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Standing Ovation This is a game that could be introduced in the beginning of the year and carried throughout advisory:

Directions to the Players: Everyone gets depressed once in a while - that's just one of the facts of life. Some people feel there isn't much you can do about it, you've just got to take your lumps. But what we're trying to do here today is to create a special kind of supportive environment for each other, to create a place where we can each get a little bit of extra support, a little bit of extra nourishment for ourselves. Maybe you've been having a tough time of it lately, maybe you've had a tough day today, or a tough week, or a tough month. I'm not going to ask you to explain to us what's been going on for you. But if you've been having a tough time of it lately, waht I am going to do is give you a very s pecial opportunity to get a bit of support and nourishment and celebration for yourself.

If for any reason you have been having something of a hard time of it lately and you feel like you could use some support for yourself right now, would you come stand up here right next to me...(several people go to the front)...Let's hold hands, facing everybody else...

Okay, you see before you a group of people who for one reason or another have been having something of a tough time of it lately - let's give these people the most incredibly spectacular, thunderous standing ovation they've ever seen!

Let's make an agreement - at any time during the remainder of this year, anybody can get to their feet during advisory and say, "I want a standing ovation!" and no matter what we're doing we'll stop and give it to him or her. There's only one rule about that: you can't be really wimpy about it. If you're going to ask for one, then take it like you deserve it - jump up on a chair or get two people to hoist you up on their shoulders, and hold your hands over your head in a gesture of victory - go for it in a big way!

==**Pair Interviews **==

**Questions to Discuss with your partners:** Do you like your name? What would you have chosen for yourself? Where were you born? What’s your idea of a perfect movie? If you could eat only two foods for the rest of your life, what would they be? What drives you crazy about a parent? What would be the ideal place to live? If you could be a color of the rainbow, which color would you choose? Would you rather have intellectual or physical strength? What’s your ideal compliment? If you had a free ticket to anywhere in the world, where would you go? What’s your best trait? What’s a weakness?

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'trebuchet ms',helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Creepers and SlammersGood for large groups, too! Sitting at a table, having people on either side of you and across from you. Divide your group into two teams. One team at a time takes a turn passing a quarter under the table carefully so that the people across from you on the other team can't see where the quarter is. Then, at any time the other team that doesn't have the quarter tells you to, stop! They either yell CREEPERS, at which point all the people on the team that has the quarter must bring both hands up on the table and slowly try to open their hands with their palms down, trying not to allow the quarter to drop loudly. The team without the quarter tries to guess where the quarter is. OR, the opposite team can call SLAMMERS, at which point everyone on the team with the quarter brings their hands up quickly, slamming them down with palms down and open. The other team tries to guess who has the quarter. Just take turns until you are tired of playing. It is a lot of fun and everyone can join is. The winner is the team with the least number of guesses to find the quarter.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Celebrities
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Everyone writes the name of a celebrity, famous person or character on a piece of paper which they stick to the forehead of the player on their left (use tape or Post-it Notes). Make sure they don't see the name. Everyone else can see your forehead. The objective is to work out who you are. Going around the table, each player takes a turn to ask the party questions about who they are - answers can be YES or NO only. If you get a YES you may continue asking. If you get a NO, play moves to the left. First person to guess their name is the winner. Simple, but very absorbing.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Beard
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">For a fun relay-type game, how about making a beard? Make a big bowl of cotton balls and get a container of Vaseline. Put some Vaseline on the chins of each member of each team (ideally, 2 teams of about 5 people each). The first players in line run to the bowl of cotton balls and stick their chins in, trying to get as many to stick to the Vaseline as possible. They run to the back of their line, so the next player can have a turn. When everyone on the team has a beard, that team wins. Be sure to have cameras ready for this one! (And towels and water to clean up, too!)

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Worst Holiday Presents - Two Truths and a Lie
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Have each person write down two of the worst holiday presents they have ever received, along with one made up worst holiday present. Make sure each person writes their name at the top of the paper. When everyone is done, hang each person's piece of paper on the wall so everyone can read them over and have a good laugh. Everyone will spend the rest of the period guessing which horrible presents were real and which are invented.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Beach Ball Brainstorming ("Categories")
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Announce a topic (things associated with a season, a holiday, the course content, the school, etc.). Then pass around an inflatable beach ball (or just go around the circle). Have everyone stand and pass the ball. When someone catches the ball, they shout out something related to the topic and then toss the ball to someone else. If the group is small, they can pass the ball in a circle chain.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fond Memories
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">This game allows everyone to learn more than just the name of the other players. Gather everyone into a circle and pass a soft ball from one person to another to determine whose turn it is. When a player catches the ball, he must introduce himself and share his favorite memory or favorite activity (could be just in general, or associated with a topic selected). In the first round, the ball must be thrown to a new person each time. Once everyone has had the ball once, the game changes. At this point, the individual who catches the ball must repeat the name and memory of the person who threw it to him. If the catcher can't remember these facts, he's out of the game. Toward the end, you'll likely end up with several people who remember all of the facts about the players around them.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Keep it Going Volleyball
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">You need a beach ball for this one. Start by having all participants sit in a chair scattered around the room. The object is to count every time the beach ball is hit by a hand (or head). If the beach ball at anytime rolls flat (no bouncing) on the floor or a table, the count starts over again at 1. The ball can bounce off the walls, tables, floor, ceiling, etc., but just cannot roll flat. Added rules: The final goal is to see if the team can break the record. The first group's record was 25 - now it's up to 1,017! You'll see natural leaders blossom, and problem solving comes into play especially when there are holes the ball keeps falling flat into. Great for teamwork!
 * No one is allowed to stand up as long as the ball is in play.
 * No kicking or spiking.
 * No monopolizing the ball, only 2 hits in a row by the same person count.
 * Not allowed to have just a small group pass back and forth to each other over and over - everyone must hit the ball.

Bibbity Bibbity Bop
One person is in the middle of the circle. He walks up to someone in the circle and says, "Bibbity Bibbity Bop." That person must respond with "Bop!" before the person in the middle says "Bop." If the person in the circle is too slow, or doesn't say "Bop" at all, he switches places with the person in the middle. The person in the middle can also try and trick the other person by saying things like "Hibbity Hibbity Hop" or "Bop! Say Bop!" If the person in the circle says "Bop" when he shouldn't, he is in the middle. Meanwhile, everyone else in the circle is busy winking and gesturing at each other to try and switch places without getting caught. If the person in the middle sees that people behind him are trying to trade places, he can run to an empty space and take someone's spot.

Beat the Bunny
The bunny (small ball) is started first and is passed from person to person around the circle. When the bunny is about halfway around, the farmer (large ball) is started in the same direction. The farmer can change directions to try and catch the bunny, but the bunny can only go one way, until the farmer changes direction.

Catch, Don't Catch
One student goes into the middle of the circle with a ball. They go around the circle saying catch or don't catch to the others. If a student catches a ball and the person in the middle said "don't catch," they are out and vice versa. As the students get better, speed it up. The last person standing is the new middle person.

Who am I?
The group forms a circle. One person is chosen to be the Guesser and he goes into the middle of the circle. The Guesser is blindfolded or asked to keep his eyes closed. The game begins with an adult spinning the Guesser around in a circle. The group is asked to spin around in a circle as well, but in the other direction. When the spinning stops, the Guesser points in the direction of one of the people in the circle and says the name of an animal. That person must make the noise that that animal makes. The guesser will then try to guess who the person is by the sounds they make.

Zoomy Zoomy
Have a group sit in a circle. The leader is Zoomy Zoomy, and everybody else is a number 1, 2, 3 and so on until everybody has one. Clap your lap twice and snap twice to make a pattern. The person designated Zoomy Zoomy starts by chanting, "Zoomy Zoomy, Zoomy ZooMa, Zoomy Zoomy, Zoomy Zooma" to the pattern. Then the game begins.

Zoomy calls out a number twice, and that number has to repeat its number and say another number. Somebody can say Zoomy. Whoever messes up first is out, and the game continues.

//Example:// Zoomy Zoomy, Zoomy ZooMa. Zoomy Zoomy, Zoomy Zooma Zoomy Zoomy (the leader): "Zoomy Zoomy, 7 7" Person with Number 7: "7 7, 2 2" Person with Number 2: "2 2, Zoomy Zoomy" Zoomy Zoomy: "Zoomy Zoomy, 3 3" Person with Number 3: "5 5...(wrong - didn't say their number first) so Number 3 would be out and there is now no number three.

Everybody has to know who is still in, and the game carries on.

Bop Bop
The players start sitting in a circle. The leader stands up and "bops" or dances around the inside of the circle. The players can help out by making their own music (or you could play some for them). The leader then taps selected people on the head and says "start bopping right now."

These tapped people will join the leader in the middle. These boppers keep dancing and tapping until they hear "Bop Bop Over!" The players will then stop dancing and run back to their spots. The last one there is the new leader.

It Could Be Worse
Set up the group in a circle. The starting player says something innocuous like "I almost overslept." Next player says something like, "It could've been worse. You could've been late." Then the next says something worse, like "It could've been even worse than that. You could've been in your underwear." And then the next tried to find something worse than that. Or, the next person says, "It could be better..." And so it goes.

Patriotic Colors
The leader sits in the middle of the circle, points to a player and calls "red." The player has to name an object that is red (tomato, fire engine, etc.) before the leader can count to 10 out loud. The same object cannot be repeated. If a player fails to think of an object before the leader has counted to ten, the two switch places. Use the patriotic colors of red, white, and blue. (This game would also work well with spirit colors of orange and green--with perhaps white added in for more options.)

Survivor
A group decision making exercise - NASA uses this with the astronauts, allegedly.

11 items:
 * Map of desert
 * Salt tablets
 * Parachute
 * Rain coats
 * Mirror
 * Compass
 * Book (//Edible Plants of the Desert//)
 * Flashlight
 * Pistol (loaded)
 * Canteen of water
 * Hunting knife

You have been a passenger on a plane that has crashed in the desert. These are the items that you have retrieved from the plane before it burned up. The pilot and copilot have been killed and the only survivors are the people in your group.

On a scale of 1-11, number these in the order of importance to survival.

Give the following instructions to each group:
 * Work individually for a few minutes
 * Appoint a chairperson to facilitate the process
 * Decide as a group on the correct survival order

THE POINT: As your group starts to discuss, they'll find out that the priorities vary depending on the GOAL, or PURPOSE they come up with. For example, the biggest issue is are they going to stay by the plane (air force pilots, unless in enemy territory and in danger are told to stay with the plane) or leave. If they are going to stay, then the compass and map aren't much of a priority. You need to establish the frame in which every other decision is made or discussion is useless. **(This goes for day-to-day decisions as well - if you don't know what you're aiming for, how do you make a decision?)**

**Sound Effects**
Each team has 15 minutes to record the sounds listed below and any other sounds that they wish to add. The sounds must last at least 10 seconds, but not more than 15. All members of the group must contribute.

Here's the catch...teams aren't going around and recording the real sounds, they are simulating the sounds themselves. For example, if the list calls for a bunch of barking dogs, they aren't going to find real dogs, they are going to bark like dogs.

Assign each team a different room so they can "create" the sounds undisturbed.
 * Herd of cows
 * Cat in a dog kennel
 * TV show theme song
 * Lovesick coyotes on a moonlit night
 * A worship song
 * Room full of babies
 * Traffic
 * American Idol audition
 * A typical day in a crowded public bathroom
 * A pet dolphin trying to warn his master that a kid is pooping in the pool
 * A couple in marriage counseling

This is just a sample list. The sky's the limit!

At the end of the allotted recording time, have a team representative come up to the front of the room and play their recordings in a microphone. (If you only have 15 items at an average of 10 seconds an item...it will only take two and a half minutes to play each team's tape.)

Props go to the group with most sounds recorded and to the group that adds the most creative sound selection not on the list.

Rope Knot
Have four to six players hold onto a single, 18-inch long rope with one hand. Then tell them they have to tie the rope into a knot without releasing it from their hands. This activity is more challenging than it sounds!

Team of Two
Divide the kids into two groups with the same number of players. Have one group leave the room, blindfold them, and then set out two objects in the first room. Have each player in the first room go out and pick a blindfolded player to lead. Their goal is to bring their blindfolded partner into the room to each object and help them figure out what they are. The non-blindfolded player can't speak. When the groups are done, you can have them switch places and use two new objects. This gives everyone a chance to test out his leadership skills.

Blind Square
This is a quick but effective teambuilding activity. You need blindfolds for all players, and one large rope (at least 40 feet in length).

Simply blindfold all your team members and throw a rope on the ground next to them. Tell them to make a square, using the full length of the rope lying on the ground next to them. Give them no further instructions.

There is no trick. It's just great to see who takes charge, how they organize the corners, if one person facilitates from the middle, etc.

Human Knots
About ten players stand in a circle, place their hands in the center, and take hold of the hands of two people other than those immediately next to them. The group works together in an attempt to untie the knot without releasing handholds.

Long, Long, Long Jump
The objective of this activity is for a group of people to jump collectively as far as possible. The first player begins at a starting line and makes one jump. The next player starts his jump where the previous person landed. The players can attempt to better their total collective distance on successive tries. This can be played indoors or our, with backward broad jump, forward broad jump (standing or running), hop-skip-and-jump, and so on.

Draw a Song
The group is given a large sheet of paper and a marker. (Or use the white board.) A player chooses one of several slips of paper on which the leader has written the titles of well-known songs. She then brings the paper back to her group and, without speaking, draws clues to the particular song. The remaining children try to guess the song title from the creative clues. When someone guesses the right song, the entire group stands up, joins arms, and sings the song. A second person then chooses the title of another song. (This game could also be adapted to draw clues to historical events, countries, famous people, and so on. It can be played in pairs or trios as well.)

Cowboy/Gorilla Person/ Karate Person
This is a more active version of paper, rock, scissors. Players begin back to back. After a 1,2,3 count, they quickly turn to face each other and assume one of the three roles (cowboy pulls lasso, gorilla scratches arm pits and grunts, karate person yells and strikes a karate pose). Cowboy beats gorilla, gorilla beats karate and karate beats gang.

Look (ice/breaker/deinhibitizer/warm-up)
Arrange participants in small circles. Designate one person to say “look.” Participants begin with their heads down, eyes on the floor. On the leader's command, they quickly look directly at another participant in the circle. If two players are looking directly at each other, they are eliminated. (May want to have them introduce themselves and talk while game continues). Continue to repeat until number of participants is down to two.

Around the World
Objective: To move participants through a series of hoops and back to their original hoop in the most efficient and timely manner possible. Each participant must begin the challenge with both feet in a hoop and finish the task in that same hoop. Participants must have at least one foot in a hoop at all times and never step on the ground outside of a hoop. At some point each person must place both of their feet in each of the hoops. As a group you may determine how you wish to arrange the hoops before you begin the task. You may also determine how many people will begin in each hoop.

Group Juggle
Objective: To see how many objects your group can successfully juggle at one time (for at least one complete rotation). Rules: Everyone in the group must participate in the juggling of each object. Participants cannot pass an object to a person directly beside them. Works best if group will establish a pattern for passing an object and maintain that pattern through out the challenge. //Variation: Group Juggle “Machine” – each player adopts a sound – beep, whoop, whee, yeow, pop, etc. – that they make every time they pass a ball.//

Tarp or Blanket Challenge
Small group of students stand on a tarp or blanket (around 5’x8’). All students must remain on the tarp at all times. To start, they must (without touching a body part to the floor at any time) turn the tarp over and end up with the underside on the top. The second challenge is to fold the tarp into quarters. The third challenge is to unfold it.

Day colors exercise (empathy)
This is a very simple quick and fascinating exercise to illustrate how people often have different views of the same thing, which is central to understanding empathy and many related concepts. The activity may be used as an icebreaker or larger discussion exercise, for groups of any size and age/seniority, subject to appropriate facilitation for your situation.

//Example explanation and instruction to a group:// Emotions and feelings within each of us are 'triggered' in different ways. We think differently and therefore see things differently. We often do not imagine that other people may see something quite differently to how we see the 'same' thing. Management and relationships, in work and outside of work too, depend heavily on our being able to understand the other person's view, and what causes it to be different to our own.

To illustrate this, and to explore how mental associations can color our worlds differently:

Close your eyes and imagine the days of the week. What color is each day?

Write down the color of each day. It's helpful to make strips of days of the week, jot on the days of the week feelings associated with the day, and then color the day to match the mood.

Review and compare people's different color associations, and - where people consciously know and are willing to share their reasons/associations - review these differences too.

Note: If anyone sees all the days as the same color, or sees no colour association at all, or perhaps sees or senses a more powerful alternative association, then this is another equally worthy personal viewpoint and difference.

The days of the week are a simple fixed pattern. Yet we see them in different ways. It is easy to imagine the potential for far greater differences in the way we see more complex situations - like our work, our responsibilities and our relationships, etc. Human beings will never see things in exactly the same way - this is not the aim or work or life - instead the aim should be to understand each other's views far better, so that we can minimise conflict and maximise cooperation.

Comedy Hour
Form pairs. Ask each partner to complete any three of the following sentences: The funniest television commercial I've seen this year is... The most needlessly repeated phrase a parent or teacher ever used with me is... The best (clean) joke I've heard recently is... The funniest person I've ever met is... The funniest face I've ever seen someone make is... (have kids attempt to create them for their partners.) The best practical joke I've heard of is...

Grab the finger
Get everyone to stand in a circle, with their arms out either side. Tell people to put their left palm up, and right finger pointing down (touching the person next to them's outstretched palm). When you say the word "GO", people need to do two things: Grab the person's finger in your left hand Prevent your right finger from being grabbed If your finger is grabbed, you are out, and you sit on the sidelines. The game continues until there is a winner. The key to this game is adding a bit of drama and suspense around when you say "Go". eg count down, add a big delay, etc. You can do it a few times before it gets old :)

String Game
The String Game is an introduction icebreaker game and conversation starter that allows people to tell others about themselves. It’s a simple game and can be adapted according to your needs.

This getting-to-know-you game usually does not take long, unless you choose to run it that way. The recommended group size is small and medium groups, although with careful planning it might be possible to do this activity in a large group by splitting it into smaller groups. An indoor setting is ideal. This icebreaker is recommended for young children up through eighth grade. It’s well suited for classrooms, camps, or other settings where people may not know each other very well yet. Instructions for the String Game

This activity needs a little bit of preparation work. Purchase a big roll of yarn or string. You can buy any color, or multiple colors if you wish. Take a pair of scissors and cut strings of various different lengths — as short as 12 inches, and as long as 30 or more inches. When you are finished cutting the string, bunch all the pieces up into one big clump of string.

To play, ask the first volunteer to choose any piece of string. Have the person pull on it and separate it from the other pieces of string. Ask them to introduce themselves as they slowly wind the piece of string around their index finger. The funny part of this icebreaker game is that some of the strings are extremely long, so sometimes a person must keep talking for a very long time! This is a good way to get everyone to start talking. People might find out something interesting or new about each other! Feel free to adapt this game according to your needs. Have fun.

Commonalities
Set-Up Ask the group to arrange themselves into clusters of 2s, 3s, 4s, or whatever suits the mood. Give each group a piece of paper and pen.

Play The task is to generate a list of things that are common to all the people in the cluster but which you could not identify by looking at them. Ask people to come up with a specific number of commonalities or as many as they can in a couple of minutes.

Some examples: ▪ speak a foreign language; ▪ have the same number of brothers and/or sisters; ▪ traveled to a certain country; ▪ have the same letter starting their last names; ▪ are vegetarians; ▪ ride motorcycles; ▪ wear contact lenses, etc.

Some examples that you can see, and hence don’t count: Wear glasses, have brown hair, have blue eyes, etc.

Given a few minutes, it’s sometimes amazing how many commonalities people can find with each other. It’s a simple way to begin learning about other people in a fun way.

It Ain’t Me Babe
People are usually either open or tight about relating personal information to strangers. This activity may raise some anxieties, but it also can be very funny.

Instead of your typical get-to-know-each-other verbal introduction, try this non-verbal interaction.

Ask people to randomly pick a partner. Give them 5-10 minutes together to introduce themselves. They may not speak to one another during this time. Writing is also not allowed. As a compassionate gesture, allow paper and pen for drawing only (but it probably isn’t needed).

Players need to communicate whatever they feel is important about themselves to their partners. At the end, players report out to the group what they learned about their partners. What adds a little fun to the descriptions is to have each partner verbalize what they learned, and then allow a brief time for rebuttal and/or corrections from the person just described to insure accuracy of the introduction.

Paperchute
Play

Give a sheet of paper (any color) to all the participants and offer the following challenge that each person can either try to accomplish by their lonesome or work cooperatively with one or two others to come up with the most functional and/or creative solution.

Here’s the challenge: From a height of approximately ten feet, each participant or team drops their piece of recycled paper so that it ends up as close to a designated target as possible. A target can be easily fabricated on the floor with two crossed pieces of colored tape to form a large X. The drop can be accomplished from a stepladder, a balcony, a chair, whatever.

An additional rule states that no more than 1/3 of the sheet can be removed prior to the drop. This prevents tearing off a teensy weensy corner of the paper and rolling it up between your thumb and index finger to form a tiny roundish object. It should also be said that there is to be no wetting of the paper. You don’t need giant spitballs on your floor.

If a team tries to simply release their piece of paper without doing anything, they will quickly find that the laws of aerodynamics as applied to a flat flexing sheet of paper are fluky and infinitely unworkable; the paper will glide to and fro. So, just dropping the paper isn’t a good idea, but since this is an exercise in experiential education, the attempt itself is okay. The idea is to improve on the result of whatever trial and error was initiated.

The final result is not nearly as important as what the students experience on the way to the result.

Imaginary Ball Toss
Everyone stand together in a circle. Throw an imaginary tennis ball to a player - call their name beforehand. The person throwing the imaginary tennis ball can change the object at any point, and the person catching it needs to pretend they are catching whatever the person throwing it names (e.g., an egg, a basketball, a watermelon, a live chicken...)

Songs by Syllables
Pick a song that everybody knows (like Row, Row, Row Your Boat). Everyone sings one syllable at a time, going around the circle, and keeping up the rhythm so that it sounds like one voice singing it. Player 1: Row Player 2: Row Player 3: Row Player 4: Your Player 5: Boat Player 6: Gent Player 7: ly and so on...

Even the most familiar song is a new challenge when it is sung this way. This is a wonderful activity for literally "tuning-in" the players to each other, as they make cooperative decisions together and make mutual adjustments to each other's vocal ranges. It also provides an opportunity for much shared laughter!

I love ya honey, but I just can't make ya smile
Get into a circle (can be on the floor or in chairs). One person starts off as the center person. The center person plops him/herself in the lap of someone in the circle and says, "I love ya honey, but I just can't make ya smile." The objective is to say it in such a way that the person will break into uncontrollable laughter, or at the very least, crack a tiny Mona Lisa smile. The person in the circle should be trying hard not to crack a smile - if he/she does, he/she becomes the center person. Feel free to be creative and experiment with different intonations and gestures and ways of communicating.

You might want to add a guideline that the center person is limited to two laps - if the person on the outside of the circle didn't smile, the second person tried becomes the center person. This keeps the game moving.

Mutual Storytelling
One person starts with a well-known story. Anyone can take over a story and change it at any time. The way to do that is to interrupt the story and say, "I was present!" Well, if you were //present//, obviously you know more than the storyteller. So I would say to you, "What did you see, my friend?" And you would add whatever details you wanted to add to the story, and take it in whatever direction you felt like. And when you are finished, we'll all say "Aha!" So let's all try that together: (AHA!)

Then the storyteller will continue with the story, being sure to continue right where you left off. The only guideline is that you can't deny something that someone else has witnessed. If someone was present and saw our hero jump off a cliff, you can't say: "I was present...he didn't really jump off that cliff." You have to take it from there. And don't worry about making the most brilliant contribution anybody has ever thought of for the story - just say the first thing that comes into your head. Because //anything// that moves our story along is going to be brilliant.

Start with a story everyone knows, like Little Red Riding Hood. It might go something like..."Once upon a time, there was a young woman named Little Red Riding Hood, and her parents gave her a big basket of goodies to take to her grandmother's house. This was a very heavy basket of goodies she had..." ("I was present!") "And what did you see, my friend? ("I saw her put her basket down and take out an apple, and decide to hitchhike through the woods instead!" ("AHA!") "That was very observant of you, my friend. Yes, indeed - Little Red Riding Hood was munching on her apple and stuck out her thumb and tried to flag down a passing Volkswagen as it drove by...."

It is important for the storyteller to keep the players "physicalizing" the story (doing the actions - becoming the avalanche, making the crying noises, etc.) or the game will degenerate into pure talk. Once in a while the players will become so enamored of the physicalization that they will use it to wonderful effect. For instance, once a participant said, "I was present! And so Hansel and Gretel jumped on each other's backs and ran around the house!" and the effect was instantly energizing as all the players scrambled to piggy-back on top of each other!

Commonalities
Everybody sits in a chair in a circle, with one person standing in the middle. The person in the middle says either, "I like..." or "I dislike..." and completes the sentence. Anybody who shares the like or dislike must get up and trade seats (not right next to them). The person in the middle also tries to find a seat. Whoever is left standing then takes his or her turn.

=Advisee ID:= The advisor writes advisee names on note cards--one name per card. When the students arrive, the advisor tapes another student's card to each student's forehead. The students must ask each other questions to determine their identities. (This works like Celebrities, but it's a good Get-Acquainted activity.) Once students have guessed, they can remove their cards and help others guess their IDs.Students can offer clues like "You like chocolate ice cream" or "You won't attend a NC college." =Silent Ball:= Get everyone to stand around the room in random places. Then it's as simple as telling everyone to be quiet! Basically, the game involves the players throwing the ball to each other. A player is eliminated by any of the following rules:

- Drop the ball when trying to catch it - Do a bad throw - Talking or making a sound (thus, silent ball)

You can add in your own rules as the game goes on, maybe everyone has to stand on one leg, or throw with their left hand, or catch the ball with their mouth (challenging... but not impossible.) Be creative!

=**Actionary:**= This icebreaker game is a cross between pictionary, sculptionary and charades. Firstly come up with a list of words to use. Divide the group into 4 teams and give each team a tray of play-doh, some paper and some pens. Then each team sends a volunteer up to the leader who's running the game. They then get each player to roll the giant dice in turn. Designate two numbers to each type.

Ie. 1, 2 = Charades 3,4 = Pictionary 5,6 = Sculptionary

Then give all the players the first word from the list. The players will then go back to their group and act, draw or sculpt out the word, depending on what number they rolled. Once someone in their group guesses the word correctly, they go up and roll the dice again and receive the next word. The first team to get through the complete list of words wins!

Some Empathy Games:
[|Empathy Games for kids]

Sculpt a Feeling

 * Knowing how to “read” how someone else is feeling constitutes a key skill for empathy. Help students develop this skill with a simple sculpting game. Write emotions on slips of paper and put them in a bucket. Have one student volunteer to be the first “statue.” This student does not move. Choose a “sculptor” from the remaining students. The sculptor will draw an emotion from the bucket and “sculpt” the “statue” to display that emotion. The other students will then try to guess what emotion the statue displays. The statue then becomes the sculptor and the game continues.
 * Happy || Sad || Outraged || Surprised ||
 * Lonely || Optimistic || Panicky || Desperate ||
 * Depressed || Cranky || Gleeful || Paranoid ||
 * Heartbroken || Hopeful || Humiliated || Grouchy ||

A printable version of the above game cards is here: