Categories

A fun, interactive, introductory get-to-know-you activity for medium to large groups. Works best with large groups (min. is ~15). Useful for celebrating diversity. Particularly useful as an icebreaker, e.g. can be used as a opener for a workshop/conference. Ask everyone to stand up and then to walk around; explain that you will announce a category (see list or use your own) and that participants should then quickly organise themselves into smaller groups, based on the category to which they belong. Once everyone is organised into their groups, ask each group to identify itself. (Optional) Make a brief comment or ask each group a question. Allow participants time to say hello and mingle/chat with each other when the smaller groups are formed. Keep things moving by asking participants to walk around before announcing the next category. Continue until the group is "warmed up" and ready for the next activity. This will probably be after ~5 topics, depending on the group, purpose, and time available. Categories can also be used as a fun, simple way to organise people into smaller groups for other activities. For the first category, use one with two options and announce one side of the room for one category and the other side of the room for the other category. This should help participants to get the idea for how the activity works.

List of categories Two categories

When you clasp your hands together and fold the thumbs across the top, is your right or left thumb on top? Fold your arms across your chest. Is your right or left arm on top? Which leg do you put into your pants first? Which eye do you prefer to wink with? Which side of the bed (left or right) do you get out of in the morning? Are you a folder or scruncher (toilet paper) Can you roll your tongue? (yes/no)

Three categories

When licking an ice cream cone...do you: o Twirl the cone clockwise o Twirl the cone counterclockwise o Lick up and down?

Many categories

What is your favourite season? How many siblings do you have? What colour are your eyes? What's your shoe size? What type of shoes are your wearing? What's your favourite colour What's your star sign?

Gotchya (Grab the Finger) Fast-moving 5 min. group activity to get people together and focused. In a circle, right finger on next person's left palm. Try to grab a finger before yours gets grabbed.

Zoom & Re-Zoom

This engaging group activity helps develop communication skills, perspective taking, and problem solving skills. This game is based on the intriguing, wordless, picture books "Zoom" and "Re-Zoom" by Istvan Banyai which consist of 30 sequential "pictures within pictures". The Zoom narrative moves from a rooster to a ship to a city street to a desert island and outer space. Zoom has been published in 18 countries. The Re-Zoom narrative moves from an Egyptian hieroglyphic to a film set to an elephant ride to a billboard to a train. To create the game from the book, separate the picture pages of the book into one page sheets and laminate or place in clear plastic sleeves to protect them and prolong usage. Hand out one picture per person (make sure a continuous sequence is used). Explain that participants may only look at their own pictures and must keep their pictures hidden from others.

Encourage participants to study their picture, since it contains important information to help solve a problem. The challenge is for the group to sequence the pictures in the correct order without looking at one another's pictures. Participants will generally mill around talking to others to see whether their pictures have anything in common. Sometimes leadership efforts will emerge to try to understand the overall story. When the group believes they have all the pictures in order (usually after ~15 minutes), the pictures can be turned over for everyone to see.

Facilitator's Notes

Works with any age group, including corporate groups. Can be done indoors or outdoors. Once the challenge is finished, allow everyone to see the pictures and encourage participants to sort out any mistakes in the order (can be done on a table or the floor), then let everyone walk around view the pictures in sequence so they understand the full story.

Variations

Use as a novel icebreaker by handing each participant a picture on arrival. When everyone has arrived, explain that each person is holding part of a story and that the group task is to find out what the story is by putting their pictures in sequence. Use a time limit to increase difficulty and enhance focus on teamwork. Team performance can be measured (e.g., for a competition) by counting how many pictures are out of sequence. If there are a few more people than cards, then pair people up. For larger groups, if there is enough people then have 2 or more groups running the activity at the same time or use a sequence of cards to suit the group size. For smaller groups, try disallowing talking. This increases the difficulty and creates the need for expressive sign language. In general, allow large groups to talk because there is enough complexity sorting out all the pictures. Another way to increase complexity with small groups is to give each person more than one picture. To reduce complexity for young groups (e.g., pre-school), allow a small group to look through all pictures and organize the story from beginning to end.

2- LA PELOTA PREGUNTONA

El animador entrega una pelota a cada equipo, invita a los presentes a sentarse en crculo y explica la forma de realizar el ejercicio. Mientras se entona una cancin la pelota se hace correr de mano en mano; a una sea del animador, se detiene el ejercicio. La persona que ha quedado con la pelota en la mano se presenta para el grupo: dice su nombre y lo que le gusta hacer en los ratos libres. El ejercicio contina de la misma manera hasta que se presenta la mayora. En caso de que una misma persona quede ms de una vez con la pelota, el grupo tiene derecho a hacerle una pregunta.

CUALIDADES Oportunidad: para personas que se conocen poco. Objetivo: romper el hielo. Decirse las cualidades. Motivacin: para una mayor integracin grupal ser provechoso el que cada miembrro del grupo procure conocer y hacer resaltar las cualidades de sus compaeros. En una papeleta cada uno escribe el nombre de una de las personas del grupo (lo ha sacado a la suerte). Al lado del nombre escribe una cualidad bien caractertica de la persona. Se colocan en la pared estas papeletas y por turno van pasando de modo que cada persona debe aadir alguna cualidad a la escrita en cada uno, o si le encuentra la misma, subrayarla. Resonacia: el coordinador har resaltar si somos propensos a ver el lado bueno de los dems o no.

ME PICA DEFINICIN: cada persona tiene que decir su nombre y a continuacin un lugar donde le pica: "Soy Juan y me pica la boca". A continuacin el siguiente tiene que decir como se llamaba al anterior, y decir dnde le picaba. l tambin dice su nombre y donde le pica y as sucesivamente hasta la ltima persona. El ltimo tiene que decir desde el primero, los nombres de cada persona y dnde les picaba. CONSIGNAS DE PARTIDA: hablar bien alto para que todo el mundo se entere, y al

decir que te pica, hacerlo tambin con gestos. DESARROLLO: Uno a uno van diciendo su nombre y lo que les pica, y el nombre y lo que le picaba a cada persona que ha hablado antes que ellos.

LA ENREDADERA OBJETIVOS: Favorecer el roce fsico para una mayor confianza entre los participantes. Abrir el camino a dinmicas de reflexin. DESARROLLO: Situados en crculo, los participantes deben obedecer rdenes caprichosas del animador sin abandonar el lugar que ocupan: tocar algo de cierto color, juntar la cabeza con la del compaero de la izquierda, pisar el pie del compaero de la izquierda, etc... Cada movimiento realizado debe mantenerse hasta que la postura sea complicada. Entonces, sin perder el equilibrio, todos a la vez deben golpear con una mano el centro del crculo.