ICEBREAKERS and ENERGIZERS

Idea’s to break the ice

at meetings, seminars, teaching activities

Handbook for volunteers

April 2007

Thai Child Development Foundation

Creative Learning Center
 Thai Child Development Foundation
Address Web site:
PO Box 7
Phato Post Office www.thaichilddevelopment.org
Amphur Phato E-mail: info@thaichilddevelopment.org
Changwat Chumpon, 86180
Thailand Telephone
+66 (0)6-172 1090

History and general information

At the Thai Child Development Foundation there are many moments when we need to get to know new
people or create a relaxed atmosphere. For example when a group of new students and volunteers are
together for the first time, or when you teach a group of grown-ups who are a bit sleepy, or you want to
energize the children in the class your teaching etc. etc.

To do so, you can use icebreakers: games and activities that don’t last too long, but they keep everybody up
and running!

At our place we organized many activities, we did a lot of teaching and we are quit experienced in working
with groups. And we learned a lot from each other how to get started and get going during sessions and
meetings. This is the reason why we made this handbook. You can find icebreakers, games and all kind of
information about the way you can activate and energize a group of people.

We hope you can use it in a creative way and hopefully it will inspire you to do great and fun things within
your project or wherever you want to break the ice for!

If you have any ideas to improve or to add to this handbook, please let us know.

Ingrid van der Straaten

Education Program Coordinator
Thai Child Development Foundation

ICEBREAKERS AND ENERGIZERS Page 2 of 17

 Thai Child Development Foundation
Address Web site:
PO Box 7
Phato Post Office www.thaichilddevelopment.org
Amphur Phato E-mail: info@thaichilddevelopment.org
Changwat Chumpon, 86180
Thailand Telephone
+66 (0)6-172 1090

Index
History and general information ....................................................................................................................... 2
Index................................................................................................................................................................. 3
The dolphin....................................................................................................................................................... 4
The horse.......................................................................................................................................................... 4
1,2,3,4,5,6,7 north, south, east, west................................................................................................................ 5
Get to know each other game........................................................................................................................... 5
The mixer, the toaster, the palm tree, the tuk-tuk and the elephant…...............................................................6
Halleluya!.......................................................................................................................................................... 6
The rabbit, the old man, the baby and the monk...............................................................................................7
Ping, pang, pong, variation 1............................................................................................................................ 7
Ping, pang, pong, variation 2............................................................................................................................ 8
Clap on THREE................................................................................................................................................ 8
Heartbeat: reaction........................................................................................................................................... 8
Mixed hands: clap on table............................................................................................................................... 9
Special pictures................................................................................................................................................ 9
Find the Person................................................................................................................................................ 9
Candy Introduction.......................................................................................................................................... 10
Card Introduction............................................................................................................................................ 10
Introduce Your Partner.................................................................................................................................... 10
Penguin game................................................................................................................................................. 11
Wizards, dwarfs an elves................................................................................................................................ 11
Blind maze...................................................................................................................................................... 11
Human snap................................................................................................................................................... 12
Penny in the slot............................................................................................................................................. 13
Knee relay....................................................................................................................................................... 13
Treasure?! Hunt.............................................................................................................................................. 13
Direct hit.......................................................................................................................................................... 14
Side slide........................................................................................................................................................ 14
Alphabet people.............................................................................................................................................. 15
Sinking balloon............................................................................................................................................... 15
Team ski.......................................................................................................................................................... 15
What’s the time Mr. Wolf................................................................................................................................. 16
Red Letter....................................................................................................................................................... 16
Straw Towers.................................................................................................................................................. 17
Egg and spoon................................................................................................................................................ 17
Clap your hands (knees-hands-left-right)........................................................................................................ 17

ICEBREAKERS AND ENERGIZERS Page 3 of 17

The dolphin
Type of game Group game, energizer
Description Get attention from the group, make a group silent/quit
Necessary Students
Number of people Unlimited
Grade/age Any age

First you tell a little story about a fish that lives in the sea.
The story about the fish that lives in the sea:
Once upon when I was walking on the beach I heard a sound. SPLASH! I looked around at the sea to see
what it was. But I saw nothing! And then I heard it again: SPLASH SPLASH. I turned around and I saw a big
tale coming out of the water. It was a fish, a big fish that lived in the sea. He liked swimming and playing in
the water. You now what fish this is? It is a dolphin. The dolphin likes to swim (movement 1) and he likes to
jump (movement 2 and action 1). If you look very careful maybe you see the fish.

Look: now he is swimming (movement) and up he jumps (movement 2 and action 1) and jumping again
(movement 2 and action 1) and jumping (movement 2 and action 1).

Movement 1: SWIMMING: Put your both hands together and move you hand in front of you as if there is a
big fish swimming
Movement 2: JUMPING; move your hand up in a bow and down again, as if a fish jumps from the water
Action 2: CLAPPING. Every time you make the JUMPING movement the students clap their hands.

Next time you do this energizer, you don’t have to tell the story, you only have to make the SWIMMING
movement to get group quit and the JUMPING to get them clapping.

The horse
Type of game Icebreaker, energizer
Description Activate and get attention of a group
Necessary Students
Number of people Up to 150
Grade/age Grade 5/6 or younger
Stand in a circle with the students.
 Ask the students: “Do you what a horse is?”
 Ask them: “Do you know what sound a horse makes?” (they probably would make a hihihhi sound)
 Ask them: “Do you know what sound a horse makes when he walks?”
 “No??? I will show you!”
Action, step 1
Stand in front of the group
 clap your hands 1x,
 slap your right upper leg once
 and then your left upper leg.
 Repeat this a few times, it will sound like a horse walking.
 Say to the group: “Do you know what sound a horse makes when he walks? Yes? Let’s do it!”
 Do the action
Action, step 2
Now everybody knows how to make the sound, you have to move to.
 Ask the group: “Do you know how a horse moves?” “No? I can show you”.
 First, step from your left to your right foot, jumping a little bit, when slapping you upper legs
 Make the HIHHIHIH horse sound now and then, while throwing your head in the back of your neck
 Repeat this a few times
 Say to the group: “Do you know how a horse moves?” “Yes? Let’s do it”
 Do the action.
Action, step 3
Now everybody knows how to make the sound and how to move. It is time the horses run!
 Ask the group: “Do you know how a horses run?” “No? I can show you”.
 Start stepping forward, jumping and walking like a horse does and making the sound by clapping and
slapping your upper leg.
 Ask the group to follow you
 Walk around in a circle. Then say; “Horses, run!!!” and you start moving real fast, jumping, slapping your
upper leg, making the hihihihi sound and run.
1,2,3,4,5,6,7 north, south, east, west
Type of game Group game, icebreaker, energizer
Description Activate a group
Necessary Students
Number of people As much as you want, we did it with 150 students!
Grade/age Grade 5/6 or younger

You can use this when you want a big group to split up in smaller groups and you want them to go to different
areas of your classroom or place. First make sure the groups are made.

Stand in a circle with the students.

First tell them a little story about travelling around the world. Seeing places, meeting people from
everywhere. People who come from the south, east, north and west.
 Ask the students: “Do you where the north is? And the south? And the east? And the west?”
 Start walking on the spot and count from one to seven, use your fingers: one, two, three, four, five, six,
seeeeeven!
 Jump to the front, say : NORTH
 Jump to the back, say: SOUTH
 Jump to the left, say: WEST
 Jump to the left, say: EAST
 Ask them: “Do you where the NORTH is?”
 Jump to the front
 Ask them: “Do you where the SOUTH is?”
 Jump to the back
 Ask them: “Do you where the WEST is?”
 Jump to the LEFT
 Ask them: “Do you where the EAST is?”
 Jump to the RIGHT
 Now start counting 1 to 7 and jumping north, south, east, west
 Ask them: ‘DO YOU KNOW WHERE TO GO? YES? LET’S GO!!!”
 Start walking in circles counting 1 to 7 and jumping forward, backwards, left and right.
 Do this for a few times
 If everybody knows the routine, let each group walk and jump to their own area using this way of moving

Get to know each other game

Type of game Group game, icebreaker
Description Remembering names and pronounciation
Necessary Students
Number of people As much as you want, but 15 people is the limit.
Grade/age Grade 5/6
With this game the first student says his/her name and add what he/she likes, the second student has to
repeat the previous name and what the person’s likes and then add his/hers and so on and so on.
To make it more fun - it can be done with absolute beginners as well - the students not only say their names
but have to add a movement.
For example:
Student 1:
My name is Tom and I like to read a book make movement as if he reads a book
Student 2:
His name is Tom and he likes to read a book (movement of reading).
And my name is Joe and I like to play football (kicks his foot).
Student 3:
His name is Tom and he likes to read a book (movement of reading).
His name is Joe and I like to play football (kicks his foot).
and I'm Sue. I like to eat (pretend she is eating)
etc. etc.

This is fun if the students movements are funny - you may even let them think of it before start the game.
Finally the Teacher has to repeat all the names and movement preferably not in the seating order.
The mixer, the toaster, the palm tree, the tuk-tuk and the
elephant….
Type of game Group game, icebreaker
Description Make a lot of fun, work together, get a nice interaction
Necessary Students
Number of people As much as you want, minimum 5 people.
Grade/age Any age
With this game the students have to do an impression of a:
 Mixer
 Toaster
 Palm tree
 Tuk-tuk
 Elephant
They always have to do it with three students.
Mixer The people on the outside take each other’s hand, forming a ‘bowl’. The person in the middle
turns around and around.
Toaster The people on the outside take each other’s hand, forming a ‘bowl’. The person in the middle
jumps up and down.
Palm tree. All three people put their arms in the air and move to left and the right, waving like palm trees
in the wind.
Tuk-tuk The people on the outside take bent down a little bit and make a movement of WHEELS with
their hands. The person in the middle holds the ‘steering wheel’ with his/her hands.
Elephant The people on the outside put their arms up and down their body, making the EARS of the
elephant. The person in the middle makes an ELEPHANT TRUNK with his arms.
HOW TO PLAY:
 Make a circle with the students
 One students stands in the middle of the circle and he/she points at one of the students saying (f.e.)
MIXER.
 The student has to make the ‘MIXER’ together with the two students on his left and right.
 When somebody makes a mistake he/she has to change place with the person in the middle, pointing
out people and giving assignments.

Halleluya!
Type of game Group game, icebreaker
Description Make a lot of fun, work together, get a nice interaction
Necessary Students
Number of people As much as you want, minimum 5 people
Grade/age Any age
With this game the students have to do an impression of a group of people, praising.
They always have to do it with three students.
The people on the outside (left and right side) bent down and make a praising movement. Hands high, raised
and they bow down.
The person in the middle raises his hands and moves them in praising in the air.
HOW TO PLAY:
 Make a circle with the students
 One students stands in the middle of the circle and he/she points at one of the students “Halleluya”
 The student has to make the impression together with the two students on his left and right.
 When somebody makes a mistake he/she has to change place with the person in the middle, pointing
out people and giving assignments.

The rabbit, the old man, the baby and the monk
Type of game Group game, icebreaker
Description Group-building, create a hilarious atmosphere, have fun
Necessary Students
Number of people Up to 20
Grade/age Any age
With this game the students have to do an impression and the sound of a:
 Rabbit
 Old man
 Baby
 And a monk

Rabbit Put your two hands on top of your head, making rabbit ears. The sound is: SNUF SNUF.
Old man Put your hand behind an ear, trying to listen very well. The sound is: HUH???
Baby Put your arms in front of you, as if you hold a baby. The sound is: WEAH WEAH (crying
baby).
Monk Put your two hands in front of you, make a circle with your arms. The sound is:
OOOOOOOOHMMMMMM.
HOW TO PLAY:
 Make a circle with the students
 One students start, making the gesture and the sound to the person on his right.
 That person turns to his/her RIGHT neighbor and repeats that sound.
 The sound and gesture goes round the circle.
 Practice this a few times with all the ‘figures’.
 Then somebody makes another ‘figure’ while the first one is going around. The second figure has to
move in the other direction. To the left.
 The students can now expect a figure and a sound from the right AND from the left, and they have to be
sure to pass the sounds and gestures in the right direction.
 After a while, teacher can add as much figures and sounds, as he likes in the direction he likes.

Ping, pang, pong, variation 1

Type of game Energizer
Description Make a lot of fun, activate the group. Very nice if you play if as fast as possible.
Necessary Students
Number of people As much as you want.
Grade/age Any age

Make a circle with your students

 One person starts, saying PING and pointing at somebody else
 That person can:
 Say PING and point at a new person, or
 Say PANG. The ‘ball’ bounces back to the first person who has to say:
 PONG and point at somebody else.
 That person can:
 Say PONG and point at a new person, or
 Say PANG. The ‘ball’ bounces back to the first person that has to say PING again.
 Etc. etc.
Try to play this game as fast as possible. After all: a game of Ping-Pong is very fast!
After a while, when a person makes a mistake he/she has to leave the circle.

Ping, pang, pong, variation 2

Type of game Energizer
Description Concentration and energizing game
Necessary Students
Number of people As much as you want.
Grade/age Any age
1. Ping right arm across body, in front of face
2. Pang left arm across body, in front of face
3. Pong both arms against face
How to play
 Make a circle with your students.
 Someone starts with ‘Ping: if the person on your right ‘pings” you must “ping” too (say Ping and do the
movement) and it continues around the circle the same way as the arm points (ping is to the right).
 Anyone can stop the flow if it is their turn by saying ‘Pong” and do the ‘Pong’-movement when it is their
turn.
 This reverses the direction of the game, so the person to the right of the ‘Pong” must say ‘Pang” and the
flow continues to the right with everyone saying ‘Pang”
 This goes on until someone ‘Pong's’ again and a ‘ping’ flow starts.
If played fast (and often when slow too) people make mistakes. They are then out of the game.

Clap on THREE
Type of game Group game
Description Remembering, counting and action
Necessary Students
Number of people As much as you want.
Grade/age Any age

Make a circle with your students

 One person starts, saying ONE
 The person next to him/her says: TWO
 The next person CLAPS HIS HANDS.
 The person next to him/her says FOUR
 The next person says FIVE
 The next person CLAPS HIS HANDS.
 Etc. etc.

The hand clapping is done when:

 The number can be divided by THREE, such as: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24 etc. etc.
 The number has the digit THREE in it, such as: 3, 13, 23, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37,. 38, 39, 43, 53
etc

Try to play this game as fast as possible. After a while, when a person makes a mistake he/she has to leave
the circle.

Heartbeat: reaction
Type of game Group game, energizer
Description A team building activity which is very nice to do on the first or second day of
class with a high school students (ESL and other classes alike)
Necessary Students
Number of people Unlimited
Grade/age Any age

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 recieve 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% participation.

Mixed hands: clap on table

Type of game Group game, energizer
Description A team building activity which is very nice to do on the first or second day of
class with a high school students
Necessary Students
Number of people Unlimited
Grade/age Any age

Form a circle, sitting down around a big table.

Students place their hands in front of them on the table and cross arms with their neighbors.
Left hand under your neighbors arm, right hand over your neighbor’s arm.
 The object is to have the hands moving around, tapping the table as fast as possible. This might look
easy but it is quite confusing, because the hands in front of you are not yours, but your neighbors.
 One person starts by tapping the table once. The hand on his right taps the table and so on, the tapping
goes around.
 This continues until somebody decides to tap the table twice. The movement change in the opposite
direction. The movement goes to the left now. The tapping goes around.
 When somebody taps the table three times, the movement continues to go in the same direction, but the
hand next to the person tapping 3x can not tap the table. He skips.
 Go ahead, try it! It is fun and quite difficult too!
 Try to do it as fast as possible!

Special pictures
Type of game Group game, energizer
Description Get attention from the group, make a group silent/quit
Necessary Students
Number of people Unlimited
Grade/age Any age

 Give each person a blank piece of paper, which is folded twice so there are four sections.
 Ask everyone to imagine that they have brought 4 of their favorite photos from homes, which represent
events, people or places that are important to them for whatever reason. They can write or draw this on
the paper.
 The other members of the group then have an opportunity to practice their questioning skills to find out
more about the pictures, by asking questions about the pictures (which they can not see)
 You'll find you learn a great deal about the other members and what is important to them in, in a very
short time.

Find the Person

Type of game Group game, energizer
Description Get attention from the group, make a group silent/quit
Necessary Students
Number of people Unlimited
Grade/age Any age
 Hand out three to five small pieces of paper to each student.
 Ask them to write something about themselves on each piece of paper (e.g. "I have a dog named 'Biffie'."
“I was born in 1974 in Germany.”).
 Encourage everyone to write something specific about him or herself.
 For example, they should not write, “I have three children”. They should write, “My three children’s
names are ~~~.”
 When they are all finished, they should fold their papers and put them into a hat.
 Then each volunteer draws the same number of papers as he or she put in, taking care not to draw their
own.
 Upon completion of the draw, each student is required to find the writer of the papers in their possession.

Candy Introduction
Type of game Group game, energizer
Description Get attention from the group, make a group silent/quit
Necessary Students
Number of people Unlimited
Grade/age Any age
 Pass around a bowl of small candies such as M&M's and ask the students to take as many as they
would like, but not to eat them yet.
 Then ask each student to say something about themselves in English for every piece of candy that they
have taken.

Card Introduction
Type of game Group game, energizer
Description Get attention from the group, make a group silent/quit
Necessary Students
Number of people Unlimited
Grade/age Any age
 Use a deck of cards for people to introduce themselves.
 On each person’s turn, he or she has to take a card from a deck of playing cards.
 Use the value of the card to determine how many things each person must say about him or herself.
 If you pick the "ace," say one thing; two, say two things; a Jack is 11, Queen is 12, King is 13.

Variation Card introduction

The game is played in the same way, but you only use the cards from one (Ace) to 5.
 Everybody picks one card
 Use the value of the card to tell something about your habits (or things to do, or food, or drinks, or jobs in
the house anything …..)
 The difference is that the RED cards represent the BAD habits (or other subject) and the BLACK cards
represent your GOOD habits (or other subject).
 You will find, that most people will have no difficulty at all telling about their bad habits, but they will find it
difficult to tell good things about them selves (in general).

Introduce Your Partner

Type of game Group game, energizer
Description Get attention from the group, make a group silent/quit
Necessary Students
Number of people Unlimited
Grade/age Any age

 People write their name on a piece of paper.

 Then fold the papers and put them in a hat.
 Draw two names from the hat and pair people up until all the names have been drawn.
 The pairs should interview each other and find out three things about the other person.
 One by one, the students introduce three things about their partners to the group.
 They must also add an extra sentence that is a lie.
 The group should guess which sentence is a lie.
 It may be a good idea for the leader to go first to provide an example.

Penguin game
Type of game Wake up/warm up
Description Get attention from the group, make a group silent/quit
Necessary Students
Number of people Unlimited
Grade/age Any age
 Everyone stands in a circle
 The leader asks: “Do you know how a penguin moves? No? I can show you!”
 He/she shows the actin of a penguin, which is achieved by slapping the thighs (upper leg) alternately
with the hands and waving the body to the right and the left.
 Everyone moves in a circle, waving his/her body and slapping his/her thighs. Walking like penguins.
 The leader or individuals cal out the various actions.
ACTIONS:
 LEFT/RIGHT SLALOM action of skiing to the left or right
 PASSING A ROUGH CROWD shake a fist in the air and roar
 PASSING A POSH CROWD hands in the air to the left side of the body and clap lightly
 POLAR BEAR hands in the air, jumping back as if scared
 JUMP jump as if on ski’s

Wizards, dwarfs an elves

Type of game Energizer, teambuilding
Description A very hilarious game, teambuilding, communication
Necessary Students
Number of people Unlimited
Grade/age Any age

This game is similar to the SCISSORS-PAPER-STONE game, except you use teams and your whole body.
To be a wizard
Stand tall and wave a magic wand (imaginary of course!) across your body, while saying: ‘Tling tling’.
To be a dwarf
Crouch down, palms facing upwards and wriggle your fingers, while saying ‘Pidallah, pidallah’.
To be an elf
Jump from one leg to the other with bent knees, move your arms up and down in the air at the same time,
while saying: ‘Huma, huma’.
Yes it looks and it sounds funny, that’s the point, soooo….
Form two teams. They should stand in two lines facing each other. A line is drawn where each team stands
(or marked out with t-shirts/sticks) and another line one meter behind.
 Each team decides as a group which action to carry out: a wizard, a dwarf or an elf.
 Everyone counts 1, 2 and 3 and does the action
 WIZARDS beat ELFS, ELFS beat, DWARVES, DWARVES beat WIZARDS
So, if team 1 are ELVES and team 2 are DWARVES, the DWARVES start to run to the line behind them. The
ELVES have to catch as many dwarves as they can before they cross the back line. The dwarves who got
catched join the winning team.

Blind maze
Type of game Communication
Description Teambuilding and communication
Necessary Students
Number of people Unlimited number, enough to form teams of four people
Grade/age 15 years old and up
There are four people in each team and they can swap responsibilities, roles at certain points if appropriate.
Team:
1. Leader
2. Blind blind folded
3. Deaf pretends not to hear/ear plugs
4. Dumb cannot speak
The maze
A maze is constructed with string around different objects (e.g. table, water tank, and trees) and activities are
placed on the floor
Activities
A bat and ball: ball must be balanced on the bat for three meters
Stick, ball and obstacles: steers the ball around the obstacles using the stick
How to play
The leader must communicate the group through the maze leading around the maze and have them doing
the obstacles.

Variation
Can also be done in the dark so people can jump out and throw water on the teams or scare them.

Human snap
Type of game Communication
Description
Necessary Students
Number of people Unlimited
Grade/age Any age
Aim
The aim of this game is to find the partner or partners belonging to your group.
How to play
 Cards are made with pictures of something that makes a noise or can be acted out.
 E.g. in a group of 21, three cards each are made for; cat, dog, mouse, rabbit, horse, cow and pig.
 The cards (papers) are handed out to the group so that no one can see what the other has. Individuals
then act out the picture/word in order to find their partner.
 Team players may not communicate in words.
Variations
Groups of object
Rather then every one in a group being the same animal, groups can be made of objects.
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3
Car Cat Tree
Bus Dog Flower
 Train Mouse Bush
Clearly variation in difficulty are possible. It is ease to be a cat, bet less so to be a bush!
Splitting groups into pair using opposites
Where pairs are to be formed, opposites can be used.
For example:
 up and down,
 cold and hot
 or identified pairs as cat and mouse
 fish and chips etc.
Splitting groups into pair using famous couples
A more complex game uses famous couples, like Charles and Diana, Romeo and Juliet. Individuals have to
think of a characteristic of the person to act it out. Here it is only fair to let people speak!

Penny in the slot

Type of game Energizer/teambuilding
Description
Necessary Students, enough to form two teams
Number of people Unlimited
Grade/age Any age
Aim
The aim is to drop an object in a bucket or cup.
How to play:
 Teams are formed and sit in rows, with a bucket/cup placed a few meters in front of them.
 Each team-leader (standing in front) is given a penny (a coin).
 They place the coin between their bum cheeks (Yes! You are reading this right: do this neatly please!)
and must try to run/walk with the coin there to the cup.
 To score a point they must release the coin so it lands in the cup.
 They then pick up the coin and give it to the next person in their team.
 If you drop the coin or miss the cup you simply pick it up and give it to the next person in line, but you
don’t score a point..
 First team to get 5 points wins.

Knee relay
Type of game Energizer/teambuilding
Description
Necessary Students, enough to form two teams
Number of people Unlimited
Grade/age Any age

Aim
The aim is to drop an object in a bucket or cup.

How to play:
 Teams are formed and sit in rows, with a bucket/cup placed a few meters in front of them.
 Each team-leader (standing in front) is given a ball.
 They place the ball between their knees and must try to run/walk with the ball there to the bucket.
 To score a point they must release the ball so it lands in the bucket.
 They then pick up the ball and give it to the next person in their team.
 If you drop the ball or miss the bucket you simply pick it up and give it to the next person in line, but you
don’t score a point..
 First team to get 5 points wins.

Treasure?! Hunt
Type of game Teambuilding/icebreaker
Description
Necessary Students
Number of people Unlimited
Grade/age Any age
Aim
To find all the items on the list.
How to play
Each team is given a list of objects to find.
They will either give each person an object to find or all look for everything and try to coordinate the activity.
Do not guide them!
Variations
The game can be made shorter by have them looking for things near to them, for example::
 Lighter
 Flower
 Old shoes
 Etc.
Or the game can take half a day/full day if the teams are give a transport budget and have to find things from
neighboring towns and villages.
The game is made more interesting by including items such as:
 The shopkeepers first name
 An European business card
 The signature of a petrol pump attendant
 A dog paw print
 A pair of shoes from the beach
 A leaf that not green, brown or yellow (ingenious ideas are also welcome, they can paint a leaf blue for
instance).
 The hair of an old woman (grey) – maybe a little bit difficult in Thailand!
 Toe nail clippings
 Etc.

Direct hit
Type of game Communication/learning direction
Description A game in which you learn to relay on your partner and that communication is
essential
Necessary Students
Number of people About 20
Grade/age From 15 years up

Aim
Aim is that each pair must get from a starting point to the finish.

How to play
 Pairs are formed. One of the persons is blindfolded.
 The group should either be in a room, which they fill the edge (around the walls), or a square drawn on
the ground which they fill the edge.
 Aim is that each pair must get from a starting point to the finish.
 To do this the non-blindfolded person must direct the blindfolded person across the room without him/her
touching each other or anybody else.

Easy: they can use only the words left, right, forward, backward, or north/east/south/west
Hard: north/east/south/west can be replaced with other words. Make your own camp-language or do in
Thai.
For example: north can be green, east can be purple, south can be yellow and west can be blue.
What seems obvious is to go directly to your destination. However this results in everyone piling into the
middle: DIRECT HIT!

Side slide
Type of game Energizer/icebreaker
Description Concentration and can be used practicing colors, fruit etc.
Necessary Students
Number of people Maximum 20
Grade/age 10 years and older
Like fruit salad except you are move one place to the right instead of finding a new chair.
The group sits in a circle on chairs.
They are given various names, like colors, fruit etc.
They must be in an irregular distribution, so play Alphabet people to middle them up.
A caller calls out the names that have been chosen, for example: blue, green, yellow and red.
When your color is called you move one place to the right. If someone is sitting there you sit on top of
him or her.
Only the person on top can move, so if a ‘red’ sits on a ‘blue’ that sits on a ‘red’ that is sitting on the chair only
the top red can move.
The first person to get back to his/her original chair wins, even if they are sitting on 10 people!

Alphabet people
Type of game Icebreaker/middler
Description Get to know each other, practice the alphabet, communication game
Necessary Students
Number of people Up to 25 people
Grade/age From 10 years up

Without leadership the group puts themselves in alphabetical order of their names, either in a circle or a line.

The game can be continued using:

 Place of birth
 Mother’s name
 Home town (if from different places)
 Street you live in
 Etc.

Sinking balloon
Type of game Public speaking, decision making
Description Can be used for individuals to practice getting their point of view across
Necessary Students
Number of people Up to 10 people
Grade/age Any age

Aim
For individuals to practice getting their point of view across

How to play
 A small group of people are told they are in a hot air balloon. It is sinking, so in order they don’t crash in
the sea one person must jump out.
 Each person is given a role to play.
For example:
 A politician
 A famous actress
 A doctor
 An engineer
 An athlete swimmer
 Each person takes turns to explain why he or she should not be the one to jump out.
 The group then votes on whom has to go.
 You then tell the group they are still sinking and another person must jump out.

Team ski
Type of game Teambuilding, communication
Description In this game teams learn to work together and to communicate.
Necessary Students
Number of people Unlimited, but at least 2 teams of 3 people
Grade/age 12 years and older

Aim
To get an entire team around obstacles (slalom).
How to play
 ‘Flags’ obstacles (or rocks, wood, cones) are placed over a clearing wide apart but with a clear direction
how to get around them.
 The teams (3 persons) are given to large planks of wood (or bamboo) and three long pieces of rope.
 The teams fasten the planks under their feet (like ski’s)
 The must get around the obstacles without anyone’s feet touching the ground.
 To ski in the right direction and to turn on the right time, they have to shout directions to each other and
they have to step in time (one, two, step).

What’s the time Mr. Wolf

Type of game Energizer
Description Students learn to focus and react, while listening to a foreign language
Necessary Students
Number of people Unlimited
Grade/age Any age

Aim
To get past the wolf to your home, without being caught.
.
How to play
 You need one person to be the wolf, and the rest are sheep
 Draw a line, behind the line is the save area HOME
 Draw another line, about 10 meters from the first line, this is the place where the sheep are
 The wolf stands in between the lines, with his back to the sheep, facing the HOME line
 The sheep call: ‘What is the time Mr. Wolf?”
 The wolf replies with a time between 1 and 12 o’clock.
 Any time between 1 and 11 means the ‘sheep’ can move forward to try to get home without the wolf
catching them.
 They can only step forward as many steps as the time called
 For example:
 2 o’clock = 2 steps
 11 o’clock = 11 steps
 When the wolf cries: 12 o’clock: it’s lunchtime the wolf is now free to move and try to catch the sheep
who are not in the home yet.
 You are out of the game when caught.

Red Letter
Type of game Energizer
Description
Necessary Students
Number of people Unlimited
Grade/age Any age
A similar game to ‘What’s the time Mr. Wolf’ is the Red Letter.
The leader stands where the wolf stands, calling out letters of the alphabet.

Aim
To reach the others side, get home.
 Easily played across an unused track or road, either side of the road is home.
 The leader chooses three letters, which are to be the RED LETTERS.
 The leader calls out letters (from A to Z) in order to cross to the other side the players must shout a word
beginning with that letter.
 The leader tries to catch them as they cross.
 If you are caught you join the leader in trying to catch people, becoming a catcher.
 If a RED LETTER is chosen and you move or call out a word you also must join the catchers.
 For example:
 Red letters: G, O, and A.
 If you call out or move on Grass you become a catcher.
 Last person caught wins.

Variation
 You can just use words from a subject. Therefore call the relevant letters.
Straw Towers
Type of game Teambuilding, communication
Description Can be used on environmental project (used straws)
Necessary Students
Number of people Enough to make teams (about 6 people a team), number of teams unlimited.
Grade/age 12 years and up

Aim
Build a tower, the tallest!, and use up all the plastic straws from the refuse!

How to play.
Teams are made of equal numbers and given an equal number of straws.
The team is given 3 minutes to make the tallest tower they can build.
No glue or sello-tape or strings or anything other than straws may be used.
Don’t tell them this but they can tie the straws and/or put straws inside other straws
The winner is the team with the tallest tower – obviously!

Egg and spoon

Type of game Group game
Description Energizer, teambuilding game
Necessary 2 spoons, 2 eggs (or ping-pong-balls)
Number of people 2 teams of 5/6 people
Grade/age Any age
Aim
Pass the egg as fast as possible, using only the spoon in your mouth.
How to play
 You need 2 spoons and 2 eggs (or ping-pong balls)
 Form two teams (5 to 6 people)
 Make a start and a finish, set a route.
 Students take spoon in mouth with the ping-pong-ball. They can not touch the ball or spoon with their
hands!
 Students walk as fast as they can from start to finish, following the route
 If the ball drops they have to start all over again
 If student 1 of a team is finished, student 2 takes over the ball and spoon, and walks the route
 etc. etc.
 The team who finishes first, wins.

Clap your hands (knees-hands-left-right)

Type of game Get to know each other game.
Description Game you can use to practice the names of the participants of your class,
workcamp or seminar
Necessary A number of people who do not know each other to well.
Number of people Up to 20
Grade/age 10 and up.

Aim:
Get to know each other and remember all the names of the persons in your group.
How to play:
 Make a circle of persons, facing each other.
 Each student tells his name one time, loud and clear.
 Then practice with everybody the routine of clapping:
 Clap your hands one time.
 Put the thumb of your right hand over your shoulder (as if you are hitch hiking).
 Then put the thumb of your left hand over your left shoulder.
 Repeat this several times. Clap, right, left, clap, and right, left.
 One student begins, everybody claps his hands, thumbs right: the students say HIS OWN NAME and
then, thumbs left THE NAME OF ANOTHER PERSON.
 For example: when the first person name is PETE, the routine will be: clap, PETE, JANE…….. then
JANE calls her name (JANE) and the name of the next person. And so on, and so on.
 In the mean time the hand clapping goes on
Variation:
 Instead of names, you can also use:
 Thai numbers (for an English speaking group)
 The countries of the participants (if from different countries)
 And so on…….

Evolution (Egg, Chicken, Dinosaur,

Princess/Prince, Queen/King)
In this energizing warm-up game, everyone starts as an Egg, squatting down on the floor with their arms
wrapped around their legs to make an egg shape. Everyone shuffles around until they encounter another
Egg, at which point they play a game of rock-paper-scissors (it’s a good idea to establish a rock-paper-
scissors format before the start of the game since many people play two ways: either rock-paper-scissors or
rock-paper-scissors-go). The winner evolves to a Chicken, while the loser stays an Egg and has to find
another Egg to play. The winner walks around, bent over and flapping their wings, until they meet another
evolved Chicken. Another game of rock-paper-scissors occurs between the two Chickens, and the winner
evolves into a T-rex (makes sense, right?) while the loser devolves into an Egg again. The T-Rex stands
upright and stomps around roaring with their arms tucked to their chest until they fight another T-Rex. The
winner evolves into a Prince or a Princess (what?!) while the loser becomes a Chicken. Princes and
Princesses walk around waving regally, and when they win a rock-paper-scissors battle they evolve to Kings
and Queens. Kings and Queens stand off to one side of the room, posing royally and beaming benevolently
at the other players. The game ends when there are no more battles to be fought: there will be one Egg, one
Chicken, one Dinosaur, one Prince or Princess and everyone else will be a King or a Queen. What a
crowded kingdom!