Activities and Games

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FAVORITE ACTIVITIES FROM CAMP STAFF AND ALUMNI

Icebreakers

Find Your People

You will yell out topics, and the participants must find other people that have the same preferences. For example, you could yell "Morning Beverage!". Everyone begins asking each other about what they like to drink in the morning. People that like tea will stand together. People that like juice will stand together. And so on.

Topic Ideas:

Favorite movie genre
What time you go to bed
Number of siblings
What province/city/town you are from
Favorite flavor of ice cream (or something else)
Ideal vacation
Shoe size

Knot Around the Rope

MATERIALS: Long rope, tied into a circle with one knot

Have everyone stand in a circle around the rope. Give the group these rules:

The goal is to get the knot around the circle as quickly as possible.
Every person must be touching the rope at all times.

Time the group and encourage them to improve. Allow a small amount of time for discussion and ideas about how to move the knot around the circle faster.

Use this as a NAME GAME as well. As the knot moves around the circle, call out the name of one participant. The group tries to get the knot to that person as quickly as possible. When that person touches the knot they get to call out another name.

Energizers

Shoelookee

The group stands in a circle. Instruct everyone to look down and choose someone else's shoes (or feet) to look at. Then you say "1, 2, 3, Shoelookee!" When you say "Shoelookee", everyone must look up at the face of the person whose shoes they were looking at. If two people happen to be looking at each other's shoes, then they will make eye contact and have to yell "AAAHHHH" and step out of the circle. Continue until the group is too small to play.

ALTERNATIVE: Start with two circles. When two players make eye contact, they must scream and then run to join the other circle. This keeps the game going and includes everyone.

Seven-Up

Standing in a circle, the group is counting from 1 to 7 over and over again. Each time a person says a number they put one arm across their chest. They can choose which arm.

If they choose the right arm, then their hand will hit their left shoulder. This means the person on their left says the next number.
If they choose the left arm then their hand will hit their right shoulder. This means the person on their right says the next number.

*SEVEN: The person who says "seven" puts one of their hands on their head, instead of across their chest. They get to choose which hand, which will point to either the right or the left.

If a participant says the wrong number, forgets to make a motion, or does not respond then they have to sit down in their spot. They get to stand back up when someone else makes a mistake.

Teambuilding Challenges

Paper Chain

An all-time camp favorite. Good for large groups to demonstrate unity in contrast to competition.

MATERIALS: Colored paper cut into 2.5 cm strips. Gluesticks.

Large groups should be divided into teams of 10-12 people. Instruct the group that each team has 15 minutes to build a paper chain. There are two challenges:

Everyone must put one hand behind their back.
No one is allowed to talk.

Give each team a stack of paper strips and a few gluesticks. Start the time and make sure that everyone is following the challenge rules.

After 15 minutes, let everyone string out their paper chains to see who created the longest. Then remind the group that competing to make the longest chain was never part of the goal! Use a strip of paper and glue to begin joining the chains together and talk about the symbolism of one united group. Hang up the chain in a common, visible area as a reminder of the lesson from this activity.

Newspaper Towers

MATERIALS: Lots of newspaper. Rolls of masking tape. Measuring tape or ruler.

Divide into teams of 4-5 participants. Give each team a stack of newpaper and some tape.

Teams have 10 minutes to create a tower out of the newspaper and tape, no other props may be used! The team with the tallest tower wins.

Other prizes/awards can be given as well: Strongest tower, Creative Design, Least amount of tape, etc.

Discussion: Did they make a plan? Was everyone involved? How did they choose a strategy? Any accusations of "stealing" ideas? What did they learn about building strong and successful towers? How can those lessons apply to real life situations?

Trustbuilding

Robots

MATERIALS: One blindfold for every three students. 10-12 small objects, nothing sharp or breakable.

This activity works best with groups of 6-15. Choose a large area that is flat and smooth, with nothing that could trip people who are wearing blindfolds.

Divide the group into smaller groups of 3. Each of these small groups will be spread out in a circle around the playing area. Each position has a specific role:

1- The EYES: this position faces the play area and can see everything that is happening. BUT they cannot talk. They must communicate via gestures or codes.

2- The VOICE: this position has their BACK to the play area, so they cannot see anything. They give directions to the Robot based on information that they receive from the Eyes.

3- The ROBOT: this position is blindfolded and in the play area. They listen to the Voice for directions about where to go. Their goal is to find one of the objects, then throw and hit one of the other robots with that object.

After explaining the positions and objective, give the groups 2-3 minutes to create a communication technique. Then everyone takes their positions. Once everyone is ready to start, walk through the play area placing objects on the ground. At this point, only the "Eyes" will see where the objects are. Then say "GO" and the activity begins. After each round, the positions should rotate, so everyone has a chance to be the Eyes, the Voice, and the Robot.

DISCUSSION: Which position was easiest? Hardest? What worked and what didn't work? How did it feel to be the robot? Did anyone give up or try to cheat? How can we learn from what we felt to be hardest for ourselves? What areas of trust do we need to grow in?

Reflection

Memory Boxes

MATERIALS: Colored paper, stickers, tape or glue, pens, markers

Each person will create a paper box or envelope that can be hung on a wall in a common area. Make sure the boxes are organized somehow, and that everyone has their name written clearly on the front.

Give the entire group some time to write memories and encouragement notes to each other. Model examples of appropriate positive writing, and encourage the group to think of specific memories with one another. When someone writes a note, they can put it directly into the memory box for that person.

At departure time, each person can take their box/envelope off of the wall to take with them as reminders of the time spent with the group.

Just for Fun

Charades

For this game, you will need to prepare 30 small pieces of paper with different actions written on them. Fold them and put them in a box or bowl.

One person comes up, picks up a piece of paper and reads it. They are NOT ALLOWED to SAY ANYTHING! They must get the other people to guess the action by acting it out.

Relay Race

To play, divide everyone into teams of 5 or 6 people.

Show them the task they need to do. Here are some ideas:

Carry an egg on a spoon across the room and back
Dribble a basketball across the room and back
Run backwards across the room, then come back forwards
Transfer water from one bucket to another bucket. They can only use a small cup or a sponge.
Walk while keeping a balloon in the air. If it touches the ground, stop and count to three.

The teams race to see who can get everyone to finish the task the fastest. The players must go in order and rotate to do the tasks.

First team done wins!

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