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Games 41 to 60
   Last updated: 28.06.02
41. Bring me
Participants sort themselves into small teams, and the teams stand as far as possible from the facilitator. The facilitator then calls out “Bring me...”, and names an object close by. For example, “Bring me a man’s or woman’s shoes.” The teams race to bring what has been requested. You can repeat this several times, asking the teams to bring different things.

42. The king is dead
The first player turns to their neighbour and says, “The king is dead!” The neighbour asks, “How did he die?”, and the first player responds, “He died doing this”, and starts a simple gesture or movement. All participants repeat this gesture continuously. The second player repeats the statement and the third player asks, “How did he die?” The second player adds another gesture or movement. The whole group then copies these two movements. The process continues around the circle until there are too many movements to remember.

43. Locomotion
Everyone sits in a circle and a leader stands in the middle. The leader then walks or runs around the outside of the circle, imitating some means of locomotion such as a car, a train or swimming. S/he stops in front of several people, gives them a signal and they follow the leader, imitating the form of locomotion. When the leader has six to ten people behind him/her, s/he shouts “All change” and everyone, including the leader, races for a seat. The person who is left without a seat must start the game again, with a different form of locomotion.

44. Paper and straws
Participants split into teams. Each team forms a line and places a piece of card at the beginning of their line. Each member of the team has a drinking straw or reed. When the game starts, the first person has to pick up the piece of card by sucking on the straw. The card then has to be passed to the next team member using the same method. If the card drops, it goes back to the first person and the whole sequence has to start again.

45. Don ’t answer
Ask the group to stand in a circle. One person starts by going up to someone and asking them a question such as, “What is your most annoying habit?” However, they must not answer the question themselves – the person to their left must answer. People can make their answers as imaginative as possible!

46. Tug of war
The participants split into two teams. Each team takes one end of the rope. The teams have to pull on the rope to bring the opposite team towards them.

47. Pass the parcel
The facilitator has wrapped a small gift with many different layers of paper. On each layer they have written a task or a question.
Examples of tasks are ‘sing a song’ or ‘hug the person next to you’. Examples of questions are ‘What is your favourite colour?’ or ‘What is your name?’ The facilitator starts the music, or claps their hands if there is no music available. The participants pass the parcel around the circle, or throw it to each other. When the facilitator stops the music or the clapping, the person who is holding the parcel tears off one layer of paper and carries out the task or answers the question that is written on the paper. The game continues until all the layers have been unwrapped. The gift goes to the last person to take off the wrapping.

48. Fox and rabbit
You need two scarves for this game. Participants stand in a circle. One scarf is called ‘Fox’ and the other is called ‘Rabbit’. ‘Fox’ must be tied around the neck with one knot. ‘Rabbit’ is tied around the neck with two knots. Start by choosing two participants who are opposite each other in the circle. Tie the ‘Fox’ scarf around one person’s neck and the ‘Rabbit’ scarf around the other. Say “go”. People need to untie their scarves and retie them around the neck of the person on their right or left. The scarves should travel in the same direction around the circle. The ‘Fox’ scarf with only one knot will travel faster than the ‘Rabbit’ scarf. The people tying the two knots for the ‘Rabbit’ scarf will try to go faster and faster to get away from the ‘Fox’ scarf.

 
49. The longest line
This game requires a lot of space and may need to be done outdoors. Divide into teams of eight to ten people. Each team must have the same number of members.
Explain that the task is to create the longest line using participants own bodies and any clothing or things in members pockets.
Participants are not allowed to collect other things from the room/outside. Give a signal for the game to start and set a time limit, such as two minutes. The team with the longest line wins.

 
50. Robots
Divide the participants into groups of three. One person in each group is the robot controller and the other two are the robots.
Each controller must manage the movements of their two robots. The controller touches a robot on the right shoulder to move them to the right, and touches them on the left shoulder to move them to the left. The facilitator begins the game by telling the robots to walk in a specific direction. The controller must try to stop the robots from crashing into obstacles such as chairs and tables.
Ask participants to swap roles so that everyone has a chance to be the controller and a robot.

51. King of the Jungle
The group sits in a semi-circle. The ‘King of the Jungle’ (usually an elephant) sits on one end of the semi-circle. This person makes a sign to show they are sitting in the elephant’s position. At the other end of the semi-circle sits the monkey, and the person in this seat makes an appropriate sign. All the seats in between belong to different animals, such as lions, fish, and snakes, which people define with different signs.

Once everyone has defined the sign for their seat, the game begins. The elephant makes their sign, and then makes the sign of another animal. That animal makes his or her own sign, then the sign of another animal, and so it continues. If someone makes a mistake, or doesn’t notice that their sign has been made, they have to swap places with the person next to them, moving down towards the monkey. They then take on the sign of the seat they now occupy, and the person who moves up a place takes their sign. The aim is to move all the way up to take the place of the King of the Jungle.

52. Pass the energy
Participants stand or sit in a circle, hold hands and silently concentrate. The facilitator sends a series of ‘pulses’ both ways round the group by discreetly squeezing the hands of those next to her/him. Participants pass these pulses round the circle, as in an electric current, by squeezing the hand of the person next to them and literally ‘energising’ the group.

53. Bottle game
Participants stand in a circle. In the first round, a bottle (or some other object) is passed around the circle. Participants have to do something with the bottle, such as kiss it, rub it, or turn it upside down. In the second round, tell participants to remember what they did with the bottle, and do the same thing to the person standing on their right.

54. How do you like your neighbour?
Ask participants to sit in a circle. Go around the circle and number each person one, two, three, four, etc. One person stands in the middle and one chair is removed. The person in the centre points to someone and asks them, “How do you like your neighbour?” If the person replies “I like him”, everyone gets up and moves to another chair. There will be one person left standing, who then takes their turn in the centre of the circle and asks someone, “How do you like your neighbour?” If the person replies “I don’t like him”, the person in the middle asks him/her “Who do you want?” The person calls out two numbers. The two people whose numbers have been called have to get up and change chairs with the two people on either side of the answerer.

55. Dragon ’s tail
Ask the group to divide into two. The two groups form dragons by holding on to one another’s waists in a long line. The last person in the line has a brightly coloured scarf tucked into his/her trousers or belt, to form the dragon’s tail. The object is to catch the tail of the other dragon without losing your own tail in the process.

56. Group massage
Ask the group to stand in a circle and turn sideways so that each person is facing the back of the person in front of them. People then massage the shoulders of the person in front of them.

57. Pass the person
Participants stand in two lines facing each other. Each person tightly grasps the arms of the person opposite. A volunteer lies face up across the arms of the pairs at the beginning of the line. Pairs lift their arms up and down to move the volunteer gently on to the next pair. The game continues until the volunteer is ‘bumped’ all the way to the end of the line.

58. Blindfold pairs
An obstacle course is set out on the floor for everyone to look at. Participants split into pairs. One of the pair puts a scarf around their eyes, or closes their eyes tightly so they cannot see. The obstacles are quietly removed. The other member of the pair now gives advice and direction to their partner to help them safely negotiate what are now imaginary obstacles.

59. I like you because...
Ask participants to sit in a circle and say what they like about the person on their right. Give them time to think about it first!

60. Heads to tummies
People lie on the floor in a chain so that each person has their head on another person’s stomach. Someone will laugh. Hearing someone laugh through their stomach makes the next person laugh and so on round the chain.

Things to consider when using Energisers
  • Try to use energisers frequently during a workshop or meeting, whenever people look sleepy or tired or to create a natural break between activities.

  • Try to choose games that are appropriate for the local context, for example, thinking carefully about games that involve touch, particularly of different body parts.

  • Try to select games in which everyone can participate and be sensitive to the needs and circumstances of the group. For example, some of these games may exclude people with disabilites, such as difficulty walking or hearing, or people with different levels of comfort with literacy.

  • Try to ensure the safety of the group, particularly with games that involve running. For example, try to make sure that there is enough space and that the floor is clear.

  • Try not to use only competitive games but also include ones that encourage team building.

  • Try to avoid energisers going on for too long. Keep them short and move on to the next planned activity when everyone has had a chance to move about and wake up!


Source: 100 ways to energise groups
This is an extract from 100 ways to energise groups: Games to use in workshops, meetings and the community, published by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in 2002.

To view the whole report follow this link.

To download, complete with graphics, in pdf format (which requires Adobe Acrobat software to read it) follow this link (file size 618kb). This report is also available in French (file size 652kb) and in Spanish (file size 638kb).