21. Move to the spot
Ask everyone to choose a particular spot in the room. They start the game by standing on their ‘spot’. Instruct people to walk around the room and carry out a particular action, for example, hopping, saying hello to everyone wearing blue or walking backwards, etc. When the facilitator says “Stop”, everyone must run to his or her original spots. The person who reaches their place first is the next leader and can instruct the group to do what they wish.

22. Banana game
A banana or other object such as a bunch of keys is selected. The participants stand in a circle with their hands behind their backs.
One person volunteers to stand in the middle. The facilitator walks around the outside of the circle and secretly slips the banana into someone’s hand. The banana is then secretly passed round the circle behind the participant’s backs. The job of the volunteer in the middle is to study people’s faces and work out who has the banana.
When successful, the volunteer takes that place in the circle and the game continues with a new person in the middle.

23. Taxi rides
Ask participants to pretend that they are getting into taxis. The taxis can only hold a certain number of people, such as two, four, or eight. When the taxis stop, the participants have to run to get into the right sized groups. This is a useful game for randomly dividing participants into groups.

24. Fruit salad
The facilitator divides the participants into an equal number of three to four fruits, such as oranges and bananas. Participants then sit on chairs in a circle. One person must stand in the centre of the circle of chairs.

The facilitator shouts out the name of one of the fruits, such as ‘oranges’, and all of the oranges must change places with one another. The person who is standing in the middle tries to take one of their places as they move, leaving another person in the middle without a chair. The new person in the middle shouts another fruit and the game continues. A call of ‘fruit salad’ means that everyone has to change seats.

25. “Prrr ”and “Pukutu ”
Ask everyone to imagine two birds. One calls ‘prrr’ and the other calls ‘pukutu’. If you call out ‘prrr’, all the participants need to stand on their toes and move their elbows out sideways, as if they were a bird ruffling its wings. If you call out ‘pukutu’, everyone has to stay still and not move a feather.

26. Dancing on paper
Facilitators prepare equal sized sheets of newspaper or cloth. Participants split into pairs. Each pair is given either a piece of newspaper or cloth. They dance while the facilitator plays music or claps. When the music or clapping stops, each pair must stand on their sheet of newspaper or cloth. The next time the music or clapping stops, the pair has to fold their paper or cloth in half before standing on it. After several rounds, the paper or cloth becomes very small by being folded again and again. It is increasingly difficult for two people to stand on. Pairs that have any part of their body on the floor are ‘out’ of the game. The game continues until there is a winning pair.

27. Tide ’s in/tide ’s out
Draw a line representing the seashore and ask participants to stand behind the line. When the facilitator shouts “Tide’s out!”, everyone jumps forwards over the line. When the leader shouts “Tide’s in!”, everyone jumps backwards over the line. If the facilitator shouts “Tide’s out!” twice in a row, participants who move have to drop out of the game.

28. Delhi buses
This game can be called after any type of local transport. Select a number of ‘drivers’. Assign a certain number of passengers for each driver to pick up. (Make sure that you have counted correctly, so that no one is left without a ride!) Ask the drivers to go around the room making vehicle noises and touting for business. The passengers form up behind or alongside their driver to make it look like they are in a vehicle. Now all the ‘vehicles’ drive around as if in traffic, sounding their horns and shouting at other drivers and vehicles.

29. Rabbits
Someone starts by putting both hands up to their ears and waggling their fingers. The people on either side of this person put up one hand only, to the ear nearest the person with both hands up. The person with both hands up then points to another person across the circle. This person now puts both hands up to their ears and waggles their fingers. The people on either side have to put up the hand nearest the person with both hands up and waggle their fingers. The game continues in this way until everyone has been a ‘rabbit’.

30. Port/starboard
Participants stand in the centre of the room. If the leader shouts “Starboard”, everyone runs to the right. If they shout “Port”, everyone runs left and if they shout “Man the ship”, everyone runs back to the centre. Other statements can be introduced; for example, “Climb the rigging” when everyone pretends to climb, “Scrub the decks”, and so on.

31. I ’m going on a trip
Everyone sits in a circle. Start by saying “I’m going on a trip and I’m taking a hug”, and hug the person to your right. That person then has to say “I’m going on a trip and I’m taking a hug and a pat on the back”, and then give the person on their right a hug and a pat on the back. Each person repeats what has been said and adds a new action to the list. Go round the circle until everyone has had a turn.

32. Find someone wearing...
Ask participants to walk around loosely, shaking their limbs and generally relaxing. After a short while, the facilitator shouts out “Find someone...” and names an article of clothing. The participants have to rush to stand close to the person described. Repeat this exercise several times using different types of clothing.

33. Touch something blue
Ask participants to stand up. Explain that you will tell everyone to find something blue, and that they have to go and touch it. This could be a blue shirt, pen, shoe or whatever. Continue the game in this way, asking participants to call out their own suggestions for things to touch.

34. Simon says
The facilitator tells the group that they should follow instructions when the facilitator starts the instruction by saying “Simon says...” If the facilitator does not begin the instructions with the words “Simon says”, then the group should not follow the instructions! The facilitator begins by saying something like “Simon says clap your hands” while clapping their hands. The participants follow. The facilitator speeds up the actions, always saying “Simon says” first. After a short while, the “Simon says” is omitted. Those participants who do follow the instructions anyway are ‘out’ of the game. The game can be continued for as

35. What has changed?
Participants break into pairs. Partners observe one another and try to memorise the appearance of each other. Then one turns their back while the other makes three changes to his/her appearance; for example, putting their watch on the other wrist, removing their glasses, and rolling up their sleeves. The other player then turns around and has to try to spot the three changes. The players then switch roles.

36. Birthday graph
Ask people to line up according to their birthday months or seasons. Discuss which month or season has the largest number and what reasons there might be for this.

37. Body ‘tig ’
Explain to participants that you will ‘tig’ someone. They then use just the part of their body that you have ‘tigged’ to ‘tig’ someone else in turn. Continue the game until everyone has been ‘tigged’.

38. Five islands
Draw five circles with chalk on the floor, big enough to accommodate all of the participants. Give each island a name. Ask everyone to choose the island that they would like to live on. Then warn participants that one of the islands will sink into the sea very soon and participants on that island will be forced to move quickly to another island. Allow the suspense to build and then call out the name of the island that is sinking. Participants run to the other four islands. The game continues until everyone is squashed onto one island.

39. The animal game
This game helps to divide a large group into smaller groups. Make slips of paper for each member of the large group. Write the name of an animal on each slip, using as many different animals as you need smaller groups. Hand the papers out at random and ask people to make the noise of their animal to find the other members of their smaller group.

40. Mime a lie
Everyone stands in a circle. The facilitator starts by miming an action. When the person on their right says their name and asks “What are you doing?”, they reply that they are doing something completely different; for example, the facilitator mimes swimming and says “I am washing my hair.” The person to the facilitator’s right then has to mime what the facilitator said that they were doing (washing their hair), while saying that they are doing something completely different. Go around the circle in this way until everyone has had a turn.

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).

 

Resources for working with groups

100 ways to energise groups

• Games to use in workshops, meetings and the community
• Games 1 to 20
• Games 21 to 40
• Games 41 to 60
• Games 61 to 80
• Games 81 to 100