ask participants how fast they can pass a ball to everyone
Stand up in a circle. The first tosses an imaginary ball to another person in the circle, while saying the first word that comes to mind… for example, “flower.” The student who “catches” the ball then says the first word that comes to mind, for example, “garden.” The students continue, tossing the ball and making word associations.
Ask each young person to draw a flag which contains some symbols or pictures describing who they are, what’s important to them or what they enjoy. Each flag is divided into 4 or 6 segments. Each segment can contain a picture i.e. favourite emotion, favourite food, a hobby, a skill, where you were born, your family, your faith. Ask some of the group to share their flags and explain the meaning of what they drew.
You will need crayons or paints, markers, scissors and white card for this activity. Give each young person a piece of white card. Ask them to draw and cut out a life-sized shape of a face. They can also cut out eyes and a mouth if they wish. Each young person is then asked to decorate their card face. One side represents what they think people see/know/believe about them i.e. on the outside. The other side represents what they feel about themselves i.e. things going on the inside, what people do not necessarily know or see.
Can be used to analyze characters.
Place a line of tape down the centre of the room. Ask the group to straddle the tape. When asked ‘Would you rather?’ they have to jump to the left or right as indicated by the leader.
Access 20 starter questions by clicking on the title of this post. Just add your own and let the fun begin.
Announce, ‘You’ve been exiled to a deserted island for a year. In addition to the essentials, you may take one piece of music, one book (which is not the Bible) and one luxury item you can carry with you i.e. not a boat to leave the island! What would you take and why?’
You need to have a spool of string or wool for this game. Ask the young people to stand in a circle. Hold on to the end of the string and throw the ball/spool to one of the young people to catch. They then choose a question from 1-20 to answer.
A list of 20 sample questions is given in the link above. Adapt for your group.
Holding the string they then throw it to another member of the group. Eventually this creates a web as well as learning some interesting things about each other!
