ENERGIZERS

      

1.    Nyama nyama nyama

Chant in Swahili “nyama nyama nyama” (nyama means "meat").

When you mention edible meat, the group jumps and shouts "nyama"!
When you mention inedible meat, all participants must remain silent and statue-still.
If anyone, someone jumps, they retire from the activity. 

      2.      Kavutie, eeh, Kavutie eeh… turn around

Participants form a circle and everyone puts their left hand on their left knee.  
The hand must remain there during the exercise.

The leader chants “Kavutie” & everyone responds with “Eeeeh” while moving around the circle a step at a time in the same direction.

When the leaders says “turn around”, the whole group chants "aaaaah!" then changes direction and starts going in the opposite direction as you continue chanting "Kavutie - Eeeeh"!

      3.      Head, shoulders, knees and toes

Sing the nursery hymn – ask the participants to do what they are singing and not what you are doing, confuse them by touching different body parts, not the ones in the song

      4.      I-Pepeta

Pretend you’re holding a ball; use various body organs to juggle the ball.

All along giving instructions – “I have a ball; I put it here, i-pepeta”

      5.      Coconut

Spell the word “coconut” using your limbs/body parts, stretch as much as you can

      6.      Pen at the waist

Pretend that you have a pen attached to your waist;

Use it to write 1 – 10

      7.      Dance to a current song

Sura yako – Sauti Sol, Mazgwembe, Short & Sweet, 

If you can project a video clip with the dance moves, that greatly helps. Dance for at least 5 minutes

Alternatively form a circle and participants enter the circle one by one and pull off moves that the other participants must dance to.

      8.      The Thieves and the Policemen – sit/stand

      Divide the group into “police” and “thieves”

      Tell a story about thieves and police, every time, thieves/police are mentioned, they gave to wake up from their seats

      9.      Multiples of 3

Concentration game that requires everyone to count except, for three and its multiples, one has to clap instead.
Increase the temple and retire the participants who fail to clap on the multiples of three.

10.    Musical chairs

     Have a group form a circle with chairs (10) facing outwards.

     The leader manages the music, while the group circles around the chairs dancing to the upbeat music.

     When the music stops, everyone must find a chair, but one has been removed.

     The person left standing must share one thing they’ve learned related to the present topic of study.

     Instead of disqualifying this player, however, continue the game until a variety of people have shared what they know. Alternatively, keep removing one chair every time you restart the music/dance until you have a winner.

      11.    The broken telephone

You pass on complicated instructions (or say a tongue-twister) to the person nearest to you and ask them to pass the message down the line and see what you get at the end of the line

The leader whispers two messages, sending one to the right and one to the left.
Debrief the group on the lessons learnt from the activity. 

      12.    Complete the sentence

Divide the group into two:

One half writes down the 1st of half the sentences starting with word .... “I ” on a piece of paper.

The other groups write the final part of the sentence beginning with the word …"BECAUSE"

      13.    Charades - Animals

      Choose an animal – walk around the room in the fashion of the animal;

      Others must follow suit

      14.    I will make you fishers of men

Sing the song “I will make you fishers of men and ask the men to sit/stand when a word beginning with “m” is mentioned and the ladies to do the same when a word beginning with “f” is mentioned

      15.    Bring back my Bonnie

     The group must sing the following song, and for every "O" in the song, they must either sit down or stand up. 

     The song is :

                   my bOnnie lies Over the Ocean,

 my bOnnie lies Over the sea,

 my bOnnie lies Over the Ocean

 sO bring back my bOnnie tO me,

 bring back bring back, Oh bring back my bOnnie tO me.

 Repeat as many as three times, going faster each time. 

 You can also do this with the "B"'s rather than the "O"'s.

 Other songs can be used.

     16.    Popping the balloon

     Everyone must take a balloon with a string.

     Tie the balloon around your right ankle.

     When the music begins to play, begin moving around the room.

     Go to other players and try to step on and pop their balloon, at the same time avoid others from popping your balloon.

     Once player’s balloon has been popped the player must leave the circle and cheer on all other players.

     The last person standing with an un-popped balloon is the winner.

     (Be careful to avoid injury from over-zealous participants)

      

      17.    Catch it

      Have four participants stand forming a square where each person is facing inside the square.

      (A triangle will work too.) Next they put out both of their hands with palms up and elbows by their waists.

      Instruct each person to take his/her right index finger and point it up to the sky.

      Next, the index finger gets put down into the palm of the person next to them.

      The facilitator counts 1…2…3 and on 3, each person tries to catch the index finger of the neighbor while trying to keep his/her own index finger from being caught.

      Repeat with right finger and then switch to the left finger for two tries.

      This activates the brain because it has to do two things at one time, plus it makes everyone laugh and that is a great way to wake up the brain.

      18.    Follow the leader

      You can be the leader or let a participant be the leader.

      The leader completes the sentence “Meet Three People Who…” and adds in a characteristic, such as ‘are wearing blue’, or ‘has more hair on their head than you do’, or ‘has an A in their name’.

     The participants walk around the room and shake hands with the people who fit the category.

      19.    Simon says

      The leader tells the participant to do what “Simon says”

      They should stand still when the leader tells them to do something without first saying “Simon says”

      20.   Do this and add something

      Get everyone in a circle.

      One person starts off by performing an action (e.g. scratching his head).

      The person on his right must then repeat it and add another action.

      The game goes on with each having to repeat all the previous actions in order, then adding one.

      If a player misses an action or gets fouled up, he is out.

      You can go as many rounds as you want.

      21.    Tactile copier

      The players arranged themselves in a line. A diagram is shown to the last person in line.

      The person uses his finger to reconstruct the image on the back of the person in front of him.

      Each player in turn passes the image on to the next person in line by tracing it on his back.

     The person at the head of the line draws the diagram on a piece of paper for the group to compare with the original drawing.

      The game can be repeated after the players rotate their positions.

      Variation: After passing on the image, each player draws the diagram as he perceives it. The group then compares their drawings.

     22.   Charades

      Have the usual items (various movie titles, famous names, kinds of animals, actions, etc.) printed on scraps of paper in a bowl.

      Each person picks one and acts (mimes) it out without speaking.

      The others have to guess what’s on the chosen slip of paper.

      23.   Who am I?

      When participants enter the room, the teacher tapes the name of a famous person to their heads.

      Participants cannot look at what’s on their own heads.

     They must discover who they are by asking yes/no question to others.

      Activity ends when all students have discovered who they are.

      24.   Writing around

      Each group is given the same opening sentence to a story.

      The first participant in a group writes the next sentence and passes it to the next person, who adds another sentence, and so on. This continues until the facilitator says it’s time to write the last sentence.

      Each group shares its story with the rest of the class.

      25.   Spot the change

      Players should be paired up. All players divide into two lines (facing in) shoulder to shoulder, with partners facing each other.

      Participants should be given approximately 30 sec.s to look at their partners, taking in all details about the individual.

      The leader then instructs the two lines to turn and face away from the center.

      One or both lines has 15-20 sec.s to change something about their appearance (i.e. change a watch to different wrist, unbutton a button, remove a belt, etc.). The change must be discrete, but visible to the partner.

      The players again turn in to face each other and have 30 seconds to discover the physical changes that have been made.

      Players get to interact with each other and have fun!

      26.   This is my nose

      The group forms a circle. One person is "it" in the center and begins the action by approaching someone else in the circle and pointing to a part of their own body and calling it something else ("This is my nose" while pointing at their elbow).

      The "victim" in the circle must do the opposite (point to nose and say, "This is my elbow") before "it" counts to three.

      If he fails to do so, then he becomes it and it joins the circle.

    

      27.  I am thinking of a word that rhymes with….

      The leader thinks of a one syllable word and tells the group that he is thinking of a word that rhymes with it.

      The members must use a definition to guess what the word is.

      (Example: I'm thinking of a word that rhymes with cat (rat). Is it a word that means overweight? No, it isn't fat. Is it something you would put in front of your front door? No, it isn't mat. Is it a rodent larger than a mouse? Yes, it's rat.).

      28.   I have never

       All players sit in a circle in chairs, with one less chair that there are players.

      The extra player is IT.

      He proceeds to say something that he has never done, such as “I have never gone to the beach.”

      At that moment every player who has gone to the beach must stand up and find a new seat.

     The player who is left standing becomes the new IT.

      29.   Three things in common

      In the next three minutes, find three things that you and your partner have in common and that you don’t already know or can’t tell by looking. For example, working for the same company and wearing glasses DON’T count!

      After three minutes, be ready to volunteer commonalities.

     Variation; invite them to discover their most unique or extraordinary commonality.

      30.   Campus life word list game

      Give everyone a piece of paper and ask them to write down as many words as possible from the letters in the words "CAMPUS LIFE", (e.g. camp, camps, us, came etc.)

      No proper names or slang words are allowed. You may use other longer words and have the people work in pairs or small groups.

      31.    Hat trick

      Form a circle. Put a derby type hat on one person.

      The object is for him to get it on the next person's head without using hands, arms, teeth or legs.

      You may divide the group into two and have a competition.

      32.   How would you spend Kshs. 100 million ($1 million dollars)?

      Each small group receives this question and shares responses.

      If possible, each group could vote on a favorite idea, presenting the idea to the other groups.

      33.   Bite the bag

      The team is instructed to form a large circle.

      The facilitator then places a brown grocery bag in the center of the circle. Each member must pick up the bag with his/her teeth while standing on one foot with both hands held behind his/her back.

      After the entire group has successfully completed this task, the facilitator cuts one to two inches off the top of the bag.

      If a team member touches the floor with his/her foot (or any other part of the body), the member is disqualified.

      After each round, more of the bag is cut.

      The last team member, who successfully picks up the bag without falling, wins!

      This exercise, similar to a reversed limbo contest, can be a lot of fun and a great icebreaker for new team members.

      34.   The Human Spider Web

      Divide the group into teams of 6-8 persons. Have each team move to a location that allows them to stand in a small circle.

      Instruct members of each group to extend their right hands across the circle and grasp the left hands of the other members who are approximately opposite them.

     Then have them extend their left hands across the circle and grasp the right hands of other individuals.

      Inform them that their task is to unravel the spider web of interlocking arms without letting go of anyone's hands.

      They will be competing with the other groups to see who finishes the task first.

      35.   Paper plates

      Use a paper plate and a piece of string to form a "Paper Plate Necklace".

      Wear it so that the paper plate is on your back. 

      Then go around writing ENCOURAGING notes on each other's plates.

      When you’re done, everyone removes their paper plate necklaces simultaneously to read the messages.

      36.   Marooned

      You are marooned on an island.

      What five (you can use a different number, such as seven, depending upon the size of each team) items would you have brought with you if you knew there was a chance that you might be stranded?

      Note that they are only allowed five items per team, not per person.

      You can have them write their items on a flip chart and discuss and defend their choices with the whole group.

      This activity helps them to learn about other's values and problem solving styles and promotes teamwork

      37.    If you're happy and you know it

     The group sings this simple nursery song and performs the action as prescribed by the leader

     The song is :

                                  If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands (clap, clap) x 2

                                  If you’re happy and you know it, your face will surely show

                                  If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands (clap, clap)

  

                                  If you’re happy and you know it, stomp your feet (stomp, stomp)

                                  If you’re happy and you know it, shout “Hurray” (hoo-ray!)

                                  If you’re happy and you know it, do all three (clap-clap, stomp-stomp, hoo-ray!)

      38.    Hatuta piga kelele...  (We'll not make noise...)

     The song starts with a whisper "Hatuta piga kelele"

      Build this to a crescendo while clapping and repeating "Hatuta piga kelele"

      39.      The Wild man of Borneo

The wild man of Borneo has just come to town.

The wild man of Borneo has just come to town.

The wild man of Borneo has just come to town.

The wild man of Borneo has just come to town.

The wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.

The wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town,

The wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.

The wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.

The daughter of the wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.

The daughter of the wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.

The daughter of the wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.

The daughter of the wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.

(REPEAT EACH of THE FOLLOWING LINES FOUR TIMES.)

The dog of the daughter of the wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.

The tail of the dog of the daughter of the wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.

The hair on the tail of the dog of the daughter of the wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.

The flea in the hair on the tail of the dog of the daughter of the wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.

The whiskers on the flea in the hair on the tail of the dog of the daughter of the wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.

The wind that blew through the whiskers on the flea in the hair on the tail of the dog of the daughter of the wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come

By George Le Brunn.

40.      The Singing Game

I

I know what you are about to say, this is totally out of sync with the character and content of this blog, right? Maybe, but it is the reason I travel on other people's budget.

      As a trainer, I am often called upon to lead the participants in introductions, ice-breakers, and energizers. My greatest handicap is that all energizers I ever knew will suddenly disappear from memory at the critical moment when I am standing in front of participants. 

It is also critical that a trainer remains fresh and doesn't sound like a broken record.

      There are many trainers who have come before me and put together some really great energizers. Context is also really important... The participants must relate to any particular energizer chosen and it must in some way tie into the need(s) of the moment.

     This post is a collection of energizers/ ice-breakers & team games that are relevant to the Kenyan context.

      So, go ye forth with confidence and use them liberally. 

      Be sure to leave comments if you find this post useful.

      DISCLAIMER: 

      These are not my inventions; they are not copyright-protected and no copyright laws have been infringed. 

      Reproduction and copious use of the material/exercises is totally acceptable