Foreword

This is a selection of Ice-breakers and warm up exercises for teams.

Creativity Exercises can also be used as warm ups or ice breakers.

Ice Breakers

Truth or Lie? 

Participants are asked to write down three statements about themselves. Two of these are the truth, and one is a lie. The aim is to come up with a sufficiently convincing lie to deceive the rest of the group into choosing this as a true statement. The participants then present their three statements to the rest of the group, who then must reach a consensus on which is the truth.

This is better for teams who have already have some experience of working together.

Variations: 

Each person writes the three things on a card, and the cards are then distributed. Each person has to guess who wrote the card they have. 

(Distribution of the cards can be a problem. One way is to lay them all out face up on the table and take one that isn't theirs. Another is to divide the group into two, and swap them two sets. Each group then has to guess which person in the other group the card belongs to. Another option is for them to have a "snowball" fight with the screwed up bits of paper, which gets some physical activity into it as well!)

The Claim to Fame / Little Known Fact

When introducing themselves, as well as the usual name, role etc, each participant is asked to give a "claim to fame" or a "little known fact" about themselves.

This makes the interaction more human, and means that people are more likely to remember the individual (particularly if the job description doesn't mean much to them)

Dream

For teams that already know one another, but more interaction is required.

Each person writes a short description of a dream they once had on an index card. The cards are redistributed, and groups attempt to identify whose dream is whose. (See "Truth or Lie" variations for overcoming the distribution problem!)

Toilet Paper

A roll of toilet paper is passed around, and each participant asked to take the number of sheets they would normally use. (They must take at least one!)

Once they've all taken their paper, each person has to say a number of things about themselves equal to the number of sheets they've taken. This works especially well for people who think it's highly amusing to take large numbers of sheets.

If you prefer, this could be done with sweets instead e.g. jelly beans.

Person Bingo

Before the meeting, the facilitator prepares a list of characteristics that the people in the group might possess. Each person gets a checklist (they can either be the same, or have a couple of variants) and their challenge is to find people in the group that can satisfy each  of the criteria, and enter their names on the sheet. They must aim (for example) to get eight names out of items.

The winner is the first person to fill in  names next to the number of items.

A sample of criteria might be:

• Is a mother or father
• Has run a marathon or half marathon
• Owns a pet dog
• Has appeared on TV
• Name begins with B
• Birthday is in January
• Was born in another county / country
• Has no fillings
• Is not superstitious
• Is left handed

See also "the twelve tasks" for a variant of this.

The Twelve Tasks

Well, all right, there don't have to be twelve, but the idea is to present each member of the group with a series of small challenges involving interaction with others. Each person attempts to get someone to help them meet their challenges, and the first person to fill the list is the winner.

Some suggestions for the tasks are:

• Stand on one foot for thirty seconds, and have someone time you and sign your form.
• Have a conversation with someone in a made up language.
• Get a male to do five press ups
• Find out someone's favourite film
• Get a female to take off one shoe

Warm Up Exercises

Rhinoceros and Hippopotamus

Take two objects from the room that are readily distinguishable from one another. Introduce the two objects to the group as a rhinoceros and a hippopotamus.

The group sits in a circle, and one person begins holding the two objects. Initially, they pass the rhinoceros to their left, saying "this is a rhinoceros". The receiver says "a what?", and the passer responds "a rhinoceros".

The receiver then passes the rhinoceros on, saying "this is a rhinoceros". Again, the person receiving it asks "a what", and the passer then asks the original passer "a what?" and the original passer responds "a rhinoceros". Each time, the question goes back around the circle to the original passer.

OK so far? Good. Because at the same time, the original passer also sends the other object around to his or her right, saying "this is a hippopotamus". The same rules apply.

Keep it going as long as possible, which probably isn't very long because the two objects will quickly intersect.

Crocodile Swamp

All the participants line up, and a line is drawn on either side of them. They are told that beyond these lines lie a swamp, infested with crocodiles. Anyone stepping past the line will be eaten.

The group are then given an exercise to sort themselves into a particular order (e.g birthday , alphabetical order of first name, alphabetical order of surname etc.)

Variations: 

Perform the same task without talking.

Production Line 

Two people sit back to back. One has a picture of an object made out of readily available items (blu tack and coffee stirrers can be used to good effect and are readily available in most conference rooms! It's also best to steer clear of knives and strong glues...), and the other has the necessary components laid out in front of them. 

The person with the instructions is forbidden to look at what the person assembling the item is doing. The person assembling the item is not allowed to speak, other than to confirm they have completed a step.  

The person with the picture gives verbal instructions as to how to assemble the item. When complete, the resulting object is compared to the constructed item.

Variations: 

More than one person can attempt to follow the steps (this highlights ambiguity).

Some of the components can be missing.

There can be many more components than actually required to complete the job.

The "instructions" and "assemblers" can be in different rooms, with instructions and questions passed backwards and forwards via post-it notes (forces them to be brief!)

A Problem to Solve

The participants are broken up into groups, and given a simple problem to solve. (It can be the same for all groups, or a different one for each). At the end of five minutes, each group presents their solution back to the whole group. Open ended scenarios are better than closed "puzzle" problems for this purpose, so there is no right or wrong answer.

Project Planning

Assign a group a simple project plan to create, such as getting up and going to work, making the breakfast, or going to bed. Get them to agree all the tasks to be performed, draw them out, then optimize the plan.

In Common, and Unique

Teams are asked to come up with lists of as many things as they can that they ALL have in common. Physical traits are excluded.  The teams are then asked to provide as many things as they can that only ONE member of the team has.

The Five Hundred Pound Problem

Another sum can be chosen if preferred! The teams are told that they are to imagine that there is a large cash prize to be given to them, if and only if they can agree within ten minutes which of them should receive it, and why. They are not allowed to share it in any way, or they will have to repay the money. The teams then have to negotiate within themselves who will get the money and why. At the end of the period, the teams present their conclusions.

Desert Island

Divide the group into teams, and tell them they are marooned on a desert island. Each team is permitted six items that they can taken with them onto this desert islands. Each team needs to agree their six items within the team, and then discuss and defend their choices with the wider group.

Join the Dots

Each member of the group is given a sheet of blank paper. On this paper they draw six dots.

The papers are then redistributed, and each person draws a picture based on the framework of the original six dots. The aim is to come up with most original drawing based on the dots.