Icebreakers

Directions:

Have children gather in a circle and one begins by saying their name and telling what kind of animal they would be and why.
Example: “Hi, my name is _________ and if I could be any animal, I would be a _________ because __________”.
Encourage participants to be creative and to come up with unusual animals.

Directions:

Have participants stand in a circle and spread out.
To start the circle, have the first person say an adjective that starts with the letter of their name, and their name with a corresponding action (Examples: Bubbly Britt, action- wiggling arms around, Jumping Jack, action-jumps up and down)
As you go around the circle, the next person has to remember the previous person’s adjective and name, and do their action. Then they come up with their own set. The person after them has to remember (in order) both of the other people’s sets, and so on around the circle.
When someone messes up, you start over using new adjectives and actions for each person!
Try to get through the whole circle with everyone’s sets!
Alternative: if this is too hard, have participants instead only have to remember a specified number of sets. In the end, people who think they can remember all of them can go in the middle and compete to see who remembers the most!

Directions:

Have participants form a circle
The leader starts by throwing the beach ball or volleyball to one of the participants
The participant catches the ball, and whatever question their right thumb lands on is the question they must answer.
Examples: “What is your favorite thing to do during the wintertime?” “Describe your all-time favorite food”

Directions:

Show children the unique object.
Ask around to see what sorts of rules the children feel should be put in place for the day/camp.
When a child offers a rule, give them the opportunity to write it on the full value contract (or the leader can write it).
Talk about the importance of each rule with the children.
Once the children are satisfied with the rules they have come up with, have them each sign the object with their name.
Find a prominent location and display your full value contract for the duration of the event. If desired, you could create a “punishment” who breaks the rules listed on the full value contract (i.e. wear a funny hat, etc).

Directions:

Pass around a bag of candies and instruct each participant to take the same number of candies. Make sure to instruct participants not to eat the candies just yet.
The leader will have a sheet that has each color of candy paired with a question or scenario
Each person, one at a time, picks one of their candies and the leader will read out the corresponding question or scenario (Examples: if you could be any animal which one would you be and why? If you were trapped on a deserted island what three items would you like to have?). Once they have responded they can eat that candy.
Go around the circle answering the color questions until everyone has used up all their candies

Directions:

Get children to find a partner
Have the children make a nametag for their partner. Their nametags should include pictures, words, etc. or hobbies, favourite colours, interests, etc. to make a nametag that represents each partner.
Children can wear the nametags for the duration of the day.

Directions:

Sit participants in a circle. Instruct each participant to come up with three short stories about themselves, two of which are true, one of which is a lie.
Go around the circle with each person telling their three stories one at a time. Have the other participants guess which of their stories was a lie.

Directions:

Have participants make a circle
The leader will read statements such as “Would you rather play hockey (stand up), or watch basketball (sit down)” or “Would you rather live without internet, or live without television” or “Would you rather be a unicorn, or a fire breathing dragon”
Participants stand up or sit down depending on their answers

Directions:

Have children form a circle.
The leader starts with one beanbag and passes it to someone in the group saying: “Here you go ‘receiver’s name’ ”. The person receiving says “Thanks ‘passer’s name’. Here you go ‘receiver’s name’ ”. The children then throw the beanbags the entire way around the circle until the leader receives the beanbag back. Children are told to remember who threw the beanbag to them and who they threw it to.
Have the children send the beanbag around the circle in the same pattern.
Gradually, add in more beanbags until the group is juggling multiple beanbags at one time.

Directions:

Form a circle with participants, with one person in the middle. There should be no spaces around the circle.
Everyone takes off one of their shoes and leaves it in their spot.
The person in the middle starts the game by saying “move your butt if…” followed by something that applies to them which they believe may apply to others in the room (example: move your butt if you’ve been to Europe). Statements must be unrelated to physical features. The purpose is to get to know people’s interests and experiences.
After the statement is made, everyone to whom the statement applies must run to find another shoe. They cannot go to the shoe directly beside them.