Ice-Breakers

Making students feel comfortable on the first day of camp is essential for setting the tone for the rest of the week: camp will certainly be different from school, but should be structured nonetheless.  It will also create an atmosphere of comfort that will allow more discussion of some of the issues in the camp curriculum.

Ice-breakers

Two Truths and a Lie:

In a circle, ask each student to share three sentences about herself; two of these must be true and one should be a lie.  The group tries to guess which is the lie.

Have You Ever/I Have Mail For:

The group stands in a circle and each student marks her or his spot with a piece of chalk (or you can do this with a circle of chairs).  The facilitator stands in the middle of the circle and explains the activity.  The person in the middle must ask a question, e.g.. “Have you ever ridden a horse?” or another variation, “I have mail for anyone who has ever ridden a horse.”  Those people who have ridden a horse must run to a now vacant spot in the circle.  The person in the middle can only ask something that she or he has done, e.g. they must have ridden a horse.  Students cannot run to the spot immediately to their right or left.  (Sometimes kids can get excited and this can get a bit violent, so be careful).

Line up:

Students must line up in order of height, shortest to tallest, with eyes closed and without speaking (you might also want to use blindfolds, since kids like to cheat!).  Variations of this game include lining up according to birthdays without speaking, and one game in which students must line up according to the size of an animal they have chosen.  With the animal variation, only animal sounds are allowed.

True/False:

This game will help students get more comfortable speaking and thinking in English (this is important even for camps that are not explicitly TEFL-related).  Divide the group into two teams and have each team make a single-file line.  Place two chairs, one labeled “true” and one labeled “false” at the far end of the room/playing field.  Explain the rules: when it’s your turn, a counselor will read/say a statement (for example, “the sky is red.”), and the idea is to run and sit in the chair that corresponds to the statement (in the example, of course, “false.”).  Whoever sits in the correct chair first gains a point for her team.  Make very clear to campers that there is to be no pushing or tripping, and that once someone is sitting in the chair, you may not push him out of it so you can sit down yourself; if you do any of these things, you will lose a point.

Rain Dance

This activity stresses unity, and is therefore a good activity for last day of camp.  All participants stand in a circle.  A leader will explain that together, the campers can create their own rain storm.  During this activity, everyone should remain completely silent.  Each person is instructed to copy the actions of the person on her or his left side. The dance starts with the leader rubbing his hands together.  As she or he begins, the action passes around the circle, each following the person next to her or him.  When everyone is rubbing their hands together, the leader begins to snap her or his fingers.  The action continues around the circle as before.  Then the leader pats her or his thighs, then stomps her or his feet.  After that, the actions are done in reverse order: stomping, patting, snapping, and rubbing, then stopping all action, until the circle is in silence once again.

River Crossing:

Objectives: Using the resources provided and handicaps designated (half of the group is blindfolded), the group must get from one side of the river to the other.  The river is approximately 8 meters wide.

Materials: Chalk (or something to mark the shores of the river with). Moveable 1.5 x 1.5 ft. Squares (pieces of cardboard or baseball bases work well).

Safety: A “slighted” person must be paired with a blind person and assist him/her at all times.  If you begin to fall and cannot catch yourself, it is better in the game to sacrifice yourself rather than falling and potentially injuring yourself and the person you are paired with.

Set-up: Your group is in the jungle trying to escape from a tribe of cannibalistic pygmies.  You come across a raging river infested with man-eating creatures (have participants think of what creatures might be living in the river: anacondas, piranhas, the Swamp Thing, etc.).  Fortunately, there are eight large rocks on the shore, which you can use to get your group across.  The pygmies are close on your tail, so you have very little time.  Unfortunately, along the way, half the group ate some poisonous berries, which have blinded them temporarily.  The cure is on the other side of the river.  Also, the current of the river is very strong, and if a foot is not on the rock, the rock will be washed away. 

Rules: As the group crosses the river, an individual will get chomped by those evil river-dwelling creatures if his or her foot extends more than halfway off the rock.  If a person gets chomped or falls in, the whole team must start again with time still running.  Also, participants cannot slide the rocks across the river with their feet.  Once placed, the rock can be moved only an individual picks it back up again with their hands.  The team has 45 minutes to complete the task followed by a debriefing (see “questions for team challenge”).