Ice Breakers
This space is dedicated to creating a learning community
within the
Winona State University Communication Studies Basic Course (CmSt 191).
Tick-Tac-Toe
Draw a tic-tac-toe, in each of the boxes write down one characteristic important to a healthy relationship. When done, we will play "people bingo" with it.
Dare Double Dare...
If you were required to come up in front of this class and have to do one activity of the list below continuously for 1-3 minutes, which would you be more likely to do? What would you least like to do from this list? Go ahead and number the items from 1-10 on a seperate sheet of paper.
A. Oink like a pig
B. Let the class tell you what they really think about your appearance
C. Stand on your hands.
D. Sing a song
E. Dance
F. Talk non-stop for 2 minutes
G. Do a cartwheel
H. Moo like a cow
I. Demonstrate how to use the computer
J. Tell us about your fears
After the tic-tac-toe, decide as a group which you will do in front of the class.
OR...as a variation:.
1. Write down a tick-tac-toe, in each square, write one thing that you would
never want to do in front of a class or what could be embarassing to do. Remember,
you are going to share this information.
2. Play "people bingo" -- find "matches" to your list by introducing yourself to the others in the class and asking them to sign your form in the shared items' space.
3. Get together with others in the class as instructed by the teacher.
4. Decide which to do in front of the class.
Which would you most likely do or mostly li
Self-Disclosing Train Wreck
This is a fun version of the classic "musical chairs." Students are seated in chairs in a large circle. One chair is taken away so there is one person left standing. This person stands in the middle of the class and calls out an attribute, personal trait, experience, etc. (if you are an only child, if you have had your heart broken, if you can roll your tongue, if you live in Winona, etc.) Then all who share this characteristic must find a new chair other than a chair immediately next to you. Whoever is left standing calls out the next attribute.
Next Chair Please:
A version of train wreck, but you need to move to the next person's lap! We were seated in chairs, not desks. If you all share this attribute, then the "pile" of people need to move to the left.
*Scavenger Hunt:
Students were placed in small group of 5. The groups needed to find a ten items from a list of self-disclosing questions. They looked within their bags, pockets, etc. Examples of the listed questions include: One item given to someone by a parent or grandparent; One item from a romantic "significant other" and one from a friend. Something that you shouldn't have that you need to return.
Trust Me!
Students needed to sit on the floor in a circle with a large ball of twine (or you could use heavier string). The object is to create a web with the string. One person begins, she or he needs to give a response to the question, "what are small groups good for" or the person can give a piece of advice for working in a small group (the topic could be any -- it was perfect for brainstorming). As he or she makes the comment, she or he tosses the ball of string to the other side of the circle, hanging onto his or her end of the string. The class continues to toss the string across the circle or to the sides, holding unto their strings tightly. When the string is completely used, a large web is formed.
The leader of this exercise then explained how small groups are stronger when held together with a purpose. Initially the string was weak and lacked purpose. Held in a group, it was strong. A student then was asked to go to the middle of the web and lay down. Still holding our ends of the string, on the count of three, we lifted the person, it was quite amazing!
Human Knot With a Twist!
We played this many times. The class was divided into two circles. Each circle then grabbed hands of anyone who was not next to you. The first time through we "unraveled" this knot verbally and nonverbally engaged. The second time we formed the knot, however, we could only use nonverbal communication in the "unraveling" process.
20 Questions -- Open the Closed:
A classic exercise with a twist -- a character from cartoons, literature, sports, current events or history was written on an index card and taped to the back of each of us. We needed converse with others in the class to determine who it was posted on our backs. First, we were to ask yes and no (closed) questions to determine the character. During the second time we played the game, we could ask open questions to determine the character. Obviously, the second time was easier.
How Close Can You Go?
The class was divided in half and made two parallel lines. Each person in the line was asked to pair off with the person across the room. Students then were asked to begin a conversation with the person across from them on the question: "If you had a wish, what would you wish could come true?" Next, the lines of students were to move toward each other while continuing to discuss this question. When one partner felt uncomfortable, he or she needed to say, "stop!" We then compared the difference of space when everyone had said "stop."
It's Been a LONG time!
For this exercise, only a four students were asked to go out in the hall 2 women and 2 and formed same-sex dyads. While the dyads were outside of the classroom, the class was asked to predict how they would greet each other if they were best friends who had not seen each other in a long time. The class predicted women and men would vary in pitch, content and touch. The dyads were asked to come back in the classroom, one dyad at a time. When the dyads came in…we were right! After greeting each other as men or women, the dyads were asked to "change sexes" and role-play how the opposite sex would greet each other. The class was surprised to see a clear replication of the opposite sex's greeting. When the men pretended to be women they emulated the previous female dyad's actions, and the same was true when the women dyads were asked to role-play a male version of the greeting ritual.
Blindfold Please
Dyads are formed. One person was blind-folded. The sighted person took the other blind-folded person on a trust walk. This version of the trust walk included asking the sighted person to describe to the blind-folded person what she or he saw in vivid details. After a short walk, we discussed the outcome of the walk.
With this String
Dyads were formed. Dyads were given varied lengths of string. They needed to each hold an end of the string. They were instructed to first, pull the string taunt, second, stand as close as the string dictated looking each other in the eyes and third, engage in conversation. The lengths of string matched Hall's personal distances. (The dyads could also be dared to walk down the halls while holding these strings.)
Pick A Chair, Any Chair
We met in the computer lab in Someson 207E. Chairs were positioned in rows placed closely together in the middle of the room. After we were seated, the discussion led to, "Why and where did you sit?" and "How did you feel sitting so close to others?"
Beautiful and Ugly
A variety of magazines were passed out to two teams. Students were given a poster board, a pair of scissors, and a glue stick. They needed to cut and glue pictures of beautiful and ugly people on the corresponding poster-boards. Discussion then led to perception of beauty and relationship development.
Changing Places
Small groups of five were formed. Each group was given a scene to act out. However, the men needed to role-play women and women needed to role-play men. The scenarios included a business meeting, a college class' small group discussion group, a group of small children -- a sister finds a brother playing with her dolls and tells her friends, and a group of people in the student café on the prowl.
*A Look is Worth a Thousand Words
We used the digital camera to take pictures of a woman and a man from our class. Both posed individually for the camera. Each person's different poses were to capture specific emotions. We made handouts with the pictures imported into the handout. We handed out the exercise to the class. The class was asked to individually write the emotion they thought the picture captured under that pose. We compared labels. Next, we discuss the encoding and decoding processes of men and women. We discussed how men and women encode and decode emotions differently.
Two Truths and a Lie
We played this in several classes. It can be done in small groups and as a class. Each person needed to make three comments about themselves. One statement would be a lie and two statements were to be the truth. The class then voted on which was the truth and which was the lie. The person then disclosed the lie and the truth.
Stupid Human Tricks
Each person introduced himself or herself and demonstrated a stupid human trick. We tried this in groups and as individuals.
*Mirror, Mirror
We formed two groups. Each group formed an outer circle and an inner circle (so dyads were formed standing face to face in a circle). The leader called out an emotion. The inner circle used his or her body and face to demonstrate this emotion. The outer circle partners then mirrored that emotion. We continued with three emotions and then switched partners by having the inner circle move one person to the left. After the activity we discussed how our classmates varied in emotion.
Gestures: We formed two groups. One group began with a male acting out a movie title, the other group had a female acting out the same title. We compared and contrasted the sexs' competence of encoding and decoding nonverbal communication.
Taxi Cab
Groups were formed. Each person was given a card with a role to play. The role included a description of a "type" of person and a description of where he or she wanted to go. One person was the designated cab driver. The groups performed the role-play in four chairs grouped in the middle of the classroom (it was our "cab"). We then had 2-3 minutes to interact. After the role-plays, we discussed the stereotypes and conflicts our characters had.
©Lori Halverson-Wente, last updated January 10, 2000
