Energizers

How to play: Everyone gets into a circle and someone starts counting. 

1. Each person sequentially says a number in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction until the number 7 is reached. 

2. Instead of saying 7, that person says BUZZ. The counting direction then reverses until the next number that has a 7 in it or is a multiple of 7 is reached; that person also says BUZZ. 

3. The direction again reverses, and the sequence continues until someone makes a mistake (not saying BUZZ or saying BUZZ at the wrong time). At this point the group would start over. 

4. To make the game more difficult add the word BANG for 5’s and multiples of 5. For the ultimate challenge, add the word BING for 3’s and multiples of 3. 

Participants: Groups between 5-20 work well

How to play:  Have everyone think of a dance move.  

1. Go around the circle one at a time and have them perform their dance move.  

2. You can use this as a name game, too, and have them say their name and do their dance move.  

3. Once everyone has shown their dance move, have everyone do it one more time—one person at a time. 

4.  Introduce the rhythm of Boom, Chicka, boom (pause), boom-boom.  Everyone is doing the chant at the same time.  

5. The activity is everyone doing their dance move at one time for one stanza of the chant and then, doing the dance move of the person on your right for the next stanza and then, repeat.  

6. What happens is that dance moves end up being passed from one person to the next after each stanza.  

7. Go until the process totally breaks down.  Repeat as many times as you like!

Participants: Works well with any size, tends to work better with high energy groups already. 

How to play: Have participants stand in a circle. This is a game that involves the passing of a movement (the “bunny”). 

1. First, the group establishes a basic beat, chanting “kum-cha, kum-cha”. Everyone should continue the beat throughout the game, unless they are bunny-ing or toki-ing. 

2. The person who begins the movement does the bunny motion first to themselves “bunny bunny”) and then to the person that they are passing the bunny to (“bunny bunny”). 

3. The person that the bunny was passed to then does the same bunny-bunny action. While the person is performing the bunny, the people on both sides face the person saying “bunny bunny”, wave their arms and say “toki toki toki toki”. 

4. The passing of the bunny continues and can be repeated for as long as you would like. 

The "bunny-bunny" action: Participants hands are like the would be if they were in a sock puppet and making it talk. When they receive the bunny, the "puppet" is facing the receiver's chest. When it is passed the "puppet" is now facing the person that the person wants to pass it to. 

Variations: Eliminations for making a mistake, forgetting to do an action, etc. People can also change the beat by adjusting the kum-cha beat quickness.

See "Cheer Rock" in the closer section

Participants: Good for most groups, but those over 10 work the best

How to play: This activity is a variation of rock, paper, scissors. 

1. All participants start as an egg. 

2. Participants find a partner, and play rock, paper, scissors.

3. The winner evolves following the progression below. The loser does not evolve and stays at the stage they were at (unless y'all are playing devolution). 

4. Only people in the same stage can play one another. ie a chicken cannot play an egg, only other chickens. 

5. The game ends when everyone reaches the final stage or the group runs out of time.

Evolution stages (in order)

1. Egg: Eggs crouch and waddle around.

2. Chickens: Chickens bend lower and flap their wings as they walk around.

3. Dinosaurs: Dinosaurs walk fairly upright with their arms acting as mini dinosaur arms.

4. Superheros: Superheros act by raising their hands above their heads (like Superwo/man)

 Variations: 

• Devolve if you lose....ie if two chickens play each other, one will become a egg (loser) and the other will become the dinosaur (winner).

• Superheroes act as distractions.....they "heckle" other people trying to play the game

• Have superheroes have the super power to help people evolve regardless of what level they are on. For example, a superhero can come up to an egg, play rock, paper, scissors until the egg wins and the egg moves up to a chicken. The idea is that superheroes can help people to evolve to superhero without losing superhero status. 

  • In this way, if playing devolution as well, a superhero who plays a chicken, and if the chicken loses, the chicken DOES NOT become and egg. 

• Play with different animals or actions

  • Former alpers have played games with business groups who's superhero stage was the "wolfie" action from the Wolf of Wall-street movie (pounding your fist on your chest).

Props:

1. Stuffed animals (multiple)

Participants: Between 10-25 works well, above that is challenging based on space

How to Play: It’s a tag game where there is a base. 

1. The base is the stuffed animal, bird, and while you are holding the bird, you cannot be tagged. 

2. The person who is it may hold a different object for identification purposes. When the person who is it tags someone, they hand them their object. 

3. The group can develop teamwork since they have to pass the bird in order to not be tagged.

How to play:  Whenever the facilitator calls “Flood!” the members of the group have 10 seconds to get up off of the ground.  Can be a fun game if you are walking for a while—makes it more engaging and fun then just walking down the street.  Be careful of where you play—look for potential dangers and hazards.

Props: 

1. A large coin (frisbee works)

2. Throwies

3. Blindfolds (optional)

How to play: Divide your group into two teams with equal numbers on each side. Ask each team to sit down facing each other with approximately 12” between the teams. 

1. Each team must link together by holding hands so that all the players on a team are connected. They need to hold hands. 

2. A throwie (or an object that can be grabbed) is placed exactly between the last two people at the ends of the lines. The object should be equidistant from both players. The last players need to rest their free hands on their knees at the start of the game. 

3. At the head of the line, the first players on each team keep their eyes open. All other players are either blindfolded or close their eyes. Position yourself as leader close to the two sighted people at the start of the lines. 

4. Flip a coin: When it lands, heads is the single to send an impulse down the line; tails means nothing and the coin is flipped again. 

• When heads turns up, the two sighted players immediately squeeze the hands of the next player in line. This impulse is passed down the line as quickly as possible to the last person. 

• As soon as the last person receives it, they try to grab the throwies (or object). Whichever person gets the object first, that team wins the round. Rotate positions for the next round.

• When tails turns up on the coin flip, if the sighted person sends an impulse down the line and the object is grabbed, the team is assessed a penalty. They must reverse rotate one spot. Asses this penalty any time an infraction occurs. 

Props: 

1. Noodle

2. Blindfold

3. Clothespins/ Binder clips

How to play: Circle up, one person is blindfolded in the middle with about 5 clothespins attached to clothing and noodle in hand. 

1. People on the outside circle and attempt to remove clothespins from the Jedi without getting hit by the noodle (or light saber). 

2. If person is hit by the noodle they will then have some sort of penalty (chosen by facilitator). 

3. After all clothespins are taken off a new Jedi is chosen and goes to the center of the circle. 

Debriefing ideas: Talk about how the loss of a sense can change how you feel about the rest of your group. Compare how the person in the middle felt to those on the outside etc. 

How to play:  Introduce this at the beginning of the day or program as an activity you will use to get their attention.  The way it works is when someone says “Jellyfish”, everyone has to stop and do a jellyfish move for the count of 3.  Demonstrate by doing your best jellyfish and counting “1-2-3!”  then, you freeze and pay attention to whoever is talking. 

This activity could be used as an attention getter. 

Participants: At least 10

How to play: Have the group sit in a circle. 

1. Show the signal for the President frog, which involves striking one hand off of the other in the motion of a jumping frog. Have everyone practice. 

2. Then each person makes up a signal for an animal (without any noises). Everyone gets a turn to show their signal and everyone practices. 

3. The game starts with the President Frog (you) doing your signal, then someone else’s signal. That passes the signal to that person. 

4. For example, if you do President Frog, then a skunk signal, this will pass the play to the person with the skunk signal.

5. That person does their signal and another, which continues passing the play. The catch is that is someone messes up, they take the spot of the President frog. Then everyone moves one seat over until that person’s seat is filled. 

6. It must be remembered that the signal stays in the seat, it does not move with the person. Therefore, everyone who moves has a new signal.

Debriefing ideas: How does it feel to make a mistake in this group? Did you feel put on the spot? How can making mistakes be helpful in life? What kind of mistakes do we make? How do you usually handle it when you make a mistake?

Props:

1. Blindfolds

How to Play: Blindfold individuals from the group and pair them up with a partner (or allow them to first find a partner then blindfold each individual). 

1. Give the pairs time to silently “get to know” each other’s hands. 

2. Facilitators should split the pairs up and then allow each person to find their partner again by only feeling each other’s hands. 

 Variations: Place limitations on verbal communication. Allow partners to first get to know each other, then blindfold them. Allow one partner to remain un-blindfolded then allow the blindfolded partner to find them.

Debriefing ideas: Sensory: What was difficult about being blindfolded? What limitations did you feel? Did you ever feel frustrated or discouraged? How did it feel when you found your partner? What did you notice about your partner’s hands that you would not have noticed had you not been blindfolded?

Props:

1. Oranges or tennis balls

How to play: Each team lines up with one orange per team. The object is to pass the orange to the end of the line by using only your neck and chin. If you drop the orange, you have to start back at the beginning.

Variations: Instead of passing oranges, give everyone a toothpick to hold in their mouth, and they must pass a lifesaver.

Note: This is a great game for a tournament. Hold practice runs, then elimination races, and finally a championship race

How to play: This game is a really fun! It’s the same idea as Captain's on Deck.

• Everyone stands in a circle. 

• Explain that the game is like Simon Says: if you say “order” the participants must do the action.

•  If you don’t say “order” and the participants move anyways, they messed up so they take a step back and keep participating. 

Go through and demonstrate the commands:

Order up – hands in front of you, palms up

Order down – hands in front of you, palms down

Order knees – hands on knees

Order toes – touch your toes

Order lobes – touch your earlobes

Order bows – point to your neck where a bowtie would be, and show your elbows

Order nibbity bimbles – move your index fingers up and down like you’re drumming on a table

• Run through in the order above a few times so everyone gets the hang of it. 

• Then go in whatever order you want, and try to trick people by not saying “order” sometimes!

• Once there are only a few people left in the center circle, bring everyone back and play a few rounds.

Participants: Groups of 8-20 work best

How to Play: 

1. Everyone stands in a large circle with plenty of space to move. 

2. Tell everyone to think of a combination of a sound and a movement (eg. cat meow and paw action, or jazz fingers while rolling your tongue)

3. The first person gives their movement/sound action

4. Each person, one at a time, follows with the same movement/sound action of the person before them. 

5. Once the circle is completed with that action, then the next person in the circle (whichever direction you are going), shows their action. 

6. Step 4 is repeated and you now complete that action throughout the circle. This is not a memory game, only do one person’s activity at a time!

7. Repeat with everyone in the circle doing their own action and having each person repeat that one. 

8. Once everyone in the circle has gone, then start over (time dependent) and give them a variation for the next action. (eg. tell everyone to do the most extreme sound and movement they can, or to do your movement that best reflects an animal, or a movement that best reflects an instrument, etc)

9. Have fun! And energize everyone! 

How to play:  Line everyone up so they are shoulder to shoulder and facing all one way.  The more space you have for this, the better.  Everyone takes a deep breath and runs and screams at the same time until they run out of breath.  As soon as they can no longer scream with that one breath, they stop. The activity is over when everyone has stopped running and screaming!

How to play: The group is in a circle. The object of the game is to look up and when you make eye contact with someone, you scream. Nothing happens if you don’t make eye contact with someone. Everyone starts by looking at the ground. The facilitator says “Look up”. People look up, make eye contact and scream or don’t make eye contact and stay silent. The facilitator says “Look Down”. Everyone’s gaze returns to the ground and the game starts over. Go until you are tired of screaming!

Variation: You can play that whenever people make eye contact, they leave the game. Play until you are left with one or two people. You can also set up two circles of the game (for many participants) and have participants run to the other circle (while screaming) after making eye contact. Combine circles when the group gets small.

How to play: Break up into small groups of 4-5. Teach two skills to the group: 

1. Practice yelling “See Ya!” with enthusiasm and gusto. Practice yelling “C’mere, C’mere, C’mere.” 

2. Now, have everyone introduce themselves within the small group. Pose a quality (ex: longest hair) to the group. This person which is most like this quality is the “chosen one.”

3. Once each group has a “chosen one,” they all yell “See Ya!” and send the chosen one on their way to another group. 

4. The group that is left behind starts yelling “C’mere, C’mere, C’mere!” until a new person joins the group. The “chosen one” needs to just find a new group to go to. 

5. Once they arrive in the new group, they introduce themselves and then, the facilitator poses a discussion topic.

6. Once the groups have had a chance to discuss, pose a quality and the process repeats. 

Sample Qualities: the oldest player, the youngest, darkest eyes, most accessories, closest birthday to today, tallest, shortest, most siblings, longest pinky, largest thumb, have everyone think of a number between 1-200, closest one to number

How to play: This activity gets people moving and “shaking out” their body parts. 

1. Start with the right arm, shake it 10 times (counting each time you shake it—1, 2, 3 up to 10); 

2. Continue the same counting scheme for each limb—left arm to right foot to left foot to whole body. 

3. Then, begin again with the right arm and repeat the whole process, but count to 9—keep repeating the process until you get to 1.  

4. Have the group start quiet and with each repeat with a lower number get a little bit louder. 1 will be the loudest!

Participants: At least 10, try to shoot for splitting into groups of 5, the more people the better

How to play:  Divide the group into even sized groups.  

1. Come up with a word that you think you could find in a song. For example, “sun”, "time", "baby", "tonight", "love", etc.

2. Each group has 1 or 2 minutes to come up with a song that has “sun” in it.  They may not use their phones or other outside resources!  

3. Once the time is up, go around to each group, one at a time, and they need to sing the song they decided on.  

4. Keep going around the group until only one group is left that still has a song to share.  This group has won!  

5. No repeats allowed!  And, they need to be able to sing at least a reasonable length of the song so it is identifiable.

6. Come up with another word and play again.  Play as long as the group still displays interest.

People to People Variation:

Variation:  Have participants pair up.  Have the large group create two parallel lines facing one another, so that each person is directly across from their partner with about 10-15 yards between the two lines.  The caller will call out a command, i.e. “Hand to foot”, everyone rushes to the middle of the two lines to meet their partner and complete the command.  Once completed, they return to their line as quickly as possible.  You can eliminate people if they are the last to get to the line or just play for fun with no elimination.  Play as many rounds as you like!  This is a fast, energetic version of people to people.

How to play: Get the group into a circle and teach a variety of actions that can be done in groups of three. 

1. The way the game goes, one person starts in the middle and will point to a person in the group and says an action, for example, “Elephant”. 

2. The person pointed to becomes the center person of the action with the people on either side being his/her group members. 

3. The group of three must complete the action before the caller can count to ten or say some funny saying like “Bippity, bop, bop, bop” or “ALPs is good, real good”. 

4. If any member of the group fails to do their job before the allotted time, that person is the next caller and the current caller takes their place in the circle.  

Some easy actions to start with:

• Elephant: Center person grabs nose with one hand and sticks the other arm out straight—looks like a trunk. People on either side step in to the center person and make a half circle with their arms towards the center person that are the ears of the elephant.

• Alligator: Center person extends arms out straight in front of them and makes an up/down clapping motion—like the mouth of an alligator. The side people step in close to the center person and crouch down like the front legs of the alligator.

• Rabbit: Center person brings their hands up on top of their head like ears. The side people step into the center person and stomp their outside foot—the thumping of the rabbit.

• Flight attendant: Center person makes the motion of putting on the oxygen mask. The side people smile and motion to the exit rows.

• Roller coaster: Center person puts hands on checks and pulls them back to simulate G force. People on either side throw up their hands and scream.

• Elvis: Center person pretends to be Elvis—singing “Ain’t nothing but a hound dog”. People on either side get on their knees and act like adoring fans—screaming with their hands up as if they are trying to touch Elvis. 

• Jell-O: Center person jiggles. Side people clasp hands around the center person and make a bowl.

Be creative! Make up your own!

How to play: Stand in the middle of the room and ask the participants to make a square around you. 

1. Then, have them look to their left and their right to see who is next to them. They also need to note where they are in relation to the facilitator—in front of, to the side of, behind, etc. 

2. The goal of the activity is for the group to re-create the exact same square with the same people on their left and right and in the proper orientation to the facilitator anytime the facilitator yells “Square Up!” 

3. The group must move to re-create the square. The game can continue with the facilitator running or moving anywhere, yelling “Square Up!” and having the group re-create the square. 

This activity can be a fun and energetic way to get people together and focused on the facilitator. It is easy to morph the square into a circle!

Variation: Give them 10 seconds to re-create the square after the command “Square Up!” or count how long it takes them and see if they can do it faster the next time.

How to play: An elimination game in which one person at a time performs one of four actions that correlate with specific phrases. 

1. Players get in a circle and perform actions as the play is “passed” around the circle. 

2. A player can perform any correct action as long as it’s their turn. 

3. If a person performs an incorrect action or performs when not their turn they are out.

Movements : 

• “Hyducken” sends the action to the person on right. Two hands with wrists together and palms separate while yelling "hyducken." 

• “Tiger uppercut” reverses the action to the left. With your right arm over your head point at the person to your left and yell "tiger uppercut." 

• “Yoga flame” skips the next person in the direction the action is moving. Put both hands palms together up above your head and lift a leg up while saying "yoga flame." 

• “Sonic boom” can be directed across the circle. Like the "hyducken," but directed to someone across the circle. If player shields with arms crossed over chest, it goes back to the person who sent it. 

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Participants: Groups of around 15 work the best

How to play: Everyone stands in a circle. 

1. One person, taking their hands above their head, “throws” the Wah to someone else in the circle by bringing their hands down and saying WAH! 

2. The person that the Wah was thrown to brings their hands above their head and says WAH, while the two people on either side of the person who the wah was thrown to both say WAH and brings their hands to the mid-section of the person who the wah was thrown to. 

3. The person who the wah was thrown to then throws the wah to someone else in the circle, and the cycle continues.

4. You can make this game elimination if you so choose when someone messes up.

Participants: Minimum: 15, no maximum

How to play:  Gather everyone into a circle.  

1. Have each person silently pick another person in the group to be their Warrior—they cannot indicate in any way that this person is their Warrior.  

2. Then, have them pick a DIFFERENT person to be their Dragon—they cannot indicate in any way that this person is their Dragon.  

3. The goal is for everyone to keep their Warrior between them and their Dragon.  

4. What happens, is everyone’s Warriors and Dragons are different which means people start running around trying to keep their Warrior between themselves and their Dragon.  It is chaotic and fun.  

5. After a minute or two of running around, stop the game and ask who has their Warrior between themselves and their Dragon.  

6. Once that is established, tell them to switch their Warrior and their Dragon—their Warrior is now the Dragon, the Dragon is the Warrior—play again!

Variation:  After you have played, have everyone introduce themselves to their Warrior and Dragon.

Participants: At least 10, but works best with large groups

How to play: Get everyone into a circle and designate one person as the “Whoop Master”. Make sure everyone can see this person. 

1. Start with 4 actions: the bear (both hands out with claw-like fingers), the eagle (arms out on side mimicking wings), the moose (hands on head to look like antlers), and the snake (one elbow in the palm of the other hand like a cobra standing up). 

2. Every round the whoop master says, “1, 2, 3, whoop!” On whoop, the Whoop Master and the entire group must perform one of the animal actions. 

3. Anyone who does the same action as the Whoop Master is out and must sit down or remove themselves from the circle. 

4. Repeat doing rounds until one person is still in the game. 

5. This person wins, becomes the next Whoop Master, and chooses a new action to add for the next round (i.e. unicorn, dinosaur, fish, etc.). 

Tips/Variations: The Whoop Master can repeat an action round to round or change the action if they want. If participants are not engaged while sitting out, you can have them go around the circle and try to mess other players up (without touching) with noise or goofy movements. An additional idea is to start another round with the players that have gotten out. 

How to play: An elimination game in which one person at a time performs one of six actions that correlate with specific phrases.

1. Players get in a circle and perform actions as the play is “passed” around the circle.

2. A player can perform any correct action as long as it’s their turn.

3. If a person performs an incorrect action or performs when not their turn they are out.

Movements:

• “Yeehaw” sends the action to the person on the left. Make a fist and swing your arm to the left while yelling "yeehaw."

• “Hawyee” reverses the action. With your left arm over your head, point at the person to your right and yell "hawyee."

• “Hoedown” skips the next person in the direction the action is moving. Put both hands palms together up above your head and lift a leg up while saying "hoedown."

• “Get down little doggy” can be directed across the circle. Shake finger guns at someone across the circle and say “get down little doggy.”

• “Roll the barrel” passes the energy all the way around the circle and back to the person who started it. Yell “roll the barrel” and mime rolling a barrel toward the person (with the direction the energy was moving), and everyone jumps over the “barrel” one at a time as it rolls around the circle. The person who initiated it then chooses another action.

• “Four shifter gear box” gets everyone to re-engage. Anyone can yell “four shifter gear box” at any point in the game, and everyone yells “1, 2, 3, 4” while pretending to shift a tractor. The person who initiated it chooses another action.

How to play: This is a pass the energy game. Everyone begins in the circle. 

1. There are three ways to pass the energy from person to person. “Zoom” passes the energy the way the person is facing, “Zorch” passes it behind them, and “Llama” passes it to whomever they are pointing at/ making eye contact with across the circle. 

2. The person to whom the energy is passed then chooses between Zoom, Zorch and Llama to pass the energy. It is called llama because they make a llama with their hands.  

3. Prior to calling, the person with the energy must FULLY FACE the person they are sending the energy to or have their back fully to the person in the case of Zorch. If this does not happen, it makes the game very hard.  

4. When using llama, the person passing the energy must point the llama and make HARD eye contact with the person they are passing to.  

5. If someone makes a mistake, they are out! A mistake is speaking out of turn, using poor body direction or eye contact, or taking too long to pass the energy. What constitutes “too long” is up to the facilitator. Also, if the llama gets lost in passing (i.e. two people think they received it) the person who it wasn’t meant for, but speaks out, is out.