GAMES & ICEBREAKERS
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compiled by Robyne Beaubien
Any successful event, large or small, requires that all involved get
to know each other better and to have some fun. Following are some
icebreakers and games that we have collected through the years. As
we come up with more, they will be added to the List. First you will
find Ice Breakers followed by Games. They are not in any order and
someday we hope to get them all (plus hundreds more) into a database.
Thanks for your patience!
ICE BREAKERS
30 Seconds
Have all participants sit in a circle. Have a stopwatch handy. Going
around the circle, give each lady 30 seconds to talk about herself.
It's harder than it sounds! You can try it with a minute, or five
minutes also.
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Investigative Icebreaker
Give everyone a pencil and a copy of the "Investigative Inquiries" questions
(listed below). Explain that in this icebreaker, everyone is to act
like an investigative reporter trying to discover and remember specific
facts about other group members. To do this, people will ask each other
the questions on the handout and will try to remember what they uncover.
Let everyone know the rules of the investigation:
· You have 15 minutes
· You may ask each person only one question or set of questions
· You may answer each question only once.
· You may not take notes to help you remember what you uncover
· You must write your initials next to any question you answer
They should work quickly, asking and answering questions until everyone
has asked someone else each question. When time is up, have ladies
take turns reporting one thing they learned through their investigations.
Make sure people tell who answered the question and what the answer
was. Continue reporting until everyone has reported everything he or
she remembers.
To conclude, encourage people to take time before and after each class
or gathering to get to know each other better by asking each other
lots of questions
Investigate Inquiries Questions
What is your full name? Which of your names do you like best and why?
Where were you born? How long has it been since you've been there?
What is your favorite childhood memory? Your most vivid childhood memory?
Do you have brothers or sisters? If so, how many, and what are their
names?
What is one place you've visited that you really enjoyed?
Who has had the greatest positive influence on your life?
Which of your accomplishments are you most proud of?
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
What is your favorite place to eat? Your favorite food?
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Name Anagrams
Create "nametags" for each participant by cutting cardstock
in half to make cards 5 1/2" by 8 1/2". Punch holes at the
top on each end and tie yarn on them to make "necklaces".
Have each participant write their first (or first and last, it's up
to you) names on their cards. Give them 10 minutes to mingle and have
other ladies write in an attribute that describes them that begins
with each letter of their name. For example, Mary's tag might look
like this:
M A R Y
o t o o
t h w u
h l d t
e e y h
r t f
i u
c l
If someone is not sure whether that attribute fits that person, she
should ask!
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Same Game
Before the meeting, write the following sentence across the top of
a sheet of newsprint: "______ and I are similar because we..." Then
list the following sample similarities below the sentence:
· Are from the same home state
· Laugh the same way
· Like the same book or type of books
· Drive the same type of vehicle
· Like the same dessert
· Have the same color of eyes
· Wear the same style of shoes
· Have the same number of siblings
· Have the same middle initial
· Have the same number of children (including zero)
· Work at the same type of job
· Have children the same ages
· Like the same kind of sandwich
As the ladies enter, give each person an index card ad a pencil. When
everyone has arrived, say: Choose a person you do not know well, and
write on your card that person's first name and five similarities you
share. I've listed sample similarities on this poster, but don't limit
yourself to these.
Allow people five minutes to complete their lists and to chat with
their partners. Then say: Now find someone else you do not know well
and use the other side of your card to repeat the process with that
person.
After another five minutes, ask people to introduce their two partners
by name and to list their similarities. In this way, the group will
hear-from two different perspectives-ten things about each person.
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T.P. Talk
Have all participants sit in a circle. Pass around a roll of toilet
paper, and tell everyone that is the only toilet paper in the place,
and to tear off what they will want to use! Once the roll has made
it all the way around, start with the first lady and instruct her
to tell one thing about herself for each square of toilet paper she
tore off! Go around the entire circle. What's really fun is when
they take you seriously about that being the only roll available--you'll
have ladies wrapping the stuff around their hand! :)
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Who Am I?
Before your event, make up nametags (or just make a list to make nametags
as participants arrive) of a variety of famous women. We used women
from the Bible, fictional women, historical women, etc. As each lady
arrives, attach one of the nametags to their backs. Their job is to
ask other attendees yes or no questions to try to figure out who they
are. Once everyone has had an opportunity to try to figure out who
they are, go around the room and have them give their guess. We did
this at a mother/daughter picnic, so were sure to also choose women
that the littler girls would know.
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Icebreaker Scavenger Hunt
This will help women to
gather information about many different women at the event. Facilitator
begins with instructing the group to introduce
themselves to the lady on their immediate. left. Allow about 10 seconds
for this. Then the facilitator will start the timer or note the time
on her watch, & tell participants to open their envelopes & begin.
Ladies will follow the directions on their lists, gathering as much
information as possible until the time runs out. The lady with the
most questions answered "wins" if you are doing it as a game.
Now for the fun stuff! :) Here are some ideas ~~ Obtain the name of
a lady who: Has a green kitchen. Lives in a two story house. Has at
least four children. Whose favorite color is red. Has a 4-wheel-drive
vehicle. Takes care of their elderly parents. Loves to cook. Drives
a standard-shift vehicle. Is a teacher. Sings or plays an instrument.
Is a full-time SAHM. Has a yellow house. Does not have cable or satellite
service. Homeschools her children. Remembers the great Depression.
Has been to a tent revival. Was baptized in a lake, river, or pond.
Has been on a mission trip. Doesn't like chocolate. Likes to swim.
Would like to go on a mission trip. Makes some of her own clothes.
Is an artist. Has an unusual pet. (eg, not a cat, dog, fish, or bird)
Owns a business. Is married to a preacher & is NOT the pastor's
wife. Enjoys horseback riding. Has been to Europe. Has been married
for at least thirty years. Has never given birth. Is new to the area.
Had braces on their teeth as a teen. Actually uses their cloth napkins.
Can change a tire. Is adopted. Is a doctor or nurse. Whose college
degree is pretty much unrelated to their career. Is on the PTA/PTO
at their children's school. Has been married 2 years or less. ETC...
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Getting to know you
As the ladies arrive, have the greeters give them a slip of paper
and take them to the writing desk where they have to write down three
facts about themselves. They then place the slip in the basket. Once
everyone has arrived, everybody takes a turn at drawing a slip from
the basket and has to find the person that matches the three facts.
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Lipstick Paintings
Ask the women to find their
favorite lipstick in their purse, and then apply it. Then direct
them to the ¼ sheets of paper on
their tables and tell them to make a painting with their lipsticked
lips! You can only imagine what a room full of women doing this will
look and sound like. Provide a door prize for the most creative lipstick
picture! Fun icebreaker for Valentines Day!
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Bible Mime Theater
Give each woman one of 6 kinds of stickers as she comes into the meeting.
The women must then find all the similar stickers to form their group,
i.e., all the sunflowers join together, all the hummingbirds, all they
roses, etc. until you get your six groups (more or less if necessary).
Once the groups are formed
they choose a leader to pick a Bible story out of a hat, i.e. "crossing the Red Sea", "building
the Ark", "the resurrection of Lazarus", etc. Then all
the group members participate by miming and acting out the story in
front of other groups until it is guessed.
It gives everyone a chance to participate and act out a Bible activity.
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Tell us about your hometown
As you begin the meeting ask each person to stand up, tell the group
their name, their hometown (the place that their mother's gave birth
to them) and share one fact about their hometown.
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Who Are You?
A bowl of candy is passed
around and each guest is asked to take as much candy as they would
like. They cannot eat the candy until they
are told to do so. After everyone has received the candy, each guest
takes their turn telling something about themselves for each piece
of candy in their hand. For instance, if they have ten M&M's in
their hand, as they lay down each M&M they are to tell something
about their self such as name, if they are married, how many children,
children's names, where they work, number of siblings, hobbies, pets,
etc. Each piece of candy represents some bit of information about them.
This becomes really hysterical when someone has taken a huge handful
of candy. The leader may at some point have to step in and go on to
the next person because the guest will begin to pause at great lengths
after they have told about everything there is to tell. You find out
the names of all their animals, distant cousins etc if it goes on too
long, but it is a lot of fun and a real icebreaker especially for a
group of people who don't know each other well.
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Describing yourself in the ordinary
Ask every woman to open their purse or pocket book and select one
object from it that best describes who they are. IE; Kleenex: Always
soft, but practical and absorbs so much IE: Keys: Because I am always
opening up something or unlocking the answer for someone. IE; Debit
Card - I can only give out what I have taken in... like the card, where
you can only spend what you have in the bank.
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Guess Who
Break up into groups. Choose a leader for each group. Have each member
write something unusual about themselves. Put them in a basket and
the leader pulls out one at a time and everyone tries to guess whose
it is. For example: One member was born in a car, one had a license
to carry a concealed weapon, one grew up in the canal zone, etc. This
helps you remember the person so much better.
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Musical bags
Paper sacks, various fun items for a person to put on. For each table
of ladies, start with one or more sealed paper sacks with a fun item
in it. For example: a bright feather boa, a funny pair of glasses,
a funny hat, etc. The bags are sealed so no one knows what is in the
bag. Start playing some music. During this time the ladies pass the
bags around the table. When the music stops, the person holding the
bag has to open it and put on what is in the bag. All the ladies who
end up with a fun item are gathered together to display them and have
a group picture taken.
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Testimonial Bonding Time
Good for a small group that needs to get to know each better. Wonderful
for a leadership team or group of women who will be serving together.
Gather the women together and give them the opportunity to share how
they came to know the Lord. 2 hints: have plenty of tissues, and tell
a couple of your trusted ladies a head of time, so they can testify
along with you, and the doors will open to bond your group.
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Finding Favorites
Pass the basket filled with candy around the room (during announcements
is a good time or as they come in to the room) asking each person to
pick their favorite (only one) flavor of candy and hold on to it. When
it is time - instruct them to hold their candy up as they quickly move
around the room to find the other women who have the same favorite
candy as they have. In their small groups they are to try to find one
other thing they all have in common! If there is time you may like
to have each small group share what they have in common with the whole
group.
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Give it to God
Hand everyone a balloon. Ask everyone questions, like, 1. have you
had a rough week? 2. Are you worried about something? 3. Do you have
a friend or family member that needs prayer. etc. You can come up with
lots of questions. As you ask the question, tell the participants to
blow into their balloon, one blow for each question. You will see the
balloons filling up! Tell them to hold the balloon (don't tie them)
then read them I Peter 5:7. Then tell them, they can either hang on
to their worries and cares, or they can let them go to God. We often
feel like the balloon, ready to bust! Everyone usually releases their
balloons, and they go flying all over the room. The ladies loved it!
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Where are you from?
Make copies of blank USA maps. Have ladies go around the room and
get a signature of every lady on the state that she was born in.
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" I Am" Bookmark
Great for retreat opener. Buy some heavy stock paper and print a Bible
verse, name of retreat, church, date, etc on one side of bookmark.
Leave the other side blank. You'll also need some laminate sheets.
(Least expensive way to prepare these is to purchase several heavy
card stock pages, measure and cut them in correct size at the office
supply store.)
Give each lady a bookmark. write their name at the top of one side.
Gather bookmarks and shuffle, redistribute; being sure no one gets
their own. Now, make a circle and add one chair in the middle. Each
lady takes a turn sitting in the middle. While she sits in the middle,
have everyone tell something special about her: best friend, sings
all the high notes, wonderful cook, loves animals, etc. The lady holding
her bookmark records all these comments on the other side of the bookmark
that has her name on it. After all have had a turn, collect bookmarks.
Helpers can laminate later and give out the bookmarks as the retreat
is ending.
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Lifesaver Search
Hand each woman a lifesaver. She is to open it, look at the color
and put it in her mouth. She should not let anyone else see the color.
When the leader says GO! everyone in the room gets up and WITHOUT ANY
TALKING walks around the room with their mouths open wide and gets
in groups according to color...all reds in one group, all greens in
one group, etc. The group that forms first wins. You could then have
all the reds introduce themselves to each other.
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Balloon Blast
Write on a strip of paper instructions such as:
Go to a friend and sing them a love song while holding your nose.
What was your favorite cheer in school. Do it for us.
Adjust the number of balloons according to time allowed and size of
group. Then place each piece of paper, with instructions written on
it, inside a balloon and blow up the balloon and tie it. Make 2 sets
of numbers, one to hand out to each lady as they enter, the other to
put in the basket. (this also will help you know how many ladies are
at the event) When it is time for the icebreaker, draw a number and
ask that lady to come to the front. She is asked to choose a balloon
and pop the balloon and follow the instructions inside. Our group of
ladies had so much fun with this and it was done at a mother/daughter
event and they loved it.
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Poetry in Motion
To mix up the crowd at an
informal event. Number large poster boards or sheets of paper 1,
2, 3, etc. and then print three totally unrelated
words on them...like dishwasher, Arabian horse and angora sweater and
put them on the walls around the room. Have all the ladies count off
(up to the number of sheets of paper) then have them get with their
numbers and go to the poster with their group's number. At the start
of the timer they have 10 minutes to write at least a four line poem
using all three of the words on their sheet. Have each group choose
a reader, everyone else sit down and starting with one read the 'silly
poetry." It's really fun!
Just remember to try and break up the groups so that there are even
numbers in each group. And it works best if you use three kinds of
things or words that are very unrelated and do not rhyme with each
other.
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Find Someone Who
On a preprinted sheet have statements such as: Find someone who. (statement)...and
place their name on the line beside the statement that fits them-example
1. Has never permed their hair __________ 2. Speaks a foreign language
____________ 3. Has more than 5 children ____________ 4. Plays golf_________________
etc, etc. Make up as many statements as time will allow for you to
complete. The ladies who attend must go around the room and write down
the name of a woman after each statement.
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GAMES
Body of Christ
Take a picture of Christ and cut it into a jigsaw puzzle with fairly
large pieces. Each woman is given a note card at the beginning of the
retreat and writes on it how she sees herself....both strengths and
weaknesses.
During the retreat, discuss how Christ sees us and that His opinion
is more important than ours. You can have sessions or workshops that
talk about spiritual gifts and do a gift inventory.
During a quiet time of reflection and prayer give each woman a puzzle
piece. On the back side of the puzzle, have each woman write how she
fits into the body of Christ and what her gifts are. Then put the puzzle
together with Christ showing and illustrate how we all fit!
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Inspirations
This is only suitable for
small gatherings as each guest has a ten minute share time. On the
invitation to the meeting ask each guest
to pray and ask the Lord to give them something to share with and encourage
the others in the group. Tell them it should last about ten minutes
and can be in whatever form they choose such as a poem, song, story
etc. Ask them to provide their own musical instrument, tape or cd player
for sharing a favorite song. Give them a scripture or theme to use
as a guideline. Ours was "My Cup Runneth Over". The inspirations
that were shared were very diverse and encouraging to all of us.
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Best Advice/Couples Game
Depending on theme: marriage,
family, etc. come up with famous couples and put them on note cards-
cut in half in a slant or shape. Can use
pretty paper, stamps, or "ruffled" scissors to decorate the
cards. Each half should have one half of the famous couple--Batman
and Robin, Anthony and Cleopatra, Laurel and Hardy to Biblical names;
Mary and Joseph, Sarah and Abraham, etc. When the women come in, they
take a card from the basket and then have to find their other half.
Depending on the theme, have them come up with "advice" for
the event: marriage advice, budget advice, gardening advice, childrearing
advice whatever. As the event begins, the couple has to read their
advice to everyone else. I try to tailor the couples to the event so
the results are funny. I usually mix Bible couples (maybe a better
word would be pairs--since we use two men or two women--just so it
is a well known connection) with popular culture pairs, especially
if the event is an outreach to the un-churched or has new believers.
This has always been a hit when ever we have done this.
Variations: Question cards:
put a question on a note card. Have 2 questions be the same subject
(holiday memory, growing up, etc.) Give
them a card when they come in and they have to find their match. At
dinner, they answer the question.. "My favorite Christmas memory
was going to my Grandma's farm to cut a Christmas tree." "When
I was little I wanted to be a ballerina when I grew up." etc.
We were having trouble with a generation gap in our church--this was
a wonderful way to see other women in a different light.
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Prayer Pockets
Make a list of people in the community that you might not normally
pray for such as the boy that sacks your groceries, or the person at
the drive thru window at your bank. (Do not use names) Cut these into
strips like the ones you get in a fortune cookie and place each one
in a prayer pocket with a dove chocolate candy and a chocolate kiss.
Lace and ribbon make up prayer pocket. Then hand them out at the beginning
of the meeting, ours was on the different ways we can pray, and during
the process of handing them out explain that if each one of them pray
for their person each time they see them during the week that the entire
community will be filled with prayer. They like to compare them to
see who each other will be praying for, sometimes they end up praying
for each other's prayer persons all during the week besides their own.
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Cup of Joy
Bring a tea cup or coffee mug to the meeting to give away. Everyone
draws a name from a hat and receives the cup from the person whose
name they drew. Every day that they use or see the cup they will pray
for the person who gave it to them.
If women are unable to make that particular meeting, they can still
have someone submit their cup for them. It's a good idea to have a
couple of extra cups in case there are guests that may want to participate.
It's a lovely way to pray for each other every day as well as gather
a collection of meaningful cups. This can be a monthly or annual event.
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Open the Door
With everyone sitting around
a table or in a circle, pass a door knob around to each person giving
them each a chance to answer the question "What
doors has God opened for me?" (variation: What doors have I closed
on God?, What doors has God reopened in my life?)
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Hair Roll-up Relay
Divide women up into teams. The team leaders already has three sponge
rollers in their hair.. object is a relay to unroll and roll the next
persons hair. It is a lot of fun!!!
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Hoola Hoop Hoe Down
You will need two Hoola Hoops and a stop watch. Start off with two
volunteers and let them each try to hoola at the same time. Continue
until all have tried, keeping track of the longest times. We just did
this at a retreat last weekend and it was hilarious! We then had a
show-down and the top winner was awarded a small prize.
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True or False
Each person writes 4 statements about themselves on a note card. One
of which is a lie. Everyone then takes turns reading their card and
the person to their right has to determine which statement is a lie.
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Body Parts Musical Chairs
Things get a little rambunctious and a lot silly with this game, but
it is LOTS of fun!! Use the same set-up as with regular chairs. Start
with one less chair than you have players. It is also played much the
same as regular musical chairs. One person runs the music (we used
a Barney tape--it added so much!). The main difference is that when
the music stops, the person running the music also calls out a body
part. Players have to find a chair and place that body part on it!
Some suggested body parts: elbow, ear, head, rear end, knee, etc. You
can also indicate which side of the body: left hand, right ear, etc.
AND, once there are several people eliminated, call out "someone
else's left foot," etc. Obviously, the winner is the last one
sitting (or whatever!).
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Common Ground
Select three common items that have some kind of connection. They can
be categorized as person (e.g. romance book cover, hairbrush, Italian
dictionary-Fabio), place (e.g. pineapple, flower, suntan lotion-Hawaii),
or event (e.g. plastic ants, sandwich, Frisbee-picnic). Place each
set of related items into a brown lunch bag. At game time, open one
bag, remove one item, and hold it up for all to see. Have the players
write down what this item might be connected to. If you like, tell
players what category the set of items is. Remove a second item.
Tell players they can keep their first guess or make a new guess.
Reveal the last item. Again, players can keep their guess or make
a new guess. Be sure to allow enough time between each item for guessing.
Announce the connection. Each player guessing it right on the first
try gets 3 points, second try gets 2 points, last try gets 1 point.
One of our "person" bags was for Princess Diana, and the
bag contained a crown, the British flag, and a single white rose.
We gave the rose as the prize to the winner!
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Collage
Before the game, you will need to purchase sheets of poster board (one
for each group you plan on having), and come up with scissors, glue,
markers and an abundance of magazines. When it's game time, split
your ladies into 4 groups (or whatever seems appropriate). Each group
will be given a stack of magazines, a couple of pairs of scissors,
a couple of glue sticks and several markers. The leader will give
categories of pictures that ladies should search the magazines for
(we used flowers, dangerous jobs, the perfect man, etc.). They should
be given several minutes to search for pictures for each category.
Their job will be to find appropriate pictures, cut them out and
affix them collage-style to the poster board. They can then use the
markers to embellish and decorate as they see fit! A group of judges
can be selected prior to beginning, and they can judge the masterpieces
when finished--base judging on pictures, beauty and creativity! One
tip that you can either give or not is that the teams should designate
1-2 ladies to cut, 1-2 ladies to glue, etc.
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Couch Potato
This is a good paper & pencil game that's good for folks to play
while waiting for everyone to arrive. Players are given the first two
lines to a number of television show theme songs. Their job is to tell
what show the song is from! Click here for a copy of the sheets we
used. (To use it, highlight the entire page, copy, and paste into your
word processing program. You will probably need to do a little reformatting.)
After everyone has arrived and had a chance to answer, read through
the answers. It was fun to have everyone sing the lyrics, as well.
I gave out "Couch Potato" certificates to the winners!
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Game Stations
This game is kind of an Olympics of board and party-type games. It
works best for a larger group. Before the event, choose the games
you will be using. We used Scattergories, Balderdash, Scrabble, Scrutineyes,
Pictionary and Yahtzee. Using the official game rules as your guide,
come up with rules for your group to use in playing each game. For
instance, in Scrabble, each group was given the same combination
of letter tiles, and they were to come up with as many words as possible
with them. When it's game time, split players up into 6 groups (by
counting off)--or however many games you have decided on. Each group
was assigned a table to begin with. They were also given a scorecard
on which they wrote each player's name, and their score for each
game was recorded. Each group is given 4 minutes at each table (you'll
need a leader at each table to oversee each game). The instructions
for the game should be given during that four minutes, so players
should be encouraged to listen very carefully. Blow a whistle at
the end of four minutes, at which time groups rotate to the next
game. Allow 30 seconds for scores to be recorded and groups to move,
then the next 4 minutes should begin. After all games have been played
by all groups, gather back together and go over scores. Reward certificates
or other small tokens to the group with the highest score.
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"
Lap-Sitting" Game
This is probably the game most enjoyed by our ladies so far! All ladies
need to be sitting in a circle around the room, and the person running
the game should stand in the middle. The person in the middle will
ask a series of questions. If a lady can answer "yes" to
that question, she will move one chair to her left. If her answer is "no" she
stays put. If she needs to move and the chair is occupied, no problem!
She'll just sit on the other lady's lap! This is great fun! Click here
to see our list of questions--remember you can change, delete or add
to these as befits your group!
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Touchy Feely Box
This was another one that we let ladies play as they arrived. Before
the event, prepare two boxes by cutting a hole in two sides large enough
to fit a hand and forearm in. When completed, you should be able to
have four ladies play at one time. Choose several items (like 12-15)
that are recognizable by feel alone. Some things we used were: a fork,
a toothbrush (unused!), a rubber band, a comb, etc. Place the same
items in each box. Cover the boxes with towels (so ladies won't be
tempted to peek!). Tell ladies how many items are in the box, then
tell them to put a hand in and try to figure them all out. Give everyone
as much time as she thinks she needs, then give each one a pen and
paper and have them list what they remember being in the box. After
everyone has arrived and played the game, open the box and go through
the contents. We gave bottles of hand lotion to the winners!
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