Youth Icebreakers - Are Your Icebreakers a SNORE?

Youth
Icebreakers - Are
Your Icebreakers
a SNORE?
Learn how you can use
icebreakers to energize
your meeting and avoid
the SNORES of boredom.
www.CreativeYouthIdeas.com
www.CreativeIcebreakers.com

In group activities, icebreakers are
those fun, energizing activities,
which allow the participants in the
group to get to know each other.
They can also be used to introduce
a topic, to facilitate teamwork, to
get people engaged in a program,
to loosen them up to start sharing
feelings and ideas, or simply just
for fun!
As the name suggests, an
icebreaker session is designed to
“break the ice” at an event or
meeting.

What is the ice that needs to be
broken?
• They haven’t met each other
before
• They have never worked with
you before as a leader, teacher,
or trainer
• They have never worked
together on a project before
• They come from different levels
or have a different status in an
organization (i.e. management,
employees, teacher, students)

• The group is not united
and you need to break
down inhibitions so they
can bond together
• The participants come
from different
backgrounds, cultures,
perspectives, or have
different perceptions of
others in the group

Keys to Success
Simple
Non-threatening
Open ended
Relevant
Energizing

Simple
Your icebreaker needs to be
simple enough for everyone to
understand with a minimum of
explanation. The simpler, the
better. Many icebreakers fail
because the instructions are
too complicated and people
have trouble understanding
what they are supposed to do.
Is it easy for the participants
to understand what they are
supposed to do?

Non-threatening
Icebreakers should not make
people feel uncomfortable. Most
people aren’t willing to share their
deepest feelings with strangers.
That’s too personal. The best
icebreakers, get the participants to
engage each other at a simple level
without revealing their life stories
or things that are very personal.
Will the participants be
comfortable with participating or
contributing? How are the
participants likely to react to the
activity?

Open ended
There should be a variety of levels
of response so that the uniqueness
of individuals is allowed to be
expressed. Through discovery they
will often find that they are not so
unique after all – that they do share
something in common with others
in the group.
Does it open up possibilities and
establish a common playing field or
does it stifle the group, close off
the options, and reinforce the
barriers?

Relevant
Choose an icebreaker that meets
the needs of the group and
contributes toward the purpose
of the meeting. That purpose
could be as simple as the
introduction of strangers to each
other or to get the participants to
begin thinking about a specific
topic.
Will participants feel that it is
appropriate and worthwhile?

Energizing
Design your Icebreaker to
energize. It should excite the
group according to their level of
activity. Highly physical activity
might be appropriate for some
groups while for other groups it
may tire them out before you
even start! Laughter, fun,
creativity, and intellectual
stimulation are almost always
energizing!
Will they have fun and enjoy
the activity?

With these keys, you can
avoid the SNOREs of
boredom in your next
icebreaker!

This EBook not only provides 52 of the
world’s most popular group icebreaker
activities, but also includes lesson ideas and
questions to smoothly transition into
discussions about issues common to most
groups.
Click here to find out more!
Icebreakers Ahead: Take it to the next Level

Youth Icebreakers - Are Your Icebreakers a SNORE?

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Youth Icebreakers - Are Your Icebreakers a SNORE?