Why ice breakers

The premise for each situation could not be further from the truth. Do you see what I mean? A Final Word… Now, keep in mind that my discussion here does NOT suggest that an ice-breaker has to be a game or activity. Select 1 of 3 options This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Share this with friends and colleagues. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email. This includes group size, demographics, levels of knowledge, extent to which they know each other, reasons for being in your class, and more.

For example, larger classes might need a simple activity and new classes may require a low-risk activity. Think through the activity ahead of time and adapt it accordingly.

Will the space you have suffice? Do you have all needed supplies? Would the activity lead to issues of confidentiality? Does the activity accommodate varying abilities? Icebreakers do not always go exactly as planned. Flexibility and willingness to learn are part of building a positive and open learning community. Getting Started with Icebreakers Introduce the activity to the group and explain your justification for using it.

It sounds silly, but try it! The purpose of the game is to not laugh, as the first one to laugh loses. Of course, this makes the students laugh that much more, and the result is a reduction of stress and test anxiety.

These are just some of the reasons ice-breakers and warm-ups can enrich your classes. Many of the example exercises mentioned came from online resources such as those listed below. Most are easy to do, and require little to no preparation. I encourage you to peruse through them, and find the ones that work best for you and your students. Happy teaching! Tags class , icebreaker , teacher , tips. Related posts. To avoid having people only talk to one or two people and filling up their card, limit the signatures they can give to 1 or 2 per card.

Diversity Bingo ice breaker get-to-know opening teampedia action. Do you have people who come from many different places to your session? A great way to get to know each other is to have participants place themselves on an imaginary map laid out in the room representing the country according to where they grew up.

Ask them to share one internal value they got from that place, and why is that important for them. Encourage people to share a short story if they want.

Sharing customs and values from your childhood can create more understanding and help form stronger bonds — a hallmark of a good icebreaker. Icebreaker: The Group Map get-to-know ice breaker remote-friendly. Ask people to place themselves on an imaginary map laid out in the room representing the country according to where they grew up. A simple and classic ice breaker game.

Each employee shares three statements about themselves — two true, and one false. Then, everyone tries to guess which is the lie by asking questions. The whole point is to learn facts about your peers while inserting an element of mystery. Everyone is a Liar Two truths and one lie warm up ice breaker remote-friendly online. Create groups of people, and let them discover what they have in common, along with interesting characteristics that are unique to a person in the group.

This icebreaker promotes unity as it gets people to realize that they have more common ground with their peers than they first might realize.

Good ice breaker games are great at bringing people together. As people become aware of their own unique characteristics, they can also help people feel empowered to offer the group something unique. Common and Unique get-to-know teambuilding ice breaker. The goal of this icebreaker game is to help the participants to get to know each other at the beginning of an event or to help identify their values during the later part of a training session.

Create a 3 x 3 grid for each participant and have them fill in each block with a different personal passion randomly. After the individual work, have everyone walk around the room and compare notes. When they find the same passion listed in both grids, ask them to sign for each other in the appropriate square. You can continue the game to have as many winners as you possibly can. Icebreaker games with a degree of competition can be really effective if you want to set that tone for the rest of a workshop or meeting.

Passions Tic Tac Toe get-to-know values ice breaker thiagi. This game is a great way for players to introduce themselves and their colleagues. Since you have to draw, rather than explain, it serves double duty for topics like problem-solving, creative thinking and innovation. Coat of Arms teambuilding opening ice breaker team get-to-know thiagi. Jenga is the starting point of many fun gatherings. You can spice up a regular tower-toppling contest by writing intriguing questions on each block or as many as you can.

This can ignite exciting conversations about everyday topics like favourite downtime activities to more in depth stuff, like career and self development goals. Getting to know you games with an edge or a unique approach can make for fun icebreakers that set a team off on the right foot. This is a quick ice breaking game where players have to form an orderly line without any discussion, or any verbal cues or help at all.

The tasks can get more complicated the more familiar the group is. This icebreaker helps develop team collaboration and non-verbal communication. Line-Up hyperisland energiser. In the short group challenge, participants must organize themselves in a line according to a certain criteria like height without speaking.

The activity promotes non-verbal communication and teamwork. Simpler versions of the activity can be used in early stages of group development while more complex versions can be used to challenge more established groups. This fast-paced icebreaker activity allows participants to get acquainted with each other in a meaningful way. Prepare about a quarter more quotes than the number of participants on individual slips of paper. Put the pile in the center of the room.

Each participant picks up one quote, then picks a partner and begins to discuss what the quote says to them, if it is meaningful, and how. This can continue for rounds for around 15 minutes. Ice breaking at speed is not only fun, but effective. Definitely consider this one as for meeting ice breakers.

Quotes ice breaker energiser online warm up remote-friendly. Prior to the workshop the facilitator prepares a list of questions which can only be answered with yes or no. The facilitator reads out the questions or statements one by one. For each statement the participants stand up if they could answer the statement with yes.

The questions should be designed to not be discriminatory, intimidating or insulting. Possible topics can be countries visited, dishes, games or sports tried, movies seen etc. Stand up if ice breaker sharing opening energiser online remote-friendly. The goal of this game is to have a succession of very rapid conversations in an extremely short amount of time with as many people as possible.

Determine the time limit say 3 minutes for each conversation and set a timer. Get to know you games can sometimes be difficult to manage in large groups.

Fun icebreakers like this are great in that each time the buzzer goes off, the pair has to split and find a new partner, again looking for people they know the least. When thinking of ice breakers for meetings, consider the value that the swift, deep conversations this ice breaker activity allows. The key icebreaker is a team building icebreakers favorite and a great exercise to get to know each other in a group or team.

Ask the participants to sit in a circle and bring their keys with them. Explain that they will get to know each other through their keys. Ask them that one by one present all the keys they have on their keychain and tell a few sentences about the area the key represents — the city or neighbourhood they live in, the activity it represents bike or locker key or the person they received it from.

Usually the facilitator starts the circle so the participants get the feeling how it should be done. Break the ice with the help of your key! The key ice breaker is a team building favorite and a great exercise to get to know each other in a group or team. It is easy to understand and set up, can be modified according to the objects participants have, fast way to get info on each other , and surely makes everyone included!

Start this ice breaker game by writing your funniest or weirdest story on a small piece of paper. It has to be a true one, no colouring! Then fold the paper up and drop it into a bowl or other container. Starting a meeting by defining your personality in a playful manner is a great starter if there are multiple new members to the group or if two or more departments come together on a new project.

Team meeting ice breakers that focus on breaking apart traditional group silos among varying teams are well worth the time you spend on them. Ice breakers for meetings are great for setting the tone and pre-empting some of the work you will do later on — you could even encourage people to list skills or attributes that will be useful in the workshop or meeting.

Trading Cards gamestorming ice breaker opening. Prepare word pairs, like salt and pepper, milk and honey, sail and wind etc on separate pieces of paper. People then have to walk around and ask closed questions with a yes or no answer to find out what their phrase is. The best icebreakers are often fun icebreakers that encourage people to think in new ways — find your pair is a great ice breaker game for smaller groups too! Have the group sit in a circle where everyone can see the others.

The first person says their name. This continues with each person repeating one more name. Name Game opening ice breaker energiser. This is one of those ice breaker activities that is most easily prepared — you only need one roll of toilet paper. Pass this around, and have everyone rip off how much they would usually use. When everyone has taken off a few squares, they should count them.

The amount they have is how many fun facts they should reveal about themselves. A warning though: this is one of those fun icebreakers for meetings or workshops that is best suited for more lighthearted occasions. Group icebreakers are important, even in teams that know each other well.

Each team member gets the chance not all at once of course to showcase something — an object or a topic that they are interested in. Everyone has something they dedicate a little bit more time and attention to, but you always hear about this from the more extroverted people.