Ice Breaker Games for Kids

Hosting a party for your nephew this weekend. Except, you know nothing about how to get the kids from your neighborhood to mingle and have a fun time at the party?

And you don't really want to be stuck with a group of 4-10 year olds looking sullenly at each other or going about the destructive way and turning your home into something of a fight scene. So then there are dual reasons of why you need to learn some ice breaker games for kids.

Preferably, get all the kids to play them together rather than segregating into groups. It'll save you the trouble of handling two groups and if you handle it well enough, they'll end up having more fun in a large mixed group.

This one would well be considered silly, but it works. Get the kids to stand in a random order and when you yell 'Go', they need to go and get as many intros of the others as possible.

The fun part is that every time they approach someone to ask their names, they have to pinch their nose. Kids love this sort of silliness, but they'll have so much fun with the whole deal, they really won't think it's silly.

Put a twist on this by making the kid on the left or right (whichever) of the kid do the challenge with him. This will help them to get to know each other better and is the perfect icebreaker game for small groups.

Maybe you know this really popular game? Sit in a circle and say a sentence that is relatively difficult, to any kid. It needs to be said only once and no more. That kid has to then pass what he heard to the next, then he to the next and so on till it reaches the last person who has to announce it out loud.

99% of the times, the sentence will have completely changed its original structure to such a twisted one that it'll provide a good laugh for everyone. Then just for fun, try and trace it back to who twisted the sentence.

Joining a new school/college/educational institute or a workplace for that matter, and meeting all those new people can get a little overwhelming. In such a situation, very few manage to hold their footing and be at ease with a new crowd.

What helps immensely is to have some team building activities so that you speed up their process of getting to know each other. Here are some ideas that you could use.

Give the students a stack of post-its. On the word 'Go', they need to get into the middle of all the things and start tagging people with their names. At the end of the game (1 minute or less), each kid will have 20-30 odd post-its on them? Now ask them to point out each student. Very few will get all or most right, but they'll become closer as a group.

One other variation you could use in this is to have all the students go about the same way, but instead of the post its, they simply have to go relate something that is unique, quirky or weird about themselves―the person who has the most weird quirk, will be remembered.

Then kids go about relating the name and the quirks. The quirks itself will get a lot of laughs. Something like 'I have to wear green nail polish on Mondays'.

Group games are definitely the best way to go about breaking the ice and getting to know each other. These could be numerous. To state a few. Divide people into groups and each group gets a sound.

Maybe as simple as 'Heehaw' or a click of the tongue or a whistle tune. Then a conductor points a stick in your direction and the entire group has to say the characteristic tune. If they fail to match the rhythm or tune or the speed, the entire group is out. The last group that stays, wins.

Another option is to give them about an hour and ask them to come up with a skit. Great way to interact and get to know each other and an effective game for employees, might I add.

And now that you know what some of these games are, there will be no dearth of fun things to do and get to know the other. And there definitely won't be any place for awkward silences. If all goes well, you'll have a perfectly happy group at the end of it.