply the students with a list of topics to ask each other about. For example: name, pets, hobbies, favorite food
Pair them up. One student is absolutely silent as the other asks them questions ("Do you have any pets?") and that
same student predicts what the answer is by writing it down.
After finishing asking all the questions the interviewers take turns standing up and introducing their partner with
their predictions as they are corrected by their new friend (which is the first time they are allowed to share the
truth). Now switch off the person being interviewed and the person predicting. Create unexpected topics and re-
lax with this activities strange results.

Death by…
Divide class into two teams. Each team writes one location and a way to die in that location for each of the other
team’s members (just write a list, you don’t need to pair a method of death with a specific person). Each team acts
out a skit to incorporate all the scenarios that the other team listed. All team members must act and the scenarios
must be chosen spontaneously (the team cannot discuss their skit beforehand). Each member must try to make
the scene develop into a story while incorporating each method of death.
Note: Although this game can be silly and fun, the subject of death can be a sensitive topic. Possible variations on
the topic include dramatic reasons to leave a room, ways to meet someone, funny things that happened in the
_________.
ESL Variations: Change topic to fit a particular subject matter or grammar point.

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Draw Conclusions
Give each student a page of blank paper and tell them to draw their portrait. This is usually met with nervous gig-
gles but students will do it. Then ask them to write 4 or 5 key phrases or words connected to them, for example, 3
children. Pin the papers around the room and ask the students to amble around with a pen in hand and write ques-
tions under the information they read: for example, if a student reads 'science' they may want to write, 'are you a
scientist?' or @are you a science student?' When the students are finished the questions that have been posed
should be answered, this can be done as a class or in smaller groups. It's good fun because the students are min-
gling and coming together from the beginning.

Draw Your Name

One way to get your students know your name may be this one, which they find challenging and funny:
Draw on the board as many objects as the letters that make up your name.
The name of each object should begin with one of the letters of your name.
Then, ask your students to tell you the names of the objects you have drawn and you write them next to each
object.
Then, tell them to put the first letters of each object in the correct order so as to form your name.
Finally, students may do the same working in pairs.
Ex. I draw a ring, an apple, a car, an elephant, a glove, an island, a lemon and an ant. If you put in the correct order
the first letter of the name of each object, you get my name Graciela.

Dyads
Students talk for 2.5 minutes to their partner about “what would your life have been like if you were the opposite
sex?” The listener just listens (no questions, no responses, no oral feedback). The speaker just keeps talking on
the topic until the time is up. Then partners switch – speaker becomes the listener and vice versa.
ESL variation: Change the topic or the length of time to fit students’ abilities and interests. You can also repeat
this activity several times over the length of a course increasing the length of time to talk each time.

Facts and Lies

Hi everyone! This is a simple first-day icebreaker that I've found works really well with both small and large classes:
The students think of three sentences, two are facts and one is a lie. One by one, students introduce themselves
and say their three sentences. The rest of the class has to guess which one is a lie. It's best for the teacher to go
first, not only to provide an example, but also to let the students know that the teacher is interested in interacting
with them.

Favourites
Students stand in a circle. Teacher names a topic e.g. ‘favourite colour’ and throw the ball to a student. That stu-
dent says their favourite colour and throws the ball to another student etc. Periodically, the teacher changes to
topic e.g. ‘favourite fruit’, ‘favourite soft drink’ or ‘favourite singer’. Students can also suggest topics.

Feet on the Ground

Participants stand up and make a semi-circle. Teacher says, “I want to see 9 feet on the ground”. Participants have
to organize themselves as quickly as possible so the correct number of feet is on the ground.

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Fictional Language
Call out 2 students to the front of the class, pair them as you will. They should start a conversation in English
about anything, when someone yells "Change!", they switch from English to a fictional language they
invent as they speak... Students yell "Change!" and the pair continues the conversation, this time in English... After
1-2 minutes, change pairs.
As an intro for this activity, you could have students vocalizing random sounds in English!

Find Someone: an Alternative Version

This is an idea I got from one of Mario Rinvolucri's books. It's an alternative to the typical "Find Someone Who. .
." game.
Instead of giving the students a list, they have to write a list (you can choose the number; I find that 5 works well)
which begins with "I want to find someone in this class who. . ." You can either have the students mill around like
they do in the original version of the game, but I find with small classes it is very interesting as a whole-group ac-
tivity. You learn a lot about your students, both from who they want to find and how they answer.

Food Names
A funny method that we use here in order to get to know our students' names, is to ask them to tell their names
plus the name of the food they like the best. At least here in Ecuador it is funny because of the names of food we
have here. We can have students like "Pepe Caldo de bolas", "María Chugchucaras", "Juan Seco de chivo", etc.
You can use it with any kind of food or maybe drinks. It's up to you.

Fortune Cookies
Take a few small pieces of paper and write on them short simple messages like "You will go to the cinema." "You
will meet a famous person." "You will get 3 CDs for your birthday." Fold them so that the messages remain secret.
Put all the scraps of paper in a box, shake them well and pass the box around for the students to take one and read
it out and aloud. Make sure that they say "O-E, O-E ...what will my fortune be?" first! Provided you choose your
messages wisely, you will provide the class with some interesting conversation topics and will find out a lot about
your students and their interests (fave films, heroes, fave music etc.,) which should help you plan ahead!

Free Speaking
My friend Denise came up with this one. It's just a way to keep free-speaking classes going on those quiet days.
Each student must say ten things they've done that day. Anything - I ate breakfast, I put on a sweater, etc. The next
student must do the same thing but they can't say anything the previous student has said. They find it funny
(always a bonus) and gets them talking. It can also give you ideas for further discussion.

Frivolous Fun with Find Out Cards

A good little game I've been using as a 'get to know you' activity is 'find out'. The game is not new but translates
well to the classroom.
Write directions on cards such as: 'Find out the name of your partner's 1st Grade teacher.' The students then have
to try to elicit the information from their partners without asking them directly. This is done by provoking a con-
versation where the answer comes out 'naturally'. I've been using this in private courses but the idea could be easily
adapted to the classroom. Split the class into two teams which then decide collectively on how to elict the response
from the other team.
Most of the students I've been using it with (upper intermediate to advanced) enjoy the game because they find it
challenging to think of different words and structures to those that are immediately obvious - and it usually gener-
ates a few laughs along the way!

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Fruit Bowl
This is one of the best icebreakers I've ever done. It gets students up and moving and also gets them acquainted
with each other and relaxed very quickly.
First, set up the class: move all the desks or chairs away from the center but arrange enough chairs for each student
in the center of the class in a circle - like musical chairs. Have the students sit down. On the blackboard draw a pic-
ture of 3 pieces of fruit - your choice. I always draw an apple, a banana, and grapes. Ask the students what the
name of each is and label each above the fruit. Then draw a bowl under the fruit and again query the students as to
what it is. Label it "fruit bowl".
Go around to each student and give them the name of a piece of fruit and make sure they memorize it. So each
student will be either apple, banana, or grapes. Explain to them that when you say apple - all the apples stand up
and change seats. Same thing when you call bananas or grapes. Go over it once with them for a trial run. Then tell
them when you say fruit bowl-everyone will get up and exchange different seats.
Now call a piece of fruit and let the students exchange seats. They'll probably all giggle thinking it's ridiculous.
Now call fruit bowl. As the students exchange seats you sit down quickly in one of the chairs thereby leaving one
student without a seat. Now tell the very embarrassed student that they must pay a penalty by either introducing
themselves to the group or better yet - sing a song!
Now it's the student in the center who must call a piece of fruit and now you must play along in the game. They
suddenly become very competitive and eager not to get caught in the center. Your students will love it.

General Conversation Starter

Where you, and what were you doing a week ago at this time? (Or a day/month/year ago.)

Getting Older Students Interested

Get students thinking of why English is important and how they will learn it.
Think up a few categories of things. Transportation, food, tools, clothing, rooms in house and feelings usually are
good ones.
Next ask each student to get out a sheet of paper and a pencil.
As you name each category students must think of the thing in that category that makes him think of English class
and why. For example in the category feelings: Scary because he might have to talk in another language. In the cat-
egory room a student could choose the kitchen because there is a lot of interaction going on. The teacher then in-
vites students to say their answer out loud and reason why he chose it. This helps the teacher to get to know his
students and discuss their apprehensions, ideas and goals about the class. Students also get to know each other and
find out that maybe they are not the only ones with those feelings. Teacher can follow up by explaining how class
will proceed, what they'll do and what he expects from them.

Gimme, Gimme
Divide the students into teams of about 4-5 people. Teacher will call out "gimme, gimme ______" and the stu-
dents will scramble to find it in their possessions. The first team to run and bring it up to the teacher wins. You
can also make write out a list of items the students need to find to make it longer. For example, "gimme, gimme 3
rubber bands" "gimme, gimme a pencil and a pen".

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Guess Who
This 'recipe' works well after students have gotten to know a little about each other - perhaps the second part of
the first class meeting or the second day of class. Distribute small strips of paper (1 or 2) to the students. Make
sure the strips are all the same, that way no one will be able to guess by the size or shape of the paper. On the
strips the students write one "fact" about themselves that the others do not know. Tell the students it shouldn't be
something extremely obvious to guess. For example, one young blond headed student wrote "I have gray hair".
Gather the strips in a hat or bowl and then have each student pick out a strip and read the fact out loud. The stu-
dent who reads then has three guesses as to who it is. If the student does not guess after three times, the person
who wrote the fact should say "It is me". It sometimes turns out funny. With the girl with the gray hair, no one
believed and ended up looking through her head! Questions and further discussion spring from this as well.

Guesses About the Partner

Look at your partner and write down (don’t show to the partner!):
Their favorite color

Favorite food

Movie

Type of vacation

Clothing or accessory

Most important quality of their girlfriend/boyfriend, husband/wife

ETC
Talk to you partner and find out if your guesses are correct J
Feedback: raise your hands of you had more than half correct guesses, etc

Haikus
In groups of 4-5, students sit in a circle on the floor with their backs towards each other (so they cannot see what
each other is writing). A sheet is passed – a number on each line of the sheet designates how many syllables the
line must have. Each student writes a sentence, phrase, or series of words with the number of syllables indicated.
After writing the line, the student folds the paper over and passes it to the next student. Each student writes a line
without reading what the other people have written. At the end each group reads their poetry!
Variations: Have multiple papers going at once so that all students are engaged at all times. Vary the length and
number of syllables of each poem.

Hangless Hangman
This is useful for both breaking the ice and for encouraging language skills in students learning English.
Think up a word that applies to whatever lesson you have in mind. On the whiteboard, draw spaces corresponding
to the letters, just as in the Hangman game. (For the word "game," for example, you'd draw: _ _ _ _.) Have the
class guess at the letters...but instead of drawing a hanging man when they guess incorrectly, gradually draw a pic-
ture of what the mystery word describes. This will help them get it.
For students learning English as a second language, try including the word in both English and their native tongue.
For example, to explain my free psycho-educational project to Spanish-speaking adults, I drew four spaces for
"faro" and ten for "lighthouse." (My project's logo features a lighthouse, the one at Pharos.) The exercise isn't fin-
ished until they get both words.

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Humdinger
Split class into two teams. Students write songs on slips of paper to give to the other team. Each team member
takes turns humming or whistling song and his or her teammates try to guess. Students may pass if they want to.
The team with the most points (one point per song correctly guessed) or the first team to guess all the songs at the
end wins.
Variations: The teacher picks the songs or limits the genre of the songs. For ESL students, they can sing the
words (not just hum or whistle). Or do the activity with sounds (i.e. of animals) instead of songs.

If You Like… Move to This Side

Tell Ps, if you like coffee, move to this side. If you like tea, this side.
Very simple. Good for beginners. Can be used to practice almost any nouns or adjective. A nice way for people
to find out about each other. Can also be used to find out what people think about teaching. E.g., if you think
you should correct all your students’ mistakes, this side. If you think you should correct only some of their mis-
takes, this side.

Imagining a Photo
In exchange for all the great ideas already posted, I feel I have to contribute one of my favorites. I teach ESL to
adult students from various countries at a school which has weekly enrolment. I think it's important for new stu-
dents to get comfortable a.s.a.p., but I hate the idea of formalized introductions. To get students to share infor-
mation about themselves, I give each new student a blank piece of paper which is folded in half. I ask them to im-
agine that they have brought 4 of their favorite photos from home which represent events, people or places that
are important to them for whatever reason. Students can then decide for themselves which information they want
to relay to the rest of the class. The audience then has an opportunity to practice their questioning skills to find out
more.
You'll find you learn a great deal about who your students are and what is important to them in, in a very short
time. Cheers!

Important to Me
Students draw three things that are important to them. (Teacher may want to provide a worksheet with designated
spaces for three pictures.) Students then share their drawings with the class or in small groups.
ESL variation: Have students only draw one or two pictures.

King of the Hill

Students stand in a circle. First person says ‘I’m the King (or Queen) of the hill and everyone must copy me. They
then do an action e.g. jump up and down. Everyone in the circle repeats the action. Continue around the circle.

Letter Scramble
Prepare enough words for students to work in groups of 2-3. Write one letter of the word on each card and
scramble the letters. The students have 30 seconds to make the longest word they can with the letters provided.
For each letter in the longest word they get one point. They get five points if the use all the letters to form a single
word. Groups rotate around the room so they get a chance to try every word. The team with the most points at
the end wins.
Variations: Vary the length of the words and the time students are given to complete the activity. Or give each
student a letter and have him or her create a word with other students. Give points for numbers of words, not
letters.

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Line ups
Students line up silently according to various topics: Hair length, height, birth month, driving time etc…
ESL variation: students may talk.

Lining up in Alphabetical Order

Here’s a warm-up exercise to wake up a first or second class meeting. Have the students line up by alphabetically
order. DON'T help them. DON'T organize it. Have the students ask each other their names and figure it out to-
gether. Then you check it. Write the names on the board. Round Two, line up by Last name, alphabetically. Then
Check. Other variations. Line up by Birthday, Language, Distance from School, Size of family. Avoid obvious
things like physical size, weight, hair color, etc..

M & M's to speak

Pass around a bowl of M & M's and let each student take only one - and ask them not to eat it. Then announce
that if they took a red one they have to say something about their family, a yellow one and they have to tell us their
hobbies, etc. I usually make each student speak for at least a minute. This works well for small groups to talk to get
to know each other. Other candies that are different colors or wrapped in different colors will work. Popular!

Machines
Groups act out a known machine. Each group decides on a machine and acts it out. All group members must par-
ticipate. The other team then tries to guess what machine it is.
Variations: This can be done as either real or imaginary machines. Students can invent a machine and then act it
out. The machine also can be added to one person at a time (one person starts, the next person fits into the ma-
chine wherever they want.
Note for an ESL class: Only do this activity with a class that has done theatre warm-ups before and are comfort-
able with each other.

Maze Craze
On the first day of class I like to have my students do a fun activity that allows them to get used to working and
speaking English in pair and group settings. This is a little activity that's a lot of fun.
First I find a relatively simple maze. Make sure that the maze is large with only a few turns. Before beginning tell
your students that you are going to give them a really difficult activity. Pass out the Mazes and have the students
complete the maze as quickly as possible. You may even make it a race. This should only take the students a few
seconds. After they finish ask them if it was difficult. They will probably be confused because you told them earlier
that this was a difficult activity.
Now the fun part. Give each student a new maze and assign partners. Tell one students to cover his eyes and their
partner must give them directions (in English) to get through the maze. I usually explain this to my students and
then with lower level classes we brainstorm some of the words and phrases they may need to use. Then make a
race of it as students try to navigate the maze.
As an additional activity when all the students have finished the mazes you can make a real life maze in your class-
room out of chairs or desks. Ask the students if they trust their partners. Then ask one student to wait outside the
room. Arrange the maze and then bring the student back in the class with his/her eyes closed. His/her partner
must give instructions on how to walk through the maze. This makes for a lot of laughs.

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Me Bag
Good for true beginners - I use this the first day of my German classes. Students learn some basic vocabulary for
introductions, such as Hello, My name is, I come from, I like, I don't like, Thank you and Good-bye.
Their assignment for the next class is to bring in a small paper bag with 3 items that represent them. They must be
prepared to say hello to the class, introduce themselves & tell where they come from, and name the three things
they like, then say thank you and good-bye.
Variation: After saying the three things they like, they then describe what the item represents and tell the class a
little about the item. For example, a student brings in a picture of their dog and tells the class about it in 2-3 sen-
tences; or a baseball card and they explain that the Phillies are their favorite team; or a miniature soccer ball repre-
sents their favorite sport. For ESL students, this provides good practice.

Meaningful Musical Chairs

A fun way for students to mingle and learn about each other the first day of class is to play this version of musical
chairs. Arrange chairs in scattered pairs, semi-facing each other. Play some upbeat music. Instruct the students that
they are to mingle around the room to the music. When the music stops they must find a chair. Beforehand a post-
er has been displayed listing by number 12 topics for introductory discussion ie. Home life, Jobs, Hobbies, Favor-
ite person, Favorite food etc... Now, the teacher rolls the dice and whatever subject the number corresponds to
dictates what topic each pair will discuss (they must introduce themselves to their partner before discussing ).
When the music begins again they know to get up and mingle waiting for the music to stop and the next round of
discussion with someone new to begin.

Mime a Sentence
I give each person a sentence on a piece of paper. They mime it and make their partner say it.
Great practice for miming – good to help teachers practice using mime to clarify meaning.

Monkey See/Monkey Do
Students start in pairs and mimic each other’s actions (no talking). Repeat this exercise with bigger groups (ie of 4
students). Then the students mirror each other’s words. One partner speaks while the other tries to speak at ex-
actly the same time (so by watching the speaker’s mouth the listener will have to anticipate what they are saying).
After doing this in pairs try in a small group, and then as a class.

Musical Chairs (Or Pieces of Paper)

Ask everybody to sit in a circle (or stand on a piece of paper in a circle). Take one chair or piece of paper away.
That person stands in the middle. Say, Everybody wearing glasses, change places. Everybody wearing glasses finds a new
chair/piece of paper. The person left in the middle starts with a new sentence – e.g., everyone who is wearing
jeans, change places, etc. Usually it’s good if the facilitator is the first person in the middle and gives a couple of
examples.
Very important: Make sure participants know that they need to be careful. People can get hurt playing this game.
Not appropriate in contexts where male/female touching is not appropriate.

My Dream is Like…
Teacher places a variety of objects on a table or floor. Students reflect on the objects and when they are ready,
pick up the object that represents their dreams. Each student tells why they chose the object and how it is like
their dreams (it can represent any part of their dreams). Teacher then has students journal for a few minutes on
how they are can reach this dream
ESL variation: Change topic (learning is like, my life is like, I like (object) because, the object reminds me of…etc).

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My Teacher Isn't a Robot!

Perhaps this is an activity you've known for a long time, but this is the way I do it in class, and I hope you like it.
It's the old "Getting to know your teacher" activity. Students feel curious about the teacher, and we're always de-
manding information from them, but we never let them know anything about us, and believe it or not, they tend to
consider us some kind of robots, who are locked in a wardrobe after the class ends! Let them realize you're a per-
son and you have a life, and write on the blackboard your name, surrounded by words that are answers to ques-
tions they should ask. Write obvious ones and difficult ones, for them in groups to think hard and feel the chal-
lenge. I usually do it like this:
25 The Black Cat Eternal Myriam Green Norway Angel Sara 39 Spaghetti Beautiful 1
It seems easy, but can you guess everything? Well, 1 means 1 sister.
Myriam is my sister's name. that's easy. But what's 39? (I'm 26, by the way, and I represent my age!!) It's my shoe
size. Beautiful is my perfume, Green is a colour I hate.
My students had a good laugh! Don't be afraid to use personal info: they adore it. (of course without including inti-
mate details) Have fun!

Name Pantomime
Equipment: None
Time: ~10-15 minutes
Brief Description:
A physically and socially stimulating activity for dramatically introducing oneself and learning people's names
Participants stand in a circle, arms distance apart. Ask each person to think of a verb and action which starts
with the same letter as the person's first name e.g., "Jumping James".
The person does the action and yells out their action-name. Everyone then repeats the action and the action-
name.
This requires pretty high level of instructor energy and drama, people are pretty shy to start with. Really en-
courage everyone to join in and say the name and action of everyone else.
To really drill names home, go around again, it should be faster and really get the blood moving.
For participants who say "I can't think of anything", I say "Keep thinking, we'll come back to you". If they still
don't come up with anything, I ask the group to help.
Note I don't allow duplicate verbs either - must use a unique verb.

Numbers Concentration
Participants stand in a circle. The goal is that they will count to 10 one person at a time. The challenge is that they
cannot go around in the circle. And while they are counting they can only say numbers (not anyone’s name or oth-
er words). And, the biggest challenge, two people cannot say the same number at the same time. So, the facilita-
tor says, “Start.” One person in the group decides to say ONE. It is not planned who will say ONE. Someone
else says TWO. Someone else says THREE. Next two people say FOUR at the same time. That’s a mistake and
the group has to start from ONE again.

Numbers on a Piece of Paper

Ask Ps to think of three numbers that are important to them (e.g., phone number, number of children, date of
birth, apartment number, number of years they have lived in Amman, etc). Write 3 numbers on the board and in-
vite Ps to guess with questions like this, “is it your phone number?”, “is it your husband’s birthday?” etc. You can
only say ‘yes’ or ‘no’. After they get the idea, ask them to do it in pairs.
Simple, easy, personal and communicative. Good for practicing numbers and expressions related to personal in-
formation, e.g. Date of birth, phone number, apartment number, etc.

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Opinion Continuum Line Ups

Teacher writes two polarized opinions related to the topic and draws a line between them that is several feet long
on the board. (If there isn’t room on the board, hang up small posters with the opinions far apart on the wall.)
I agree completely -----I disagree completely,
It’s very important ----- It’s very unimportant.
They are my favorite ---- I hate them.
Learners place themselves on the line to indicate their opinion.

Opinion Speech Bubbles

Draw several faces with different emotions on them – happy looking, confused looking, bored looking, interested
looking. (Don’t label them, and don’t worry if they aren’t great drawings or don’t clearly relate to one emotion.)
Hang the pictures on the board and hand out cut up speech bubbles to the Learners. Learners write their reaction
to the topic and hang their speech bubble next to the appropriate face. Teacher leads a discussion of the reactions
to find out what the group’s experience is and needs are.

Paired Sharing
A great way to get people talking comfortably to people they don’t know or to raise the level of engagement within
a group that does know each other.
Supplies: None.
Number of people: Works well in small or large groups (12-100).
Directions: Ask participants to stand up, move about the room (don’t just turn to the person next to them), and
find a partner who they don’t know or who they know the least of anyone else in the room. Once everyone is in
pairs (if you have an odd number, one group can be a threesome), the facilitator says: “You will have two minutes
to discuss the following topic with your partner...”
Ideas for discussion:
 Find three things you and your partner have in common.
 Describe for your partner the first job you ever held.
 What would you do if you won the lottery?
 What are your most favorite and least favorite things about (working for this organization, etc.)?
At the end of two minutes, the facilitator gets the group’s attention and may invite participants to share what they
talked about with their partners. Participants are then instructed to find a new partner and told they will be given a
new topic. This cycle can be repeated two or three times.

People Map
Equipment: None
Time: ~10 mins
Brief description:
Create a human map to show where people consider their home. Indicate North, East, South & West, then allow
participants to position themselves to create a map
An interesting way for people to get to know one another is to learn about the geographical distribution of
where people come from.
Ask participants to create a human map, by standing to indicate where they consider home. Indicate North,
East, South & West, then allow participants to position themselves to create a map.
Ask the person who is the furthest what their name is and where they come from. Proceed to ask each major
cluster where they come from. In this process, participants may refine or improve their map.
Optional: To extend the activity, ask participants to create a human map to show: where their mother/father
was born, where they would ideally like to live, etc.

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Poster for Small Talk

Living in Japan my one of my big problems is getting students to talk to each other rather than to the teacher.
Things here tend to be rather teacher centered. I found one way to do it. I made a poster with common small talk
questions on it. Things like "How was work today?" or "Did you have a good day at school?". At the start of each
class I just pointed at the poster and left the room for 5 minutes. I stayed in the doorway to listened and the results
were just what I was looking for. After about a week of not really knowing what to do the students started to have
really good chats. I gave them a month to get used to the idea and then told them that they had to do it before
class. I know have students who are chatting in English on the elevator on the way to class. That's something I
never thought I'd see in my classes here.

Prediction
Supply students with a list of topics to ask each other about (i.e. name, pets, hobbies, favorite food). Pair students
up. S1, ‘subject’-student, stays absolutely silent as S2 asks S1 questions. S3 answers all the questions. After S2 has
asked all the questions and S3 has answered, S1 shares their true answers with the class. Can repeated as need be.

Psychiatrist
This is a good icebreaker for teenagers, and it often results in talking and giggling. To start, you choose a
"psychiatrist" and send them out of the room. Then, the group has to quickly think up something that is wrong
with them. For example, their left eye twitches whenever they are spoken to. Be creative. Next, you bring in your
psychiatrist, and he has to walk around the room asking his patients questions about the problem. While he is do-
ing this, the class has to continue their "problem" until he figures it out. It may take a while (and it can get really
funny if it does) or just a short amount of time, but once your psychiatrist figures it out it always results in a much
more relaxed class. If you want to play more, the psychiatrist gets to choose who gets to go next. You can play this
as many times as you want, just be creative in what you think up!

Questions on a Piece of Paper

Everyone gets a question on a piece of paper. Student A asks the question. Student B answers the question. A
and B exchange question papers and repeat with a new partner.
Questions can be about almost anything and can be used to practice vocabulary, grammar or to get a conversation
going about culture, teaching, etc. A good way to activate participants’ knowledge of something.

Quick Write
Teacher dictates the beginning of a sentence that reviews something the class has studied: e.g.
It’s important for a laborer to keep their back healthy because…
Before entering a confined space, it is important to…
Learners continue the sentence and write for a designated time period without lifting the pen from the paper.
Option: If they can’t think of what to write they can just write, I don’t know what to write until an idea comes.
When they finish a small group or partners read theirs to each other.
Option: Larger groups (4-5) could choose one to share with the group and another student or the one who wrote
could read it.

Reflecting
Enter the class with a gigantic smile (just like you normally do). Ask the students what they think made you smile.
After they answer, tell them something specific that made you smile and elaborate on it for a short stint.
Get the students to think about what has made them smile today. Pair them up and have S1 speculate about what
has made S2 smile. After S1 is finished, S2 gives his/her answer. Switch the roles and have them do the same thing
again so that each has a chance to speculate and to share the truth.

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Seven Up
Group makes a circle. People start counting in turn. When you put your hand on your stomach to the left, the
person to your left says the next number. When you put your hand on your stomach to the right, the person to
your right says the next number. When you say ‘seven’, you put your hand on your head. If you make a mistake,
you drop out of the circle and the game continues until there are only two people left.
Good for practicing numbers.

Slip Exchange
Materials: Cut up slips of paper so that each Student will have one. Write on each, a question using lexis or gram-
mar or asking about material that you just covered as a review. Option: Make half the slips one color of paper and
the other another color. Write one question on two slips of different colors.
Students pick a slip from a bag.
Students mingle and read their question to a partner. The partner answers. (Option: If there is a correct ques-
tion the teacher could write it on the paper so the Students get feedback on their performance.)
The other Student reads and first one answers.
The Students exchange slips and find new partners.
If colored slips are used for half the class, the Students can only talk to someone with the same color slip that
they have.)
Variation: The Students make the questions on slips of paper – could be in class one day and the Teacher checks
and hands them out the next day (no names on the slips).

Snowballs!
This is a fun way to get students relaxed while at the same time getting to know the students a little better. It also
helps show them that learning (as they'll be learning about each other in this activity) can be lots of fun. And it's
really easy:
1) Have the students write down at least 3 facts about themselves (or as many as you want to have them write
down).
2) Instruct the students to crumple up the papers on which they have just written their facts on each other.
3) Then shock them by telling them that now, they get to have a one minute 'snowball' fight and let them stand up
and throw the crumpled fact papers at each other for a minute.
4) At the end of the minute, students grab whichever snowball is closest to them. Reconvene the class and then
you can either:
a) Have the students read the facts on the snowball they have and have to guess which student in the class the
snowball belongs to
b) Or have the students read aloud the facts on the snowball they have and whoever wrote those facts has to tell
the class it's theirs, rather than having the students guess.
I've used this game as an ice breaker for 11th and 12th graders and they LOVE it because it's so completely differ-
ent from what a teacher .

Spelling Race
Divide the class into two teams: say a word and the first person in each team has to write the word on the board.
Continue saying words. The next person in the team has to write the word on the board. The winning team is the
team that spells the most words correctly.
You can also say a verb and they have to write the past tense, or an adjective and they have to write the opposite,
or a picture and they have to write the name. Good for reviewing language teaching terminology too.

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Stretching Exercises
Each participant (or the trainer or one volunteer) leads the group in stretches.
Option: Play upbeat music that the group is likely to enjoy.

Talk to Me... This Way

This is a good activity to start the class. Before getting started, write sentences on a post-it paper, like: "Ask me
questions", "Laugh at me" "Be angry at me", “Disagree with me,” "Ignore me, etc. according to the number of stu-
dents you´ve got. Stick the paper to the student's back, so he can't see what is written. They must stand up and go
around the class and talk in pairs. They must act according to what's written on their partner's back. If it's Tell me
lies, they are supposed to tell lies.
The teacher can choose topics for them to talk like holidays, dates, pets, etc. They need to change partners many
times. At the end they are supposed to tell how people acted while talking to them to see if they can guess what's
written.

Teacher Photos
Students are usually very interested in the life of their teacher. A good way to share information about yourself is
to bring your photo albums into class. I keep my photos in a binder so that the pages are easily removed (number
them first). I let each student choose a photo. They then think of three questions to ask about each photo. I give
them the answers and pair them up. They then tell their partner about the photo and exchange photos. They then
change partners and share the information they learned about the new photo. You can change partners several
times. It's fun to ask questions about the photos at the end of the session because sometimes the information the
last student has is different from the information you gave out. This is a great way for students to learn about your
family and experiences, even if your photos do take a beating.

Twister Game
This game is best to be played in a large group. Divide the people into groups of 3. However, 1 or 2 people must
not be in a group, they are the extras. In each group, 2 persons will stand and face each other while holding each
other hands. The 3rd person in the group will squat/kneel in between the 2 person. So basically the 2 persons
who're standing up are called the "House", while the person kneeling in between is a "Human". The host of the
game can shout either 1 of the 3 commands at 1 time:
1.)Fire: Fire burns down the houses. so people who are the "house" must change partners to form new "houses",
they cannot remain to be a "house with their existing partners. The people who are "human" must not move, they
must remain in their existing place so that the people who are the "houses" can form "houses" over them.
2.)Flood: Flood causes humans to drown. Therefore, the "human" must change to other "houses", they cannot
remain in the same existing "house". The people who are the "houses" do not move this time.
3.)Twister: Everybody have to change their position. For the people who the "house", they can either change part-
ners, or they can kneel down to become "humans" themselves. For the people who are the "human", they can ei-
ther change to other "houses", or they can stand up and partner with someone to become a "house".
When the host shouts either 1 of the command, the 1 or 2 people who the extras must move quickly so that they
can compete with the original players by partnering up with someone to become "houses", or by becoming
"humans" and occupy the "houses". As a result, there will be either 1 or 2 people to be left out every time the host
shouts a command. The host should take note of the people who are left out each time he/she shouts a new com-
mand. The person who is being left out the most number of times will be punished.
PS: To enhance the excitement, the host shouldn't wait too long to shout another new command. Besides, the
host can shout 2 or 3 new command continuously so that players will feel extra nervous when they're changing
their position.

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Two Lines
Two lines facing each other. Give them a question, they talk about it for a minute or two, then you ask them to
change partners. Change the question too.
Too many variations to list. Great for synthesis at the end of the day.

Two Truths and a Lie

Students tell two truths and one lie about themselves (in random order). The rest of the class guesses which of the
three statements is false.
ESL variation: For beginners can do two likes and one dislike. (i.e. Say three “I like” statements, but one of
them you actually dislike.)
NOTE: This can take quite some time.

What are You Doing?/What-ya Do’n?

Students stand in a semi-circle with space for a stage. Student 1 acts out a small scene (i.e. kicking a football) then
Student 2 asks “What-ya do’n?” and Student 1 response with something different than his actions (i.e. I am pulling
shark teeth). Student 2 then acts out what Student 1 says until Student 3 asks “What-ya do’n?” and the process
continues throughout the semi-circle.
Example: I mime brushing my hair. You ask what I’m doing. I say I’m cleaning my teeth. You mime cleaning
your teeth. I ask what you’re doing. You say you’re reading a book. I mime reading a book, etc.
Action verbs. Lots of fun.
Should be modeled clearly rather than explained.

What’s My Job?
I mime my job, you ask questions to find out what it is. I can only say yes or no.

Your Nose on Red

Teacher says, “Put your nose on red”, participants touch their nose to something red. Teacher says, “Put your
foot on blue”, “Put your elbow on green”, etc.
Good to practice body parts, colors, classroom objects, clothes, etc.

With contributions from:

Maria Teresa Aranda, Kate Cook, Ruth Goode, Andriy Ruzhynskiy, Mary Scholl, Don Wink

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 Activities Book 100

Appendix 1

Are You More Like…?

A flower or a weed? A bus or a plane?
Endless or fixed? Less or more?
An inhale or an exhale? A clock or a wristwatch?
Black or white? A stander or a sitter?
A mast or a rudder? Sandals or shoes?
Sunshine or moonlight? Hot or cold?
The desert or the forest? The shade or the sun?
A bird song or a frog croak? A rattle or a drum?
A giver or a receiver? A run or a walk?
Rain water or well water? Blue or green?
A sun lover or a stargazer? An essay or a poem?
A follower or a leader? Fact or fiction?
Half empty or half full? A passenger or a driver?
Morning, noon, or night? The sky or the river?
A listener or a talker? A t-shirt or a button shirt?
“Why” or “Why Not”? A paper cup or a plastic cup?
Family or friends? A student or a teacher?
The puzzle or the solution? “A” or “Z”?
The sunrise or the sunset? A square or a circle?
A hand or a foot? Letters or numbers?
Lost or found? Art or Mathematics?
Horizontal or vertical? A climber or a digger?
A door or a window? A movie or a book?
East or West? Loud or quiet?
North or South? A song or a dance?
An electric torch or a candle? A fish or a bird?
A pineapple or a banana? The moon or the stars?
Pants or shorts? A pencil or a pen?
Baked or fried? Indoors or outdoors?
Left or right? Spicy or sweet?
Concrete or wood? Buttons or zippers?
Glass or plastic? A laugh or a cry?

Source: Games for Group

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What would it be like?

Appendix 2

Source: Games for Group

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Appendix 3

Animal Challenge

Source: Games for Group

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Sources
Cavert, C. (1999). Games (& other stuff) for group (2nd ed., rev. & expanded ed.). Oklahoma City, Ok.: Wood
'N' Barnes Pub.

Cummings, M. (2007). Playing with a full deck: 52 team activities using a deck of cards! Dubuque, Iowa: Ken-
dall/Hunt Pub.

Dodds, T., & Dodds, L. (2003). Games for change: Group activities with creative spiritual concepts on the side.
Oklahoma City, OK: Wood 'n' Barnes.

McCormick, R., & Ortiz, C. (2014). Ubuntu: Activity Guide.

Images
https://judyransom.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/battery.jpg

http://psychosocial.svenskakyrkan.se/default.aspx?di=65698

https://openclipart.org/detail/182951/ice-cube

http://www.123rf.com/clipart-vector/personal_growth.html

http://www.cliparthut.com/talking-faces-clipart.html

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