Group Icebreakers
Action Name
Have the group stand in a circle. The leader introduces themselves by saying their name and performing an action simultaneously. For example, saying "Mike" while balancing on one foot. The client to the leader's left must now say the leader's name and perform the action, then say their own name and perform their own action. The third client repeats the first two, does their own, and so on.
Un-Common
Break the group into teams of 2-4 people. Each team must come up with three things that they have in common. They may be as simple or complex as the team wants. When the team has completed that, they must write a short paragraph that introduces all members of the team by name and what they all have in common. The kicker is that when the team reads the paragraph to the whole group, they must alternate saying each word in the paragraph (one client says the first word, the next client says the second word, and so on).
Common Connections
Take a picture of each client with an instant or digital camera. Then provide each client with a prepared questionnaire that includes questions about favorite foods, books, places, or hobbies. When the questionnaires are completed, clients share their responses with one another. (This can be done one-on-one, in small groups, or as a group activity.) Clients examine their peers' questionnaires to find "connections" -- things they have in common with one another. Post client pictures on a bulletin board titled "Common Connections." Then clients use strips of construction paper to connect the pictures. On each strip that connects two pictures, clients must describe the connection in writing. (For example, a strip labeled "We have three brothers" will connect the pictures of two clients who each have three brothers.)
Find Someone Who...
Create a sheet of questions such as, "Find someone who had eggs for breakfast". Each client is then given the list, along with a pen, and must get the signature of someone who did whatever each question asks. If you require a different signature for each question, participants will meet as many people as there are questions.
Time Capsule
Create and have clients fill out a "time capsule" questionnaire with questions that ask about clients' interests, such as favorite bands, colors, or foods, best friends and so on. Collect the questionnaires. Keep them until the end of the group. At that time, have the clients fill out another time capsule questionnaire with the same questions on it. Then hand back the originals. Watch as the clients react to their original answers.
The Name Continuum
Put a sign of a large A on one wall of the group room. Put a sign of a large Z on the opposite wall. Then have all participants arrange themselves in alphabetical order between the letters. You might do first name order first, then repeat for family name order. Variations: See whether clients can do this without saying a word, have them organize themselves in order by birth date, height, or another piece of orderable information.
Have a Ball!
This activity is ideal for young clients who are not able to write. Clients sit in a circle on the floor. The leader holds a large rubber ball and tells his or her name and something else about him or herself. Then the leader rolls the ball to one of the clients. That client tells his or her name and something about him or herself. The activity continues until everyone has taken a turn. Leaders might focus the activity by asking clients to share specific information, such as the names of pets, favorite books, or favorite foods.
Meet Your Group BINGO
Prepare a BINGO sheet that contains the same number of squares as there are clients in the group. Have each client write her or his name on a small piece of paper and place it in a fishbowl or another container. Then give each client a prepared BINGO sheet. Clients walk around the group room and gather their group mates' signatures, one signature per square. When all sheets are filled in, play BINGO. Reach into the bowl, and pull out a client's name. Call out the name. Clients mark off that name on their BINGO sheets. The first client to get a full row of names calls out BINGO and wins the game. That client can be the one to call out names in a second round of the game.
The More Important Book
On the first day of group, read to clients The Important Book, by Margaret Wise Brown. It's a wonderful, repetitive book that tells the "important thing" about a variety of things, such as a spoon, an apple, the wind, etc. After reading the book and discovering its repetitive form, write your own More Important Book. Each client tells about him or herself, following the format of The Important Book. The clients end, as the book does, by repeating the first line, "But, the most important thing about (client's name) is that he or she _____." Each client is responsible for a "most important thing" page, which becomes part of the group book. This is great way to get to know one another, and the book can be utilized throughout the group.
Who Am I? Riddle Book
Have clients share facts about themselves by creating a Who Am I? riddle book. Clients write four or five statements about themselves. The last line is a question: "Who Am I?" Put this up as a bulletin board and have client’s guess each other’s riddle. The first client to guess correctly gets to choose who guesses next.
Hands-On Activity
Have clients begin this activity by listing at least 25 words that describe them and the things they like. No sentences allowed, just words! Then, ask each client to use a dark pen to trace the pattern of his or her hand with the fingers spread apart. Provide another sheet of paper that the client can place on top of the tracing. Because the tracing was done with a dark pen, the outline should be visible on the sheet below. Direct clients to use the outlines as guides and to write their words around it. Provide clients a variety of different colored pencils or markers to use as they write. Then invite clients to share their work with the group.
Pop Quiz
Ahead of time, write a series of getting-to-know-you questions on slips of paper -- one question to a slip. Then fold up the slips, and tuck each slip inside a different balloon. Blow up the balloons. Give each client a balloon, and let clients take turns popping their balloons and answering the questions inside.
Take As Much As You Want!
Tell clients that you're going to pass around a roll of toilet paper and invite clients to “take as much as they will need to get the job done”. After everyone has had a good laugh over the amount of paper they took, explain how the game works. For every piece of toilet paper the client ripped off, they must tell the group one thing about themselves. Some realize they took quite a bit of toilet paper, but with a little prompting and probing from the leader, they will find things to share. This activity provides a nice way to find out about clients' personalities, families, likes, and dislikes.
Paper Dolls
Have clients cut out 2 feet tall “paper dolls”. Ask clients to decorate their dolls in a collage style using pictures from magazines or by filling them in with various materials. Leave the face portion blank and while clients dress their dolls, use a digital camera to take pictures of clients and crop the pictures so that only faces show. Enlarge face images to fit the paper dolls and have clients glue their faces to the dolls.
Sign My Arm
Give all clients a paper bag and marker. Ask everyone in the group to put the paper bag over their dominant hand/arm and explain the bag represents a cast. When the leader says, "Go," everyone in the group must obtain as many signatures as they can on their “cast”. It isn't as easy as it sounds because each client has to keep the paper bag on his or her dominate hand and must sign their own name with the opposite hand.
Twenty Questions
This activity encourages teamwork, "true participation" and to the idea that being wrong can lead to being right! Choose an item in the room and have clients guess what it is. Clients can ask only questions that can be answered with either yes or no. For example: "Is it blue?” or "Is it in the front half of the room?" The client who finally guesses correct is the next yes-no client. Stress that the client would never have guessed correctly without everybody else's help; the "no" answers helped as much as the "yes" answers did and sometimes we learn as much or more from being wrong as from being right. This activity will set the tone of friendly cooperation on the first day of group.
A Tangled Web
Gather clients in a circle sitting on the floor. Hold a large ball of yarn. Start by telling the clients something about yourself. Then roll the ball of yarn to a client without letting go of the end of the yarn. The client who gets the ball of yarn tells his or her name and something about him or herself. Then the client rolls the yarn to somebody else while holding on to the strand of yarn. Soon clients have created a giant web. After everyone has spoken, all the clients stand up, continuing to hold the yarn. Start a discussion of how this activity relates to the idea of teamwork -- for example, the clients need to work together and not let others down. To drive home your point about teamwork, have one client drop his or her strand of yarn; that will demonstrate to clients how the web weakens if the group isn't working together.