St. Ignatius Professional Development/Ice Breaker August, 29th Developed by Aaron Haber (Aaron@TheWorldNYC.com) Zip, Zap Zop Players remain in the circle.  One player focuses on another in the circle, points a finger at that person and calls out "Zip". The second player receives the zip and immediately, focuses in on another player in the circle, points and sends a "zap" over to a third player.  That third player receives the zap, focuses in on another player in the circle, points and sends a "zop" over to the 4th player.  This process is repeated over and over.   What Are You Doing? Still in a circle, the first player begins to mime an activity, the player to her right turns and asks “What are you doing?”   That first player gives a completely different activity from what she is miming (for example, the player is digging a hole, but says “I’m brushing my teeth”) the player that asked “What are you doing?” now begins to mime brushing her teeth.   After a few seconds the next player asks “What are you doing?” and the process repeats.   Introductions/Getting to know each other Now it’s time to get to know each other a little better. Adjective Name Game (Group will be broken up into multiple groups to get through game quicker) Getting players back into the circle, the first player announces his name as well as an adjective that begins with the same first letter as his or her first name (Amazing Aaron).  That player will also tell us a little about themselves both professionally and personally (I teach improv and confidence skills at St. Ignatius and perform stand up comedy at night.) The next player to go must announce the first player’s name and adjective before her own.  This continues until the very last player, who must recall all player’s names and adjectives.   As the game goes on longer and gets tougher it is each player’s responsibility to act out their adjective to help the process along. Hello Participants begin walking around the room, shaking hands with those they come into contact with while at the same time introducing themselves.   Soon after, we’ll switch up the game and now players will introduce (or reintroduce) each other as if they are long lost friends, then long lost enemies, etc. Letter Number Game Getting back into the circle, the first player will turn to her right and say her name, while at the same time making a giving gesture with her arms.  The next player turns to her right and repeats the process with her own name.  This repeats until everyone has gone through the circle a couple of times.   Next we try the same process with the alphabet instead of names, after that we try numbers.   Once we’ve gone through all three categories, players can switch categories mid stream, for example if we are passing names around the circle, a player can decide to change it to the alphabet or numbers.   Fun Games for the Class These games can be used for a fun break in the class room!  They can also be used to enhance classroom lessons. Dr. Know It All 5-10 players line up shoulder to shoulder and are asked a question by the audience.   “Why do we have to go to school?” for example. The players take turns giving one word at a time until they have successfully built a sentence together. This is a quick fun game which encourages listening and cooperation.  This game can also be easily adapted to any and all school subjects.  “What is the best thing about Hermit Crabs?” Freeze Tag 2 players start a scene with a line of dialogue, “You got your peanut butter in my chocolate” The players then start to perform a little improvised scene with an emphasis on physical action and movement.  Once the scene progresses to a certain extent, any other player from the back line may call “freeze”, at that point, the 2 players on stage freeze immediately, (do not move at all!), the player from the back line who called “freeze” steps into the playing area and taps out 1 frozen player and assumes that player’s exact position. From there the new player starts a brand new scene based on the position she has stepped into. Party Quirks One player has a party (she can mime putting out food and beverages) three other players act as her guests.  The host has no idea who her guests are and must guess based on clues given during the course of the party conversation. “Looks like you have 16 cups of soda out; I love the number 16 since I was the 16th President of these Unites States!”   The game can also be played with each player having a physical or personality trait that the host must guess (enormous feet, two heads, loves dancing,  etc.) Again, this game could be used in almost any class (have three scientists come in, or three famous mathematicians or even characters from the literature your class is currently reading, the possibilities are endless.) Concentration and Listening Exercises Give and Take (Round 1) Players stand frozen (unmoving) in the space with the exception on one player who walks around and makes whatever noise they like.  That player taps one of the frozen players on the shoulder.  The newly tapped player is now allowed to move and make noise, where the first player is now frozen.  This repeats until everyone has had a turn. The players learn not to steal focus when it is not their turn.  Everyone gets a turn and everyone’s turn must be respected. Give and Take (Round 2) Same idea except this time the frozen players can unfreeze themselves.  However, just like last round, only one player may be unfrozen at a time. Players learn to take focus, but also give up that focus once it’s someone else’s turn. If done with a class enough times, they should begin to understand the concept of waiting to speak until it is their turn in the classroom, while at the same time understanding that sometimes it is their turn to be aggressive and call out, it’s all a matter of timing and respect for the group.   Number Circle Sitting in the room, the group will attempt to call out as many numbers as possible without two people calling out at the same time.  If two people do call out at the same time, we go all the way back to the number 1.  If everyone relaxes and concentrates we should be able to get into the 20’s. This game can also be used as a focus game in the class room.  If things get too crazy, ask everyone to close their eyes and start to breathe.  Turn the class room lights out and after about 20 seconds ask the class to being this exercise.   You can replace numbers with the alphabet as well. 1, 2 (split into groups of 10) Players stand shoulder to shoulder in a line of 10.  Starting with the first player they count off (1-10).  Number 1 begins by calling out 1 and then another number in the group.  She does this in rhythm “1, 4”.  She has called out number 4.  If number 4 is paying attention she will call out her number first “4” and then another player’s number “6” So she will say “4, 6” and then the process repeats with player 6 until someone misses their turn or breaks the established rhythm.   When a player is called out, she must go to the end of the line and becomes number 10.  The goal is to become number 1.