“REALLY ICY” ICEBREAKERS

 1. Get a teen’s plastic wading pool and drop a few bags of ice in it. Put a few smooth rocks or marbles in the pool. (10-20 should do.). This first game is to have different teams fish out six rocks or marbles with their bare toes. Be Prepared, there will probably be a few screams with this one! Having some towels ready is a good idea for drying off as well as warming up those cold footies.

How’s that for a “Real Icebreaker”!   

2. Open up your meeting by bringing some of the teens (about four would be great) up front and giving each of them an ice cube. Immediately set a stopwatch going and give each of them one minute to melt the ice cube as best they can. No blowing on it and no putting it to the body - only hand squeezing and hand rolling are allowed. Find out the real “tough” types in your group as they endure freezing temperatures in order to win.

“STRENGTH CONTEST” ICEBREAKER

Obtain an exercise hand-gripper - the kind that has the big spring in the middle, where you must bring both handles together under resistance.

 Divide the room up into teams.

 Your opening challenge between teams is to have a representative come up and see how long they can hold the two handles together with only one hand squeezing. Only one hand holds it, and both ends of the handle must stay together!

 Have a girls’ division and a guys’ division. The usual length of time holding the handles together is about 30 seconds for girls, about a minute for guys. Have a time-keeper/judge standing next to them, registering the length of time.

To add to the contest, give regular announcements as the contestant stands there, gritting their teeth and trying to hold those handles together. Have the top three in each division win “Three Musketeers” bars for being a “true Musketeer.” Also award their team some points.

 This may seem overly simple, but be sure to take a camera shot of the guy who is grimacing, trying to hold those the ends of the gripper together for the last few seconds. It will be “priceless”. You’ll be sure to get rooting and cheering from the audience as well.

“GRAPE AGAINST THE CLOCK” ICEBREAKER

 This is a simple but fun icebreaker game.. 

 Pick two fairly athletic and/or skilled teens to compete against the clock. Bring them to the front of the room as you open up the night. Encourage those not participating to cheer for their favorite

Put one teen behind a line of tape stretched across the floor, with a bowl full of grapes. The other teen is five feet away, behind a second stretch of tape with a funnel in his mouth.

 When you say “go”,

 the throwing teen will try to toss grapes into the funnel of the catching teen. Remember, the funnel stays in the mouth of the teen and no hands are allowed to help!

 The time limit is one minute.

 As soon as one catch is made, the referee pulls out the grape and puts it aside, counting the catch as a score…this helps keep the funnel clear for the next catch.

 Have about three teams compete in this funny competition.

 For added fun, keep the grapes in the funnel as the minute continues. It’s great fun trying to see the teen balance five or six grapes in the funnel while trying to catch another one!

 ”PAPER CLIP LINK UP” Icebreaker

 This icebreaker starts as the teens first enter the room for the evening, well before the announcements or anything.  You will need a lot of paper clips for this opener; so be ready.

 Each teen gets ten paper clips, and the idea is to get other teens to join up and create the largest ring of paper clips in the group.  If you have a large teen group, ten clips will be okay.  If you have a smaller group, twenty or thirty would be great. 

The teens must try to persuade others to join their growing ring.  At the very beginning, though, tell the first three teens that they can not connect with each other.  Therefore, the beginning icebreaker is to see how the growing groups persuade the newcomers to join up with them.

 The new teens may give all ten clips to one team, or “compromise” and split their clips among the groups.  After this icebreaker, you can talk about the temptations of the world and the compromises some people make. 

GROUP UNTANGLE

 This fun icebreaker will really get the group’s energy flowing! I may not seem to make any sense but the teens love it.

 Here’s how to get started:

 The whole group of teens will assemble in a circle with each person clasping a hand of someone different. (In other words, they will be holding one person’s hand with their left hand and someone else’s with their right hand) IMPORTANT! It cannot be the person next to them.

 Now that they are in a complete jumble, blow the whistle and give them one minute to get untangled without letting go of each other’s hands. There is no prize, but the mayhem is a lot of fun to watch.

 MOUTH TUG-OF-WAR

 Tie a marshmallow to the middle of a five-foot string. Make about seven sets of these “Marshmallow Stringlines.”

1.  Assemble teams of two at the front of the room. Each pair will be competing against each other. Have each couple stand facing each other about two feet apart. Make sure the string is slack and the marshmallow is resting on a table or stand.
2. Inform both members of the team that they are to put the free end of the string into their mouth. They are to keep their hands behind their back and not touch the string at all. At the sound of the referee’s whistle, the persons at each end of the string must chew the string, getting as much as possible into their mouth and working towards the marshmallow in the middle.
    

The time limit is 60 seconds.

 This contest is a sort of “tug of war” to see who can get to the middle object first. The facial expressions are great , but the best part is when somebody cracks up and spits out about a foot of string they worked so hard to tug.

 After 60 seconds, see who is closer to the marshmallow and determine the winner.  You can award a small prize like a candy bar to each winner.

“We Are Similar” Icebreaker Game

Before the meeting, write the following sentence across the top of a dry erase board, chalk board or large sheet of paper:

“______ and I are similar because we…”

Then list a few of following sample similarities below the sentence:

• Are from the same home state
• Laugh the same way
• Like the same book or type of books
• Drive the same type of vehicle
• Have the same favorite color
• Like the same dessert
• Have the same color of eyes
• Wear the same style of shoes
• Have the same number of siblings
• Have been married the same number of years
• Have the same hobby
• Have the same middle initial
• Have the same number of children (including zero)
• Work at the same type of job
• Have children the same ages
• Like the same kind of sandwich

As the ladies enter, give each person an index card and a pencil. When everyone has arrived, say: “Choose a person you do not know well, and write on your card that person’s first name and at least five similarities you share. I’ve listed sample similarities on this poster, but you aren’t limited just these.”

Allow people five minutes to complete their lists and to chat with their partners. Then say: “Now find someone else you do not know well and use the other side of your card to repeat the process with that person. “

After another five minutes, ask people to introduce their two partners by name and to list their similarities. In this way, the group will hear from two different perspective views (Ten things about each person).

 Women Church Group “Toilet Paper” Icebreaker.

 
Have everyone sit in a circle or if you have a large group make several circles.  Pass around a roll of toilet paper, and tell everyone that is the only toilet paper in the place, and to tear off what they will want to use!

Once the roll has made it all the way around, start with the first lady in the circle and ask her to tell one thing about herself for each square of toilet paper she tore off!

Go around the entire circle.

What’s really fun is when they take you seriously about that being the only toilet roll available. You’ll have ladies wrapping the stuff around their hand and hiding it in their purses!   

“If I Were Queen Of The WORLD…” Icebreaker

 As the ladies come in, hand them a 3 x 5 card, telling them to put down five laws they would enact if they were made “Queen of the World” tomorrow. Tell them to remember that when they write these laws, everyone will be required to obey them. You will start a lot of laughter or invite interesting discussion when you gather these up and read them aloud.

 Answers may vary from: “Pornographers will be put to death”, “No abortion allowed” and “Drunk Drivers should be jailed for life” to “People who snore should be shot.”

 After you have read the cards, you may want to have a brief discussion on the importance of following the right rules: God’s Word.

 EASTER ICEBREAKER

•  Hollow out some eggs - real eggs, not the plastic ones.
• Insert a blessing that God has given your group this past year (i.e. “someone accepting Christ”, “the spiritual growth of the group”, “improved group attendance”) and insert it into the egg through the top hole of the egg on a fortune-cookie-size slip.

• At the beginning, call up different persons to “break open” the Easter Eggs and read the blessing.
   
• At the end,  either you or someone else leads the group in a prayer of thanksgiving.

  Now, that’s a  special  beginning for your meeting!

NEW YEARS RESOLUTION ICEBREAKER

 Here’s a good icebreaker to try at the beginning of the New Year.  It works well with any age group.

 As the group walks into your meeting, give each of them a 3″ x 5″ card and a pencil or pen. Don’t give them the reason just yet, but just tell them to write down at least three New Year’s “resolutions” - or goals, or whatever you want to call them. Make sure they put their names on it.

 After your opening scripture reading and prayer, read about five or so of the best cards and have the group try to guess who the people are.

 Some of the answers may be pretty funny, and some may be thought-provoking.

Mother’s or Father’s Day Icebreaker

 This simple Church Group Icebreaker will crack up the youth as well as drawing attention to Parents as the Theme of the meeting. 

Have the youth put down three facts about their parents that many people don’t know. Some of the facts could be their parents’ middle names, their nicknames for each other, Dad’s favorite radio station or Mom’s favorite hobby, the funniest thing they ever did…..you get the idea.

 Have the youth put their names on the bottom of the page and hand the page in, folded down. The rest of the teens are going to try to figure out who is it. The one that fools the most people the longest time wins the prize.

 Give a fun prize:

• 1 lb. Hershey Bar or
• A 2 Liter of Coke or
• Movie Tickets or
• Small giftcard (Wal-Mart??)

 You may need more than one prize depending on your group size.