Activities to Improve Social Skills in Young Adults

Role-Playing Games

• Ask the young adults to sit in a circle. Have a group discussion about introverted and extroverted people. Tell everyone to discuss how their personality traits may be different. For example, an introverted person will usually shy away from initiating contact with others, while extroverted people will often introduce themselves to anyone. For an activity, ask the introverted people to stand on one side of the room and the extroverted people to stand on the other side. Ask the introverted people to role-play the opposite personality. Role-playing will help the members identify and understand the opposite identity, according to the Self Esteem 2 Go website.

Board Games

• Board games build social skills among young adults in a fun and entertaining way. Some board game ideas for young adults include Scrabble, Scene It, Tongue Tying Word Games and Apples to Apples. For two-player games, such as checkers and chess, have four people play by switching turns. For example, each player will have a turn and then his partner will have a turn. This teaches the young adults to work together and compromise on game moves.

Circle Games

• Have the young adults stand in a large circle with their hands in front of them. Ask them to all walk to the middle of the circle and grab another player̵7;s hand with each one of their hands. Make sure each player has a hold of two different players̵7; hands. When you say ̶0;Go,̶1; they must untangle the ̶0;human knot̶1; by communicating with one another and working together. Players may have to crawl over and under each other but they cannot let their hands go. Turn this activity into a game by dividing the players into two teams to do this activity. The first team to get untangled wins the game.

Communication Games

• Make a communication scavenger hunt by creating two lists of random facts. Write down facts like ̶0;does not like spinach,̶1; ̶0;has on a blue shirt,̶1; ̶0;loves to sew̶1; and ̶0;has two dogs̶1; on a sheet of paper. Create two identical lists with 50 random facts. Divide the players into two teams and give each team a list. Each team must sit down and talk about some of the facts on the list. If they find someone in their group that fits the fact, they can mark it off the list. The first team to have 30 of the 50 facts marked off their list wins the game.