FUN LARGE GROUP ICE BREAKERS

Another Shoe Game

Everybody takes of a shoe from one side (lets say right side) and throw that shoe in a pile.
Then everybody grab (at random) a shoe from the pile and put in on. Now the aim is to pair up
the shoes. Each person must find the people who are wearing the same shoes as he/she is, and
stand such that the pair of shoes are together. E.g. I'm wearing my shoe A and somebody's
shoe G, I must find the person who is wearing the other shoe A, and stand so that pair of
shoes are together (AA), and I must find someone wearing shoe G, and put my shoe G with
his/her shoe G. Both shoes A and shoes G should be together in space and time (i.e. the object
is to form a sort of a line or 'twister' kind of formation where all the shoes have been paired
up.)
Barnyard game

There are several ways of doing this. Either in the dark or in a lighted room. Dark is a lot more
fun, but you need to make sure none of the adults are playing (because of liability and
Harassment). It does work well in a lighted room too. While the "kids" (Term used loosely -
since most of the people reading this would probably consider me a kid at 20) are coming into
the room assign them animals (i.e.: Donkey, Chicken, Horse, and Elephant; get creative). Tell
them not to tell anyone what animal they are. They have to find everyone else with the same
animal that they have. They do this by making the animal sounds (They may NOT talk). Give
them a while, and when it seems like they've all found their groups, let them stop. You can also
play other games with the groups they've made. They can do some mixers in the small groups -
get to know each other. NOTE: You can have each group hold hands once they've found their
group - Jr. Hi Usually Loves the idea, and High School usually doesn't really care.
Birdie on a Perch
Have everyone get a partner. Have them decide who is the birdie and who is the perch. Have all
the birdies stand in a circle and all the perches stand in a circle surrounding the birdies. Have
music ready. When the music starts, the birdies walk clockwise around the circle and the
perches walk counter-clockwise. When the music stops, the birdies must find their perches and
sit on them. Usually the perch kneels on one knee, making a perch out of the other leg. The last
couple to pair up is out and the object is to be the last couple left. It's more fun if you make
them move quickly in their circles so that they are at least jogging. To speed it up, you can
make the last 3 (or more) couples to pair up be out.
Body Part Musical Chairs
Have everyone form a big circle of chairs with the chairs facing outward. Remove one chair.
Have music ready. When the music starts everyone must walk around the chairs (again it's fun
if you make them jog). When the music stops, a caller yells out a body part. Then everyone
races to touch that body part to a chair, one person per chair only. If they touch a chair
before the body part is called, they are out. The one person who doesn't get a chair is also
out. To speed it up, you can remove more chairs. We usually start out simple - nose, hair, left
elbow, etc. but towards the end we get more complicated - your bare feet, someone else's left
hand (they must grab one of the people who are already out). The object is to be the last one
left.
Boom Chicka Boom
Person leading: "I Say a BOOM"
cast: "I say a Boom"
leader: "I say a boom - chicka "
cast: "I say a boom-chicka"
Leader: "I say a boom-chicka-boom"
cast: "I say a boom-chicka-boom"
leader: "I say a boom-chicka-rocka-chicka-rocka-chicka-boom"
cast: "I say a boom-chicka-rocka-chicka-rocka-chicka-boom"
leader "Oh yeah"
cast: "Oh yeah"
leader: "One more time"
cast: "One more time"
leader: "In _____ (opera, jive, rap, preacher revival, sign language, whisper, sexy, valley girl,
fast, slow, etc.)"
1. The leader leads this with the cast or class. Each time he changes the style and the class
must follow.
Bring Back My Bonny
This is a good mixer to do with all ages and lasts about 5 minutes. Get the group into a large
circle and have a leader stand in the middle and explain the idea. The idea of this game is that
every time the leader says a word beginning with a B the group stands up or sits down,
depending upon if you are standing or sitting at that time. The leader should make sure the
group understands and then starts to sing the song Bring Back my Bonny:
My Bonny lies over the ocean. My Bonny lies over the sea.
My Bonny lies over the ocean. Oh bring back my Bonny to me.
Bring back, bring back, bring back my Bonny to me, to me (sing the line 2 times)
Captains Calling

This is a great blood pumping game for all ages and it lasts about 15 minutes. You must choose
one leader to be the captain. This person is usually outgoing and loud. Then you must have one
of the leaders be a jailer. Have the captain explain all the rules and control the game. Have
the group form lines, one behind the other, facing front. Then have the captain explain that
this game is a lot like Simon says. You are crew members on a ship and I am your captain.
Whatever I say to do, you do. If you disobey my orders then you go to jail, where the jailer
will make you do push ups and jumping jacks (This is a good deterrent for the slackers to try).
When the captain says stern, the crew must run backwards. When the captain says bow, the
crew must come to the front. When the captain says port, the crew must go left. When the
captain says starboard, the crew must go right. Make sure the crew understands these
directions before you go on. The rest of the commands should be done when the captain says
the call and they do not stop until the captain says captains calling. When the captain says
this, the crew must stand back at attention. One of these commands is captains ball, where 2
people get together and dance with one another. The person who is left out is out. The crew
must dance until the captain says captains calling. If the captain says stern before he says
captains calling and some people go backwards, they are out because they must be at attention
before they can do any other action. The other actions are rowboat, where three people get
together and row a boat. The people left standing are out. There is also octopus, where 4
people get together and sit back to back and kick their legs up. Then finally there is starfish,
where 6 people link arms and swing around in a circle. The game ends when there are two
people left. This gets the retreatants up and going and excited about the retreat.
Cinderellas Shoe
This is an icebreaker that is great for all ages and lasts about 15 minutes. Have the group find
a partner and have the pair sit next to one another in a circle. Now that everybody has a
partner, take blindfolds and blindfold one of the partners in each pair. Once at least one
person per pair is blindfolded, tell the non blindfolded person to take off one shoe and throw it
in the middle of the circle. When a leader says go, all the blindfolded people have to go to the
middle and bring back the right shoe that belongs to their partner. Their partner can scream
and yell from their seats, but cannot touch them or physically guide them to their shoe. The
blindfolded person must bring back the right shoe in order for the game to be stopped and
Cinderella to live happily ever after.
Crows and Cranes
Find a stick or other fairly sized object that is two sided. Pick two teams-crows and cranes.
When the object lands on one side, crows chase cranes. When on the other side, the opposite
happens. The teams start facing each other and a line is designated behind each as the goal. If
the crows chase the cranes, the cranes have to get past their line before they are tagged. If
they are tagged they become a crow. This lasts FOREVER!!!
Do you love your neighbor?
Here's a icebreaker that they can play as a group. With chairs formed in a circle, make sure
everyone has a chair, you will then take away one chair and you can decide who will be the
person that's out. The person that is out will go up to another person, and have that person
stand up and they will switch places (person out now has that persons chair) still remain
standing and face to face person that was out, asks "do you love your neighbor" ? New person
out says Yes especially those who have eyebrows! Then all must leave their seats and can only
run to the chair open across from them, they may not move to the seat that is to either side
of them. The group has only three chances to say no, to the question "do you love your
neighbor"? When saying no, all must leave their seats and find another seat. Example for other
replies to do you love your neighbor are, especially those who love Jesus, those who play
basketball, those who are wearing T-shirts, or the color of clothing etc... If no is replied the
fourth time, the game is over. It gets pretty loud, but the teenagers love this game.
A Frogs Perspective

This story starts off with a guy walking in with no emotion on his face, but has a (hopefully
stuffed) frog on his head. Then he begins his story, staying without emotion the whole time. I
have a friend who had the weirdest problem youd ever heard of. He had a frog stuck to his
head. So he went to many different doctors throughout the United States and nobody could
help him. So he finally went to this one doctor that all the other doctors he went to
recommended to see. He walked to the receptionists desk and signed. It just so happened
that the doctor saw my friend while he was walking down the hall. The doctor did not know
what to do because he never had seen anything like this before. So he called his Harvard
professor and researched different books, but couldnt find an answer. Finally the doctor told
the receptionist to let him in, since he was sitting in the waiting room for a very long time.
Once he got into the examination room the doctor asked my friend what the problem was. My
friend just stood there looking at the doctor. The doctor asked again, What seems to be the
problem? Still no answer from my friend just a blank stare. Finally the doctor exclaimed, If
you do not tell me what the problem is then I cannot help you and you will have to leave. As
the doctor said this the frog spoke up and said, Can you please help me get this wart off my
ass. This story just goes to show you that you can take different perspectives on a similar
issue. You can be open to what the retreat has to offer or you can look at this retreat as a
total drag. It is all in your perspective.
Fruit Game

This is a fun icebreaker for all ages and lasts about 10-15 minutes. Have the large group form
a circle with their chairs facing inward. Have everyone go around and state a fruit. Tell them
to remember their fruit name and that nobody can choose the same fruit. Then choose one
volunteer from the audience and remove his chair. Hand a towel or rag to the volunteer. He is
the person who is it. He must tag any person that is standing up before he/she sits back
down in his/her chair. The way the game works is the person who is it calls out a fruit. Then
the person who chose that fruit stands up and states his fruit and another fruit before sitting
back down in their seat. Then the new fruit stands up and states her fruit name and another
fruit name and so on. These people must say their fruit name, another fruit name, and sit down
before the person who is it tags them with the towel. If the person gets tagged before
he/she sits down then they are the new person that is it. The one rule is that the person who
is it cannot attempt to hurt anybody or throw the towel. If people start memorizing the
people with the fruit names then it is time to stop the game.
HandClap
This is a good in-between game for all ages. One person stands up front on a chair and explains
to the large group that all they have to do is clap every time he crosses his hands. The leader
should cross his hands two or three times then fake one and see how many people clap. Some
people will. Then you can slow down your crossing motion or even tell them how many times you
are going to cross your hands. People will still clap. Do not do it too long because it gets old
pretty quick.
Have you ever...?
Any Size Group
Inside Game w/ Chairs
Have them sit in a circle with one less chair than people. Odd person is in the middle. They say
have you ever...fell asleep in church? Or, cheated on a test?, etc. Everyone that it applies to
has the get up and move at least 5 chairs from where they were sitting. The person in the
middle tries to get a seat and so someone else will be left in the middle. It works best to not
only be specific but general as well - "Have you ever attended this YG before?"
Caution: Sometimes it gets rough! Make sure they don't shove each other over the chairs.
I'm Going to New York

1. Break the class into two teams. Place them on opposite sides of the room.
Team one decides on an occupation that they will act out for the other team to guess. Team
one then moves toward the other team while saying the following dialogue:
Team one: We're going to New York
Team two: What's your trade?
Team one: Lemonade
Team two: Give us some, or go away.
2. The students then act out the occupation and the other team two guesses out loud. When
one student guesses what the occupation is team one tries to run back to their side before
being tagged by team two. Everyone who is tagged returns back to team two's side.
3. You may also act out different things that are being studied or, for younger ages, animals or
other objects.
LaVida Tag
Any Size Group
Break the group into two. Have them line up shoulder to shoulder facing the other group about
10 feet away. (This should make two rows of people standing side by side looking at each other
10' apart. Choose two people on the end. One is it the other gets chased. They have to run
around and between the two lines of people until one is tagged. Boring, right? Here's where it
gets fun. The person being chased can run up behind someone and push them in the back into
the middle where they become the one being chased. The person being chased can only make
someone else run by pushing them into the middle from behind. Now "IT" is outside the rows
and the other person is inside. Let them play like this for a while until they get used to it. Now
add this rule; If you are in the rows you can turn around and face the person trying to push you
in and not allow them to change positions with you by facing that person. Another option is to
have the rows move until they are about 1 foot apart. (This makes it really difficult for the
person being chased).
Link Tag (Elbow Tag or Pac Man)
Any Number (Even Number of People)
Indoors or Out All Ages Athletic!
Everyone splits off into two and finds a space within the play area. They then link arms. The
youth leader picks a twosome as volunteers! One member of the twosome is IT and the other
runs from IT. This works like a normal game of chasing except that the person who is running
can grab the free arm of any person in any other twosome at any point they like. When they do
this they become a part of the twosome and the original member of the twosome who was not
grabbed must now run from IT and try and link up with another twosome. If IT catches the
victim, then the victim becomes IT and It becomes the victim and must run and link up with
another group.
Musical Circles
Have each person find a partner. Have them make two circles - one inside the other (each
partner should be in a different circle facing their partner.) The object is to be the last couple
in the game. NOTE: you'll need a CD player or tape player. When the music is ON they should
be walking around in their circles - In opposite directions. (i.e.: inner circle clockwise and outer
circle counter-clockwise.) When you STOP the music yell out 2 body parts (i.e.: foot and ear)
and they need to find their partner and connect the body parts (i.e...touch one persons foot to
the other person's ear). They need to hold their position until you tell them to circle up again.
After a couple of practice rounds, start calling the last 2 or 3 couples out, and have them sit
by the side. If you have some good music, have them clapping with the music to keep from
getting bored (or in trouble) You can use
any number of body parts i.e.: rump, knee, foot, ear, head, nose, etc...usually as a last one -
when there's only a couple of couples left, (for the older kids) use something like nose to nose,
or nose to ear... they don't really end up doing anything, but it looks incriminating, and the
hesitation can often be funny.
Pass the Carrot
Have everyone form a circle. Place a carrot between the knees of the tallest person; he or she
must pass the carrot to the knees of the person to the left without using their hands. This
continues until the carrot goes entirely around the circle. Then break off a piece of the carrot
and pass it around again. If a person drops the carrot, he or she is out of the game. The last
person left is the winner. Give him or her a fresh carrot to take home.
People to People (Anatomy Clumps)
This is good for all ages. Have the large group stand in a circle. Have a leader call out a body
part and a number. (ie. 5 elbows) Everyone has to immediately get into groups of five with
their five elbows sticking together in the center. Keep doing this with different body parts
and numbers. The last one should be a ridiculous number with a ridiculous body part (ie.
eyelashes). No one will do it and they will probably sit back down. They now know the game is
over.
Pharaoh, Pharaoh
This is a great song icebreaker that last about 5 -10 minutes and is good for all ages. You will
need to play the song Pharaoh, Pharaoh by Steve Angresano for this activity. One of the
leaders goes up front to explain the hand motions for the song. The motions follow the words
to the song. The first words of the song are Pharaoh, pharaoh, so the group puts their hands
together over their head and makes like and Egyptian. Then the next motion is two quick
claps. After that, the words are Oh Baby. This is when the group makes an O with their
hands together over their heads. After you have the O, hold your hands together and swing
them down to your belly, making like you are pregnant (Baby). Then next line is Let my people
go. This is when the group points with both of their hands in front of them with their index
fingers and then draws back their hands to point backwards with their thumbs. Then the
group does a Pelvic thrust for the Uh sound. Then Steve sings Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This
is when the group walks like an Egyptian. Then one verse starts and the group just dances and
claps their hands. Then you repeat this action when the refrain comes back. Now you are
ready to start the song. It is a lot of fun if the group is open to it, but if they are not open, it
could be a disaster.
Pile Up (Traffic Jam)
This ice breaker is good for all ages. Have the large group sit in chairs in a large circle. The
activity leader calls out directions such as, Everyone who listens to Michael Jackson move two
chairs to your right. Then the people who like Michael Jackson move two places to the right
and sit in that chair or on the persons lap who is still sitting there. This continues with other
questions. This is why we call this game pile up or traffic jam. At some point there will be tall
piles of people and empty chairs. If a person who is being sat on agrees with the question then
he moves without the pile. The questions are individually based and not pile based. Questions
can deal with clothing, personalities, hobbies, etc.
Pope Visit
This is not an activity, but a story joke. This is good for a transitional icebreaker between
talks or calling people back together on a longer retreat. It goes like this:
My friend and I went to Italy this past summer because we wanted to see the Pope. When we
arrived we were walking around aimlessly trying to figure out where exactly we could see His
Holiness. Finally, we pulled aside this nice older lady and asked her, Where is the best place
to see the Pope? She replied, I would recommend standing outside the gate of the Papal
Gardens because His Holiness goes there everyday to pray. We thanked her kindly and went
to the gate of the Papal Gardens. My friend took out his hibachi and started grilling up some
hamburgers for us to eat. We waited and waited and still the Pope did not come out of the
gardens. My friend then asked me, What do you think would happen if we hopped this
fence? At first I thought he was joking , but by the look on his face I knew he was serious. I
replied by saying, The guards would arrest us for trespassing. He said, Oh! Then I turned
around and enjoyed the sights. When I turned back towards him all I saw was his butt hanging
over the fence. I said, What are you doing? He replied, I am tired of waiting. Then he
hopped down to the ground on the other side of the fence. He told me to come over also and
not to forget his all precious hibachi. So I threw over the hibachi and climbed over the fence
too. My friend fired up the hibachi again and cooked some more hamburgers. All of sudden I
saw the Pope on top of a hill in the distance and he was making his way towards us. I was
deathly afraid of getting caught so I ran off and hid in some bushes (pointing to the left).
Then I saw the Pope come down to my friend and do this to him (Sign of the cross). Then the
Pope left. I ran out of the bushes to my friend and said, That was amazing you got blessed by
the Pope. He replied, Oh, it was nothing. I then said, Nothing? You were blessed by the
Pope. He then stated, Actually the Pope said that I want you (pointing forward), your hibachi
(pointing downward), and your friend in the bushes (pointing left) to get out of my garden
(pointing right).
Pull Up and Reign
number of people: 15 or up
number of minutes: 10-15
props: music
retreatants: junior high school, high school, college
Get the group to bring their chairs into a large circle facing inward. Pick 2 boys and 2 girls
that volunteer from the crowd and get rid of their chairs, so that there are no empty chairs in
the circle. When the music starts the boy and girl need to pull up somebody of the opposite
sex. (E.g.. A boy pulls up a girl) Then that person pulls up another person of the opposite sex.
This continues until the music stops. When the music stops you count how many boys and girls
are in the middle. If there are more girls than guys, the guys win. There are some rules that
they must abide by and they are as follows:
You cannot pick up the person right next to you or the person that pulled you up.
You cannot refuse to be pulled up.
You finally cannot whip the person out of their chair.
To make the game more fun, add another boy and girl.
Rainstorm Game
This is a good calm down game that gets everybody ready to listen to a talk. It is good for all
ages and lasts about 10-15 minutes. Have everyone sit in a large circle facing inward. Then
have one of the leaders explain that they should do whatever he/she does when he/she passes
them. Then they should keep on doing this action until the leader passes them again with a
different action. Emphasis this activity must be done quietly. The leader starts off by going
around the circle snapping his/her fingers. Then she rubs her hands together. Then he/she
claps her hands. Then he/she stomps her feet. After that, it goes back to clapping hands,
then to rubbing of hands, to snapping, and finally to silence. That was a rainstorm, which has
helped everyone to be quiet.
Rhythm
Sit the group in a circle. Pick the "leader". Beginning with the leader (#1), number off all the
way around the circle. Everyone needs to remember their number. The leader starts the
rhythm, which is - clap your hands onto your thigh tops twice, then hand-clap twice, then
finger-snap once on the left and then on the right. The leader begins and on the first finger
snap says his/her number (which of course is 1) and then on the second finger snap calls out
another number (must be in the circle). That person becomes "it". The rhythm keeps going
continually - thigh clap/hand clap/snap/snap..... Whomever the leader has identified by calling
his number is then ]responsible for calling the next set of numbers on the next finger snaps.
First finger snap is his/her number and second one is someone else in the group. Whenever
someone misses his number, miscalls, etc., he moves to the end of the circle and becomes
whatever the last number was. Everyone else moves up a seat and their numbers change. Kids,
seemingly, can play this for hours. The real object is to unseat the "leader" and as people keep
progressing, new people assume the "leader" role and try to hold onto it.
Shake
This is a great get them up and going icebreaker for any age and lasts about 5 to 10 minutes.
You need one leader to stand up in front of the group to control the action. Whatever the
leader says and does the group has to repeat it. So the leader starts out by saying, Shake
your foot., while shaking his foot. The leader has to do this in a loud crazy voice. Then the
group starts shaking their feet saying Shake, shake; shake, shake your foot. Then the leader
repeats himself and says, Shake your foot and the group responds, Shake, shake; shake,
shake your foot. The leader then says, Now freeze! The group freezes where they are at.
Then the leader says again, Shake your foot. Then the crowd responds by saying, Shake,
shake; shake, shake your foot., while shaking their feet. Then the leader adds other body
parts. For instance, the leader will say, Shake your head. and the group will respond Shake,
shake; shake, shake your head., while shaking their heads. This follows the same pattern up
top. Then you can add shake your partner also. This really gets them going!
Shoe Salesman
There was a man who was a shoe salesman in New York City and he was doing really well with
his business. So he decided to branch out and open a factory in a small village in Africa. He
sent all his developers and engineers over there and everything was going as scheduled. One
day the shoe salesman wanted to see how the factory was doing and set out for Africa. He
arrived in Africa and set out for the village. When he arrived he noticed that nobody in the
village wore shoes. Stunned, the man called back to New York City and stated, Youre never
going to believe this, nobody around here wears shoes. Cancel the order!!! Another man who
was a shoe salesman in Los Angeles decided to branch out and open a factory in a small village
in South America. He sent all his developers and engineers over there and everything was
going as scheduled. One day the shoe salesman wanted to see how the factory was doing and
set out for South America. He arrived in South America and set out for the village. When he
arrived he noticed that nobody in the village wore shoes. Stunned, the man called back to Los
Angeles and stated, Youre never going to believe this, nobody around here wears shoes.
Double the order!!!
The point is that both shoe salesmen saw the same thing, that nobody was wearing shoes, but
they had different reactions. One saw it as a catastrophe and the other saw it as an
opportunity. You will all see the same things here on this retreat: the same talks, the same
skits, the same activities, the same everything. It is up to you how you are going to react to
what you see. Some of you will close yourself off and say, What a waste of time, cancel the
order. While others might be open to the experience and say, That was great! Double the
order! It is all up to you.
Shuffle Your Bunns
Number of people: 10 or up
Number of minutes: 10-15
Retreatants: junior high school, high school, college
Get everyone to put their chairs into a large circle facing the middle. Make sure the chairs are
tightly packed. Have one person in the middle. Also make sure there is one extra chair. The
person tells the group of people sitting in the chairs to shift one way by yelling out Left! or
Right! Then the people in the chairs start shifting into the empty seat. The object for the
person in the middle is to sit in that empty seat that all the people are shifting into. The
person in the middle can also catch the group off guard by saying switch, which means the
group has to switch the way it was going. (E.g.. If the group was going left then they have to
start going right if the person says switch.) If the person finally sits down in the empty chair
the person, who was supposed to shift to that chair gets put into the middle.
Sit Down Game
This game can be used for junior high school, high school, and college. It should take about 10-
15 minutes. Have everyone gather into one big circle and stand as close to one another as
possible. Have everybody turn to the right and get as close as they can to one another or it
will not work. Then have everyone sit on the knees of the person behind them. After everyone
is settled, or somewhat settled, have everyone walk forward around in the circle without
breaking the sit down chain. It is hard to do and fun to watch. Enjoy!
Streets and Alleys

Have everyone line up in rows, so that they're kind of in a rectangle. there should be room for
people to run in between people. One person is it and is chasing another. Everyone puts their
hands out shoulder height and sideways. This is streets. If they put them up, same height, but
front to back, this is alleys. Send the two who are chasing and being chased running through
the maze of people. Start with streets. They can not cross the lines of hands. Switch as often
as you want. when the two get tired pick other people-they love it!
The Wave With Foam
This is a fun ice breaker to do with a group of middle school kids and lasts only about 10-15
minutes. I am sure you have done the wave before, either at a baseball game or just for fun.
This is the same concept only the foam is now added. After a wave crashes on the shore there
is a foam that is left behind. So have the group sit down either in rows, in circle, whatever, it
really does not matter the shape of the group. Have the first three people start the wave by
generating it. Have them stand up and bend over, while spinning their fists over one another.
After they have generated the wave a little they should stand up and scream putting their
hands over their head, then sit down. Then the people next to them stand up and scream
putting their hands over their head, and then sit down. This continues until the wave gets to
the end. The last five people have a very important job, they are the foam. When the sixth to
the last person has finished his wave, the last five people all at once put their hands directly to
the right (that is if the wave is going right), while making a crashing sound. This can be done
with various speeds to make the wave more fun. Use comparisons of real waves to make it
more interesting. Some waves take longer to build up and break. Some waves are bigger and
quicker than other waves. Have fun building and crashing those waves, dude.