Games Galore 20 easy to play fun games, ice-breakers, and group challenges Compiled by Ben Greene Thaler Project 2002This packer was designed and created to give counselors, roshes, edhot or any group of people an easy to use guide for playing fun games and running ice-breakers and group challenges. Almost all of the activities in this packer require lle to no preparation and can be done anywhere that has ample space. Every activity in the packet I have either un or played myself and am confident that if run correctly all have the potential to be a great success Its very important when leading any of these activites to always remember the importance of communication, participation and having fun. None of the games included in the packes are very complex, but it is important that you make sure to explain the directions clearly to the group, and chat you make cerrain that everyone knows what they are supposed to do before the game begins. It is also imperative that you are always able to communicate with the group in a manner that allows to stop ot instruct the participants if you feel thac the safety of the activity is being compromised, If possible do your best to always take part in the activity you are leading. It’s important that the group feels that you are a part of them. In the ease of games and ice- breakers participating is no problem, however in the case of group challenges you may have to bea line more creative. If you can join a challenge without making it any easier for the group, do so, if not try to take at least some role in the activity even if iris a passive one. Having fun and enjoying yourself during these activities is very important. If you're involved and enjoying the activity it sets 2 good mood for the game or challenge and makes it easier for the participants to have fun themselves. Also if you're very enthusiastic about the activity and really get into it, it will help others who might be shy, intimidated, or not interested over come their problem and be able to better partake in the program. This packet is split into three sections fun games, get to know you and ice-breaker activities, and group challenges. Next to the name of each activity is an estimate of how many people and how much time you should allot for it. Also indicated next to the names are whether or not you need more space than you would have if the group were to form a circle, this need is indicated by aS". Whether or not the activity requires the gxoup to a fair amount of energy in them (E), or if itis a low key activity that you can do with a group which is a-little worn down or tired (L)Just for Fun Games ant must find another ffog to challenge, but the player tha eh morphs into a chicken She gialks around flapping their arms like a chicken A etic must then find another waving their arms in the air an declaring,“ imate champion". The game ends wihen either everyone becomes an ultimate champion ert simply runs out of steam in which case you declare it over, Note’ If one of the players is stuck being one of the lower animals and there are no animals like him left to challenge, as the activity leader you should become the “Sppropriate animal and challenge them until they are able to morph to something else Vegetable for their marker (carrot, radish,..but no fepeats), Once everyone has told their SeBetable to the group the game begins by one player calling on another player, who then Cais (0 another player and so forth. This is done by the layer first stating their vegetable calling nee Se¥ing “calling” the other player's vegetable tance (x. "Carrot carrot calling radish radish"). The catch is that once the ‘game starts everyone must keep their teeth covered by their lips and if anyone's teeth bocce visible (from laughing or \thatnot everyone then rotates one marker to the lek ae becomes whatever vegetable that marker was chosen to represent, The game ends uiten the group has rotated all the way back to their original positions-Safety Danger: (7+), 5-10min, E,$ This is a fun game that really doesn't have any point other then to get people running around and having fun, Everyone starts in a circle. Then everyone secretly chooses one person to be their safety and one person to be their danger (its important that people don't know who has chosen them for what). Once everyone has chosen their safety and danger the leader counts to 3 and the game begins at which point every player must immediately move/position themselves so that the person they have chosen to be their safety is directly between themselves and their danger. Since everyone has different or conflicting safeties and dangers people will constantly have to keep moving in order to keep their safety directly between them and their danger. The game ends when the leader feels that it has run steam. -Bibbity Bibbity Bop: (7+), 5-20min, = ‘This is a simple game that’s good to do as a warm up activity. Everyone stands in a circle, except the person who has been chosen to be it who stands in the center. In order for the person in the cirele to get out they must look directly at another player and say, "Bibbity Bibbity Bop" before that player says, "Bop". If the player does not say “Bop in time then they must trade places with the person in the middle. If they do say it in time then the person in the middle must move on to someone else. If however the person in the middle looks at someone and only says "Bob" then thet person must remain silent and if they say anything at all they must go into the middle. -Switch Around: (6+), 5-30min. L This is a simple low key game that’s fun and gets everyone involved. Between l- 3 people leave the group and go someplace where they cannot be seen, Once out of site each person changes one or two things that they have on them around. This could be anything from turning their shirt inside out to untying their shoe laces. ‘Then they rejoin the group and have people try to figure out what they have changed. According to what the leader feels is best for the group they can have either the people that guess correctly go next or they can make groups and have them rotate.-Freeze Frame: (8+), 10-15min. L.S This game begins by the leader telling the group that they are going to take a picture, but the group must create the picture they are going to take. This is done by the leader saying what type of thing they want a picture of and then people going up one by one and pretending to be something they think would be found in the picture. For instance if the picture was of swimming someone could go up and be the pool, the next person could be the water, someone else might be a life guard or even a life guard's whistle. When ever a new person goes up they place themselves in their desired position. tell the group what they are, and then must remain frozen in that pose until everyone has Joined the photo and the leader pretends to take a picture of the whole thing. Topics can range from something specific such as a soccer game or something more broad such as camp or shabbes. -Hand Slap: (5-20), 5-15min, L ‘This is a fun game to play that usually results in people playing the game many times latter on their own initiative. The group sits around a table or lies down on the Aoor or ground with their heads facing towards the middle, each player then puts their right hand in front of them on the table or the ground, then each player places their left hrand over the person to their rights right hand (so that the hands are next to each other not on top of each other). Then some one sends a slap around the circle by choosing a direction and slapping’ once. The hand next to theirs must then slap and so forth However if anyone slaps twice the rotation of the slap reverses direction. If anyone slaps too late or out of turn that hand is out and must be removed ftom the circle. The game ends when only two hands remain. Each time a hand gets out, all slapping stops and someone must start new one by letting the group know which direction they're starting in and then slapping, -No Laughter: (6-16), 10-20min, L This is a fun and humorous game. The group is split into two teams. The teams then line up across from each other (facing each other), The first group is given 30 seconds to’make as many people on the other team laugh. After 30 seconds the second group then is given a chance to make the first group laugh. Which ever group makes more people laugh wins. You can also give points for the each person that last and play several rounds till a certain score. The leader can also decide if the group that is trying to make people laugh can speak, or onily do things such as facial expressions.-Split Sentence:, (10-25), 10-25min, L This game begins with 1-3 people leaving the group and going to where they can not hear the other group talking. The group then decides on a sentence such as "We like to eat pizza" or "Happy birthday to you", then each person in the group is assigned one word in the sentence (or syllable if you feel it will work). The group then forms a citcle and the people that left come back and stand in the middle. Everyone in the group then at the same time says their word out loud over and over. The people in the middle must walk around the circle and try to figure out what the sentence is. Once they have figured it out the game is repeated over again with new people leaving and a new sentence being chosen. -Talk Fest: (8-20), 10-25min, L This is e fun and silly game to play. Two people get up in front of the group and stand facing each other. The leader then gives them a topic (anything from Israel to dental floss) and both people, at the same time, must immediately say as much as they can about the topic in one minute. The group then decides which person said the most. or made the most sense, and that person is the winner.Get to Know Each Other Games -Self Expression: (8+), 10-15min, ES -This a get to know you game that is fun and easy to play. Have everyone stand in a circle. Then give a statement to the group and an action for the people who the statement applies to to do (ex. If you live in New York Clap your hands). Try to come up with as many diffrent motions as possible and make the statements appropriate to the group. You can also ty going around the circle and having each person make up their own statement and corresponding action. -Object bag: (6), 15-40min, L This activity is generally better to do with groups that have spent a fair amount of time together and know each other relatively well. Each person, without anyone else in the group seeing, places an object in the designated object bag (should be a large bag which no one can see through or into) that they feel is representative of themselves (i.e. baseball glove, necklace, paintbrush). Then the leader removes one object from the bag in front of the whole group and people take guesses as to who's object they think it is and why that think that. Once people have been given ample time to guess the person who's object it is reveals themselves and explains why they chose that particular object. “Note- Its usually best for the leader to go around collecting the items from each person individually in order to avoid other people seeing what someone is placing in the bag. -People to People: (8+), 10-20min, E, S This is a fun get people moving around game. First everyone in the group finds a partner, then the leader says something like hand to hand, at which point each person ‘would touch their hand to their partners hand. After doing simple things (leg to leg, shoulder to shoulder) the leader can move on to more complex things such as elbow to head or shoulder to foot. If at anytime the leader says people to people everyone in the group must leave their partner and find a new one.-Introduction Drama: (12+), 10-15min, E,$ This is great meeting people icebreaker. Everyone starts out walking around the room introducing themselves to each other in a normal manner. Then the leader calls out some sort of genre such @ western, football buddies, opera, high society...and people must then introduce themselves in the manner associated with the category. It makes for a lot of laughs and gives people a comfortable way in which to meet everyone else in the group, -Have you ever circle: (10+), 10-15min, E, S This is a good to get to know people game that also gets people up and moving arqund, The group forms a circle and one person starts in the middle. The person in the middle then says something such as have you ever been to Israel or got a head ache from eating ice-cream, then anyone who has done such thing must leave their place in the circle and move to an empty space as fast as they can. One person will get stuck in the middle because all the spaces will fill up. That person then gives another statement and the game continues in the same manner.Group Challenges Aliyah: (6-15), 15-25min, E, § This initiative begins with the leader creating to a squared off area (any where from 10-30 feet long and 5-10 feet wide) and explaining to the group that they are immigrants in the early 20" century who are trying to get to Israel from Europe and can only do so by sneaking across the Mediterranean in small secret ships. They are then given 5-8 objects (anything from bandanas to tires) which they are told are their secret ships which they must use to get across. They must all get from one side to the other without touching the water (ground), but they may place the objects in the water and step on them to get across. If a player touches the water the leader can decide to make the whole group start over or to make it so that person must remain silent or keep their eyes closed till the challenge is over. The leader can also time the group and have them repeat the activity trying to do it faster. -Line up challenges: (8+), 10-20min, E, § This is a good teamwork initiative for groups that have either just met or have been together for a while, Lots of times challenges like this consists of the leader asking people to line up in order of birthday or in alphabetical order without talking, Where as these challenges are good they're very hard for younger kids to do with actually not talking, and they're also hard for groups to really work as a team to solve. What I've found to work better is to ask groups to line up without talking in order of height, hand size, shoe size...anything physically visible. Since these challenges are clearly much easier you might want to try timing them on the first one and then seeing if they can do a second or third one faster. -Hebrew Count Off: (8-20), 10-20min, L This is nice group activity to do that requires very little energy. The group sits in acircle with their eyes closed and must count from 1-10 or 1-20 in Hebrew. However only one person may talk at a time, and each person can not say more than one number until everyone else in the group has gone. If any two people in the group say a number at the same time they count must start over again at zero. Players are also not aloud to simply have the person next to them say the next number and go right around the circle nor or they allowed plan out an order before each try-Israeli Air Force (LAF) Training: (6+), 10-20min, E.S For this game this game you need between 10-12 makers of any sort (rocks, bandanas etc.). To begin everyone lines up in two columns behind what is deemed the launch pad (signified by two makers about 4 feet apart). Then one column is chosen to be the air planes and one is chosen to be the pilots. when The airplane people reach the launching pad they close their eyes (or you can blindfold them) and spread their arms out 2s if they are and airplane. The pilots then must guide them from the launch pad to the landing pad (two other markers placed between 15-40 yards away) by walking near them and directing them whére to go. You can make this activity more complex by placing markers between the launch and landing pad that the pilots must zig-zag the airplanes around, Once everyone has crossed the pilot and airplane people can switch places and go the other way. -Name Challenges: (104, 5-20min, L Often times people get sick of playing name games so instead why not try a name challenge, Have everyone sit in a circle and time them on various challenges. First start with how fast everyone can go around the circle and say their own name. Then move on to more complicated things like saying the person to their right or left's name, You can make it even harder by making them say the person that is two people to their right’s name, After each challenge tell them their time and have them do it again and try to beat their original time. You ean also give them a goal time that you feel is appropriate and have them attempt the challenge until they achieve that time. = 10-