Laying the Foundation

Team Building

Ice Breakers | Team Contract Guidelines | Trust Activities | Group Challenges | Debriefing Tips | Resources

TIPS: When leading these games, be energetic! As a facilitator you will be setting the tone. It is important to create an environment in which participants are able to have fun, feel safe, and maybe even learn something!

Bumpity Bump Bump

Have the participants make a circle facing inwards. Put yourself in the middle of the circle to demonstrate the rules. Point decisively at one of the circled folks and say that person's name with conviction.

The person that you pointed to and named must respond by saying the first name of the person to her left before you finish saying "bumpity bump bump".

If the person is unable to yell out the name in time, she must go in the middle.

Warp Speed

Facilitator's instructions: State your name so that everyone in the group can hear it. Have the person to your left immediately state her first name and then have the next person in line do the same, all in rapid succession. Continue until everyone in the circle has been introduced.

Repeat the exercise, but this time challenge the group by using a stopwatch.

For the next round, have the team discuss amongst themselves what they can do to bring their time down. Allow a minute or two for sharing ideas. Once everyone's input has been given, attempt to achieve "warp speed". Encourage at least 4 or 5 attempts.

Take notes, so you can debrief the process with the group. Ask participants what worked and what didn't, and how it felt to do the activity.

Feach and Mooch

FEACH (Fast Foods - Electrical Appliances - Comic Book Heroes)
MOOCH (Movies, Occupations and Humms)

Divide the group into three. Announce to the players that you will secretly and separately reveal a topic to one player from each group. That player must swiftly return to her group and charade (non-verbal but supportive sounds can be made) the topic to their waiting team members. First team to guess the topic of each team member wins or goes to another team to help them guess. If you want to play a winning version, you can award the winners with the title: "Le Petite Champion".

Whizz Bang

Form a circle with your group. Tell the person on your right or left that you are going to pass them a movement and a sound. Cup your hands and indicate that you have captured an energy orb. Throw the energy orb either to your right or left while yelling "Whizz"! Let the group know that kindled orbs can't maintain flesh contact for more than .007 second or the holder will suffer from a terrible case of acne of the palms, so they must get rid of the infection orb fast. The orb continues to whiz from person to person until someone, about to receive the flashing sphere, cocks her arm and raises her fist yelling "BANG". This movement and sound combination stops the orb and reverses it's direction. If the orb comes whizzing to you, and you sense the need for a change of pace, try a One -handed jump shot with the orb heading toward someone. That person must make a basket with his arms and as the orb comes through, he must yell "SWISH". Try variations including getting more than one orb going at once!