Weekly Icebreakers

1. Questions Have each student write a question they want answered about the group on a post-it note. Have them introduce
themselves and their question. Post all the questions on a wall chart. Facilitator should address each question.

2. Interview Divide the youth into pairs. Ask them to take five minutes to interview each other. Each interviewer has to ask the
other 3 interview-type questions. Bring everyone back together and ask everyone to present the 3 answers about their partner to
the rest of the group.

3. Respect & Trust Have students break up into groups of 4-5. Students will take turns falling backwards and trusting that their
peers will catch them before they fall. This builds the faller trust and the students who catch the faller must have respect for the
person not to let them hit the floor. (Note an adult should also be with each group for added support and safety).

4. Would you rather..? Place a line of tape down the center of the room. Ask the group to straddle the tape. When asked Would
you rather? the students have to jump to the left or the right as indicated by the facilitator. (Note adults should join in too!) At the
end of the activity sit down and discuss some qualities/traits and how they can be beneficial to the students.

5. Developing Yourself Have each person introduce him/herself and share one action they have recently taken to develop
themselves (other than being in life-skills/peacebuilders).

6. Charades Have the class work in teams of 4-5. Instruct the teams to identify one type of person they all find difficult. Then have
the team act out that type of person while the rest of the group tries to guess what they are acting.

7. Future Plans Have each person complete the following sentence: When I grow up, I want to work at/as
_________________________________ because _________________________. Then discuss what the student needs in order to
make their plan a reality.

8. Wink Murder Ask the group to sit in a circle. Choose a number of playing cards to match the number of students in the group.
Be certain your selection of cards contains an ace. Each person draws a card. They must not comment or show it to anyone else. The
player who chooses the ace is the murderer and he/she kills his victims by winking at them. The object is to identify the murderer
while trying not to be killed in the process. An incorrect guess results in instant death.
9. Three Truths and a Lie Give each youth a 3x5 card and instruct them to write four statements about themselves. One statement
should be false, while three should be true. Explain that the goal is to fool people about which one is false. Allow 5 minutes to write
statements; then have each person read the four statements and have the group guess the lie. Award a prize to the youth who
makes the most correct guesses.

10. Learning & Applying Have students complete a form with spaces for something you already know about work ethic,
something you want to learn about adversity, and something that could happen in the group where they would have to apply
what they know about adversity. Have each student introduce him/herself and share something from the form.

11. The Magic Wand You have just found a magic wand that allows you to make any three changes you want. What would you
change? It can be yourself, your parents/siblings or any other part of your life. (Note- See how many people would change
something physically about their appearance).

12. Guess Who? Have each participant complete and return a 3x5 card with 2-3 statements about him or herself. (For example:
Favorite food, Favorite movie, Future job, etc.). Facilitator then read the clues and has the rest of the group guess which person is
being described