It is also helpful to think about which icebreakers work best during different seasons in the life of the small group. In the beginning stages of a small group, it is helpful to do more get-to-know you games and questions so people feel known.
As time progresses, changing up the icebreakers will bring new energy to the group. You can always ask your small group members what types of icebreakers they enjoy most as well and plan from there.
Below are 21 icebreakers for your small group or Bible study. Use your best judgment about which icebreakers will work best for your group. The icebreakers included here are mostly based on having small groups of around 10 people.
The size of your group will directly impact the time you need to allow. Icebreaker questions are simply different ways of getting the people in your small group to talk about themselves. This is an easy way to encourage friendships to form in your group as you help everyone get to know each other.
Jump to an icebreaker 1. Most unique 3. Two truths and a lie 4. Get-to-know-you questions 5. House on fire 6. Make-believe 7. Deserted island 8. Heroes 9. Ask each person to share their best and worst moments from the previous week. The entire icebreaker should not take longer than minutes depending on how large your group is.
This is an easy one to use and gives you good feedback on how the people in your group are doing in a general sense. Great for: Any group. The longer the group has been meeting, the more honest the answers will be. If you use this with a group of people who do not know each other well, the answers may be short and surface-level.
Persevere, and people will become more comfortable with each other. Tips: If people are not engaging with the question, you can prompt them with follow-up questions to help them remember what they did during the week. It can also help if you initiate the icebreaker by answering the question first, giving everyone else time to think about their answers.
Tips: Give examples of unique or unusual facts, and be willing to share your answer first. This activity often creates starting points for conversations between members.
Description: Have each person make three statements about him or herself: two true statements and one lie. I have five sisters.
I was born in Poland. This icebreaker should not take longer than minutes. Consider breaking up a big group into a few smaller ones. The more seemingly random the better. Give people a few minutes before starting the icebreaker to come up with the facts about themselves. The lie becomes harder to spot when only a portion of it is false.
Using this icebreaker helps create friendship and community within the group. Simply ask one of these questions and give everyone a predetermined amount of time to answer. Your goal is not to answer all of these questions, but we have provided them to give you options. What is one characteristic you received from your parents you want to keep and one you wish you could change? If you knew you could not fail and money were no object, what would you like to do in the next five years?
Tips: If you want to use this icebreaker for your first small group, plan on spending most of the time answering the questions you have chosen from the list. Give your group space to be open with one another. If the questions above do not fit your group, come up with your own. The important thing is for people to share about themselves and practice listening well. You have 30 seconds to run through the house and collect three or four articles you want to save. What would you grab?
After everyone has done this, the group can discuss what they learned about the things they value. You can also come back and discuss the answers in a later meeting. This would be a great icebreaker to use to launch a study about identity or values.
Tips: This icebreaker may take longer than others, depending on how much people want to share. Plan on minutes for this icebreaker. You are told you may take three things you want, apart from the essentials. What would you take and why? Tips: This icebreaker is fun when people think of quirky answers. Encourage your group to think outside the box. This icebreaker should not take longer than 10 minutes, and the answers should be relatively short. Description: Ask each group member to name three people, past or present, he or she admires.
What one or two questions would you ask? Tips: People will have interesting answers for these questions. It would be best to utilize this icebreaker for a small group that is focussed on bonding.
Members of your group will most likely talk about people who have impacted their lives personally, so it may take longer than other icebreakers. Tips: This icebreaker can become as creative as you want it to be. Come up with any question that works well with your group. If your group needs to bond more, come up with a few questions that bring deeper answers to the surface.
If your group needs to laugh together, come up with funny questions. Games are a fantastic tool to help the members of your small group bond with one another. Never underestimate the power of laughing with people. Games will quickly create a sense of community within your group. Jump to an icebreaker Personal scavenger hunt My life in pictures You write the question Starburst exchange Chart your life Telephone pictionary Human knot Line up I have never Charades Did you know?
Jenga questions. Description: Have group members take five minutes to find the following items in their wallets or purses: Something that Have each person share the first item. Encourage people to expand on their item and why it fits the topic prompt. For example, if they have an item that reminds them of a fun time, have them share the memory. Go around again sharing the second item and so on until you have gone through each prompt.
Tips: It can be hard to tell how long this icebreaker will take. Some people will expand on their answers, others will not. If people do not have purses or wallets to look through, ask them to find pictures on their phones that might fit the prompts.
Or ask them to recall what is in their wallets or purses if they do not have them physically. Description: Bring a newspaper or magazine and have the group members tear out pictures, articles or anything they think communicates something about themselves. Each person should share his or her choice and the reason for it with the group.
You could use this activity as the basis for a journal collage that people bring to the small group each week. Tips: This activity works particularly well with girls, but use your judgment as to whether it would work well with your group. This is an icebreaker where people often underestimate the amount of time required.
Description: Give each person a 3x5 card. Pick a topic and ask them to write down questions about that topic that anyone in the group could answer. Pile all the cards face down in the middle of the group and let people draw one. Some topic ideas include jobs, life goals, funny stories, hobbies, family, fears, dating issues, significant relationships and relationship with God.
Go around the room until everyone has had a chance to draw and answer a question. Tips: If there are similar questions written on more than one of the 3x5 cards, have the group come up with a new question on the spot for the person drawing the second one or third, etc.
This will keep people engaged in the game and give everyone something to do. Description: Buy a large bag of Starburst or some other candy and give each person the same amount try Then everyone who has had a birthday party pays you one Starburst. You pay everyone who has not had a party.
Keep playing until everyone has a turn or until someone runs out of Starburst. Obviously, the idea is to end up with the most. Bring more for people to eat during the study too. Plan on this icebreaker taking minutes, depending on your group size. You can shorten it by not waiting until someone runs out of candy to stop. When the Roller gets a pair, the child sharing becomes the Roller while the child to his or her left begins sharing. Continue until all the kids have shared and the last child in the group has rolled a pair.
Then, have kids individually write as many things as they can remember that the others shared. Have kids count the facts they shared, and then find out who remembered the most. Have kids play a version of tag with one Tagger per hula hoop to begin. The Taggers hold their hula hoops around their waists and when they tag someone, that person joins the inside of the hula hoop.
Play continues until all kids are inside a hula hoop. Hula-hoop groups can tag only one player at a time. This medium-energy game helps you talk about leading and following. Have kids make a train, holding the shoulders of the child in front of them. After the five seconds, he or she becomes the caboose and the second child takes a turn. Then he or she becomes the caboose. Play continues with kids adding new actions until all the kids have had a turn and the train is performing all the actions.
Have kids stand shoulder to shoulder in a circle facing inward. Choose one child to be the Tapper. The Tapper will walk around the circle once, tapping all the children on the back once, except for one person whom the Tapper taps twice.
After tapping each child, the Tapper joins the circle. Play and repeat with new Tappers as time allows. Play a version of tag where half the kids are Freezers and the other half are Unfreezers. The Freezers tag others to freeze them in place. Unfreezers tag frozen kids to unfreeze them. Play as time allows. Switch roles halfway through your allotted time. Have kids form pairs and line up at one end of the room. Place half the balloons on one end of the room and the other half on the opposite end of the room.
Explain that pairs will race back and forth together between the walls, each time adding a balloon to carry between them until they have all six balloons— in a certain order. Have kids wash their hands and then sit at a table. Place one toothpick into a marshmallow, and place it in the center of the table. Choose one child to start.
He or she will connect a marshmallow and toothpick to the original ones, add- ing to the structure. Was there a major turning point that led to acceptance? This could be either an individual or group activity that would help to put others at ease and to compare answers that might be similar in nature. Not only that, but you can make the game about anything that might have to do with your faith one way or another. Try, for example, thinking about a job that was described in the Bible, such as carpentry.
How did working as a carpenter lead you to Christianity? See what we mean? Everyone in the group should jot down three different things about themselves and their line of work or vocation that is unknown to the others in the group.
At least two of the items are true and one is not. Each group member presents their facts to the group and then everyone takes a vote as to which item about the person is not true. This activity can have surprising turnarounds as well as help others to get to know one another.
It can be done with an erase board approach or with individual note cards or colored paper. As Christian icebreakers go, you can adapt it so that people say two true things about their beliefs or spiritual life and one lie. While it is a fun game, it can also open the door for more profound discussions about shared life experiences, concerns, and ideas. What Christian book or movie that you read or viewed recently, or in the past, would you recommend to others in the group that best represents Christian life today and true biblical history?
Let the whole group brainstorm and come up with the top five books and movies that have had a major impact on Christians and others. Then, discuss those works, debate, and compare notes.
It is a great way to encourage people to share opinions and different, maybe divergent points of view. Moreover, finding other people who share common interests is great for each group member. Who knows, maybe some people in the group start a book or movie club, strengthen friendships, and make new acquaintances.
If you were able to visit heaven, what biblical person would you talk to besides Jesus? For example, the Apostle Paul would be someone from the New Testament era that would provide hours of dialogue and inspiration. Challenge a group of teens or adults to answer such questions and offer their own take on things.
How so? What Christian person that you have met and known has had the most influence in your life and why? That person could be a pastor, close friend, stranger, or mentor. Think about whether that individual caused a turning point in your Christian walk.
Starting from here, the group can learn plenty about its members, share similar or divergent opinions, start a constructive debate, and bond through shared emotions and experiences.
If you were able to have influence over just one of those problems, what would that problem be and how would you try to change it? Many would probably want to talk about the persecution that Christians face around the world today, the banishment of prayer, or the tearing down of Christian monuments. As a facilitator, make sure this icebreaker does not turn into an intense political debate that splits the group, angers people, or deters the shy ones from speaking out.
And while venting out anger is often beneficial, it can also stir a lot of trouble if left unchecked. Looking back on your week or the past few days , what was the most enlightening event or encounter that struck you as memorable and lasting? Perhaps a smile, handshake, or a few encouraging words brought a feeling of well-being and confidence to your week.
Maybe interfacing with a less fortunate person in a positive way or helping someone facing difficulty would be a reminder of what a Christian outlook can do for others outside of your inner circle. Positive thoughts deserve to be shared with others, as they can have a powerful influence on the individual. There are hundreds of ideas and variations of ideas and activities that you can use as icebreakers for almost any Christian gathering.
They usually take up a small amount of time at the beginning of a get-together.
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