Ice Breaker Games for Junior High Kids

Introduction Games and Bingo

• Have everyone stand in line for "Come to Order." After determining how to line everyone up (by age, height, name or shoe size), have kids shake their neighbors' hands and introduce themselves. You can repeat this exercise four or five times with new rules for each round, and also play a variation of this game by dividing kids into two teams and lining them up alphabetically by middle name. The first team to line up correctly wins.

  Icebreaker Bingo is a fitting game to help kids interact and something about learn information about someone. Give each person a piece of paper that contains a bingo grid with each square containing a characteristic or experience pertinent to someone in the group. Without using more than one square for the same person, have the kids find the people matching the descriptions by talking to each other. When a person has completed a row, he wins the game. You also can let the kids continue interacting and determine winners by how many squares a person fills.

Circle Games

• Have the kids form a circle for Circle Toss and have several throwable objects at your disposal. Start the proceedings by saying someone's name and throwing an object to him. That kid then throws the object to someone else, saying his name. Once you again have possession of the object, you use another object and repeat the process.

  If you want to get your group going with a ice-breaker game, have kids sit in a circle and select one person to start it off by saying to someone else, "Honey, Do You Love Me?" The person he asks will reply, "Honey, I love you, but I just can't smile." If the person can say that without actually smiling, the person who was "it" continues asking people the same question until someone cracks. The kid who is "it" can use whatever means he likes to get a smile out of someone else, whether it be funny faces, gestures or voices. Once someone does smile, he gets to be "it" and ask the question. You can use a different question each time you play.

  Have your group of kids stand in a circle facing each other with each kid sticking her hand out and randomly grabbing another kid's hand with each of her hands. Without anyone letting go of a hand, players have to untangle the "human knot" and wind up with one large circle. You may end up with two separate or linked circles, bu kids have no choice but to break the ice in this exercise, as they will be stepping over and under each other's linked arms to complete the task.

  One way you can have kids retain each other's names and learn bits of information in the process is to engage in "Morning Workout." Have everyone sit in a circle with legs extended or knees drawn up in front of them. After having kids lie on their backs, start the game by sitting up and saying, "Hi, I'm Susie" (use the child's actual name). Everyone then sits up and says, "Hello, Susie." Everyone lies back down and then the next person does the same and everyone repeats.

  Once everyone has a turn, can add additional information with the group having to repeat not only your name, but the new information as well. Add to the fun by having players not only do sit-ups, but other actions or movements.

Who Am I?

• You can have kids play a game of "Who Am I?" Start by announcing a theme and preparing index cards. For instance, if you select musical icons, write names like Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Madonna and Michael Jackson on the cards. You then tape the cards to each kid's back and have the kids ask each other questions to help them identify who is on the card. Kids cannot ask direct questions, and they can only ask one question to each person. If the kids have little familiarity with each other, it helps to have them write down their clues and the name of the person giving the clues.

  You can have kids play a variation of the same game by having a few children sit at the front of the room with celebrity names written on the board behind them. Have the guessing kids ask the kids facing them yes-or-no questions to find out who they are. Here, kids can ask direct questions, like "Am I short?" or "Am I an actor?" This game provides kids an opportunity to speak out in a group setting.