ICEBREAKERS

1. TWO TRUTHS, ONE LIE:

Break everyone into groups of anywhere from 3-5. Each person must tell the others two truths
and one lie about themselves. The other members of the group must then guess which
statement was the lie. When finished, the groups can each choose their "best liar", who can
then try and fool the rest of the groups.

2. GROUPING BY CHARACTERS AND THEME SONGS:

This is a fun way in which to break up a large group into smaller ones. Write the names of
characters from sitcoms, cartoons, etc.. that can readily be recognized as belonging together
on index cards. If you want your group size to be about 5, you should make sure that you have
5 characters per grouping. For example, if you pick the Flintstones as a character grouping,
you would have five index cards each with a different character such as Fred, Wilma, Barney,
Pebbles, and Bamm-Bamm. Mix up the index cards and pass them out as the people walk
through the door. The groups then have to find each other by singing the theme song from
whichever sitcom, cartoon, etc.. the characters
represent.

3. HUMAN ZIPPER - HAND:

Have people line up one behind the other. Put your left hand through your legs and grab the
right hand of the person behind you. Reach your right arm out to grab the left hand of the
person in front of you. Then, starting with the very last person in line, everyone must crawl
through the legs of the people in front of you.

4. HUMAN ZIPPER:
Break up the room into two groups. (You can keep it in one if there aren't enough people for
two.) Line them up, preferably female-male. One person then needs to lie down on their back.
The next person will lie down next to the first person but with his/her feet facing the
opposite direction. They should be close together to the point where their heads are touching.
Lay people down alternating them in the same manner. Everyone's feet should be facing out
from the center. Then,have everyone raise their arms in the air and flex their wrists so that
they make a flat surface. Tell them that it's very important to keep their arms stiff. Take the first
person out of the line,have them stand up, help lay them down on the first set of hands. This
person will be passed all the way down the line along the hands. The people lying down need
to keep passing them down the line without letting them fall. (Someone is needed to spot this
game because usually they will start to waiver every so often.) It's important for the person
being passed to remain stiff as well so that it's easier to pass them. Once they reach the end,
that person is helped off the human zipper and they will lie down next to the last person in line
and become part of the zipper. The second person toward the front of the line now will go
through the same process and then the third and so on and so forth. If you have enough
people to do more than one line, you can have races between the "zippers."

5. NAME GAME:
This is a "get to know you game." Everyone breaks up into groups of around 10-15. The
person who starts needs to say his or her name along with a word that starts with the same
letter. The facilitator may want to choose a specific area. For example, favorite foods or
adjectives to describe yourself. The second person must say their adjective/food/whatever
along with their name and also what the person before them said. For example, if the second
person in the circle is named karen and the first is named Scott: Karen would have to say
"Kiwi Karen, Scallion Scott." And so on until the last person has to say everyone's name &
adjective.

6. HUMAN KNOT:
Break into groups of around 7. Everyone should form a circle and reach out and grab the
hands of someone in the group who is not standing directly next to him or her. The group must
then "untie." If you have more than one group, you can make it into a race. Realize: this is
possible no matter how hands are grabbed as long as no one grabs the hands of someone
who is directly next to him or her.

7. COUNTRY ON FOREHEAD:
Everyone has an index card or sticker on their forehead. On the sticker is written the name of
an AIESEC country; the person should not know the country that they are. The participants
must then walk around and ask "yes or no" questions about their country which will give them
clues as to what country they are. For example, one could ask "Does it rain a lot in this
country?" The purpose of the game is to figure out what country you are.

8. THE "TRASH" GAME:

Without telling people what will be done with them, have each person write down on a piece of
paper anonymously one of their problems, a frustration, something they are currently worried
or concerned about. Ask them not to make them incredibly personal. When done, have them
crumple up the paper and throw it. The facilitator will then go pick up a couple of the crumpled
pieces of paper, open them up and read them to the group. The group will then brainstorm to
offer solutions on how this difficulty or problem can be rectified.

9. "YELLING AT EACH OTHER":

This should probably be done with people who are fairly comfortable with each other and used
as a stress reliever. Let the individuals in the group pair up. Each person can then scream
anything at all at the other person as loud as they can even if there is no possible way that it
could be the other's fault. If the pair runs out of stuff to scream, have them scream "grumble
grumble" at each other.

10. KISS WHAT YOU LIKE, LICK WHAT YOU DON'T:

Have the group form a circle. Have them name something on the person to the left which they
like about that person (ie. their teeth) and something about the person of their right that they
don't like. Once everyone has done this, they have to kiss what they like and lick what they
don't. This should also be done with people who feel relatively comfortable with each other. In
order for this to work, the people cannot have any idea of what they have to do in the future.

11. HUMAN SANDWICHES:

Divide the group into smaller groups of even numbers of people. Assign each group a
component of a sandwich. For example, bread, meat, cheese, condiments, etc.. Within each
smaller group, let each person decide more specifically what they want to be within their
sandwich component. For example, in the meat category you might have five people who will
then be ham, turkey, roast beef, mortadella (cool Italian lunch meat), liverwurst, etc.. Bring
someone out of the whole group and ask them to build a sandwich not knowing which person
is what specific component. For example, the person may say: "I'm really hungry. I think I'd
like to have a sandwich on white bread." The person who has chosen white bread then lays
down on the floor. The sandwich maker goes on to add meat, cheese, whatever and each time
someone else will lay down on top oc the other "components."

12. THE QUARTER GAME:

Lay everyone down, one next to each other facing the dame direction preferably alternating
males and females. If you have enough people to make more than one line, you can have
races between the teams much like in the human zipper game. Place a quarter on the chest of
the first person in line. The aim is to pass the quarter onto the next person without the use of
hands. This means that the second person in line must roll on top of the first person with the
quarter, both people roll back over again so the second person is again on the bottom and
then the first person must roll off,leaving the quarter on the chest of the second person. In
order to keep the quarter between them, the pair must hug each other rather tightly in the
rolling process. Should the quarter fall to the ground, they have to start from the beginning
again. Then repeat the game going on down the line.

13. THE TRAVEL GAME

Everyone gets 20 statements which relate to different countries or cultures. Ex. It is an insult
to show the bottom of your feet. You can play this either as a competition quiz - who gets the
most right or as a guessing game. In this case everyone would get a country on their back &
a sheet of paper with mixed cultural statements & have to guess which country is theirs, or
have to find the other people with the same country.

14. THE CULTURE GAME

A large group is split into two and each is given a culture to act out. The culture should be
explicit & different from modern day norms (Ex. Shoulder shaking means yes and hand
flapping means no. Men cannot approach another man without a woman's consent. Socially
people should stand arms length apart at all times, etc.) The two groups should get proficient
at their own culture & then representatives should be thrown in with the other group & explain
their confusion to their own culture. Eventually both groups should end up together & discuss
the differences & uncomfortable feelings associated with not understanding norms.

15. THE M & M GAME

Large bads of M&Ms are passed out & people take as many as they want. They are then told
that they have to tell the entire group something about themselves for every M&M they took.
(Can be done with toilet paper squares also)

16. FLIP CHART PAPER

Give everyone a sheet of flip chart paper to post on a wall & tell them to break it up into three
sections. In each section they must draw a picture and/or write something Re:
predeterminded categories. For ex. the 3 categories could be: - My strengths - My
weaknesses - What I want to get out of this year/semester/exercise/week, etc. OR - Why I am
here - What my hobbies are - Who I want to be in 10 years. If appropriate, people can go
around after & write comments on each other's sheets.

17. THE ROPE GAME

Two teams compete by taking a rope (thread, yarn, etc.) & feeding it through each other's
clothes. The first person puts the rope down their shirt and pants & hands it to the other
person. They put the rope up their pants & shirt & hand it on. The first team to finish wins.
(Be sure to use something which will not create rope burns)

18. THE LIFE SAVER GAME

Two teams line up & each person gets a toothpick to put in their mouth. The first puts a life
saver on the toothpick & passes it to the next person's toothpick without using their hands.
The first team to finish wins.

19. THE HUMAN CHAIR

A group of 20 people or more form a circle & stand front to back (boy girl order preferable) as
close as possible. Everyones feet should be facing straight in front of their body directly
under their hips & they should be touching (squishing in fact) the person in front of them. (we
are talking tight circle) On the count of three, eveyone sits on the lap of the person behind
them. The circle will hold itself up. Eveyone should be able to relax & just sit. If this is not the
case, someone's feet are not directly underneath them, or not straight ahead. When everyone
is relaxed the facilitator should call 1-2-3 & everyone should move one leg at a time (the same
leg) and the circle can "walk" in a circle.

20. BRAIN TEASERS

A good team building exercise is to lay 5 - 6 (one per team) brainteasers out on 5 - 6 different
tables (stations) and have every team rotate around & have 5 - 10 min. (depending on
difficulty level) to figure them out. At the end the winner is announced. During the exercise
observers should walk around noting "teamworking" issues. ie., how well the teams worked
together, if people argued or collaborated, if teams worked better together as the time wore
away, etc.) Teams can then comment on if they think they worked well toghether or not & how
these issues come into play in AIESEC functional areas or teams.