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Warm-ups help your learners put aside their daily distractions and focus on English. If
they haven't used English all day, they may take a little while to shift into it. Warm-ups
also encourage whole-group participation which can build a sense of community within
the group.
Count Up!
This is a good activity for 6 to 10 people who have good cognitive abilities. The idea is
for the group to count to 10. Here are the rules for 10 people in the group:
Size of group: 1 to 10
Focus: Getting the groups attention! Have you had a group where you can't get their
attention or that is disjointed? Try this challenge activity and warm up the group
quickly.
Description: Lay down a dollar bill on the ground and challenge each person to jump
over the bill length wise. What makes the jump difficult is that the person must hold
onto their toes with their hands as they jump. They cannot let go of their toes as they
jump. The individual who succeeds in jumping the bill collects the dollar.
Size: 5+
Equipment: None
Description: Procedure: Arrange group into a large circle with one person in the middle.
The leader will prompt with the phrase Have you ever ? The person in the middle will
finish the phrase. Example: Have you ever had candy bars for breakfast? Each of the
people in the circle that has done what the person in the middle has said (had candy bars
for breakfast) will quickly exchange places with someone else that has also done it.
Whoever is left in the middle will finish the phrase the next
time. The game has no real end so you can play 2 or 20 times, it s up to you!
Research Game
Description: Indicate to the group that you are conducting research to determine....
(make up something). Invite everyone in the group to the center of the room. Say, "If
you are more like a Cadillac, go to the right of the room. If you are more like a
Volkswagen, go the left of the room."
Once the group is separated, invite everyone to look around to see who has shared
interests and to look across the room to see who has different thoughts. Have the group
re-join in the center of the room and repeat the activity with two different items.
Winter------summer
Pen---------computer
Soap Opera--cartoons
Pizza-------steak
Racing Car--antique car
Book--------movie
Lucy--------Charlie Brown
For groups that are not mobile, invite the group to stand or sit... raise hand or lower
hand.
Quick Link
Size of Group: 10 to ?
Description: As the group leader shouts out "get into groups of fours," everyone quickly
joins in a group of four. At any time, even before the group of four is formed, the leader
shouts out another instruction. Examples: everyone with same color shoes, everyone
with same color eyes, groups of five, people born in the same month, people with same
Zodiac sign, form a letter Z with groups of 3 people.
Size: 5-15
Objective: get the group relaxed and allow them to feel ""silly"" with each other
Description: This game is just like the game ""telephone"" but instead of passing a word
or phrase around you pass a facial expression. Get the group in a circle. Have everyone
close their eyes except the person who wants to pass the ""face"". The passer will tap
the shoulder of the person next to her, that person will open his eyes to receive the face.
He will then tap the shoulder of the person next to him and pass the face along. Once
you have passed the face you may keep your eyes open to watch it move around the
group. At the end, the original passer receives the face from the last person in the group
and then shows what the original face was! This game ALWAYS gets people laughing!
Newspaper in a Bag
Objective: To stimulate imagination, curiosity and improvisation and to help break ice
in group
Description: Bag is passed around group. They can guess what’s inside. Before its
revealed they are told that they may think that its something very boring, however their
challenge is to make it into something exciting. Group leader can begin. Newspaper can
be crumpled, torn folded etc and transformed into something such as a hat. Participants
can mime the new item and others in the group guess.
Modified Simon Says
Size: 8-12
Equipment: None
Objective: Group members learn the importance of paying attention when given
instructions.
Description: Members sit in a circle. One member is selected to be the listener. A peer
gives them instructions of something silly to do or say and the member follows the
directions. Then another peer gives a direction to follow. The group member then
completes the first instruction and then the second instruction. This continues until the
member is unable to remember which direction is next. Then another member is
selected and so on.
Relaxation Warm-Up
Size: 2-8
Description: Working with the disabled population, I find many times that when
entering into a therapy session, they are quite hyper-sensitive and unfocused. I find that
these individuals need time to sit and relax and become focused so that they can
successfully participate in a program. Prior to the structured activity, whether it be
music, dance, etc., having individuals sit in a circle and experiment with a variety of
lotions and/or massagers for relaxation. Working 1:1 with individuals giving them lotion
to hands and arms while explaining to them what they will soon be doing with the
upcoming activity. I find this relaxation/sensory period help individuals, especially the
disabled, to become more focused and ready to participate in an activity as opposed to
just jumping into movement, instrument play, etc. This activity can also be used as a
closing to any session, allowing individuals to cool down and relax before leaving.
Circle Massage
Description: Have the group form a circle and face one direction. Instruct each person to
place their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them. Each person then gives
the person in front of them a shoulder massage. Feedback to the massage giver (such as
"that's perfect") is encouraged. After a few minutes, the group does an about-face so that
they are now massaging the shoulders of the person who just gave them a massage.
This can be a lead up activity to discussions on relaxation, touch, and/or trust. This can
also be an end-of-group activity
THREE THINGS
This is a family favorite. It also teaches connection making skills and can assist with the
transfer of learning.
1. The child comes up with three things (real or abstract) that they want in their story
e.g. 'Father Christmas', 'me' and 'a huge present'. You instantly tell a story with these
three things in it.
2. Each child (approximately 3!) comes up with a 'thing' that really challenges the story-
teller e.g. 'the dirt in my finger-nail', 'spending £100 million in a minute' and 'a really,
really, really funny ending'. You do your best! But when children get this 'clever' it's
definitely time to turn the tables (and let them enjoy story-telling)...
3. You come up with 3 'things' for the child (or children) to tell you a story about.
1. Ask each individual to choose three different 'things' from the course that they want
to remember ('things' they valued directly, or 'things' they valued indirectly because of
what they learned as a result). Ask each individual to describe these three different
things to a partner in a way that brings out similarities or connections.
2. Ask each individual to choose one high(ish) point from the course and one low(ish)
point from the course and then to imagine a situation six months ahead when they are
facing a problem and have a 'flashback' to the course. Ask each individual to tell a story
(to the group or to a partner) which brings these three 'things' together into one story. A
more challenging variation is to ask each person to write a 'future problem' on a piece of
paper and put the 'problem' into a hat.
Each person in turn, draws a (random) problem and incorporates it into a story with the
high and low points they have already chosen.
Name circle
Materials: none
Procedure
1. Get all the students to stand in a large circle.
2. Each student must say his or her name clearly.
3. One student points to another student, calls out his name and the two
students change places. The second student calls points, calls out the
name of another student and they change places.
Variation
• The students stand in a circle. One student calls out someone's name and
throws a ball to that person. They call out someone else's name and throw
the ball to them.