Hobbies And Interests
Who Am I Game
Write down the names of famous celebrities on stickers and put one name on each employee's back. Don't let the employee see which celebrity it is. The group has 15 minutes to ask other staff members which celebrity they are. Introduce staff members to each other to get conversations started and drop small hints about each employees' celebrity. For example, introduce an employee from accounting to a staff member from marketing and ask if he thinks his celebrity is dead or alive. The first employee to guess his celebrity wins a small prize.
Speed Interviews
Create a situation where employees from different departments interview each other. Simulate a situation similar to speed dating where employees are allowed five minutes to interview each other, then the group rotates and everyone meets someone new. Sit one group of employees at different tables or in different parts of the room--the stationary group. Have each member of the other group of employees--the rotating group--sit down next to one of the stationary employees. Ring a small bell to begin the interview, then ring the bell to end the interview and have the rotating employees move to the next table to meet a new stationary employee.
Create five or six questions for employees to ask. Examples could be "What do you like most about your job" or "What do you like least about your job?" Other examples are to describe their position at the company or what they like to do in their free time. Encourage employees to make small notes for later use.
Candy Game
Get employees to open up and talk amongst themselves over multi-colored candy. Purchase a large bag of Skittles or M&Ms and dump the bag into a large bowl. Provide small paper cups for each employee. Ask each employee to scoop a cupfull of candy. Reveal a large poster board that details the meaning of each colored candy once everyone has gotten a cupfull. For example, red candy means tell the group about a favorite hobby, blue candy means favorite food, orange candy is a favorite place to travel and yellow candy is a wildcard, where employees can tell the group anything about themselves they'd like. Each employee tells one thing based on the candy in the cup. For example, if someone has three red candies, she can tell the group about three of her hobbies.