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Icebreaker Ideas for Adults

When a group of adults gather together, sometimes it can be hard to get people to feel comfortable enough to engage in personal conversations or group discussions. This can happen in a personal gathering like a party, a classroom setting or a corporate gathering like a meeting and team-building exercises. A fun way to get people talking is to incorporate icebreaker games.

Throw the Ball Introduction
- Ask adults to stand in a circle. The host throws a soft ball to someone in the circle. The person who catches the ball must say her name and something unusual about herself. Everyone should say hello to her in return. After the introduction, she throws the ball to someone on the other side of the circle, and, in turn, that person must say his name and tell the group something about himself. This continues until everyone introduced themselves.
Name Mix Up
- As each person enters the room, provide them with someone else's name tag. Once everyone is present, instruct the group to mingle with each other to find their own name tag. When they find the person with their name tag, they should introduce themselves. This works best in groups of people who do not know each other.
Introduce Each Other
- The host, leader or trainer should divide the group into groups of two and give each group a few minutes to interview each other. Instead of introducing themselves to the group, the interview partner must share her partner's name and at least two unique characteristics about her. For a different spin, have the partners tell the group the partner's favorite things. This icebreaker works well for groups that already know each other and those that do not.
Lie Detector
- The group leader, host or teacher starts by writing three statements on the board, one that is a lie and two that are true. For example, you may write, "I have three children," "I lived in London for a year" and "I have a pet named Larry." The other adults in the group must ask "lie detector" questions to get more information to figure out which is the false statement. For example, they may ask, "What are your kid's names?" "Where did you live in London?" and "What kind of animal is Larry?" The group votes on which statement is the lie, and then the leader tells the group which statement was the lie. Finally, divide the adults into small groups of three or four to conduct the same exercise, and have everyone introduce themselves to the group with a true fact or two.

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