Quick crowd breakers and games for youth groups

Give them a few minutes to get their human sculpture together and then have the whole youth group assemble. Call each team up and have the others try to guess what they are trying to replicate. For detailed instructions for Ultimate Ninja instructions. To stay in the game, you must not let anyone hit your hand. Instructions: Have the youth group sit in a circle. You start it off by expressing an emotion through facial expressions.

Look to the person to your left and pace that emotion through the whole group as everyone passes that same expression to their neighbor until it reaches back to you. Switch things up by letting youth start off different rounds.

Then, pull out the King of Clubs along with enough cards for everyone to get a card if you have 13 players, pull out 13 cards, with one being the King of Clubs. Pass out cards randomly and face down to each youth group participant. The youth with the King of Clubs is the killer. At once the victim must place their card on their forehead and remain silent and cannot talk the rest of the round. If they both correctly identify the killer the killer is out, and a new round begins.

However if the youth with hands raised both say two different names even if one of the names is the killer they are both out and the game continues until the killer is correctly identified or everyone is dead. Also, the game will not work if someone pretends to be the killer hen they are not! Instructions: Youth assemble in a circle and pass an imaginary ball around the circle.

Detailed instructions found here. Particpants needed: 6 or more. Instructions: Have the youth group form a circle around the youth leader. Continue around the circle trying to trip up the youth until only one remains! Divide the youth group into two groups on opposite sides of the room and line up in order. Call the first participants and give them the thing they will act out, instructing them that they cannot talk.

They run back to their group to act out their selection, and as soon as someone guesses, the next in line runs up to get their new thing to act out. This continues until the list of ten items has been completed. Instructions: Have youth come up with an acronym for their initials, then share it with the group. Supplies: 12 sheets of paper for each month of the year, optional small prizes like fun-size candy.

Instructions: Assemble in a room that has enough space and place the pieces of paper with each month of the year throughout the room. Have the youth assemble and tell them to go to the month they were born and write down their birthday and stay in their month groups. At this point, you can ask questions to the entire room to interact with the groups. It will require a little interaction to get the youth to answer questions.

You can award prizes optional to students who can best fulfill the roles of the questions. Instructions: Have each youth use their phone to look up what national day their birthday is and have them share with the group.

There are fun days observed on every day of the year. You can find a link to all the national days here. Instructions: Split the youth group into two teams and have each youth write down anonymously facts about themselves, things most people do not know. The groups have to try to guess who each list belongs to. The winning group is the one who guessed correctly the most. Instructions: Have each member of the youth group come up with a biography for their life using only 10 words.

Once finished, have them share with the group. Instructions: Have youth get into pairs and give them a moment to observe each other.

Then tell everyone to turn around, to not face their partner, and have them make 3 changes to their appearance. For example, they might roll up their sleeves, or pull their hair down, or remove an earring or take off shoes. Then when they turn to face their partner, they both must identify the differences. Instructions: Have youth form in lines of 5 people.

Each line is racing against the others to be the first to accomplish various tasks. The leader will ask different questions for each round, like:. Instructions: Quietly or silently give each youth a number between 5 and Tell the youth group they cannot speak, but they must form a numerical line in order and must find silent, creative ways to express their number without writing.

For example, they can tap out their number, making minimal noise. Instructions: Have each youth think of a destination they have traveled to. Next, they have to come with with three clues to present to the whole youth group for where they have been while everyone tries to guess. Instructions: Have the youth break off into smaller groups. Give each group a piece of paper and a pen. Bring contestants up the front and give them a stack of cups. When the music starts, contestants must transfer the cup on top to the bottom of the stack to get the colored cup to the top.

If cups drop or more than one cup is transferred, the player must start over. The first player to get their colored cup to the top wins! Alternative Option: If you do not have a cup that is a different color, you can mark one cup. When the music starts, contestants turn around and shake it to make the ping pong balls fall out of the box.

The first one to empty their tissue box wins! Bring them back to the stage and tape their thumb and index finger together on both hands. When the music starts contestants have to complete challenges without use of their thumbs: Retrieve their shoe, and put it back on and tie it. Peel the banana. Unwrap the present. The first one to complete everything wins!

Get creative with other hilarious things they could do without thumbs. Because the island has a finite amount of resources, your team must decide what order to eliminate the individuals in, in order to ensure survival. For similar ideas, check out this list of problem solving games. While Speed Networking may seem better suited for large group icebreakers, this activity can also be reworked as an intimate icebreaker activity.

This exercise provides a fast and easy way for teams to get to know each other. To play Speed Networking, using a random team generator , pair your team into groups of two.

Then, give each pair icebreaker questions and five minutes to make their way through as many questions as possible. After five minutes are up, switch up the pairs. Since you are playing with a smaller group, you can cycle through the pairs more than once, so your colleagues can ask even more questions or simply chat about some information that came up in a previous question.

Need help thinking of ways to break the ice? Check out our list of icebreaker questions for some pointers. Hometown Map is an icebreaker game for work that is easy to set up.

To start, pin a large world map to a bare stretch of wall and place a marker, small Post-It notes, and box of push pins nearby. Then, notify your team to use the push pins and Post-Its to mark birth places or hometowns on the map over the next few days.

When your team members walk past the map, the pins may prompt your colleagues to ask each other about experiences growing up in different places. Psychology Masks is another icebreaker activity pulled from Psychology that is especially suited for artistically inclined teams.

To get started, order blank white masks and paints. Then, ask your team to fill the outside of the masks with images signifying what others think of them, and illustrate the inside with drawings that symbolize their inner selves. When the masks are complete, display the finished products in the office. Because of the dual nature of the masks, the display is sure to stimulate discussion among your team members and provide a low pressure icebreaker game for employees to share more about themselves,.

To participate in this icebreaker game for employees, ask all your coworkers to name an accomplishment achieved by age These accomplishments can range from academic to personal, and you can play as many rounds as you like. This exercise is a fun way to get to know each other, and breaks up the monotony of a slow workday. One of the most prominent personality tests is the Myers-Briggs Test , which matches people with a personality type denoted by four letters that reveals what you are like in relationships, the workplace, and as a parent.

Then, set a time where everyone gets together to discuss results. A Myers-Briggs Session is a fun activity to get people talking about themselves and how they work best with others. Jenga Questions is an icebreaker game for college students and other groups, where your team plays Jenga, while also answering questions.

Depending on whether you have a standard or giant Jenga set, either write numbers that correspond with questions or the actual questions on each brick. As each team member withdraws a brick, answer the question associated with it.