fyeg

Federation of Young European Greens - AISBL

European Parliament - ASP 08 G 138 - Rue Wiertz - 1047 Brussels Belgium
Tel: +32 2 284 24 40 - Fax: +32 2 284 92 73 Email: office@fyeg.org
IBAN: BE11 3101 0766 6248 BIC: BBRUBEBB- ING: 310-1076662-48

Federation of Young European Greens
Energizers and games
for FYEG meetings

Change the Energizers to keep them fresh and look on the internet when planning for suitable
ones. Consider cultural differences, for example are Muslims happy to do a drinking game? What
is there instead that is fully inclusive. Consider if people find them childish and try and pick ones
more suitable to their temperament. Always have spare ones prepared in case an activity is
delayed and you suddenly need to fill the time.

Energizers:

1) Getting to know each other game: go around the building and look for an object which
starts with the same letter as your name. Stef can take Scissors, or a Sheet of paper, or a
Screen, if you want a bigger object.
2) Make a drawing of someone elses life, using his/ her hobbies, interests, features,
characteristics, and study/ job. Then later on give a short presentation about that person
in the group.
3) Write down, on several pieces of paper, or several parts of a big one: where you come
from; what identifies you/ what did you take with you/ what you can contribute to the
week; what you expect of the week; what you hope to happen/ to learn, what you do
not hope to happen; what you expect to take home. At the end of the week everybody
takes a look to what he/ she wrote down in the beginning and then discusses it in small
groups.
4) Make couples. With your couple, look for 5 things you have in common, and which other
people do not have: language, sport, hobbies, clothes, music, Then try to do the
same with 5 people. Present your common things afterwards.
5) Questions bingo: on a piece of paper you find all kind of questions: who is married, who
is not wearing underwear, who is unemployed, who speaks more than 3 languages, who
likes jazz-music, who plays golf, who has visited more than 3 continents, who likes Bush,
etc. The game is to find for each question someone who fulfils that question. If you have
someone for all the questions, you call bingo, and youre the winner.
6) Getting to know the place: divide in groups. All the group members have to hold to a
small string/ rope. They get questions about the building. They have to answer them as
fast as possible, while holding the string all the time. Example of questions: how many
public phones are there, what is the room number of the kitchen/ the sauna/ , how
many chairs are there in some room, what is the price of a postcard/ drink/ on which
floor is the library/ the prep teams room, The group who answers all the questions first
and correct is the winner (win is not the real aim, not really important)
7) Penguins and flamingos: one is the flamingo and can walk in a special way, like a
flamingo: big steps en big arm movements. This one has to try to catch the other ones,
who are all penguins. The can just take very small steps, keeping their legs together and
arms straight next to their body. If they are catch by a flamingo, they convert in a
flamingo themselves and try to catch the left penguins
8) Everybody gets the name of a country (or something else) and has to try to express this,
without using words, just mimics and movement.
9) Person to person: every one has a partner, so there are only duos. The leader says with
which part of the body they have to touch each other, for example finger, foot, knee,
arm, elbow, nose, ear, belly,. You can make it more interesting and difficult, if the

Energizers and games

1
couple have to add up places to touch: first only finger, then also knee, then also nose,
etc.
10) Put as many chairs as there are people in 2 or 3 rows (of about 20 chairs each). People
have to stand all on the chairs. Then the leader says in which order they have to stand
on the chairs: age, country location from east to west, first name, etc. People have to
change chairs, but nobody is allowed to get/ fall of the chairs. The groups who finishes
first is the winner.
11) Also with chairs: more or less the same idea, but know the game is to move with all the
chairs a certain distance. Passing on the chairs from the back to the front, in this way
slowly moving forward.
12) Bomb and protector: stand in a circle; everybody picks someone who is his/her bomb,
and a second person who is hi/ her protector. Then start to move, whereby you have to
try to be close to your protector, but far away from your bomb.
13) Lie all down with the head on each other's bellies, one by one. Then the leader tells a
GOOD joke (Ska!), so all bellies and therefore head starts vibrating. (This is not always
energizing, as people are lying down some time.)
14) Stand in a circle, turn left, go very close, even closer, but be aware it keeps being a
good circle. Now start to sit down slowly. This will fail probably the first time, just try again.
If you manage and everybody sits on the lap of another person, try to move, which is
very hard.
15) Divide the group in small groups of 5-6 persons. Then all of them have to try to stand on
just one (or 2) piece of paper of normal A4 size.
16) Prince, princess and dragon: Divide the group in 2. Every group decides secretly what
they are: prince, princess or dragon: dragon threatens princess, princess seduces prince,
prince beats dragon. The stand in lines opposite in front of each other and show what
you are: dragon groans and has front legs high in the air, princess steps giggling and
prince draws his sword.
17) Everybody closes his eyes and slow prudently around. The leader picks someone, who is
Goofy (or whatever you want to call him/ her). If you touch someone one, you ask if that
it is Goofy. If the answer is no, you just continue. If you do not hear anything, you hang
on to his person (on the shoulders). Until everybody forms when line.
18) Muehler, Muehler and Mueller This is more some kind of joke: the leader gives everybody
a piece of paper, with a name on it. There are three different names, the leader says. By
shouting people have to find the group with the same name. The joke is that the names
are all the same, only with different spelling. (for example Mueler, Muehler and Mueller,
or Meier, Mayer and Meyer, or Smith, Smits, Smids, and Smiths) The result is confusion
among participants, until they find out that there are differences between the names.
Then they group up. Mueler, Muehler and Mueller.
19) Everyone has a piece of paper with a letter or number on the back, without knowing
which one. Then they have to stand in a circle in the right order, without speaking, just
indicating, pointing the others where they have to stand in the circle.
20) Toaster, washing machine, mixer and vomiting kangaroo: stand in a circle, with
someone in the centre. That one points to people and says one of the following things:
washing machine: two people from a vertical circle with their arms. The person between
them (the pointed one) moves his/ her head around in the circle; mixer: the pointed one
moves the arms in the air. The person left and right turn around under it; toaster: the
pointed one jumps, while the left and right one from the toaster by holding both hands;
vomiting kangaroo: the pointed one forms a circle with both arms. The left and right
make a vomiting sound, while bending over to the gap. If someone forgets to react or is
to slow with it, it is his or her turn to stand in the centre and give orders to the rest.
21) Massage: While setting in the conference room and getting bored or sleepy: stand up
and give your neighbour a massage.
22) Whispered and twisted sentence: Sit in a circle. One whispers a sentence in the ear of
the neighbour, so they others cant hear what is said. Then the receiver whispers it to the
ear of his/ her neighbour, etc. Important is that you can say the sentences only once, no
matter if the receiver did not get it well or much. J ust pass it on. Then the last one has to
speak it out loud. Finally the starter repeats the sentence, this time out loud. To make it
more difficult, you can speak a sentence in a language not everyone knows (Dutch,
Finnish, Hungarian, etc.)
23) Lie in a line in your back, very close to each other, with hands up. Then someone has to
move through the air over the hands from one side to the other.
24) Stand in 2 lines, opposing each other with your arms straight forward. Then someone has
to run very fast between the 2 lines. The persons in the row have to lift their arms just
before the runner passes.

Energizers and games

2
25) Blind-accompanying: divide in couples. One is blinded; the other leads him around, over
obstacles, etc.
26) Forms small groups of about 7 persons. One stands in the middle with closed eyes.
He/ she let himself fall in some direction. The person in which direction he/ she falls,
catches the person a bit and then pushes him/ her forward to another direction. The
person in the middle should just the others and is not allowed to move the feet.
Games:

For evenings:

1) Perkele: a Finnish drinking game. You also have to stand up around the drinking table.
One starts and takes a bit of his or her drink. Then says Perkele, then the next one is.
You are not allowed to speak or to smile. If you see someone doing speaking or smiling,
you tell him loudly: Panu Vitu and he or she is out of the game. The aim is avoid laughing,
while trying to get the others to laugh. Take care that the Germans dont win. If they do
all the time, say Scheisse instead of Perkele.
2) Last evening game: everyone one gets a piece of paper on his/ her back. The other
participants now can write some nice remarks for this person, to take home.
3) Truth or dare: everybody thinks of at least one question and one challenge and puts
them in the bucket or box. Then the game starts: someone picks a piece of paper out of
the box and has to answer the question or do the challenge.
4) I never ever: sit all in a circle, or at the campfire. One person stands up and says: I
never ever.And then something he/ she has never done or experienced. For example I
never ever had sex with someone of the same sex. Then everybody who has done it, has
to stand up. Then the person next to the first has to say something he/ she has never ever
, etc.
5) Who am I?: Everybody gets the name of a person (life or not, real or fictional), the written
on a piece of paper on their head, but they do not know themselves which name is on
it. The participants can think of names for other participants themselves. Then sit in a
circle and one person asks a question, to be answered with yes or no by the group. If the
answer is yes, he/ she can ask another question. If the answer is no, it is the turn of the
person next to him/ her to ask a question. Etc.
For day-time:

6) Twisting and getting dizzy: Go to a place where is really a lot of space, such as a
pasture. Divide in couple. One of the couple start turning around, always only in one
direction (clock or anti-clock) while he looks to his/ her hand, stretched in the air. First
slow, then faster. This looks easy, but is very hard, certainly after some 5 minutes. The idea
is to go on as long as possible. The other ones watches and follows, but does not do
anything more, but preventing the turning one will hit with some obstacle or the edge of
the field.
7) Chinese football: everybody stand in a big circle, with spread legs. The game is to try to
put the ball between the legs of another person. If you succeed, that person has got to
go out. You can prolong the game, by not sending out people immediately, but if they
get a ball between the legs the first time, they can only defend with one hand, next time
the have to turn around, defending with two hands, then one hand and the fourth time
they are really out.