The Fast Rhyme Exercise

Fast Rhyme is a group icebreaker activity and fun elimination game to develop creative thinking, active listening and concentration.

Assemble your group and seat them in a circle. Select an order and sequence for the game, ie who goes first, then in a clockwise direction.

The first person starts by saying any one word, for example “BOAT.” Adopting a clockwise motion, the person to their left must now respond by saying one word (only one) that either rhymes with boat or is related to the word boat.

For example, in the case of “BOAT” the words “SEA,” “FISHING,” “ROWING” and “WATER” are all acceptable. If the the second person says “ROWING”, the third person must now say another word that rhymes with or is related to rowing.

When someone hesitates, repeats a word from that round, says more than one word, says a word that does not rhyme or is not related, they are eliminated.

There are some guidelines to make the game fun and difficult:

• All responses must be one word only
• A person must aim to respond in less than 3 seconds
• You are not permitted to repeat a word
• The group is the final arbiter of whether a word is related or not

Play continues until one person is remaining and is declared the winner.

Moment of Reflection

• When you learned that this was a creative thinking exercise, what did you say to yourself?
• Was it as hard as you thought it would be?
• What strategies did you employ to help you respond quickly?
• Did you notice a change in your performance as the game progressed?

The topics of this publication: creativity, teamwork, imagination, motivation, brainstorming, interactions, active listening