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Icebreaker Archive - June 2009

  • Do You Love Your Neighbor?

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    Place all the chairs in a circle before the session begins. One person starts in the middle of the circle. That person goes up to someone and says “(name), do you love your neighbor?” If the person being asked the question answers “NO”, then the people on either side of them have to switch seats with each other. While these two people are trying to switch seats, the person in the middle asking the question has to try to get in one of their seats as well. Note that the person who answered “NO” stays still while all this is going on around them.

  • Honey, If You Love Me...

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    Make a team of guys and girls and have one of the groups say to the other, “Honey, if you love me, would you please, please smile.” If the person smiles, then it is a point for the team that made them smile. If they don’t smile, then it is a point for their team. Allow them either 2 or 3 tries to make them smile. Teams could consist of 4 or 5 members and only one member goes at a time. 

  • House of Cards

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    Provide your Huddle members with a deck of playing cards or note cards. Tell them they must create a card house with at least two levels to it. (They will soon discover the difficulty in establishing the foundation level, not to mention the upper level.)

    After some time has passed, use their experiences to emphasize the parable of The Wise and Foolish Builders (Matthew 7:24-27). Compare the house built on sand to the card houses that kept falling down –– our lives without Christ as the builder. Then compare the card houses that did stand to those with the solid foundation of rock –– Christ as the careful and masterful builder of our lives. 

  • Balloon Sitting

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    This game requires lots of inflated balloons. The object of the game is to see who can break more balloons in a given time by sitting on them. Make the last one a water balloon. 

  • Human Knot

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    Divide your group into circles of 10-12 people, each facing inward. Everyone then reaches across with one arm and grabs someone else’s hand, interweaving hands and arm in a random fashion. Do the same for the other hand. Next comes the challenge. Try to get everyone back into a perfect circle while still holding hands. Letting go is not an option. It takes communication, cooperation and a sense of humor. You will need to go through, under, over, etc. people’s arms until you are successful. 

  • Balloon Stuff in Sweats

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    For this activity you need balloons (not inflated), two oversized pairs of sweat pants, two oversized sweatshirts and one needle. Break into two teams. Each team has two minutes to inflate and pass the balloons to a teammate who is wearing the oversized sweat pants and sweatshirt. This person stuffs the balloons into the oversized sweats. When the two minutes is up, a leader counts the balloons by popping them with a needle (carefully!) while the person is still “wearing” them. The team who is wearing the most balloons wins. 

  • People Bingo

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    Make several bingo cards with statements about people in each space. Give a card to each person and have a race to see who can fill their card with people’s names matching the descriptions. (i,e. , a Redskins fan, drives a red Camaro, works at Walmart, etc.) 

  • Balls Under Boxes

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    There is quite a bit of setup to make this work right, but it is really funny. Place a couple of tables or card tables beside each other (leaving 8 inches between them) and cover with table cloths that hang down to the floor. Overlap the table clothes together leaving just enough space for someone’s head to come up between the two tables. Place four boxes on the table and ask one person to kneel on the ground between the two tables (now slightly spread apart) with their head above table level under one box. Put different kinds of balls under the other three boxes.

  • SH! When’s Your Birthday?

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    There are no materials needed for this icebreaker. Just have everyone stand up and arrange themselves in order of their birthdays from earliest birthday to latest (month and day only). The trick is, no one can talk. They can only use gestures. Give them a time limit. 

  • Banana Eating Contest

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    Choose four contestants and tell them that the object of the game is to eat as many bananas as they can in one minute. They will be competing against each other and the clock. But to add more of a challenge, blindfold each contestant. Once the contest begins, remove 3 of the blindfolds. This leaves one person still blindfolded eating bananas as fast as they can. Have everyone cheer this person on to victory! 

  • Snowball

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    Before the session begins, provide a piece of paper and a pen for each person. Everyone gets to write down one question they have always wanted to ask. Then each person crumples up the paper into a snowball and they all proceed to have an all-out snowball fight for 30 seconds. At the end each person should have one snowball. They are to open it up and answer it according to what they believe. Then try and bring it back to the Bible. 

  • Banana Rugby

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    Much like “Frisbee Rugby.” In a large room that’s easy to clean, two teams each try to advance the banana over the opposite goal line. The banana can be advanced only by passing it. Players may take only 2 or 3 steps before throwing the banana. A team loses possession of the banana if a member takes more than the acceptable number of steps before throwing or if a throw becomes an incomplete pass. Have plenty of bananas on hand; they’re reduced to mush quickly. And spiking the banana after a score is not recommended. 

  • Barbasol Beauty Parlor

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    Have several male volunteers come up and have them each select a beautician from the audience. Give the beautician beauty supplies: shaving cream, and other items if you wish (sprinkles, chocolate syrup, etc.). Have the beautician put the shaving cream in their partner’s hair and try to beautify him as much as possible. Have the crowd applaud to determine the best job and the winner. 

  • Barnyard Animals

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    Each person is given a farm animal, making sure that another person in the group has the same animal. The students close their eyes and make the sound of that particular animal. The object is for the students to find the other person with the same animal by listening for the same sound. Once the students have found each other, they should find out about one another and report back to the group. 

  • Bible Brain Buster

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    Make enough copies of the paragraph written below so each person can have one. Tell the students to look carefully in the paragraph and find the names of 16 books of the Bible. As they find each name, underline or circle it.

    Here is the paragraph:

  • Bigger and Better Scavenger Hunt

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    Students begin with a stick of gum and go from house to house asking for something “bigger and better” than the current object. Make sure the homeowners know they will NOT be getting their item back because it will be traded at the next stop! At the end of a pre-determined time limit, everyone returns to the meeting place with their final object covered with a sheet. One by one each team reveals their “biggest and best” object and then have some “judges” (possibly use some adult sponsors) decide who wins the prize. End the meeting by discussing HEAVEN which is the “biggest and best” of all! For refreshments serve Heavenly Hash Ice Cream or Angel Food Cake.

  • Blindfold Marco Polo Dodgeball

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    Blindfold half of the leaders and give them a dodgeball. Have them stand in the middle of the play area. Assign a second person to each blindfolded leader to be a ball fetcher. The blindfolded leader then calls out “Marco” to which every student must respond “Polo!” The blindfolded leader tries to throw the ball at the students. If they hit one, the assistant leader removes them to a designated area and then gets the ball. The last student remaining is the winner.

    Rules:

    If a student doesn’t respond “Polo” he or she is automatically out. If a student ever touches or is hit by a ball he or she is out. 

  • Blindfolded Water Fight

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    The materials for this activity include two blindfolds and two water guns. Break into two groups and take one member from each group out of the room and blindfold them. While they are being blindfolded, put two water guns in the room somewhere. When the blindfolded players come back in, each group has to verbally guide their player to find their water pistol. Once they each find their pistol, the groups instruct them so they can have a water fight. The team members will be giving directions for a direct hit.

    Hint:

    • Break the teams into boys vs. girls
    • If your teammate finds the pistol first, after he/she soaks the other blindfolded player, instruct him/her to soak the other team. 

  • Cow - Tongue Football

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    Go to your local meat market and purchase a cow tongue (yes people eat them, usually boiled!) Keep the tongue frozen until the day you play, then thaw it out so it's fairly stiff when you start out. Play a game of football using Pass-Go a.k.a. Ultimate Frisbee rules and use the cow tongue instead of a frisbee or football. The longer you play, the less frozen the tongue, the more floppy the action. Kids will come out in droves just to see people throwing a cow's tongue to each other!

    Follow the game with a devotion on the importance of "taming the tongue" from James 3:3-12.

  • Circle of Compliments

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    This icebreaker can be used with a large or small group. Everyone gets a partner and sits in a circle. One of the partners sits facing the inside of the circle, while the other partner sits in front of them, facing their partner. For about 20-30 seconds each, the partners exchange what they like about the other person (it can be anything from hair to spirituality, depending on how well the partners know one another). After 30 seconds, the outer circle moves one person to the left, and begins the cycle over again.

    Not only did our FCA Huddle get a lot of laughs out of what was said, the compliments made you feel great for the rest of the day. 

  • Balloon Bag Volleyball

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    Materials needed are a trash bag and a few balloons. Set up a volleyball net and form teams, but instead of using a volleyball you use the trash bag filled with balloons. Seal the end of the bag with duct tape. Basic volleyball rules apply except that a person may hit the ball up to 6 times per side, and they can’t use their hands or arms. They only use their head and feet. 

  • Autographs

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    For this activity, you need ten non-permanent, washable ink pens. Have five guys each remove one shoe and one sock. They have three minutes to collect as many female signatures as possible on the soles of their feet. You might want to limit each girl to signing the foot of only three guys. 

  • Animal Trivial

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    Give each person a copy of the following on a piece of paper and a pen. Give them a certain amount of time (three minutes or so) to find a different person for each of the “animal trivialities” listed. When they find a person, have them place their initials in the blank. If possible, try not to use an individual more than once.

    Animal Trivialities:

  • Airplane Name Game

    June 12, 2009

    icebreaker

    After everyone puts their name on a piece of paper, each person makes a plane out of the paper and flies it into the middle of the group. Then each person chooses a plane and finds out all about the person who made it. 

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