HEROES Activity List

HEROES Activity List

Ball Name Game

This is a great ice-breaker/name game that has been really successful each quarter.

First, have everyone stand in a circle (this can be done indoors or outdoors depending on the weather).
Have everyone go around the circle and say their name loudly and clearly. Do this a couple of times so people can start remembering each other’s names.
Explain how the game will work. One person will have a ball and will toss it randomly to another person in the group. As someone throws the ball they have to say “Hello ______(name of person they’re throwing it to).” As the next person catches the ball, they need to say “Thank you ______(name of person that threw it to them)” and then quickly throw it to someone else, saying “Hello ______.”
Give everyone a few minutes to practice getting in the pattern of throwing the ball and to remember each other’s names.
After a couple of minutes tell them that they will need to go faster. Anyone who pauses too long or who says an incorrect name will be eliminated from the game and will have to leave the circle.
Continue the game until the remaining people in the circle are easily remembering each other’s names.

Materials: 1 ball (size and kind of ball don’t really matter as long as it’s pretty lightweight and easy to throw)

Time: 15-25 minutes (This may seem like a long time but in my experience this game always goes longer that I expect it to because the students enjoy it so much. So either plan on allowing plenty of time, or set a definite end time and keep your eye on a clock).

Other Notes: If you are working with a large group of people who mostly don't know each other, you might want to start in two different groups and then bring the groups together once they start getting the hang of it and remembering some names.

Candy Name Game

This is another fun name game that can be used to add some variety, but you’ll probably need some kind of prize (I used candy) to keep it interesting.

Everyone stands in a circle.
Have everyone go around the circle and say their name loudly and clearly. Do this a couple of times so people can start remembering each other’s names. Also, give everyone a minute to specifically introduce themselves to the person to their right and the person to their left.
With a bowl of candy (or some other kind of prize), walk up to someone randomly and ask them to introduce themselves and the people on either side of them.
If the person is able to do this correctly, they get one of the prizes, and you move on to someone else. If they do this incorrectly, they will take the bowl from you and pick the next person to ask. Of course, make sure that if anyone does it incorrectly you have the neighbors reintroduce themselves.
Continue for a while, preferably until everyone does it correctly and gets a prize. Every couple of minutes have everyone switch places so they have to remember names of new neighbors.
At the end, you can have a couple of bigger prizes and a contest for who can name the most people.

Materials: Small prizes (lollipops or fun size bags of candy work very well). This could technically be done without any prizes, but having something little to give them makes it more fun.

Time: 20-40 minutes. Again this may seem like a long time, but I did this for a Valentine’s day meeting and it ended up taking almost the entire hour! Students really enjoyed it, and we wanted to give everyone an opportunity to do it so it took a while to get through everyone. Again, either allow a lot of time or set a concrete end time.

Me in a nutshell

This is a really great icebreaker activity that Brooke Zimmers led when she facilitated a "storytelling" themed club meeting.

Tell all of the students to think of some characteristics that they think are important parts of their personality/identity. They can have scratch paper and write a list.
Then tell them to choose one or two of those that they think are really important core parts of their identity.
Tell the students to think of an example of a true story about a real experience that they've had that they think will convey the characteristics that they chose. They should be able to tell the story in just a few sentences.
Then have everyone find a partner. They should each introduce themselves, tell their story (one at a time-straight through). When they finish, they should stand their silently (you may need to go around and remind them to stop talking after they tell their stories, because they will probably feel awkward and try to fill the silence).
Have them repeat this a couple of times with different partners. Everyone should be walking around to find partners and then standing when talking to each other.
Then tell everyone that they now need to reduce their stories to one sentence, give them a minute to think about it.
Now they repeat what they did before. They find a partner, each say their name and sentence, and wait silently for everyone else to finish. Have them do this a few times.
Then tell everyone to reduce their story to one word. This time, they should go around and quickly say their names and word to as many people as possible, without pausing between partners.
After a minute or two, bring the group back together. Lead a short reflection discussion about how they felt about the activity.

Materials: Preferably make sure that everyone has some scratch paper and something to write with for when they are first brainstorming their original stories, but this isn't crucial.

Time: You can adjust this to take more or less time, will probably take at least 15-30 minutes, depending on how many people are in the group and how long you give them to brainstorm and to tell their stories each time.

Other Notes: Make sure that you have some space for everyone to walk around the room. If you're in a classroom, push all the desks and chairs to the sides of the room before starting.

Listening Activity Introductions

This is a combination of a listening activity used in communication studies classes and a way for students to introduce themselves to each other.

Pair everyone up (I always do this randomly but you can do it how you prefer)
Tell pairs to choose a partner A and partner B
Partner A will have 2 minutes to introduce themselves to B. During that time, A must try to continue talking the whole time and B is not allowed to respond in anyway. This means that they can't verbally respond, but they also need to try their best not to nod, smile, laugh, or respond in any other way verbally or nonverbally.
At the end of the two minutes, they switch. Now all of the Bs spend two minutes introducing themselves while the As listen.
I've seen some people end the activity here, but when using it for an introduction activity, I like to give them another 2-5 minutes to then have a more natural conversation. They can reflect on what the activity felt like and also respond to each other's introductions with comments and questions.
Spend a few minutes with the whole group discussing what the activity was like. Was it more comfortable to be talking or listening? Was it an effective way for them to learn about the other person? What was it like to be able to go back to a more natural conversation style after the activity?

Materials: Stopwatch/cell phone to keep track of the time

Time: Should be around 10 minutes or less if you stick to the 2 minute time limits, depending on how long the reflection conversations are. Of course, you can also adjust the 2 minute limits to be shorter or longer.

Other Notes: This serves as both an icebreaker/introduction activity and as a communication and listening activity. Make sure to get some input from the students and have them reflect on what this felt like for their communication styles.

Interview Introductions

This is a pretty common icebreaker activity that can be used to introduce students to each other in one of your first meetings.

Pair everyone up.
Give students a few questions to ask each other. You can either decide what these questions will be ahead of time or invite the students to suggest possibilities. Examples include: name; where they're from; intended major/career; hobbies; interesting facts about them; etc. I also like to have students talk about some more significant things like goals for the future and something that they are passionate about. Try to keep it around 5 questions, depending on how much time you have.
Tell the pairs to interview each other. They should take turns answering all of the questions.
Each person is responsible for introducing their partner to the rest of the group. Depending on your list of questions, you can either have them include all of the answers in the introduction or you can have them choose one or two of the most interesting things about the person.

Materials: You don't need any materials, but might want to brainstorm some good questions ahead of time.

Time: 5-10 minutes for students to interview each other and another 10-15 minutes for students to introduce each other to the group. Will depend on how large the group is.

Autobiographies

I've been in some meetings that have used this activity as an icebreaker for first introductions, but I would actually suggest it as a "getting to know you better" activity for students who have already had some time to get comfortable with each other and build trust. We did this for the three mentors who participated in HEROES legacy retreat activities, and even though the group was very small, it worked really well as a bonding activity and all of the students said they felt much closer afterward. If you decide to do it as an icebreaker, or with a large group of people, you could also adjust it to go a little less in depth and be less personal.

Gather everyone around in a circle, and explain that you will all be sharing things about yourselves to get to know each other better. Explain that everyone should feel comfortable sharing as much as they would like, but that no one should feel pressured to share more than what they are comfortable with. Give students a few minutes (at least 5, more if they want and if you have time) to think about what they want to say, and/or take notes to remind themselves. They should think of significant experiences and people that have shaped them, and also think of any future goals or characteristics that they feel are important for people to know about them. You should also think of a story about yourself, so that they can get to know you better too.
Establish boundaries and ground rules with everyone before starting. Make sure that everyone knows that it is a safe place to share and that everything they share will be confidential. Invite the students to add other ground rules if they would like. Also explain that when each person takes their turn, everyone else should listen without interrupting. Then, after the person finishes, the other students may ask them questions.
Rather than bouncing around between volunteers, I would suggest just going around in a circle. This way students will know when they'll be sharing, and it will ensure that no one is forgotten if they don't go out of their way volunteer.
I've seen this activity done a couple of times and have facilitated it once. I've noticed that the way the first few stories go will really influence how much everyone else shares. If the first couple of people are jokers or just keep their stories shallow, everyone else feels pressure to do the same. But if people start really sharing from the start, others feel more comfortable sharing things about themselves. I think that having a smaller group helps with this a lot, but I would also suggest that you share your story first. This way you can help set the tone for the other stories.
After everyone has shared, you can have students reflect on the activity and ask how they feel about what they heard, shared, etc.

Materials: None-the only things you might need would be scratch paper and pens/pencils if you want to give students the option of writing notes for their stories.

Time: You should decide ahead of time how long you would like this activity to last, and it will definitely vary a lot depending on how large the group is. In my experience, this usually runs pretty long, so I would allow at least an hour even if you have a small group, and probably at least 1.5-2 hours for larger groups.

Other Notes: Make sure that if you have a strict time limit, you are careful to tell students how long their stories should be ahead of time and that you monitor this as you go through. It may be difficult to ask people to wrap it up/shorten their stories, but it's better than ending before everyone has had a chance to share.

This can be a very emotional activity, and it isn't uncommon for students to share very personal, serious stories about experiences that they have had. I've only seen this have a positive affect on groups and bring students together, but make sure that you consider this ahead of time. Again, I would really suggest focusing this activity on small groups (10 or less would be ideal) of students who are at least already acquainted with each other.

"We’d Like to Welcome…"

"We'd Like to Welcome"

This is another fun activity that can be used as an icebreaker or as an energizer activity.

Have everyone stand in a circle. Again, this isn't a name game but I always like to have everyone go around the circle and introduce themselves once or twice.
Explain how the game works. You will say, "we'd like to welcome everyone who ______" and then list off a characteristic. These can be anything: hobbies; fears; likes and dislikes; etc.--anything that you think would be fun for everyone to know about each other. Then, who ever identifies with the characteristic that you names will go into the center of the circle and everyone else will enthusiastically applaud, cheer for them, high five, etc.
Have a list prepared of different characteristics and start doing some of them. Invite students to yell out some other ones when they think of them. It can be helpful to tell a couple of students to think of some ahead of time, and then once they start contributing usually more students will join in.

Materials: Prepared list of characteristics

Time: 10-15 minutes. This can really be adjusted to take however long you'd like it to.

Other notes: Make sure that you're in a space where it's ok to be loud. Sometimes students get really into this activity and like to do lots of yelling and loud cheering, so you want to make sure that you aren't disturbing people in other classes or offices. If it gets too loud and your worried about noise, it can be fun to have them try to do some enthusiastic silent cheering too.

"All My Neighbors"

This is similar to "we'd like to welcome" but puts more focus on individuals to contribute the characteristics and is also more competitive.

Make a circle, and if possible, mark spots for each person (chairs, marks on the ground, etc.). If you don't have materials for this, just have everyone stand close to each other. Go around the circle and do quick introductions.
Stand in the middle of the circle and explain the game.
You will start by saying "I would like to meet all my neighbors who ______"--this can be anything (likes, dislikes, experiences, where people are from, family, other characteristics, etc.). Example: "I would like to meet all my neighbors who drink Starbucks coffee."
Everyone who the statement applies to (in this case, everyone who drinks Starbucks) will need to quickly find another spot in the circle, they cannot just move to a spot directly next to where they currently are. You will also rush to find a spot in the circle.
Since there is one more person than there are spots in the circle, someone will be left standing in the middle. That person should introduce themselves and think of a new characteristic, so they will say "Hi, my name is ______and I would like to meet all my neighbors who ______".
Continue repeating this.

Materials: Something to mark the spots in the circle.