Ice Breaker: The Human Knot

Materials:

•  Humans

Prep:

•  none

Instructions:

Have the group stand in a large circle. Reach across the circle to grab hands with others in the group and form a “knot”. You may not hold both hands of the same person. You may not hold hands with the people on either side of you. The object of the activity is to untangle yourself as fast as possible without breaking hands. You may briefly unclasp your hands to change grip if you’ve found yourself in a position where your wrist or shoulder is being pulled, but you cannot use this as a chance to “help” solve the puzzle.

Hints & Variations:

•  This is a fairly physical game. Make sure that your group is going to be ok touching each other and standing in close proximity to each other.
• You can also increase the difficulty by taking away people’s permission to speak or only letting 1 or 2 people speak.
• This game gets much harder (and becomes much more of a trust exercise if you ask people to do it with their eyes closed or with blind folds on.
• You can also divide the group into several smaller groups and make this game a race.

Door Dec: Shield

Shield Door Dec
(Gabe)

Materials:

• Colored Paper
  
• White Paper
• Glue
• Markers
• Scissors
• PTHB Shield Templates

Instructions:

Cut the large shield out of colored paper and the smaller shields out of white paper. Glue them together and add your resident’s names!

Credit: Gabe, Valparaiso University

Door Dec: Simple Crown

Crown Door Dec
(Dia, Valparaiso University)

Materials:

•  Colored paper (card stock, printer paper, or construction paper will all work)
• Glitter Glue
• Markers
• Scissors
• PTHB Simple Crown Template

Instructions:

Cut out the crowns from your colored paper, attach a simple color block for the name, and decorate with markers and glitter glue!

Hints & Variations:

•  You can easily free hand the crown or choose a more complicated pattern.

Credit: Dia, Valparaiso University

Ice Breaker: Silent Line

Materials:

• Humans
  
• Enough space to form a long line (it can curve)

Prep:

•  none

Instructions:

Instruct the group that they must line themselves up by birthday without saying a word.

Hints & Variations:

•  You can also play with other criteria, such as first letter of name, middle name, room numbers, age etc.
  
• Split the group into 2 (or more) smaller groups and make it a race!

Ice Breaker: Mission to Mars (Name Game)

Materials:

• Humans

Prep:

• None

Instructions:

Sit or stand in a circle. You’re going on a mission to Mars! What are you bringing? Each person, needs to share their name and something that they are going to bring “to Mars” that also starts with their first initial. For example, “My name is Caitlin and I’m bringing cookies”. The next person then will repeat the first person (“Her name is Caitlin and she’s bringing cookies.”) and introduce themselves in the same way (“My name is Alex and I’m bringing alligators.”) Keep adding people into the path until everyone has gone!

Hints & Variations:

• You can also do this game with actions, for example, “My name is Caitlin and I like to cook/cha-cha”, “My name is Don and I like to dance”, or “My name is Owen and I like to oscillate”.

Credit: Caitlin, University of Wisconsin – Madison

Ice Breaker: Blanket Showdown (Name Game)

Materials:

• Large Blanket

Prep:

• None

Instructions:

Divide your group in  half with two people holding a blanket up so that neither side can see the other. One member from each group walks up to the blanket (on different sides). On the count of three,  the blanket is dropped. The two players then race to see who can shout out the other’s name the fastest! The person who correctly calls out their name first is the wins and the loser then joins the team that won that round. Repeat until everyone has gone or until one team has all of the players.

Hints & Variation:

• This is a good game to play after people have known each other for a little while or halfway through a training day.
• You can also play with questions instead of names (ie. What building do they work in? What is their major? etc)

In-Service: Letters to Staff

Supplies

Envelopes for each staff member

Instructions

Have an envelope for each staff member and distribute them randomly amongst your staff.  Their task is simple: write something, or create something, to give to their fellow staff member – could be a letter, a poem, a drawing, whatever you’d like.

Try to shirk away from monetary and physical gifts; you don’t want some staff members feeling cheated because their writer didn’t buy them anything.  Just the sentiment that comes with a drawing, or the kindness that can come with words, is more than enough.

Bulletin Board – Nikola Tesla

Supplies:

• Template (BAM)
• Butcher block paper (I used black)
• Scissors and staplers and everything you normally use for bulletin boards
• Push-pins
• String/ribbon

Instructions:

Print off that pretty template with everything you’ll need.  Now, as in the example, space Tesla’s inventions and their related blurbs around the main ‘Tesla.’  Use the string or ribbon, in conjunction with push-pins, to connect each invention to ‘Tesla.’  Additional information and the blurbs about the three-parts awesome can adorn elsewhere on the board.  I’m using the quotes as hall-decor up and down the corridor.

And if anyone’s interested, the font used throughout is simply “Tesla.”

Credit: Mike Siano, Valparaiso University

Door Dec: Sci-Fi Spaceships

Supplies:

• Black cardstock
• Space and ship bases (example)
• Functional printer
• Scissors
• Rubber cement
• Tape

 Instructions:

 Compile what ships and space backdrops you desire and print them out accordingly.  Cut the ships out as close to their edges as you can, and the space backdrops in whatever design you choose.  Cement the space backdrops to cardstock, following up with the spaceships.

Next, print off nametags (black background, if possible; I snipped a black-background document with the colored names names into a separate Doc to print, otherwise the black background doesn’t carry) and paste onto decs with tape; this allows for reworking, if need be.  Repeat as needed!

Credit: Mike Siano, Valparaiso University

SPPAAAAAAACCE!

Door Dec: Marvel Emblems

Supplies:

•  Assorted colored paper (construction or regular)
  –  Black & bright blue for S.H.I.E.L.D.
  –  Red & gold for Iron Man
  –  Green & purple for Hulk
  –  Gray & red for Thor
  –  Red & black for Deadpool
  –  Gold & red for X-Men
  –  Blue & red for Captain America
  –  Red & blue for Spider-Man
• Logo template (See here)
• Crayons/Colored Pencils
• Rubber Cements
• Functional printer
• Scissors

 Instructions:

 First, use the logo template (or find/make others, if you so desire) and print off one logo for each resident.  Color them in accordingly and cut them out.  Rubber cement them to the first backing-paper, set aside.

Type up nametags for each resident, paying attention to the logos and fonts you have to work with.  Print those, cut those out, and rubber cement those onto the same backing-paper as their respective logos.

Finally, rubber cement the logo and its respective nametag onto the final sheet, where they will hang proudly forever.

Credit: Mike Siano, Valparaiso University