This resource has been drawn from discussions in the General Forum of the Australian Flexible Learning Community during the period July 2002 to December 2004. Many thanks to all who contributed.

Bored, bored, bored. Not the same old icebreaker, please!

I am bored with all my current ice breaker/getting to know you activities, as (I am sure) are my participants. We are having our LearnScope launch soon and I would like to do something new, interesting and FUN! Anyone have any favorite activities that they would like to share? I have about 10 participants and 1/2 an hour.

Asking a question like this in a community full of teachers, trainers and facilitators is bound to get many responses. Here are a few.

If you need some face-to-face strategies consider this one:  Table Topics - one of the ice-breaking strategies from 'Toastmasters International'?

There is a section of the usual toastmasters meetings called "Table Topics". A table topics master (you) nominates the theme or themes and selects six (or more) speakers who will speak at random on your theme for 1-2 minutes only.

Ask them to 'be sincere, be brief and be seated' and to maintain the theme throughout their introductory speech.

e.g. Learnscope Management Theme

• You have been chosen to select the next groups of Learnscopers at your organisation, what criteria would you include.
• You are now at the end of your Learnscope project and you need to implement your learning, describe three essential ingredients for your success.
• You are in charge of organising the ICT workshops for your team, what types of computer activities would you include.
• etc., etc.,

By using this you may find some useful tips for yourself and new project management strategies.

But if that's too staid or boring you might try some 'way out there or quirky' themes like:

e.g. you are being interviewed for the following jobs, tell the group why you should get the job:

• white water rafting guide for tourists in the Zambesi Tourist bureau
• ballet teacher for the Mechanical Engineering department of the Russian Institute of Diverse Education
• chief accountant at the Chocolate Soldiers manufacturing company
• etc., etc.,

Both of these use the 'brainstorming' approach to not only provide an introduction but to capture the collective thoughts of a group of energetic and enthusiastic people. The end result may be the segue into your next activities.

or this....

My favourite icebreakers are:

1)  The limerick game:  Get hold of some limericks and write them on cards. Then cut the cards into 5 pieces (ie one line of limerick per strip of card).  Distribute the strips around the group. Then ask the group to reconstruct the limericks. It usually works best with a large group, eg 25 people where they each get one line/strip and the first group of 5 who create a complete limerick "win". In a group of ten, I would prepare 10 limericks (ie 50 strips/lines) and give each participant 5 strips, with the prize going to the first person to complete a full limerick with the correct 5 strips - they swap strips until someone gets a full limerick.

May not sound like fun, but it gets hilarious with the right combination of limericks - some of the combinations that emerge can be much funnier than the original limerick.

You can find a bunch of limericks at: http://home.earthlink.net/~kristenaa/

PS: I don't take any responsibility for people who visit the "naughty" section - there's plenty of other sections to look at (eg "nice", "not quite", "favourites" etc) if the naughtier end of the scale offends you. For instance, here's one from the "not quite" section:

There once was an old man of Esser,
Whose knowledge grew lesser and lesser,
It at last grew so small
He knew nothing at all,
And now he's a college professor

2) Truth and Lies:  My other favourite icebreaker is where each person gets a piece of paper and writes 4 things on it - two lies and two truths. They then walk around the group and ask people to guess which statements are true and which ones aren't. The person who guesses the most truths is the winner. Examples would be "I am a twin", "I was born in Poland", "I have a scuba diving licence".

It's an interesting game, and one gets a different slant on people one thinks one knows well. Mind you, it can also get quite surprising in terms of learning more about how one is seen by others. For instance, I once wrote "My grandfather was born in 1874" (which is true, and astounding considering I'm only 29... :-)) and "I was incarcerated in a juvenile detention centre between the ages of 14 and 16" (which is not true but was believed by a large number of the group.... hrmph!).

Which garnered this response:

I've run the Truth and Lies one as an online icebreaker several times and it works well. I usually run it in a discussion forum but it can also work via email, as long as the poster doesn't reveal the truth until everyone has had a go at guessing. It's amazing what you can find out about people.

Unsurprisingly, in such a diverse community, not all members were fans of structured ice breakers - consider these comments:

How about not having an ice-breaker? I once went to a course, in wearable art actually, and we walked in and the teacher said "here's your pattern, here's some fabric, cut it out like this and you casn make a...." I really liked the dive straight in approach. Because we were instantly active we all talked to each other and introduced ourselves in our own time, and it was more memorable because it happened as we chose, not all at the start where I find I don't take in much anyway

which was quickly followed by

Oh I like this!  I'm very fedup with breaking down things into compartmentalised activities ie now let's start with an icebreaker ...

It is often hoped that by breaking things apart we better understand the whole, unfortunately the result can be like peicing together a broken mirror - we end up messing with the overall benefit.  Icebreakers integrated into some focused activity is far far more interesting a way to 'meet' ...

So I guess it's horses for courses. Here are some external sites with additional suggestions for icebreakers for those who wish to use them:

From the Flexible Learning and Delivery at Curtin site
http://flexibledelivery.curtin.edu.au/schools/forms/Online%20Icebreakers.doc

From Educational Consulting Associates
http://www.educationalconsulting.ca/icebreak.htm#Find%20an%20Object

From Lansing Community College
http://www.lcc.edu/cte/resources/teachingettes/icebreakers.html