There are tons of great ideas that you can find on the internet, here is just a couple of suggestions. Always be prepared to have a couple in your back pocket in case you need them!
Ice Breaker Ideas
For Volunstars- Ice Breaker Fish Bowl- Cut up slips (or rewrite them on colorful paper) and place in bowl. Volunstars drawn out and answer questions as a getting to know you activity. When one person answers if you feel as if you want to ask 1 or 2 other people or the whole group, feel free.
- What is your favorite Little Pink memory (veteran)?/ What are you most looking forward to (newbie)?
- What do you need to the rest of the group to know about you to better support you?
- What are you most worried about this week?
- What do you want to get out of this week? Personal growth? Or with Families? Or with volunstars?
- What do you need this week for you to be at your best?
- How can you choose to be a positive light this week?
- Give your best Little Pink tshirt speech to the person to your right.
- How can you try to be a steward for LP this week?
- What 3 qualities do you bring as a volunstar that will help you this week?
- What do you need from your Director this week?
- How can you be intentional about connecting with other volunstars this week?
For Families- Stick it to Me!- Give every person (including kids age 3-5) 2 sticky notes (or pieces of paper). Have them write down 1 question on each sticky note. Tell them to choose 2 questions that they might want to know about people. For example:
- What is your favorite place to go on vacation?
- What is your favorite sports team?
- What is your favorite food?
- Do you have any animals at home. If so, what do you have?
- What is your favorite subject in school?
Then have them walk around the room and ask someone else 1 of their questions and get the answer. Hand that person your sticky note that you asked and move onto the next person. Every time, you will get rid of one of your sticky notes. This helps to ensure that people are not even asking their own questions- no pressure. Volunstars can also participate. Partner little kids with a volunstar or it actually works great if they just show the other person their sticky note and they read it. Great activity before a lunch or a meal!
Team Building Activities
Open Fist-Finding you have things in common with other team members is one of the cornerstones of effective teamwork. While conversation games or other team-building activities might ask for an in-depth approach, Open Fist helps teams bond with a simple, effective activity.
Sharing little known facts about ourselves can help teams be more cohesive and by limiting the number of shared facts to the amount of fingers on a hand, this quick team building activity can fit into an agenda with ease.
Count Up-Simple tasks that require team focus, cohesion, and awareness are great for any group working on team building. In Count Up, a team has to come together and count up to twenty with their eyes closed and without any other communication. People cannot say more than one number at a time, and if two people speak at the same time, the group must start over.
Though it seems simple, this team building exercise can really demonstrate the power of effective teamwork and is a great opener for a team building workshop.
What I Need From You (WINFY)-Some of the best team building activities focus on helping your group improve their teamwork skills and communicate and collaborate better as a team. A sometimes overlooked part of working as a team is clearly articulating what you need from other people and knowing how to ask for it. What I Need From You is a team building method designed to help your group better articulate their core needs and be transparent with the group. This leads to a more cohesive team that works together with integrity and understanding.
Blind Square – Rope Game-Nothing energizes a team workshop like a seemingly simple problem that also gets everyone moving and engaged. In this team problem solving game, start by tying a length of rope into a circle and invite the participants to plan how to make the rope into a square while blindfolded. After planning time, the group is blindfolded and has ten minutes to form the square. By debriefing afterwards, your group will find communication, planning and attention to detail are all important aspects of team problem-solving – all while having fun too!
Helium Stick-Bringing teams together with problem-solving activities that also encourages play can perform multiple functions. Not only do you encourage teamwork and the building of various team skills but you can have fun and promote laughter too.
Helium Stick is an example of a simple team-building game that does double duty by encouraging fun, physical activity while introducing and exploring some core team-building concepts. Ask the group to lower a long pole to the ground while keeping all of their fingers in contact with the pole at all times – more difficult than it first appears!
Game Night Ideas
Activity 1: a game that involves everyone and helps them get to know each other.
Example: Game “My name is _____ and I like ______”
Materials: chairs in a large circle
- Have everyone sit circle with open space in the middle – everyone should be able to see each other and move around through the circle of chairs. There should be one less chair that there are people.
- Begin with a leader or volunteer in the center of the group to explain the game. Each person will say, “Hi, my name is _____ and I like ____(something that’s a favorite for them – ideas – pizza, soccer, dancing, music, Taylor Swift, Legos, beach, etc.) Everyone who also likes this has to stand and move to an empty seat. The person who does not find a seat becomes the next person in the middle. Continue the game until most everyone has had a chance to be in the middle.
Helpful hints:
- For the people who always get stuck in the middle – have them choose someone who has not had a turn.
- For those who are shy or do not want to be in the middle, let someone stand in for them.
Activity 2: group games that involve everyone or age level games for fun. Minute to win games can be good choices.
M and M transfer with straws – preschool/younger kids
Materials: M and M’s, straws, cups, or plates
- Give each person a set number of candy pieces.
- Using only the straws they should move the candy from one place to the other (out of cup onto plate, for example) by using suction with the straw.
Activity 3: Pipeline
Materials: 2-3 pool noodle slices per team, 4-5 different balls (golf ball, bouncy ball, tennis ball, marble, ping pong ball, etc.)
- Each team should have the same number and type of balls and 2-3 pieces of noodle.
- Divide the group into 3 or 4 groups, depending on your materials, preferably with all families mixed together.
- Objective: move each ball down the pipeline (from the front to the back) by also moving the pieces of noodle from person to person, transferring the ball on the noodle as it rolls down to the end of the line into a cup.
- Do one ball at a time. First team to get all balls in the cup wins.
- Various cup games, Minute to win it games can be used here.
Activity 4: Cheeto Head
Materials: Shower caps ( Walmart, cheap clear packs), 2-3 cans shaving cream, Cheeto balls, cups, trash bags to cover players, plastic tablecloth on floor under chairs, wipes, paper towels.
- Set up 6-10 chairs that are placed on the plastic tablecloths.
- Have a participant from each family (can be anyone or choose the caregiver) come to sit in the chair.
- Have the remaining family members make a line in front of the person about 3 feet away, facing that person.
- Place the shower caps on the people in the chairs along with a trash bag over their shoulders if available.
- Cover each head with shaving cream.
- Give each family/group an equal number of cheese balls ( 2-3 cups full).Use volunteers to balance out the teams.
Objective 1; see which team can toss the most cheese balls onto the head of their person. Count when everyone has thrown their allotment. 1 point for each one
Objective 2: have everyone pick up all of the cheese balls – each one counts 2 points each. Count these and add to the first number. Team with the most wins! (This part helps tremendously with clean up!)