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Helping groups to bond through ice-breakers is an important part of setting up the group. The more opportunities they have to get to know each other the more likely they are to form relationships and for the group to bond. These are also physical exercises getting the students up out of their seats which can help to get them refocused.
1. Birthday Party – Line up around the room in order of their birth date from January to December (always fun to see who’s birthday is next).
2. Geo-Locate – Line up around the room in order of how far away they were born from the college.
3. Name – Line up in alphabetical order by surname.
4. Eyes – Get into groups with people who have the same eye colour.
5. Favourites – Get into groups with people who have the same favourite [pet, season, food type (sweet/savoury), colour etc.]
Before you start the session think about your room set up. Would you like students to be in a circle so they can see each other? If the room isn’t ideal think about what you can do – ask the estates team and other tutors who use that room what some possibilities may be.
This will work well with all group sizes. For larger groups, you may need to run 2 groups at once. The following session or at the end of the first session you could mix them up with another game so they have opportunities to chat with lots of other members.
In small groups these activities could work verbally, with more than around 10 students it would have to be in breakout rooms. Favourites – you could set up a breakout room based on a preference – this takes a while to do organise, however it is a useful activity when the preference is course-related.
Students learn something about their classmates and start to feel more bonded.
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