Ice Breakers and Introductions
Pre-exposure: Create original ice-breaker activities that expose participants to content. Post them during the learning phase, and then use them to review at the conclusion of the training.
Storytelling: Tell a fascinating story or give a true-life example to create a strong emotional connection from the start. Affecting the emotional side of our brains alerts and prepares the cognitive parts of the brain to store new information.
Movement: Start the training experience with some type of fun physical movement such as stretching, with music playing in the background. Physical activity triggers the release of BDNF, a natural substance that boosts learning by helping neurons to communicate faster. Also, motor memory appears to have unlimited storage, requires minimal review, and needs little intrinsic motivation.
Horror & Success Stories: In partners, trios, or small groups, participants share horror and/or success stories related to course content. Ask them to generate amusing titles and record a few bullets of information for the story. As the day's agenda is reviewed, ask participants to note the topic(s) for which each story is relevant. The stories can be shared at transitions, after breaks, or for topic introductions.
Name Tag Switch: Ask everyone to write up to five self-descriptive phrases on a nametag, like sleepyhead, hunter, workout queen, or shopaholic, along with one big learning goal for the day. Collect and redistribute at random. Give the group time to locate the owner of the mysterious nametag.
Tough Questions: As participants arrive, form small groups and ask each group to identify one or more tough questions they want answered before the end of training. Ask the groups to write only one question per index card or sticky note. Invite participants to review the cards throughout the day to ensure that all questions have been answered to their satisfaction.
Animal Sounds: Write the same name of an animal, such as “dog”, on two different index cards. Continue until you have enough cards for everyone in the room. Shuffle the deck and distribute the cards, asking participants to keep the animal name hidden from view. At the appointed time, direct everyone to travel around the room imitating the sound of their animal until they can locate someone else making the same sound. When they find their animal partner, they should sit down.
Stand up, Stand Up for Chocolate! Get the group up and moving by announcing, "All those who love chocolate (or Can't live without pizza or Like rock and roll), please stand in front of the marker board." Once you have about 4 or 5 groups, let participants meet each other and share interests.
The EYES Have It! Get students or teachers up and moving with this quick and simple eye dominance test.
- Fully extend both arms in front of the body and overlap the hands to make a small opening in the middle. Look at the picture on this California Archery Web page.
- Instruct the group to keep both eyes open and to look through the small opening in the hands. Center something, such as a clock or doorknob, in the opening formed by the hands. (Think of lining up a sight on a gun.)
- With arms fully extended, slowly bring both hands all the way to the face keeping the object in view.
- Your dominant eye is the eye that you are using to look through the opening.
For more information on “dominance profiles” and how they supply information about how we take in and process sensory information and then respond to and express our learning, see The Dominance Factor, by Dr. Carla Hannaford.
Human BINGO! Design a handout that looks like a BINGO card and insert questions in each of the squares. Ask participants to find someone who can answer “yes” to one of the questions on the card. They must ask that person sign their name within the square. The object is to meet as many people as you can, and fill a complete line either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally – like the game BINGO. Names cannot be used more than once per BINGO card. Note: The center circle should be a freebie. Here are some sample questions:
- Has traveled outside of the country
- Knows how to polka
- Snorts when they laugh
- Has more than 4 pets
- Loves to scuba-dive
Lollipop Drop: Pass out lollipops to the group. For every letter that appears in the flavor of the lollipop, the participant has to share something about him/herself with the group.
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