Ask everyone to write on a piece of paper THREE things about themselves which
may not be known to the others in the group. Two are true and one is not. Taking
turns they read out the three ‘facts’ about themselves and the rest of the group
votes which are true and false. There are always surprises. This simple activity is
always fun, and helps the group and leaders get to know more about each other.
2. MY NAME IS.....(Self Introduction)
Go around the group and ask each young person to state his/her name and attach
an adjective that not only describes a dominant characteristic, but also starts with
the same letter of his name e.g. generous Grahame, dynamic Dave. Write them
down and refer to them by this for the rest of the evening.
3. IF
Ask the group to sit in a circle. Write 20 'IF' questions on cards and place them
(question down) in the middle of the circle. The first person takes a card, reads it
out and gives their answer, comment or explanation. The card is returned to the
bottom of the pile before the next person takes their card.
This is a simple icebreaker to get young people talking and listening to others in
the group. Keep it moving and don't play for too long. Write your own additional
'IF' questions to add to the list.
1. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
2. If I gave you $10,000, what would you spend it on?
3. If you could watch your favourite movie now, what would it be?
4. If you could talk to anyone in the world, who would it be?
5. If you could wish one thing to come true this year, what would it be?
6. If you could live in any period of history, when would it be?
7. If you could change anything about yourself, what would you change?
8. If you could be someone else, who would you be?
9. If you could have any question answered, what would it be?
10. If you could watch your favourite TV show now, what would it be?
11. If you could have any kind of pet, what would you have?
12. If you could do your dream job 10 years from now, what would it be?
13. If you had to be allergic to something, what would it be?
14. If you sat down next to Jesus on a bus, what would you talk about?
15. If money and time was no object, what would you be doing right now?
16. If you had one day to live over again, what day would you pick?
17. If you could eat your favourite food now, what would it be?
18. If you could learn any skill, what would it be?
19. If you were sent to live on a space station for three months and only
allowed to bring three personal items with you, what would they be?
20. If you could buy a car right now, what would you buy?
4. TALL STORIES
The leader starts a story with a sentence that ends in SUDDENLY. The next person
then has to add to the story with his own sentence that ends in SUDDENLY.
Continue the story until everyone has contributed. The story becomes crazier as
each young person adds their sentence. Tape it and play it back. For example;
'Yesterday I went to the zoo and was passing the elephant enclosure when
SUDDENLY.....'
5. WORD LINKS
This is a word association game. Ask the group to sit in a circle. The first person
starts with any word they wish i.e. red. The next person repeats the first word and
adds another word which links to the first i.e. tomato. The next person repeats the
previous word and add another word link i.e. soup, and so on. To keep this
moving, only allow five seconds for each word link.
Taken from the book of "40 Icebreakers for Small Group".