Summer Activity Pack

IcebreakersTeam Building

Quick Activity Sheets

How To Use This PackHOW TO USE THIS PACK:HOW TO DOWNLOAD:To download from website: • Click on the link to the pack you want to download• From the dialog box, choose to ‘open’ or ‘save’ the file then click OK• The pack will open as a slideshow: all links are live but you will need to left click to advance through the pack.• Choose PRINT from the drop down FILE menu to print all or some of the pages (see below)• Choose SAVE AS from the drop down FILE menu to save a copy to your hard driveHOW TO PRINT (NOTE – THERE IS NO NEED TO PRINT THE ENTIRE PACK, ONLY INDIVIDUAL SLIDES WITH ACTIVITIY SHEETS ):• Before printing, delete ‘Index’ arrows by selecting and then pressing DELETE• Individual slides can be printed by selecting individual slide numbers or ranges in the PRINT menu• To print slides in black & white or grayscale, select the relevant option from the Colour/Grayscale drop down menu when

you are about to printHOW TO VIEW LINKS/USE SLIDES• These slides may be used to form part of a presentation – press F5 to view as a slideshow• To delete individual slides, click on them to select then click on ‘cut’ in the Edit menu• To make links ‘live’ you will need to view the pack as a SLIDESHOW – go to the ‘View’ menu or press F5If you have any comments regarding this pack, or need any additional help in using it, please contact me:SUZANNAH YOUDE: suze.youde@kent.gov.uk or tel: 01622 221678All information in this pack was correct and all links active at time of upload but may be subject to change

Top 10 Websites

www.teampedia.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page Teampedia has an extensive range of team building activities

www.ultimatecampresource.com/site/camp-activities/name-games.page-1.html UCR has a good range of name games & icebreakers

www.cypnow.co.uk/Archive/917397/Work-Pack-Youth-club-activities---Summer-fun/www.cypnow.co.uk/Archive/828721/Work-pack-Youth-Club-Activities---Summer-Games/

Vanessa Rogers ideas for summer fun and games

www.activityvillage.co.uk/ Activity Village has great ideas for outdoor games, printable puzzles and much more

www.youthgroupgames.co.uk/summer-games-for-youth-groups.html Youth Group Games summer activities

http://wilderdom.com/games/Icebreakers.html Wilderdom has great icebreakers and links to more

http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/ Discovery Puzzlemaker helps you create a range of printable puzzles

www.youthwork.com/ Youthwork has plenty of links, ideas, resources & activities

www.funandgames.org/ Fun & Games has ideas for offline and online games plus e-safety resources

www.youthworker.org.uk/ Youthworker has brain busters, team builders, discussion starters and more

Icebreakers - Individual

INDIVIDUAL ICE BREAKERS 3 Words: ask each member of the group to think of 3 words that sum up:

Their hopes/dreams/ambitions Their day at school/work What they want to do on holiday What they think about an issue

Or any other questions relevant to the session you’re going to be doing. This could also be used as a very quick evaluation tool. Beachballs: give each member of the group a piece of paper and ask them to write one fact about themselves on it (the more interesting the better!). Now scrunch up the paper to make a ball and use the balls to play catch – let this go on for long enough that the balls get thoroughly mixed. Now ask each young person to pick up a ball, open it and read out what it says. The rest of the group then need to try and match the fact to the person. Social Networking Badges: Print out the badge template onto stickers or pieces of paper or light card that young people can attach to their clothes with a safety pin. Ask young people to fill out the information and then walk around and mix with other young people to start building social networks based on liking the same films or music. As a follow up, ask young people if they would go into the street wearing the badges? Point out that sharing information can help you to get to know people but it’s a good idea to be careful about the information you share with people you don’t know very well. Roll Of Honour: Pass a toilet roll around the group and tell each person to take as many sheets as they like. When the roll has been passed round the entire group, ask them to count up how many sheets they have – now the good/bad news. For each sheet they have to tell the rest of the group a fact about themselves. Find your pack: Write the names of several animals with distinct sounds – dog, cat, cow, pig etc. – on pieces of paper (about 5 for each animal depending on the size of the group). Ask each person to pick a piece of paper and look at it. Then, just by making the sound of the animal, they must try and find the rest of the animals in their pack.

Social Networking Badge

Icebreakers - Pairs

PAIRS ICEBREAKERS Find Out About: Divide the group into pairs and give them a few minutes to find out about each other – this is easiest if they take turns to ask the questions. You Can give the pairs specific things to find out about e.g. favourite book/film/music or leave it open ended and see what each young person thinks it’s important to find out about. When time is up, ask each partner to tell the rest of the group what they found out. Mirror: Divide the group into pairs and ask them to stand (or kneel or sit) opposite each other. The aim is for them to take turns mirroring each other’s actions. Allow one partner to lead for a few minutes then swap over. Encourage the pairs to get more mobile the better they get at mirroring. You could also try using speech and see how quickly each partner can pick up on what the other is saying. Then encourage the group to mingle and start again with a new partner. Lost: ask everyone in the group to think of one thing they’d want to have with them if they were lost on a dessert island – tell them it doesn’t have to be sensible, it could be an ice cream or their pet! Now divide the group into pairs and ask them to share their ideas with each other – how could they use and combine their objects to survive? All change: Split the group into pairs, then get them to sit opposite each other to form 2 circles. Give each pair about 30 seconds to introduce themselves by saying their name and one fact about themselves then call ‘all change’. The inner circle moves round one and the outer circle stays still. Repeat till everyone has spoken to everyone (if you can’t make 2 circles, make 2 lines and ask the line on the left to move along one when you call ‘all change’)

Icebreakers - GroupsGROUP ICEBREAKERS Pass The Pulse: Divide the group into 2 teams and ask them to stand in line back to back. The person at the end of the line holds a small object (ball/pen/coin). At some distance from the end of the line place 2 wastepaper bins (or similar). To start the game the session leader touches the first players in the line on the shoulder at the same time. The players must then ‘pass a pulse’ (squeeze the hand of the next person in line) to the player holding the object. As soon as that person receives the pulse they must run to the bin and drop in their object. First team to do so wins. Play best of 5. ‘Pass the pulse’ is also a great focus/energiser exercise – simply get the group to sit in a circle, close their eyes and pass the pulse. See how fast you can get! In the Right Order: ask the group to arrange themselves in a line according to:

Date of birth Initial letter of first name/surname Height

Or any other suitable grouping. You could also divide the group into 2 teams and see which team does the task fastest. The Human Knot ask the whole group to stand in a circle. Now ask them to cross their arms in front of them and hold onto the hands of someone across the circle from them. Make sure everyone is holding hands. Now untangle the knot! This is great for working together as a team and communicating verbally and non verbally Empty Chair: Have each member of the group take a chair and arrange randomly in the space. Now make one person ‘it’ (or assume the role yourself) and send them to the other side of the room from their empty chair. The aim is for the rest of the group to stop them reaching an empty chair, which means they have to move from chair to chair rapidly trying to ensure that the empty chair is as far away as possible from ‘it’. The person who is ‘it’ moves at a walk throughout, whilst the rest of the group may run. As soon as ‘it’ reaches an empty chair, whoever is still standing becomes ‘it’. The game has no time limit. Mingle, Mingle: Ask the group to move around the room as you call ‘mingle, mingle, mingle’. Then shout out a category that they need to get into e.g. Get into groups of 3, people with the same hair colour, wearing the same colour socks. All group members will need to hold onto each other. You can play a variation of this by marking a line down the middle of the floor and asking the group to make choices – ‘if you like cats, step to the left, if you like dogs step to the right’. At some point during either of these games, every member of the group will have something in common with everyone else.

Icebreakers – More Resources

FOR MORE IDEAS VISIT:• wilderdom.com/games/Icebreakers.html • http://www.mwls.co.uk/icebreakers/ • http://www.icebreakers.ws/ • http://www.youthgroupgames.co.uk/ • http://www.youthworker.org.uk/• http://www.genv.net/en-us/dream_it/team_buil

ding/example_icebreakers

Team Building ActivitiesTHE TALLEST TOWER• AIM: to illustrate the importance of collaboration & communicationMATERIALS:• Paper plates, cups, bowls• Lolly sticks & coffee stirrers• Yogurt pots & empty cardboard cartons• Tape & string• Pens & pencils• Stiff paper & cardboard• A prize (big bag of sweets for everyone to share or something similar)

Divide the materials into bags but make sure you divide them unequally e.g. One bag may have 10 sheets of paper and 1 lollystick, another may have 12 coffee stirrers and 3 cups etc.

DIRECTIONS• Divide the group into smaller groups (make sure you have a good mix in each group!) and ask them to find a space to work

in• Ask a representative from each group to come forward to get directions and materials – give them each a bag and tell them

the aim is to communicate and collaborate to build the tallest free standing tower.• Discourage questions – respond with a phrase like “I’ve told you all I know – you’ll have to figure out the rest for

yourselves”• Give the groups 20 minutes to build – after a few minutes of building, tell the groups to stop and have a look at what the

other teams are doing• Make a note of whether groups begin to collaborate and share, beg, barter and steal or simply get on with the task making

the best of what they have.

Fun Team Building ActivitiesTHE TALLEST TOWERDEBRIEFWhole group questions:• Raise your hand if you helped build a tower!• What worked well?• What challenges did you encounter and how did you overcome them?• Did you build the tallest tower you could? If not, why not?If the groups didn’t work together:• Why did you stay in your group and not share supplies?• Could you have built a taller tower if you’d worked with the other groups?If the groups did work together:• Why did you decide to work together?• What became possible when you started to share your resources?Ask everyone:• How can we make sure we all work together, communicate and share as a group?FOLLOW UP• Use the ideas from the debrief to set some ground rules for group work

Lost with thanks to Vanessa Rogers & CYPN

SET UP: Read out the following scenario“A light aircraft makes an emergency crash landing leaving you lost in the middle of a dense tropical forest on the edge of a

swamp swarming with mosquitoes. It’s extremely hot and humid and night is falling. You’ve lost all radio contact and nobody knows where you are.

Then someone shouts ‘Quick, get out! The plane is about to explode!’ You have a few minutes to grab some essential items and get out – you have your mobile with you, but there’s unlikely to be a signal. You’re dressed but you don’t have a coat. There are several items close enough to take before the plane bursts into flames – what will you choose?”

Hand out the Lost List below and ask each young person to spend a few minutes thinking about what items would be most important for survival – stress that there are no ‘right’ answers.

ACTIVITY: Divide the group into smaller groups and ask them to discuss their personal choices before agreeing a team list. The rules are these:

• Each team can only take 10 items• All items must be agreed by the whole team• Teams can’t take part of something or split things up• Each team will need to nominate a spokesperson to feedback at the end of the exerciseAllow about 20 minutes for discussion and to agree the list. As activity leader, you may answer questions about the plane crash

and the circumstances that the survivors find themselves in but you can’t offer opinions as to what they should take.

FEEDBACK: Invite each team to present their list and explain their choices. How easy was it to agree the choices? Was it easier or harder to make the decisions as a team? What were the benefits of a teamwork approach?

Lost Items List

20 tealight candles

A compass Inflatable dingy

Oar 24 cans of cola

Basic first aid kit

Insect repellent

36 chocolate bars

3 boxes of matches

Torch and batteries

72 mini bags of peanuts

Pad of paper and a pencil

20 fresh oranges

Gallon drum of water

Calculator Small shovel

Axe Large tarpaulin sheet

36 bottles of beer

2 flares 12 firelighters

A whistle Swiss army knife

3 rolls of toilet paper

20 metres of rope

8 cans of baked beans

6 blankets

Fun Team Building Activities

• The Helium Stick: Divide the group into smaller groups of about 12 people. Ask the members of the group to either stand in 2 rows facing each other, or in a circle. Ask them to hold their arms out and point their index fingers. Now place a lightweight tent pole or an unweighted hula hoop on their outstretched fingers and ask them to make sure that everyone’s index finger is touching the pole/hoop. Now all they have to do is lower the pole/hoop to the floor without grabbing it – it must rest on top of the fingers. The problem is, the pole/hoop has a tendency to float up rather than fall! The group will need to calm down, concentrate, be patient and work together to achieve the task.

• Toxic Waste: The challenge is to move the toxic waste contents to the "neutralization" container using minimal equipment and maintaining a safe distance within a time limit. Mark a circle on the floor about 8ft wide (the wider the circle the more difficult the task) and place a bucket filled with water or balls in the centre. This is the toxic waste. Place another larger bucket 30-50 feet away (the further away the more difficult the activity). Place 8 lengths of cord and a bungee loop in a pile – you may add red herring objects if you like. The challenge is to move the toxic waste to the neutral bucket within a time limit – if you don’t make it, the earth will be destroyed! You must also keep a ‘neutral circle’ around the waste at all times. If someone breaches the toxic waste zone, indicated by the circle, enforce an appropriate penalty e.g., loss of limbs (hand behind back) or function (e.g., blindfolds if a head enters the zone) that lasts for the rest of the game. If a whole person enters the zone, they die and must then sit out for the rest of the activity. If the bucket tips over the game is over. (The solution: attach the cords to the bungee loop, guide this over the bucket then lift and move – requires coordination, care and great teamwork!). For added drama you can put bicarbonate of soda in the neutralisation bucket and use vinegar in the toxic waste bucket – when one meets the other they cause a chemical reaction and froth up!

Fun Team Building Activities

Common Ground: Divide young people into teams and give them a piece of paper and a pen. Now ask them to work together to make a list of all the things they have in common – liking the same kind of music or enjoying the same kind of sport. Each item on the list must be something ALL the group agree on and you can’t list body parts e.g. ‘We all have a nose’ (though you could list physical similarities like ‘we all have blue eyes’). Put a time limit on the activity and let the groups know when they have 1 minute left, then 30 seconds, then countdown ten to zero. When time is up, ask each team to read out their list – you can give a small prize to the group with the longest list. Encourage a discussion about the ways in which we’re all the same and ways in which we’re all different and how we can all work together.

Diversity Bingo: Use the card below or adapt as you like. Each young person has a copy of the bingo card and must try and find other young people to help them complete it. When they find a young person who... They must get them to write their name in the box on their card. The first person to complete their card shouts ‘Bingo!’ and wins the game. Diversity bingo is a great opportunity for young people to fins out more about each other, learn each other’s names and break down barriers. You can ask young people to feed back on what they found out and what surprises there were.

Egg & Newspaper Towers (thanks to Loic Flory): Quite simply, the aim is to build the tallest tower that will support an egg! Divide the group into teams of even numbers and give each team a newspaper, a raw egg and a roll of sticky tape. Each team has 10 minutes to build the tallest tower to support their egg - remember, the egg must be able to sit on top of the tower without falling off and without being held on by your hands or sticky tape! As leader, you could count down the last 10 seconds or play the music from ‘Countdown’. Now see which team has the tallest tower and is the winner! In your debrief focus on what it was like to work as a team, what problems there were and how you solved them. As leader, observe the roles that young people adopt in their groups (leader, follower, innovator, doer, thinker) and introduce these into the discussion asking young people why they adopted that role, were they happy with that role or would they have preferred to do something different?

Diversity Bingo Find someone who...

Has lived on a farm Has visited 1 other country Can speak more than 1 language

Supported the winning team in the World Cup

Can rollerskate Recycles

Has their birthday in July Knows how to make an omelette

Does volunteer work

Is left handed Lives in a country whose flag has 3 different colours

Has a pet

Plays the violin Likes eating pasta Likes going to the beach

Fun Team Building Activities

• Cardboard Relay you will need 4 pieces of cardboard about 10 inches square. Divide the group into 2 teams and give 2 pieces of cardboard to each team. Now establish a goal (to a designated point and back) and tell each team that to get there they can only travel by standing on the pieces of cardboard – they’ll need to place them on the floor in front of them like stepping stones. The team who completes the relay first is the winner.

• All Aboard! you will need an old blanket for each group. Start with the blanket spread out and tell the group their aim is to all fit on the blanket. This should be accomplished quite easily. Congratulate the group and then ask them to fold their blanket in half. Now repeat the exercise, each time folding the blanket in half. How small a space can everyone in the group fit onto? The smaller the space, the more the group will need to physically support each other.

• Monster the objective for each group is to build a monster out of their bodies and then cross the room. The catch is that they can only have half the number of hands and feet touching the ground as there are people e.g. A group of 12 people would be allowed to have 12 hands and 12 feet touching the ground. You can make this a race – the first team to cross the room wins – or you can make it harder by minimising the number of hands and feet to be used (odd numbers are good!). If any part of the ‘monster’ becomes detached as they cross the area, that team must go back to the start and try again. This is a great fun team builder encouraging verbal and non-verbal communication.

• Name Conga great for getting to know everyone’s name. The facilitator starts by introducing themselves then turning to a member of the group and asking their name e.g. Jane. The facilitator then chants the name in a conga rhythm, encouraging the rest of the group to join in, clap, stamp etc. Then the facilitator puts his/her hands on Jane’s shoulders and they conga to another group member. Jane asks the new persons name and puts her hands on their shoulders. The conga line moves off chanting the new person’s name. This continues until everyone is doing the Name Conga!

Fun Team Building Activities With thanks to Vanessa Rogers/CYPN

• HULA RELAY You’ll need 2 hula hoops. The aim is to pass these round a circle without breaking hands. Ask the group to stand in a circle and hold hands. Unlock the joined hands of 2 young people on one side of the circle and place a hula hoop over their wrists. Repeat on the opposite side of the circle. On the word ‘Go’ the hula hoops need to move around the circle as quickly as possible and back to the starting point – one travels clockwise and the other anti clockwise. Hands must stay locked together throughout. Review the process and find out what young people learned about working as a team and if they think they could now improve their speed. Repeat to see if they can go faster. You could also time the activity using the stopwatch function on a mobile phone.

• MACHINE RACE the aim is quite simple – to construct a model that can race – and win! Get together a wide range of materials including:

– Cardboard boxes– Cardboard tubes– Scissors– Sticky tape & glue– Cotton reels– Elastic bands– Wooden skewersYou’ll also need something to build a slop to race down. Divide the group into at least 2 teams and ask them to plan and

build a machine to enter into the race. Emphasise team work and co-operation at each stage of the process. Allow about an hour for planning and building and then hold the race – this could be a simple one off (which machine travels fastest) or a series of knockouts. Each team is allowed to give their machine one starting push. Now review the process asking young people what they learnt and how it felt to work together in a team.

Balloon FunThere are plenty of fun balloon games and you can find more here www.yfcu.org/Portals/4562306a-86e1-49a6-86e2-65417a84cacc/Downloads/Games%20Workshop.pdfwilderdom.com/games/descriptions/gamesballoons.html

Balloons in the Air: Make sure each young person has a balloon. Ask them to write their name on it and then to blow it up. When you shout ‘go!’ the aim of the game is simply to see who can keep their balloon in the air longest whilst trying to burst other people’s balloons!

Balloon Stomp: A variation on ‘Balloons in the Air’ is to tie the balloon to your ankle with a piece of string and see who can keep their balloon intact whilst bursting everybody else’s balloons by stomping on them!

Fire in the Hole: this is a good group balloon activity – give each group member (3-5 young people) a balloon and instruct them to position them at about belly button level. Now they need to move together so the balloons are held in place. When each group is ready, shout ‘fire in the hole!’. This is the cue for each group to start squeezing together until all their balloons are burst – you can make this a race with the first group to succeed winning a prize. If any group is having trouble bursting their balloon invite other young people to join in!

Balloon Modelling: modelling balloons are cheap, fun and creative. Split the group into teams and give them some modelling balloons (you may also need to provide balloon pumps). Now call out objects for the teams to model and give them a time limit in which to create their masterpieces – the more strange and interesting the objects you choose, the better! After each round ask all the teams to vote for the best model and award a small prize each round and/or keep score and award a prize to the best overall team.

Outdoor Games & Activities

Download the Woodland Trust summer activity pack here:http://www.naturedetectives.org.uk/packs/Water games, relay races and more:http://familyfun.go.com/summer/summer-games/Fun Attic have some great fun outdoor games:http://www.funattic.com/game_list.htmHealthy Picnics has games for different settings & age groups:http://www.healthy-picnics.com/outdoor_games.htmlOutdoor games that don’t need any equipment:http://kids-outdoor-activities.suite101.com/article.cfm/

outdoor_games_for_kids_to_playYouth Work practice has 2000 games to choose from:http://www.youthwork-practice.com/outdoor-indoor-games-

collection.htmlOutdoor youth group games:http://www.jubed.com/youth_ministry/search/outdoorSALTO Youth has links to some great resources:http://www.salto-youth.net/tools/links/tools.htmlYouth Group Games has games for 2 players to whole group:http://www.youthgroupgames.com.au/games/index.cfm

DESIGN YOUR OWN GAMEEquipment: bats, balls of various sizes, cones, posts,

bean bags, hoops – use your imagination!Aim: to create your own team game!Directions: Divide the group into smaller groups and

tell them they’ll be making up their own team game – they’ll need to think about what equipment they’ll need, rules, playing area etc. Give the groups 5-10 minutes to think about their idea then give each group a few minutes to get their equipment. Allow about 30 minutes of playing time for each group to get their game up and running and then ask each group to name their game and demonstrate it! As an extension, get everyone to try out all the games to see which is the easiest to pick up, most playable, clearest rules etc.

Outcome: this is a great activity for encouraging team work and creativity – plus you’ll have some fantastic unique games to use in the future!

Summer Fun Wordsearch Can you find these fun summer words in the grid?

V A K A S F T D N Z O E M A W

R H K P U E B E K M I E B C K

O P Z N K E E R P K B B A B L

Y N S C O R U D V J H S A L E

S F I G C S K C P U E I B U V

D R O S T H E M E P A R K E A

C A N O C U H J S B T F Z S R

B U N A T O I U I S R Q N K T

S P E C L B N R I W X A O Y O

Z B A I I B A E Z I O K B X Z

E U D R A N B L Z M S U N N Y

H A M T K C G T L M O G H V J

Y V H C G S A I L I N G V O W

H E L D D A P D P N T Q H C B

M A E R C E C I V G P O N Y C

BARBECUECRICKETFRISBEEHOLIDAYSUNNYTHEME PARKBEACHDANCINGFUNICE CREAMSAILING SUNSCREENTRAVELBLUE SKYFOOTBALLHEATPADDLESUNBATHESWIMMING

Which way to the Park? Can you find your way through the maze and get to the park?

Fantasy Festival

One of the biggest events of the summer is the Glastonbury Festival. Imagine if you were given the chance to decide the line up for the biggest music festival of them all! Use this side of the sheet to decide your fantasy festival line up – it’s up to you to decide which acts are going to appear – you can theme each of your evenings or have a real musical mash up. Maybe there are some great bands from the past you’d like to have seen live or you want to showcase the best of now. Decide on your top 5 acts for each evening and list them below. Then flip the page over and design a poster to promote your very own fantasy festival!

FRIDAY NIGHT SATURDAY NIGHT SUNDAY NIGHT

The Alphabet GameThe Alphabet Game is very simple to play with just a few rules:• Pick a time for each round- for instance, 5 minutes, 10 minutes. Generally, the first round needs more time, but as the

game progresses and the players get better you can shorten the time for following rounds. • Ask everyone to write their name, or team name, on the sheet.• Explain that there is 1 mark for an answer that more than one person has at the end of the round, but 2 for an answer

that no one else has thought of.• Explain that only one answer can be used in each round. For instance, if Glasgow is used for ‘football team’ it can’t be

used in the answer for ‘town’.• Pick a letter and then start the round by announcing it, then time the round and shout stop when times up! (Make sure

that you supervise this carefully and don’t allow any over running of time)• At end of round, make everyone change their sheets with someone else for marking.• Go round in order (or else everyone is shouting at once) asking who each persons answer ON THE SHEET IN FRONT OF

THEM, NOT THEIR OWN ANSWER is. Allocate the scores as you go on, 1 for an answer if it is mentioned more than once. 2 if it is unique.

• If there is a dispute over an answer, get the entire group to discuss or argue it and then vote. The final decision rests with the group, not the quizmaster. Expect dissension over such things as pop groups, famous people, football teams etc!

• At end of scoring doublecheck on the 1 or 2 point answers, then add up scores and see who has won…….

Thanks to Flory Loic for the layout & rules!

LETTER LETTER

Girl’s Name

Boy’s Name

Town

Country

Football Team

Sport’s Person

Film

TV Programme

Film Star

Musician/Group

Car

Colour

Body Part

Fish /Animal