Icebreaker for the First Day of Camp

[Dave]

On the first day of camp, we always do an icebreaker with the kids in our bunk so they learn each other's names and our names as well. Here's what we do:

First you have to get all the kids together in a circle, all at a table, etc.
Then we (the counselors) introduce ourselves and our rank in the bunk (senior counselor, junior counselor, CIT, etc.). We then go around to each of the kids and have then tell us each of our names.
Now we have each of the kids say their names.
After each kid has said their name, we have each kid say everyone else's names. If they get one wrong we have the kid whose name they had to say repeat their name. Then they continue saying the rest of the kids' names.
Once everyone knows everyone else's names, we have each of the kids tell us their favorite activity at camp (the counselors do this too). If this is a camper's first summer at camp, we ask them what their favorite thing to do is.
Finally, we tell the kids to be sure to talk with everyone else in the bunk.That's the method we use during the first day of camp to get the kids to know each other a bit better.

[Skater Bubbles]

That's not a bad one. I try to do a similar thing that is a little more fun. I do a sing song kinda thing where they have to say there name. First you say a camper's name for example "Hey, sara" and then the camper would say "Hey what" Then you would repeat and say "Hey Sara" and then they would repeat and say "Hey what" then you say "say your name" and they say "no way!" and then you repeat and they say "ok" Next all the girls sing "jump say your name", and then the selected camper would say "SARA" and then they would all repeat "Jump jump say your name" and then she would say "Sara" again. And then you would pick a different girl and repeat teh whole song!

[Dave]

That must take a long time. :P

[Skater Bubbles]

Not too long. I only have about ten girls each week!! They love it though!!

[Dave]

Well as long as they're having fun, that's really all that matters! :D

[KrazyPoolGirl]

my favorite, is the m&ms game, it can be played with any kind of candy that has different colors, because for each color you need to say something special about yourself, each color has their own topic ie: red, you need to say where your from, blue: favorite movie, green; favorite food, orange; embarrasing moment, etc

the other fun icebreaker is the toliet paper game, you don't tell the kids anything, u just ask them to take as many pieces of toliet paper as they want and depends on the number of pieces depends on how many things they have to say about themself

[Flukie]

I love Categories (or a million other things you call it!) We used this one at RA training and when we opened our Res Hall this year - so if my college freshmen are willing to do it, my high school girls definitely would do it. Whoever is running the game needs to come up with a bunch of categories - Home State/Country, Favorite Pizza, Favorite Color, Shoe Size, Number of Siblings, etc. Then, you have everyone in a group and call out a category. They need to start hollering out their answer and find others with the same answer and introduce themselves. You can have the groups share their answers or just move onto the next one once everyone has a group (sometimes, folks with "odd" answers are the only ones in their group!). This works well with a larger group of 15+ people. We played it with 100 new RAs and with 45 freshmen so it is definitely usable in any size group!

There are sooo many ice breakers you can use, but this is one of my favorites!

[CAMPFRIEND]

All great games. A tip form an old mand.. Make sure you learn you kids names as soon as you can!!! I hate when I see my counselors say "hay you" or "What is your name" I have 350-400 kids per week and I try to learn all of their names but most of the time I get to work only with the campers who are in trouble. In a week I can get 75% of the campers names. The good thing is I have all summer for most of the campers..
________
drugtest (http://drugtestingkit.org)

[Dave]

the other fun icebreaker is the toliet paper game, you don't tell the kids anything, u just ask them to take as many pieces of toliet paper as they want and depends on the number of pieces depends on how many things they have to say about themself
I love that game! We always tell the kids to take as much toilet paper as they want. (We word it so they take a lot.) Then when they find out that they have to say that many things about them, they regret taking so much. :laugh2:

[CAMPFRIEND]

Our maitance director hates that game. All his toilet papers just floats away!!!
________
universal health (http://uhwh.com)

[collissimon]

How about something that involves running, so that they can get used to camp etc, but also tire them out for that first night away from home?

[camper]

we do that w/our lower camp, collissimon. we have relay races and play tag games that involve everyone getting to know each other's names and people in the age group.

[collissimon]

We do something called 'Crazy Races', like the cartoon show. The kids race up and down like different cars, whether it's a broken down jallopey, or a smooth sports car.

[CAMPFRIEND]

We used to do a game where all of the campers would have to answer questions that would take them all around camp. It was more for the new campers who had never been to camp. The kids enjoyed it but the counselors were not big fans of the game. It's like a camp tour but in game form!!

[collissimon]

We do something like that pretty early on to, a scavenger hunt, where they go round looking for other Unit Leaders and Directors their middle names etc. The kids love it! The Directors secretly like it I think, because they get to talk to the campers!

[camper]

we do a scavenger hunt all around camp for an evening activity- each age group does it on a separate night. it's really fun for the counselors (at least for me haha) and the campers. they divide the group into teams and a counselor goes w/each team the only bad thing is that if you have a kid who can't keep up w/the group while they run around camp, the counselor has to find a way to hang back but still know where all of the kids in the group are. also, the counselors aren't allowed to answer the questions, which are all about camp. i know the answer to most of them haha but i have to let the kids figure them out by going to the places that the question has to do with and counting or looking at stuff for the answers.

[collissimon]

It is really good, because one person creates it, but almost every unit uses it! You can find out weird and wonderful things, like what a Unit Leader's middle name is etc.!

[camper]

haha collissimon, thats just like ours...one person made it, and every group can do it! and we have those kind of questions plus stuff like "how many trophies are in the trophy cases in the mess hall?"

[CAMPFRIEND]

Try kids trying to pull your hair out for a hunt. Oh it's so much fun:rolleyes:

[collissimon]

I can beat that! For one activity the other year, the kids had to get a counsellor leg hair, which means they all dive for your legs and pull!

[Dave]

I can beat that! For one activity the other year, the kids had to get a counsellor leg hair, which means they all dive for your legs and pull!
Aww man that sucks. I hate when kids pull my hair (whether on my head, legs, wherever). It hurts like anything and there's nothing you can really do about it except tell them to stop.

[collissimon]

And you can't tell them to stop when it's an evening activity! They don't choose one either, they take out a clump!

[campCardinal]

I love scavenger hunts. This past summer one unit made a new scavenger hunt EVERY week! It was crazy too. It was all camp trivia. They would have to run to our historical house and look up info on the walls, find random counselors who would know odd little facts-- things from the late 90's that only staff would know... very few members of our staff were counselors in the 90's... it was hard. But it was really fun.

[CAMPFRIEND]

I think that there is a point where you say no! The leg hair is off limits!!

[drink the wild air]

I think that there is a point where you say no! The leg hair is off limits!!

I definitely helped pluck leg hair off of one of my counselors legs when I was a camper. We were trying to make shapes like hearts and peace signs. Her legs were soooo hairy. I can't believe I did that. What a good sport she was (and rather insane apparantly).

[Dave]

I think that there is a point where you say no! The leg hair is off limits!!
Unfortunately not all kids will respond to that. I know there were kids in my bunk last summer who, when we said no to them and even threatened to punish them, they wouldn't listen. They'd listen once we said we'd get the division head involved. But saying that too much and they'll catch on.

[CAMPFRIEND]

I think that you should give the LOOK. You know the one that your parents give you when they are mad!

[Dave]

I think that you should give the LOOK. You know the one that your parents give you when they are mad!
Oh I give that look all the time. What happens is the kid will just look at me for a second, and then keep on going. Either their parents also give the look but do nothing afterward so they figure nothing will happen, or they know that I wouldn't hit them or whatever their parents do.

[CAMPFRIEND]

Just keep working on it. Your look will keep getting better as you get older!

[KiwiCRB]

Ooooh man, our camp director gives that look....:scared:

[CAMPFRIEND]

The best part of my job. I can give a mean look..

[Rainbow]

You can do these on first day of camp. But my favorite one outside of camp is have you ever and action one. At camp staff training at my camp we do toilet paper game and scavenger hunt all around camp.

[speedx5xracer]

You can do these on first day of camp. But my favorite one outside of camp is have you ever and action one. At camp staff training at my camp we do toilet paper game and scavenger hunt all around camp.

Im partly responsible for my camp to do away with the toilet paper game. Because of my major i made my director more concience of the enviromental impact... Damn my informative nature.

[collissimon]

For staff icebreakers, we do a tic/toc game, where you sit in a circle and there is one facilitator. They hand a scroll to one person and say 'This is a tic'. The other person replies 'A What?' 'A Tic'.

They hand it to the next one, 'This is a tic' 'A What?', who asks the first person 'A What?' 'A Tic' 'A Tic' etc. etc.

At the same time they are doing the same thing with a second scroll called a Toc.

It gets really confusing when they cross over!

[Dave]

For staff icebreakers, we do a tic/toc game, where you sit in a circle and there is one facilitator. They hand a scroll to one person and say 'This is a tic'. The other person replies 'A What?' 'A Tic'.

They hand it to the next one, 'This is a tic' 'A What?', who asks the first person 'A What?' 'A Tic' 'A Tic' etc. etc.

At the same time they are doing the same thing with a second scroll called a Toc.

It gets really confusing when they cross over!
That sounds like an interesting game. Better than anything we do. I'd like to try that out.

[tajarbud]

For staff icebreakers, we do a tic/toc game, where you sit in a circle and there is one facilitator. They hand a scroll to one person and say 'This is a tic'. The other person replies 'A What?' 'A Tic'.

They hand it to the next one, 'This is a tic' 'A What?', who asks the first person 'A What?' 'A Tic' 'A Tic' etc. etc.

At the same time they are doing the same thing with a second scroll called a Toc.

It gets really confusing when they cross over!


For further grins...:) :confused: :) :) :)
A Which? A What?
When we start the item in the opposite direction fromn "A what?" -- we are passing .."This is a toc." "A which?".... "a toc"

It doesn't matter what the facilitator/leader passes, it's always "A what?" " A Which?"

[collissimon]

We've also got another one, where you get into pairs, with someone of a similar size and height to you.

You stand opposite the person, and sit on each other's feet (i.e. >=< where <> are feet and = are legs, so you're sitting opposite one another). Then, you grab hold each others shoulders and rock back and forward. You have to get a rhythm going, because you have to support the other person's backside, whilst moving yourself backward, and then propel yourself in the air. The most practised can get almost 180 in the air! It's quite good fun and sure breaks the ice!

[Campy Measius]

You can also play the toilet paper game with blades of grass, that way there's not as much waste. (Just make sure to move around every time you play it, otherwise there'll be holes in the lawn...haha)
One I really like is the blanket game. You split the group into two lines facing each other and hold a blanket up in the middle... when you drop the blanket the two people who are facing each other have to try to shout out the other persons name first. Then the loser has to go on the winners team until almost everyone is on the same team. It gets really funny, and they are always moving positions so in case the other team was peeking when the blanket was down.
But you have to play other ice breaker games first so that they actually learn each others names before they have to remember them... I like 2 truths and a lie too.

[lifer]

We do the Tic/Toc game, but actually use different objects and pass those around. Cones, balls, office supplies, shoes, cutlery.... The more random, the better !

Another really fun game is "Shuffle Your Buns." First you set up a bunch of folding chairs in a big circle. There should be one chair for each person playing, but one person stands in the middle instead of sitting. S/he has to try to sit in the empty chair, but the rest of the people will shift the empty chair by shuffling their own buns. So the person in the middle has to run around real fast trying to keep up with the empty seats.... If one person is stuck in the middle for too long, someone can yell "switch" and change the direction of the shuffling. It's a hilarious game that usually results in people sitting on top of each other and a couple of broken chairs if things get too rowdy.... But it's well worth it !:D

[KiwiCRB]

If you have a group of campers that are really nervous about camp I like to do something called a rainbow swirley... sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. Get some toilet paper and washable markers. Let every camper write down what they are worried about, excited about, or what they wish would happen during their stay at camp. Go to the bathroom and flush it down the toilet. If done right it turns the water the different colors of the markes.

[collissimon]

For getting to know name games, we do Frankenstein

People stand around in a circle, one person moves to another person's spot, calling their name. The next person then has to call someone else's name and move out before the next person gets to their spot. This gets quicker and quicker as the game gets on, until almost everyone is weaving in and out of each other!

[CSLProgramDirector]

Something that goes over very well when we have our staff show up for the first day is a huge, repeat after me song, usually Father Abraham or Tarzan. This reminds everyone that we are finally back at camp after a long winter and to get loose again. Its a fun quick way for everyone to be involved at once and start people off having fun.

Cheers

[camper]

whoooaaa collissimon that sounds like an awesome game, and i can't believe there's an icebreaker out there that i've never heard of!

[Dave]

You can also play the toilet paper game with blades of grass, that way there's not as much waste. (Just make sure to move around every time you play it, otherwise there'll be holes in the lawn...haha)
One I really like is the blanket game. You split the group into two lines facing each other and hold a blanket up in the middle... when you drop the blanket the two people who are facing each other have to try to shout out the other persons name first. Then the loser has to go on the winners team until almost everyone is on the same team. It gets really funny, and they are always moving positions so in case the other team was peeking when the blanket was down.
But you have to play other ice breaker games first so that they actually learn each others names before they have to remember them... I like 2 truths and a lie too.
That's actually a good idea. It saves toilet paper, and the kids will most likely grab handfuls of grass so they'll have to say a lot of stuff. :P

[who_stole_my_loofa]

these are all really good- thanks everyone for all the suggestions!!!

we have like construction paper and markers and glitter and stuff for the kids to work on signs for their beds while we all hang around the cabin waiting for the other kids- the first day is pretty long and boring until dinner time! these will be great for first cabin meetin though!

[Fleur]

Another name game that we do is called the train game. Everyone stands in the circle with one person in the middle who starts off as the front of the train. They walk up to someone in the circle while making train sound effects. Once they reach that person they wave and say "Hi, I'm xxxx". That person responds by saying "Hi, I'm yyy." Then anyone in the train (which is right now only one person) celebrates being introduced to the new person by cheering "yyy, yyy, yeah yyy!" Then everyone in the train turns around in their spot, the new person attaches themself to the back, and the train moves on to someone new (again while making the ever important train sound effects), and the whole thing repeats. Each time the train stops at someone, everyone in the train must introduce themselves one at a time. Also, don't forget to have everyone turn around after each new person is introduced (and cheered for). That way the back of the train becomes the front of the train, so everyone gets a chance to lead once.

[collissimon]

whoooaaa collissimon that sounds like an awesome game, and i can't believe there's an icebreaker out there that i've never heard of!

Glad I could be of service!! :D

[jadyn]

I love icebreakers. Two truths and a lie has to be one of my favorite quick games.

Human bingo is a great game too. You make a board with a certain number of squares- generally the exact amount of kids that you're working with. Each square says something different- "I've traveled out of the country." "I can speak a second language." "I have blue eyes." "I play an instrument."- and so forth. The kids then go and need to find someone, in the room, that can write their name next to whatever fits them- but each person can only sign a paper once, so you have to talk to EVERYONE. It makes it so you have to move out of your comfort zone, and it gives you something to talk about with everyone you're with. "You speak a second language? Oh, you're actually from Russia? That's awesome!"