Line Up

This exercise is good for a group of 20 or More. Use it for Team Building or just for Pure Fun! Use this activity to break the monotony of long periods of sitting and to help participants find out about each other. Any group is game for this activity!
Estimated Time: 5 to 7 minutes
What you will need: Line Up Activity Sheet for Leader

Instructions:Organize participants into groups of 8 to 20. Tell participants that in the Line Up, they will have a chance to learn things about one another they may never think to ask.

Give these instructions: Tell them that this is group competition and that you will give the instruction for groups to line up in a particular way. Your group should get in a line as quickly as possible. When your group is lined up appropriately all group members should clap to indicate they have completed the task.

Conduct a practice round. Tell them to line up by height and to clap when they're finished.

Begin the activity. After each lineup, determine which group clapped first and then announce them as the winner of the round.

Variations: Use this activity periodically throughout a long session or you can ask groups to come up with their own way of letting you know they're ready. (We have had groups yell, hum a song, put up their hands, etc.) This can add a lot to the fun to the activity.

Tips

Keep the tone light; this is a fun competition. Laugh and play with humorous comments from participants. 3. Remember political correctness with regard to your own or participants' comments.

LINE UP ACTIVITY SHEET FOR THE LEADER 1. Line up in order by shoe size. 2. Line up in order by length of arm's reach. 3. Line up in order alphabetically by favorite color. 4. Line up in order by number of siblings you have. 5. Line up in order by hair color, lightest to darkest. 6. Line up in order by age, youngest to oldest. 7. Line up in order by length of time with current employer. 8. Line up in order alphabetically by first name. 9. Line up in order alphabetically by last name. 10. Line up in order by number of pets owned. 11. Line up in order by hair length, longest to shortest. 12. Line up in order by the number of bones you've ever broken.

The Name Game

Overview: Have the group complete the questionnaire silently. Upon completion fold into fours and drop into a hat or bag.

Goal: To get groups to realize they do not always know everything about their co-workers or someone they have worked with for quite some time.

Time Required: 2 minutes to complete questionnaire - 10 minutes to draw cards and discuss.

Material required: Colored paper to print question sheet on and a hat or bag.

Instructions: Have someone randomly draw a card and read the answers out to the group as they guess which classmate it may be. Once someone selects the correct classmate have that individual draw the next card.

Discussion: Ask if they discovered anything new about someone? Ask if they found something in common with someone?

Form: The Name Game

1. Favorite Dream Vacation Spot ______________________

2. Favorite Type of Car ______________________________

3. Favorite Actress/Actor _____________________________

4. Favorite Movie ___________________________________

5. Favorite Hobby ___________________________________

6. Favorite Color ____________________________________

M&M’s

Pass around a bag of M&M's. Tell the participants to take as many as they want. Once everyone has M&M's, tell them that for each M&M they took they have to say one thing about themselves. For instance, if a person took 10 M&M's, they would have to say 10 things about themselves.

Meet 'n Greet

Objective: get acquainted - help discover common backgrounds and interests.

Procedure: At the beginning of a meeting or class, ask people to introduce themselves to as many others as they possibly can in two minutes' time. After those 2 minutes tell them to get into groups of three people. Tell them that their assignment for the next two minutes is to find at least three distinctive things that the three of them have in common. The only rule is that the three things cannot be job related (i.e. they work for the same organization.) Ask them to identify the three things as quickly as possible and to shout out loudly when they've done so. Provide a token prize for the first team to complete the task. Some examples of areas of commonality could be:

all are from the same home state
all have an older brother
all drive a SUV
all have degrees in the same field, etc.

After most have completed their assignments, call on a few groups to tell their areas of commonality.

Discussion questions:

1. How did some of you complete the task so quickly?
2. Did some of you have difficulty finding common backgrounds or interests?
3. Did anyone discover some startling or surprising information about the others (all are twins.)

Approximate Time needed: 10-15 minutes.

Toilet Paper Go-Round

Material: 1 roll of toilet paper (if you "borrow" it from an office bathroom, be kind and leave some for your colleagues!)

Pass around a roll of toilet paper and say something like "just in case this meeting gets a little messy, everyone needs to take some" (with no other qualifiers or instruction). Then go on with other business (agenda, minutes, and "housekeeping" items...) as the roll makes it way around the room.

Some folks by nature will take many "squares" and some just a few. Once everyone has had the roll, and you've finished other business, ask everyone to introduce themselves and share with the group as many "things" about themselves as number of "squares" they took! You can suggest the "things" be generic or make it work-related. You choose.

Self Awareness Ice Breaker

Overview: Participants are asked to write down what comes to mind first when certain questions are asked.

Goal: To learn more about themselves.

Time Required: 3 - 5 minutes

Material Required: A blank piece of paper

Instructions: Define the term adjective and ask the group for a few examples. Read the following questions only and encourage participants to write what first comes to mind and to only spend a few seconds on each question. Once you have completed asking the questions review as a group, ask for volunteers to share their responses and read the answers listed below.

Questions:

List two adjectives that describe your favorite animal.

Answer: This is how the participants see themselves.

List two adjectives that describe your second most favorite animal.

Answer: This is how others see the participants.

List two adjectives to describe the ocean.

Answer: This is how the participants view life.

List two adjectives to describe the sky.

Answer: This is how the participants view death.

Optional: ****Warning High Risk

List two adjectives to describe white water rafting.

Answer: This is how the participants view sex.

Pocketbook Scavenger Hunt

Did you ever watch Let's Make A Deal TV? At the end of the show they would always pay audience members for bizarre or unusual items that they would have in their purse or pockets. This is a version of that game. It is great for introducing a topic, to help people get to know each other, for team building or just for fun!

Groups work best with about 8 members. Give each person a Pocket Scavenger Hunt Sheet.

Time: give the groups 2 minutes to come up with as many things as they can.

Each item is worth 2 points however a reasonable substitute can be made. If a substitute is used only 1 point is given.

If time permits ask groups to share what items they got from the list and what substitutions were made.

Tip: Give prizes to the group that has the most points. Add your own ideas Click on title to download a list you can use.

Pocketbook Scavenger Hunt List

Grocery List

Mint

Cloth handkerchief

Matches

Hair Pin

Black Comb

Money Clip

Dry cleaner receipt

AAA Card

Picture of a close relative

Hair Scrunchie

Contact lens case

Restaurant coupon

Safety Pin

College ID

Planning Calendar

Candy

Tissues

Lipstick